Nightreign Expeditions, Nightlords & Deep of Night
A Nightreign run is called an expedition: up to three Nightfarers drop into the land of Limveld, grow strong over two in-game days while a ring of deadly rain closes in, and face a Nightlord on the third day. Every part of that loop has its own name, and the names on the expedition board are not the names of the bosses you actually fight, which confuses many new players. This glossary lists the words you meet from the moment you choose a target to the final hit.
It is written for players learning the loop and for anyone who wants to know what an expedition name like Augur or Fissure in the Fog stands for. Facts reflect the game as of November 2026, with The Forsaken Hollows DLC (4 December 2025), patch 1.03.2 (15 January 2026) and Hotfix 1.03.5 (31 March 2026). Heroes, relics and Murk are covered in the Nightfarers and relics glossary.
| Term | In short | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|
| Expedition | One full run, solo, duo or trio | Expedition table in the hold |
| Limveld | The map every run takes place on | After the Spectral Hawk drop |
| Roundtable Hold | The hub between runs | Main menu of the game |
| Three-day cycle | Day 1, Day 2, then the Nightlord | Every expedition |
| Night's Tide | The closing ring of rain | Map and compass, each day |
| Night boss | The boss at the end of Day 1 and Day 2 | Inside the closed ring |
| Level and death penalty | Levels 1 to 15, lost on death | Sites of Grace |
| Nightlord | The Day 3 boss you chose to hunt | Expedition board |
| Night Aspect | The final Nightlord | Opens after four Nightlords |
| Balancers and Dreglord | The two DLC Day 3 targets | The Forsaken Hollows |
| Everdark Sovereign | Harder version of a Nightlord | Rotating board entries |
| Deep of Night | Ranked high-difficulty mode | After Night Aspect |
| Shifting Earth | Big change to the map for a few runs | Crater, Mountaintop and others |
| Great Hollow | The DLC Shifting Earth | The Forsaken Hollows |
Expedition
An expedition is one complete run of Nightreign. You pick a target at the table in the Roundtable Hold, queue alone, with one partner or with two, and play until your team beats the Day 3 boss or everyone falls. The game is built for three players, but a solo mode has existed since launch and two-player Duo Expeditions arrived with patch 1.02 on 31 July 2025. Solo play was eased in patch 1.01.1, which added an automatic revival per night boss and more runes.
Win or lose, the expedition ends with a results screen that hands out relics and Murk, so even a failed run moves your account forward. A run that reaches the Nightlord usually lasts around 40 minutes or a little more. When players say "one more expedition", they mean one more of these full loops. Our Expeditions lot lets you choose which Nightlord the run is against.
Limveld
Limveld is the map every expedition is played on. It is a compact open area built from Elden Ring pieces: castles, churches, ruins, mines, forts and field bosses, with a large castle in the middle. The layout of points of interest changes from run to run, so you learn the land, not one fixed route. Spirit springs launch you upward, and there is no fall damage, which keeps movement fast.
Inside Limveld you collect runes from enemies, level at Sites of Grace and pick up weapons that roll with random effects. Shifting Earth events and the DLC can rebuild whole regions of it for a while. A team plan in chat often sounds like "fort first, then the church for flask charges, then the castle before the first ring".
Roundtable Hold
The Roundtable Hold is the hub between runs, a shrouded version of the hall from Elden Ring. Everything that lasts happens here: the expedition table where you choose a target, Relic Rites, the Small Jar Bazaar, the Journal with Remembrance quests, the dresser for garbs and a training area to try weapons. Outside it stands the Collector Signboard, which trades Sovereign Sigils for rare items.
The hold is also where hidden content starts. The Duchess waits here in disguise, the Revenant path begins at a mirror, and resting in the bed advances time and changes which Shifting Earth is active. "Meet me in the hold" just means "back to the hub, let's reset relics".
