Boss Mechanics and Opportunity Cost are the two things needed to master Nightreign. This guide doesn’t require specific spells, relics, or team compositions, to succeed or win consistently. It includes them in analysis, as they make things easier, but you don’t need more than 6 useful lines. You don’t need cracked Evergaol+Invader relics, a specific team composition, meta characters, or specialized builds. That’s not what’s going to contribute to your team DPS the most. Hitting the boss frequently is. School specific melting relics aren’t needed to succeed at Depth 5 scaling. That’s not gonna be the average run by playing with random people, random relic RNG, random item drops. 

You can still make mistakes in Depth 5. It took me 12 hours solo queuing random trios to clear regular Gladius for the first time, when the game launched because there was no guide/knowledge. Now it's seems impossible to lose a base game, and reviving teammates while fighting Depth 5 ED Gladius is no issue. There is potential to climb beyond Depth 5 - 9999 by learning how to solo-carry (teaching/helping friends/randoms) every game. Reaching 9999 still doesn’t mean you have fully mastered the game and have nothing to learn, you can still learn to hard-carry and aura farm. Especially when players think they need to amazing relics or cheated ones to get there. Those cheated relic players? Most of the time they need to be carried, still get 3+ barred, and use cheated relics DPS to try and compensate for not taking the time to learn bosses.

This guide is scuffed, contains aura farming clips of Revenant clutching, but it's the guide I wish I had for me and to give friends. Knowing boss mechanics them isn't enough, learning from your deaths and how to deal with certain attacks while in trios is needed too. Deep of Night will punish you for not knowing them, and you get way less time and room for error than the base game to learn them. It makes games more difficult, improving more difficult, and puts you with others with random experiences and varying skill. But that can change, you can carry sometimes, and you can consistently win. By no means is this a definitive guide, don't have to follow it to a tee, but it should contain everything you need to get started, master, or enough to form your own strategies.

Instead of taking my words at face value or skipping over certain text, I've provided example clips to demonstrate the points. Videos clips are marked like Clip #4 - for easier searching.

What if I told you can do 2x more damage to Animus in Everdark Gnoster, or that Melees can do more than Casters, by just learning 1 mechanic (Clip #4)? Many Depth 5 players still aren’t aware of that mechanic as of this guide. This guide does not cover all the mechanics and skips over many basic ones, but these are the ones most important ones I found off random Reddit posts and use, that might not be obvious to dodge by playing the game. I didn't even learn about that mechanic until Depth 4 even after seeing people attack Animus on solo videos.  A Reddit thread dedicated to it reminded me of it.

Knowing 1 mechanic can save your runs, a team wipe, increase DPS, and save you from so much suffering/time. This is the boring part of the guide, but it is the most important part of the guide. Everyone skips learning them because they think they know them all already, or that they can't learn to dodge them. I included aura farming clips with them for entertainment, so that you can try aura farming as well.

1. Know what items and passives your teammates are looking for, and share them. Take a look at their items every so often, and check their relics at the beginning of the match.

1. 1. 1. If you don’t help your teammates get what they need, they may become useless in fights and drop your DPS significantly more than any other relic or item would give you. Some might have the playstyle altering relics as well and have different needs. Revenants may struggle to get the right incantations due to RNG even in trios. But with the Strength relic, they can still contribute a lot using skills that scale on Strength we like Golden Land, Bubble Shower, Fire Candlestick, Grafted Dragon, etc.

      2. Melees want Damage Negation on Successive Attacks/Charged Attacks, so that they can DPS at close range without worrying about getting 1 shot. A Wylder can trigger a Successive bubble by just spamming his hook skill twice at an enemy. A melee with enough vigor is usually fine with one Damage Negation at Full HP, or even none, if they have vigor or a +60% successive attack bubble for one item (can stack with other rarities). A Damage Negation at Full HP can only go up to +40%, multiplicative for stacking multiple. *In the video I was trying to get the point across that Damage Negation at Full HP can only go up to 40% for one item, while successive goes up to 60% for one item.

      3. A squishy character could need 2 Full Damage Negation at Full HP to survive in Depth 5 (or vigor to need less). Usually one is sufficient at Depth 4, or you can compensate by using some other passive help elsewhere.

      4. Revenant/Duchess needs shards from Rises. A Recluse could use a Rise. Recluse/Duchess might not get a Shattering Crystal from the rise due to RNG, but you could get it for them. 

      5. An Ironeye/Executor/Guardian/Duchess/Recluse might want a smithing stone to upgrade his base bow, ailment katana, shield from blue to purple, shattering crystal for +20% damage over having a blue weapon. They could come across a better item, but if a mine on the way in pathing, it could be nice for a temporarily damage boost.

      6. A weapon drop that is not your classes’ dormant power, could still be worth taking, giving to your teammates. It could be a big power spike for your team, especially if the Nightlord is weak to it.

2.  Aggro switching (Clip #1)

   1. You need to be prepared for the boss to switch aggro. This can happen immediately when someone gets downed or when you do many hits/high dps to the boss. Even with a Less Likely to be Targeted +12, Heolstor/Fulghor would still do a 180-snipe to 1-shot the 3-Bar Ironeye.

   2. Some players build muscle memory, prepare for the worst, by dodging even when they don’t have aggro. It helps prevent getting cross-fired by your teammate dodging into you, or large aoes. Doing this will lower your DPS, but for some attacks, it may be worth it.

3. Reviving the one downed player (Clip #3) 

   1. When ⅓ of the players get downed, the person holding aggro should try and keep aggro and focus on staying alive, drawing the boss away. The other person without aggro on the boss, should start reviving the other player. While you are reviving your teammates, there is a very high chance the boss will switch aggro and start targeting you. Your other teammate who lost aggro, needs to pick up the slack on the revive, or if you’re good enough, you can revive while dodging.

   2. If someone is really throwing, it might not be worth reviving them at all, and you might want to finish the boss instead. But if you can, try to revive them a few times first.

4. Reviving teammates while dodging the boss at the same time (Clip #2, Clip #3, Clip #4)

   1. This is a skill that requires knowing how to dodge boss patterns at a close range, under pressure, and can save entire runs. All characters have a way to revive their 3-bar teammates, but some have it easier than others. The revive bars do not scale linearly. You can charge your ult by attacking downed teammates.

      1. TLDR: Only 40 revive damage for the first bar is needed. A total of 240 revive damage is needed for depleting all 3 bars. Credit:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w1qkrqrbp3uQ7d4MyYv4CYAWhKfanQnhI2hLf1Fkn6k/edit?gid=1667142776#gid=1667142776

      2. Wylder melee 1 bar, ult 2 bars.

      3. Duchess must melee 1 bar, invisibility lasts for 2 bars of melee.

      4. Raider ults for 1 bar, melees on Totem.

      5. Revenant can use summons and melee, ult both teammates at 3 bars with decent range, or drop the claws for other characters to use for the fastest melee revives in the game, due to her special/limiting moveset.

      6. Guardian has a shockwave relic and his ult picks up both at 3 bars. 

      7. Recluse ult is weak, only does 1 weak bar, but has extreme range. Spells, or even melee for the rest. The i-frame for your ult doesn’t last long and you can die while in animation. Cannon of Haima helps, but is RNG. If the boss is low enough, it may be better to solo the boss since she has high DPS.

      8. Ironeye can ult for 2 lower bars at range, usually complement range/mark/melee.

      9. Executors can melee for however long, ult for the iframe which does damage on activation/heals to finish off the bar, or spam shout.

