ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN: Complete Guide

This guide covers how an expedition works, what each Nightfarer is for, relics, the Nightlord bosses and their weaknesses, the Deep of Night endgame, and The Forsaken Hollows DLC.

Researched September 2026 — current as of patch 1.03.2 (January 2026) with The Forsaken Hollows DLC. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

1. A run lasts three days. Days 1 and 2 are for exploring and levelling while the Night's Tide rain closes in. Each night ends in a boss fight. Day 3 is the Nightlord fight. Lose everyone on any day and the run is over.
2. Levelling happens inside a run and resets afterward. You start every expedition at level 1. Spend Runes at any Site of Grace. The in-run cap is level 15, and most good day-2 teams hit 11–13 before the Day 2 boss.
3. Your weapon matters less than you think. Pick up anything with a better rarity color (grey → blue → purple → gold) and swap freely. Every weapon has passive effects, and those count even when the weapon is only sitting in your inventory slots.
4. Upgrade your flask at churches. Churches hold a statue that adds a Flask charge. Most routes should hit one or two churches on Day 1.
5. Pick up downed allies by hitting them. Attack a downed teammate to drain their revive gauge. Every time someone goes down in the same fight, the gauge gets longer to drain. Revives decide most runs.
6. Dying costs you. You drop your Runes and lose a level. Grab the bloodstain if it's safe.
7. Relics are your permanent progression. You get them after every run, win or lose. Equip them at the Relic Rites in the Roundtable Hold. They're the main thing that carries over.
8. Pick the Nightlord's weakness before you go. The expedition menu shows the damage type each Nightlord is weak to (table below). Pick up weapons with that element during the days.
9. Use Spiritstreams and ping the map. Spectral updrafts get you across Limveld quickly. Ping your next target so the team moves together. Splitting up is the most common way runs fail.

How an Expedition Works

Shifting Earth events can change the map for a run. You'll see the Crater, the Mountaintop, the Rotted Woods, Noklateo the Shrouded City, and The Great Hollow (DLC). They replace part of the map with harder, better-rewarding content. Deep of Night turns them off.

Map landmarks worth prioritizing

• Churches: flask charge upgrade, often a merchant nearby. Almost always worth the detour.
• Forts and camps: steady Runes and weapon chests. Good for levels 1–6.
• Field bosses (marked on the map): high Runes plus a choice of weapon or talisman-style reward.
• Castle: a hard interior plus a boss on the roof. Better on Day 2.
• Evergaols (need a Stonesword Key): a boss fight with a strong reward. Keys come from merchants and drops.
• Towns and ruins: merchants, loot, and Smithing Stones for weapon upgrades.

The Nightfarers

Every Nightfarer has a passive, a Character Skill (on a short cooldown), and an Ultimate Art that charges from dealing damage.

Unlocking the extra Nightfarers

• Duchess: beat Gladius, Beast of Night (the Tricephalos expedition). Your first win gives the Old Pocketwatch. Show it to the Priestess in the Roundtable Hold.
• Revenant: buy the Besmirched Frame from the Small Jar Bazaar for 1,500 Murk. Go to the marked spot in the Roundtable Hold and beat the Revenant and her summons.
• Scholar and Undertaker (The Forsaken Hollows): beat Gladius, then talk to the Iron Menial in the Roundtable Hold.

Class notes from real play

• Wylder: Claw Shot pulls you to an enemy, or pulls small enemies to you. Save Onslaught Stake for staggered bosses. Sixth Sense saves you from one lethal hit.
• Guardian: Hold guard with the halberd and shield. Whirlwind carries you up, then you slam down. Wings of Salvation revives allies in its area, so it's your "we're losing" button.
• Ironeye: Marking makes targets take extra damage. Single Shot pierces in a line and can break stances. Ironeye revives quickly from range, so stay behind the melee players.
• Raider: Retaliate absorbs a hit and punches back harder. Totem Stela raises a pillar you can stand on. Patch 1.03.2 widened its range and gave Fighter's Resolve a bonus to attack power at low HP.
• Recluse: Her skill collects Affinity Residue from damaged enemies and mixes it into a Magic Cocktail. Play at mid range and keep your FP topped up.
• Executor: Suncatcher is the Cursed Sword stance for deflecting attacks. Patch 1.03.2 buffed crits, Guard Boost, and deflect stagger while it's active. The Beast form is a panic Ultimate that also heals.
• Duchess: Restage replays recent damage on the target, so use it right after the team's burst lands. Finale makes the party invisible for a short time, which is useful for revives and for resetting aggro.
• Revenant: Very low HP. Stay back, keep the family spirits summoned, and use Immortal March to stop a wipe. Patch 1.03.2 made her spirits hit harder in Deep of Night.

Relics (Permanent Progression)

• Every Nightfarer's Vessel has 3 color-coded slots: red (Burning), green (Tranquil), blue (Drizzly), yellow (Luminous). A relic only fits a slot of its color. You unlock more vessels with different color layouts from the Small Jar Bazaar and through progression.
• Quality: Delicate has 1 effect, Polished has 2, and Grand has 3.
• Drops: You get relics after every expedition. Getting further, such as beating the Night 2 boss or reaching the Nightlord, gives more relics and better odds at high quality. Remembrances (character quests) and Nightlord kills give fixed relics that you can't sell.
• Relic Rites is in the central room of the Roundtable Hold. Since patch 1.03 you can name presets and reorder them. The character select screen now shows your equipped relics, and the results screen shows your teammates'.
• What to look for: Effects that start you with a better weapon, raise your character's stats, or cut Character Skill cooldown. Also look for anything that improves your Ultimate or revives. Sell the rest for Murk.

