Elden Ring: Nightreign – The Forsaken Hollows: 10 Crucial Details Before You Dive In

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After a long wait, fans of Elden Ring Nightreign finally have a release date for the first paid DLC, The Forsaken Hollows! It launches on December 4th and costs $15. The DLC delivers on the original promises of new playable characters and bosses (which were briefly removed from the Steam page), but, as expected from FromSoftware, it also includes extra content. Here’s a complete guide to everything you need to know before the release.

The Scholar

The Scholar is one of the Nightfarers, known to his friends as a bit of a bookworm and feared by his enemies. He excels at fighting with piercing weapons like the rapier, but his greatest strength is his ability to carefully observe. He can use the ‘Analyze’ skill to weaken several enemies simultaneously, and by watching his allies, he can also boost their abilities.

These abilities work especially well with his ultimate move, which connects enemies and makes them share damage. Plus, healing items will help everyone around him. This makes him a great choice against characters like Libra, whose clones can be really difficult to handle. Beyond that, the Scholar can also upgrade items to make them stronger and add new effects. He’s also a fantastic resource manager, ensuring the team always has what it needs.

The Undertaker

The Scholar carefully shapes things, while the Undertaker delivers the finishing blow – and she actually specializes in tools similar to those used for construction. As a front-line fighter, her ‘Trance’ ability boosts her defense and attack power, and lets her dash without using stamina. If she has a full ‘Ultimate’ meter when using Trance, the benefits are even greater.

Her Ultimate ability is incredibly powerful – she literally rips out a bone and hurls it at opponents like they’ve wronged her! It’s great for breaking through enemy defenses and also deals significant damage. On top of that, her passive ability, “Confluence,” is exceptionally strong. Whenever an ally uses their Ultimate, she instantly gets a charge for her own, completely separate from any charge she already has. This means a team with multiple Undertakers can launch a relentless series of attacks and quickly overwhelm the enemy.

New Relic Passives

A recent GameSpot preview revealed details about the unique abilities each new Nightfarer class will have. The Scholar can deal ongoing damage to linked targets with their Ultimate, strengthen allies they analyze, and eliminate the movement speed penalty from analyzing. The Undertaker, on the other hand, gains extra attack power while using their Ultimate, amplifies the damage of finishing combo hits, and can heal nearby allies while diving onto enemies. Both classes appear to have strong and versatile options.

New Day 3 Bosses

FromSoftware revealed two new bosses players will face later in the game, and we’ve gotten a good look at one of them: The Balancers. These seven winged warriors appear incredibly challenging, launching relentless, coordinated attacks that leave little room for recovery. What makes them even more unique is that one Balancer will become a powerful leader, gaining enhanced abilities and devastating attacks that are difficult to avoid. While the Scholar class seems well-suited for this encounter, overcoming The Balancers will require sharp strategy and strong cooperation with your team.

New Dark Souls Bosses

As you’d expect from a Nightreign game, it features bosses from other popular FromSoftware titles. We’ve already seen Artorias the Abysswalker from the Dark Souls 1 DLC, and recent gameplay shown by GameSpot revealed another familiar face: the Demon in Pain and the Demon from Below, originally from Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City. It’s currently unclear if they’ll combine into the Demon Prince, but they still look incredibly intimidating.

The Great Hollows

At first glance, the new Shifting Earth area, the Great Hollows, doesn’t seem particularly special. Past Shifting Earth events simply changed part of the map. But the Great Hollows is much more than that – it feels like a completely new place. Everything is covered in a dense fog (which is actually ash!), and it has a lot more high and low areas than we’ve seen before in Shifting Earths. It’s easy to get turned around and even fall from great heights.

Shadow of the Erdtree Influence and The Crystal Curse

You know, a lot of people have noticed the way the levels in the Great Hollows feel similar to the Land of Shadow in Shadow of the Erdtree, and it turns out the developers might have been playing it too! The director, Junya Ishizaki, told GameSpot that while they didn’t mean to make them so alike, it’s probably seeped in a little bit. He said a lot of the team was playing Erdtree while working on Nightreign, so it might be a subconscious thing, but he definitely thinks there’s some influence there.

Okay, so I’ve been exploring the Hollows, and there’s this new thing called the Crystal Curse that shows up in certain areas. It’s a pain, honestly! But thankfully, if you finish the main goal in those zones, you get a buff that makes you totally immune to it. And speaking of doing stuff without even thinking…

Somehow, the Swamps Returned

Ishizaki noted that their game often features swamps, and the new DLC is no exception! These aren’t your typical poisonous swamps either; players will find areas that cause Scarlet Rot, induce sleep, and inflict other challenging status effects. These swamps are particularly difficult because surviving the debilitating effects leads directly to a boss fight. The Scholar character, with their ability to buff items and counteract status ailments, could be a real asset in these areas.

Forges For Re-Rolling Weapon Skills

The new locations aren’t entirely negative. Like the Legendary Forge from the Crater, a similar forge might appear in Limveld. If you can defeat all the enemies and activate it, you’ll get a chance to change one of your weapon’s abilities. Keep in mind it’s completely random – you could end up with a better ability, or a worse one! Still, it’s a useful addition that gives you more options when customizing your character’s gear.

“Definitely A Little Bit Harder”

Players heading into The Forsaken Hollows don’t need to brace for a difficulty spike as extreme as Shadow of the Erdtree was for Elden Ring. According to Ishizaki, the development team focused on balancing the DLC to be accessible to newcomers while still providing a challenge. While it is somewhat harder than the main game, it’s designed to be fair, not overwhelmingly difficult. Ishizaki hopes even experienced players will feel a similar sense of discovery and challenge as they did when first playing Nightreign, having to learn and adapt to new obstacles.

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2025-12-04 17:18