Ironeye is Elden Ring Nightreign's most useful character, but their anti-soulslike style bores me to tears

Elden Ring Nightreign's Sentient Pest boss is kicking my team's ass. Despite having amassed hundreds of collective hours across the Dark Souls and Elden Ring franchises, my Nightreign trio is completely stuck on this unholy union of bug and butterfly. Turning to my esteemed colleagues for help, they are unanimous in their advice: 'Use Ironeye'. I am resolute in my response: 'No'.

Physical ranged attacks - the kind that use bows and arrows rather than magic staffs - are not new to FromSoftware's soulslike catalogue, but it's rare that they've been a major factor. If I asked you to picture Dark Souls, I'd wager that you're more likely to conjure an image of an armored, greatsword-wielding, Berserk-style fighter, rather than a nimble archer.

Personally, however, I generally enjoy playing ranged characters over melee, and while I'd never try and fight my way through Undead Burg with a bow, I was pleasantly surprised to see Ironeye feature in the Nightreign roster ahead of launch. With a couple of allies to soak up the brunt of the fighting, I could see the value in being that nimble archer, sitting off at a distance to harry major bosses, using my speed to steer clear of trouble if it came my way.

And I was proven right. Our Elden Ring Nightreign character tier list has Ironeye right at the top. Elsewhere, I've seen him considered a mainstay of successful runs, and heard tell of builds that rely on a 'single tank, double ranged' setup as one of the most effective trios you can approach Nightreign with. So what's the problem? Ironeye is a meta mainstay that fits the kind of character I like to play as. You'd assume I'd be rampaging around Limveld, sniping happily from the sidelines. Trouble is, you'd be wrong, because I find Ironeye tear-jerkingly boring to play.

Crystal Tears

When I play Dark Souls, I do so to feel the thrill of beating a boss after having dodge-rolled around for 30 minutes beforehand. When I play Elden Ring, I'm looking for the rush of cutting down a towering foe while holding onto a mere sliver of health. I play these games because of their sense of heart-pounding, sweaty-handed action, because a clutch dodge-roll feels amazing, because I'm David and I've defeated Goliath.

In other words, when I play Dark Souls or Elden Ring, I do not do so to spend several minutes at the side of a fight pressing the same button over and over again. I do not play them in order to turn tail and flee whenever a boss so much as looks at me funny. I also do not play them for my gameplay options to differ between firing one arrow, firing three arrows, firing one big arrow, or firing one extremely big arrow.

I know there's a little more to the Ironeye than that, but it doesn't really feel like it for most of a run. I know that I can choose to wield a melee weapon, but if I were to do that, why would I bother to play Ironeye instead of Wylder, who I actually get to have fun with? Granted, the answer to that question is 'because it might help you win', but I simply don't see the value in that - sure, I get to beat a troublesome boss by exploiting the meta, but if I have to not enjoy myself for 30 minutes first, why am I even playing Nightreign?

Whether or not Elden Ring or Dark Souls games are 'fun' is a matter of personal opinion. But even if you don't enjoy the ways in which FromSoft stacks its chips against its players, there's little denying that its games are deeply engaging moment to moment. Even as Nightreign's multiplayer focus turns away from the rhythms of a traditional soulsborne formula, it maintains the arresting, all-consuming challenge of diving between the swipes of some towering, bestial foe. Which is why it feels so odd to abandon those rhythms in favor of Ironeye's repetitive, plodding plucking of a bowstring.

My anti-Ironeye agenda started because one of those towering, bestial foes was giving my team so much grief that we wondered if we were missing some secret mechanic. As it turns out, it's just a skill issue, a still-devastating but painfully-relevant 'git gud'. The more effective strategy was always at our fingertips, and we even tried it out once, only to find that we weren't having any fun even before Sentient Pest sent us back to the roundtable. If anything, our decision to shun Ironeye has made our attachment to Wylder, Raider, and Executioner even stronger - if soulslikes are games about eventual mastery in the face of overwhelming odds, it only feels appropriate that we'd learn to win on our own terms, rather than spamming R1 until we hit a cheapened victory screen.

Check out our Elden Ring Nightreign review.