If you’ve been a long-timeFromSoftwarefan, you know that building out your character with the best stats, weapons, and armor is just as critical to success as your actual skill with the gameplay. I’ve spent hours of my life agonizing over equip loads,poisetotals, and DPS as I’ve looked for any advantage I can find in a Soulsborne game.
Elden RingNightreign,on the other hand, doesn’t force you to have to think about these things at all. Instead, you’re given eight total premade characters, or “Nightfarers”, to choose from when you launch an expedition. Naturally, you’re probably wondering which character is actually the best one to choose as your main.
Elden Ring Nightreign Review
“Git gud” personified.
The answer is a little complicated, becauseit ultimately comes down to some level of playstyle preference, as well as the composition of your full teamto ensure you and the squad are ready for everything the game will throw your way. Still, that doesn’t mean certain classes don’t start to stand just a little taller than the rest as you come to grips with Nightreign.
If you can’t decide which Nightfarer to try out first or just want to skip to picking the best main right off the bat, we’ve got you covered below.
To come up with these rankings, we averaged out the personal Nightfarer preferences of myself and two other DualShockers writers we had covering Nightreign. In the event of a tie, the Nightfarer that was preferred by two out of three writers took the win.
Too Much Glass, Not Enough Cannon
Every Nightfarer in Nightreign can be great if utilized properly, butRecluse is arguably the most difficult to become proficient with. On top of that, she also has the lowest starting HP of the bunch, and doesn’t have the best Stamina total either. She makes up for that with a high FP score, which makes sense, because she’s built around using magic spells nonstop.
Her spells are nice for the double purpose of being able to save teammates from Near Death from a distance. They can also be leveraged for nice damage outputs onto enemies if you’re able to learn how to best deploy her FP allotment. Still, the learning curve and tendency to die first in battle make her less than ideal compared to any other class.
Her character skill, Magic Cocktail, can cover any damage type in the game that you need to exploit enemy weaknesses, which is pretty awesome. Still, getting the exact affinities you need takes some extra work and item collection as well. Soulblood Song is her ultimate art, which marks enemies with a sigil that increases their damage while healing the party, Mohg-style.
All three of us that participated in our character ranking poll put Recluse last.
Slow, But Steady
By no means is Raider a bad choice, but he’s just typically not as useful as some others higher on the list.What he has going for him are very high HP and Stamina ratings, which translate directly into him being one of the two best tanks in the game.If you want to stay close to the action, Raider may be your guy.
Still, always having to play bosses at close range is dangerous in a game as challenging as Nightreign, so you’re definitely going to put all this extra HP to the test. Along with that, he prefers heavy/collosal weapons. These are obviously great for mowing down lower-level grunts or chunking boss health, but you’re often going to feel slow in the context of Nightreign’s increased and demanded speed.
He does have the nice perk of extra poise during his special moves, so he can never be canceled out of one once he starts his windups. Retaliate can help him throw bosses off balance, and his ultimate art, Totem Stela, can deal a lot of damage when properly played.
Still, the pillar of stone that Totem Stela summons as a result can sometimes place enemies in awkward positions or just completely get in the way despite also creating a barrier to deflect enemy projectiles.
One of our writers loves Raider and mains him. The other two of us ranked Raider seventh overall despite understanding his appeal.
Climbing The Pecking Order
While Raider looks like he’d be the tankiest class in the game, that title actually belongs to Guardian. He has the highest HP score out of all eight Nightfarers, and also has a very high Stamina total. He doesn’t have a lot of FP, but he doesn’t need it. This all ensures that Guardian is always in the mix of any fight, though flying enemies and bosses can pose an occasional problem.
Mainly using Halberds or other longer weapons, Guardian has a lot of reach and can deal a lot of damage, making him the safest bet for constant melee damage potential combined with his sky-high HP.He also has a really nice defensive passive ability in Steel Guard, making him the easiest character to keep alive.
Whirlwind is great for sending smaller enemies into the sky, then crashing to the ground in a heap. His ultimate art, Wings Of Salvation, is one of the most underrated ultimate arts in the game. Not only can he use it to deal heavy damage to any enemy caught in its AOE range, but it also immediately revives any teammates that are in a Near Death state.
Guardian ranked fairly lowly for our group overall, but he was definitely my personal character of choice. If you value survivability, melee, and support, don’t let Guardian’s #6 ranking scare you off. He can be amazing.
Take That, Rewind It Back
Duchess isn’t available from the very beginning of the game, but you’ll unlock her automatically after defeating the first Nightlord, Gladius. She’s average to poor in the starting HP and Stamina departments, which can make her a bit tricky to manage for less proficient players.
