How To Beat Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest in Elden Ring Nightreign

Sentient Pest is the third boss to join the Everdark Sovereign lineup in Elden Ring Nightreign. The standard Expedition for this boss is the only Nightlord fight in the game that features a duo boss battle. Even though it’s a duo fight, it’s considered one of the easier encounters due to the bosses’ highly telegraphed attacks.

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The third phase introduced in the Everdark Sovereign version makes it significantly more challenging, as you now have to contend with an additional boss. Here is everything you need to know about their attacks and the strategies that work well against them in Elden Ring Nightreign.

Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest Overview

A Harder Version Of Gnoster With A New Phase & Moveset

Attack	Image	Description
Phase 2
Duo Charge		The boss starts charging at you while the Moth on top fires constant projectiles. After a few charges, the boss plants its arms into the ground, causing rock clusters to erupt.
Rock Slam		Gnoster slams to the side, causing rocks to erupt from the ground.
Orbital Laser		The boss releases a shining beam that begins to glow at a player’s location before shooting down from the sky. This persists for a few seconds.
Overhead Slam		Gnoster raises its body before slamming the ground, and the Moth on top can follow up with an orbital laser.
Poison Trail		The Moth creates a poison trail around itself that rapidly increases poison buildup.
Phase 3
Take Control		Animus takes control of whichever boss dies first and revives it with around half its health.
Crimson Slam		Possessed Faurtis slams the ground, releasing a red explosion.
Crimson Rage		The boss lets out a shriek, then begins violently slamming the ground, causing explosions to erupt forward. It repeats this a couple of times, lets out another shriek, and follows up with a final slam.
Crimson Projectiles		Possessed Gnoster unleashes multiple projectiles targeting a player’s location.
Double Grab		The boss sways side to side before flying in for a grab, which it can perform twice in a row.
Light Rain		Possessed Gnoster begins flying rapidly through the air, causing multiple projectiles to rain down from the sky at high speed. This lasts for a few seconds.
Crimson Oribital Laser		While possessing no one, Animus begins firing multiple orbital lasers across the entire boss arena. After a few seconds, one massive laser shoots down and persists for a couple of seconds.

Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest Weaknesses

In terms of elemental damage, Fire is by far the best option. Both bosses have slight resistance to Lightning and Holy, while the Moth is highly resistant to Magic. If players have a Recluse on their team, she should focus on Faurtis instead of Gnoster. Aside from Fire, Rot, Bleed, Frost, and Sleep also work well against these bosses. Bleed and Frost are especially effective due to the burst damage they inflict, which a Duchess can capitalize on if her ability is ready.

Fire weapons aren’t too hard to acquire, as there are several Encampments and Greater Churches with bosses that can drop them. If you bring a weapon with a starting fire effect, it’s a good idea to change the Shifting Earth event to the Crater so you can upgrade it to Legendary.

If you find a weapon with an “Equip passive” that causes attacks to deal fire damage, make sure to keep it in your off-hand, even if you don’t plan to use it during the fight.

You can also opt for the Rotted Woods event due to the high chance of obtaining a Rot weapon from the various bosses or the Fort found there.

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How To Beat Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest

Counters, Team Comps, & Best Strategies For Sentient Pest (Everdark Sovereign)

Every Everdark Sovereign fight begins from the second phase of the standard boss encounter, and Sentient Pest follows the same pattern. The new phase of Sentient Pest introduces an added threat that amplifies the attacks of the other bosses, making the fight more difficult and sometimes frustrating to deal with.

Phase Two Strategy

How To Beat Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest in Elden Ring Nightreign 2

The first phase of this fight is exactly the same as the second phase of the initial encounter with Gnoster. However, this time they begin with a full health bar instead of starting at half HP. The boss opens the fight by charging around the arena, focusing on a single player. Faurtis handles the charging while Gnoster continuously sprays the targeted player with projectiles. After a few charges, the boss slams the ground, triggering a large eruption of rocks. Dodging this is crucial, as it deals heavy damage and leaves you vulnerable to follow-up attacks.

Staying to the side of the boss causes it to slam its body in that direction. This is a highly telegraphed move, so watch for it and avoid overcommitting to your own attacks. One of the boss’s deadliest moves is the orbital laser. It begins by casting a light over a player, followed by a persistent laser beam that lasts several seconds. This attack can shred your health bar quickly, forcing you to fully focus on escaping it.

Ranged Nightfarers should concentrate on dealing damage to Gnoster, especially if they have fire weapons or fire-based attacks. The boss doesn’t have much health in the first phase, so if you’re using a solid build, you may not even see most of its attacks before it’s taken down.

Phase Three Strategy

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As the third phase begins, a third boss, Animus, will appear. This boss remains passive on its own and only uses one attack: an empowered version of the orbital laser. Animus will revive both bosses to around 50% health, and you’ll now have to face all three. Once one of the bosses goes down, Animus will teleport to it and begin the possession process. During this animation, if you have any means of dealing ranged damage, this is the time to use it. Try to deal as much damage as possible before the possession completes. The process also inflicts a small amount of damage on Animus itself.

Once a boss is possessed, it will revive with around half its health, and all of its attacks will now be empowered, dealing red explosions across the arena. This is the best time to take down the other unpossessed boss, as it won’t be revived until Animus leaves the current body and switches to another, which usually takes some time. Once only one boss remains, you can focus on the possessed one, which also damages Animus as it takes hits.

After leaving a body, Animus will begin flying around again, waiting for another host. If all three bosses are alive, try to have one player focus on Gnoster and the other two on Faurtis. With each possession, Animus takes damage, so if you dish out decent ranged damage during two or three possessions, the fight should be close to over.

It’s important to note that even if a player is downed, the orbital laser can continue hitting them. Don’t rush in for a revive—wait a few seconds for the laser to fade before attempting to help them up.

Best Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest Team Comps

The best team composition for the Sentient Pest is a Raider accompanied by a Recluse and Ironeye. This setup is optimal because having a frontline Nightfarer focusing on Faurtis and keeping aggro allows the other two players to focus on Gnoster or assist the Raider if Animus controls Faurtis. Wylder is a strong alternative if you want to swap out Ironeye or Raider, especially if he has the Relic that enables a fire follow-up attack after using his skill. This boosts his fire damage output, which is effective against this boss.

Ironeye can help by marking one of the roaming bosses and is also responsible for reviving fallen teammates. It’s helpful to equip the Relic that increases Ironeye’s skill count by one, allowing you to keep one skill for marking and another for escaping grabs or other dangerous attacks. Recluse’s damage output is the highest by far, especially if the player finds strong spells during the run and knows how to use her Magic Cocktail to craft powerful combinations.

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Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest Reward

What Do You Get For Beating Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest?

Once you successfully complete the Everdark Sovereign Sentient Pest expedition, you will receive Relics, Murk, and 25 Sovereign Sigils the first time, and 5 in subsequent attempts. You can use this new currency to purchase the Dark Night of the Wise Relic, which offers the following effects:

Increases Maximum FP
FP Restoration upon Successive Attacks
Max FP permanently increases after releasing Sorcerer’s Rise mechanism

This is a great Relic for Mage Nightfarers like Recluse, Revenant, and Duchess. The more FP you have, the more Spells or Incantations you can use without worry. Other Nightfarers who rely on high-cost weapon skills will also benefit from this Relic, and you can focus on unlocking all Rises in the Expedition to further increase your FP and collect a bunch of items at the top.