Elden Ring Player Races to Solo Malenia Before Nerf

Elden Ring Nightreign's Patch 1.01.1 is now available, specifically targeting the single-player experience to lower the difficulty for those attempting to complete the new FromSoftware title alone. However, one determined player didn't wait for the patch and managed to defeat every Nightlord solo before any adjustments made it easier.

The challenge of playing Elden Ring Nightreign solo has been a major talking point since the game's release. Many players have voiced their frustrations about the significant difficulty spike when playing alone compared to cooperative trios. Here's an excerpt from IGN's Elden Ring Nightreign review that addresses this:

"This isn't to suggest that solo play is completely unfeasible, as I have completed a few runs by myself. Rather, the balancing for solo players feels incomplete, and consequently, the aggravation of playing without a team outweighed the satisfaction of victory for me, leaving little motivation to continue alone."

This widespread feedback led Bandai Namco and FromSoftware to release a patch today aimed at alleviating the pressure on solo players. For many, this will be a welcome change.

Meanwhile, on the r/Nightreign subreddit, a user named "Valseran" provided proof of their solo victories against every Nightlord, from the initial expedition to the final boss. Their motivation? "I wanted to complete them before the nerf hit."

Managed to Solo all Nightlords before the nerf
byu/Valseran inNightreign

This is a remarkable feat. While there have been reports of other players completing large portions of the game solo, and content creators like YouTuber Ongbal have shared their solo triumphs against specific Nightreign bosses, Valseran's dedication to clearing all content before the patch is both impressive and perfectly timed.

The clear times displayed on the right show their steady progression, defeating bosses in the days leading up to the update as if racing against the impending patch. It appears these impressive results were achieved mainly with the Ironeye character, with the Duchess and Executor making brief appearances earlier. Fortunately, we don't have to speculate based on a single image, as Valseran elaborated on their strategy in the comments.

"Don't focus solely on finding a powerful bow; instead, concentrate on stacking weapon passives in your other equipment slots," Valseran advised when asked for Ironeye tips. "Bonuses to ranged damage, two-handed damage, and damage at full health can all stack, leading to an incredibly high damage output. Any purple-quality bow will perform well with the right passives. Also, the dash ability is a great source of damage, but I often save it as an evasive maneuver for attacks that are hard to dodge. I use the Art ability similarly against bosses, valuing its invincibility frames more than its damage."

Although Valseran predominantly used Ironeye, the ranged archer of the Nightfarers, they mentioned preferring melee for certain bosses and even equipped melee weapons on Ironeye for a few encounters. According to this solo archer, some bosses are "simply a nightmare to fight alone" without ranged options. They ranked the final boss as the most difficult, but admitted the centaur boss (Fulghor, Champion of Nightglow) caused the most deaths.

Securing extra lives was also a high priority, which is logical; without teammates for revives, having a safety net is crucial. Valseran stated they prioritized purchasing extra lives from merchants, and some field bosses would drop them depending on the expedition. "In one boss fight, I entered with four extra lives," Valseran said. "But at a minimum, always try to get one early on."

Providing an extra life during boss encounters is one of the ways FromSoftware is assisting solo players in Patch 1.01.1. The "Automatic Revival Upon Defeat" effect, which allows for one revival per night during a night boss battle, has been added to solo expeditions, effectively giving players a free second chance. Valseran believes this extra life will be "quite significant" for solo play. Since stacking extra lives is already a sound strategy for single-player, getting one for free is a substantial bonus.

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So while solo Nightfarers may now find it easier to overcome the toughest challenges in Elden Ring Nightreign, at least one player has secured well-deserved bragging rights. For everyone else, Elden Ring Nightreign is available now, offering a slightly more manageable experience for lone wolves and awaiting more Nightfarers to test their skills against its trials.

We offer a wealth of Nightreign tips and strategies to help you conquer all eight Nightlord Bosses. If you're curious about unlocking the two initially locked Nightfarer Classes, check out our guides: How to Unlock the Revenant, How to Unlock the Duchess, and How to Change Characters.