Still, she can be a blast when you put all her strengths together to good use. She’s a fast attacker with daggers or other small blades, but that also means you’re going to have to stay closer to the action at times due to her lower reach in general.Her ultimate art, Finale, cloaks her and any teammate close enough, allowing a chance to move to safety in a pinch or sneak up on an enemy.
Really though, it’s her character skill, Restage, that sets her apart from some other choices we’ve already mentioned. When deployed, Restage summons a ghostly form of any character that’s dealt damage to an enemy over the last few seconds, then reapplies these attacks back to the opponentagain, albeit with a slightly lower damage output overall. This move cools down quickly though, so it can be used over and over to great effect.
Grappling With It
Wylder is the Nightfarer who you start the game’s tutorial area with and that graces the cover art, so it kind of makes sense that he’s the middle of the road, all-around-type class. He has great HP, solid Stamina, and slightly subpar FP, but that’s not a huge deal for him.
He mainly uses larger swords, which always feel pretty natural and are a good starting point for players newer to the Soulsborne genre. He’s pretty standard, which isn’t a knock at all. This can be a huge strength, depending on who you ask.His passive, Sixth Sense, allows him to shrug off one attack that would’ve been a deathblow, which can come in extraordinarily handy.
He also has a grappling hook thanks to his character skill, Claw Shot. This allows him to pull lighter enemies towards him, or can also be used for traversal to either quickly close distance or jettison out of harms way. His ultimate art, Onslaught Stake, shoots a giant fire blast that can turn the tide of a battle at a moment’s notice.
If It Bleeds…
Executor starts with middle of the road HP and Stamina, but it’s enough to make him viable enough in both regards. He’s a speedy, dex-inclined character that also comes standard with a blade that causes Bleed buildup.If you’re like me, Bleed carried you through most of your time in the original Elden Ring, so you know the value here already.
If you’re unaware,Bleedticks up a meter on an enemy with each successive hit. Once a certain amount of Bleed is built up, enemies suffer a substantial chunk of damage loss at once. If you’re a skilled dodger and can keep constant attacking pressure on an enemy, you can proc Bleed several times in one fight and cut down a tricky enemy quickly.
His character skill, Cursed Sword, allows him to bring out a secondary blade whenever he wants. It’s the only skill in the game that’s not actually on a cooldown timer, and it causes extra damage while also harboring the ability to parry/block incoming attacks. There’s a learning curve, but it’s worth it.
His ultimate art is Aspects Of The Crucible: Beast, which is the most visually absurd in the game. This will transform Executor into ahumongousbeast, which has light and heavy attacks to burn down enemies quickly, as well as a roar to do chip damage to anything standing within a certain radius.
Summon Time Radness
The eighth and final character in Nightreign that you’ll unlock,Revenantis worth the wait.You’ll even have to defeat Revenant in combat firstbefore being able to play as her, making her that much cooler. Once unlocked, you might notice she’s got an HP total just as low as Recluse, but she makes up for it in other ways.
She starts with Cursed Claws that deal Magic damage, which is nice for certain enemies even though Magic is not the main damage weakness of any Nightlord in the game. Again, this is okay considering the rest of the tricks that Revenant has up her sleeves.
Her skills allow her to summon a collection of phantoms, and do so often.Each of these phantoms immediately joins a fight, and they last asuperlong time, too. Having extra allies in a tough boss fight thanks to Revenant is seriouslyinsanelyuseful. Her ultimate art, Immortal March, can also revive a Near Death ally immediately, making her a wonderful support character too.
No Knocks, Just Nocks
Ironeye has subpar HP and FP combined with a decent Stamina total, but don’t let the so-so starting stats scare you off. Don’t allow yourself to be concerned that bow and arrow builds are not typically used much by most players in standard Elden Ring, either. In Nightreign, Ironeye’s bow specifically makes him awesome.
His arrows are unlimited, allowing Ironeye to simply unload indefinitely while keeping as safe a distance as possible. Sure, this is typically chip damage, but it adds up quickly and can also be combined with affinities to deal a specific damage type to an enemy. He can also wield some smaller melee weapons, so you aren’t always limited to the bow.
His passive skill, Eagle Eye, allows the entire team to see more details on the map, including what items types you’ll find at every point of interest. His character skill, Marking, causes the affected enemy to receive extra damage from all allies for a period of time. His ultimate art, Single Shot, fires a giant arrow at the targeted boss or enemy, causing massive damage.
Add to the mix that he’s also great for reviving from Near Death since he can shoot downed allies from a distance with his arrows, and Ironeye really can do it all. You’ll have to take some extra precaution to stay alive since he isn’t as tanky as others, but his total skillset is second to none, and he can be in the mix for any boss fight.Honestly, a full team of three proficient Ironeyes could be the way to play Nightreign.
Two of us ranked Ironeye first out of the eight, and the other ranked him second. Clearly, he’s insanely good.
