Wondering what is the best character class in Elden Ring? This guide explains the best character classes, with tips how to play them, and the best team constellations. Elden Ring Nightreign features 8 character classes. Initially you only have access to 6 classes, with the 2 classes “Duchess” and “Revenant” being unlocked from story progress.
What Character Classes are in Elden Ring Nightreign?
Below are the 8 classes listed by the in-game menu order.
- Wylder – The allrounder melee class, specializes in melee weapons and has a small shield. Good with any melee weapon. High health.
- Guardian – The defensive tank class. Has a greatshield, uses a halberd. Good for blocking but lower damage output. Highest health in the game.
- Ironeye – The archer who attacks with bows and arrows. All bows have infinite arrows, making this the ideal ranged class to attack from safe distance. Can also use melee weapons in left hand. Medium health.
- Duchess – The quick thief-type class, uses daggers, has high mobility and is best at dodging. Medium health.
- Raider – The classic barbarian melee build that specializes in heavy weapons such as hammers and greataxes. Highest strength stat and high health, but low speed for dodges and attacks.
- Revenant – The summoner class, can summon spirits for free that attack enemies, but these have low survivability against bosses. Also has a healing incantation. Highest faith stat, low health.
- Recluse – The mage class, uses magic spells to attack. FP must be recharged by using the character skills, as there are no FP flasks. The most complex class to play, attack speed slower than Ironeye archer. Low health.
- Executor – The samurai wielding a katana that inflicts blood loss ailment. Best damage dealer in the game. Can transform into a big beast. Medium health.
Best Classes Ranked & Tips How to Play Them
This lists all classes from best (#1) to worst (#8) with tips how to play each class.
1. Executor (Best Damage Dealer Melee Class)
By far the best damage dealer in the game is the Executor. His starting weapon is a powerful katana that inflicts blood loss every 3-4 hits for massive damage. Instead of collecting other weapons, you should stick with his starting weapon and upgrade it to purple rarity. You get purple smithing stones from mines. Blue smithing stones are bought from any merchant for 6500 runes. Then you can interact with the smithing table next to the merchant to apply both upgrades.
You should get a relic that applies a second ailment to your starting weapon, ideally frost because it builds up the same way as blood loss and then deals a big chunk of instant damage. This way you can double-dip into the blood loss + frostbite ailments for insane damage. After saving up enough Murk currency, back up your save, draw random relics from the small jar bazar in the hub area, if you don’t get a relic that applies ailments to your starting weapon, then copy back your save and draw random relics again.
The Executor’s ultimate ability turns him into a big monster, this is perfect for reviving teammates or dealing massive damage to minibosses and large crowds. During the main bosses the ultimate should be saved up in case teammates go down, then you can quickly revive them in the monster form, as it instantly gives you an extended full healthbar when you transform.
Picking up other weapons isn’t recommended, stick with the starting katana and upgrade it. If you are lucky enough to get a frostbite relic, you can even get other relics that improve damage output on blood-loss or frost-afflicated enemies to increase your damage further. The only downside with this class is its low defense and medium health. You have to be good at dodging. But for skilled players this is the most efficient class to melt away boss’s health quicker than anything else! The most skilled player on the team should play as Executor to make the boss fights go faster. If you’re not good at dodging, then Ironeye is the better choice.
2. Ironeye (Best Ranged Class, Beginner-Friendly)
This is the easy “cheese” class. Ironeye is an archer, and has infinite arrows. In games like this it’s always easiest to play ranged characters, because you can stay out of the danger zone while continuously dealing damage. The quick shot with R1/RB can be spammed infinitely. When you run out of stamina you will shoot a little bit slower but you can still shoot and dodge. The R2/RT move shows 3 arrows in a 90° radius for crowd control, good against groups of weak enemies. The L2+R2 / LT+RT uses a charged arrow that deals heavy damage and can break enemy poise to stagger them. This is great for shielded enemies.
