Elden Ring: Nightreign is shaping up to be quite the about-face for FromSoftware, leaning fully into a co-op experience that has drawn several comparisons to Battle Royale-style games like Fortnite. Instead of creating custom characters, players will choose from a handful of set characters with set abilities, each representing an archetype found in previous FromSoftware titles. Knowing FromSoftware’s history, and the tenacity of its players, one Elden Ring: Nightreign character might flip the script on what players deem a “true challenge”.
A recent character trailer introduced players to Ironeye, a ranged character who specializes in bows. Several intriguing abilities are shown in the trailer. Ironeye can shoot multiple arrows at once, remove arrows from enemies’ backs as a critical hit, deliver a powerful piercing shot that rips through lines of enemies, and even heal companions from afar with an arrow shot. It shows a strong support character who is more than capable of dealing with large groups of enemies on their own, both from a distance and at close quarters. It may be the first time in a while that a pure bow character is viable in a FromSoftware game, but therein lies the rub.
Related
Elden Ring: Why You Should Start Over in 2025
FromSoftware fans should consider hopping back into The Lands Between for another brutally challenging jaunt ahead of Elden Ring Nightreign.
Elden Ring: Nightreign’s Ironeye Looks Possibly Too Good
Part of the joy of FromSoftware titles is dealing with enemies using a variety of different strategies. Players can smash enemies with a giant sword, axe, or hammer; they can spec into faith or intelligence builds and rain hellfire or starfire. Alternatively, one can try the infamous archery builds, as FromSoftware has a history of limiting its bow characters as a way to level the playing field.
In Elden Ring, this manifests in a limit on how many arrows a player can bring with them from one site of grace to another. Players can always just craft more arrows in the field in Elden Ring, but the crafted arrows usually don’t punch like the ones players can buy from a merchant. Part of the fun is also in discovering the best equipment and leveling it to deal serious damage, both to the other players and to their egos (here’s looking at you, Jar Cannon).
However, Elden Ring Nightreign‘s Ironeye does not seem to have any of these limitations holding them back. From the start of Nightreign, players can expect to have a fully equipped archer with strong AOE, crowd control, unlimited ammo, and now short-distance ripostes. Not only can Ironeye deal heavy damage from afar, but they can get into the thick of the action and do serious damage up close.
Ironeye is listed as a DPS/Support class, DPS meaning damage per second. With that in mind, Ironeye may be more than just a backup class. They could be perfectly viable to lead the charge from afar. This has the potential to change the conversation around FromSoftware’s archers. Rather than archery being a secondary option, or completely unrepresented as in Bloodborne‘s case, the archer could now be a primary class.
Why Ironeye is Likely to Be OP in Elden Ring Nightreign
The major standout for Ironeye is the riposte. Once players shoot an enemy with an arrow, they can come up behind them and remove the arrow from their back, hitting for big crits. This changes the archer class from a purely ranged class to both a viable ranged and close-quarters combatant.
This is why Ironeye could be the new “easy mode” in Nightreign – if the player can just wipe out a whole line of enemies without a single stab or spell cast while also being safe from afar, it can be hard to top. FromSoftware’s approach to archery has nearly always been a backup option, but Ironeye is set to change that. Archery may become the “easy mode” of Nightreign, the way that spellcasting has become the “easy mode” of Elden Ring and previous FromSoftware titles. It may not be long before some players say it didn’t count if Ironeye was used.
Action RPG
Soulslike
Roguelite