Wylder is Elden Ring Nightreign’s first Nightfarer, and someone you’ll play during the game’s tutorial. Armed with a grappling hook, an explosive ultimate, and an affinity for Greatswords, he’s ideal for those who love to swing big swords at foes and watch their HP bar melt away.
The versatile Nightfarer is also among one of the best, given that his passive ability allows him to cheat death a single time. This is not only great for struggling trios, but for solo players looking to try make it to the end of their Expedition in one piece. To help you with getting the most out of this Nightfarer’s kit, here’s our Nightreign Wylder build guide.
Elden Ring Nightreign Wylder build guide
Nightreign Wylder skills, passives, and art
Wylder’s kit consists of the following Passive Ability, Skill, and Ultimate in Nightreign:
- Passive Ability: Sixth Sense – Cheat death a single time. The ability can be used once until revived by a teammate or restored by passing through a Site of Grace.
- Character Skill: Claw Shot – Fire a grappling hook at foes, pulling you into them, or them into you depending on the enemy’s physique.
- Ultimate Art: Onslaught Stake – A single attack that launches an explosive iron stake at the target. Recoil pushes Wylder back but preserves a portion of the Ultimate Art gauge, though you can hold the Art to boost impact and remain standing.
As you can see from Wylder’s kit, he’s quite a basic character to master but the utility he provides is exceptional. His passive ability essentially grants him two lives rather than one, and being able to self-revive in a pinch can save a whole Expedition from failure. This ability can also be used more than once throughout a run, given that it resets whenever he is revived by a teammate or passes through a Site of Grace.
His grappling hook skill is also great for quickly pulling himself into bosses when need be, which is very useful for highly-mobile foes who love running around their boss arenas. Alternatively, this hook can be used to pull yourself to a downed teammate to quickly revive them, to help you flee to a safe distance from a troubling enemy, or it can be used – if lined up nicely – to slice through mobs.
It’s worth noting that the grappling hook will pull small/medium foes towards you, so you can quickly isolate and attack them. Slinging the hook at larger foes, on the other hand, is more likely to pull you towards them, so be wary when doing this. If you are pulling yourself into bosses regularly, make sure your hook is followed with an attack or better yet, your Ultimate, to earn some style points (and stun the enemy, with some luck).
This leads us onto Wylder’s Ultimate Art. Onslaught Stake can be dished out in one of two ways: you can press the Art, which causes a huge explosion that Wylder then recoils from, or you can hold the Art, which deals a much bigger, higher damage explosion and causes Wylder to remain in position.
The former explosion is great for attempting to disrupt enemy attacks and then jumping back to safety, in case the incoming attack is not cancelled. The latter, larger explosion is best used where possible though: it covers a larger radius, which is great for bosses who spawn multiple mobs around them (looking at you, Tibia Mariner), but also deals a huge amount of stance damage that is capable of even breaking the stance of Nightlords.
Best Wylder team synergies in Nightreign
Given that Wylder is a character capable of using any melee weapon effectively, he’s very versatile and slots into any trio of Nightfarers quite nicely. This means that ultimately, he’ll work well on any team, but if you’re aiming for well-rounded team comps, who you pair Wylder with will largely depend on which Nightlord you’re hoping to beat.
Facing a brutal boss such as the Equilibrious Beast ideally requires some tanky Nightfarers who can dish out plenty of stance damage, capable of breaking the boss out of its meditative attacks and giving it little to no time to cast Incantations. That said, Ironeye has proved themselves to be a very capable melee attacker as well as ranged, so you could try slotting him into tankier teams so you’ve one player capable of consistently dealing damage at range and coming in to wail away at the boss when the opportunity presents itself.
On the other hand, the highly agile Augur heavily requires ranged attackers such as Ironeye or Recluse, but bear in mind that Wylder can also wield a bow or crossbow no problem with his A scaling for Strength and B scaling for Dexterity.
