Best tips and strategies for Deep of Night mode in Elden Ring: Nightreign

Luke Warr Published September 12, 2025

Elden Ring: Nightreign has introduced a new Deep of Night mode, and as our tips and guidance will make clear, its new challenges require a significant adjustment to players’ strategies.

One of the big troubles of Elden Ring: Nightreign is how similar runs can wind up feeling. While there’s a bit of variance based on the weapon drops and starting location, it doesn’t take long for runs to get formulaic. Deep of Night fixes that, to at least some degree.

The new game mode offer players an extra bit of variance to their experience by making the game’s weapons even more dynamic. Weapons now offer a mix of both buffs and debuffs, forcing players to balance the costs and benefits of each item they grab. That requires some broader adjustments to strategies when tackling Deep of Night, but Elden Ring: Nightreign players can still get the ball rolling with these tips.

Tips and strats for playing Deep of Night in Elden Ring: Nightreign

Deep of Night runs play out in generally similar ways to what Elden Ring: Nightreign players are used to, but there are some important tips and strats that should be kept in mind. Some of this is forsaking the established standard operating procedure in the game, but players may also need to adjust their mentality regarding this more complicated progression system in Elden Ring: Nightreign’s Deep of Night mode.

Do not avoid weapons that have debuffs

The big addition to Deep of Night is weapons offering a mix of buffs and debuffs. Players are still able to find weapons that don’t have debuffs and that might tempt them into just holding out hope for those “free” drops. But that’s not a good approach.

Players shouldn’t inherently avoid grabbing weapons that have a mix of buffs and debuffs. While it’s worth avoiding certain debuffs in certain situations, each of these weapons is a net positive. And for perfect pairings like Rivers of Blood on Executor, the benefits will almost always outweigh the drawbacks.

(Image Credit: Bandai-Namco)

Generalized relic rite combinations are better

The optimal approach when doing a run in Elden Ring: Nightreign is to tailor relic rite builds based on the boss that players are queuing for. That’s not a great strategy in Deep of Night, though.

Because Deep of Night gives players a random boss, relic rite combinations like giving Wylder the fiery grappling hook follow-up with boosted fire damage and fire damage on starting weapon typically don’t work. Instead, it’s better to put together a more generalized set of buffs. This might be stacking stat boosts or prioritizing evergaols. Regardless, don’t go all-in on a single element.

Deep of Night has its own relic rite items, build strategies

Deep of Night expands on the relic rite system by adding the new “Deep” relics.

Following the Deep of Night update, players can equip up to six relics to their characters. The catch is that three of these relics offer a combination of buffs and debuffs, similar to the weapons picked up during a run. Unlike the weapons, each relic has an equal number of buffs and debuffs.

The buffs are generally bigger on deep relics so players ought to equip them. Unfortunately, players will also have to farm these by doing run after run. This means that Elden Ring: Nightreign Deep of Night runs are going to be difficult to start, but they’ll grow easier with time.

(Image Credit: Bandai-Namco)

Don’t stop to farm red enemies during Deep of Night runs

This is perhaps the most important of our tips for Deep of Night to keep in mind. Random mobs and certain bosses will appear with a red sheen on them, similar to invaders in Elden Ring. These enemies are guaranteed to drop weapons that offer a mix of buffs and nerfs. While it might be tempting to stop and roll the dice on a good drop, the best strategies of Elden Ring: Nightreign mostly remain intact in Deep of Night.

In this case, that means that rather than killing random small enemies, it’s best to remain focused on objectives. Even when it comes to bosses, players shouldn’t over-commit to fighting them at the expense of the run.