Elden Ring: Nightreign - Ironeye Preview - IGN First

In the vast world of Elden Ring, the bow typically serves as a supportive tool—used to draw enemy attention, weaken foes from a distance, or strategically dispatch creatures like the infamous rune-farming birds. However, when you dive into the realm of Nightreign and choose the Ironeye class, the bow transcends its usual role to become the core of your gameplay, setting it apart from the other eight classes and positioning it as the closest thing to a support class in Nightreign. Dive into the exclusive gameplay video below to see the Ironeye in action.

Playing as the Ironeye, you'll quickly realize that this class is notably fragile. While they can wield any weapon they come across, the bow is your go-to for maintaining distance and avoiding direct combat, which is crucial given their low health pool, especially in the early stages of the game. Thankfully, the starting bow provided to the Ironeye is robust, delivering solid damage and featuring the Mighty Shot skill. This skill allows you to strike from an impressive range, dealing increased damage and additional poise damage, making it a vital asset for staying out of harm's way.

It's important to note that the mechanics of bows have undergone significant enhancements in Nightreign. Bows now fire more rapidly, and you can move swiftly while targeting locked-on enemies. Moreover, the need for a continuous supply of arrows has been eliminated, although this means you're limited to the arrow type of your equipped bow. These changes are complemented by new animations, such as shooting mid-roll, and the ability to perform acrobatic feats like scaling walls and shooting while airborne. Manual aiming no longer requires entering first-person mode, and you can move faster during this process. The strong attack now releases a spread of three arrows, capable of hitting multiple targets, and you can even execute backstabs or visceral attacks on downed enemies with arrows. These updates make the bow a formidable primary weapon in Nightreign, addressing many of the limitations it faced in base Elden Ring.

As the Ironeye, the bow isn't just a weapon; it's the heart and soul of your class. The main skill for the Ironeye is Marking, a swift dashing dagger attack that pierces through enemies, applying a debuff that amplifies damage from all sources. With its short cooldown, you can keep this debuff active on bosses nearly continuously, enhancing your team's damage output. Additionally, Marking serves as an excellent mobility tool, allowing you to phase through enemies to escape tight spots.

The Ironeye's ultimate ability, Single Shot, is a game-changer. This enhanced version of Mighty Shot requires a brief charge time but grants full invulnerability during the animation. Once fired, it delivers massive damage and pierces through everything in its path, making it perfect for clearing groups of enemies.

What truly sets the Ironeye apart in a squad is their exceptional ability to revive allies from a safe distance. In Nightreign, reviving a downed ally involves depleting a segmented circle above their character through attacks. While most classes must risk close combat or expend resources to revive, the Ironeye can do so safely from afar without any cost. This unique capability can be the deciding factor in the success of a run. However, reviving allies who require multiple segments cleared can be challenging for the Ironeye, as their long-range damage output may not suffice unless they utilize their ultimate ability specifically for revival.

Although the Ironeye may not match the raw damage output of other classes, their presence is invaluable in a team. From their Marking ability that boosts team damage, to their passive that increases item drops for the entire group, to their crowd-clearing ultimate, and their unparalleled ability to safely revive teammates, the Ironeye's utility is unmatched among Nightreign's nightfarers.