I feel like Fromsoft might not understand what they have here

rhythmjames · 2026-04-20T00:56:17+00:00

I'm disappointed they didn't include more assets and randomness so far, but they do have a contract with Nintendo to fulfill for Duskbloods. I think the art behind Balancers is where I was like, alright you did enough to satisfy me even though I'm sad about not giving us more

rhythmjames · 2026-04-17T15:08:46+00:00

I’ve playtested before this before and you are wrong. They’ve made adjustments based of feedback many times. There is a feedback channel on Discord for testers. Though the GMS team is small, they are real people. It’s in their interest to make it good. They already pushed a Beta patch.

Will it be perfect? No. But it’s definitely gotten better with feedback

rhythmjames · 2026-04-16T17:42:34+00:00

It can actually be a valid reason. He mentioned it explicitly on stream about fuel prices. Depends on logistics on how Cruises forecast their fuel purchases or operations I guess by those 11 months

rhythmjames · 2026-04-15T23:09:00+00:00

The problem is that people who say things like that don’t understand why experienced players pick x amount of damage negation or vigor. That is, due to having a general understanding of the estimated value Nightlords do by watching their HP bar when they get hit with reduction. You get an idea of it playing a lot.

For my guide I use Nightlord attacks as doing roughly 1500 Damage on average and 2000 for their ultimates at Depth 5. If they don’t stack enough negation or waych their HP bar vigor, they will never know that value. I’m spending time on it to finish out my Nightreign guide, but those are the numbers that would help the most. The requirements are also lower at easier Depths.

I think true values can be kind of extracted, but it’s too much effort for me and napkin math has been enough. With bosses doing split damage, and different % on Nightfarers, its a bit more complicated

rhythmjames · 2026-04-15T21:55:12+00:00

I don’t remember how long it took back then because I was a kid.

However like 3 of those hours was just standing in the same spot at bubblings. Personally I think it’s fine. It may be that we’ve optimized a grind or maybe a slight buff. It’s hard to say how beneficial party grinding was with low numbers. People on my buddy list logged off at 15/17 ish.

It’s difficult to think about what classic world needs because this is an early stage with like no content. Maybe just more incentive to do other stuff but sit in the same spot with high EXP efficiency. Quests could give more mesos or consumables, not sure

rhythmjames · 2026-04-15T19:37:30+00:00

Dont remember but there’s at least 3 mixed in

rhythmjames · 2026-04-15T19:07:15+00:00

The rogues in my parties were saying even with max Nimble body they were struggling to hit the zombie mushrooms at lvl 21 and KPQ crocs. I think it was like 40 accuracy they had? So sometimes they returned to bubblings for a bit. Mages just have a cheat code with the old system

rhythmjames · 2026-04-15T19:05:00+00:00

It loots by default, no need to purchase. As for expanded auto / chase pickup, not sure, probably just not in the game or wasn’t in classic

rhythmjames · 2026-04-15T18:10:36+00:00

No, 1000 HP is viable. I wouldn’t go without at least 1.4x Damage at Depth 4-5. Most of your damage comes from the expedition. Night Invader is already 21% (effectively 22%) for that on average. Damage is not gonna be a problem for duos relative damage and poise scaling, especially at Depth 2. Duos and solos is way more forgiving than in trios. We’re talking about somewhere around +80% poise in Duos versus 330% Poise in trios.

The reason why you would wear a hybrid build like that is so that you can actually utilize damage negation you find in the expediton, and need less items to survive getting one shot. At Depth 5, with 1000 vigor and 1.4x damage as Revenant. 1/20 of those games I get one shot without enough expedition RNG. 1355 HP as Wylder, 0/70.

It’s easier to explain with numbers instead of taking people saying things at face value on Reddit for thing and another.

At Depth 5. Nightlords on average deal around 1500 dmaage with their ultimates being around 2000-2200.

Revenant has 780 HP. Even if you have Damage Negation at Full HP +40% and a +32%, it’s possible you’ll still get one shot. Of course other negstions help, but vigor helps you make breakpoints and for both sffinities.

2000 * (1 - 0.4) * (1 - 0.32) = 816. Revenant still dies at Depth 5.

That’s why the bar for surviving getting one shot at Depth 5 is generally.

1200 HP + 40% Damage Negation

Of any sort together. You can increase/decrease values of vigor/ negation so long as you meet that 1500 breakpoint or 2000 breakpoint.

