Beginner Tips for ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN

Skip to main content

 

Summary

     I.  The Basics of the Game
     II. Before You Leave Roundtable Hold
     III. As you Land in Limveld
     IV. Fight Together or Divide and Conquer?
     V. After the Battle
 

 

Welcome, Nightfarer. Thank you for joining the battle to repel the Nightlords from the land of Limveld.

 

Since you’re just starting out on this journey, we’ve prepared a set of tips and suggestions to help you get your footing and make the most of your early expeditions.

 

 

The Basics of the Game

ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN, you are attempting to destroy the Nightlords, a collection of enormously powerful enemies who are eroding the land of Limveld with the power of Night.

 

You cannot simply fight a Nightlord, you must launch an expedition to Limveld, and then, over the course of three days, you must acquire the means to defeat that Nightlord. This means gaining runes to purchase levels, finding weapons with skills or passive abilities to augment your character, or consumable items that can protect you or harm your enemies.

 

Each time you enter Limveld, the locations and enemies will shift, sometimes very drastically. As the day passes, the Night’s Tide will begin to restrict the accessible area, until you are locked in combat with waves of enemies as night falls.

 

Your goal for each expedition is to survive, power up, fight, and repeat.

If you need to know more about the game’s options and controls, visit our Game Guide.

 

Before You Leave Roundtable Hold

 

Choose your Nightfarer

 

In ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN, you play as one of 8 Nightfarers, characters who have a pre-defined set of abilities and characteristics. 

You can switch freely between all of your Nightfarers while in the Roundtable Hold, but once you begin an expedition and leave for Limveld, you will not be able to change your Nightfarer until the expedition is over.

 

Be aware that you will begin the game with only 6 Nightfarers unlocked. The other two will require you to find certain items or meet certain requirements before they can join the quest to destroy the Night.

 

 

Check out the Sparring Grounds

 

This large open area near the front entrance will allow you to test out each Nightfarer’s abilities. There are several static targets that you can attack to gauge your damage, and a mechanical enemy soldier that you can activate to explore how your Nightfarer blocks, dodges, and parries.

 

You have the ability to change how quickly your character skill and ultimate art gauges refill while you are in the training arena. Set the gauges to unlimited to activate your skill and art as often as you like while you train. Keep in mind that not all skills and arts have the same cooldown.

 

In the sparring grounds you will also find a chest full of weapons that you can equip. The weapons you find during each expedition will be randomized with random passive abilities, but this collection can help you familiarize yourself with what you might pick up so you can quickly select weapons you prefer when they drop from enemies or chests.

 

Open the Codex

 

In the Library, you can find a Codex containing valuable gameplay information, including information about all of the Nightfarers. This is also where you can replay the tutorial if you want to brush up on your skills in a more open environment.

 

When Choosing An Expedition

 

Your first expedition will be to hunt the Nightlord Tricephalos. His profile shows an important piece of information next to his icon – the element that he is weakest to. In the case of Tricephalos, it is Holy, an element that usually is found in incantations on seals.

 

As you unlock other Nightlord expeditions, you will also be able to see their weaknesses on their profiles. Keep this in mind, as good preparation is key to defeating a Nightlord.

 

 

As you Land in Limveld

Working together is very important to a successful expedition in Limveld. As you descend, we recommend you use your map to pin nearby areas of interest for your team to explore.

Most landing spots in Limveld are adjacent to at least two things – a small camp of enemies and a Site of Grace. This small camp will usually provide enough runes to purchase your first level up at the Site of Grace as well as some additional weapons, and we recommend that, unless you are an experienced player, you clear out the camp together. 

 

Rune drops for all enemies are shared equally between teammates no matter who kills the enemy, so don’t worry about kill stealing. However, gear and items are not instanced per player. 

If you pick up a weapon, then it will vanish for the rest of your team. You have a limited inventory of six weapons, two talismans, and three consumable slots by default. Keep this in mind and only take what you need most. 

 

We recommend you drop items you don’t need, especially if would suit one of your teammates more.

 

Using a Site of Grace

 

Approaching a Site of Grace will automatically heal you and restore your health flasks. You do not have FP restoration flasks, but approaching a Site of Grace will restore your FP as well.

 

Don’t worry, enemies do not respawn after using a Site of Grace. If you have enough experience to buy a level, you’ll see a small arrow next to your level in the upper left corner of your screen.

 

Stat progression is determined by your Nightfarer, so there is no need to pick your stats.

 

Simply spend the runes to level up and your relevant stats will increase automatically. It’s a quick process and you can even level up without fully stopping if you time your button presses right.

 

Important Areas

 

There are several types of structures that you should keep an eye out for as you travel through Limveld. The first is Churches. Churches always contain a item that will upgrade your healing flask by one charge. Having additional healing will always be useful no matter which Nightlord you face.

 

The next structures you should be aware of are the ruins, camps, and forts. Each ruin, camp and fort contain many enemies, item chests, and at least one boss. Defeating bosses is usually the best way to find powerful weapons or passive abilities, and the more powerful the boss, the better its drops.

 

Additionally, there are small sites that provide temporary boosts or restoration scattered throughout the land. These small sites can be used by multiple characters after being activated, but they will not stay active forever. If used strategically, your entire team can benefit from an additional heal, rune acquisition boost, or a single-use spell after activating these sites. 

 

There are many other types of structures that you can find in Limveld, and we recommend you investigate them all.

 

Weapons, Consumables, and Rarity

 

All Nightfarers can equip and use every weapon in the game. Their stats can affect the damage that the weapon does, and if you are not high enough, you might not be able to use a weapon’s special skills, but its passive abilities will be active regardless of your level.

