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Among the many Nightfarers inElden Ring Nightreign, Ironeye is one of the most beginner-friendly characters that you can play as. Ranged characters are often good in such games as they can stay out of harm’s way and still provide consistent damage from the backlines.
What makes using Ironeye easier is that, unlike Recluse, you don’t have to worry about managing his FP. This gives him an advantage, especially when you pair it with the fact that you will never run out of arrows.
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Now, you might be wondering what the catch is, because everything about him so far tells you the pros of using Ironeye, but what about the cons? Well, the biggest area he suffers in is stamina management. The last thing you want is to be out of stamina when a boss is about to land their attack on you.
Just understanding his abilities isn’t enough; you also need to know the best primary and secondary weapons for him, what types of Relics you should use, and more. So, here is how you can play Ironeye inElden Ring Nightreign.
Ironeye Abilities Explained
Description
With Ironeye’s passive eagle eye, you and your team members can obtain more items as drops from the enemies.
Character Skill
Dash at your target to cut them with your dagger to apply a weak point. Attacking weak points increases the duration the mark stays on your target. Destroying it will stagger the enemy.
Single Shot
Ultimate Art
Ironeye produces an enlarged bow that fires a powerful arrow that will penetrate through any defense. A shockwave follows it that does AoE damage in the area.
Starting with Ironeye’s passive, this can be very useful in the early game when you are between levels 1-3 to get drops from regular enemies—Especially if you are playing solo.
In the early levels, you should typically be fighting random mobs of enemies that you can find on some road or take on small camps where the mini-bosses are Banished Knights, Flame Chariots, or similar foes. Here, thanks to Eagle Eye, enemy mobs have a chance to drop Uncommon weapons.
Eagle Eye is handy for obtaining loot from weaker enemies. This doesn’t mean you will always get something when you defeat them; this passive just increases your odds.
The best part is that this passive also benefits your team, and you don’t even have to fight alongside them. So, if they are fighting somewhere away from you, they still have a chance to get drops from the enemy.
Next, we have Ironeye’s character skill: Marking. This is a skill that contradicts Ironeye’s usual long-range play style. To use it, you need to be in your target’s vicinity, as this dash does a melee attack on them.
You can apply the Marking debuff to several targets, so make sure you align your enemies in a line before dashing to hit as many of them as possible. Once hit, all that is left to do is spam their weak point with your arrows until they stagger or die.
When larger enemies that have multiple target points get hit by Marking, anywhere you attack them counts as attacking their weak point.
If properly timed, you can even use this ability to dodge enemy attacks.
Finally, for his Ultimate Art, we have Single Shot. This ability launches a large arrow at any single target at a very high speed. Once it connects, a massive shockwave follows that deals damage in the nearby area and is strong enough to take out weak or even regular enemies.
The two most important things that you need to know about this ability are that, first, it can pass through any enemy or platforms to hit your target. So, they have no option whatsoever to block it.
Secondly, while using his Ultimate Art, during the attack animation, Ironeye is completely invincible, and this skill can also be charged. Although charging it doesn’t increase its physical or stance damage, it still has its use as it makes you invulnerable for a bit longer.
Best Weapons
As Ironeye is a ranged character, you should focus on getting bows and crossbows for him. However, since he can easily run out of stamina when trying to reposition himself in battle,you should avoid using Greatbows or Ballistas.
Ideally,the best types of bows for Ironeye are Light Bows and regular Bows. While there isn’t a go-to weapon, some of the common drops that work best for him include Composite Bow, Red Branch Shortbow, Harp Bow, Albinauric Bow, Horn Bow, Pulley Bow, Serpent Bow, and Longbow.
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There is a chance you may get the same bow from two different enemies/bosses as a drop. In such cases, verify you check their weapon art and passives.
So, while the base damage might be the same, there is a chance that the new bow shoots Magic, Fire, Holy, or Poison arrows instead. Depending on the boss you are fighting, the new bow might be more useful.