You should always use the Ironeye’s skill with Triangle+L2 / Y+LT to “mark” enemies. It will make you rush forward to hit an enemy with a dagger, then the enemy has a red marker on it. While this is in effect everyone deals 10% more damage to the enemy, and if you deal enough damage it will break the mark for a big damage burst.
Ironeye’s default damage output isn’t the best, especially against stone enemies, shielded enemies, and some bosses that take barely any damage from arrows. Because of this, it’s important you draw a random relic that applies blood loss or frost to the starting armament. Go to the small jar bazar in the hub area and draw random ones for 600 Murk until you get one of these. The other starting ailments aren’t worth it. With blood loss you will deal double the damage, because every few arrows create a huge damage explosion (although some bosses are more resistant to it than others). You can back up your save after having amassed a fair amount of Murk, if you don’t draw a blood-loss or frostbite relic then restore save and repeat. Without this the archer is near the bottom of the damage output lists but with it, you’ll have a MUCH easier time.
During boss battles use the ultimate attack to stagger bosses when they charge up powerful attacks, or use it on fallen enemies to revive them fast. The fact you can shoot arrows at downed enemies also makes him a very effective reviver. Having a relic that restores stamina on each hit is also great for this class to keep shooting arrows quickly. When a boss focuses on you, simply dodge back, shoot a few arrows, wait for the boss to refocus on another teammate and keep shooting. Don’t wait for your stamina to recharge all the way, just keep shooting all the time. While the damage per hit isn’t great, the fact you can hit from a long range and land hits continuously makes up for it (whereas melee classes often find themselves running after bosses and barely get an opening to land a hit). This class is also great against flying bosses like Augur. Equipping a relic that heals the entire team when you consume a flask is also great to make him a passive healer.
Personally, I played this class the most and I always stuck to the starting weapon since I had a relic that applies blood loss. Buy a blue smithing shard from merchants and getting a purple smithing shard from a mine, then you can upgrade the bow to purple. Finding purple grade bows is pretty rare and not worth dealing with the randomness. Always equip a melee weapon in the left hand, best are light weapons such as claws and katanas. These are perfect against shielded enemies. You can mark enemies with Triangle+L2 / Y+LT to rush behind the enemy, then quickly land melee attacks with the left hand. This deals massive damage to any shielded enemy or anything that’s resistant to arrows. After leveling up you can kill most mobs with 1-2 arrow shots from safe distance. In boss fights just dodge backwards when the boss focuses on you, if a teammate goes down quickly shoot arrows at them for a revive. A team of 3 Ironeye’s can also be worth trying if your teammates have trouble playing melee chars at close range.
3. Raider (Great as part of a Team)
The raider is great at breaking enemy poise, thanks to his proficiency with heavy weapons. He is listed as the third best because his ultimate ability is great to buff the entire team for more damage output. On his own he is a bit more challenging to play since he’s fairly slow and his ultimate isn’t as useful for solo play. His damage output is on the higher end, but not nearly as good as Executor. If the other teammates use their ultimates after the Raider places his totem (ultimate ability) you can stack up massive damage. Even better if you have an Ironeye on the team who can mark the enemy with his skill for another +10% damage multiplier.
The downside of this class is that he is very slow to dodge, and the melee attacks with heavy weapons are slow to wield. He also doesn’t have a shield. He is a typical hack and slash class that relies on his high strength and health, allow him to take more hits. He can also use almost any melee weapon efficiently, but it’s best to use heavy weapons like hammers and greataxes as their damage scales the most with his strength stat.
4. Wylder (Best Allrounder but Master of None)
Wylder is the best allrounder and the most beginner-friendly melee class. He starts with a shield that allows you to block most physical attacks in exchange for stamina. It absorbs all physical damage from standard mobs. However, certain AOE attacks from larger enemies, and elemental attacks can’t be blocked. He specializes in using greatswords but his stats scale well to any weapon type, allowing for varied gameplay with any weapons you find.