   2. All ranged characters should try and learn how to dodge bosses at close range, so that they can revive their teammates while being under attack if needed. You get less room for error in Deep of Night over the base game, so this is why supplemental guides can help you with that if you don't want to do regular runs. But simply knowing them won't be enough to master them and the variables in trios.

5. Turn off camera lock-on when reviving teammates. Keep an eye on the boss while reviving (Clip #2, Clip #3, Clip #4)

   1. You'll probably notice that I do this often in the below aura farming clips. It pays off to watch the boss while reviving, as the aggro can switch to you.

6. Play the character you are most comfortable with instead of trying to “balance” the team comp.

   1. The most broken team composition in DPS right now is Ironeye, Duchess, and Recluse. It works in Depth 5, because you can’t afford to get hit much anyway with enough damage negation. Throw in a Wylder and you have a "balanced" /solid team. You don't need a x y z comp with x y z characters for any bosses. Everyone can do damage, even Guardian. People get hit all the time in Depth 5. You can climb by playing only one character to 9999, but you need to know the limits, needs of your class, your team, and the bosses. If you don’t main Ironeye, Duchess, or Recluse, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll get some okay damage comp (Wylder, Executor, Revenant). Still perfectly fine. 

   2. The only "exception" is people will swap to Wylder/Ironeye specifically to counter Everdark Caligo's frost ultimate, as you lose resistance each time the frost from the ultimate triggers, Cancelling it means you don't have to burn heals (Clip #18, Post-DLC/Undertaker). You can go without cancelling it, even at Depth 5. The easiest way to counter Everdark Caligo is to simply have everyone apply a lot of fire, because it will break her stance and break her armor which will do a ton of damage on its own. I've won plenty of games on Everdark Caligo without those two characters, and/or those players miss the cancel. Fire gets a +35% damage bonus on Caligo. That means if you're an Ironeye, you might be better off using Vyke's War Spear, or use a Firebow to target specific parts of Caligo's armor. Players will call this fight a DPS check without Wylder and Ironeye, but it's mostly a Fire application check.

   3. There's nothing wrong with being a flex/balanced player either. Character mastery can make a huge difference though. A good Guardian can find ways to survive affinity damage while hitting the boss frequently. Dagger Duchesses can do 300-500 per swing. But the catch is they have to avoid getting downed at all costs, while having a high uptime on their attacks, to make their builds effective. A dagger Duchess can do a lot of damage, but it can be risky since you are close range. 

7.  "My randoms are griefing/quitting/disconnecting". Common issue at lower Depths, but you probably didn't want them as a teammate anyway. Although you are getting griefed, duoing can be a blessing sometimes as the scaling is easier. But dealing with aggro and reviving is much harder. That's why there's 3 bullet points on teaching how you can revive teammates. Duo means more boss aggro pressure, but take that opportunity to learn how to dodge the bosses due to the increased aggro, especially at lower Depths, where it's less punishing on losses and bosses do less damage. There were some games I hoped my random wouldn't come back because the Nightlord fight became that much easier. Disconnects can happen naturally, even in a game with a Dual Greatsword Duchess with Blue weapons, me with a blue Black Flame and no damage negation, we can still won a Depth 5 Everdark Adel Fight (Clip #16)

8. A lot of boss attacks have lingering aoes, effects, elements from their attacks, that will damage you if you don't avoid those. Examples are Everdark Gladius's fire, Adel's Lightning chomps, Adel's diving ground shockwave, Heolstor's darkness goo, Fulghor's goo, etc. These effects can be even more dangerous when playing in trios, even though you might not have aggro, you could get hit by them. I try dodge them often in the Everdark Gladius videos I included. Some of them can be difficult to spot too.

Everdark Gnoster

This boss can be a nightmare, if two people don’t know the fight. But it can become really easy knowing a few mechanics. Any character, including melees can do massive damage learning one mechanic. That mechanic?

1.  Animus lands floats on the ground after casting her orbital laser attack (Clip #4). All characters no matter what spell or weapon they have, can do massive damage to Animus in this 15 second window. When dodging the orbital laser attack, you want to target your strafe to return back to where Animus was casting the spell. Don't do it if you have the giant laser. Be careful of aggro from Faurtis/Gnoster of course. Animus has no resistances when not possessing a bug, any character can do massive damage to animus with any spell or weapon.

2. There are other ways to damage Animus.

   1. Hitting the model directly as it is possessing Faurtis/Gnoster (requires aerial projectile spells, certain items to be effective, short window)

   2. Hitting enhanced Faurtis/Gnoster (there will be damage reduction on Animus).

There are also two main strategies for this fight. 

1. Heavy DPS Animus, Faurtis, and Gnoster. Most players will use this strategy, but you have to know how to dodge every attack. Someone needs to know how to deal with aggro with Enhanced Gnoster. This is probably the more common method of fighting (or losing to) this boss, so don’t expect to always be able to do Strategy 2 which I find much easier, unless you’re the lurer and your teammates don’t attack Gnoster. One benefit of this strategy is the other bug won't be revived for a while if you're able to kill both quickly.

2. Have anyone lure Gnoster (probably not Recluse/Duchess, so they can attack Animus), and never kill Gnoster. By never killing Gnoster, the lurer does not have to dodge Gnoster’s Enhanced regular homing missiles, which is a delayed attck, and your team doesn’t have to dodge the falling missiles/ultimate. The catch is your teammates have to be comfortable fighting Faurtis only. They should attack Animus’s model during the possession window and/or after it lands on the ground after the orbital laser attack. I prefer this strategy as I find it more stable, has less chaos, and you have to dodge less mechanics, but not everyone will want to do this strategy. Rarely does this ever happen when playing with randoms, and experienced players would probably prefer attacking everything.

Other Must-know Mechanics include

1. You can dodge the Animus’s orbital laser attack by regular sprinting (hold down dodge button) (Clip #4). You may need to conserve stamina for a few seconds if you have the aggro for the giant final beam. The final beam can be dodged without surge sprint, since the visual hitbox is a bit bigger than the actual hurtbox of the giant beam, which takes a bit to expand. If you conserve stamina, you can surge sprint away the last beam.

2. You can dodge Enhanced Gnoster’s falling rain attack, simply by regular sprinting back/to the side. You'll need to regular sprint either to the side or backwards, regular sprinting directly towards Animus will get you killed (Clip #5).

3. To survive against Faurtis, if you stay positioned by his tail, he can’t really harm you. To dodge the exploding red vines from enhanced Faurtis, you must wait for the particles/vines to travel to you, and then dodge, not right away when the ground gets highlighted. Move far away when he shouts.

Everdark Libra

There are two ways to deal with ED Libra. The first is the easiest, but RNG dependent. This fight becomes trivial, solo carry-able, if at least one person has a passive of at least “Less Likely to be Targeted +9”. 

1. Everyone should get at least +9. This makes the fight much easier. Don’t throw away the +6 you may find, as it would be worth combining with another +6. The condemned give up chasing you at +9 (they may aggro if you’re reviving someone). People with that passive can DPS Libra without worrying about the condemned. He uses a smaller moveset of his regular version. If you don’t have it, run, stay alive. You should run in case you need to revive your teammates later who are fighting Libra.

   1. If someone does have the passive and you don't, your best bet is running for your life after a couple of waves when it gets out of control, waiting until the Riot phase, and then revive the DPSer with the passive if they mess up. If you play your life, your ultimate can charge, and the condemned won't be in the way of the DPSer.