Try getting rare or legendary bows before you get to the Night Lord on Day 3. The higher the rarity, the more damage your weapon will deal.
Lastly, don’t forget thatIroneye has an A rating for Dexterity and a B for Arcane. So, if you have another Ironeye or someone like Recluse on your team who also does ranged attacks,you could go for weapons like Elenora’s Poleblade,Rivers of Blood, or something similar that inflicts Bleed for your secondary weapon.
Best Relics
For Ironeye’s Relics, you should prioritise equipping items that boost his Endurance, Dexterity, and Arcane. Additionally, having Relics that apply elements like Fire, Poison, or more to your starting weapons can be quite helpful when you want to challenge a specific boss.
For example, the second Nightlord is weak against Poison. But if you manage to defeat the third Nightlord before it, you get its relic, which lets your starting armament inflict Poison damage.
This can be a game-changer, because even if you don’t get any Poison camps on your map, you just need to get a Smithing and aSomber Smithing stoneto upgrade your default weapon and increase its damage. This lets you pick more dormant powers from boss drops, as you already have the weapon you need.
If you defeat the Crater’s mini-boss, you get to upgrade any single weapon to legendary rarity.
Another useful Relic for Ironeye is Cracked Sealing Wax, which you get along with his Urn by completing Ironeye’s first Personal Objective. This relic increases the duration of the weak point and even gives you extra runes for performing Critical hits.
Make sure you buy Ironeye’s Goblet from the Small Jar Bazaar, as having it unlocks more experimentation possibilities with different relics whenusing relic rites.
Ironeye Expedition Strategies
Here are some useful strategies that can come in handy, no matter if you are on a solo expedition or playing multiplayer:
Best Team Comp
These are the best Nightfarers to team up with Ironeye:
Raider is your classic Strength character. He has an A rating for HP and an S for Strength. The extra HP is handy, because Raider will be the party’s tank. Since he uses large weapons, he can’t land his attacks instantly. This extra health is equally important for him as it is for the party.
Having an S rank in Strength means all the Str users get to rejoice, because they can use some of the most popular weapons, like the Greatsword, Giant-Crusher, Dragon Greatclaw, Serpent-Hunter, and more—without having to worry too much about changing their playstyle.
Now,the biggest reason he works best with Ironeye is thanks to Raider’s Ultimate Art: Totem Stella. Since this gravestone is climbable, Ironeye gets portable high ground, which can be very useful in fights.
Pair this with the fact that the totem also increases all allies' attack power. You get to do some real damage, which is much-needed when you are fighting the Night Lords. Alternatively, you could swap Raider with Guardian.
Duchessis an excellent match for the Raider and Ironeye duo and gives you the perfect team. Where Raider brings in power, with Duchess, you get speed. Both Duchess and Ironeye have high Dexterity, but the one area where Duchess excels is that she doesn’t have to worry too much about running out of stamina.
Duchess can make for some pretty interesting strategies. For example, her Ultimate Art Finale isn’t just restricted to letting you disappear and backstab the enemy.
You could save it to use when the enemy is too focused on your party. This lets you grab the enemy’s attention by attacking them, and the moment they fixate on you, all you have to do is disappear.
This can give some breathing room to Ironeye if he needs to regain stamina or if Raider needs to heal. The best part is that you can even make your team disappear if they are near you.
However,the biggest reason for her being on this team is her skill Restage. This ability replays the instances of the enemy receiving damage in the last few seconds. Visually, you see the enemy in the form of a phantom taking hits, and it inflicts nearly 50% damage back to the target.
Interestingly, you don’t even have to be a part of the fight for this skill to work. Even the damage dealt by your team, which, in this case, Ironeye and Raider, can be reapplied to the target by simply using Restage.
If you need an alternative for the Duchess, thenRevenantcould be an option. She can help out by providing a temporary tank with her summons while doing ranged attacks with her spells or incantations.
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