His skill allows him to grapple to enemies quickly with Triangle+L2 / Y+LT. His ultimate can be charged for more damage output by holding Triangle+R2 / Triangle+RT. Wylder has medium stats in everything, has good survivability and decent damage output. This is why he’s ranked in the middle as #4 because he’s just “average” in every regard. When he takes a hit that would normally kill him, he will survive once with low HP, but this doesn’t act as an autorevive when he goes down. If you don’t know what class to pick you can’t really go wrong with Wylder, he’s good to learn the game, but his skills aren’t as useful for the team as the top 3 characters.
5. Duchess (Good Melee Damage Dealer, but not as good as Executor)
To unlock Duchess, you must get the “Old Pocketwatch” item as a random match reward. This can drop randomly in the rewards screen at the end of an expedition. You don’t have to finish expeditions, it can also come from failed expeditions (already obtainable during first expedition). Then you must talk to the hooded girl in the Roundtable Hold hub area, she will lift her hood to reveal she’s the Duchess. Then you can play as her.
Duchess is very agile, it’s the only class that can quickly double-dodge. Damage output is high but survivability is low. Her ultimate art allows her to go invisible, which is perfect to revive teammates without fear of being attacked. However, unless you are the last one standing it will be useless.
She excels at using daggers, which are rare to find from random drops. So you’ll want to upgrade the starting weapons instead to not have to deal with the randomness. It’s also essential to equip a relic that adds blood-loss or frostbite to her starting armament for vastly improved damage output. Overall however, it won’t do as much damage as the Executor, has less health than him, and the ultimate art isn’t as useful. So the Executor wins out in every way as a superior melee damage dealer.
6. Guardian (Tank, Good as part of a Team, but low Damage)
Guardian has the highest health of any class and heavy defense. His starting gear relies heavily on blocking damage with his greatshield. His damage output isn’t as good as other melee classes. He is an ineffective tank overall, because the Greatshield doesn’t block certain AOE and elemental attacks of bosses, and he doesn’t have a way to make the enemies focus on him. Bosses often focus on the player who deals the most damage, and the Guardian has no way to redirect enemy’s attention to himself, and typically deals less damage. His abilities are a mismatch for what a tank class would need to be effective. If you die often he can be a decent class to try thanks to superior survivability, but you might as well play as Ironeye who has more helpful team abilities and is easier to handle, or play Wylder who also has a shield and better damage output.
7. Revenant (Summoner, Too Weak Against Bosses)
To unlock Revenant, you must first unlock the Duchess. Then you can “Besmirched Frame” for 1500 Murk from the Small Jar Bazar in Roundtable Hold. This will unlock a yellow (“!”) marker on the map on the right side of Roundtable Hold. Go there to find a little ghost girl, touch her to be transported to a boss fight against her and 3 spirits. Defeat her, then she becomes a playable character.
Revenant is a fun class to try, she can summon 3 spirits for free (doesn’t cost FP or anything). However, only 1 spirit can be spawned at a time, not all 3 at once. One is a quick melee character, the other a large melee colossus, the third is a big skeleton that remains stationary and uses ranged attacks as well as melee when enemies get close. This is pretty cool for clearing out mobs solo, but against bosses the spirits die almost instantly. The problem is that they have a long cooldown once they die. You could in theory run in circle until they recharge and keep spamming them, but this isn’t practicable as it takes too long. Revenant also comes with a healing incantation, which effectively makes her the “healer” class for the entire team. However, her relatively low damage output and lowest survivability (on par with Recluse) can get her killed in 1 hit from bosses, often making her feel like a burden on the team if not dodging properly. A fun class with an interesting mix of skills, and overall player-friendly as she can play at a safe distance and let her spirits do most of the work. On bosses you will need to get up close to land melee hits for efficient damage output, but can help the team with healing incantations.
