Our Elden Ring Nightreign tips and tricks are everything we wish we'd known before we started playing, but after numerous successful runs, we're happy to share what we've discovered about surviving the gauntlet of threats that Elden Ring Nightreign will throw at you.
Being a roguelike, Nightreign is at least partly about luck, but not as much as you'd think, as many of its systems are highly exploitable to those who understand them. With that in mind, we've put together the top 10 tips to help you survive any run in Elden Ring Nightreign, which even the veterans will have something to learn from!
1. Getting to level 2 should be your first objective
It sounds obvious, but your first and highest priority should be to get out of level 1, as the gulf of power between first and second level is incredibly significant. At level 1, you won't be able to kill anything but the weakest enemies, but the game tends to drop you in next to a small camp of those weakest enemies for you to gain the XP to level up at least once. Take the hint and thin them out to get up to a level when you can actually start to take on meaningful opponents. That being said…
2. Wait until level 4 or 5 to fight any bosses
While there's theoretically no level where you can't technically defeat any of the Elden Ring Nightreign bosses, you're probably going to be too weak to take them out quickly until fourth or fifth level (though that will also vary depending on your equipment, weaponry, and the boss you’re fighting). Unlike in Elden Ring itself, where you can play slowly and take your time against bosses, you're constantly against the clock in Nightreign with the exception of the final boss of each day. Rather than chipping away at powerful foes and potentially dying over and over, be ready to retreat as soon as you realize you’re in over your head and spend that saved time powering up elsewhere to help you kill bosses quicker.
3. The circle is faster (and therefore more dangerous) than you think
The shrinking circle appears slow when viewed on the map, but it really isn't, and it's easy early on to misjudge just how long you have. Once it starts contracting, you probably have enough time to complete one fortress or boss fight before it completes shrinking, if that. That's not to say you can't outrun it, only that you need to be cautious about committing to a challenge of any sort in the danger zone. If you're uncertain about your odds, maybe just move to the safe area and work on challenges there.
4. Plan your route to safety, or else risk getting stuck
You can play Nightreign solo, but you'll find it a lot harder. For the most fun and successful experience, here's how to play Elden Ring Nightreign with friends!
The map in Nightreign is one that's incredibly vertical, with lots of cliffs and sheer rock faces to navigate around, and this can mean that direct approaches are rarely an easy option. Early on it's very easy to get stuck trying to scale a cliff or running around looking for a way up as the circle rolls over you and begins to eat away with your health.
This will get easier as you start to learn the map, but the saving grace are the Spiritsprings, the cracks marked on your map that fire you into the air. There's literally nothing that you can't clear with these, and they move you pretty fast horizontally too. When in doubt, head for one of these springs. The special trees that let you summon the spectral birds can help too, but they're a lot more situational - the wind paths on the path show the limited routes they can take you!
5. Don't take on anything alone
The instinct for new players might be to split up and try to do as much as possible, but that's a bad idea if you're not playing Elden Ring Nightreign solo. The best thing you can do is stick together – challenges are balanced for teams, and you'll need friends to revive you if you go down. If you do manage to beat a boss on your own, the items and weapons you can claim for doing so will probably be too far away from your allies for them to claim them, which partly defeats the point. Better for everybody to coordinate as a team, especially early on.
6. Hunt down a Site of Grace before each final boss of the night
When you're sprinting towards the final boss of the night, you'll want to hit a Site of Grace checkpoint before you reach the endzone. A lot of times when you're heading towards that final confrontation, you'll have the rain circle close behind you, but a detour for healing and flask refills are well worth it. Bosses in the final circle are both a wave of relatively tough enemies, followed by the actual boss themselves, so you'll want to be as prepared as possible, and there's no checkpoint to refuel within the arena itself.
7. Downed players should get close to each other
If you're knocked down and waiting to be revived, the best thing you can do is to crawl away from danger to make it easier for your allies to revive you. However, the slightly less obvious benefit is to crawl towards other downed players. It's more efficient that way, as the still-standing player can hit both of you with the same attacks and revive the team twice as fast. This will also help Ironeyes, Guardians, and Revenant players, all the Elden Ring Nightreign classes who can easily revive players with their powerful Ultimate Arts!
8. Press triangle on the map for a more detailed view…
Players might not be inclined to spend too long on the map when there's a ticking clock, but press the Triangle/Y button and you'll get far more detail about what’s in and around each marked location that can inform your choices accordingly. It tells you if there are merchants, what kind of items can be found there, and more besides!
9. … Or find out secrets through Fort maps!
The guarded Forts that often have Abductor Virgins at the entrance also have maps in them that give you information about the local environment, including the location of the Scarabs that you can kill for talismans! To find these maps, go in and head up the staircase on the left to the ramparts, then follow them round to the room inside the tower on the right. The map should be on the table there – just interact with it to get information about the area around the fortress.
10. Pay attention to the icons next to map landmarks, as you can use them against the final boss
When choosing a run and final boss back at the Roundtable Hold, pay attention to whatever element or attack type is effective against it (displayed just below the main name). Then, once you're in the field, look for the same element type attached to locations. There you'll find items and hopefully any of the Elden Ring Nightreign best weapons that correspond to that type, meaning they can be great against the final boss! In fact, if you find a weapon you're comfortable with (there or anywhere else) that matches the boss's weakness, consider using Smithing Stones to power it up to the highest point possible, rather than trade it in for something higher tier but less ideal for the fight.
Want to know more about Nightreign? How about unlocking the game's two secret class options? Unlock the Elden Ring Nightreign Duchess with our guide here and become the master of agile combat, or discover how to unlock the Elden Ring Nightreign Revenant and summon powerful spirits to fight for you! Or if you just want to know the scale of challenge ahead, here's the answer to the question: How long is Elden Ring Nightreign?
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