Following the generally warm reception of Elden Ring Nightreign, FromSoftware previously mentioned some exciting updates. They promised the eventual arrival of an official duo mode for cooperative play, along with what they termed “enhanced encounters against existing Nightlords.”
While the Duo Expeditions are still in development, the details of these enhanced Nightlord battles have now been revealed, with the first such encounter appearing unexpectedly in the game.
It’s somewhat ironic that after reporting on the latest Nightreign patch, a relatively minor update, even bigger news would surface just hours later, without any formal announcement.
Players discovered late yesterday that the first of these tougher bosses had arrived. According to a news posting, FromSoftware officially calls these new challenges “Everdark Sovereigns,” and they’re designed as significantly more difficult variations of each Nightlord.
A new Everdark Sovereign will rotate into the game each week. However, only players who have already triumphed over the standard version of a particular Nightlord will be able to face its Sovereign counterpart. The Sovereign of Gaping Jaws (Adel) is currently active. Next week, it will be replaced by the Sovereign of Sentient Pest, followed by the Sovereign of Darkdrift Knight the following week.
The development team is also creating Sovereign versions of other Nightlords, including Tricephalos, Augur, Equilibrious Beast, and Fissure in the Fog, which are expected to be released later. The current Sovereign Gaping Jaws (Adel) encounter will be available until Thursday, June 25.
That’s not all that’s new. A new non-player character (NPC) has also been added, serving two important functions. Triumphing over Sovereign Nightlords will reward you with Sovereign Sigils. This NPC will exchange these Sigils for valuable Relics and other useful items. You’ll also receive bonus Sovereign Sigils the first time you defeat each Sovereign boss.
This NPC also enables you to change Nightreign’s Shifting Earth (Map Events) on demand. This also requires Sovereign Sigils, but eliminates the need to defeat three Nightlords to trigger the next event, offering greater flexibility.
Players will likely uncover even more secrets as they invest more time in battling these incredibly difficult versions of the game’s Nightlords. If you’re still working on defeating the original Nightlords, take a look at our recently compiled Nightlord weaknesses guide to prepare yourself.
For any other questions you might have, consulting our Elden Ring Nightreign guide is always a good starting point.