Elden Ring Nightreign Guide#
Elden Ring Nightreign is developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It launched on May 30, 2025 for PC (Steam), PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, and both current- and last-generation Xbox consoles. It borrows the world and action feel of Elden Ring while swapping out the entire formula: instead of dozens of hours of open-world exploration, it is three Nightfarers teaming up for expeditions of roughly 40 minutes per run.
This is a standalone game — it neither requires nor shares saves with Elden Ring. You no longer build a custom character; you pick from a roster of preset heroes called Nightfarers. Equipment and levels reset every run, and the only thing that carries forward is the cross-run growth granted by Relics. Within a run, you loot, level up, and upgrade weapons across a randomly reshuffled Limveld, hold out through two night bosses as the Night Tide closes in, and finish by facing one of the eight Night Lords.
This guide covers the Nightfarer classes in detail, the day-night rhythm and Night Tide circle of the three-day expedition, how to fight the Night Lords and night bosses, relics and meta progression, hidden class unlocks, co-op and platform differences, plus PC requirements and a quick FAQ.
Who Should Read What#
| Player type | Recommended reading path |
|---|---|
| Complete beginner | Beginner Basics → Three-Day Expedition → Controls and Settings → FAQ |
| Played the original | Differences from the Original → Nightfarer Classes → Relics and Meta Progression |
| Chasing the Night Lords | Night Lords and Boss Fights → Team Comps → Weapons and Equipment |
| Solo player | Solo Mode → Nightfarer Classes → Tips |
| Only one friend | Co-op Guide → Team Comps (duo supported since 1.02) |
Key Features#
| Feature | What it means |
|---|---|
| Three-player co-op roguelike | Runs last about 40 minutes; map, enemies, and bosses are reshuffled every run, and in-run growth never leaves the run |
| Standalone spin-off | No need to own Elden Ring; saves are fully independent |
| Preset heroes | Ten Nightfarers (8 base + 2 DLC), each with a unique ability, skill, and ultimate |
| Three-day expedition | Two exploration days of about 15 minutes each, then a direct showdown with the Night Lord on day three |
| Night Tide circle | The Night Tide keeps shrinking as the day advances, pushing the squad toward the night boss arena |
| Night Lords | Eight main bosses; beyond them are limited-time enhanced “Everdark Sovereigns” |
| Relic system | The core of meta progression: three relic slots per Nightfarer, with effects that persist across runs |
| Shifting terrain | Each run can trigger dynamic events such as meteor strikes, ant swarms, and volcanoes that rewrite parts of the map |
| Multiplayer formats | Solo, duo (since 1.02), and trio; crossplay within the same console family, none across platform families |
| Pure PVE | No player-versus-player; co-op and survival are the only forms of competition |
The Three-Day Expedition: What a Run Is Actually About#
The “three days” are narrative dressing; the real structure can be understood simply as two days of looting, then one night of all-out battle:
| Stage | Length | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 (exploration) | ~15 minutes | Rush chests, clear small enemies to bank runes, level up at Sites of Grace, and visit churches to top up flasks |
| Night 1 (night boss) | Until it is defeated | Fight the first night boss; afterward HP, FP, and flasks are fully restored |
| Day 2 (exploration) | ~15 minutes | Same map, daytime progress kept; elites are marked so you can shore up weak points |
| Night 2 (night boss) | Until it is defeated | A much stronger night boss; the result often decides whether the run reaches the end |
| Day 3 (Night Lord) | As long as the fight takes | Make your final gear swap at the spirit shelter, then pass through the petrified tree gate to challenge the Night Lord |
The Night Tide drives this rhythm: about 4.5 minutes in, a ring of blue Night Tide appears on the map and starts closing; it accelerates a second time around the 11-minute mark and, by the end of the day, hugs the night boss’s battlefield. Outside the circle your HP drains continuously, and the damage climbs steeply over time — stay out there a few minutes and you will simply be wiped. In other words, during the day you are always being pushed by a countdown toward the night.