2. At last resort, due to bad RNG, if you don't get Less Likely To be Targeted passives, you can still win. If your casters have good aoe spells (Mohg’s Spear), confident melees with stance break, damage negation, ultimates like Duchess’s, and Defeating enemies fills more of the Art gauge +0/+1, you can kill all the condemned until the Riot phase.The spawns may get out of control, because you’re focused on dodging. You’ll be attacking ED Libra a lot when the condemned are gone, so you can try to end the fight before it gets out of control or while it gets out of control. I’ve completed a few runs like this. Usually they include Mohg’s Spear/Duchess Ultimate, but those are not mandatory. Skilled players that know how to kill the condemned and survive is enough, but it's a tall order for random trios.

Other Mechanics that are important to know

1. During the Day, your team needs to do everything in their power, opening chests, killing red mobs, focusing on Night Invaders, camps, checking merchants, instead of doing Evergaols or low-priority drop POIs. You can also get Less Likely to be Targeted by clearing any Field/Formidable bosses too. Unfortunately, your best chance at winning with the DoN scaling of the condemned, is getting at least one “Less likely to be targeted +9”. If you want to trio with a squad for more damage to burst the condemned, than you can do Evergaols on Day 2, but it's not mandatory, and having Less Likely to be targeted is just that much easier.

2. Take your time, it’s okay if your DPS is slow until the Riot phase. Ailments like poison and scarlet rot will help as well. It took several runs to slow down entirely and break my base game habits.  Libra himself doesn’t have that many attacks. After the first Riot, the fight will go faster and become easier. 

3. After attacking Libra enough times, he will go mad, and attack the condemned nearby. The condemned will also attack Libra. A Condemned Revenant can do 600-800 damage to Libra per lightning spear.

4. You cancel Libra's quadrant holy walls with certain ultimates like Ironeye. If you have Less Likely to be Targeted, it might be worth saving your Ultimate for emergencies/revives instead. A great time to cancel Libra's walls is when you are trying to DPS the condemned as a team.

5. Try luring Libra away from the condemned.

Everdark Maris

ED Maris is much easier when all 3 players know the mechanics. It can be very overwhelming and difficult to solo carry. But it can be done. Because it is so difficult, and rare of a boss, I was only able to get video of another random carrying me and the other random. I'm not skilled enough to carry under pressure yet and need more practice. There was some teamwork involved that you won't see, like sharing items, but we for sure would've lost if the Wylder wasn't good enough to know what to do to carry.

1. Charge Storm Ruler to damage Maris, the skill from the weapon that drops from killing Augur/Phase 1.

2. Storm Ruler's damage can be buffed to make the fight go faster. Evergaol, Invader, Skill Attack, Attack Power at Full HP, Physical Attack Buff, Magic Attack, Power up.

3. When Maris starts sending exploding water bomb balls at you, keep your lock-on on Maris, and use the light attack version of the Storm ruler skill. This will clear bombs around you even after they land, so use your stamina and FP swings at the right time (Clip 9, 5:46). Your light attack Storm ruler projectile will get rid of the bomb balls, and you barely have to move or dodge, if all 3 players are sending light attack projectiles out. Light attacks will drain your FP, so you need to charge your FP again by holding the heavy attack. It’s best to stay somewhat nearby to your teammates, and at a distance from Maris, so you don't get bombed from above.

4. For his Ground Exploding Laser Beam (Clip 9, 4:14), it is one of the hardest mechanics to learn due to how long this fight can become at Depth 5. There are barely any visual or sound anchors to time your dodge correctly. Unfortunately my best tip is just building muscle memory to dodge when actual explosion aoe approaches to your character, abuse i-frames, or surge sprint dodge away. You can use use the charge up sound cue as a reference, but the explosions you need to dodge, happen briefly after that laser charging noise plays.

5. Avoid reviving your teammates when Maris is sending out Tsunami Waves (Clip 9, 8:44). You might not want to be the last to die, but trying to revive your teammates can end entire runs, as you get surrounded by the waves. while reviving your teammates. Once your teammates are revived, they could get stuck in the wave and die again right away.

6. Maris’s Dark Balls. In this phase, getting downed can ruin the run, and can make solo carrying much more difficult, as Maris does other attacks with balls active. If your teammates are at 3 bars, it's best for you to solo take down all of the balls, and revive them after Maris is stunned (Clip).

   1. Use lock-onto the balls with and spam the light Storm Ruler skill attack. You can quickly lock onto the other ones if you think your projectile will get the job done.

   2. Stay at a medium distance Maris so that your projectiles can lock onto all the Dark Balls. 

   3. If you can’t clear the Dark Balls in time, Maris might trigger his sleep skill. This can be cancelled with enough stance damage from charged Storm Ruler in solo mode, but he will have more stance in trios. Ideally clear his balls to stop this from happening, but it is technically possible to break his stance using charged Storm rulers while he has the balls active.

   4. When you are actively casting your charged Storm Ruler heavy attack, the lasers from the Dark balls won’t damage you. Pretty niche, most of the time you want to strafe/dodge the lasers

There are some confusing or crucial mechanics to learn aside from his base attacks.

1. To consistently survive ED Gladius’s second phase transition with torpedo clones in trios, it’s best to spread as far away as possible from your teammate, around the edge of the arena, to avoid getting cross-fired, or aggro switching after your teammate dies to a torpedo. Regular sprint to dodge the first two torpedoes, surge sprint to dodge the last two. You can dodge i-frame them, but it’s way too risky. 

   • In a video clip below, there are two perspectives. The first split, I had aggro for one dog. The second split Wylder on my team dodged all of the aggro, while I was far away and safe. As you can see, all three of us split off from each other, and there is much less risk of getting hit if you are prepared for aggro switching, and you get a wide view of where dogs are.

2. To dodge Gladius’s map aoe attack, you must adjust the timing of when you dodge, based on how far away you are from him. There are safe spots at certain angles from this attack, but you need to learn how to dodge the ground aoe itself. You’re not dodging the initial slam if you’re far away, you’re dodging the ground aoe, which has a hitbox itself. 

3. For dodging Gladius’s triple fire wave slash attack, you must also delay your dodge slightly after he swings, so that you dodge the fire wave itself. Dodging too early will get you killed. During this attack, he will switch aggro to other teammates.

4. Don't attack Gladius when he is slowly walking/aura farming. He will buff himself up to 3 times when he gets hit while aura farming. He will aura farm after doing a 2-hit attack which you can find in the video below. The dog with the sword in the split face, can aura farm as well. Even with Depth 5 damage being high already, try to avoid doing it. Some people will choose to do it  at higher depths because it's a good damage window especially if it's a glass cannon team or there wasn't enough damage negation.

5. Some of his attacks have residual Flames which you need to consider when dodging. You need to avoid those too. Sometimes he randomly spins around which his collision with your character will damage you. The triple bite with flames is pretty much undodgeable at close range, so run away if he starts doing that.

6. When Gladius is in the clone phase, keep an eye on the dog holding the sword, ideally all of them. He can do a large aoe fire wave slash on anyone from far away.

Everdark Caligo

This is the one boss where many players feel like the only option is to have Wylder/Ironeye to cancel the Frost Ultimate. It’s still possible to go without these characters, but it can be smoother with them. The most effective way to do damage and finish win the fight with any character is to have everyone cast fire skills to stun and break Caligo's armor. Wylder/Ironeye cancelling the ultimate still isn't required at Depth 5 scaling, and often the players miss anyway. 

