Elden Ring: Nightreign - Ironeye Preview - IGN First

In the world of Elden Ring, the bow typically serves as a secondary tool, perfect for drawing enemy attention, softening foes from a distance before closing in with your primary weapon, or strategically taking down creatures like birds for rune farming. However, in Nightreign, playing as the Ironeye transforms the bow into the core of your gameplay, offering a unique experience distinct from the other eight classes. The Ironeye class embodies the closest thing to a support role in Nightreign, which you can see in action in the exclusive gameplay video below.

One of the first things you'll notice when playing as the Ironeye is their fragility. While they can wield any weapon, sticking to a bow is crucial for maintaining distance and avoiding direct combat, as they can't withstand many hits, particularly early in the game. Fortunately, the starting bow is robust, delivering solid damage and equipped with the Mighty Shot skill, enabling you to strike from an impressive range, deal additional damage, and inflict extra poise damage.

It's also important to note that Nightreign has significantly revamped the bow mechanics. Bows now fire more rapidly, and you can move more swiftly while targeting locked-on enemies. Additionally, there's no longer a need to manage arrow supplies, though you're limited to the type of arrows your bow comes with. This change removes the worry of running out of arrows during critical moments, like boss fights. Other enhancements include a new animation for shooting arrows while rolling, the ability to perform acrobatic moves such as running up walls and shooting arrows mid-leap, and the option to aim without switching to first-person mode, all while moving faster. The strong attack now fires a spread of three arrows, capable of hitting multiple targets, and you can even execute backstabs or visceral attacks on downed enemies with an arrow. These updates address the shortcomings of the bow as a primary weapon in the original Elden Ring, making it a formidable choice in Nightreign.

As the Ironeye, the bow isn't just a tool; it's your lifeline. The class's main skill, Marking, is a swift dagger dash that penetrates enemies, leaving a mark that amplifies damage from all sources. With a short cooldown, you can consistently apply this debuff to bosses, enhancing your team's effectiveness. Marking also serves as a mobility tool, allowing you to pass through enemies and escape dangerous situations.

The Ironeye's ultimate ability, Single Shot, is an enhanced version of Mighty Shot. It requires a brief charge time, during which you're invulnerable, and upon release, it unleashes a devastating shot that penetrates nearly everything in its path, perfect for clearing groups of enemies.

The Ironeye truly excels in team play, particularly with their ability to revive allies from a safe distance. In Nightreign, reviving a downed teammate involves clearing a partitioned circle above them by attacking. While most classes must risk close combat or expend resources to revive, the Ironeye can do so safely and efficiently from afar, without using any resources. This capability can be a game-changer in challenging runs. However, reviving an ally becomes more challenging if they've gone down multiple times, as additional partitions are added to the circle, requiring more damage to clear, which can be difficult for the Ironeye to achieve from a distance without using their ultimate.

Despite not matching the raw damage output of other classes, the Ironeye's presence is invaluable in a squad. Their marking ability boosts team damage, a passive increases item drop rates for all, their ultimate clears mobs effectively, and their unique revival method from a distance provides unmatched utility among Nightreign's classes.