Elden Ring Nightreign Night Aspect boss guide: How to beat Heolstor the Nightlord

So you've made it this far: you've defeated four Nightlords, and now you're ready for the Nightlord in the Night Aspect expedition. It should be no surprise, but as the final challenge in Elden Ring Nightreign, working out how to beat Heolstor the Nightlord is a significant hurdle to overcome.

As the last of the Nightreign bosses, Heolstor is one of the coolest baddies FromSoftware has made yet. When you win, you'll be treated to—surprise!—an incredibly vague and confusing final cutscene, which I won't explain here because of spoilers. No, it's not because I didn't understand it either. You'll also unlock new Nightreign skins—the incredible Dark Souls outfits—so it's worth the pain.

If you want the full story, then you'll need to complete the Elden Ring Nightreign Remembrances for each character, which also requires you beat Night Aspect multiple times for alternate endings. You better get studying…

Elden Ring Nightreign Night Aspect tips

He may be the final boss, but your work starts as soon as you enter the expedition, all the same, and boy, do you have your work cut out for you. As always, take the best rune farming route and hunt for legendary weapons to get more powerful, but keep an eye out for the following specific things to prepare for Heolstor in the Night Lord expedition:

1. Get a holy weapon or spells

While Heolstor is incredibly tanky, look on the bright side, at least he's weak to holy damage. In my experience, holy is one of the most common damage types, second only to fire. Keep in mind that you can also get a starting armament that deals holy using the right relic, so check if you have one. You won't be able to upgrade it to the highest quality without the Shifting Earth: Crater event, but it's still a good failsafe, and you can grab a Smithing Stone 1 and 2 to buff it most of the way.

2. Scarlet rot works too

Scarlet rot damage is also strong against Heolstor, though it's much harder to come by. While you can find a few by looking in the usual spots, you're much more likely to get a scarlet rot weapon from the Shifting Earth: Rotting Woods event. The event is easy enough to complete—head to the marked fort then to another marker in the woods to collect the item—but you can't guarantee the event will be active in your run. Nevertheless, with Heolstor oddly being resistant to the likes of poison, bleed, and frostbite, scarlet rot is your best bet.

3. Stock up on damage negation and affinity resistance

Heolstor packs one hell of a punch, so resistance to physical and magical attacks goes a long way in staying alive. During his final phase, Heolstor also gains powers from other Nightlords, so he can deal other damage types like Equilibrious Beast Libra's madness, Gaping Jaw Adel's lightning, or Darkdrift Knight Fulghor's holy damage. You can't predict what affinity damage type he'll gain, so it's best to take physical reduction for his basic attacks, though any affinity bonuses from relics are a nice extra just in case.

4. Level up and get flask upgrades

As one of the biggest challenges in Nightreign, I recommend getting as close to level 15 as possible to give you the best odds. Taking relics with increased rune acquisition will help with this. Plus, fighting Heolstor is very much a war of attrition, so you should max out your flask charges by visiting churches.

How to beat Heolstor, the Nightlord, in Elden Ring Nightreign

While a boss like Maris in the Augur expedition demands a ranged playstyle thanks to their rapid movements, Heolstor is significantly slower but demands precision. Naturally, you'll need to adapt your approach and team composition to handle this:

• Raider: His high stagger damage and ability to go toe-to-toe with Heolstor give your whole team some breathing room.
• Duchess: Her Restage skill not only repeats recent damage against targets (including the affinity boost from using holy against Heolstor), but can also reapply status ailments like scarlet rot if you have it. Her enhanced dodge can also help keep you safe from Heolstor's sweeping attacks and AoEs.
• Wylder: This incredibly versatile fighter can zip in and out of combat with his grappling hook, which I found to be very helpful for avoiding much of Heolstor's attacks and quickly re-engaging, plus he has a damage-dealing ultimate art.
• Guardian: The bird-man doesn't get many opportunities to shine, but Heolstor is one of them—provided you have his unique relics. His ability to tank damage, provide defensive buffs, and even heal nearby allies pulls through in this slower, more methodical fight where conserving flasks is so important.
• Ironeye: The archer isn't quite as strong against Heolstor as he is against virtually every other boss, but I'd still recommend him—though don't have multiple in your party. Given there's only one holy bow available, you're heavily reliant on luck if you're not using a relic that gives your starting armament holy damage. Nevertheless, dealing consistent damage while your allies duke it out at close range is powerful, and Ironeye's team-wide damage boost (which also makes him invincible for a short moment) is very useful.