1. Cancelling Caligo’s exploding Frost Shard will make this fight much more manageable. You cancel it with Wylder, Ironeye, Raider, Guardian. Executor, Undertaker) by pre-positioning yourself to where Caligo will land after casting her Ice armor. Wylder, Undertaker, and Ironeye have the easiest time cancelling the attack (Clip #18). 

   1. The main reason why you want to cancel this attack is because getting frostbitten by the attack will continually reduce your Frost Resistance, so take more Frost buildup the next time they trigger.

   2. You can “dodge” the attack Icicle  Explosion/Whirlwind by i-framing the whirlwind with an ultimate, when it reaches your character, but you probably won’t have your ultimate charged for every whirlwind, save for a few fire aoe spells like Grafted Dragon.

2. There is a major punish/DPS window when Caligo lays down and builds her armor. You can continually hit her head while she charges up the attack. But you need to dodge when she slams her head to the ground to activate the attack. If you use fire spells during her first transition, you can cause Caligo to continually break her own armor immediately and kill itself, without having to do anything (hopefully Fromsoft will fix this bug if it gets more attention). Usually as a caster, I prefer to run away from initial transition attack, because I’ve missed the dodge before, but eventually I want to get good at that punish window, and some people are pretty good at it.

3. To dodge her breath attacks, dodge as soon as you are touching the visual iced breath hitboxes.

4. After she does a vertical tail swipe, she will leave residual ice shards, which will explode shortly after. Unlike in the Normal Caligo fight, you have to dodge this explosion after the tail swipe as well. 

Stay under her legs always except for when she stands up cast an ice breath at her stomach. Even if you’re a caster, the best place in general for dragon fights is to be at their legs. An alternate place you can stand is by the side of her wings, but you could draw her aggro, or she can turn around and catch you in her front spell attacks. 

Free win? Not really. 

Many hardcore players at Depth 5 are actually really happy to see Heolstor. That’s because many of us have learned to solo Heolstor and know how to dodge the quirks of his moveset, all damage windows. I had nothing to do in the base game, so I did Colossal Sword Revenant solo and a Revenant Parry solo in the base game. I now know all my heal window opportunities for this fight as well. But not everyone will be comfortable with the fight, because not everyone wants to do solo runbacks, and casters might not be familiar with holding aggro, dodging attacks at close range. You don't need to do solo runs to learn the fight, I haven't done it for all of the bosses, but it can help. Another skill you won't develop by doing solo is dealing aggro-switching. Heolstor can frequently aggro switch (Clip #14).

1.  The best thing you can do to learn Heolstor is to solo him in the base game, but that also requires learning how to clear Day 1 and Day 2 solo first (Clip #14).

2.  The next best thing you can do is watch a moveset analysis video like the other bosses.

3.  For his map aoe, there is an angle from him that is safe from the ground aoe damage (Clip #14, 7:37). You need to adjust your dodge timing based on your distance from Heolstor. Relying on the safe spot angle only is risky, as he can change positioning or catch you out of position.

   1. If you are far away, you want to delay your dodge to when the ground aoe is about to reach you, similarly to Everdark Gladius.

   2. If you are up close, you want to dodge early when he accelerates into his slam. You’ll see some players walk right under him and attack him while he is charging up the aoe. This method is slightly riskier, but there are a lot of players who are confident dodging him up close.

4.  For his charged darkness sword slams, the goo aoe might hurt you after you dodge his initial slam. To dodge both the sword slam and goo at the same time, you need to dodge right in front of him/up close as he accelerates his sword into you, or be very far away from the ground/goo.

5.  To dodge the affinity after effects from swings, it’s best to dodge diagonally into him/the right of him after every swing he does.

Free win? Not really. 

The reason I wouldn’t consider Everdark Fulghor a free win, even though he has a simple moveset because:

1. If your ranged characters aren’t used to dodging him at close range, or his aggro switches, it could make the fight much harder for the team. Many people start getting lazy in this fight since Fulghor is considered one of the easiest Everdarks to learn for valid reasons, which can also quickly kill runs.

2.  For whatever reason, Less Likely to be Targeted seems to work the least on Fulghor. Two arrows from the Ironeye, and Fulghor will 180 snipe and kill the glass cannon Ironeye/Recluse with an arrow who didn’t want to pick up damage negation (I remember this vividly and it has happened more than I’d like to have seen in Depth 5). I wish I kept the receipts.

3. Laziness. If you’ve soloed him as melee or fought him frequently with melee, you can confidently dodge his attacks. I’ve also soloed him with Colossal Sword Revenant, so I can solo carry and build my ult to revive. Other characters have to put in more work to revive teammates. People start getting lazy as you can massively DPS him with bleed or spells/lightning, so a run can spiral out of control if people start getting downed.

Actual Boss Mechanic Tips

1. For Fulghor’s ultimate / ground aoe exploding arrow, you have many options. The simplest option is to run far away, or past him. However, sometimes I struggle to run away as Revenant, due to the character’s limited stamina. It can still be good to learn how to dodge the arrow explosion with a dodge roll. If you master that, you can Revive teammates while he is charging the arrow. He will track one player with a glowing light and aim the arrow. The arrow itself can hit you, so you might want to strafe to the side a bit, as he’ll lock onto one location eventually. Lots of aura farming potential.

2. His fast/sudden arrow snipe is mostly dodged by muscle memory. Seems scary, but play him enough and you’ll get used to it, and he can switch his aggro, do a 180 and snipe you or your teammate if you're not prepared. He can do two of them in a row when his HP gets low.

3. Fulghor’s triple attack with two swings and a slam is surprisingly easy to ledeal with. Before every attack he charges his sword while on his heels, dodge the initial swing, and simply spam dodge again to dodge the second swing (might need to wait a bit if Duchess, but I don’t remember), and wait a bit to dodge the third swing/slam.

4. Dodging Fulghor’s 10 hit combo can be easier than you think. Get close to him, spam dodge 2 or 3 times behind him, starting from the initial swing. Surge sprint away for the rest of his attacks.

Free win? Not really.

This boss is also labeled as one of the easiest Everdarks, but he can still be tough in Deep of Night, and there are still min-max things you can do to help your runs. He does look more scary than he actually is with his ground explosions and lightning.

1. Everdark Adel is tough, because if your Melee is not comfortable weaving in attacks while dodging, your team DPS will drop significantly. It is even tougher when you don’t have Ironeye, or a Recluse on your team, or multiple range. The caster will likely take aggro if the melee aren’t hitting often, and have way less time to DPS if they are trying to stay alive. I’ve had plenty of Guardians/Executors who were pretty much cosmetic to the fight, because they played full survival, and were not comfortable with weaving in attacks.

2. Super min-maxy, but I recommend drawing aggro and fighting Adel, away from the hill where he casts the tornado/whirlwind. By pre-positioning far away from the whirlwind, where he casts at the same spot every time, you can easily reach the Spirit Streams and won’t get killed by the tornado expansion. It’s not worth ulting and staying inside either, as Adel also dives into the middle of the tornado. 

3. You can jump or dodge to avoid the ground explosions. 

4. The melee characters and Ironeye can cancel the tornado summon, but it’s only practical for Ironeye and maybe Wylder, as you have to run away from the lightning storm first, and then get to him before the tornado spawns to cancel it. Ironeye has range.

