Last updated: 5 September 2026

Elden Ring Nightreign Scholar & Undertaker Build Guide

The Forsaken Hollows DLC (released December 4, 2025) added two new Nightfarers to Elden Ring Nightreign on top of the base game's eight — Scholar, an Intelligence/Arcane support caster, and Undertaker, a Strength/Faith hammer bruiser. Both need the DLC owned and Gladius, Beast of Night (Tricephalos) defeated in the base game — after that, head to Roundtable Hold and speak with the Iron Menial, who passes on a message from the Small Jar Merchant, to make Scholar and Undertaker available (see our Forsaken Hollows guide for the full unlock sequence, including the follow-up DLC boss and Shifting Earth area). This guide focuses on what to do once they're playable: stat priorities, skill and ultimate breakdowns, weapon and relic picks, and where each one fits in a trio.

01Scholar — The Support Specialist

Scholar scales into both Intelligence and Arcane — Bandai Namco's own character reveal calls Intelligence his "most advanced" stat with Arcane as a strong secondary, though community build guides built around his status-effect kit tend to prioritize Arcane-scaling weapons instead. Either split is workable; he's built around buffing and debuffing rather than raw damage either way, and he's consistently described across build guides and the Steam community as a support-first pick that rewards a coordinated team over solo aggression.

• Passive — Bagcraft: increases how many consumables you can carry and lets repeated use of the same item during an expedition strengthen its effect. This turns Scholar into the party's item specialist — he gets more value out of every pot, throwable, and buff item than any other Nightfarer.
• Character Skill — Analyze: a channelled scan of nearby enemies or allies that fills a gauge the longer you hold it on target. A partial charge applies a stamina buff to allies or an attack-down debuff to enemies; a full charge steps that further — enemies take more damage on their next hit, and allies get a protective shield that releases a shockwave when struck. Charge time versus effect strength is the core decision every time you use it — don't tap it reflexively.
• Ultimate Art — Communion: links nearby enemies together with spectral threads. Damage dealt to one linked enemy is mirrored across every other linked target, and healing items used while the link is active heal all linked allies too. It's most valuable when the party focuses a single linked enemy right after casting it, since that damage spreads to the rest of the field.
• Weapons: Thrusting swords and rapiers are Scholar's main scaling weapon class — Antspur Rapier and Frozen Needle are common picks for their Bleed and Frostbite buildup, and dual-wielding Antspur Rapiers via Power Stance is a popular bleed-poison hybrid.
• Relics: Cleansing Tear, "Note, My Dear Successor," and Grand Drizzly Scene show up consistently in Scholar build guides as the core relic picks that reinforce his buff/debuff loop.

Scholar's pot-throwing strategy (feeding fire pots and other consumables to squeeze more value from Bagcraft) is significantly stronger with voice communication, since teammates need to know when to hold position for Analyze or Communion to land cleanly. He pairs best with a frontline tank who can hold enemy aggro at range while he buffs and debuffs from a safe distance, plus a burst damage dealer who can capitalize on Communion's shared damage the moment it goes up.

02Undertaker — The Aggressive Frontline

Undertaker scales into both Strength and Faith, making her a hybrid melee bruiser rather than a pure physical damage dealer. Where Scholar plays from range and support, Undertaker is built to be in the middle of the fight.

• Passive — Confluence: whenever a nearby ally activates their own Ultimate Art, Undertaker can immediately activate hers for free, regardless of how charged her own gauge currently is. This makes her ultimate uptime dependent on team coordination — in an uncoordinated trio she'll charge normally, but a team that times its ultimates around her gets far more Loathsome Hex casts than the gauge alone would allow.
• Character Skill — Trance: grants a stamina-free sprint and an upgraded dodge-step, plus increased poise, and repeated hammer hits stack a further attack buff. Activating Trance with a full Ultimate gauge empowers it — longer duration, a bigger attack boost, and automatic dodging of incoming attacks for the whole window, turning it into an extended safe-to-be-aggressive phase rather than a one-time save.
• Ultimate Art — Loathsome Hex: Undertaker pulls a bone from her own body and launches it toward a locked-on target as a long-range gap closer, dealing heavy damage and staggering everything it passes through in flight, then again in an area on impact. It doubles as an engage tool and a burst damage cooldown.
• Weapons: Hammers are Undertaker's weapon class across every build guide that covers her. Marika's Hammer, which scales with both Strength and Faith and carries a Holy-affinity Ash of War, is the most commonly recommended best-in-slot pick.
• Relics: Glass Necklace and Leather Monocle Case — both obtained from her Remembrance quest — are the relics build guides point to most consistently for reinforcing her hammer-focused kit.

Undertaker's biggest weakness is her stamina pool, which is small relative to how aggressively she's meant to play — heavy hammer swings and constant Trance sprinting drain it fast, so stamina-recovery relics or careful pacing between engagements matter more for her than for most other Nightfarers. Because Confluence rewards coordinated ultimate timing, she gets noticeably stronger in a trio that communicates than she does played on autopilot.

03Team Roles: Where They Fit in a Trio

Neither new Nightfarer is designed to solo-carry a run the way Executor or Ironeye can — both lean on teammates more than the base roster does.

• Scholar fills the buff/debuff support slot. Bring him alongside a frontline tank (Guardian or Raider) who can hold aggression while he channels Analyze safely, and a burst damage dealer (Undertaker, Recluse, or Revenant) who benefits most from Communion's shared damage.
• Undertaker fills a frontline damage slot, similar in spirit to Raider but with more burst via Loathsome Hex. She works best next to a Nightfarer with a reliable, frequently-used ultimate, since Confluence piggybacks off allies activating theirs — Guardian's team-revival ultimate or Ironeye's Single Shot both give her extra free casts over a run.
• Together: Scholar and Undertaker complement each other directly — Scholar's Communion links spread the damage Undertaker deals with Loathsome Hex across every linked enemy, and Undertaker's frequent Trance/Loathsome Hex activations give Scholar more openings to land a full-charge Analyze safely.