As anticipation builds aroundElden Ring Nightreign’srelease next month, FromSoft has released information regarding six of the eight Nightfarers that will be playable at launch. Four of these characters were already teased in the network playtest earlier this year, while two more have been announced with gameplay trailers since the Network Test period ended. Aside from these six confirmed Nightfarers, the other two rumored (but unconfirmed) characters have been highly speculated about, though it’s unclear if they will be officially revealed before Nightreign’s launch in May.
The confirmed Nightfarers from theElden Ring Nightreignnetwork playtestinclude Wylder, Guardian, Duchess, and Recluse, all of which have their own distinct skills and features. In addition to these, FromSoft has since revealed an archer archetype,Ironeye, as well as the Raider Nightfarer, who specializes in heavy weapons and Strength-based combat. The final two Nightfarers are merely rumors based on someNightreigncharacter leaks, with one very likely being the “Revenant,” a Summoner class focusing around Spirit Ash summons. The final Nightfarer rumor is the “Executor,” though very few details are available to date.
Wylder: A Nightfarer For Every Occasion
Wylder Is An All-Around Hero That Doesn’t Specialize As Much As Other Classes
One of the first Nightfarers revealed inElden Ring Nightreign, Wylder is your general, all-purpose class that can suit a wide range of playstyles. I opted to play Wylder during my first few rounds in the network test to get a good idea of what the gameplay was like, and I’d recommend the same if you’re unsure which class is best for your playstyle.Wylder has the most balanced abilities,giving you more versatility in how you approach combat. Wylder’s passive ability allows you to cheat death a single time, which comes in very handy as a first-timer.
Sixth Sense
Cheat death a single time.
This ability can only be used once until restored through revival from death or passing through a Site of Grace.
Character Skill
Claw Shot
Launch grappling claw to rope foes in or move swiftly by retracting.
Ultimate Art
Onslaught Stake
Powerful single attack that launches an iron stake with a great explosion.
Recoil causes one to reel back, but preserves a portion of Ultimate Art gauge. Hold to boost impact and remain standing.
Wylder’s Character Skill is the Claw Shot, which launches a grappling-type claw. This can rope enemies in or help Wylder dodge or avoid incoming attacks. Wylder’s Ultimate Art is the Onslaught Stake skill, whichlaunches a powerful attack with an iron stake that explodesinto an AoE that can be quite devastating against bosses and lesser enemy swarms alike. Wylder’s starting weapons include Wylder’s Greatsword and a Small Shield. Overall, Wylder is easy to control and gives you a good idea of how the game works, but he can also take a bit of strategizing to fully master.
Guardian: A Bird-Tank With High Defenses
Take Flight With Guardian & Utilize Heavy Shields
Guardian is a high-defense bird-type Nightfarer with an affinity for heavy shields, and is essentially the prototypical tank character option if that’s your preferred sort of playstyle. Personally,I think Guardian is one of the best options if you’re struggling to stay alive inNightreign, as he has some incredible defensive buffs and is capable of really powerful heavy attacks as well. Guardian also has an awesome Weapon Art where he can fly into the air and dive to deal AoE damage to surrounding enemies.
Passive Ability
Steel Guard
Plant feet and brace with shield for a more powerful guard.
Greatly improves guard boost, but prevents running while holding up shield.
Whirlwind
Beat wing to whip up a churning cyclone.
Whether targets can be roped in or not depends on enemy physique. Effective at breaking guard. Hold to aim.
Wings of Salvation
Leap up and dive back down to raise protective area.
Can move briefly while in air, and diving attack is perfect for rescues. Hold to shield nearby allies from damage.
Guardian’s name is befitting of the character, with the Steel Guard passive ability allowing you to plant and brace with your shield for an enhanced guard. The Whirlwind Skill whips up a cyclone around Guardian that can rope in enemies and also break their guard depending on their physique. Finally, Guardian’s Ultimate Art is Wings of Salvation, which lets you leap into the air and do a dive, causing damage to surrounding enemies, but alsoraising a protective AoE that can be held to Shield allies.
Duchess: The Agile Assassin Archetype
High Dexterity & Quick Successive Attacks Are Duchess' Specialties
Duchess is the thief and/or assassin-style character in Nightreign. She is capable of quick successive attacks and has one of the few stealth attacks in the game (so far).Time is of the essence forNightreignstealth, and your stealth attacks will need to be executed on the fly,but mastering Duchess’s abilities will prove extremely rewarding. Duchess is capable of high damage and also has a sort of riposte ability in her Restage skill, which will be very interesting for fans of that playstyle.
Magnificent Pose
Attack and dodge optimally, dodging repeatedly when necessary.
Lowers stamina reduction from attacks and evasive actions. Allows up to two consecutive evasive actions.
Restage
Stage reprisal of recent occurrences to damage nearby foes.
Damage to phantoms affects original. This skill can be used at any time.
Finale
Obscure self and surrounding allies to hide from foes.
Enemies lose track of the caster, wandering aimlessly or becoming prone to leaving themselves vulnerable.
Duchess’s passive ability is called Magnificent Pose, and it allows her attacks and dodge skills to be better optimized, also allowing her to dodge repeatedly. This passive lowers the stamina cost for attacks and dodges and allows up to two simultaneous evasive actions.
The Restage skill mentioned above also deals damage to the original phantom when attacking its minions and can be used at any time. Duchess’s Ultimate Art is called Finale, andallows her to enter a shadow state that obscures her from enemy view, causing them to lose track of her and makes them vulnerable to sneak attacks.