5. In this fight, you can charge your ult by dodging his grabs that have a sound queue. If you dodge into boss grabs in Nightreign, it will charge your ult a decent amount. As Revenant, if I dodge all of Adel’s attacks, I can solo carry by quickly charging my ult and revive my teammates, rinse and repeat.

6. Adel has a lot of lightning aoe with his chomps, I recommend watching moveset analysis videos for this, and his ground explosion can be jumped or dodged easily with patience.

I’m only including 3, as this guide is very lengthy, and the other bosses aren’t as difficult, easier to learn, or won’t destroy your team as easily as these three can from my personal experience.

1. Night’s Calvary

   1. Don't get killed from off-screen and try to dodge the swings.  

   2. After knocking a rider off by poise or killing the horse, try to continually backstab the calvary. Continual backstabs will help prevent the Knights from spawning in another horse, gives you an iframe, stops them from attacking.

2. Smelter Demon

   1. The Smelter Demon has a pretty basic moveset, but if you don’t break his stance often, he can charge up to a blue flame phase. If he gets to that phase, everyone will take burn damage, as well as the Smelter demon himself. If you don’t have flasks because you spent so much time fighting in the rain, this can end a run. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but I’ve gotten close and have a heal seal. If you have enough Flasks, the demon can kill himself.

   2. Sometimes I help break the Smelter Demon’s stance as a Revenant with a melee/strength relic to prevent the fight from going out of control

3. Battlefield Commander (Commander O’Neil Scarlet Rot)

   1. There’s one move that can wipe a whole team, and that is the multi-hit Scarlet Rot Whirlwind. It’s even more dangerous at Night 1 because your melee might not have damage negation items or vigor yet. It's probably not very tankable at Depth 5, even Wylder might not be able to survive with his passive, but don't quote me on that. If you’re a caster, try to stay away, if melee, get away when he charges up that attack.

1. Nameless King

   1. If you have a parry shield there is huge aura farm potential, but you probably don’t want to parry if you’re 2 bars, or low on flasks when trying. 

   2. The charged attack lightning/homing lightning strike attack from the Nameless king can wipe a whole team or make the fight worse. It’s essential to know the timing of this attack. The only thing you need to know, is the lightning takes about 1 second after he finishes his cast, to actually strike everyone on the team. So you want to delay your dodge about a second after he casts it. It’s in contrast to the Draconic Tree Sentinel, who strikes 1 person instantly after its cast with no delay.

   3. Another deadly attack is the rock/wind wave swing. It has a wide hitbox, and you need to dodge into it to avoid it. Knowing how to dodge this will help with Ancient Dragon’s Lightning spears.

2. Ancient Dragon

   1. This boss is a pain because it has high HP, high ailment resistance, extremely high poise to where it’s rare to break his poise even once during the fight.

   2. Keep to his legs like every dragon fight.

   3. Run away from fire breaths.

   4. When the dragon stands up and charges his lightning spear/slam attack, wait for the initial slam, look for the projectile lightning wave to reach you, then dodge into the wave. He will do another slam, so dodge that wave that comes towards you as well. This can end runs or kill people frequently. Otherwise, the fight can be easier than you think.

3. Dancer of the Boreal Valley

   1. At around half hp, she can cast the dreaded spin-to-win multi attack. It is actually dodgeable, but if you’re ranged, stay the hell away and surge sprint awau. To dodge this attack at close range, dodge forward once into the dancer for the first swing, dodge to the left for the second swing, and surge sprint away as the dancer turns around.

   2. It’s actually weak to holy in Nightreign, with -26 resistance. Not really lightning and the other elements.

4. Outland Commander (Commander Niall)

   1. The summons can end runs. There are multiple strategies to dealing with summons.

      1. Have everyone focus dps on the summons, ults, spells, while dodging Niall.

      2. Have one person take aggro from Niall, the other two fight the summons.

      3. Ranged can cast spells and kite the summons to kill them, while someone holds aggro with Niall.

      4. You can actually use a Bewitching Branch on the summons during the Night 2 fight and trivialize the fight.

5. Death Rite Bird

   1. He’s aggressive, and does a lot of swings. It takes a bit to get used to him. Pay attention to all of the ghostflame trails he leaves behind from attacks, don’t step into them. For example the charged ghostflame explosion will expand N, S, E, W, like a cross shape from where he stabs.

   2. To dodge the falling spears attack, you need to be next to the faraway/initial spears that will land first. Dodge into them, right after they land. This will let you avoid the spears that land at a staggered pace towards the deathbird.

Everything you do in this game takes time, no matter how easy the POI is. There is an opportunity cost, not just with time, but with drops/passives. You have 4 minutes and 30 seconds before the first circle starts closing. Traveling takes time. The 30 seconds or minute you take greeding for a 3rd flask could’ve been used for another POI or two instead. Depth 5 players still struggle with optimal pathing. Depending on your team composition, spells, skill level, and relics, you will do more or less damage and have to adjust/avoid certain fights. If we’re Guardian, Wylder, Revenant, I’m probably not gonna try to fight the blood magma at castle wyrm unless we all had bleed weapons or crater.

Circle Time Limitations

• 4 minutes and 30 seconds before the first circle starts closing.

• 3 minutes for the first circle to fully close.

• 3 minutes and 30 seconds before the second circle starts closing.

• 3 minutes for the second circle to fully close.

• 14 minutes per day in total.

There are set seeds/maps/poi placements in the game, but you don’t need to look at the seeds to master pathing. https://www.nightreignmap.com/en. 

You can get to level 15 every single game in any seed without the map, following a general formula. It’s still possible to kill ED Gladius at level 11, but reaching level 15 without the Crucible Knights runes, is a good indicator of efficient pathing. It’s also a sign that your team had opportunities for getting good items/passives. If you’re not ending at lvl 15 almost every game, then you can improve your pathing, and you are likely missing opportunities for good items. Think about the time you spend at each POI, and whether the rewards were worth your time. Focus on clearing hotspots POIs like Night Invader Camps and Castles with very high chances or drop opportunities to get Damage Negation first, then stack damage or pick up damage passives after. Also think about how much time you’ve spent already before the circle starts closing. It might be better to clear nearby POIs instead of backtracking. Take advantage of the Bird/Eagle Gliders. I use the same formula every time, with slight variations. POI priorities change based on where the Night Invader camps spawn. Maybe there will be a new meta, balance change in the DLC, or something I don’t know about that will pop up on Reddit in the future. I’m still improving my pathing even after all these hours of playing.

General Formula for Base Castle Map

The prime example of this formula is in (Clip #17) 03:29. I forgot that I could show this formula in action, so I had to do a run after making the video guide to showcase it.

1. Base Camp -> Level 2.

2. If you have Revenant, Recluse, or Duchess, you need to go to a nearby Cathedral/Fort/Sorcerer Rise and get spells for them. Clear some extra mobs, red mobs as well for good passives. Pick up a stonesword key -> Level 3.

3. Evergaol? Probably not. Consider doing them later, and skip them for now, avoid doing them at level 2-3. I recommend to avoid doing one at this point, as they can waste time. The reason why I prefer to skip Evergaols entirely Day 1, is to account for the seeds where the first circle cuts off the castle, due to the 4 minutes and 30 second time limit. Everything you do takes time, traveling, the Evergaol fight itself. When you have 4 minutes and 30 seconds, it matters. You are also gambling on the Evergaol being an easy one.  Ideally save Evergaols for late Day 2, when you can clear them extremely quickly, no matter which boss you get, for much less time spent than in Day 1. 

