I thought Elden Ring Nightreign’s DLC Scholar character was bad — then I saw a build turn throwing pots into 8,000-damage nukes and realized he’s cracked

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My friends and I have spent the last week thoroughly enjoying the new Elden Ring DLC, Nightreign: The Forsaken Hollows.

The $15 expansion for FromSoftware’s unique and challenging roguelike game builds on their award-winning 2022 action RPG. It adds two new bosses called Nightlords, a completely new map to explore, and two new playable character classes, which we’ve been testing out.

I’ve always loved playing strong, powerful characters with big weapons in the studio’s “Soulsborne” games, so I was immediately drawn to Undertaker. She’s a pretty simple character who uses a mace and focuses on Strength and Faith. She has a special ability called Trance that boosts her stats and makes her move faster, a really strong attack that can hit enemies from far away, and a cool feature where she can use a less powerful version of her main attack whenever a teammate uses theirs.

Scholar, the other new Nightfarer character, is far more complex and far less forgiving.

He’s fairly average in most areas, except for his magical abilities. His ‘Analyze’ skill is clunky – he has to focus on enemies for a few seconds to get a small boost to his own stamina or weaken their attacks. Plus, his dodge isn’t as effective as other characters, giving him less time to avoid damage.

He has a very powerful ultimate ability that links nearby enemies, causing damage to be shared and healing both him and his teammates when they take hits. However, his initial impression wasn’t great – his base damage, health, and stamina are all fairly average, his dodging is a bit weak, and he takes some getting used to. I originally thought he was quite weak because of these factors.

But then I saw this:

And this:

And, uh, this:

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – Scholar was dealing massive damage, sometimes around 8,000, just with his throwing pots! It really hit me how strong his Bagcraft passive skill actually is.

As a big fan, I’m really loving how consumables work in Expeditions! Basically, the more you use things like potions and scrolls, the better they get. They get a huge boost at level 2, and then at level 3, they gain a totally new, awesome effect. There’s even a cheat sheet made by other players that shows exactly what each consumable does at every level, which is super helpful!

Most classes don’t benefit much from items that are used up, or aren’t worth customizing. But with the Bagcraft skill, the Scholar class in Elden Ring becomes similar to a dedicated crafting expert, letting you create a really strong set of Relic items.

You can turn Fire Pots into powerful grenades that deal massive damage to bosses by using Relics that boost their damage, especially fire and attribute damage. These Relics also increase damage when you’re at full health, and because Fire Pots are thrown, you can stay at a safe distance from the boss.

Those incredibly powerful, 8,000-damage attacks you might have seen require specific advanced upgrades and are best achieved in the challenging ‘Depth Relics of the Deep of Night’ hard mode. However, even in regular Expeditions, choosing the right Relics can significantly increase the damage your thrown pots deal to bosses.

Because merchants sell these for only 600 runes each, you can fill your inventory with them without spending much gold. They also offer a 5,000-rune pouch to give you an extra space to carry items.

A powerful tactic involves equipping a Relic that grants effects to nearby allies. This lets the Scholar share the benefits of their improved potions and scrolls with the rest of the team.

Level 3 Boiled Crab, Exalted Flesh, and Pickled Turtle Neck are powerful items that greatly increase physical defense, attack power, and stamina recovery. Being able to share these benefits with your teammates during challenging boss battles is incredibly helpful.

Learning how to use Bagcraft completely changed the way I play Scholar. It’s a shame it takes a lot of Relic investment to really get the most out of it, but once you do, Scholar becomes much more fun and powerful.

The more I play as this character, the more I’ve come to realize how useful his abilities are, especially the Analyze skill and his powerful magical abilities.

Okay, so I’ve learned a really cool trick for taking down bosses! If you hit them with a debuff when that little analysis circle is about halfway full, it’ll lower their damage right away. But here’s the thing: if you can hang back a bit and let that circle *completely* fill up – getting close speeds it up, but it’s way riskier – you’ll also weaken their defenses for the next big hit. That’s where teamwork comes in! If you coordinate with a friend and they land a charged heavy attack or a powerful ultimate right after, you’ll absolutely *melt* the boss. It’s a huge damage boost!

You can also quickly protect yourself with a circular buff. This creates a temporary shield that prevents all damage and disrupts enemies nearby, completely knocking down weaker foes and briefly interrupting stronger bosses during their attacks.

This strategy isn’t effective against the large, transforming attacks used by Night and Nightlord bosses, but for most other enemies, it acts like a parry, making fights significantly easier.

Scholar’s high Arcane stat makes him excellent at quickly applying status effects like Bleed, Poison, Scarlet Rot, Frostbite, and Sleep. To compensate for his weaker physical attacks, it’s best to use weapons that inflict these ailments – especially thrusting swords, as he has unique attacks designed for them.

Scholar is Nightreign’s most versatile Nightfarer

I’ve realized Scholar is Nightreign’s most adaptable Nightfarer. Although he’s not very strong physically and has a weak dodge, his advantages are much more impactful when used effectively.

Keeping track of temporary power-ups, weakening enemy abilities at the right time, and linking attacks to inflict status effects is demanding, but incredibly rewarding. Mastering this system gives your team a unique and powerful advantage.

If you don’t initially like Scholar, give him a chance. Once you understand how he works, you’ll realize how effective he can be – you might even become as enthusiastic about him as I am.

FAQ

Is Elden Ring Nightreign crossplay or cross-platform?

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree doesn’t support crossplay or cross-platform play. This means you can only play with others on the same system – for instance, Xbox players can only team up with other Xbox Series X|S or Xbox One players.

Is Elden Ring Nightreign a DLC?

Nightreign isn’t a downloadable expansion for Elden Ring; it’s a completely separate game. It takes the core elements of the original 2022 action RPG and reimagines it as a cooperative roguelike, reusing many of the enemies and gameplay features from Elden Ring, though with some changes and adjustments.

Is Elden Ring Nightreign multiplayer?

Elden Ring Nightreign lets you play with others online, but you can also enjoy it solo. It’s most fun when played with a friend or two, allowing you to team up with up to two other players for Expeditions. If you don’t have friends available, the game has a matchmaking feature to help you find partners.

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2025-12-11 01:11