8. Recluse (Mage, Difficult to Play, Low Survivability)
Recluse is the typical mage build. This is by far the most complex class to play. Unlike Elden Ring the main game, there are no FP flasks at all. To restore FP, you must use the character skill with Triangle + L2 / Y + LT, immediately after you hit an enemy with a magic attack. Each time you land a magic spell, you have a few seconds to use your character skill to restore some FP when you’re close enough to the enemy. This also works when killing an enemy. This is a bit annoying because you spend so much time recharging your FP this way, instead of actually attacking and landing damage. If you run out of FP you have a big problem. You can compensate for it a little bit by buying Starlight Shards from merchants (or find them in chests), they can be consumed to instantly restore FP. This is useful for the main boss fights so you can deal more damage with fewer interruptions. The ultimate ability “Soulblood Song” also recharges FP and HP for a short time, but because the ultimate has a long cooldown it’s not a reliable way to charge FP. Basically, with this class you’re a standing target half the time since you’re busy recharging FP, and the cast time of spells is longer than Ironeye’s arrow shots. On top of that, you have the lowest health in the game (on par with Revenant) and melee weapons are inefficient to use since your stats don’t scale them.
Gaining access to other spells requires finding new staffs. On the world map you can press Triangle/Y to display what items can be found in each area, this shows which ones give staffs. Still, with the randomness of spells you never know what you get so you might as well stick with the basic starting spells, which are not very powerful. If you want to play a ranged character go with Ironeye instead, he’s much better.
Best Team Setup
A great team that works for all bosses is Executor + Raider + Ironeye:
- Executor – for players who prefer an aggressive playstyle and can deal high damage, must be good at dodging. The most skilled player on the team should play Executor.
- Raider – to boost the team’s attack power with his ultimate ability.
- Ironeye – great for reviving teammates from a distance and attacking safely from afar.
The Raider should use his ultimate ability to place a totem at the bosses, this buffs everyone’s attack power. Ironeye should use his Triangle+L2 skill to mark enemies so everyone deals +10% damage (with a big damage burst if dealing enough damage before the mark disappears). Also use his ultimate after Raider placed his Totem. The Executor is the main damage dealer, use his ultimate after Raider placed his totem. This can kill bosses very fast.
If your team struggles with dodging and gets hit too often at close range, the following constellations also work:
- 3 x Ironeye – safe to play from distance. The player who draws the aggro from the boss must focus on dodging, then the other two can safely attack from a distance. You can also revive each other quickly by shooting arrows, or using your ultimate on downed teammates.
- 1 x Executor + 2 x Ironeye – if at least one team member is good at melee from close range, having one Executor is recommended for higher damage output.
Everyone on the team should have a relic equipped that adds an ailment to the starting armament. Either the ailment is the Nightlord boss is weak to (as seen on the Expedition Select screen), or go with Blood Loss / Frostbite as these are the best.
Best Match Route to Level Up
Always follow this process and you should get to level 13-15 pretty consistently after familiarizing with the map:
- Go to 2 Churches for health flask upgrades (clear out 2 camps along the way to level)
- Complete a mine to get a purple smithing stone
- Go to a merchant to buy purple smithing stone (6500 Murk)
- Upgrade your starting weapon to purple at merchant (use the blue + purple smithing stone)
- Go to Castle in center of the map, enter through the basement and clear out all minibosses for passive buffs and lots of XP (fast leveling)
- Go to Day 1 Boss
- On Day 2, go to remaining Churches and clear out remaining locations. The ones you already cleared will have a golden site of grace icon in the middle, so don’t revisit already cleared locations (the ones you already cleared won’t reset on Day 2). If you get Gaol Keys, use them on Goals. Focus on bosses, not on the weak mobs. Bosses give more XP and drop passive buffs. Don’t waste a single second on weak mobs, ignore them, they’re not worth it. All 3 players should stick together, this way you are awarded XP when a teammate kills an enemy (if too far apart you won’t get XP).
- Go to Day 2 boss, should be level 11-13.
- Finish Day 3 boss. If you have any XP left over, you can buy Warming Stones from the final merchant and some other items that give you increased attack/defense.
The important part is to stick together, focus on bosses, always clear the castle in the middle of the map, upgrade your starting weapon to purple. If you drop below half-health always use a health flask. The player who has the boss aggro should focus only on dodging, then the other two can focus on attacking the boss from behind.
