Elden Ring Nightreign Is All About Right Place, Right Time

Not only does Elden Ring Nightreign flip the script on Soulslikes, but it makes some changes to Roguelike mechanics too. Where most Roguelikes would have the players going through multiple maps, tackling fairly focused objectives, Nightreign uses points of interest to tempt players to cross its fairly large map. When one day cycles over to the next, there are even more places to go, but picking which ones to visit can be tricky.

This world design of Elden Ring Nightreign has been the boon and bane of many runs. With the night adding pressure via its time limit, and the enemies presenting their own challenges, there is a tough balance to strike between being speedy and being methodical, as a supposedly easy foe can cause significant trouble for even the most prepared Nightfarer. Nightreign is about knowing when to pick a fight, and when to run, but it might not always be obvious when to do each.

All Equilibrious Beast Deals Explained - Elden Ring Nightreign

Elden Ring Nightreign: All Equilibrious Beast Deals, Explained

Libra is a generous beast that offers some interesting deals before starting the fight.

Elden Ring Nightreign Is All About Planning a Run Quickly

Upon the start of an expedition, there will be a handful of locations within drop range, and with some quick thinking, a team can plan out a route that will give them the best chance of success against a Nightlord. However, this can be pretty challenging for new players, especially those with less experience in prior Soulslikes. There is a danger that players can get choice paralysis, and a team that cannot decide on a direction will waste precious time. This is Nightreign’s unspoken difficulty curve, knowing where to go, and most importantly, when. There are quite a few successful routes to victory in Nightreign, but by prioritizing the wrong thing, everything can go downhill.

Points of Interest Should Be Ticked off Like a Checklist

Not every part of the map is going to be ticked off in a run of Nightreign, not even by the most efficient team in the world, so it’s important to know where to go. Generally, points of interest can be strung together in a chain. Tackling a couple of ruins and cathedrals can be good for getting some early-game weapons and levels, eventually forging a path to the Churches of Marika. These churches in particular are a priority, as they are the only way to increase the number of available flasks, and tend to be on the edges of the map where the night can swallow them, so getting them early while at low level is generally pretty efficient.

The affinity markings on each ruin are also important to pay attention to, as they indicate the type of weapons that a team can find there. When fighting Libra, it’s important to use madness, so finding madness affinity locations to clear is ideal. However, there’s a balance to it, and running from one end of the map to another just for the chance of getting something good can mean skipping other valuable items and runes. For later in a run, hitting up the castle can be a good way of grabbing some rarer items and a guaranteed talisman, but can prove tough on the first day.

Nightreign’s Field Bosses Present a Tempting Dilemma

The most obvious place that teams can mess up a run are Nightreign’s field bosses, who range in difficulty from Leonine Misbegottens, to Black-Blade Kindred, and mistakenly taking one on at the wrong time can spell doom. While they offer tempting rewards, players shouldn’t be afraid to do a quick DPS check on a boss before running away, as the worst thing that can happen is to commit to a drawn-out fight. The longer a boss takes to go down, the less time is spent getting loot elsewhere, and even if it dies eventually, if it wipes out a team several times, it probably wasn’t worth the investment. Instead, players should prioritize the smaller ones first, coming back to the larger ones when they have better items, but it probably isn’t wise to seek out distant field bosses, as just getting there and fighting can eat up most of a day’s time.

In Defense of Elden Ring Nightreign’s Three-Player Restriction

Elden Ring Nightreign has come under fire for only allowing solo or trio play, and this makes sense, but three players might be the way to go anyway.

Nightreign’s Shifting Earth Presents Valuable Opportunities for Those Prepared

Often, the best loot will be available in Nightreign’s Shifting Earth locations, the parts of the map that have been taken over by phenomena such as mountains, rot forests, etc. They’re often a great place to make the best builds in Nightreign, as they have a high concentration of field bosses, as well as a central secret that when unlocked, offers a unique buff. These are typically the most valuable areas, and the last place the night will close in, but rushing in too early can ruin a run, as they can easily become deathtraps to the unwary.

Nightreign Players Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Adapt Plans on the Go

The Night Takes Time to Close In, and That’s Time to Be Spent Looting

While it can creep up on the unaware, the night circle moves fairly slowly in Nightreign, allowing plenty of time for players to grab a few more items and souls before moving to the next zone. By fighting everything within reach as the zone closes, players can get just enough runes to squeeze out a level up that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to, or find a nice 10% health boost from a ruin boss. Every little bit helps in Nightreign, and the worst feeling is being 500 runes away from another level knowing that there was time to be out fighting.

Not every player will find the perfect weapon for their build, and sometimes, an ironeye might stumble across an excellent colossal weapon that would make a Raider very happy. In these instances, it can be worth exchanging weapons and talismans with teammates to optimize builds. It might seem like an obvious tip, but most people have probably finished an expedition in Nightreign with a Wing of Astel that they were never going to use, and its situational stat buff could have been more useful in the hands of an Executor.