Elden Ring Nightreign: How to Beat Dreglord (Traitorous Straghess)

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Elden Ring Nightreign How to Beat Dreglord

Christian has three years of experience writing in the gaming industry, including guides and reviews, for publications such as Dualshockers, Attack of the Fanboy, and PC Invasion. He has been an avid gamer since he was a kid, viewing it as the best possible art form and medium. Some of his favorite genres include Survival Horror, Soulslikes, and RPGs, but he finds joy in almost any type of game.

The final boss of the Elden Ring: Nightreign’s DLC, The Forsaken Hollows, is the Dreglord, otherwise known as Traitorous Straghess. It’s a challenging fight that requires quick reflexes, overcoming the Scarlet Rot status effect, and avoiding massive AOE attacks.

However, defeating the Dreglord is very manageable, as long as you enter the boss arena well-prepared. Preparation includes reaching max level, obtaining items to counter Scarlet Rot, and forming the best party composition for the highest chance of success.

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If you’re struggling with the Dreglord, you are not alone; it took me many tries to finally defeat it. This guide has everything you need to know about defeating the Dreglord (Traitorous Straghess) in Elden Ring Nightreign: The Forsaken Hollows.

Recommended Party Composition

Elden Ring Nightreign Party Composition for Dreglord

The best party composition for defeating the Dreglord is two Undertakers and Ironeye. Undertaker is one of the new Nightfarers added to the game through the DLC, and she has the best passive ability in the entire game, called “Confluence.”

Confluence allows Undertaker to use her Ultimate Art whenever a teammate uses theirs. This allows her to use the Ultimate Art, Loathsome Hex, twice in a row since she also has her own ultimate meter.

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In other words, she gains access to her Ultimate Art more than any other Nightfarer in the game, and since it deals a great deal of damage and can stun bosses, it’s very helpful against the Dreglord.

Having two Undertakers on your team will allow for more uses of the Ultimate Art, leading to the Dreglord taking more damage and getting stunned more often. As for Ironeye, he is a great support player who can revive teammates from afar, making it easy to pick up downed teammates.

Dreglord Weaknesses and Preparation

Dreglord Weaknesses Elden Ring Nightreign

Unlike other Night Lords in Elden Ring: Nightreign, the Dreglord doesn’t have any weaknesses. This means there are no specific afflictions to look out for during your run.

In this case, you want to select rune upgrades that increase physical attack power, as I have found that physical deals the most damage to the Dreglord. However, even though they aren’t considered weaknesses, Holy and Fire are good choices as well as they also deal pretty good damage to this boss. Remember to equip Relics before the run that increases attack power.

When it comes to the Scarlet Rot that the Dreglord can inflict on you and your teammates, keep on the lookout for Preserving Boluses while exploring the map. These items alleviate Scarlet Rot buildup, which can save you from taking additional damage.

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If you’re playing as Ironeye, make sure to grab weapons that have the “less likely to be targeted” buff attached to them. This will give you more breathing room to attack the Dreglord from afar and revive teammates without getting targeted a ton. Remember, weapons just need to be in your inventory for a buff to be active. They don’t need to be equipped.

Of course, hit as many points of interest as possible and try your hardest to reach level 15. Going into the Dreglord fight lower than max level will make the boss way more difficult than it has to be.

Lastly, make sure to purchase items from the merchant on Day 3 with leftover runes, right before entering the Night Lord arena. I recommend purchasing Exalted Flesh to increase attack power, as well as any flasks available to grant you additional health.

Dreglord Moveset

The Dreglord has two phases in Elden Ring: Nightreign. After defeating the first phase, it may seem like you have defeated the boss, but that's actually not the case. The following sections detail the Dreglord's moveset in both phases, and how to counter and avoid taking damage.

Dreglord First Phase

Dreglord's first phase is actually quite simple when it comes to his attack pattern. The boss also takes much more damage from standard attacks in the first phase than his second phase.

