Expeditions

Expeditions are the core gameplay loop in Elden Ring Nightreign.

Overview

Expeditions are deadly, three-day missions into Limveld undertaken by the Nightfarers of the Shrouded Roundtable Hold. They brave the ruinous Night's Tide to grow in strength for two days before challenging the Nightlord boss on the final day.

Matchmaking for Expeditions is initiated by interacting with the Table of Lost Grace at the Roundtable Hold. Select at least one Expedition and hit confirm. Each Expedition features a different Nightlord and is randomly generated using an individualized pool of encounters. For example, the Nameless King boss never appears during the Tricephalos Expedition.

Shifting Earth and other Events like Catalysms affect the runs.

List of Expeditions

There are eight standard Expeditions:

Everdark Sovereigns

Everdark Sovereigns are challenging versions of the standard Expeditions, available for a limited time on a weekly rotation. The Everdark Sovereigns in active weekly rotation are Tricephalos, Gaping Jaw, Sentient Pest, Augur, Equilibrious Beast, Darkdrift Knight, and Fissure in the Fog. Additional Everdark Sovereign Expeditions are scheduled to appear in future updates. This feature is not available in offline mode.

Players can only challenge an Everdark Sovereign after defeating its standard Nightlord form. The Nightlord bosses of Everdark Sovereign missions are significantly more difficult, featuring upgraded strength and new movesets. They start at Phase 2 and advance to an empowered Phase 3. Defeating an Everdark Sovereign grants Sovereign Sigils, with a bonus for first-time victories. Sigils can be exchanged for exclusive Relics and other rare items at the Collector Signboard.

Expedition Flowchart

1. Day One: Noontide — Nightfarers enter Limveld via Spectral Hawk; Night's Tide later restricts safe space
2. Day One: Night — Nightfarers are confined to a small area, fight a wave of tough enemies, and face a Night boss
3. Day Two: Noontide — Night's Tide fully recedes and the Nightfarers resume farming; random events occur
4. Day Two: Night — Nightfarers battle a second round of Night enemies and bosses before entering the Spirit Shelter
5. Final Day: Noontide — Nightfarers prepare for the final battle, and enter the tree
6. Final Day: Night — Nightfarers confront the Nightlord

Leveling Up

Nightfarers start every Expedition at Level 1. They can grow up to Level 15 by spending runes at Sites of Grace. Runes are earned by defeating enemies and bosses or by completing various objectives. Lower-level players cannot adequately wield higher rarity gear.

When a player dies, they are demoted a single Level and their Runes are dropped where they died. However, the deducted Level is not permanently lost; it is converted to Runes and added to the drop. If a player dies near a non-boss enemy, then that enemy will glow gold near its belly. It returns the Runes once it is defeated, even by other players or NPCs.

The Plague of Locusts raid event summons mobile insect swarms that temporarily steal Levels. The Sentient Pest is located somewhere in Limveld and can be tracked by observing where the insects fly after an explosion. The Sentient Pest is passive and doesn't attack. All stolen Levels are returned, and a boon that randomly adds  10000 runes runes on hit is granted if the Pest is slain. However, the stolen Levels are permanently lost if the raid is not completed.

Cost to Level Up Table

Level	Level Cost	Rolling Total	Optimal Gear
1	-	-	Common
2	3,698 Runes	3,698 Runes	Common
3	7,922 Runes	11,620 Runes	Uncommon
4	12,348 Runes	23,968 Runes	Uncommon
5	16,978 Runes	40,946 Runes	Uncommon
6	21,818 Runes	62,764 Runes	Uncommon
7	26,869 Runes	89,633 Runes	Rare
8	32,137 Runes	121,770 Runes	Rare
9	37,624 Runes	159,394 Runes	Rare
10	43,335 Runes	202,729 Runes	Legendary
11	49,271 Runes	252,000 Runes	Legendary
12	55,439 Runes	307,439 Runes	Legendary
13	61,840 Runes	369,279 Runes	Legendary
14	68,479 Runes	437,758 Runes	Legendary
15	75,358 Runes	513,116 Runes	Legendary

Deep of Night

Main article: Deep of Night

The Deep of Night, also known as the Deep Night, is a ranked game mode for Elden Ring Nightreign included in an update that launches on September 11, 2025. It offers a challenge to veteran Nightfarers who have braved the Night many times.

Key Features

• Ranked, high-difficulty challenge mode
• Progress through 'Depths' levels 1 through 5, each rank increasing difficulty
• 'Depths' 4 and 5 function as an "endless mode"
• Ratings fluctuate according to wins and losses; reaching a certain rank will increase your Depth
• Fully-randomized Nightlords
• Fully-randomized Shifting Earth events
• Stronger, tankier 'Red' Enemies and Bosses, identified by veiny red visual effects, that drop potent Red-rarity items
• When the mode is unlocked, every Chalice for each Nightfarer gains three extra Relic slots (a total of six per vessel) dedicated to special Depths Relics.
• Depths Relics: powerful relics touched by the Deep of Night that only activate in the Deep of Night game mode. They provide both positive and negative effects.
• Red-rarity weapons have two positive effects and one negative effect; equal to purple Epic items
• New beneficial Effects unique to Depths Relics and Red-rarity weapons

Notes

• The first Expedition is Tricephalos.
• Defeating one Nightlord unlocks the Gaping Jaw, Sentient Pest, Augur, Equilibrious Beast, Darkdrift Knight, and Fissure in the Fog Expeditions.
• Defeating any four Nightlords unlocks the Night Aspect Expedition.
• Several Remembrance Quests require the player to complete personal objectives during Expeditions. However, only one player's quest objective will be active per session.
  • Expeditions launched from the Realm of Remembrance appear to use a separate matchmaking queue. As a result, queue times for certain Expeditons may be longer than expected if the player has an active Remembrance Quest. To exit the Realm of Remembrance, open the Journal at the Roundtable Hold and select "Postpone remembrance."
• Each Expedition has a different weather or skybox.

Gallery

Nightfarers on an Expedition

Launch Expeditions from the Great Site of Grace