   1. Clearing other pois/finishing castle on Day 1 gives you a lot more for your buck, and your casters needs items. You may not be able to use the blue items yet, if you didn't kill trash mobs to get to lvl 3. One camp can give you 10-20x drop opportunities which is more important early game, and finding damage negation. Doing difficult Evergaols can cost you a ton of time, it's not worth it. Just because you have a key, and it's on the way, doesn't mean you have to open it and check. You might lose a key. You might not be able to path back to the ones you open, nor is it worth pathing back to. They're still good at the right times. Not always the end of the world if you do an Evergaol at lvl 2-3. People will commonly do an Evergaol at these levels. Certain characters are extremely good at early-game Evergaols a Frost/Bleed Executor.

   2. The ones worth doing this early would be Grave Warden Duelist, Bloodhound Knight, and Omen (including blood versions). If it’s anything besides those 3, try pinging away, and potentially, abandoning your teammates, and start clearing towards the castle. Hopefully they’ll realize it isn’t worth doing at lvl 2-3. It would be better for you to solo an easy POI for your team, join them later, than to stay and fight the Red Banished Knights. 

   3. If you take the lead on pinging, you might not have to do that lvl 2-3 Evergaol fight. Watch out for other pings from your teammates, they could have a better or a worse idea.

4. Actual Step 3.  If there is a Night Invader/Cataclysm camp in your half of the map, lure them out and kill them. Clear an easy camp/ruins/field boss or two while on the way. It’s worth it, most of the time you don’t even have to clear the camp. They take at most 1-2 minutes, for so many runes, chances at really good passives, and buff people with the relic line. You can even do this at lvl 2 or at the first POI you do. If you’re scared, then learn how to deal with them because they become easy to kill. This is where Defeating enemies fills more of the Art gauge +0/+1 comes very handy. You can kill some trash mobs to charge up your ult before killing the invaders Pick up 1 Church/Flask on the way before going to Castle if it’s worth it. Certain characters like Ironeye or Recluse/Duchess may want to go to the mine for a purple smithing stone. It’s a 20% increase in damage from blue to purple, assuming they don’t get better weapons later on. That can also be done later -> Level 5-6. 

5. Castle. The castle is very good for Rune/Reward/Chest Density. You want to hit it on Day 1, 90% of the time, be near it , or start it before the first circle starts closing to avoid being cut off from it. 

   1. If you are running late, and the circle completely cuts off the castle, it’s okay to do it on Day 2 instead, just speedrun easy POIs and Evergaols in the circle. It’s a valid strategy to not even do the Castle sometimes, but keep in mind you could give yourself less opportunities for big chests, items, and are susceptible to backtracking back to places you’ve already cleared, based on where the circles end. 

   2. If the basement is a difficult boss like a Blood/Red Wolf, Bell Bearing Hunter, go kill the Trolls/Banished Knights/Crucible Knights first, focusing on the ones that give dormant drops first. They are much easier to kill and can give you an early game power spike Those castle mobs are very valuable runes and drops for time. Clearing the ones that don’t drop anything usually aren’t worth your time with the circle/time limit. Open the 9+ chests around the castle -> Level 8-12.

6. On your way to the Night 1 Circle, you may be able to clear an easy POI before the rain gets to you. You may be able to greed in the rain, but if you all die outside of the circle, as the circle reaches the final perimeter, you may just lose the run outright and won’t be respawned. If you are in the rain for too long, you won’t have the flasks to help you easily clear the first boss. Sometimes one POI is enough, you don't need to squeeze a second in the rain. You can suicide outside the circle for a flask refresh, but you need someone alive when it is almost done closing, or the run will end -> Level 8-12. 

7. Night 1 Boss. Learn the boss's mechanics, no more face tanking allowed. Learn aggro switching. Learn to revive people while dodging. Boss Mechanics guide is down below  -> Level 8-12. 

8. Because you cleared the mobs with dormant drops at the castle on Day 1 for a ton of runes, you now have lots more flexibility of where you can go on Day 2. You don’t even need to go back to the castle. In terms of general priority, not accounting for proximity:

   1. Night Invader Camps. You want to path for this in mind first, in case the circle cuts it off. It shouldn’t take much time. Skip fighting the camp’s boss if it’s time wasteful. Though it does give more runes and can also drop red items from time to time.

   2. Blood Formidable Bosses -> Regular Formidable/Blood Mini Bosses -> Regular Mini bosses. You want to prioritize pathing around Blood Great Bosses first. Yes they are slightly more difficult, but the runes/rewards are better. Some are not even that more difficult. Remember that scaling chart earlier? A Formidable Boss only gets a +15% HP buff when it is the Blood variant. Meanwhile, Evergaols and Field Bosses get a +65-80% HP Buff for being a Blood variant. Both of them are generally easy for a chance of red items, but the Formidable bosses are not that much harder for better reward qualities.

   3. Evergaols (they are with doing now as you have a lot more items to deal with the hard ones, and can get +5% damage for each one with the relic).

   4. One more flask/church.

   5. Regular Camps (for Red Mobs and chests). These have a ton of opportunities for drops and are underrated in Deep of Night, still worth doing on Day 2. If you don’t have “Less likely to be targeted” for ED Libra or Damage Negation at Full HP/Successive attacks, you want to be killing as many red mobs and opening chests as much as possible. This becomes the main priority for ED Libra over Evergaols.

   6. Doing those POIs in that order will get you around -> Level 14-15. You might be able to squeeze 1-2 more POI as the circle is closing, calculate the risk. Preferably don’t do it in the rain because you need flasks for Day 2 boss -> Level 14-15

9. Learn the movesets for Night 2 bosses, as they can be run-enders -> Level 14-15

Everyone wants to know what relics they should run, especially if you’re new to the mode. It doesn’t matter that much for Depth 1-3. The scaling is not that crazy compared to later Depths and the base game. Take this time to get good at handling boss aggro. You could just run full vigor or whatever, or even run no relics if you developed your mechanics. If you skipped the Deep of Night Scaling chart/image at the very beginning of this guide, go take a look, as Nightlords in Depth 5 only have 2.16x (+116%) their base HP. You don't need any Invader or Evergaol lines to succeed and do enough damage at Depth 5, but most players are not mechanically strong, and play more cautiously, so they hit less often and need damage to compensate. The fights feel and become much slower due to careful play. However, once you are mechanically strong and you combine both, you can melt the game with any character, even full melee. Once you're mechanically strong, your damage output will be fine either way, with just generic damage ups on your relics.

Damage ups mean little if you can’t dodge the boss mechanics and weave attacks. The players not hitting the bosses often or getting downed too quickly, is usually the main reason for low DPS. Bad relics are fine. Having only 1.4x damage from okay relics instead of glass cannon perfect relics resulting in 2x damage is fine. One person at 3 bars will destroy your DPS. Having 3 people consistently hitting the boss is a ton of damage (Clip #6). Past the core lines, they don’t matter that much. You still want to have the best effects you have to work with to make your climb easier and runs go smoothly. You don’t need massive luck, good relics to win consistently, or to maintain Depth 5 9999. Knowing boss mechanics are the most important part of mastering Nightreign, but less exciting. Almost all damage ups are multiplicative/cumulative of each other on each stack. So 3 stacks of Night Invader = 100 * 1.07 * 1.07 * 1.07 = 122.