If your Wylder is going to be your primary aggressor on your team, constantly remaining up close and personal with – or grappling into – bosses, then it’s worth bringing someone who can offer him some respite where needed. This could be another melee character such as Raider, Duchess, Guardian, or even Executor, but you could also consider Revenant and her summons, which are a little squishy, but do attract the attention of enemies with ease.
Best Wylder relics and passive effects in Nightreign
The best relic traits and passive effects for Nightreign’s Wylder largely depend on how you plan on playing him. I, personally, don’t like using shields, so I will quickly two-hand Wylder’s sword and begin looking for even bigger swords and Critical Hit passive effects to beat up enemies with. Alternatively, if you’re more adept with shields than I am, you’ll want to look out for any effects that improve Guard Counters.
Relic traits, dormant powers, and passive effects to consider are as follows:
- Improved Critical Hits – if you’re the one who will be doing the most Critical Hits in your team.
- Improved Guard Counters – if using Wylder’s shield and/or guarding often.
- Improved Attack Power when Two-Handing/when Wielding Two Armaments – this is dependent on if you’re two handing Wylder’s sword or dual-wielding his sword and shield.
- Improved Attack Power with +3 Greatswords equipped – Wylder specialises in Greatswords and can easily stack them in his inventory.
- Improved Stamina Recovery – more Stamina will never go amiss.
- Strength + 1 or Dexterity +1 – any boost to Wylder’s stats is a good idea if you’ve nothing better to equip.
- Starting armament inflicts [affinity] – any Relic that allows Wylder to have his starting weapon be of the Fire, Poison, or Frost affinity is also worth considering, especially if you think you may use Wylder’s weapon throughout an Expedition.
Some specific Relics, which you’ll get from Remembrances or Nightlords, that you can try equipping to Wylder are as follows:
- Slate Whetstone (start Wylder Remembrance) – [Wylder] Follow-up attacks possible when using Character Skill, applies to Greatswords only.
- The Wylder’s Earring (complete Wylder Remembrance) – [Wylder] Art activation spreads fire in the area, [Wylder] Character Skill +1, and Stamina recovers with each successful attack.
- Silver Tear (complete Wylder’s Remembrance) – [Wylder] Art gauge greatly filled when ability is activated, Ultimate Art Gauge +3, Arcane +3
- Night of the Beast (defeat Tricephalos) – Stamina recovers with each successful attack +1, starting armament deals Fire damage
- Night of the Baron (defeat Gaping Jaws) – Improved Critical Hits +1, Art gauge fills moderately upon Critical Hit, Critical Hit boosts Stamina Recovery Speed
- Night of the Fathom (defeat Augur) – Increased Maximum HP, Flask also heals allies, Items confer effects to nearby allies
The above recommended Relics largely come from Wylder’s Remembrance quest and are therefore catered to his kit, but there are some alternatives to consider if you don’t have these or feel like using them.
Night of the Beast, while only in possession of two traits, does aid with Wylder’s Stamina recovery while also ensuring he starts an expedition with a Greatsword that deals Fire damage. It’s not the best Relic by any means, but Wylder needs all the Stamina he can get, and going into a run with a weapon that can deal both Fire and Physical damage gives us a good start. If you can find any passive effects that ‘Improve Fire Attack Power’, Wylder’s Greatsword becomes all the more powerful.
On the other hand, Night of the Baron is great if you plan on going for a Critical Hit build: it boosts Wylder’s Critical Hits and even boosts his Stamina Recovery Speed (something we want plenty of) everytime he inflicts one.
A more supportive Relic, Night of the Fathom is great to equip to any Nightfarer when you’re not sure what else to use: it raises your Maximum HP, allows your Flasks to also heal allies, and allows your items to confer effects to your teammates when they’re nearby. This means you can share buffs of Gold Pickled Fowl Foot and vice versa with your team, so you can all repeatedly reap the benefits of these consumables
For more on Elden Ring Nightreign, check out our hub of tips and tricks to help you with securing successful runs, how to unlock all skins for your Nightfarers, and how to tackle all of the random map events in Limveld.