With your team assembled, it's time to enter the ring with the Night Aspect, which is where the real challenge begins. Here's how to beat Heolstor:

1. Watch out for these attacks

Heolstor is slow by Nightreign standards, but he packs a punch and swaps targets rather erratically, making him a very hard boss to fight. He also has three phases and can borrow the affinity attacks of other Nightlords, so you've got a lot to keep track of.

Outside of a few key attacks, Heolstor generally attacks with slow, heavy sword swings, dashes, and bashes, which you'll need to dodge like any other attack (either towards it or to the side, depending on his direction of attack). Otherwise, here's what you need to look out for:

• Sword slashes: Heolstor's standard attack is a long combo with his sword. Some attacks come out fast while others are slow, and he can dash quite far with each swing. The end of this combo also tends to see him swap targets. While he's doing this combo, time your dodges and look for any openings to get an attack or two in. This is pretty much all he'll do in phase one (when he's called The Shape of Night), but the attack type also changes between phases: in phase two, Heolstor deals magic damage and creates waves with each strike. In particular, watch out for when he plunges his sword into the ground at the end of a combo, as this creates an AoE that hits even if you're behind him. While in phase three, he'll swap swords again and create fissures of different elements.
• Teleport: Heolstor can quickly teleport between targets, so if you see him phase, it's wise to regain some stamina and prepare to dodge as he might be gunning for you.
• Shadow shots: During his second phase, Heolstor will plunge the arena into darkness and begin charging homing projectiles. They sound scary, but they're easy enough to dodge by rolling forwards or to the side if you're kiting. You can also flinch him out of this with an ultimate art or by applying enough holy damage.
• Fissures: In his final phase, Heolstor tears open the sky, causing him to swap swords to one that creates exploding fissures of whatever elemental buff he received (like holy or lightning). Like the other Nightlords with these attacks, you'll need to run or dodge to avoid these rifts before they explode.
• Slam: While Heolstor creates fissures during his standard combos, it's even worse after his slam attack (which he'll first do when he tears the sky to enter his third phase). When you see Heolstor briefly hover in the air and charge an attack, he's about to slam the ground, damaging nearby players and creating tons of fissures. Your best bet is to backup and dodge just as he hits the ground to avoid the damage.

2. Don't waste resources in phase one

The Night Aspect boss fight actually begins with a quick scrap against The Shape of Night before it turns into Heolstor, the Nightlord. While The Shape of Night still packs a punch, it only uses Heolstor's basic attack combo, which is easy enough to avoid. Save all your flasks, resources, and ultimates for phases two and three, when the fighting gets serious.

3. Heolstor is surprisingly easy to interrupt

One of Heolstor's most annoying traits is his near-constant attacks that keep you on the back foot, even though they have slow wind-ups. However, Raider's innate high stagger and ultimate abilities like Wylder's Onslaught Stake and Ironeye's Single Shot can stun him surprisingly fast. This gives you a brief window to get in a few attacks uncontested. Duchess' Restage ability comes in clutch here for stronger burst damage, especially if used right after stunning Heolstor with ultimates. Remember that applying enough holy damage can also stagger the boss.

4. Reviving skills and ultimates are invaluable

Another problem with Heolstor's aggression is that it's almost impossible to revive a downed ally by whacking them once they've gone beyond one bar. It simply takes too long and eats into your stamina, which you'll need to run and dodge too. Make smart use of ultimates like Revenant, Ironeye, Wylder, Guardian, or Duchess to quickly revive downed allies and get them back in the fight.