The Ten Nightfarers at a Glance#
Playable characters are collectively called Nightfarers. The base game has 8 (6 selectable from the start; the Duchess and the Revenant must be unlocked through quests), and The Forsaken Hollows DLC adds the Scholar and the Undertaker. Every Nightfarer comes with a fixed ability, one skill, and one ultimate.
| Nightfarer | Role | Starting kit | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wylder | All-round melee | Greatsword + small shield | Balanced stats, solid at both blocking and mobility; the ultimate excels at burst damage and poise break — the easiest to pick up |
| Guardian | Frontline defense | Halberd + greatshield | Highest HP and stamina, can hold the shield up for long stretches; the ultimate leaps skyward, slams down, and rescues allies |
| Ironeye | Ranged damage | Bow | Outstanding Dexterity; can mark enemies to open weaknesses for the whole team and revive allies from a distance |
| Duchess | Agile assassin | Dagger | Can chain slide-steps to dodge; her skill replays damage the enemy recently took; the ultimate turns the whole team invisible (unlock required) |
| Raider | Heavy bruiser | Greataxe / greathammer / colossal weapons | Extremely high HP, Strength, and poise; normal attacks cannot be interrupted; the ultimate plants a totem pole that boosts team damage |
| Revenant | Summoner support | Claw + sacred seal | Summons the souls of family members to fight alongside her; very high Faith; leans support (unlock required) |
| Recluse | Ranged spellcaster | Staff | High Intelligence and Faith; absorbs elemental marks and converts them into unique spells; the ultimate lets allies recover HP and FP on hit |
| Executor | Iai counterattacks | Katana | Standout Dexterity and Arcane; a very wide parry window; the ultimate transforms him into a savage beast with an extra health bar |
| Scholar | Buffs and debuffs | Rapier | DLC character; observes the battlefield to buff allies and debuff enemies (DLC + unlock required) |
| Undertaker | Strength and Faith | Great hammer | DLC character; standout Strength and Faith; excels at rescue-and-revive combos (DLC + unlock required) |
The Night Lords at a Glance#
Night Lords are the main bosses of day three — eight of them in the base game, and each run you pick one at the Roundtable Hold’s Site of Grace. Every Night Lord has a scripted attribute weakness, and the same weakness also works on its minions on nights 1 and 2.
| Night Lord | Expedition | Profile | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gladius | Night of the Beast | A three-headed hound wielding a chained blade; can split into three wild wolves; deals fire damage | Holy |
| Adel | Night of the Baron | A wide-jawed wyrm that commands the power of gravity; deals lightning damage | Poison |
| Gnoster | Night of the Wisdom | A fusion of a white moth and a great insect; deals magic damage and casts poison | Fire |
| Maris | Night of the Deep | A massive being resembling a cosmic entity; casts sleep | Lightning |
| Libra | Night of the Demon | A goat-headed humanoid mixing the Frenzied Flame and holy incantations; deals holy damage and inflicts Madness | Madness |
| Fulghor | Night of the Light Knight | A masked, one-armed centaur wielding a giant sword; can regenerate his left arm; deals holy damage | Lightning |
| Caligo | Night of the Haze | An ice-attuned dragon in the shape of an ancient dragon; deals magic damage and inflicts frostbite | Fire |
| Heolstor | Night of the Shapeshifter | The original Nightlord waiting at the end of all Night Lords; the strongest of the eight | Holy |
Beyond the eight, there are two extensions: Everdark Sovereigns are limited-time enhanced versions of the Night Lords, with a new batch rotating every two weeks; defeating one grants a Proof of Kingship used to exchange for special relics. Deep of Night is the game’s high-difficulty challenge format.
Relics and Meta Progression#
Relics are this game’s only cross-run growth. Every completed run — win or lose — settles out relics; the farther you push and the deeper you fight, the better the count and quality, and defeating a Night Lord pays the most. Each Nightfarer has three relic slots, and the relic colors available differ per character; you configure them at the relic ritual in the Roundtable Hold.
| Growth direction | Typical effects | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Stat boosts | Directly raise one attribute | A steadier foundation from the very start of a run |
| Resource boosts | Improve drop quality and add starting resources | Make each run’s random opening less of a dice roll |
| Ability rewrites | Attach new effects to existing skills or ultimates | Push a character’s comfort zone even further outward |
The discipline is simple: fill in survival and error tolerance first; talk about the ceiling afterward. Relics are not shared when you switch characters, so early on it is better to build up one or two mains than to split resources evenly across all ten.
