Elden Ring Nightreign no-hit prodigy finds new, exciting ways to make us feel bad about all the runs we've thrown, beats the final Nightlord solo without a scratch
First, dodge … then inadequate feelings ahead.

Dear reader, I've started to be able to set my watch by the amount of time between the release of a new Elden Ring Nightreign, 'Defeat'.
Parry master the Executor last week, Ongbal has now officially defeated the game's penultimate big bad without taking a single lick of damage. Not so much as a bruise. Flawless, incredible, aspirational victory.
You might notice Ongbal's health ticking down a little—don't worry, that's just because they're using the Executor's ive that gives them extra damage in exchange for a little self-inflicted hurt while in their Cursed Sword stance. The rest is all pure, perfectly-timed parry goodness. Heolstor the Nightlord gets repeatedly rebuffed like an absolute chump.
My favourite part of the run, by far, is the particularly inventive use of the Executor's ultimate. This is a fact I've only just recently discovered, but it turns out the transformation itself has iframes—meaning Ongbal is able to dodge a powerful AoE by going dogmode, then immediately using the form's weapon art to get back to parrying.
In the video description, they echo what PCG's own Ted Litchfield has said before—Nightreign is a game composed of the longest boss runbacks in FromSoftware history. "The runback to the boss is so brutal. I really wish there was a practice mode or something." Me too, bud, me too.
They also beat one of the game's other bastards, Fulghor, who is currently the last on my hitlist in my own game before I go and tackle Heolstor myself. Hitless, of course, because I need new and exciting reasons to feel bad about my own game.
In all seriousness, this has me sorely tempted to put together a parry-focused build and tackle some of these challenges myself. I've recently been all-in on a status build Executor, but I've got enough relics to give this tanky, parry-based cousin a try.
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Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.
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