One Nightreign Nightfarer Brings a Power Fantasy to Life the Way Elden Ring Never Could

Summary

Nightfarers in Elden Ring Nightreign have preset classes focused on unique aspects, enriching gameplay.
The Recluse in Nightreign excels as a powerful spellcaster, offering FP restoration and diverse elemental attacks.
Nightreign streamlines catalysts for spells, allowing seamless switching between sorcery and miracles.

Elden Ring Nightreign’s Nightfarers all offer some pretty unique and interesting ways to play the game, with some key advantages over Elden Ring’s more flexible buildcrafting. When the Nightfarers were revealed to be preset classes, there was some skepticism from members of the community, but upon seeing them in action, it’s clear that the game is enriched by being able to have each class focus on one particular aspect.

As such a melting pot of ideas, Elden Ring Nightreign is able to bring together FromSoftware’s past ideas into one game, as well as experiment with new ones entirely. Each Nightfarer feels unique this way, boasting abilities that no Tarnished ever could, and in some cases, bringing to life certain core playstyles in ways that Elden Ring could never properly realize.

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Recluse’s Spell Casting in Nightreign Is the Fulfilment of a Power Fantasy That Totally Outshines Elden Ring

Even with a name like Recluse, this master of miracles and sorceries is one of the flashiest Nightfarers out there. From slinging spells to effortlessly quickstepping around enemies, Recluse oozes a confident mastery of the magical arts that makes her feel like the truest expression of a wizard. Everything about her character is geared toward making the most out of spells, with an S scaling in Faith and Intelligence, multiple ways to recover FP, and a truly drippy witch hat to top it all off.

Recluse can combine both Sorcery and Miracles for added variety.

In many ways, Elden Ring was one of FromSoftware’s best games to play as a wizard, on a similar level to Dark Souls 2 simply because of the sheer variety of powerful spells on offer. That was until Nightreign came along. This is because even in a game with as much variety as Elden Ring, one of the greatest limitations was always FP. The FP bar could be made very high through levelling, but at low levels it felt very restrictive, and having to dedicate a load of flasks to restoring the resource broke up the flow. It was possible, but difficult to make a pure caster work before, as once out of flasks, that was it until the next grace, and stocking more flasks meant stocking fewer heals.

Recluse has a built-in solution for this; her character skill allows Recluse to steal FP from targets struck by an elemental affinity attack. This way, she can cast, then instantly restore the lost FP, seamlessly switching from target to target. Of course, that’s only the first part of it, as once she has three affinities stored up in her Magic Cocktail, she can unleash a unique attack that costs no FP. It can be tricky to learn all of the variations, as each combination of elements will make for a different spell, but this all means that a Recluse building into certain elements can control which cocktail they make, ensuring it is right for the moment.

When out of ways to proc Recluse’s FP steal, it’s ideal to carry backup Starlight Shards.

Nightreign Streamlined Spellcasting for the Better

Another one of Nightreign’s improvements to the flow of the game came in streamlining catalysts. Spells are now tied to each one, with a set spell for each catalyst, and a randomized one in the skill slot. Recluse can wield two catalysts at once, which should be encouraged, as it gives four spells to cast just a click away, and due to her scalings, these can be a mix of sorcery and miracles. While the spell slot system works for Elden Ring’s expansive build making, it can be a cumbersome thing to switch between. It’s easy to take an eye off which spell is selected, and casting a buff right when it should be a fireball has been one of the leading causes of overeager casters.

There is little more satisfying than playing Recluse in Nightreign, as she almost feels like she’s playing a different game, bringing the magical equivalent of a gun to a swordfight. Her art may be one of the less impactful ones in the game, but it can save a few lives in a pinch, and the FP restoration helps her to sling spells faster than ever. Give Recluse a go, because magic hasn’t felt this good before.