While it’s still early to talk about the new hard mode for Elden Ring Nightreign, Deep of Night, since it only just launched last night, I figured now is a good time to share what I’ve experienced after 10 expeditions so far.
First off, yes, this is definitely much harder than the base game. And I don’t mean that it’s hard because I’m bad at the game. Anyone who knows me knows I’m pretty good at Elden Ring and Nightreign. What I mean is that the difficulty has been dialed up, just like Fromsoftware promised, but the underlying mechanics also add layers that make everything tougher.
Yep, It’s Definitely More Challenging
For starters, not only do enemies have more health and deal more damage, but there are enhanced versions scattered across the map. I don’t know if they have an official name, but let’s call them “corrupted enemies.” You can spot them easily—they look like they’re covered in blood. They hit harder, take longer to kill, but reward you with new weapon variations exclusive to Deep of Night.
These updated weapons tie into a risk-versus-reward system. They give strong advantages, but each one comes with a cost.
My first time playing, I grabbed two weapons without reading their flavor text. A few minutes later, I told a friend on Discord, “For some reason I have a poison and scarlet rot debuff, and they aren’t going away.” I thought it was some new mechanic, so I just kept healing through it. It wasn’t until I died and respawned that I realized the debuffs were permanent.
Sure enough, both weapons had text that read: “Inflicts Poison or Scarlet Rot when not at 100% HP.” Brutal. I dropped them, but it hurt, as they were seriously powerful weapons with great buffs. The trade-off just wasn’t worth it. Another one I managed to pick up was a shield (shown below) that dropped my FP usage considerably but added the nasty debuff of being able to miss an attack. What? Missing an attack? Now Fromsoftware is messing with us, tossing in that old-school debuff that applies to a chance to miss that didn’t even exist in Elden Ring, that is until now. Thats diabolical.
Some of the other nasty modifiers I’ve run into so far include:
- Attacks impaired on occasion
- Taking extra damage while standing in the rain (Night’s Encroachment)
- Poison if not at full health
- Scarlet Rot if not at full health
- Lower attack when below full health
It ultimately becomes a real question: do I use these items for the benefits, even if they also punch me in the face?
Gotta Work on Those Builds
This mode will absolutely make players rethink their builds. I mainly use the Recluse despite some people telling me not to. I like her. Normally, I stack magic attack, but after a few runs I swapped in more max HP and vigor. Classes other than the Recluse can get one-shotted early on, and even with her it’s still rough. On one run, my teammates got wiped by an Evergaol despite being leveled to 4–5, leaving me to fend for myself against three enemies
There are also new relics exclusive to Deep of Night, each with their own risk-reward mechanics. They add another layer of strategy, you’ll need to balance the buffs and debuffs carefully if you want to survive.
I’ll admit, I enjoy the extra challenge. I’m not a fan of enemies just having inflated health and damage, but now I’m forced to play smarter. I can’t just spam attacks or rely on tanking hits. Positioning matters more than ever. And the bosses? Yeah—we’re not going to talk about them yet. I’ve made it to the Nightlord a few times but haven’t taken one down.
Still, Deep of Night delivers exactly the kind of challenge I’ve been craving. It feels like a perfect excuse to return outside of fighting the Everdark Sovereign Nightlords. The timing is interesting too—it dropped right as Borderlands 4 released, almost daring players: “Bet you can’t beat this mode.”
As for co-op, I’ve met some great random players. But most people are still treating it like the base game, and we’re all paying for that mistake.
Despite the frustration, I’m hooked. I’m getting wrecked, sure, but I’m having fun. Now if only I could start earning some progression, staring at a zero, despite running the expedition multiple times is pretty discouraging.
