Last updated: 4 July 2026

Elden Ring Nightreign How to Unlock All Nightfarers Duchess & Revenant Unlock Guide

Elden Ring Nightreign — FromSoftware and Bandai Namco's co-op roguelike spin-off released May 30, 2025 — ships with eight playable Nightfarers, but only six are immediately available. Duchess and Revenant are locked behind in-game questlines that require completing a specific expedition, visiting an NPC at the Roundtable Hold, and winning an optional duel. This guide walks through both unlock sequences step by step, explains what each hidden Nightfarer brings to the table, and gives you tips for clearing the Night Idol fight required to access Revenant.

01Which Nightfarers Are Unlocked From the Start

When you first launch Elden Ring Nightreign, six of the eight Nightfarers are selectable immediately with no unlock requirements:

• Wylder — Versatile melee fighter with the Sixth Sense death-cheat passive. The recommended starting Nightfarer for new players.
• Guardian — Defensive tanking specialist with a shield-throw skill and a team-revival ultimate. Strong trio anchor.
• Ironeye — Ranged archer who buffs the whole party's item discovery and can stagger enemies at distance via Single Shot.
• Raider — Colossal weapon bruiser built around straightforward high-poise melee damage. High HP pool.
• Recluse — Elemental cycling sorcerer who self-heals via Soulblood Song. High ceiling, demanding to pilot.
• Executor — High-risk, high-reward parry fighter whose Cursed Sword loop produces the game's highest single-target damage ceiling.

The two locked Nightfarers — Duchess and Revenant — must be unlocked in that specific order. You cannot access Revenant until Duchess is playable.

02Unlock Chain Overview

03How to Unlock Duchess — Step by Step

Duchess is the first of the two locked Nightfarers. The unlock sequence is tied to the Tricephalos Expedition, which features Gladius, Beast of Night as its Nightlord.

1. Select the Tricephalos Expedition at the Great Site of Grace. This is one of the base expeditions available from the start. You can run it with any of the six unlocked Nightfarers.
2. Survive Days 1 and 2 normally, gearing up and levelling as in any expedition.
3. Reach Day 3 and defeat Gladius, Beast of Night — the Nightlord for this expedition. Gladius is a large armoured beast with melee slam attacks and AOE shockwaves. Defeating Gladius for the first time guarantees a drop called the Old Pocketwatch. If you fail the expedition before killing Gladius, there is a small chance the Pocketwatch is awarded as a consolation drop, but it is not guaranteed — completing the expedition is the reliable method.
4. Return to the Roundtable Hold. After any expedition, you return here automatically.
5. Find the Priestess — a woman in a white cloak standing near the Table of Lost Grace, the central landmark of the Roundtable Hold.
6. Interact with the Priestess and show her the Old Pocketwatch. A dialogue prompt will ask whether to hand the item over. Confirm.
7. Watch the short cutscene. The Priestess dramatically reveals herself as the Duchess. She is now permanently available as a playable Nightfarer.

Note: the Old Pocketwatch occupies a Relic inventory slot. If you accidentally use the slot for another Relic before speaking to the Priestess, return on a subsequent run to collect another watch — it drops from Gladius again on any run where you defeat him, even if Duchess is not yet unlocked.

04How to Unlock Revenant — Step by Step

Revenant's unlock requires Duchess to already be accessible and uses the Murk currency that persists between runs.

1. Confirm Duchess is unlocked. You cannot purchase the Besmirched Frame until the Duchess questline is complete.
2. Accumulate 1,500 Murk. Murk is earned by completing expeditions (reaching Day 3 and killing the Nightlord rewards the most) and persists permanently across all runs.
3. Visit the Small Jar Bazaar in the Roundtable Hold. The bazaar is the dedicated shop area where the Pot Merchant Bersa sells Relics. After Duchess is unlocked, a new item called the Besmirched Frame appears in stock.
4. Purchase the Besmirched Frame for 1,500 Murk. The item is one-time-use and triggers the unlock sequence.
5. Re-enter the Roundtable Hold after your next expedition (or simply fast-travel back). A new marker — an exclamation point next to a character icon — appears near the sparring grounds in the east wing.
6. Go to the east wing and approach the phantom. You will see a ghostly figure (the Revenant) staring at one of the paintings on the wall. Interact with her.
7. Defeat the Night Idol. Interacting with the phantom transports you to an instanced arena in Limveld where you duel the Night Idol — a boss version of Revenant — alongside her three summoned spirits. See the section below for strategy.
8. Night Idol defeated = Revenant permanently unlocked. She is available as a Nightfarer from your next expedition selection.

