Watch On
I’ve been playing Elden Ring Nightreign since it came out. I’ve killed ice dragons, flying centaurs, and a jellyfish god. What could be so hard about fighting a three-headed dog?
Quite a lot, it turns out. The enhanced version of Nightreign’s first boss is easily one of the hardest fights in the game. When he’s not waving a sword around, he’s splitting into three angry dogs and chasing you around the arena. And if you’re not careful, hitting him at the wrong time can make him stronger.
FromSoftware modder and dataminer Zullie the Witch finally cleared up something that has been bugging me even after defeating Everdark Gladius. In some battles his attacks would leave me with a sliver of health, but in others he would wipe me out in one hit. This is because, as Zullie points out, he has a deceptively subtle move that baits you into making him deal more damage than normal.
Zullie calls it a taunt where Gladius stands still and glows red when players attack him. Each time this happens, he gains a 7.5% damage buff that stacks up to three times and lasts for a whopping 18 seconds. Weaker characters, like Duchess and Revenant, won’t be able to survive normal attacks if he’s running around 22.5% more lethal than usual.
It’s a nasty little move that is nearly impossible to see during the fight. There’s no sound effect or obvious animation that suggests Gladius wants you to attack him, which is especially punishing for Ironeye’s spamming their arrows. Outside of a well-coordinated team, I don’t think you’re avoiding it.
It probably says something that I still think Everdark Libra is harder. I’d rather get chased by the sequel to cerberus than get pummeled by three clones of my group and a goat man. Everdark Gladius is a close second in terms of difficulty and that’s mostly because of this one mechanic. Otherwise, his new set of moves aren’t particularly challenging if you’ve already mastered the almost identical ones used by Nightreign’s final boss.
I’ll forgive Gladius for cheating because he was unlucky enough to be the first boss every Nightreign player encounters. Getting beat up by millions of players for the last few months would make me want a little revenge too. I just wish he wasn’t so sneaky about it.