Elden Ring Nightreign is home to many difficult boss battles, especially the Nightlords during Day Three. The Nightlords are your final tests at the end of every expedition, so hopefully you’ve managed to build a good enough character to take them on.
The very first mission you’ll take on is called Tricephelos, and the Nightlord is Gladius, Beast of Night. This is a hound-like Cerberus monster that’ll prove a hard challenge when you first play Nightreign. Gladius will always be the first Nightlord that players will fight against and must be defeated in order to gain access to the remaining Nightlords.
Those who’ve played the beta will undoubtedly recognize Gladius, as it was the final boss of the beta. From my own experience playing the full game, Gladius actually seems to be easier this time around, as it doesn’t use its fire attacks nearly as often. It mostly used its sword attacks. However, during its second phase, it will start using fire elemental attacks more often.
Here are some tips on how to secure your first Nightlord win by defeating Gladius.
Preparation
Any kind of class combination will suffice if all three players are skilled enough, but tanks and melee characters do well here, such as Guardian and Raider. This is because Gladius’s sweeping sword attack (yes it can swing a sword with its tail) seems to have some elevation to it, making it easy to avoid if you stay up close and personal. One person playing a ranged class like the ranger Ironeye is always helpful as well to distract the boss so that teammates can recoup.
To prepare yourself against fire damage, equip any Relics you have that boost fire resistance as that’ll help immensely during battle. Additionally, you might pick up a shield during your expedition that has fire resistance, but that heavily relies on luck.
During your expedition, make sure to target camps and structures with the Holy icon—it looks like a blade with a thin bright circle around it. This indicates that the boss in those structures drop weapons that inflict Holy damage when defeated. Gladius is weak against Holy damage, so it’s important to get any advantage you can.
Strategies for fighting Gladius
During the first stage, Gladius will primarily use its sword attacks, but they won’t inflict any fire damage. This part should be relatively easy as you dodge its attacks, including its bite lunges. After about a quarter of its health is gone, Gladius will then transition to its second phase.
The second phase is when it actually starts using fire attacks. Its most threatening attack in this phase is where it pulls back its sword, and then thrusts it downward into the ground, creating a big explosion. The easiest way to dodge this is to roll through the explosion, or get behind Gladius as the attack primarily lands in front of it.
Gladius will also split into three copies of itself. One will be the main dog carrying the sword while the other two won’t. The best strategy here is to combine forces and focus on taking out one dog at a time, preferably one of the weaker ones without the sword. This part is only temporary. If you wait out long enough, Gladius will eventually reform into one being again.
Lastly, its biggest fire attack is similar to the previous one where it thrusts its sword in the ground. It’ll set its sword on fire and then thrust it into the ground again. Except this time, there’s a short delay before it creates an even bigger explosion out in front. The best strategy to dodge is the same as always. A timely dodge roll through the explosion or be behind Gladius when it goes off.
After you’ve beaten Galdius, congrats! This will unlock the remaining Nightlords. You can challenge them in any order. Additionally, Gladius will drop an old pocket watch that can be given to the Priestess in the white garb to unlock the Duchess class. There’s actually a very small chance (around 510 percent) that the pocket watch will drop even if you lose against Gladius, but defeating it guarantees the drop.
Elden Ring Nightreign is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.