Nightlords and Weaknesses

The final expedition, Night Aspect, unlocks after you beat the others. Everdark Sovereign versions of the base Nightlords come back as harder variants and drop Sovereign Sigils on top of relics.

Boss tips

• Gladius: The first fight splits into three wolves. Group them so area damage hits all three. Holy weapons and Guardian's Wings of Salvation make this fight easy.
• Adel: Very aggressive, with a grab. Bring poison, and keep a ranged player peppering him so he switches targets often.
• Gnoster: A moth and scorpion duo. Kill the moth first or split the team. Fire damage speeds this up a lot.
• Maris: Stays in water and hits with long-range magic. Lightning damage plus a melee player who can close the distance.
• Libra: Offers you "deals" mid-fight. Refuse ones that hurt the team. Madness weapons are rare, so stack raw damage too.
• Fulghor: A fast lance charger. Lightning damage, and dodge through the charges rather than away from them.
• Caligo: Ice and fog attacks. Fire weapons, and stay spread out so one breath doesn't hit everyone.
• Heolstor: Two phases. Bring Holy damage and your best relics, and save Ultimates for phase two.

The Forsaken Hollows (DLC)

• Released 4 December 2025, US$15 on Steam.
• Adds Scholar and Undertaker, two new Nightlords (Traitorous Straghess and Weapon-Bequeathed Harmonia, with an Everdark Sovereign Balancers variant later), and the new Shifting Earth The Great Hollow.
• Access: beat at least two Nightlords, including Gladius, and unlock both DLC Nightfarers. Then use the chapel behind the Small Jar Bazaar to get to the new boss fights.
• Since the December 2025 update, DLC content can show up in Deep of Night, but only if everyone in the party owns the DLC.

Deep of Night (Endgame)

• Unlocks once you've beaten Heolstor the Nightlord (which itself requires clearing the other expeditions). It went live 11 September 2025.
• You can't choose the Nightlord. Enemies are much stronger, and Shifting Earth is disabled.
• Depth ranks by points: Depth 1 at 0–999, Depth 2 at 1,000–1,999, Depth 3 at 2,000–3,999, Depth 4 at 4,000–5,999, Depth 5 at 6,000+. A win gives +200 points. A loss costs anywhere from 0 to −800 depending on how far you got and your current depth.
• Demotion protection: at Depth 3 you can lose once without dropping a rank. At Depths 4–5 you can lose twice.
• Rewards: Depth relics go in separate slots. They have strong buffs with real drawbacks. Mutated enemies drop special weapons with the same strong-effect-plus-drawback design.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Splitting up on Day 1. Solo detours for loot get you killed and lose the run time you need.
• Fighting the rain. Standing in the Night's Tide drains HP quickly. Plan routes so you finish each area before the circle reaches it.
• Skipping churches. Going into Night 1 with the default flask count is the classic early wipe.
• Hoarding a weak weapon because of its passive. Rarity and damage upgrades usually matter more before Day 2.
• Reviving in the middle of a boss combo. Wait for an opening, use an Ultimate for cover, or let the Guardian or Duchess handle it.
• Ignoring the weakness table. A Holy weapon for Gladius or Heolstor makes the fight noticeably shorter.
• Rerolling relics without reading them. Several effects only work for one specific Nightfarer.

Advanced Tips

• Route plan: Day 1 is usually two or three camps or forts, then a church, then a field boss, then gather where the circle is closing. Day 2 is the castle or an evergaol, a second church, then shopping.
• Weapon passives stack from your inventory. Keep extra weapons with useful passives (elemental damage, HP restore on hit, and similar) even if you never swing them.
• Swap Ultimate timing with your team. Let one Ultimate stagger the boss, then follow up with burst from Duchess Restage or Raider's charge attacks.
• In Deep of Night, the day matters for point losses. Getting further before you wipe loses fewer points, so play the Night 2 boss carefully even when the run is going badly.
• Personal Objectives from the Remembrance system and Collector Signboard rewards are often a better source of Murk and fixed relics than grinding random runs.

FAQ

Can I play Nightreign solo? Yes. Solo expeditions scale enemies down and give the solo player extra help, and FromSoftware has adjusted solo balance in several patches. The game is still built around three players, though, and some Nightlords are much harder alone.

Is there duo mode? Yes. A two-player mode was added after launch. Check the expedition menu for the party-size option.

What's the max level? Level 15 inside a run. Nothing carries over between runs except relics, Murk, and unlocks.

How do I unlock Duchess and Revenant? Duchess: beat Gladius and show the Old Pocketwatch to the Priestess. Revenant: buy the Besmirched Frame for 1,500 Murk at the Small Jar Bazaar and win the ghost fight.

Do I need the DLC to play with friends who own it? No. You can still queue together. DLC-only bosses and Shifting Earth won't show up unless everyone owns it.

What does Deep of Night require? Beating Heolstor after clearing several expeditions.

What's the best Nightfarer for beginners? Wylder is the most forgiving. Guardian is strongest for team survival.

Sources

• Steam store page and official announcements (patch notes 1.03 and 1.03.2, Forsaken Hollows)
• Fextralife: Nightfarers
• Fextralife: Nightlords
• Fextralife: Deep of Night
• Fextralife: Relics
• Fextralife: The Forsaken Hollows
• Fextralife: Duchess and Revenant