There are eight Nightlords in Elden Ring Nightreign, but you are not able to challenge the final boss until you have completed at least four of the previous seven expeditions. Some of the hardest expeditions in Nightreign will take you several attempts to complete, but even the less difficult Nightlords present a significant challenge for unprepared players.
All Returning Dark Souls Bosses In Elden Ring Nightreign
There are six Dark Souls bosses in Elden Ring Nightreign from all three Souls games, including the Nameless King and the Gaping Dragon.
After you defeat the Tricephalos expedition, the only required expedition in Nightreign, you will be able to access six more expeditions to fulfill the requirements to face the Night Aspect. This hardest Nightlords in Nightreign tier list ranks every Nightlord based on the complexity of each boss' moveset, how much each weakness affects each Nightlord, and how difficult each boss is to beat even under the best of circumstances.
8 Augur
Maris, Fathom of Night
- Weakness: Lightning
The Augur expedition is one of the easiest expeditions to complete, depending on your Nightreign comp. If your party is full of melee-oriented characters, you'll have a hard time hitting the boss while it's in the air, and you'll have a hard time catching up to Maris as it floats around the arena and launches hordes of exploding jellyfish at you.
However, a party with at least two ranged characters will find Augur to be laughably easy, especially if you can find Bows or spells with the Lightning affinity to take advantage of the Augur weakness. Brince along an Ironeye and a Recluse – or try an all-Ironeye comp – to keep the damage up and dissipate this ethereal Nightlord without too many problems.
The boss does have some powerful moves, but no instant kills, and most of its strongest abilities are easy to avoid by Surge Sprinting away or with a well-timed dodge.
7 Tricephalos
Gladius, Beast of Night
- Weakness: Holy
Gladius is the first Nightlord Nightreign players must beat to access the rest of the Nightlord expeditions. But despite being the first (and only mandatory) boss, the Tricephalos expedition is not the easiest expedition in the game. This is because of the Gladius phase transition when it splits into three different enemies for a short time, its speed and ability to cover ground quickly, and its long-range fire breath and chain attacks.
Complete Elden Ring Nightreign Achievement Guide
Follow this guide to all Nightreign achievements to learn how to get every achievement and earn the Nightreign Platinum Trophy.
Gladius is not particularly weak to any one type of playstyle, unlike Augur which is made much easier with ranged party members. But if you can split up the dogs between all three players when the boss separates so they don't focus you down one by one, and if you can get some Holy weapons to stagger the boss (and its split forms) and interrupt its most powerful moves, you shouldn't have too much trouble with the Tricephalos.
6 Sentient Pest
Gnoster, Wisdom of Night
- Weakness: Fire
The Sentient Pest is essentially a duo boss. This Nightlord is where things start to ramp up a bit in difficulty as you must split your attention between both the flying Moth boss and the gigantic Grub. When the Grub boss hardens, you must attack the Moth. When the Grub's shell dissipates, you must swap back.
Both bosses have a slew of moves that can kill players caught unawares quickly – think of this difficult Nightreign duo boss fight as a mix of the Moonlight Butterfly from Dark Souls 1 and the Magma Wyrm from Elden Ring. The Moth casts ranged projectile magic attacks, while the Grub deals huge physical damage and spreads Poison at close range.
However, if you can get a source of Fire damage, you can melt both boss' HP bars as hitting either enemy with Fire creates a damage-over-time effect unique to this Nightlord.
5 Gaping Jaw
Adel, Baron of Night
- Weakness: Poison
The Gaping Jaw is where things really start to ramp up, and your skills as a player and knowledge of the boss's moveset starts to come into play. The Gaping Jaw boss is one of the hardest Nightreign bosses, at least compared to the previous three on this list, because it moves around the arena extremely fast, deals massive damage with both its unpredictable grab and close-range AoE attacks, and long-range lightning attacks.
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There are five skins for every character in Nightreign – skins that unlock as you progress, Dark Souls skins, and a Remembrance skin.
The first time you face this boss, spend time to memorize its moveset and the timing to dodge its grab and close-range melee attacks. In addition to learning the timing to dodge Adel's attacks, you should bring a source of Poison into the fight, whether that be a Poison affinity weapon or a spell that inflicts Poison, like Poison Mist.
When the Gaping Jaw is Poisoned, it will be interrupted, reel back, and throw up its guts to get rid of the poisoning. This effect cannot be triggered constantly, but when you do inflict Poison, get ready to wail on the boss uninhibited for a solid five or six seconds as it pukes.
Additionally, Frostbite will slow down Adel after the damage procs. This effect is not as pronounced as the Poison effect on the Gaping Jaw, but it can help make the boss' rapid moveset much easier to deal with.