Here is a site with the list of relic effects and if they can be stacked: https://relics.pro/compendium. 

Essentials for Almost Everyone and Every Character

1. Attack power increased for each Night Invader defeated +7%

Almost a must-have to dedicate a whole relic for one line at Depths 4-5 due to very high chances of having two camps/cataclysm (2-4 invaders). The passive from items/runes/damage buff you get from them are so the 30 seconds it takes to lure and kill them. This line is good for Depth 1-3, but less so than Evergaol at 1-3 since there’s a lower chance for two camps at those Depths. If you are a newer player, chances are you don't have this relic line. It’s not a big deal if you don’t have it while going through Depths 1-3.

2. Attack power increased for each Evergaol prisoner defeated +5%

Great for Depths 1-3, but it can always be substituted for like any line. View this line as a +10% damage up on average run in Depth 4-5 random queue. It’s just another damage line. Evergaols are best done on Day 2, where you can deal with any type that spawns with good items. They can be a trap if done at bad times, and frequently done at bad times. You’ve probably seen clip-farming or Reddit posts of people melting bosses, but that’s much harder to do with randoms with varying skill levels, items and the best way to melt is to learn how to get the most hits in with your class without falling down. Focus on hotspots for damage negation passive first such as castles and Night Invaders, if you want consistency then you can go for general-purpose damage up lines instead of Evergaol and be fine.

Everyone spams Evergaols, it has a high potential damage boost, all the guides recommend them, why do some players like me save them for Day 2 or sometimes go without doing them at all? Opportunity cost in Deep of Night mode for Day 1 versus other POIs for items / runes / passives / shifting earth / other relic lines. On Day 1, you likely don't have great items to deal with the potential difficult Evergaols, especially at lvl 3, and getting items is priority for speeding up your clears. If you watch the selected clips I have solo-carrying runs, more damage wouldn’t have made a major difference in any of those fights because I spent so much time reviving my teammates, and they would get one shot at Depth 5 without enough negation/vigor. You can’t do massive DPS if you play more passively or fear for your life. If you are lucky and get good relics, or have a trio of friends, this line can be used to speedrun the game, but in order to speedrun/melt, you need good boss mechanics first. But in random trios, melting runs aren't guaranteed and can be dangerous if your teammates are trying to compensate for lack of boss mechanics. The biggest advantage of the Night Invader/Evergaol damage lines is they apply to all types of damage and weapons. 

If you skipped to this section, I cover how you can use Evergaols effectively in random queue, under the General Formula for Base Castle Map section. 

Napkin Math for Damage Ups / Evergaol / Night / Invader

There’s affinity damage to take into account, resistances, etc. You can observe your own damage in game. I personally don’t run an Evergaol at the moment Revenant until I find a better relic or get certain buffs. My relics are at the bottom of this guide for a reason. Revenant has no help with i-frames like Ironeye, Duchess, and Recluse do, but her ultimate is extremely powerful, so I prefer the lazy route with a hybrid build. These are just rough estimates.

Charged Lightning Spear 

600 damage.

Evergaol (3) + Night Invader (3)

600 * 1.05^3 * 1.07^3 = 850 damage

Night Invader (3) Only

600 * 1.07^3  = 735 damage.

Losing the Evergaol line for something else or smaller, wouldn’t be a big sacrifice/alternative for me as a Revenant. I know from playing a lot how much DPS I need on Depth 5 - Fulghor to make the run go smoothly or solo carry. I can improve my DPS significantly if I focus on mastering the best times to cast charged lightning spears on , so they actually hit Fulghor. Pay attention to how many lightning spears your Revenant teammate will miss. I wouldn’t mind giving up Evergaol for other lines. These are not the only ways to get damage in the game. You can get Sorceries/Incants +7%, Charged Incantations +18% passives from items, but those take up item slots and have opportunity costs too. Reference the Deep of Night Scaling chart at the beginning and adjust based on your needs. 

The example only has two-damage ups in mind. If you stack specific schools/spell categories with glass cannon relics and other item passives during the run, your damage can absolutely go nuts without cheating. Simply multiply your damage by any additional stack you get or damage up in the game. It is a usually trade-off on survivability. I wish people didn't believe that they have to stack/cheat those to win consistently in Depth 5, as they have tradeoffs as well. As I've mentioned before, I can only think of maybe 1-2 players with cheated relics that did not need to be carried. You can get damage ups during the run like 7% Sorceries/Incantations from mini boss passives. There are ways to increase your chances of getting specific weapons like Shattering Crystal through like Sorcerer Rise, but other spells/weapons can be gamble, particularly for seals. The runs where you don’t get the specific setup you need, you should be able to clear anyway without utilizing your relic lines.

I’m not gonna be able to path the team to 4 Evergaols efficiently every time when solo-queuing, without sacrificing a few other important POIs. With a skilled premade, it’s much easier. Instead, I target 2 Evergaols at the end of Day 2 on an average random run if someone has the relic line. That means you’ll be doing around 10% less damage than, if you did 4, but you might’ve been able to do more camps and get better items, not doing tough Evergaols.

3. Defeating enemies fills more of the Art gauge +0/+1

Very underrated line that I miss going without on most characters. People may skip this line because they think it's not useful for the Nightlord fight (except it’s amazing for Everdark Libra, and some night bosses), but that's not the way it should be looked at. This line will help make everything you do during the day way easier. Killing bosses, red mobs, clearing camps, night invaders, everything faster. The more stuff you kill, the more/better gear/passives you can get that will make the Nightlord fight easier. Helps you clear POIs/red mobs for good passives like Damage negation at Full HP or Less likely to be targeted for ED Libra and runes.

Extremely broken on Ironeye, great for Duchess, Wylder, Revenant, Guardian. For Recluse and Raider it’s just ok, but again, opportunity cost/substitutable for lines/needs of those characters. It's another line I could win without, but severely miss when I take it off as Revenant and definitely feel the loss of utility during the day.

4. Night of the Fathom - Maris Relic (Vigor +5/+100 HP) / Vigor +3 / Increased Maximum HP

Vigor is still useful even at Depth 5. More at lower depths. Getting a +3 with other good stuff can be considered a perfect roll. Having only vigor is probably not a good choice past Depth 4, besides maybe Raider. If you do, your teammates have to pick up the slack on getting hits in. Using the Night of the Fathom relic, or having +3 Vigor lines is nice. If you stack full vigor at Depth 3 as Revenant, you potentially wouldn’t even need a Damage negation at Full HP with some dormant boosts found during the day like +10% HP, affinity/physical damage negation. Some boss attacks also do “chip” damage which your vigor can help with.  

At higher Depths (4-5), aim to include damage lines to help the fights/days go faster. If you’re 3-barring at boss fights though, consider finding ways to make vigor work. A hybrid build/generalist would be a good choice for many people, especially for Depths 1-4. I’m also lazy and equip vigor for the best chances as Revenant to be able to survive 1 hit in Depth 5, even though it’s not guaranteed. Without vigor, a single +40% Damage Negation at Full HP wouldn't be enough to tank many Nightlord attacks at Depth 5. Even with vigor, it still might not be enough for some characters, so you need help somewhere, but you can most likely find additional ways to boost your survivability. At Depth 5 bosses can hit around 2000-2500 damage for heavy attacks, anywhere from 500-1000 damage for light attacks (ticks from projectiles, light swings). Do they even less damage for lower depths.

