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Gladius, Beast of Night,is the first Nightlord that players will come across in theTricephalos ExpeditioninElden Ring Nightreign. This multi-legged beast has three heads and resembles a wolf in nature. Its most distinguishable feature, aside from the three heads, is the sword chained next to one of them.
Being the first Nightlord, Gladius gives players a peek at what’s to come in terms of difficulty and how crucial a solid strategy becomes moving forward. This guide covers how to locate the boss, understand its moveset, exploit its weaknesses, and develop a reliable strategy to take Gladius down efficiently inElden Ring Nightreign.
How to Find Tricephalos In Elden Ring Nightreign
Tricephalos is the first Expeditionthat is made available to the players once they have completed the tutorial and interact with the Table of Lost Graces insidethe Roundtable Hold. Upon choosing an Expedition and going at it, whether Solo orMultiplayer mode, you will spawn inLimveld, where your primary task is to acquire levels during Day 1. As time passes,the Night’s Tide will start moving, and you will see a circle where you must move towardsin order to avoid taking damage from the Night’s Tide.
Eventually, the circle will become smaller, and inside the smaller circle,you will have to face a challenging Night Boss. If you are successful, the night will end, and the circle will go back all the way, starting on the second day.Following the same procedure for Day 2, you will have to face another Night Boss at the end of the day. After this, you can interact with the thing in the middle of the circle, which will transport you to theSpirit Shelterwhere you canupgrade weapons, purchase items from the merchant, and level up at the Site of Grace. As you make your way forward,there will be a door that leads to the boss arena for the Nightlordand the final boss of the current Expedition.
Phase 1
Bite
The boss sprints toward a Nightfarer’s location and leaps to bite them using all three of its heads.
Chained Sword Sweep
Gladius takes out the sword sticking from its back and performs a wide horizontal sweep, followed by another sweeping strike. The boss can also slam the chain and sword down at a player’s location.
Purple Grab
The boss rears up as the mouths of all three heads begin to glow one after the other, signaling a powerful grab attack that follows shortly after.
Phase 2
Split
Gladius lets out a howl and splits into three fireballs that drift through the slightly altered field behind it. When the fireballs take form, they transform into three wolves that the player must deal with.
Explosive Plunge
The boss performs its usual Chained Sword Sweep and follows the second horizontal sweep by pulling back the chain, raising the weapon now covered in fire, and then slamming it down on the player, causing an AOE explosion.
Wave of Fire
Gladius grabs the sword from its back and plants it into the ground, causing fire to accumulate around it. It then pulls the sword out and attacks in a wide vertical arc, creating a wave of fire.
Strategies For Tricephalos In Elden Ring Nightreign
Boss Weakness: Holy
Gladius, Beast of the Night, is weak against Holy weapons, so your objective during the Expedition should be to locate camps that have a possibility of dropping good Holy weapons for you to use. If there are noHoly locations on the map, then you may use any high-level weapon that has good effects and an active skill.The main reason for using a Holy weapon is that the boss staggers faster if you use Holy damage on him. This allows you to break the boss’s stance quickly,guaranteeing a critical hitand potentially taking out a large chunk of its health.
As the boss fight starts, Gladius will focus on one Nightfarer and leap at them, trying to bite them.This is easy to avoid by running backward while having the Lock-On, and dodging backwardas the boss begins the biting animation. Gladius also has a grab animation that it rarely uses. This attack has an easy tell, as the mouths of all three heads will glow purple.
The Chained Sword Sweep is unarguably the deadliest attack in its arsenal. This is when it uses the sword and chain to do a horizontal sweep. This attack has a massive range and can easily take out half of your health bar per hit. Yes, per hit, as there are two sweeps during the attack.Even if the boss is targeting someone else, you must dodge to avoid it. An easy way to dodge this is to time your first dodge, thenwait a second and dodge a second time.
Do not dodge instantly after the first dodge, as that will make you more likely to get hit with the follow-up sweep.
The boss also has a habit ofspitting fireballs from all three of its heads, which can catch you off guard when you’re trying to revive someone or use a consumable.
Thesecond phase starts after the boss loses 25 to 30 percent of its health. It will let out a roar and split into three wolves. Each wolf has different attacks, withthe deadliest of the bunch being the one wielding the sword and chain. As the wolves chase a specific Nightfarer, they will stop and howl,causing their eyes to glow. After this, you must target the aggressive wolves, trying to stagger them with your attacks, which eventually dims the glow in their eyes.
If your team can split up the three wolves and focus on one each, this section of the fight will be very easy to manage. This phase lasts for 45 seconds, after which the boss will merge again. Once the second phase begins,Gladius will add new attacks, most of which involve its sword blazing with fire. TheExplosive PlungeandWave of Fireare both high-damage attacks and must be avoided at all costs. If you are far from the boss during the Wave of Fire,delay your roll timing to avoid getting burned by the incoming flames.
The boss will split into three wolves multiple times throughout the fight, depending on how long it takes you to deal damage. One advantage of the split, however, is thatif you deal stance damage to any of the three wolves, it will carry over when the boss merges back.
Best Team Composition For Gladius In Elden Ring Nightreign
Gladius is one of the bosses in the game that moves around quite a bit and is verynimble on its feet. Because of this,you must have a team composition that can close the gap between the boss, as it is chasing down a specific Nightfarer.Wylder, with hisClaw Shot, is a must, but make sure tojump at the end of the animation, as this allows you to go further ahead.
Ironeyeis another Nightfarer that must be on the team, because of his marking,which staggers the boss if the mark is destroyed. With good Relics,Ironeye can consistently mark the boss, making it so that the boss is marked for the entire fight. Ironeye is also one of the best options when it comes to reviving teammates, ashe has unlimited ammo on his bow and can shoot from very far out. Guardian comes in as the last of the three characters because of his Ultimate, which can revive both players in a wide area and also creates a protective area, which is necessary for this boss.
Singling out these three characters doesn’t mean that you cannot use the other Nightfarers, but withthe mobility and utility these characters provide, it is better to have a team composition that is strong in all aspects.
Rewards For Beating Tricephalos In Elden Ring Nightreign
After defeating the Expedition, this will mark your first victory, and you will gain theNight of the BeastRelic, which grants the following effects:
This is a good Relic for theSentient PestandFissure in the Fog Expeditions, as both bosses have a fire weakness. With a fire weapon in your arsenal, you’re able to aim to upgrade it and use it against the Nightlord if you are unable to get a betterfire weapon during your Expeditions. You will also earn around1840 Murkfor completing Tricephalos, which can be used to buy more Relics from the Small Jar Bazaar orunlock new Gestures.
After returning to theRoundtable Hold, you will get a pop-up stating thatthe Shifting Earthsare now active. This feature can alter a section of the map, offering valuable rewards and challenging bosses for players strong enough to explore these new areas.
