12 Elden Ring Nightreign tips to get a head start hunting Nightlords

It’s clear you’ve arrived if you’re here, but let me tell you, Elden Ring Nightreign is no walk in the park. In fact, it’s so challenging that our review likens it to a ruthless tormentor. But fear not, this toughness is delivered with affection! Overcoming the Nightlord at the end of your journey demands a delicate balance of character development, weapon enhancements, and understanding elemental vulnerabilities. Oh, and don’t forget about the relentless pursuit by a wall of fire! No stress, right?

Here are some rephrased Elden Ring Nightreign strategies designed to help you better understand the game mechanics and provide useful tactics for a successful adventure ahead. Initially, I’ll share advice on what to focus on during your first two days, followed by some overall tips to keep in mind as you pursue your next Nightlord encounter.

Now let’s dive into it! On the initial stages of your journey, prioritize learning the ropes and getting a feel for the gameplay. During this time, focus on gathering useful items, leveling up your character, and familiarizing yourself with the world of Elden Ring.

As you venture deeper into the realm, keep these general tips in mind:

1. Upgrade your equipment regularly to ensure you’re always equipped with the best tools for the job.
2. Master various combat techniques and strategies to outmaneuver your enemies effectively.
3. Don’t be afraid to explore every nook and cranny of the world, as hidden treasures and secrets await discovery.
4. Engage in side quests and dialogue with NPCs to gain valuable insights and rewards.
5. Save often to minimize the impact of potential setbacks and keep your progress on track.
6. Collaborate with other players when possible for mutual support or to share knowledge and resources.
7. Take breaks when necessary, as the world of Elden Ring can be quite immersive and challenging at times.

Happy adventuring, fellow traveler! May your journey through the realm of Elden Ring be filled with triumph, camaraderie, and endless discovery.

To enhance your running skills further, don’t forget to explore our tutorial on cultivating runes in Nightreign. If style is your priority, we’ve got insights on how to access Nightreign’s Dark Souls wardrobes instead. For a comprehensive overview of the Nightlords you’ll encounter, be sure to delve into our guide on Nightreign boss battles.

Flask charges are your friends, so get them early

If you’re not among the rare demigods mastering no-damage runs in Nightreign, chances are you’ll sustain some injuries during gameplay. Given the powerful blows from Limveld’s bosses, you’re likely to take quite a bit of damage, meaning your healing flask will get heavy use. Fortunately, by visiting Churches of Marika (marked gold on the map if unvisited), you can boost the number of your flask charges.

A good strategy for embarking on a Nightreign run is to examine your map to locate the nearest church as you approach. Upon landing, defeat the group of adversaries typically found nearby for an early experience boost and some equipment. Then, make a beeline towards your first opportunity to increase your flask charge. Experimentally, we’ve discovered that accumulating an extra two flask charges by the end of day one creates a sizeable health reserve.

Target Forts and Great Churches for early upgrades

Upon landing and collecting additional flasks, focus on capturing Forts and Grand Churches initially, as they feature manageable bosses that can be defeated early in the game. This early conquest offers minimal risk, providing quick upgrade opportunities and potential rewards.

As an enthusiast, I’d like to share a common feature in many of these fortresses: On the lower level, you’ll often find three chests. Upstairs on the ramparts, there’s usually a knight boss guarding his territory. Interestingly, another chest on the rampart almost invariably holds a Stonesword Key – a valuable item that grants your team access to an Evergaol, allowing us to engage the boss within.

In these notable churches, you’ll either encounter a boss battle on the ground level, or descend through a pit to reach a basement floor with both a boss fight and an altar that ensures the acquisition of incantation seals. Similar to forts, they possess a high likelihood of yielding Stonesword keys from chests located near altars, and there are additional hidden chests tucked away in the upper areas.

Day two is for clearing bosses

On my first day as a gamer, I stocked up on flask charges and basic gear. The plan for day two? Taking down bosses for runes, loot, and those sweet passive perks! If my team lacks weapons matching the boss’s weakness, it’s smart to focus on map areas sharing the same affinity first. That way, we’ve got a better shot at finding weapons with that damage type when we conquer the boss of that region.

