Elden Ring Nightreign Guide | How To Level Up Fast

Here's how to get overpowered fast every run in Elden Ring Nightreign.

Game Guide by Ornstein on Jun 01, 2025

Nightreign is a fascinating Elden Ring mode that rewards skillful execution, speed, and efficiency. To become truly overpowered (OP) during a run, you must master all three. Your goal is to make the most of every expedition so that you can amass runes and loot, putting you in the best possible position when confronting the final boss.

This guide walks you through the essential strategies to level up quickly, optimize gear acquisition, and maximize runes within the first two days of any expedition.

Preparing for Your Expedition

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Make sure your treasures are ready for the boss you want to fight before you land. Each boss has different flaws, so switching to relics that take advantage of those weaknesses gives you a big head start. Also, make it a priority to finish any Remembrance Events that are open.

These events appear in your journal under individual character entries and typically begin with dialogue at Roundtable Hold, culminating in a side quest and boss fight. Once you finish one, you'll receive a powerful new relic and sometimes an extra chalice—both of which outperform standard expedition rewards. Aim to complete these events as early as possible to bolster your arsenal before tackling other objectives.

Day One: Early Objectives

From the moment you land, your mind should be calculating the most efficient path to rack up runes and gear. Immediately clear the nearest small enemy camp to secure just enough runes to reach Level 2.

Though Level 2 might seem trivial, it provides a snowball effect: the sooner you level, the more damage you deal, accelerating every subsequent objective.

After clearing the camp, locate the closest Site of Grace to spend your runes, refill flasks, and prepare for the following engagements. While clearing camps, break every box and swoop in to pick up consumables—use a rapid "break‐and‐pickup" approach rather than painstakingly looting each item.

Next, orient yourself toward the nearest church. Churches serve as your North Star throughout Day One because defeating a church boss rewards a Stone Sword Key, and activating a church grants one additional flask charge. Activate as many churches as possible by sunset.

However, do not run directly from church to church; instead, plan a route that takes you through major points of interest (POIs) en route, either clockwise or counterclockwise. In a perfect scenario, you'd clear every POI before Day Two ends, but since that's rarely feasible, learn to prioritize.

Great Churches and Stone Sword Keys

Great Churches are among the most rewarding early POIs. They come in two layouts: one where the boss resides upstairs in the main sanctum and another where the boss crouches beneath in the catacombs.

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If you encounter the underground variant, be sure to scour the altar area for faith‐based items—especially valuable if you're running a build that benefits from faith scaling. As soon as you defeat a Great Church boss, rest at the nearby Site of Grace to refill your flasks and spend any accumulated runes.

With that early Stone Sword Key in hand, head to the closest Everjail. Everjails are unique encounters that grant flat rune bonuses—10,000, 20,000, or, in rare cases, 30,000 runes—depending on the key's rarity. If you activate an Everjail on Day One, the boss spawns at half health, virtually guaranteeing a blue‐tier (10,000‐rune) reward.

Should you save a key for Day Two, the boss will have full health, but you'll have a shot at the higher purple‐tier reward (20,000 runes). If you get more than one Stone Sword Key, plan trips to different Everjails, trying to do as many as you can on Day One so you can get runes faster with less time spent.

Day Two: Priorities and Route Optimization

On Day Two, your primary goal is to finish activating any remaining churches to maximize your flask charges before facing the final boss. Plan a route that keeps you steadily moving toward each church while hitting as many other POIs as possible along the way.

Avoid getting bogged down in sprawling encampments or rune fields unless they lie directly on your path—these areas can eat up massive chunks of time for diminishing returns.

When you do encounter a large encampment, focus on killing the primary boss swiftly and ignore lesser enemies unless they block your route. If you spot flame chariots in these encampments, use the vaulting mechanic—double‐jump off their backs and spam light attacks to trigger an instant kill animation, saving yourself considerable time.

As Day Two progresses, treat outer POIs as one‐time opportunities—you won't get another shot at them later. If a POI lies near your trajectory toward the Knight's Tide collapse point (usually centered on the map), pull the trigger on it—otherwise, press on.

Your overarching goal remains constant: reach at least Level 15 before the final boss, procure a weapon that scales favorably against that boss's weakness (check this when queuing for your expedition), and assemble a suite of buff items and talismans to maximize damage output.

Upgrading Weapons via Mines

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If RNG hasn't blessed you with an ideal weapon drop, plan a side trip to a nearby mine for an epic smithing stone. Each mine contains one high‐level elite—either a Pumpkin Head Troll or a Knight—who carries either gold or an epic smithing stone.

Defeating that elite grants you the stone needed to upgrade any +2 (blue) item into a +3 (purple) item.

During Day Two, please discuss with your team whether upgrading is worth it since not every build requires a maxed‐out weapon. Inside the mine, ignore everything except the elite; other foes, especially diggers, are far tankier than they're worth dealing with at this stage.

If you successfully acquire an epic smithing stone, immediately upgrade your weapon at the nearest Site of Grace to keep your damage output competitive.

Final Preparations and Boss Loadout

By the end of Day Two, your objectives are threefold. First, use all of your runes to get to Level 15, which is generally thought to be the point where you can't handle the final boss anymore.

Second, make sure that the scale bonuses on your weapon work best against the final boss's weaknesses. If the final boss is weak in magic, for example, you should work on making a sword or staff that can scale magic better.

Third, stockpile consumables—such as Gold Pickled Foulfoot to increase rune gain and Silver Pickled Foulfoot to boost item rarity drops—and equip talismans that enhance your chosen build's strengths, whether that's boosting stamina regeneration, increasing critical damage, or amplifying elemental resistances.

If you've collected multiple Stone Sword Keys but have not used them, deploy any remaining ones in Everjails; even on Day Two, defeating an Everjail boss with full health still grants a purple‐tier (20,000‐rune) reward.

Efficiency and Route Example

Maintain momentum by always moving toward your next objective rather than backtracking. For instance, on Day One, you might land near a small camp and clear it immediately to reach Level 2, then rest at the nearest Site of Grace before proceeding to a Great Church.

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After defeating the Great Church boss, travel to the closest Everjail for a 10,000‐rune reward.

Next, move toward the central castle: pick up the Rune Tree buff at the river entrance, enter through the sewers, defeat the sewer boss, loot the armory for a talisman, and clear elites on the upper walls before sunset.

As churches go live, activate them in sequence—ideally those near high‐density POIs—to increase flask charges and unlock rhythms that carry you smoothly into Day Two.

On Day Two, return to any partially defeated bosses—especially greater bosses near the Knight's Tide collapse—and finish them for easy runes.

Then activate the remaining churches in an efficient loop—moving clockwise or counterclockwise to minimize backtracking—and stop at key POIs like mines and encampments only if they lie directly on your path or yield critical resources.

If a Crater is available, dive in for Prader and Magma Worm fights, claim the legendary weapon, and then push back out to hit Everjails or remaining POIs before gathering runes to reach Level 15. Finally, update your loadout with consumables and talismans that sharpen your build for the final fight.

Final Notes

By carefully planning relics, knocking out Remembrance Events early, and optimizing your route through churches, Everjails, the castle, and various POIs, you'll rapidly accumulate runes and gear. Exploit boss health persistence to split tough fights between days and prioritize high‐impact loot like talismans, epic smithing stones, and legendary weapons.

Reach Level 15 before the final boss, equip the ideal weapon, and stock up on consumables that align with your build. With these strategies, you'll be in a prime position to face—and defeat—the final boss on every Nightreign expedition.

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