Elden Ring: Nightreign - Ironeye Hands-On Preview - IGN

In the world of Elden Ring, the bow traditionally serves as a support weapon, ideal for drawing enemy attention or softening targets from a distance before engaging with your primary weapon. It's particularly useful for tactics like knocking a bird off a perch to farm its runes repeatedly. However, in Nightreign, when you play as the Ironeye, the bow transcends its supportive role to become the core of your gameplay. This unique class offers a playstyle distinct from the other eight classes in Nightreign, embodying what might be considered the game's closest equivalent to a support role. Dive into the Ironeye experience with the exclusive gameplay video below.

Playing as the Ironeye, you'll quickly notice their vulnerability. While capable of wielding any weapon, sticking to the bow is crucial for maintaining distance and avoiding the direct combat that can quickly bring them down, especially in the early stages. Fortunately, the starting bow is robust, offering solid damage and the Mighty Shot skill, which allows you to strike from an impressive distance, deal additional damage, and impact enemy poise significantly.

It's important to note that bows in Nightreign have undergone a significant overhaul. They now shoot faster, and you can move more swiftly while targeting locked-on enemies. The need for arrows has been eliminated, simplifying combat logistics but fixing you to the arrow type of your chosen bow. Other enhancements include a new shooting animation from a roll, the ability to perform acrobatic feats like scaling walls and shooting mid-leap, and the option to aim without entering first-person view, all while moving faster. The strong attack now releases a spread of three arrows, effective against multiple foes, and you can even execute backstabs or visceral attacks on downed enemies using arrows. These changes make the bow a formidable primary weapon, addressing the limitations felt in the base version of Elden Ring.

The Ironeye's main skill, Marking, is a swift dashing dagger attack that pierces through enemies, marking them for increased damage from all attacks. With a short cooldown, you can keep this debuff active on bosses continuously, enhancing your team's damage output. It also serves as a mobility tool, allowing you to evade danger by passing through enemies.

The Ironeye's ultimate ability, Single Shot, is a powerful, concentrated shot that surpasses the Mighty Shot in impact. While it requires time to charge, you remain invulnerable during this period, and the shot can pierce through multiple enemies, making it ideal for clearing groups.

What truly sets the Ironeye apart in team play is their exceptional ability to revive allies from a safe distance. In Nightreign, reviving involves depleting a segmented circle above a fallen ally through attacks. Most classes risk exposure to revive teammates or must use mana or ultimate skills, but the Ironeye can do so safely and without resource expenditure. This ability can significantly impact the success of a run. However, reviving becomes challenging when an ally requires clearing multiple segments, as the Ironeye's long-range damage output may not suffice without using their ultimate.

Although the Ironeye may not match the raw damage output of other classes, their utility is unparalleled. From enhancing team damage through marking, boosting item discovery for the group, clearing mobs with their ultimate, to safely reviving teammates, the Ironeye's contributions are invaluable in any squad.