Elden Ring Nightreign Tricephalos boss guide: How to beat Gladius

Discovering how to beat Gladius in Elden Ring Nightreign is your first major trial, and honestly, it's one that might cause many players to bounce off the game entirely. The trickiest thing about Gladius, Beast of Night, despite his hefty health pool, is that he transforms from a three-headed dog into three one-headed dogs, and everything gets a bit chaotic from then on.

In a game where coordination is key, if you're playing randos, you're going to have a much harder time against this boss. Still, there are things you can do to make the Tricephalos expedition easier. Did you know, for example, that each Nightlord has a weakness displayed just next to their portrait when you launch the expedition? Finding a weapon of this affinity is a good start.

The relics you equip at the start of the run and the ive buffs you acquire in the first two days of the expedition are also vital in making sure you're strong enough to tackle this Nightlord. Here's how to defeat Gladius, Beast of Night, in Elden Ring Nightreign.

Elden Ring Nightreign Gladius tips

Defeating a Nightlord comes down to prep during the expedition as much as anything else, so before I get into tips for the boss itself, make sure you're doing these things during your expedition to maximise your chances:

1. Get a holy weapon

Gladius is weak to holy damage, and attacking him with weapons or spells of this affinity can even flinch or stun him. Prioritise camps, ruins, and cathedrals that have the holy damage symbol next to them and if worst comes to worst, merchants will stock at least one holy damage weapon you can buy, though this might not always be suitable for your Nightfarer.

If you have a relic that applies holy damage to your starter weapon, make sure to get Smithing Stones 1 and 2 to upgrade that instead. If you can't find a holy damage weapon, try to grab some Holy Grease—you'll generally find it in locations marked with the holy damage symbol.

On a side note, some holy weapon skills are absurdly powerful against Gladius. The Envoy's Long Horn Bubble Shower skill (used to cheese Fire Giant in the original game) is very strong against Gladius if you can land the bubbles when he's stationary and have them hit his centre mass—a great pick if you find it while running Raider.

2. Level up and acquire flasks

You'll want to be about level ten minimum to fight Gladius, so make sure you're taking the best rune farm route possible and defeating bosses to get ive buffs. You'll also want to hit as many churches as possible en route to get extra healing flasks and buff-based consumables.

3. Organise your relics

Though you won't have the best relics at this stage, even basic ones can give you helpful buffs. Look out for:

• Holy attack power up
• Fire damage negation up
• Improved fire resistance
• Vigor/endurance +

that you can buy new relics for Murk from the Small Jar Bazaar in the west wing of the Roundtable Hold, including a random relic if you purchase the Scenic Flatstone at the bottom of the list.

With all that, you should be in the best place possible to face off against the fiery doggo.

How to beat Gladius, Beast of Night in Elden Ring Nightreign

First off, your choice of character is actually quite important in beating Gladius and you're best off with the following:

• Raider: A tanky Nightfarer who can stun with his headbutt skill and his Stone Stella gives you some temporary respite in the three-dog phase if you climb it.
• Wylder: Has a grappling hook which is good for mobility and evasion, plus a stake-driver ultimate art that's fantastic for damage.
• Guardian: A shielded bird man who can take reduced stamina-damage while blocking and has an ultimate with a protective aura for clutch revivals or survivability during the three-dog phase.
• Ironeye: Deals consistent damage from a relatively safe range, has a marking skill that you can also use as an evade, and has a big ultimate art that damages in an AoE.

Melee characters are generally the best against Gladius, but as with everything, Ironeye's arrows are an incredible source of consistent damage. If you unlock Duchess, you could also bring her—though whether the necessary relic drops is random—and use the Restage skill on your party's ultimate arts for extra damage. The one character I definitely wouldn't recommend bringing is Recluse, due to her high initial skill ceiling.

Now you're prepped and running the right character, here are some tips to beat Gladius:

1. Watch out for these attacks

There are two attacks that you should really learn to watch out for, and those are:

• Sword swings: These are Gladius' widest-ranging attacks as he swings a sword on a chain; either two concurrent swings with slightly tricky timing, or an easily avoidable one where he throws the sword up and slams it down. It's important to learn the dodge timing on these so they don't chip away at your health.
• Grab attack: Gladius will stand stationary and each of the heads' mouths will start to glow purple before he then grabs you. It doesn't have too much range so you can just stay away or get behind him.
• Flame breath: The one thing to watch out for with Gladius' flame breath is that it's really sudden; more like a single burst of flame than anything prolonged. As soon as his mouth starts flaming, get ready to dodge, and be aware that the smaller dogs can do this attack too.

Besides these attacks, Gladius mainly just jumps at you and tries to bite like your typical FromSoftware big wolf boss, so it isn't too hard to avoid.

2. Pay attention to who's marked and call it out (especially in three-dog form)

Gladius will periodically transform into three fireballs that move around the map before turning into three separate dogs. It's vital to understand the mark mechanic here, and honestly, it'll help you with future Nightlords too. One player will have a little red circle on them, indicating they are marked and the Nightlord's aggression is aimed at them for now.

The marked player should basically focus on staying alive, while I suggest the other two gang up on a single of the three dogs and bully it as much as possible.

3. Holy damage will flinch him and you can stun the smaller dogs

Applying holy damage to Gladius will flinch him and he'll start glowing with little golden rays. When in his three-dog form, you can also flinch the dogs with holy damage. For me, I did this frequently while playing as Raider and Ironeye. You'll start to hear a cracking effect when you hit the dog, and after a couple more hits, it'll get knocked back and temporarily flinched in a unique animation.

You can also stance break both Gladius and any of the three dogs, so make sure to get a critical hit in if you do. , unlike Elden Ring, you can keep damaging enemies and bosses in Nightreign even when someone is performing a critical attack, so make hay while you can.