The Gaping Jaw boss of Elden Ring Nightreign is also called Adel, Baron of Night. A huge dragon with a sideways head, defeating this titan requires making use of its poison weakness, and its struggle to keep up with ranged characters. This is probably the second boss that most players will beat in Elden Ring Nightreign, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy.
To help you secure victory, we've beaten Adel, Baron of Night multiple times and compared data to bring to you the ultimate guide to cracking this boss fight, with tips, weaknesses and strategies. Here's how to beat the Gaping Jaw in Nightreign and secure victory against this malformed horror.
How to beat Gaping Jaw in Elden Ring Nightreign
To defeat Adel, or the Gaping Jaw in Elden Ring Nightreign, here's a summary of the monster's weaknesses and what you can do to bring it down before we go into more detail further below.
- Weaknesses: Poison, and to a lesser extent Frostbite and Sleep
- Best Classes/Build: Evasive ranged classes that can inflict the status effects listed above, like Ironeye and Duchess
- Boss attack types: Physical, Lightning and Bleed
- Phases: 2 (triggers at 50% health)
Like with the Elden Ring Nightreign Tricephalos boss fight before this one, you'll want to make sure that you're at least level 9, and have any of the Elden Ring Nightreign best weapons capable of dealing Poison.
Before the boss fight
Before the run even begins, check your class relics and which of the Elden Ring Nightreign classes you're taking into the run. Ideally, Gaping Jaw is fought with range and evasion, as it makes huge sweeps and charges that easily knock over players that are trying to block, but struggles to knock down faster foes. A distant sniper that can maintain status effects, like Ironeye or Recluse, or a rapid fighter like the Elden Ring Nightreign Duchess, can do great things here. Equip them with relics that play to Poison effects, and you'll have a strong footing going in.
After that point, make sure you target areas that drop strong poison weapons, and ensure that what you're using is at least rare and ideally epic going into the fight. Anything you can get to prevent blood loss will also be helpful.
Fighting the Gaping Jaw
The Gaping Jaw is a rampaging brute who barrels at players head on, especially in the first part of the fight. The open mouth will grab players and do massive bleed damage to them, even if they're blocking, so the key here is to be faster and more agile, dodging the highly-telegraphed attacks and inflicting status effects from a safe distance - Adel can also self-heal as it chomps you up!
If you're playing a melee character, you'll want to use stamina management to dance around it and hack at the back half. The Elden Ring Nightreign Revenant can have some success sending in spirit summons, though the Jaw may just trample over them.
At 50% health, phase 2 begins. Adel begins to bring in lightning effects on its attacks, mixing in huge AOEs and more sweeping, erratic movements to throw off players. You'll have to play more defensively to keep up, so expect phase 2 to take a lot longer, and watch the ground: if it cracks, it's about to explode beneath you.
Tricks and tips
Finally, here's some basic tidbits and tricks to help you out against the Gaping Jaw that most players can make use of!
- If poisoned, the Jaw becomes toxic itself. While poison devastates Adel's health, it also causes it to leave poisonous pools in its wake, which you'll need to be careful of!
- You can jump over the cracked ground. The explosive AOEs it creates in phase 2 can be rolled away from, but jumping also gets you free of the danger zone.
- Stay at the back! If you're a melee fighter, stay away from the mouth. It goes without saying that's always the most dangerous spot, but keep in mind that Adel can spin around quickly and without much warning.
- Adel is immune to Scarlet Rot. Despite the weakness to similar status effects, the Gaping Jaw cannot be hurt by this.
- Save your consumables for phase 2 if possible. The increased difficulty of landing damage (and thus longer time period) of the Baron of Night's second phase means you'll want to have your resources ready for that.
Want more help with Nightreign? Check out the Elden Ring Nightreign bosses here, or find out all the best Elden Ring Nightreign tips for general play here! Or if you're uncertain about how much more suffering is to come, find out for yourself: how long is Elden Ring Nightreign?
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