Quick Links
Elden Ring Nightreign’s first unlockable character is a strange addition to the Roundtable Hold’s Nightfarer circle.Duchessis obtainable early in your game, and while she appears straightforward at first glance, a closer look at her stats and abilities shows that our Duchess is no one-trick pony.
Nay, graceful and noble though she appears to be, her greatest opportunities lie in dastardly plots and underhanded tactics to get the upper hand. To use her correctly, you’ll have to understand her tricky methods before you can start making a few devious plans of your own.
Arcana
C
Although one would expect, by her design, aesthetic, and fluid movement, that the Duchess would be a Dexterity-first character, she is actually not. Her Dexterity might be high, buther highest stat scaling is in Intelligence.
With Dexterity, Intelligence, and FP being her highest scalings, Duchess is a highly versatile character with some hidden cards up her sleeves.
The Duchessdoesn’t like to play alone, but if she has to, she won’t do it fairly. This is more than evident in herpreference for daggersand her ability toreapply recent damageandescape enemy notice.
Most impressive of Duchess’s kit is herincredible mobility and heightened dodging capabilities.This slippery snake of a noble is optimallybuilt for hitless assassinations.
Duchess players will typically be:
Duchess is an unlockable character and not available for play from the start of the game. To recruit her, you will need to give her the Old Pocketwatch Relic. For more information on recruiting her, pleaserefer to our official guide.
Duchess Traits
While the Duchess might look like an edgy solo player, she is anything but. Her traits appear to suggest aflexible role between back-stabbing offense and clever support.
Which role she ends up playing depends on her user and the build she is given, buther traits will always remain constant:
Passive Ability: Magnificent Pose
Magnificent Pose is a focal point of Duchess’s character. This skill is the determinant of her fluidity and grace on the battlefield byincreasing her dodge speed, I-frames, and the time between dodges.
In essence, this skillallows the Duchess to chain dodges together in groups of two.
This passive ability can be further improved by various skills in Limveld, such as those that give dashes the ability to leave behind effects such as Lightning or Madness.
Character Skill: Restage
This skill isbest used in a full teamdue to the unique nature of its ability. Restage allows you to rewind the clock andreapply recent damageto a select enemy.
All reapplied damage will account for any and all forms of damage, even those applied through status build-up. In fact,certain status build-up effects, such as Blood Loss, can be triggered againby this ability.
The most impressive note about this ability is its incredibly short cooldown time. With a cooldown of only 12 seconds,it can be reapplied multiple timesto the same boss, making it highly deadly.
The best time to use it is often after:
One of the greatest struggles new players will find with Duchess is knowing when to time Restage. More often than not, new players will underuse this ability because of the short cooldown and pace of battle. When it comes to Duchess, more uses of Restage is better than no uses.
Remember to use it frequently, and don’t worry about bad activations as you learn the flow of combat and Duchess as a character. With as much health as some bosses in Nightreign have, 12 seconds is a short time; you will get another good chance.
Ultimate Art: Finale
Duchess’s Finale serves her just as well as all other teammates. When used,Finale will make Duchess and all allies invisible and remove tracking and aggressionfor enemies, even mid-combat.
This effect lasts for a full ten secondsand does not immediately disappear even after attacking.
This ability does not give players damage immunity. When used, players can still be damaged by sweeping attacks or zoning hazards such as leftover fire effects or poison clouds.
Because of the unique nature of this Ultimate Art, there areseveral clever circumstancesone might consider using this art for:
Best Weapons For The Duchess
With the Duchess’s unique and unexpected scaling, there is ample opportunity for a wide array of builds. Whileshe prefers daggers, you can equip her with shortswords, katanas, rapiers, and even staves if you’re feeling exploratory.
What all of these have in common isone crucial denominator:
The Duchess loves status conditions.
Weapons that apply any of the following traits quicklyhave an excellent place in the hands of our resident assassin:
Because of her naturally fast moveset and agility, she tends to apply status conditions in short order. But this isn’t the only thing to consider.
Duchess’s unique effects with Relics, such as her Crown Medal Relic or on various equipment pieces, all havesynergy with fast-paced weapons.
For instance:
Therefore, the best weapons in Duchess’s arsenal arespeedy dagger weapons that inflict status conditions.
Following that recommendation,the next best choices are:
Reduvia is one of Duchess’s most consistently excellent choices. As a dagger with Bleed build-up, it ticks all the boxes.
Similarly, Misericorde can be a great choice on certain runs when it is generated with a status affinity applied and/or a large bonus for Critical Hits.
If you do not have a status condition on your weapon, the next best option (and perhaps better in some cases) is tohave it Magic-infused.
Weapons with a Magic affinity (like the Moonveil Katana) willscale with some of Duchess’s Intelligence stat.With that scaling, you’ll be able to do more damage in return for the bonuses you might give up with your Relics.