4 Fissure in the Fog
Caligo, Miasma of Night
- Weakness: Fire
The Fissure in the Fog is one of the hardest bosses in Nightreign and, like Libra, requires a fair bit of mechanical knowledge to succeed. The boss deals Frostbite damage with most of its attacks, breathes Frostbite across the battlefield regularly, and has an attack that can outright kill all but the most defensive characters at the maximum level instantly.
You must get behind special ice pillars to avoid being killed by this attack, which is always preceded by an arena-blanketing fog.
Caligo's weakness is Fire, and like the Sentient Pest, hitting the boss with a Fire attack will impart a damage-over-time effect. This isn't as impactful as some other boss weaknesses in Nightreign, but it's still useful to try to get a source of Fire damage to keep your DPS up during this long fight.
3 Equilibrious Beast
Libra, Creature of Night
- Weakness: Madness
The first five bosses in the full expedition list can be tough, but if you go in with the right weaknesses and strategies in mind, you'll usually perform pretty well. That all changes with the Equilibrious Beast, the first of the hardest Nightlord bosses in Nightreign that take some serious prep and knowledge to beat.
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For starters, the boss' weakness is Madness, which is already pretty hard to come across in a normal playthrough. Look for the Frenzy Eye symbol on points of interest on your map to find Madness weapons. But Madness alone won't save you in this fight, even though it does help control the boss – you need to know its mechanics, especially the Sigil mechanic, and you need to make a smart choice when Libra offers you a deal at the start of the fight.
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At the start of the fight, Libra will offer you a choice between three or four different effects, most of which have a trade-off in exchange for a boon.
- In most situations, it's best to ignore this deal and just smack the boss to start the fight, giving you and your team a few seconds to deal damage before the boss starts to fight back.
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The most important thing in this fight, aside from learning how to avoid its most damaging normal moves, is the Sigil mechanic. When the boss reaches certain HP thresholds, it will begin to meditate and summon Sigils around the boss arena.
- You must destroy all of these Sigils as fast as possible, but some of them are high above the ground where no melee character can reach.
- For this reason, it is essential to bring at least one (preferably two) ranged characters into this fight to deal with this mechanic efficiently.
- When the boss inflicts Madness on everyone and drops shards around the arena, you must quickly sprint between shards to prevent Madness buildup from triggering a damage burst
If you don't destroy every Sigil, the boss will gain a new Enraged moveset and deal significantly more damage temporarily.
2 The Night Aspect
Heolstor, The Nightlord
- Weakness: Holy
The final boss of the game is one of the hardest Nightlords to beat in Nightreign and offers a significant step up in challenge compared to the Fissure in the Fog and Equilibrious Beast expeditions. Heolstor wields several weapons that players might recognize, including the Moonlight Greatsword, can teleport around the arena on a whim, and has a vast array of attacks that can catch even the most seasoned Elden Ring Nightreign player off guard.
Notably, The Night Aspect is one of the only Nightlords with a full second phase that begins when you reduce the boss' HP bar to 0. His HP bar will refill, and Heolstor will become significantly faster, stronger, and gain new moves. Defeating Heolstor is tricky and it will likely take most players several attempts to get to the second phase, let alone beat the final boss of Nightreign.
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To unlock Dark Souls skins, Nightreign players must complete a challenging encounter, then spend Murk at the dresser to purchase Dark Souls costumes.
But there is a trick – like other bosses, the Night Aspect has a weakness, in this case Holy damage. If you hit Heolstor with enough Holy attacks, the boss will stagger and gain a golden glow. When the golden glow disappears, you can interrupt it again with Holy attacks. Make sure every member of your party has access to Holy damage in some way to make the final boss significantly easier to deal with.
1 Darkdrift Knight
Fulghor, Champion of Nightglow
- Weakness: Lightning
The Darkdrift Knight is the hardest boss in Elden Ring Nightreign, and the most difficult Nightlord – it's even more difficult than the final boss. This is because it has a long-range charge attack that can be difficult to avoid, arena-covering AoE attacks that are nearly impossible to dodge, and because it's one of the most mobile Nightlords.
Fulghor swiftly sprints around the arena and closes distance quickly with fast stabs and aerial slam attacks. This makes it difficult to land slow attacks and Ultimate Arts to interrupt it.
The boss's weakness is Lightning, and if you are able to acquire a weapon with the Lightning affinity, use it in this fight to more easily interrupt Fulghor. Pay special attention to when the boss stops to begin its AoE attack, which will spawn blades around the arena that slam down for massive damage. If you can stagger the boss as it winds up this attack (which is easier with Lightning weapons) it will cease the AoE attack and go back to its normal rotation.
Elden Ring Nightreign
- Released
- May 30, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment, From Software
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Number of Players
- 1-3
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, Soulslike, Roguelite
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
