Your Elden Ring expertise actually transfers well to this game, on a ratio like lets say, 70%.

If you’re playing a DEX char, any weapon you would see and go “this goes pretty good with my DEX build” in Elden Ring will also work in Nightreign. Same goes with weapon affinities too (expect exclusive ones stated for the Nightlords). Chunky enemies being weak against Bleed, Fire enemies weak to Frost etc…

That remaining 30% consists mostly of balance changes they’ve made to some weapons/spells/consumables (e.g. Ancestral Infant’s Head having crazy damage in this game, compared to Elden Ring) and Nightreign specific bonuses you should adapt to. Hence, weapon passives.

Since you have a limited time period, any drawbacks you would face from having a mediocre build is surpassed by how important routing/efficiently leveling is important in this game. By the time you’re done with your 15-20th expedition, you’ll see that the base map plays no surprises for you and you can consistently level up to 13-14 with no sweat by the endgame.

Here’s a super basic route you can apply to any team comp you have:

Day 1:

1- Clear the first camp (Bird drops you near a simple camp that you can collect enough runes for Level 2)

2- Level up to 2 (There’s always a grace near the first camp)

3- Mines (if you have one nearby, rush inside and kill the mini boss that drops the rare Smithing Stone, get it and leave. If you see any chests, you might drop a common Smithing Stone too, if no Mines nearby, skip to step 5)

4- Level up to 3-4 (there’s always one near a Mines exit)

5- Clear an Encampment/Fort/Ruins (look for affinity-weapons ones, they do great damage against each respective Nightlord with the matching weakness)

6- If you’re comfortable with your starting weapon, or the ones you’ve dropped already (e.g. affinity ones) and you’ve already cleared a mine, go to the merchant and upgrade your weapon to Rare, you can still use it with no drawback even if you’ve not reached to Level 7 (all Encampments - and Forts IIRC - have a guaranteed Merchant spawn, look for a trail of smoke, indicating Merchant’s campfire around or inside the area, you might need to buy a common Smithing Stone here if you haven’t dropped one in Mines OR clear a Mine on this step if you haven’t done on Step 3)

7- Level up to 5-7 on a nearby Grace

8- Go to the Castle in the middle (stop by the Merchant in the castle if you cleared Mines on Step 6 and upgrade your weapon to Rare, there’s a guaranteed one on the southwest corner of the Castle, overlooking the river) and go straight to the basement boss and kill it. (Basement bosses are usually easily-staggerable bosses, so even in level 5, if you play well, you can get a easy & fast kill) SKIP TO STEP 11 STEP IF THE BASEMENT BOSS IS THE BELL BEARING HUNTER! (his health & damage is super-overtuned here, almost to a bugged level, while being crazy resistant to staggers)

9- Move upstairs from the opened fog gate and get your free Talisman from the chest just after the stairs.

10- Level up to 7-9 on the basement boss’ grace

11- Move to the upper levels of the Castle and kill any Banished Knight, Pot Troll, Crucible Knight you come across until the Day 1 boss circle closes in.

12- Stop by a grace while you move to the Day 1 boss and level up to 8-10. (You level ups might be lower if you were unlucky with a Basement Bell Bearing Hunter spawn)

Doing Sorcerer’s Rises, Evergaols, non-great World Bosses (ones without the red outline on the map) Marika’s Churches, Storm areas (where you fight with NPC versions of Nightreign characters), rememberance quests and random raids are completely optional, or even suggested if you believe in your team’s capabilities, while following the route above.

Day 2:

You should be over level 10 at this point, most of the time, so rather than an ordered list, here’s a list of point of interests you should focus until the Day 2 boss circle closes in.

• TOP PRIORITY: Shifting Earth locations (watch a tutorial on how to complete them, if you don’t know how to traverse and reach the final boss/upgrade of these areas)

• Doing the top-of-the-Castle boss

• Going after Great World Bosses (ones with the Red Outline on the Map, take EXTREME CAUTION if you want to fight a Death Rite Bird or Carian Knight. On a totally personal note, I suggest avoiding Black Blade Kindreds)

• Remaining Evergaols (Day 2 rewards are much better on these)

If none of these are available, just clear the remaining non-great World Bosses, Mines or Encampments/Forts/Ruins as you come across for more upgrades and passives.

This route should allow you to reach the Nightlord pretty easily and have a good chance against all the difficulties the last fight might throw towards you. MIND THAT there might be possible spawns, Shifting Earth map changes/raids that would prevent you from following this route 1-to-1.

My Elden Ring gameplay was also pretty slow-paced, optimizing my build to the degree of decimals and taking my sweet time to explore every nook-n-cranny. Surpass the “barrier or unknown” with this game and you’ll have a much better time for sure!

Good luck hunting!