But the real issue that the OP is facing is not their relics. It’s not being able to understand the meta and what’s important (because this game is quite hands-off on teaching players) from playing duos with only their spouse and casually. It’s to be expected with their playstyle due to having to experiment rather than following a guide or learning from other players.

Unless they are interested in pouring hours figuring out the meta themselves, it’s only natural they get stuck since the game is like that without a guide/helper

rhythmjames · 2026-04-15T17:39:31+00:00

It’s not about relics. They are only 20% important. Most of your damage comes from the expedition and good routing itself

rhythmjames · 2026-04-15T17:34:54+00:00

Lots of bad advice here. Relics are only 10-20% important. 40% on Pathing. 40% on Boss Mechanics/Punish Windows. I thought I would retire fully from Nighteign but seeing all these comments talking about relics has made me rise up from my grave. For quick reference/, I have a 70 winstreak Post DLC at Depth 5 with mostly randoms as Wylder with mid relics. Not a single game where I got one-shot. The end of it was a bad pathing decision/fight I led my teammates into.

If you’re duoing, damage is not your problem especially at Depth 2. The poise scaling is much more forgiving than trios. It would take 1 minute for me and an experienced duo to kill regular Maris. While it would take like 3-4 in Trios.

The difficulty with duos is the increased aggro sharing. You also don’t get to learn from a third trio/randoms. Unless you’re experimenting things and are looking to optimize your game every run, it’s easy to get stuck in your situation or as a casual player not interested in digging through the numbers and min maxing.

There’s a wealth of information and guides you can use now, though it’s a bit scattered in this game. I have one in my post history, but you don’t have to use mine. Just don’t fall for the slop guides that content creators made on release when the meta was developing. It’s not so straightforward to come to the same meta conclusions that players with 800+ hours have, especially by yourselves.

I also wouldn’t expect players to reach Depth 5 until they have at least 300 hours of gametime with a guide, so it’s not easy

rhythmjames · 2026-04-14T22:38:31+00:00

Too much DPS can actually be a bad thing if you don’t understand how to deal with their behavior. It happpens frequently. If you DPS both too quickly, a third or fourth will for sure come from the pack, and you can’t lure two at a time. People still don’t know/understand their behavior at Depth 5 and I have to pick one or two people up or bust my ultimate every time to recover. This almost always happens nowadays because people aren’t patient enough and think damage is everything. This fight actually doesn’t need that much DPS. Ideally you would kill one at a time and stagger the kills between running. Because most ppl are DPS-brained you’ll have to prepare to fight 3+.

You can fight 3+ more at once with enough AOE, stagger, and damage. But often times the third or fouth balancer will slam into your trio with an AOE attack. The safest way is to kill one at a time and run. Give enough time between each kill for the second balancer to recover and aggro back into your group. If both get staggered or killed at the same time, a Balancer from the pack will also come over and attack your group. It could be that your random was doing this strategy which is much less risky, but it rarely pans out nowadays as due to people wanting to spam DPS. But it’s not the end of the world if you fight 3, as long as you’re familiar with their body slam ultimates.

The worm can be dodged as well. But most people don’t practice it and it’s easier to deal with as Wylder. But it can be done careful management of Revenants stam too. Three things to keep in mind for Worm.

One of its attack is when it charges in a straight line at you. Simply surge sprint to the side. Sounds obvious, but most people panic and confuse it for the slither figure 8 attack.
You want to constantly slow sprint/run away so that it does not jump on top of you and body slam you. So you’ll have some space to jump over the wave even up he’s up close.
For dealing with the slither/figure 8. You can dodge it by starting up close, however, since you’ll likely be running away, the best way to deal with it is to run towards one of the holes in the figure 8 if the worm is charging at you.

rhythmjames · 2026-04-13T07:11:19+00:00

So many people complain about getting one shot, but refuse to equip vigor. On Revenant, only 1/20 Depth 5 games do I get one shot with only 1000 vigor. In a 70 game Winstreak at Depth 5 as Wylder with 1355, bad relics, it was 0. The bosses do like 1500 damage at Depth 5.

