Elden Ring’s Tarnished Pack dupe is fixed, but old items are a loose end

FromSoftware has closed the Tarnished Pack duplication loophole, because letting a $5 DLC entitlement evaporate the moment someone drops an item in co-op was never going to survive for long. Elden Ring patch 1.17.1 fixes the multiplayer bug that let players without the DLC pick up its exclusive gear while the original owner kept their copy. Update immediately if you play online.

The exploit turned co-op item drops into a DLC copier

The issue was specific, but glaring. A player who owned the Tarnished Pack could enter a multiplayer session with a host who did not own it, drop DLC-specific equipment, and let that player collect it. In the affected state, the giver’s item was not removed from their inventory. One trade became two copies.

That is less a clever build trick than an entitlement failure. The Tarnished Pack launched on August 27 with two starting classes, Idus Knight and Heavy Knight, alongside new weapons and armour sets. It costs $5 in the US and £4 in the UK. Players found a way to bypass that purchase requirement through ordinary multiplayer behaviour, which is exactly why patch 1.17.1 arrived as an emergency technical fix on September 8.

The patch does not kill trading. It makes trades behave like trades again: when a Tarnished Pack item is handed to another player, it now leaves the original owner’s inventory. That distinction matters. FromSoftware has fixed the broken ownership check without taking the blunt instrument approach of removing player-to-player item exchange altogether.

There is no new content here, and that is the point

Version 1.17.1 adds no weapons, quests, balancing overhaul, or fresh reason to reinstall. Its entire job is to close the hole introduced around the Tarnished Pack support update. Console players may also see it labelled as minor update 1.018.001.

That narrow scope is reassuring in one sense. FromSoftware has avoided turning an emergency patch into a stealth balance pass that wrecks somebody’s favourite setup. But it also puts the spotlight on the awkward question the update does not answer: what happens to DLC items already duplicated before September 8?

There is no public confirmation that pre-patch copies are being removed from existing saves, and no published list of every affected item. Players who picked up unfamiliar Tarnished Pack weapons or armour before updating should treat those items as unresolved rather than assume their inventory is permanently safe. The patch seals the faucet; it does not confirm what happens to the water already on the floor.

Check your version before joining another session

• Update Elden Ring to version 1.17.1 before using multiplayer features.
• Check your inventory for Tarnished Pack-exclusive weapons, armour, and class-related gear if you do not own the DLC.
• Test legitimate trades carefully: the player giving a DLC item should now lose that item once the exchange completes.
• Avoid treating copied pre-patch DLC gear as permanent inventory until FromSoftware clarifies whether existing duplicates will be addressed.

What to watch next

The next meaningful update is not another hotfix number. It is a clear statement on pre-existing duplicated Tarnished Pack items. If FromSoftware leaves those copies alone, the exploit will be closed but its rewards will remain scattered across online inventories. If it attempts a cleanup, players will need to know whether that process can touch legitimate trades or saves.

For now, patch 1.17.1 is the correct kind of emergency response: targeted, fast, and unwilling to burn down normal co-op trading to protect a small DLC pack. Install it, keep an eye on suspicious gear, and do not expect this patch to deliver anything beyond housekeeping. That is all it needed to be.