Recluse: A Cursed Magic Caster
Use Spells & High Prowess With Recluse
Recluse is the caster class Nightfarer inNightreignand specializes in Cursed Magic. Recluse is the final playable character from the network playtest that players have actually been able to try out for themselves.She’s the only officially announced Nightfarer that focuses on magic skillsand casting spells, though this is likely to change with one of the rumored Nightfarers yet to be revealed. With the Elemental Defense passive ability, she can use affinity attacks to create pickups called affinity residues that restore FP and can be collected and used by allies as well.
Elemental Defense
Discover affinity residues that can be collected to replenish FP.
Affinity attacks create affinity residues. Residues appear for allies, as well, which can also be collected.
Magic Cocktail
Collect the affinity residues of targets to fire an affinity-exploiting magic cocktail.
Affinity residues accumulate. Collect three to wield a magic spell. Complex affinity combinations create more powerful spells.
Soulblood Song
Unleash forbidden chant to brand nearby foes with blood sigils.
Brand foes with short-lived blood sigils that increase damage taken and restore the HP and FP of caster.
Recluse can collect these affinity residues to build up an attack that fires an affinity-exploiting Magic Cocktail, and these can be mixed and match to create more complex and powerful spells. Recluse’s Ultimate Art is called Soulblood Song, which isa forbidden chant that brands enemies with blood sigils.These sigils increase damage taken on enemies and restore HP and FP for Recluse, making it an extremely useful Art that will allow Recluse to continue casting spells without running out of FP entirely.
Ironeye: A FromSoft Archer Class That’s Actually Viable
Archer Builds Have Been Hit Or Miss In Soulsbornes Past
Ironeye is the officialarcher class inElden Ring Nightreign, and by the looks of it, the class will finally make archery relevant as a playstyle. Archery in Soulsborne games has been pretty underwhelming, especially in the Dark Souls franchise. While archery is much more viable inElden RingandShadow of the Erdtree, it still leaves a lot to be desired and is simply outclassed by just about every other ranged build type.Ironeye promises to break that trend,andNightreign’squick-paced mechanics and lack of an ammo requirement resolve many of the issues that made archery frustrating.
Eagle Eye
A keenly observant eye discovers more items to obtain from foes.
Marking
Cut foe with a dagger, creating temporary weak point.
Inflict damage on temporary weak point to destroy it and stagger foes. Damaging weak point extends its duration.
Single Shot
Fire a powerful arrow that surpasses sound and ignores any defense.
Arrow pierces all types of enemies, terrains, and structures. Hold to draw bow and aim before firing.
Ironeye has the ability to “see more items” to get from enemies, which likely means that enemies drop more loot that the entire party is able to acquire. Ironeye’s Character Skill is Marking, and tags a target to create a weak point that can then be destroyed to stagger the enemy. Ironeye’s Single Shot Ultimate Art isa powerful single shot that ignores all defenses and can even shoot through structures and terrainto damage anything and everything in its path, or even revive an ally if they are downed (this is true for all Nightfarer Ultimate Arts).
Raider: A Shout & Smash Seafarer
Raider Is A Great Weapon Wielder That Deals Heavy Damage
The last officially revealed Nightfarer inNightreignto date is the Raider class, a seafaring barbarian who uses shout attacks and wields gigantic, oversized and overpowered weapons. Raider is the Barbarian style archetype forNightreignandspecializes in bonking enemies to the ground and pummeling them to death.Raider is likely the only character that truly specializes in oversized weapons, which are a favorite for manyElden Ringfans who simply love to smash enemies into the ground without thinking too much about overly complex strategies.
Fighter’s Resolve
Taking damage boosts Retaliate potency, cannot be knocked down while using it.
Remain standing with a sliver of HP even after taking heavy damage.
Retaliate
Assume an attack stance and pummel vigorously.
A defensive posture which reduces incoming damage. An enhanced skill which causes even larger enemies to recoil.
Totem Stela
Drive gravekeeper’s wedge into earth to summon a giant tombstone.
Tombstone radiates protective aura, boosting strength of nearby allies and blocking arrows. Can also be climbed.
As you’d expect from a Barbarian class, Raider’s passive ability, Fighter’s Resolve, allows him to remain standing with a sliver of health even after taking major damage, and taking damage also increases his Retaliate potency. Retaliate is Raider’s Character Skill, and is a brutal attack that smashes enemies into the dirt, but in the defensive posture will also reduce incoming damage. Raider’s Ultimate Art is called Totem Stela, whichdrives his gravekeeper’s wedge into the earth to summon a massive tombstonethat can not only be climbed, but also buffs allies and blocks incoming arrows.
Revenant & Executor Are Likely The Final Unconfirmed Nightfarers
A Product Leak Has Revealed The Names & Likely Archetypes For The Final Two Nightfarers
Because of aNightreignmerchandise leakfor a set of keychains from a company called MeeToMa, the images and names of the final two remaining Nightfarers have been more or less confirmed, though not officially announced by FromSoft just yet.The first unconfirmed Nightfarer shown in the leak is Revenant,a summoner-type Nightfarer that appears to wield a Harp weapon of sorts and is speculated to deal with the familiar Spirit Summons found in the originalElden RingandShadow of the Erdtree.
The final unconfirmed class is called Executor, and very little is known about this archetype other than it wears some very familiar armor that resembles Rakshasha from theElden Ringbase game. If that happens to be the case, it’s likely this is a katana-style samurai archetype, which would make sense and round out the eight character classes very nicely. While this is merely speculation at the moment, I can’t imagine FromSoft keeping these final two classes under wraps for much longer, with only about a month left beforeElden Ring Nightreign’sofficial launch.