Example of why vigor can still be very useful, even as Revenant in Depth 5. Assuming a boss does 2000 damage on average, with no physical/affinity damage negation. Napkin math/estimations.

A base level 15 Revenant has 780 hp.

1. Damage negation at Full HP +40%. The boss will do 2000*(1-0.4) = 1200 damage. I’m dead. One damage negation at full hp is not enough unless you have around +9-11 vigor from your relics/passives, and then some.

2. Damage negation at Full HP +40% + Damage negation at Full HP + 32%. The boss will do 2000 * (1-0.4) * (1-0.32) = 816 damage. I’m still dead? That’s assuming the boss does exactly 2000 damage, no other variables. If you have this calculation in mind, vigor can become way more useful than you might think.

A base level 15 Revenant with +9 Vigor, Increased Maximum HP, will end around 1000 HP with no more passives. 

1. In order to survive in Depth 5 as Revenant, I need around 50% total damage negation. This is where those physical / affinity damage negation relics, passive drops, or some vigor from your relics can help you, and give a safety net. 

2. There will still be games from time to time where you will get one shot anyway by most atttacks due to poor luck, but it’s still my preference to fit in vigor/hybrid when I can. That’s also why some people chose to go full glass cannon. If you do so, try to look for extra damage negation in the game. Just make sure if you go glass cannon, you’re not 3-barring, you understand how to dodge as many boss mechanics as possible. As soon as someone goes down, the entire DPS of the trio plummets significantly, no one’s hitting the boss frequently. 

3. An alternative to damage negation would be Less likely to be targeted +12, but that doesn’t always work for Fulghor/Ironeye/Recluse.

4. Uplifting Aromatics which you can buy at the shop give you a one time +90% damage negation bubble & 10% physical damage buff for 40 seconds, for all the teammates that stand in the particles leftover from one player using the consumable. 

5. Max FP increased for each Sorcerer's Rise unlocked +18%

This line is all you need for Duchess and Revenant’s FP issues. You’ll want to unlock at least 1 Rise every game for the starlight shards. The alternative 3+ staves/seals line can be limiting or worthless due to the passives being able to appear on any type of weapon. I don’t find that line to be worth aiming for, and I would rather use Dark Night of the Wise if I needed to.

6. General damage buffs that apply to many weapons like Incantations, Sorceries, Affinity Damage, Physical Attack Up, are all nice to have. They are consistent and work perfectly fine for comfortably clearing at Depth 5 scaling. 

If you think that you are not clearing Depth 5 consistently runs without specialized relic builds, then it's likely you or your teammates have not learned how to weave in attacks while dodging at a good pace. You alone having high uptime is what you can control. Pay close attention to when your melees are not meleeing, and when your casters are having trouble surviving aggro or reviving you. Those will tank your dps. You can see it in clips I included. Once you are good at weaving attacks, then you can consistently melt runs with your trios.

Even those these general damage buffs ups are good, there are still exceptions to them when using alternative weapons/skills. like When I run Strength Revenant to use the Fire Candlestick, or Bubble Shower hammer skills. Incantations+ won't help me there. But Night Invader and Evergaol damage buffs would, other items/passives I pick up can still help.

Specific schools/categories might lock you into certain weapons/playstyles and require RNG. Spells like Stars of Ruin, or spells that are good against bosses that have elemental weaknesses, can increase your dps and surviviability. 

For example, Revenant, full Dragon Cult can be risky as that requires a lightning incant, when she already has difficulty getting the incantations she wants. And Dragon Cult only works for lightning incants, not Dragon Breaths which full under Dragon Communion. It's still a gamble, potentially rendering your relic lines useless. In one of the ED Gladius videos, neither of the two Revenants including me in the video, got a decent holy incant (discus of light). We could've used alternatives like Bubble Shower with the Strength Relic, which get boosted by Affinity Damage, Evergaol/Night Invader, talismans, etc. I've gone ~10-12 games in a row without seeing Discus of Light and don't want to use it every game anyway.

In contrast, Sorcerer Rises have a high chance of giving one Shattering Crystal to a teammate in trios, or dormant drops themselves. The damage ceiling is quite high, you’ll notice it if you encounter lucky or cheated relics. This is a very common build that has high damage just mediocre relics. Not mandatory to run on intelligence casters, I would get bored to death only using Shattering Crystal, but it's definitely a viable strategy if you're just looking to get points.

7. Class-Specific Relics that boosts skills, passives, ultimates.

You will find varying opinions on class specific relics. A lot of them are just okay in my opinion. Just observe how much value you actually get out of them. For Revenant, I only can't live without Ghostflame Explosion & Increased Strength - Reduced Faith, I've tried all the Revenant ones, and they were okay for niche situations. Certain classes like Ironeye and Wylder can get +1 Additional Skill usage, which can heavily increase their utility/mobility/i-frames. You get to pick based on how you want to play. The ones I can't live without on Revenant, I can win without anyway.

Again, you don’t need to delete bosses with damage from relics to succeed. Most of the relic editors I end up playing with end up 3-barring and need to be carried in the bossfight. I can only think of maybe 1 or two at most, and even then they weren't anything special. It's actually pretty rare for me to encounter a skilled player that has cheated relics. Maybe it's because the skilled players know they don't need much. You don’t want to be the one folding over at 3 bars quickly to all types of attacks, if a fight goes longer for whatever reason.

Hopefully I've provided enough analysis for you to make your own decisions at this point on on how to improve. I'll go fix critical issues for this guides from time to time. Simply reading this guide won't make you win more instantly, but it can help you with building consistency and getting started. Knowing how to deal with that one mechanic or knowledge check can save you entire runs. 

Don't forget to have fun, and enjoy the chaos, process, and laugh at the suffering and losses you may experience.

Background

I have 600 hours in Nightreign. I was reluctant to make a scrappy guide, but I know that knowledge spreads fast in this community. Hopefully it helps others improve and I can play with better randoms, you get better randoms, or you become a better random.

This is my experience after playing 2 months of Depth 5 daily. I didn’t reach 9999 right away. It took me a month of playing after work to get to 9999, and other players got there way faster. I’ve deranked from Depth 5 to Depth 3, 2 times. I’ve been through Depth 4 hell and my skill level belonged there at some point.  I lost to ED Libra 3 times in a row at Depth 5, but now I can solo carry the fight at Depth 5. Mastery to me means being able to solo carry every boss. I still need to improve at ED Maris in Depth 5. Though there are many ways to play the game, I still observe the decision-making of my teammates and wonder how they even got to Depth 5 (no-offense), about 10-20% of the time. In some games during my climb, I’ve been carried as well. I haven’t found a good guide that hits the important marks, so I made this. It’s not feasible to expect every casual player to find and look for every trick in the book posted on Reddit. I’m pretty confident in what I’ve learned so far, and a lot of players who have finished their grind, have similar strategies, and had evidence to provide.

All of this information came from thinking about every single game, whether a POI was worth my time, reading Reddit new tricks or watching Youtube videos. This guide is also subjective on certain parts. It’s based on heavily analyzing my own matches, playing as Revenant primarily, thinking about what I could’ve done better after every decision. 

That being said, the goal of this guide is to supposed to be an all-in-one place for what you need to know to master Nightreign to the point of carrying your friends or randoms. Stuff like switching switching to another character like Wylder and soloing regular ED Gladius will become no problem for you, once you can dodge a lot of boss mechanics and unerstand what each character needs.