Attack	Description	Counter
Scythe Slam	Dreglord will raise his scythe and slam it down to the ground one time.	Dodge into the attack.
Scythe Double Slam	Dreglord will raise his scythe and slam it down to the ground two times in a row. You can differentiate this from “Scythe Slam” when Dreglord raises the scythe higher up.	Dodge backwards twice.
Double Swipe	Dreglord will use his fist and swipe twice, once to the right and then to the left.	Dodge backwards twice.
Scythe Smash	Dreglord will put both hands on his scythe, turn it sideways, and smash it to the ground, dealing AOE damage.	Dodge into the attack.
Pink Burst	Dreglord will conjure a pink hue from his fist and smash his fist into the ground, creating a pink burst that sucks players toward him.	Run away.
Scarlet Rot Crater	Dreglord will reach into the ground, grab a large Scarlet Rot crater, rise up on a hill, and make the crater explode. The arena will begin to rain Scarlet Rot, and smaller enemies will begin to appear.	Run as far as possible to avoid the explosion.
Scarlet Slam	Dreglord’s fist will glow pink, and he will slam down twice. Each slam has an AOE burst and has a pool of Scarlet shoot out from the ground, dealing damage.	Dodge backward or to the side to avoid the AOE.
Scythe Drag	Dreglord will swing his scythe in a circle and then drag it on the ground, charging toward you. The boss will swing the Scythe a total of five times here.	If playing as Ironeye, use the Marking ability to dodge through the boss. Otherwise, consistently dodge each attack.

Elden Ring Nightreign Recluse with Urns and Relics

Dreglord Second Phase Elden Ring Nightreign

Dreglord's second phase is very difficult due to the amount of AOE attacks it has in its moveset. Still, everything is dodgeable by either rolling or running away. Check out the full moveset of the second phase in the table below.

Attack	Description	Counter
Scythe Swipe and Punch	Dreglord will swipe his scythe to the side and follow up immediately with a punch.	Dodge into the swipe and to the side to avoid the punch.
Charge Swipe	Dreglord will charge toward the player and spin in a circle, swiping his scythe in a large circular fashion.	Dodge into the attack.
Lunge Attack	Dreglord will leap toward a player and throw a punch.	Dodge into the attack.
Howl Pillars	Dreglord will howl and conjure a series of pillars that rise from the ground. He will target one player, lunge down to attack them, and bounce up to another pillar. He does this twice, and when he lands on the ground a second time, he will smash his fist to the ground, creating waves of Scarlet Rot that deal a ton of damage.	Be prepared to dodge when the Drelord lunges down. It's extremely fast, so use quick reflexes.
Pillar Smash	Dreglord will summon a series of pillars and bounce between a handful of them before smashing to the ground, creating a large explosion. Be prepared for three explosions here that shoot out waves of Scarlet Rot, all covering great distances.	Run away from the explosions.
Scarlet Rot Ball	Dreglord will conjure a large ball of Scarlet Rot and throw it at the player, creating an explosion.	Run away
Targeted Attack	Dreglord will target one player (indicated by a red dot on the person’s body) and leap forward to execute a series of attacks. There are 5 swipe attacks here and then a 6th attack where the Dreglord jumps up and slams to the ground, creating an explosion that deals AOE damage.	Dodge the first 5 swipe attacks and then wait a second for the last explosion attack. Dodge into Dreglord when he slams to the ground.
Slam Waves	Dreglord will slowly approach with his scythe on his back and then quickly slam his scythe to the ground, creating lines on the ground that eventually explode.	Dodge to the side, or run away from the lines on the ground to avoid the explosion.

How to Defeat Dreglord in Elden Ring: Nightreign

How to Beat Dreglord Elden Ring Nightreign

Defeating the Dreglord in Elden Ring: Nightreign boils down to understanding its attack patterns and finding the openings to deal damage. As previously mentioned, the best party composition for this fight is two Undertakers and Ironeye, so this section will reflect that.

If you’re playing as Ironeye, you want to attack from a distance and only come close to the Dreglord to apply a Mark. The Marking character skill applies a mark that deals critical damage when players attack it enough times.

Whenever Ironeye’s character skill is available, rush in and use it on the Dreglord. It doesn’t matter if the mark is already applied; still approach and apply it again. Applying it a second time doesn’t reset the number of hits it takes to deal critical damage, it just increases the amount of time the mark stays active.

Ironeye’s second main purpose is to use the Ultimate Art whenever it’s available, so both Undertakers can use theirs an additional time. Additionally, Ironeye should be the primary way to revive any downed teammates.

Nightreign Reviving teammate during Dreglord fight

As for the Undertakers, stay close to Dreglord and deal as much damage as possible. Understanding his attack patterns, as discussed in the previous section, will make it so you can consistently find openings to attack. Remember to run away from the Dreglord when he’s about to do a massive AOE attack.

Remember, always use Undertaker's Ultimate Art whenever someone else uses theirs. When the Ultimate Art’s icon is pink-colored, this means you earned it from someone else's Ultimate. This doesn’t last forever, so it’s important to use it right away.

When Dreglord enters his second phase and begins using a ton of Scarlet Rot attacks, make sure to use Preserving Boluses to get rid of the buildup. Dreglord deals a ton of damage, and having additional chip damage from Scarlet Rot can make this fight way harder than it has to be.