How It Differs from Elden Ring#
| Item | Nightreign | Elden Ring |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Three-player co-op roguelike | Open-world action RPG |
| World | Limveld, a compact area reshuffled every run | The full Lands Between on a fixed layout |
| Characters | Preset Nightfarers with built-in abilities and ultimates | A self-made Tarnished with free stat spreads and builds |
| Players | 1 to 3 (duo since 1.02) | Primarily solo, with optional online play |
| Run length | About 40 minutes per run | A main story of dozens of hours |
| Progression | In-run leveling plus out-of-run relics | Account-wide level and equipment, permanently kept |
| Death | The run proceeds to settlement; relics are kept | Runes are dropped and can be recovered where you fell |
| PvP | Pure PVE, no player combat | Invasions and other PvP elements |
| Saves | Fully independent from Elden Ring | A separate save of its own |
Multiplayer and Platforms#
- The base game is not needed: this is a standalone title you can buy and play on its own, with saves unrelated to Elden Ring.
- Player count: solo, duo, and three-player expeditions are supported. Duo mode only arrived with the post-launch 1.02 patch.
- Crossplay: consoles can connect within the same family — PlayStation 5 with PlayStation 4, and current-gen Xbox with last-gen Xbox — but PlayStation, Xbox, and PC cannot matchmake with each other. Cross-generation play inside one family is officially supported; cross-family play is not.
- Offline: solo players can run expeditions in offline mode, with no matchmaking into other players’ sessions.
- Remembrance quests: if several squad members push their personal Remembrance quests at the same time, matchmaking fails; only one player can advance a quest at any given time.
PC System Requirements#
| Spec | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 11 64-bit |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-10600 / AMD Ryzen 5 5500 | Intel Core i5-11500 / AMD Ryzen 5 5600 |
| Memory | 12 GB | 16 GB |
| GPU | NVIDIA GTX 1060 3GB / AMD RX 580 4GB | NVIDIA GTX 1070 8GB / AMD RX Vega-56 8GB |
| DirectX | 12 | 12 |
| Storage | 30 GB available space | 30 GB available space |
| Sound | Windows-compatible sound card | Windows-compatible sound card |
Quick FAQ#
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need to buy Elden Ring? | No — the game is fully standalone and does not share saves |
| Can I play solo? | Yes, with an optional offline mode; solo difficulty is adjusted accordingly |
| Can two people play? | Yes — duo expeditions were added in patch 1.02 |
| Is crossplay supported? | Only within the same console family (PS5 with PS4, current-gen Xbox with last-gen); the three families cannot cross-match |
| How long is one run? | About 40 minutes, with each of the first two exploration days at roughly 15 minutes |
| Is there PvP? | No — this is a pure PVE co-op roguelike |
| How many playable characters are there? | 8 in the base game plus 2 in the DLC — 10 Nightfarers in total |
| Is the map the same every run? | No — map layout, enemy placement, and drops are reshuffled every run |
Update Timeline#
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-04 | The The Forsaken Hollows DLC launches, adding the Scholar, the Undertaker, and new Night Lords |
| 2025-09-11 | A free update adds the high-difficulty “Deep of Night” mode (1.02.2) |
| 2025-07-31 | Patch 1.02 adds two-player expeditions |
| 2025-05-30 | Full release |
Related Games#
- Elden Ring — the original, and still the benchmark open-world soulslike action RPG
- Dark Souls 3 — the crowning entry of FromSoftware’s soulslike trilogy
- Sekiro — FromSoftware’s precision-parry action game, close in spirit to the Executor’s kit
- Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty — a fast soulslike built around team revives and mission-based runs
- Wuchang: Fallen Feathers — a soulslike with shifting weapon kits and punishing boss fights
Related Rankings#
Best Soulslike Games · Best Co-Op Games · Hardest Bosses
Full Guides#
In-depth sub-guides — beginner basics, the three-day expedition, Nightfarer classes, Night Lords and boss fights, relics and meta progression, team comps, weapons and equipment, the map and shifting terrain, solo play, co-op play, hidden class unlocks, The Forsaken Hollows DLC, controls and settings, tips, achievements and trophies, PC requirements and optimization, a FAQ, story and lore, a gallery, and the update log — are available in Chinese on NTGame’s Elden Ring Nightreign section.
If you read Chinese, the update-log sub-guide there carries the full patch and DLC record behind the timeline above.