 

You also do not need to worry about weapon weight or equipment load, as you have a limited inventory.

 

All items in ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN have a rarity rating. There are four levels of rarity: Common (grey), Uncommon (blue), Rare (purple), and Legendary (gold), with gold being the best.

The better a weapon’s rarity, the better its damage and passive ability. Passive abilities of the same type can stack with each other, so don’t be afraid to double up. 

 

You can manually increase the rarity of a weapon using smithing stones and an anvil, which are usually found near a merchant. Smithing stones can be dropped by enemies, found in treasure chests, purchased from merchants, or found in caves. 

 

If you haven’t found a weapon you like, you can also purchase weapons from merchants who are found sitting next to their campfires near several types of structures. These weapons have elemental attacks and are a good backup plan if you haven’t found a weapon that your Nightlord is weak to by the second day.

Consumable items have a fixed rarity and cannot be upgraded, but their rating is less important than their function. We recommend that beginner teams make sure at least one team member has some warming stones in their inventory before each night falls.

 

Merchants can also sell you a pouch that will increase the number of consumable items you can carry by one. This is often a good purchase, but only if the price of the pouch will not put you under the number of runes needed to level up. A level is usually a better buy.

 

Fight Together or Divide and Conquer?

 

We recommend that beginners try to stick together throughout the expedition to maximize your total damage and defense, but the key to sticking together is moving quickly and knowing your limits. 

 

It’s important to cover ground quickly, so use your sprint ability, your wall-climb ability, and the fact that there is no fall damage in Limveld to your advantage. Features like. Features like Spiritsprings and Spectral Hawk trees can help you cover huge distances or soar to the top of large structures with ease.

 

If your team finds themselves dying repeatedly to a difficult boss or getting close to the edge of the Night’s Tide, it’s usually better to cut your losses and move on than continue to struggle against a challenge that is too difficult, especially during the first day.  Losing a level or multiple levels at the wrong moment can easily scuttle an expedition so be aggressive but smart.

 

We recommend that you aim to be at least level 5 or higher for the first night and at least level 10 or higher for the second night, although this can make your fight with the Nightlord quite challenging and higher levels are always better.

 

No matter which Nightfarer you are playing, it would be better for you to keep at least one ranged weapon in your inventory to make rescuing your team less risky if they are downed. Remember that during the day, you only have a limited amount of time to revive your teammate before they die and respawn, leaving behind their runes. 

 

Dropped runes can be regained as long as you do not die again before picking them up. Be careful, sometimes runes can be picked up by an enemy. If you cannot find your runes on the map, look for a nearby enemy with a golden glowing aura. Killing that enemy will restore your lost runes.

 

When Night Falls

 

Facing the waves of enemies at the end of a day requires that you work together as a team. The first wave will usually be a large group of weaker enemies, and once the smaller enemies are dead, the main boss of the night will arrive. However, if you take too long clearing out these smaller foes, the main boss can still arrive after a certain amount of time has passed. 

 

While falling in combat during the day only results in the loss of a level if your timer runs out, there is no timer during the nighttime boss gauntlets. However, if all three Nightfarers are downed at the same time during the night, the expedition will fail. 

 

If only one member of your team is downed, it is recommended that one person draw the attention of the enemy and the other revives the downed Nightfarer. This should help avoid total party wipes from sweeping enemy attacks.

 

Don’t forget that many ultimate arts can be used to revive downed teammates, like Guardian’s Wings of Salvation. 

 

 

The Third Day

 

If you survive the second night, you will be transported directly to the Nightlord’s lair. There, you will have an opportunity to use any smithing stones you may have acquired, as well as purchase last-minute healing or support items from the merchant. Take note, this final merchant does not sell weapons.

There will also be a Site of Grace where you can restore your health flasks and spend your experience if you have enough to level up. 

 

It is recommended that you spend as many of your runes as you can to fill out your inventory with support items, as all remaining runes will be lost at the end of the expedition. 

When your team is ready, approach the large door to begin the final fight. While each Nightlord has different tactics, in general, we suggest that your team take turns holding the focus of the Nightlord. This allows everyone to use restorative support items and increases your survivability.

 

Fighting a Nightlord is a highly challenging endeavor. Make sure to use all of the resources at your disposal. Don’t try to save helpful consumable items for later, if your team is defeated, they will all be lost. Better to use them than lose them. 

 

The same thing goes for your ultimate art. Try not to wait too long, especially if your ultimate deals a great amount of damage and has a quicker recharge time.

 

After the Battle

 

At the end of each expedition, whether you win or lose, you will receive an assortment of relics and some murk. Murk can be used to purchase items from the Small Jar Bazaarin Roundtable Hold. 

Relics will allow you to adjust your Nightfarer’s starting loadout, stats, and abilities, depending on their rarity and size. Relics are a great way to customize your Nightfarer to face a specific Nightlord, so check them regularly.

 

Each Nightfarer has a starting chalice which allows you to equip three relics of specific colors. You can also purchase new chalices from the Pot Merchant and unlock other chalices as you play. 

Just like with weapons, we recommend you test out your relics in the Sparring Ground before taking them on an expedition, especially relics that change the function of your Nightfarer’s abilities. 

 

Murk can also be used to unlock new costumes for your Nightfarer after purchasing the Besmirched Frame from the Pot Merchant. The Iron Menial will install a wardrobe in one of the adjoining rooms. 

 

 

And if you want to discuss more strategies and trade information with other Nightfarers, join our official ELDEN RING Discord !

ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN is set for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, PS4 and Xbox One

 

Shop now

 

For more information about ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN check out the latest news