Three-day cycle
Every expedition follows the same three-day cycle. Day 1 and Day 2 each last about 15 minutes of real time: you explore, fight and level while the rain closes in, and each day ends with a night boss. If you win the second night, you reach Day 3, which is nothing but the Nightlord fight. The official description puts it as two full days to explore Limveld before the final hunt.
The rhythm decides your plan. Community guides aim for level 6 to 8 before the first night and 11 to 14 before the second. After the Day 2 boss, a shelter with a Site of Grace, a smithing table and a merchant gives you a last chance to prepare. Players count deaths by day: "we lost it on Day 2" means the team never saw the Nightlord.
Night's Tide
The Night's Tide is the ring of rain that shrinks over Limveld each day, a battle-royale style circle. A few minutes into the day the game warns that the tide is growing stronger and the ring starts to close toward a white circle on the map. Later a second warning comes and it shrinks faster. Standing in the rain drains your health, so you have to move with it.
When the ring is fully closed, the night boss appears at the marked spot. Watching the timer is a core skill: a team that keeps looting at the edge gets caught in the rain and arrives at the boss weak. On voice: "tide's closing, leave the camp, we go now".
Night boss
A night boss is the fight at the end of Day 1 and Day 2. It is not the Nightlord: it is drawn from a pool of bosses tied to the target you chose, many of them returning foes from earlier FromSoftware games. On the DLC targets, for example, community lists include the Great Red Bear, Knight Artorias, the Divine Beast Dancing Lion and the Lord of Blood.
Night bosses matter because losing one ends the run and beating the second one is the gate to Day 3. Reaching them also raises the quality of relics you get at the end. A common forum question is "why didn't I fight the Nightlord?", and the answer is usually that the Day 2 night boss stopped the team.
Level and death penalty
Inside a run your Nightfarer starts at level 1 and can reach level 15, the cap. You level at a Site of Grace with runes, which you earn by killing enemies and bosses; going from 1 to 15 takes about 513,000 runes in total. Levels and runes do not carry over to the next expedition.
In team play, dropping to zero HP puts you in a near-death state, and allies revive you by hitting you until the gauge empties. If you actually die, you lose a level and drop your runes where you fell, and they are gone for good if you die again before collecting them. Solo players die at once instead. In chat: "don't die before the boss, you'll lose a level".
Nightlord
A Nightlord is the Day 3 boss of an expedition, and the reason the expedition board uses odd names. Each entry on the board is a code name for the hunt, while the boss has its own name. Only Tricephalos is open at first; beating it opens the others. Players, guides and our expedition lots all use the board names.
| Expedition | Nightlord | Weakness often cited |
|---|---|---|
| Tricephalos | Gladius, Beast of Night | Holy |
| Gaping Jaw | Adel, Baron of Night | No clear weakness |
| Sentient Pest | Gnoster, Wisdom of Night | Fire |
| Augur | Maris, Fathom of Night | Lightning |
| Equilibrious Beast | Libra, Creature of Night | Holy, Fire |
| Darkdrift Knight | Fulghor, Champion of Nightglow | Lightning |
| Fissure in the Fog | Caligo, Miasma of Night | Fire |
The first kill of each Nightlord gives a fixed relic. A run planned against Augur means bringing lightning, which is why players post "Augur run, who has a lightning weapon?" in LFG.
Night Aspect
Night Aspect is the final Nightlord of the base game. The expedition opens after you defeat four different Nightlords, and the boss behind it is Heolstor the Nightlord, fought in two phases: first a spectral knight called the Shape of Night, then Heolstor's true form. Weaknesses change between phases, with Holy useful in both. Patch 1.03.1 in December 2025 gave the fight extra attacks.
Beating Night Aspect is a turning point for an account: it opens the Deep of Night mode and the last garbs of each hero. Players call it the final boss of Nightreign, and "have you beaten Heolstor yet?" is how veterans check whether a friend can join Deep of Night.