Following that, your objective should shift towards defeating as many bosses as possible before day two concludes. If you’re breezing through Camps and Ruins without trouble, proceed to Evergaols using any Stonesword Keys you possess. The difficulty of Evergaol bosses can fluctuate, but unless a Death Rite Bird appears, you should be relatively safe. Keep in mind that day two will also highlight Great Enemy bosses on the map. These bosses pack a punch and have considerable health, but they drop some of the best equipment for combating Nightlords on day three. It’s advisable to reach at least level 8 before engaging them (level 10 might feel much safer).

Unlock the Duchess ASAP

Among Nightreign’s two characters you can unlock, The Duchess stands out as a top performer. She excels with agility-focused weapons, but her unique selling point is the Restage skill. This ability duplicates a portion of all damage she inflicts on enemies during the last few seconds. This ability has an exceptionally short recharge time, allowing a Duchess team member to consistently deal extra damage without additional effort.

Notably, Restage conserves the fundamental harm and status enhancement of repeated attacks, allowing your team to inflict massive damage on bosses using their most powerful attack types. You can swiftly acquire Duchess at an early stage in the game by defeating the initial expedition boss, ensuring you don’t have to endure a lengthy wait before incorporating Restage into your strategies.

Don’t sleep on ranged weapons, even if you’re not Ironeye

Nightreign leaders are boisterous, frequently jumping and darting around their battlefields, which makes it challenging for close-combat fighters to get near them. When you do manage to get close, their relentless attacks make it tough to find opportunities to retaliate with your own strikes. However, there’s no rule against teaming up with your allies and embarking on an expedition armed with three Ironeyes, giving you a powerful advantage when taking on bosses that might prove too challenging for melee-focused fighters in one-on-one combat.

While Ironeye might excel in dishing out consistent ranged damage, don’t assume that only he should wield ranged weapons. Every Nightreign character, regardless of their focus, can utilize any ranged weapon they find without worrying about ammo. So, if you find a bow and are having trouble getting close in combat, it might be beneficial to fire off some arrows even as a melee-focused hero.

Press Y on the map to see what gear you’ll likely find in an area

In the game Nightreign, distinct zones often come with specific types of weaponry. For instance, Great Churches are usually linked to incantation seals, Camps are stocked with racks of ranged weapons, while Arcane Towers offer staffs for sorceries. Remembering these associations can sometimes be challenging.

Fortunately, there’s no need for you to do so. Instead, on your Xbox controller, press the Y button while focusing on the map screen to reveal extra details such as the types of weaponry found in various regions. Over time, you may become familiar with where bows and seals are located, but this trick can help you decide quickly where to dash next as the game’s night circle narrows down.

Grab Smithing Stones for eventual gear upgrades

If your group has discovered some decent blue-quality weapons but hasn’t stumbled upon any promising purples, it would be wise to kick off day two by making a trip to the Mining Tunnel to gather smithing stones.

Across the map, numerous tunnels from mining operations can be found. By the beginning of your second day, it’s highly probable that you’ll be close to one of these tunnels. Inside, you’ll encounter either a troll, knight, or pumpkin head boss, each guaranteed to drop two Smithing Stones. These stones are crucial for upgrading a blue-tier weapon into a purple at anvils near merchants, enhancing its stats. This method ensures that your weapon will have a strength advantage over the bosses, or simply an upgraded version you enjoy using more.

Try charging your character abilities

Although Nightreign may alter numerous aspects of Elden Ring’s gameplay, it remains undeniably a FromSoft game, and as such, the specific workings behind many mechanics continue to be somewhat unclear. This enigma extends to character abilities, several of which can be used for extended periods without realizing they could be even more effective if you sustain their button press instead.

