Recluse is one of the Nightreign’s magic-based classes, and she’s arguably the most complex character to master. When played right, Recluse is an absolute killer, able to take down enemies and bosses with relative ease.
Ability: Elemental Defense
Recluse’s passive ability is Elemental Defense, which conjures up elemental “residues” around opponents and allies. There are four of them: magic, fire, lightning, and holy. When Recluse hits an enemy with a Magic attack, a Magic elemental residue will appear around the enemy. You can tell which kind of residue an enemy has by the color of your targeting reticle. Blue is magic, red is fire, yellow is lightning and gold is holy.
Residues can also be collected from teammates as well. If they get hit with a fire attack, they’ll accumulate fire residues. Elemental Defense works in tandem with Recluse’s Character Skill called Magic Cocktail, as it augments her offensive power and helps restore FP.
Ability: Magic Cocktail
Recluse’s character skill is Magic Cocktail. Here, she absorbs the residues to create a unique spell that doesn’t cost FP to unleash on enemies or give support to allies. The cocktail’s composition is entirely dependent on the combination of three residues absorbed. You can tell which residues you have by the three smaller icons on top of the character Skill icon.
For example, two fire residues and a holy one creates a torch that raises max HP and reduces status ailment buildup in allies. Having three separate elemental residues results in the most powerful cocktails. For example, a Magic/Fire/Lightning cocktail creates a giant gravity orb that pulls in enemies before exploding, dealing massive damage.
You don’t necessarily always have control of which elemental residues appear. However, it can be manipulated through coordination with your teammates. If your entire squad is decked out with fire elemental weapons, then you’ll be able to cast fire elemental cocktails frequently. But if one of your allies has a holy weapon, then you’ll sometimes absorb holy residues from enemies, leading to some variations on what cocktails you’ll create.
This ability is also the key way of restoring FP in the middle of a fight. Every time Recluse absorbs residues, she’ll replenish her FP. This keeps her from becoming a sitting duck and lets her keep the offensive pressure on. You will still need to manage your FP carefully, however, as running out completely means you’re going to have to use a consumable item or wait for an ally to get hit so that you can absorb their residue.
Ultimate Art: Soulblood Song
Recluse’s Ultimate Art is Soulblood Song, which causes her to create a red sigil with blood runes on the ground. While in the sigil, you and your allies will restore HP and FP by attacking any enemies within its range. This will help increase your squad’s survivability.
The most opportune time to use Soulblood Song against a boss is when its stance is about to break and it doubles over, leaving it vulnerable to critical hits. This allows Recluse to maximize the amount of time Soulbood Song is out on the field while the boss is briefly incapacitated. This attack can also be augmented with other effects through passive buffs dropped by bosses, such as increasing Recluse’s max HP.
A look at Recluse’s attributes
- HP: D
- FP: A
- Stamina: C
- Strength: D
- Dexterity: C
- Intelligence: S
- Faith: S
- Arcane: C
As expected, Recluse’s FP and intelligence are her highest stats, which makes sense since she’s a magic-based character. Her best weapons include staves which scale perfectly with her high intelligence.
Since her HP and stamina stats are low in comparison, she heavily relies on her teammates to distract enemies while she builds up elemental residues and casts spells. Additionally, Recluse should take full advantage of consumable and throwable items like Starlight Shards and elemental pots. The former lets her replenish FP in a pinch while the latter like Fire Pots and Lightning Pots let her create residues to mix Magic Cocktails and restore FP.
Elden Ring Nightreign is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PCs.