Balancers and Dreglord
The Forsaken Hollows added two new Day 3 targets. Balancers, whose boss community wikis name Weapon-Bequeathed Harmonia, opens after two different Nightlords. Dreglord, fought as Traitorous Straghess and called one of the new final bosses in the official DLC announcement, follows after Balancers. Both need the DLC, which also brought new field bosses and new points of interest in Limveld.
Since patch 1.03.1 on 17 December 2025, DLC owners can also meet these targets in Deep of Night when they are matched with other DLC owners. Patch 1.03.2 in January 2026 adjusted the Balancers fight again. In party finders the DLC names appear as "Dreg run" or "Balancers duo", and the final garbs of Scholar and Undertaker require beating the Dreglord.
Everdark Sovereign
An Everdark Sovereign is a harder version of a Nightlord with new moves and more power. The first, an Everdark Gaping Jaw, arrived on 19 June 2025 for one week, followed by Sentient Pest and Darkdrift Knight, with the remaining Nightlords announced to follow. You can fight a Sovereign only after beating the normal version, and only while it is on the board; the official note said they run in online mode, with solo play allowed.
Wins pay out Sovereign Sigils, with a larger bonus for the first kill, spent at the Collector Signboard on vessels, garbs and special relics. Community wikis describe the board as showing a rotating selection of Sovereigns. In chat: "Everdark Libra is up this week, farming sigils".
Deep of Night
Deep of Night is the high-difficulty mode added as a free update in September 2025. You unlock it by defeating Night Aspect. It uses a rating: beating Nightlords raises your Depth, community guides count five Depth levels, and each deeper level makes enemies tougher. Red-tinted variant enemies appear, the target Nightlord stays hidden until the run starts, and higher Depths hide some map points.
Rewards are different too. Runs give Depth relics for three extra slots, and weapons can roll several extra effects with drawbacks. Patch 1.02.3 added protection against dropping a Depth level too easily. Matchmaking pairs players of similar Depth, so "what Depth are you?" is the first question in a Deep of Night lobby.
Shifting Earth
A Shifting Earth is a large map change that replaces part of Limveld for a set of runs. The base game has four: the Crater (fire, with a Magma Wyrm), the Mountaintop (cold, with an ice dragon), the Rotted Woods (scarlet rot) and Noklateo, the Shrouded City (magic). Each has its own enemies, a hidden secret and a reward, such as a legendary weapon upgrade in the Crater.
Shifting Earth states open as you beat Nightlords and then cycle; resting in the bed of the Roundtable Hold moves time forward. They do not apply inside Deep of Night's own rules, which roll their own. Players plan around them: "Crater is active, let's go get the upgrade before the first night".
Great Hollow
The Great Hollow is the Shifting Earth added by The Forsaken Hollows, described by the publisher as a special condition with massive changes to the map. It is a large sunken area built into Limveld with three possible entry points, and its theme is a curse that eats away at maximum HP. A temple stands inside, and patch 1.03.1 made the curse stronger there.
Only DLC owners can enter it, and it is the area most DLC talk revolves around. A team call might be "Hollow run tonight, keep an eye on your max HP".
FAQ
How long is an expedition in Nightreign?
Around 40 minutes or a little more when it reaches the end: two days of roughly 15 to 20 minutes each, then the Nightlord fight on Day 3.
How many Nightlords are there?
Seven regular Nightlords plus the final one, Night Aspect, in the base game. The Forsaken Hollows adds two more Day 3 targets, Balancers and Dreglord.
Who is the Gaping Jaw Nightlord?
Adel, Baron of Night. Gaping Jaw is the expedition name; it was also the first Everdark Sovereign in June 2025.
How do you unlock Deep of Night?
Defeat the Night Aspect Nightlord, Heolstor. The mode then appears as an option at the expedition table.
Related terms
Elden Ring Nightreign services on Onlyfarms
- Nightreign Murk
- Nightreign Expeditions
- Nightreign Relics
- Nightreign All Remembrances
- Nightreign Hourly Boosting
- Nightreign Duchess Remembrance