Before embarking on your next adventure, spend a few minutes practicing at the training grounds in the Roundtable Hold to ensure you’re fully utilizing the enhanced power of your Nightfarer’s arsenal. This includes techniques like the Guardian’s boosted whirlwind, Wylder’s fortified pile bunker ultimate, and Raider’s amplified headbutt. Each move gets a little extra kick if you charge it up while using it!

Ults are great for resurrecting teammates in a pinch

Regarding the abilities: It’s not only Guardian who has an exceptional ultimate for reviving teammates among the Nightfarers. As the tutorial clarifies, you can resuscitate your comrades by inflicting damage on them, but this isn’t limited to just weapon attacks. In a tight spot, if you’re controlling a character whose ultimate ability causes damage, you can utilize it to resurrect a teammate in a precarious position.

Since you’re immune to harm during the use of your Nightfarer’s ultimate ability, it opens up an opportunity to resurrect a teammate even when a boss is trying to defeat you. Sacrificing some of your ultimate damage is necessary in this case, as you won’t be able to inflict any damage if your team is wiped out. Wylder, in particular, is excellent for a critical revive situation: His grappling hook allows you to swiftly move towards a teammate for a life-saving explosion. Let’s work together!

You can spend your Murk to gamble for relics

Relics serve as Nightreign’s method of prolonged development, enabling you to enhance your characters with additional stats and expedition adjustments by inserting colored gems into their grail slots. However, the characteristics on the relics you obtain at the conclusion of expeditions are purely random, which might make it painstakingly slow to gather a favorable set of relics for your preferred character.

It’s convenient that the Small Jar Bazaar in Roundtable Hold provides an alternative to solely depending on loot from the end of expeditions via random number generation (RNG). Here, you can purchase a pre-set collection of relics using the murky currency you gather during expeditions. Additionally, you can take a chance on extra, randomly selected relics. The probability remains the same as expedition rewards, yet having extra rolls could aid in simplifying your runs. Plus, it’s quicker compared to waiting 45 minutes for an expedition.

Absolutely, if you exhaust all your resources on acquiring artifacts, there will be none remaining to purchase the stylish Nightreign costumes. Caveat emptor (let the buyer beware).

Most weapons will give you their passive bonuses when they’re just sitting in your inventory

As a devoted fan, I realize that the abundance of information in Nightreign can be overwhelming when you first start playing, and it’s possible that you may have overlooked the specifics of how weapon bonuses function. When a weapon drops during an expedition, it comes equipped with a random bonus effect, such as “enhanced ranged attack” or “reduced damage while at full health.

What often goes unnoticed is that you can reap nearly all of the bonuses from Nightreign weapon passives, even if you’re not physically holding them in your hands during gameplay. This is essential for creating a build during a Nightreign expedition; it’s not just about finding weapons with high attack power and the right damage element. Instead, you compare the bonus effects on dropped weapons to enhance your playstyle. For instance, a Raider who uses two greatclubs will deal more damage if their inventory is stocked with weapons that boost damage output when wielding two weapons at once.

Certain items might deviate from the rule, but if a small hand symbol appears beside their bonus effect, it signifies that you’ll enjoy the advantage only when you’re holding that particular weapon in either hand.

Avoid Cataclysms unless your squad is very capable or very brave

While exploring, you may come across regions on the map marked with a blue or green circle symbol. These zones are called Cataclysms and have two effects:

1. They boost the health and attack power of all creatures within them.
2. Upon entering, you’ll be confronted by malevolent phantom replicas of Nightfarer known as doppelgangers. The encounter becomes a challenging, intense fight where you must face multiple enhanced enemies, while simultaneously dealing with a ghostly version of another player character trying to defeat you.

When taking on one challenge in a Cataclysm, ensure your entire team is present and everyone has built up some levels, as events can quickly spiral out of control. Regrettably, the rewards are somewhat unpredictable: vanquished Nightfarer spirits may provide an enhanced version of that hero’s standard weapon, but there’s no assurance it will be effective against your target Nightlord or beneficial for your character build.

Our advice: Get your next upgrades somewhere else unless you’re extremely confident.

2025-05-30 01:16