The Ironeye is primarily a ranged class in Elden Ring Nightreign, equipped with passives and abilities that can be overpowered when used correctly. The character is proficient at using bows, crossbows, and cannons, allowing him to decimate enemies from afar. He’s also among the best characters available for solo expeditioners. But you’ll need to gather the best gear, Relics, and Talismans during every run to get the most out of this class. On that note, check out recommendations for the best Ironeye build in Elden Ring Nightreign, including tips on how to use the character.
Best Ironeye Weapons in Elden Ring Nightreign
Elden Ring Nightreign isn’t exactly packed with ranged options, meaning there’s a relatively small pool of bows and crossbows to pick from. If you’re wondering why we have omitted greatbows, it’s because they come with long cooldowns that typically aren’t worth the increased damage output.
Beyond ranged weapons, Ironeye also scales exceptionally well with DEX armaments, opening up the potential to create a melee-centric build. Due to the low damage output from Ironeye’s base attacks, it is best to prioritize the ones with bleed or frost buildup. One example that immediately comes to mind is the Rivers of Blood Katana. While it isn’t nearly as overpowered as it was in Elden Ring, the Katana is still an excellent armament for quickly inflicting the bleed status effect.
What you’ll mainly need to be on the lookout for are weapons with favorable passives and overpowered Weapon Art effects.
Passives are special bonuses that are applied to weapons, granting increased damage, HP restoration, and unique damage types among a host of diverse effects. On the other hand, Weapon Arts are powerful offensive and defensive maneuvers that come with flashy animations, setting them apart from regular attacks. Unlike Elden Ring, these abilities are no longer tied to specific weapons (barring one or two exceptions) and are now randomized, which further complicates your chances of obtaining the best gear.
With all that out of the way, the passives we’d recommend prioritizing include:
- Continuous HP Recovery
- HP Restoration after defeating enemies
- FP Restoration upon attacking
- HP Restoration upon attacking
- Increased Damage Negation
- Improved Critical Hits
- Improved Dexterity
- Improved Flask HP Restoration
- Improved Ranged Weapon Attacks
- Less likely to be targeted
As for Weapon Arts, the ones listed below can dish out a ton of damage without needing to be in close proximity to the enemy:
- Rain of Arrows
- Barrage
- Radahn’s Rain
Given the general flow of Nightreign’s three-day gameplay cycle, you won’t be able to grab legendary bows right after dropping into Limveld. However, these powerful weapons are a necessity for taking on event bosses and Nightlords. Similarly, rare DEX weapons won’t begin appearing immediately either. To help you survive all three days, we’ve listed a few of the best starter weapons and some top-tier legendary weapons below:
- Erdtree Bow
- Serpent Bow
- Pulley Bow
- Black Bow
- Nagakiba
- Rivers of Blood
- Scavenger’s Cursed Sword
Best Ironeye Relics in Elden Ring Nightreign
Relics represent the main form of permanent progression in Nightreign. They’re also the only bonuses you can equip and switch around to pre-build your Ironeye before commencing an expedition. You’ll earn most of the Relics listed below at random at the end of an expedition, but some of the rarer ones are tied to eliminating Nightlords. Nevertheless, the absolute best Relics for Ironeye mention the character’s name in their description, and sharpen his already powerful abilities.
- (Ironeye) Single Shot activation adds poison effect
- (Ironeye) Extends duration of weak point
- Starting armament deals fire damage
- Improved damage resistance (match to selected Nightlord’s damage type)
- X type attack power up (match to selected Nightlord’s weakness)
- Increased Dexterity
- Improved damage negation
- Consuming Flasks heals allies
Best Talismans for Ironeye
Talismans function largely the same in Nightreign (as compared to Elden Ring), barring the method to obtain them and their temporary nature. These items are now randomized and can only be acquired after eliminating scarabs. Nevertheless, they remain an important element of any build, granting boosts to character-specific attributes, buffing HP and FP pools, and improving damage negation among other things.
Just like Relics, there are a few Talismans tailor-made for Ironeye. It’s best to prioritize these, but given their rarity, we’ve listed some more general Talismans as well:
- Arrow’s Reach Talisman: Projectile damage drop-off reduced
- Arrow’s Sting Talisman: Improved ranged weapon attacks
- Erdtree’s Favor: Increase maximum HP and maximum stamina
- Crimson Seed Talisman: Improved HP Restoration through Flasks
- Green Turtle Talisman: Improved stamina recovery
- Blessed Dew Talisman: Continuous HP recovery
- Pearldrake Talisman: Improved non-physical damage negation
- Milicent’s Prosthesis: Improved Dexterity and successive attacks boost overall attack power
Tips for Ironeye in Elden Ring Nightreign
Ironeye works best as a long-range damage dealer, perched far away from the action with his teammates drawing the ire of enemies. This means you’ll have to assume your place in the backline to properly use this character, and use key skills like Marking at every opportunity. Once you’ve grasped the class’s basics, try to integrate these tips into your playstyle:
1. Use Bows to Revive Teammates
Nightreign’s tutorial gives you a brief introduction to the revive mechanic and instructs you to hack away at a friendly using Wylder. What it fails to mention is that Nightfarers can be revived using bows as well. In fact, ranged attacks might be the most convenient way to bring teammates back into the action since you don’t need to get close to enemies at all.
Ironeye is naturally the best character to make use of this mechanic. So, make sure to play the support role at every turn and revive your teammates.
2. Stagger Enemies Using Marking
The Marking character skill is the crown jewel of Ironeye’s kit. Its utility is amazing, to say the least, and extends way beyond the surface-level ability of lowering any enemy’s damage resistance. Sustained attacks on a weak spot not only extend the skill’s duration, but they can also lead to a proc effect akin to frostbite or blood loss. This results in high damage and also comes with a chance to stagger enemies. So, coordinate attacks with your teammates after Marking an enemy to increase your chances of staggering them.
3. Use Marking to Dodge
The animation for the Marking character skill sees Ironeye dash in the enemy’s direction to apply a cut using his dagger. This movement doesn’t technically provide any invincibility frames, but it’s still quick enough to evade most attacks. So, if you’re caught in a tricky spot and can sense an incoming attack, we highly recommend using the Marking skill to strategically evade it.
4. Use Single Shot on Weak Spots
Ironeye’s Ultimate, Single Shot, lets you unleash a single, furious arrow that ignores all defense stats, zips past enemy hordes, and heads straight towards your desired target. This makes it an invaluable tool to target individual foes, but its damage output leaves more to be desired. Thankfully, the character’s kit offers a straightforward way to improve this, as you can mark an enemy before aiming the Single Shot at it.
We also suggest saving the Ultimate until you’re being swarmed to defeat multiple enemies with one fell swoop, or saving it for a boss fight to stagger the enemy during one of its lengthy attack animations.
That wraps up our guide on the best Ironeye build in Elden Ring Nightreign. What are your favorite passives and weapons to use with the character? Let us know in the comments.
