Elden Ring Nightreign: How To Beat Gladius, Beast of Night

Until every Nightfarer can explore their options and take on any Nightlord they wish, the first major obstacle they'll need to overcome is to take down Gladius, Beast of Night, part of the Tricephalos Expedition in Elden Ring Nightreign.

Gladius is a three-headed wolf monster that looks like your typical FromSoftware Soulsborne boss fight—but even with two other players at your side, this beast can be formidable enough to gatekeep you out of the rest of the game if you don't successfully beat it.

To help alleviate this tenacious hurdle, I've put together a guide that discusses the ideal team composition, weaknesses you can exploit for this boss fight, and an in-depth strategy section with key attacks in the moveset that should help most teams easily beat this puppy.

Recommended Team Composition

Before I delve into the Big Bad Wolf of this discussion, we have to talk team compositions here. It's always important to play as a character you're comfortable with, but the right group of three can also give you a big advantage in this fight.

• Ironeye: The character I've personally been using the most in the game. He feels the weakest in damage output compared to other Nightfarers due to his ranged play style, but what he lacks is compensated for by his weak point marking skill and the Single Shot Ultimate. On a side note, you can also run a Katana on him due to his Dex proficiency.
• Guardian: In my opinion, an essential character for this run, because it can tank most attacks from Gladius. You can also use his ultimate to revive teammates in a jiffy, and most importantly, grab Gladius' aggro so you can chip away at his health in solace for a bit—at least in his standard three-headed form.
• Raider: An absolute unit of a character with a risk-reward playstyle similar to the Executor. What makes the Raider a great option is how he can stand his ground with the Guardian player to provide a burst of DPS, provided they optimally use their Retaliate skill and Totem Ultimate to stagger Gladius.

Wylder is also a valid option if you don't prefer ranged characters like Ironeye; his grappling chain hook is fantastic for quickly re-positioning around the battlefield, and the Ultimate Skill can stagger Gladius.

Weaknesses And Preparation

Ideal preparation is vital against any Nightlord in Nightreign, and this same rule applies to Gladius. I understand a lot of this all breaks down to your RNG luck for what weapons you acquire and landmarks you tackle along your route, but I'll try to give you a basic rundown of the must-know things.

Recommended Level: 11-12, depending on how much you can min-max via Runes.

Gladius is weak to the Holy affinity, so any weapon, spell, or Ash of War that provides that specific affinity will work wonders against this beast. You can easily get them on specific universal weapons like the Claymore or even a few Halbreds, but your last option will be to get one from the Merchants scattered across the map.

Keep a special eye out as you loot consumables during your run, too. Holy Grease should always be picked up and hoarded for Gladius.

Ideally, it's better to have Relics that'll benefit Ironeye's starting bow or help increase its damage since he doesn't have too many bow options to pick up during runs.

It also goes without saying that if your RNG fancies you enough during the prep time in Days 1 and 2, try to stack some Fire damage resistances from Field Boss Fight reward boons and even possibly raise your Poise while you're at it to negate as much damage as possible.

Lastly, this seems obvious, but having a couple of Boiled Prawns, Crabs, or Exalted Flesh isn't a bad idea either to provide a temporary buff to physical damage negation/output, since the lunging bite attacks and chain sword attacks can demolish your health bar early in the fight.

How To Defeat Gladius, Beast of Night

Aside from playing vigilantly and treating this like any other Nightlord boss fight by making your i-frames from dodges count, I've compiled a table of Gladius' notable attacks below so you can plan ahead for evasive maneuvers against them.

First Phase

For the guide, I'll mainly assume you're playing one of the melee-focused characters because the strategy goes partly the same way if you're playing a ranged character. After all, it's easy to grab Gladius' aggro amidst the fight even if you’re damaging it from a distance.

Practice and coordination are key; try to get a feel for the boss during the initial runs. Learn their attack pattern, and (possibly) attempt it with a coordinated group of players or your friends to maximize learning potential.

The ideal strategy is to have a tank-focused character like Guardian constantly stay on it, so the rest of your team can whittle away at the HP. The Guardian player will likely negate most of the attacks if they're running a viable Greatshield with a Halbred/Spear to complement it.

For the rest of the team, try to stay spaced out and whale on the boss while it's aggroed at someone else or the Guardian player. Ironeye’s risky yet effective Marking skill is excellent for putting dents in, since it can lead to some potential stagger moments and extra DPS windows.

The first phase is relatively simple. With occasional chomping attacks and bites, along with the aforementioned Chain Sword attacks, you should be able to breeze past this and reach his second phase at about a quarter through his health, where things can get (literally) heated.

Second Phase

The second phase starts with this beast engulfing itself and separating into three singular wolves as if one weren’t enough already. Things can get hectic here, and you may panic a bit, but it’s pretty tame unless you’re bombarded on the receiving end of all three wolves.

Here's the trick: It's unclear whether this is intentional, but the AI of these wolves will occasionally not attack and, instead, walk around menacingly, leaving easy windows to lay on the pain. So, try to use this opportunity wisely; you'll probably do more damage here than in its regular form.

With enough damage or time spent, Gladius will eventually return to its original form and bring some new moves into the fray involving its flaming chain sword. If you purchased a Wondrous Physick Flash from the merchants in case of any accidents, now’s the best time to utilize it.

Besides that, the strategy is mainly the same as in Phase 1; the only difference being that the boss is more aggressive than ever. Survivability plays a key role, too, because you’ll want to have as many spare Estus Flasks as possible to use towards the end of this attrition test.

The Pocket Watch can also be a rare drop on any previously failed Tricephalos Expedition runs.

For defeating Gladius, you’ll get a guaranteed drop of the Pocket Watch to unlock the Duchess Nightfarer and the Night of the Beast Relic. The other relics and murk currency you get are mainly RNG-based and dependent on your overall run stats.