Archery has long been one of the hardest aspects of Souls games to make into a viable build — you can certainly do it, but it requires careful planning, upgrading, and equipment choice. That’s partly why it’s so surprising that the archer class, called Ironeye, is the early frontrunner for MVP in Elden Ring Nightreign. The ranged assassin can be utterly deadly in the right hands and can perfectly complement almost every other character in the game. But if you really want to help get your team to the finish line in Nightreign, you need to know the ins and outs of how to play Ironeye. With that, here are our tips on builds and strategies for Nightreign’s resident archer.
Ironeye Best Relics and Team Options
There are two things that you should laser in on with your Ironeye build: maximizing Stamina and Dexterity, and getting status effects like Poison on your weapons.
Because Ironeye has such great range, you should be focused on staying out of danger, rather than buffing things like health or defense. To that end, Dexterity is going to be your best friend, and largely the stat that automatic level-ups will boost the most. At the same time, any Relics that can boost Stamina, or especially Stamina regeneration, are going to be your best friend.
Ironeye is most effective when you can shoot an endless stream of arrows — and your Stamina will dictate how consistently you can fire. More Stamina and greater regeneration mean less downtime for the character, and more opportunities to chip away at the enemy’s health.
We’ve found that the most effective Ironeye builds are based around inflicting status effects like Poison or Scarlet Rot. There are Relics you can get that give your starting weapon poison, and then boost the amount of damage you do in the vicinity of poison. That can create a tremendous build that causes enormous damage to bosses.
The reason Ironeye is the best for these kinds of status effects is because of how consistently the class attacks. Melee classes might have trouble getting blows on enemies, not to mention repeated blows. But Ironeye is all about peppering enemies with dozens of arrows, meaning it’s much easier to build up poison.
In terms of team composition, Ironeye really can partner up with anyone. But your best bet is to have your teammates play as two melee-heavy classes, like Executor or Raider. You want allies that can keep enemies’ aggro on themselves and soak up hits, while you focus on damage dealing or taking out small enemies.
How to Make the Best Ironeye Build
There are a few things you’ll want to focus on during runs to maximize your Ironeye’s power. Of course, like always, your number one concern should be gaining levels — that’s the single most important thing. But past that, if you can get your hands on specific Talismans and weapons, you can be really deadly by the time you reach the Night Lord.
There’s a fairly common Talisman that drops called Arrow’s Reach, which boosts the power of bow attacks. You can find Talismans by looting the beetles that are scattered around the map, or in the hold of the castle at the center of the map, after you defeat the boss in the sewers. If you can get your hands on that Talisman, it’s a huge boon, so try and make it a focus.
In terms of equipment, you’ll of course want to focus on getting new and more powerful bows. But you should also pick up some light melee weapons, like daggers or katanas. You always want to have your weapon inventory completely full, as even weapons you don’t have actively equipped will still give you their bonus effects.
Keep an eye on those weapon effects, as even if something like a greatsword won’t be actively useful, sometimes its effect can be a bonus. You’ll want anything that boosts Stamina and Stamina recovery. Some other good options are equipment that boost physical damage and health regeneration.
Finally, you’ll want to make sure you’re picking up consumable items. Warming Stones are particularly useful for Ironeye, as their ranged attacks mean they’re more able to stay by the stone and heal. Greases can also buff bows with effects, so they’re incredibly useful.
Tips For Playing Ironeye in Elden Ring Nightreign
When playing Ironeye, everything you do is about avoiding the enemy and keeping up consistent damage. Bows don’t cause nearly as much damage as other weapons, but again, are all about peppering enemies with arrows, stacking up a lot of damage over time. But you need time and space to do that, so you want to keep your distance and draw aggro as little as possible.
The only catch here is Ironeye’s Marking ability (described below), which requires you to get in close momentarily to strike them with your daggers. But the best way to utilize this is a sort of hit-and-run strategy, where you dash in, mark the enemy, and dash out. If you opted for a poison or rot-based build, it can help to have melee weapons that cause the status effect. Marked lets you get in close, unleash a melee combo to build up poison, and then roll out of danger and get increased bow damage.
Here’s a quick overview of Ironeye’s skills:
- Eagle Eye (Passive) - Enemies drop items more frequently when you’re playing as Ironeye.
- Marking - Ironeye shoots forward with dagger and applies a “Mark” to a single enemy. The marked enemy takes increased damage from all sources. It also increases stagger more quickly with sustained damage. Marking can also be used as an evasive maneuver, as it gives you a few frames of invincibility. If you use it at just the right time, you can avoid boss attacks, and get behind them.
- Single Shot (Ultimate) - Ironeye pulls out a massive bow and shoots a single giant arrow straight ahead, damaging anything in its way. This shot has a great area of effect, and can draw in enemies right to your side or behind you. It’ll also briefly stagger anything it hits, including bosses.
The number one thing to keep in mind when playing as Ironeye is that you have the best ability for getting up downed teammates. Ironeye’s ranged makes them perfect for reviving allies, and if one teammate goes down, you should always be the one focusing on getting them back up. Have your other ally distract the boss while you shoot your ally from range. Just as a note, you will need to lock onto your ally so you can shoot them.
