Elden Ring Nightreign Duchess guide: all stats and abilities explained

Duchess is a clear love letter to every Bloodborne fan that wishes they had more to play with. We may never actually get Bloodborne 2, but Elden Ring: Nightreign’s Duchess feels like a glimpse at what Bloodborne 2 could have been (or could still be?).

Duchess doesn’t dodge roll, she swiftly side steps and steps in, with the ability to do a double dodge unique to only her in all of the FromSoftware pantheon. If that sounds good, then you need to try playing as Duchess in Elden Ring: Nightreign. Make sure to unlock Duchess as a playable character first.

Duchess attributes breakdown – ER Nightreign

A character’s attributes tell you two things: what their starting stats will be in terms of health, stamina, magic pool, and strength, and what weapons they’re most comfortable with. The highest possible stat is an S, followed by A, B, C, D, and E as the lowest. 

Here’s what each stat means: 

• HP - How large your health pool is.
• FP - How large your mana pool is.
• Stamina - How large your stamina gauge is. 
• Strength - How much physical damage you can deal, scaling with colossal weapons. 
• Dexterity - Proficiency with daggers, bows, katanas, and other fast weapons. 
• Intelligence - Your magical potency, impacting the power of sorceries. Scales well with weapons such as the Moonveil katana and Fallingstar Beast Jaw. 
• Faith - How effective your healing and holy incantations are. Scales with weapons such as Golden Epitaph and Erdtree Greatbow. 
• Arcane - Holy damage and death blight negation. Increases blood loss buildup for bleeding weapons. Scales with weapons such as Serpent Bow and Rivers of Blood. 

Here are Duchess’ attributes: 

• HP - C
• FP - B
• Stamina - D
• Strength - D
• Dexterity - B
• Intelligence - A
• Faith - B
• Arcane - C

Duchess abilities breakdown – ER Nightreign

Duchess will feel familiar to Bloodborne fans, as her swift dodge and starting dagger are honed for speed and precision. Her moveset gets even more interesting when you properly factor in her ability and skills, though.

Passive Ability: Magnificent Poise

This gives Duchess a unique double-dodge technique, in addition to lowering the average stamina cost of attacks and dodges.

Character Skill: Restage

Restage summons a phantom that repeats the damage inflicted over the last few seconds. It seems complicated, but essentially, when your team lands a giant strike – or a down where everyone is swinging away – use Restage as soon as your assault slows, and the last few seconds of attacks will be felt by the foe all over again. 50% of the previously inflicted will be re-inflicted onto the boss, which can devastate health bars of tough foes when used at the right time.

Ultimate Art: Finale

Finale can save your party in a bad situation, or give your team the edge you need to overcome the enemy. Finale will cast invisibility on your entire party, making your foes lose track of you. Tough foes will still strike out randomly to try and catch you, but you will have an opportunity to get a critical strike and gang up with your team. Alternatively, use it when your team goes down and you should be able to revive them unseen.

Duchess’ best weapons – ER Nightreign

Duchess excels with weapons that strike quickly, like daggers and other melee armaments, though her Intelligence and Faith stats mean that she can use select spells as a backup. Her mobility means she can get frequent critical strikes, and her focus on fast weapons means that she’s very useful when inflicting status ailments like Poison, Scarlet Rot, and Frostbite.

She doesn’t have much HP, but her dodging capability will keep her alive for longer than usual when up close and personal with intimidating bosses. You do need to feel confident in fronting tough enemies in a short melee range to play Duchess to the best of her ability, but if Bloodborne is your favorite FromSoftware game, then Duchess will be your favorite character in Nightreign.