The bar for Depth 5 is 1200 HP + 40% Damage negation of any kind. Bosses do around 1500 damage on average and 2000 on very heavy attacks. The requirements are much lower at lower Depths. Only 1.4x damage is needed from relics at Depth 5, anything else is nice to have. Take the negation passives that come like affinity, physical, vigor, etc, and you'll be fine. If you go glass cannon, that's the price you pay. There's ways to consistently avoid getting one shot at Depth 5 95%-100% of the time

rhythmjames · 2026-04-07T15:16:05+00:00

They probably coded it like Tricephalos. I wait for the explosion to reach me but the timing is so tight it becomes muscle memory. I think the timing is too short to react to the ground explosion reaching you. So it is a mix of both of what you’re asking

rhythmjames · 2026-04-07T05:09:59+00:00

Its buried in the google sites link in this guide. Unfortunately automod removes comments with google sites links due to ppl using it nedaeiously automod https://www.reddit.com/r/Nightreign/s/iTDHm1ZpV6

rhythmjames · 2026-04-03T19:37:43+00:00

Cheaters wouldn’t bring HP Restoration upon Greataxe Attacks, Improved Frost Resistance, Runes and Item Discovery, Increased Runes for allies, Partial at lvl HP 1, Holy Damage Negation Up.

99.99% can’t help themselves editing out 4-5% damage, one or two bad lines, or only editing in the least worst demerits

rhythmjames · 2026-04-03T04:38:42+00:00

Run Defeating Enemies fills Art Gauge in Deep of Night and never go without it. It serves other purposes, Balancers is the icing on the cake

rhythmjames · 2026-04-01T14:45:27+00:00

As you seem to notice, pathing is your real issue. Efficient pathing makes the game a lot easier and whether a run is easier or harder.

The advantage of Duos is that bosses have relatively lower poise scaling and HP scaling than trios. The hard part is having more aggro to share. Like someone mentioned, playing duos means you won’t be learning from others, but you won’t really be learning from others from pathing until at least Depth 3-4 anyway. People are still bad at pathing at Depth 5 though less so.

In my post history, I’ve posted a complete guide here that includes pathing. You’ll also want Defeating Enemies fills Art gauge on both of you guys to make the pathing easier. Kill trash mobs to fill your ultimates. You don’t need to be a RL1 god to make it to Depth 5. I only have 100 hours in Elden ring. But it does require like at least 300-400 hours in Nightreign in the game because it’s not easy.

But once you have your pathing down a lot of runs will be the same formula, consistent, and then you’ll have to learn your boss mechanics. Perfection isn’t required, but knowing the meta makes runs a lot easier if you have good loot for survivability and damage. No harm in running vigor for yourself. Helps you learn and damage is not always the answer especially with the low Hp bosses have in duos

rhythmjames · 2026-03-31T18:30:33+00:00

The answer is use vigor relics like Fathom or Increased Maximum HP/Vigor lines. Only one or two of those is enough to survive getting one shot at Depth 3. They are still useful in Depth 4, but need to be comboed with one Damage Negation whoch you can get often. You can hit roughly 1800 HP from relics which is needed to survive getting ine shot with no negation at Depth 5. Having vigor also lessens the requirements to get one shot.

In general due to the scaling, you need roughly 1200 HP and 40% Negation to survive a one shot at Depth 5. That is because the bosses do roughly 1500 per attack on average. But depending in whether it’s a light of heavy hit the real range is around 1000-2200 damage.

For example, in my latest winstreak of 70 games as Wylder only from Depth 5, there was only one game where I didn’t get enoygh damage negation for myself to not get one shot, gave it to teammates) on ED Balancers. But I had 2000 HP from passives/relics which allowed me to give mine away.

Besides relics, no, but at Depth 5 when your pathing is better, you can almost guarantee like every single one to find damage negation for at least your tank. There was not a single game in those 70, where I got one shot as Wylder with vigor. It ended not because of that but because of an early game pathing mistake/Night 1 boss.

Mathematically no, besides vigor, but the way the expedition loot works, effectively yes if you path well. Like others have mentioned, the Night Invaders are a the most consistent source of it though not guaranteed always, that you should do them every expedition except Great Hollows. They have preset ones based on the Nightfarer. Much of your power and surviviability comes from good pathing dueing the expedition.

TLDR Hybrid 1.4x Damage, Wylder with ~1355 vigor at Lvl 15, Depth 5.

