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Elden Ring Nightreign Character Tier List (Solo and Team)
6 min read
Image: Bandai Namco Entertainment / FromSoftware
All ten Nightfarers ranked overall, for solo runs and for coordinated trios, with the reasoning behind each placement and the best picks for beginners.
This Elden Ring Nightreign character tier list ranks all ten Nightfarers, including Scholar and Undertaker from The Forsaken Hollows, as of patch 1.03 (checked October 2026). One list is not enough for this game: a character who carries a solo run can be the weakest link in a coordinated trio, and the other way round. So there are three lists below, overall, solo and team, with the reasoning for each.
How these rankings work
A tier list is an opinion, so here are the criteria behind this one:
- Boss damage. Every run ends in a Nightlord fight. Characters who shorten that fight rank higher.
- Survivability. Dying on Day 3 costs the whole run.
- Self-sufficiency for solo play: can the character handle crowds, heal and recover without help?
- Team value for trios: does the kit make the other two players better?
Placements reflect community consensus across several widely used lists (game8's overall ranking, updated in December 2025 after the DLC launch, and solo and trio rankings current for patch 1.03.4), checked against our own reading of each kit. Balance patches move characters, so treat anything a tier apart as close.
Overall tier list
| Tier | Nightfarers |
|---|---|
| S | Wylder, Ironeye, Scholar |
| A | Executor, Raider, Undertaker |
| B | Duchess, Guardian, Recluse |
| C | Revenant |
Why the S tier. All three raise the ceiling of a whole run. Wylder is simple, sturdy and survives one fatal mistake with Sixth Sense. Ironeye's mark makes every attack on the boss hit about 10% harder and his passive improves loot for the team. Scholar's Analyse and Communion scale with a team, which is why he rose to S tier within days of the DLC's release.
Why Revenant is last. Her summons do the work, and once enemies get past them she is fragile. She needs a front line to shine, which is exactly what a random matchmaking group may not give her.
Solo tier list
| Tier | Nightfarers |
|---|---|
| S | Wylder, Ironeye, Executor |
| A | Undertaker, Raider |
| B | Recluse, Duchess, Guardian |
| C | Revenant, Scholar |
Solo rewards survivability and the ability to finish fights alone.
- Wylder gets a free death through Sixth Sense and a grappling claw that closes distance or escapes it.
- Ironeye can fight most of a boss from range, where it cannot hit back.
- Executor can deflect almost everything a single boss throws at him, and his beast ultimate is a full heal.
- Scholar and Revenant drop to the bottom because much of their value is what they do for teammates. Alone, that value is gone.
- Guardian falls to B despite his toughness because his revive and crowd control are team tools, and his damage is modest.
Team tier list (coordinated trios)
| Tier | Nightfarers |
|---|---|
| S | Scholar, Recluse, Duchess, Undertaker, Ironeye |
| A | Guardian, Revenant, Raider |
| B | Executor, Wylder |
With voice chat and a plan, the ranking flips. Characters whose kits multiply their teammates climb, and self-sufficient carries matter less.
- Recluse jumps to S because teammates can deliberately apply the elements her Magic Cocktail exploits.
- Duchess becomes a force multiplier: Restage replays the team's burst damage, and Finale hides the whole group.
- Scholar and Undertaker both scale with allies. Communion spreads damage between threaded enemies, and Confluence lets Undertaker use her ultimate whenever an ally uses theirs.
- Executor and Wylder drop to B, not because they are weak but because their strength is solving problems alone, which a good team already covers.
In random matchmaking the result sits somewhere between the solo and team lists. The overall list above is the best guide for that case.
Quick verdict on every Nightfarer
| Nightfarer | Overall | Solo | Team | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wylder | S | S | B | The safest pick anywhere; less special in a coordinated group |
| Ironeye | S | S | S | Ranged damage plus a team-wide damage mark; good everywhere |
| Scholar | S | C | S | A team multiplier that struggles alone |
| Executor | A | S | B | A solo parry machine; redundant in a good trio |
| Raider | A | A | A | Huge hits and stagger; consistent in every mode |
| Undertaker | A | A | S | Fast, heavy melee that gets better with allies |
| Duchess | B | B | S | Weak on her own, excellent at amplifying team burst |
| Guardian | B | B | A | The best reviver; modest damage |
| Recluse | B | B | S | Needs teammates to apply elements for her to exploit |
| Revenant | C | C | A | Strong summons, fragile once they fall |
Reading the table: a character with a big gap between solo and team, like Scholar or Duchess, is one to play with friends. A character who is high in both, like Ironeye or Raider, is the safest choice for random matchmaking.
Best character for beginners
Wylder. He is the character the game gives you first and the easiest to understand: balanced stats, a sword, a grapple that fixes positioning mistakes, and an extra life every run. Everything you learn on him transfers to the rest of the cast.
Guardian is the other good first pick. His HP and shield forgive almost anything, and learning to revive teammates with his ultimate teaches the most important habit in the game: watching your team, not just the boss.
Avoid starting with Revenant or Scholar. Both are strong, but both need you to understand fights before their kits make sense.
Is there a best class in Nightreign?
Nightreign does not have classes in the Elden Ring sense. You do not pick a starting class and allocate stats; you pick a Nightfarer, and each one has fixed stat growth, a fixed skill and ultimate, and preferred weapon types. Your "build" comes from the weapons you find during a run and the relics you equip before it.
So when people ask for the best class, they mean the best Nightfarer. The answer depends on how you play: Wylder or Ironeye solo, Scholar or Recluse in a coordinated trio, Wylder for random groups.
Characters that moved most after the DLC
- Scholar arrived with The Forsaken Hollows and went straight to the top overall once players understood Analyse.
- Undertaker landed in A overall and in the S tier for coordinated groups, where Confluence lets her use her ultimate far more often.
- Revenant has stayed at the bottom of the overall and solo lists; the DLC did not change how exposed she is when her summons fall.
Where to go next
- Full kit breakdowns: Executor, Guardian, Ironeye.
- Every character and how to unlock them: all characters.
- How relics shape a character: builds overview.