05Beating the Night Idol: Tips for Unlocking Revenant

The Night Idol fight is a standalone duel triggered from the Roundtable Hold — interacting with the phantom teleports you to an instanced arena in Limveld. You do not need to run a full expedition for it. The arena pits you against a boss version of the Revenant alongside three summoned spirits. A death means restarting the fight from the beginning, so preparation matters.

Key rule: clear the three summons before targeting the Night Idol herself. The Night Idol's spirits — particularly the Page (Helen), who attacks fast and can interrupt your combos — are dangerous distractions that will drain your health while you try to fight the boss. Eliminate the Page first as she is the most mobile; the robed skeleton moves slowly and can be dealt with next; then the hammer spirit. Once all three are down, the Night Idol herself has very low poise and primarily attacks with ranged spells — stay close and interrupt her casts with your own attacks to finish the fight quickly.

Recommended Nightfarers for this duel:

• Raider — Highest base HP of any Nightfarer, giving the most buffer against summon chip damage while working through the spirits one by one. Simple colossal weapon attacks deal consistent pressure on each target.
• Wylder — Sixth Sense passive acts as a free extra life, giving you one margin of error during the fight. Straightforward melee keeps things simple while you methodically eliminate the spirits.
• Guardian — Shield-tank approach absorbs summon hits cleanly while you focus each spirit in sequence. Lower damage output but safer than glass-cannon characters.
• Ironeye — Ranged attacks let you pick off the summons at distance and then pressure the Night Idol without closing into melee. Single Shot deals high burst damage and stagger.

Avoid for this fight: Recluse and Duchess (low HP pools punish summon chip damage while you are working through the spirits). These Nightfarers can complete the fight but require more experience with the patterns.

General strategy: As the fight opens, immediately target the Page — she is the fastest spirit and will interrupt your attacks if left alive. Once the Page is down, deal with the robed skeleton (slow but durable), then the hammer spirit. With all three cleared, sprint down the Night Idol herself: stay in her face to interrupt her ranged spells, land your highest-damage combos, and the fight ends quickly. The full sequence typically takes three to five minutes if your character is reasonably levelled.

06What Duchess and Revenant Bring to the Game

Understanding why these Nightfarers are worth unlocking helps set expectations for the effort required.

Duchess: A dexterity-focused melee fighter built around stealth, movement speed, and hit-and-run positioning. Her character skill, Restage, reapplies all damage an enemy has received in the last three seconds a second time at 50 percent of base damage — enabling devastating burst extensions on bleed builds where rapid multi-hit combos stack up in that window. Her passive, Magnificent Poise, lets her execute a second quick dodge immediately after the first, giving exceptional repositioning and nearly doubled evasion windows in tight melee exchanges. In the tier list, Duchess ranks A tier for experienced players and is one of the strongest solo options once her jump-attack bleed loop is understood. She requires more game knowledge than Wylder or Ironeye but has a higher ceiling.

Revenant: A summoner archetype whose entire playstyle revolves around commanding ephemeral phantom allies generated by her ultimate and character skill. Her personal melee output is average, but a well-managed Revenant can maintain near-permanent phantom uptime in a trio, effectively turning a three-player team into a six-character squad. She ranks B to A tier in trio play — her value scales directly with coordination and communication among teammates. In solo play, she is generally avoided because her revival ultimate (which revives fallen allies) has no function and her raw damage without phantoms is below the solo meta options.

Both Nightfarers expand the roster's tactical variety significantly and are particularly valuable for players who have grown comfortable with the base six.