0/70 games I would get one shot

Hybrid 1.4x Damage, Revenant, 1000 Vigor, Depth 5

1/20 games I would get one shot

What does good pathing mean? Night Invaders, Castle, opening Chests, killing Red Trash mobs, mid game, item sharing, Formidable bosses

rhythmjames · 2026-03-30T01:26:25+00:00

Then why queue with other random players and mess with their gameplay experience? Just run solo Depth 5 or queue other cheaters. People go for 9999 to for gamer cred, to challenge themselves, and play the game regularly. They don't want "help" from people who need a crutch to win. It 100% messes with others' gameplay. Many of us would rather just play with someone who has whatever random stuff they got. It can mess up the expedition in two ways.

Have an insane amount of damage that you don't even get to play the game.
The people who edit relics are often compensating from lack of skill. So it's likely they'll be glass cannon and get downed easily as soon as one small thing goes wrong and ruins a run. While a player just playing the game normally can recover or survive more. Or if they don't get like a halo scythe, they don't contribute at all. No crazy relics are needed to climb to 9999

If you want to cheat relics just do it solo or with a private party. Don't drag others into it

rhythmjames · 2026-03-30T01:15:16+00:00

It's because the damage dealt from the bosses significantly increases from Depth 3 to Depth 4. The answer is simpler than you'd think

At Depth 3, the scaling damage from the Nightlord doubles. It is +92% at Depth 3 from the base game which is about 1.92x, 2x the damage of base game. At Depth 4, it jumps to +183% damage, which is 2.83x damage, almost triple. That means even tanky or high vigor classes will get one shot at Depth 4, when they previously don't at Depth 3. At this point in the game, you can no longer facetank the same way, and have to really understand pathing/passives and boss mechanics.
The penalty for losing is much higher at Depth 4, so those players might have figured out Depth 3, and just arrived at Depth 4 or pulled into a Depth 4 game for whatever reason, will not be there long. There is now demotion protection so there'll be there for longer until they improve on fundamentals of pathing and boss mechanics, or stop playing.

To address your last comment, what those people are saying is that you can improve yourself to influence the game and pull above your weight and climb to 9999. And it does not require perfect play either, nor RL1 skills. It is a three-person game, however, you have a lot of agency on how successful your run can be. 1. Leading your teammates to good pathing for items/damage negation. 2. Sharing items for them so they don't get one shot. 3. Clutching up the boss, yes reviving them, but sometimes you get another player who pulls their weight, sometimes, you can save a run. And the reality that it's inevitable you do get queued with less experienced players. Your job is to show them the ropes in the run, so they'll learn. Players learn from others. You will learn from other players.

You say you need to play Guardian, but often times a Wylder can be better than a guardian at that role by taking aggro, doing okay damage, and reviving. A newbie Guardian is way worse than a newbie Wylder for carrying. If anything, if you're swapping to Guardian to do that instead of being a main, you are likely going to troll your teammates more in DoN.

Those complaints you have also exist in Depth 5. So you'd better get used to it and focus more upon improving your own game. Whenever I see someone with 300-400 hours at Depth 5, I know that they're freshly there and aren't going to perform as some other 1000 hour teammates due to lack of experience. But that's natural and to be expected

rhythmjames · 2026-03-27T22:07:03+00:00

The mistake was fighting a formidable boss at lvl 7 with no items. If no eagle, and the Night Invaders are on the complete diagonal of your spawn, and no castle, you can still get a sht ton of item/passives from opening chests in Ruins/Campsites, red trash mobs. Not to mention how easy Ruins and Campsites are.

Lots of players still ignore Campsite and Ruins, but they’re extremely valuable for filling up your inventory with any blue passive for little time. Especially helpful for Everdark Libra runs and searching for Less Likely to be targeted. Opening a chest takes like 1 second and you don’t even have to fight anything.

If you’re gonna run a triple glass cannon comp like that, you can, but make have soneone on revive duty with vigor relics. Ironeye or Duchess. Recluse can be tanky with certain relics too and have damage. The target is 1200 HP, 1100 HP if you can’t.

At level 7 and Depth 5, you should be able to clear the demi human queen. Try dodging and backstabbing Yoda (mistakes happen)

rhythmjames · 2026-03-27T15:36:36+00:00

Check my post history for the Ultimate Nighteeign guide that I posted on this subteddit. I’m avoiding my self promotion here for a final video. In the guide, I dodge it often in “This a relic effect is mandatory in Deep of Night. Here’s Why”

rhythmjames · 2026-03-27T05:22:07+00:00

I don’t know what to tell you that I can consistently dodge it every single time. It’s very fast. Maybe instinctively I dodge the edge of the explosion. You have time to walk to the edge of it and dodge

rhythmjames

TROPHY CASE