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If you know how to beat Maris, Fathom of Night, the Augur expedition is remarkably easy—a bit of a boring slog, actually. But if you bring in the wrong team or don’t know how to stop its wipe mechanic, then it’ll be one of the toughest in Elden Ring Nightreign.

You have to beat a total of four Nightreign bosses before you can unlock the hidden final boss, so I’d recommend making Augur a top priority since they’re one of the easiest once you understand their tricks. Below, I’ll go over everything you need to know to put the sea beast in its place.

Elden Ring Nightreign Augur tips

Like other Nightlords, your work starts right away as you enter the expedition, where you should visit the best rune farming routes and hunt for legendary weapons. Here’s how to best prepare for Maris throughout the Augur expedition:

1. Get a lightning weapon or spells

Inspired by sea creatures, it shouldn’t be all that surprising that Maris is weak to lightning damage. Any attacks of this affinity deal bonus damage, so what’s not to love about that? Unlike some of the other bosses, Gaping Jaw Adel in particular, there’s no special interaction when using Maris’ weakness, but the quicker the fight is over, the easier it is on your supply of healing items. You can also get a starting armament that deals lightning using the right relic, so check if you have one.

2. Ranged weapons are a must

Maris flies around the arena pretty much constantly, making them an absolute pain in the ass to fight as a melee character. I’ve tried it, and although I was successful, it took way longer than when I used ranged weapons. Because of this, even a non-lightning bow is better than a lightning sword in this fight.

This is where the best Nightreign Ironeye build and best Recluse build really shine. Specialising in ranged damage, these two are perfect for dishing out damage no matter where Maris is. If you’re playing a traditionally melee character like Wylder or Raider, don’t forget that you can use great bows since these scale on your strength stat. Likewise, Revenant and Duchess can also use magic, letting them deal damage at range too, and Executor can use a bow as well with his S-tier dex.

3. Get sleep resistance and magic damage negation

Your biggest challenge in wrapping up the Augur expedition will be Maris’ annoying sleep damage. While its sleep aura and teardrop attacks will likely wipe you out in one hit, having a higher sleep resistance is still invaluable. Your best bet for finding this is the “all resistances up” passive from defeating a Night boss, or the Clarifying Horn Charm talisman. Likewise, any magic damage negation you find also comes in handy.

4. Level up and get flask upgrades

While the Augur expedition is pretty simple once you’ve got everything you need, I still recommend being at least level 10 if not 12 before facing Maris, mainly to increase your damage potential from higher scaling stats. Again, the quicker the fight, the less you’re chasing Maris around and dragging the things out. Earn as many runes as you can and take out expedition bosses along the way for passive upgrades. You should also pick up as many flask charges as you can by visiting churches.

How to beat Maris, Fathom of Night in Elden Ring Nightreign

Similar to fighting Libra in Equilibrious Beast, your team composition is one of the most important steps to get right, largely because Maris rarely stops flying around. So, here’s who I recommend:

• Ironeye: He’s the premier ranged character, letting you actually hit Maris more than once per calendar year. Not only that, but his ultimate is great for interrupting Maris’ most troublesome attack when they create a sleep aura. He can also mark enemies so they take increased damage from the entire team.
• Duchess: Her Restage skill not only repeats recent damage against targets (including the affinity boost from using lightning against Maris), but can also reapply status ailments. Plus, Duchess can easily use staves for ranged damage.
• Recluse: Alongside Ironeye, she’s the next best ranged damage dealer, with some very potent spells. Her ultimate also gives your team healing and FP restoration, which is a lifesaver in such a drawn-out fight.

While I’d recommend these characters over anyone else, you could also use Wylder (or even Raider) with a great bow since they scale on strength. Wylder’s grappling hook is handy for mobility, while his ultimate can interrupt Maris’ sleep attack, much like Ironeye.

Now it’s time to actually bring the pain to Maris, which largely involves peppering them with arrows, avoiding a few attacks, and countering one move in particular:

1. Watch out for these attacks

Maris is generally quite a passive boss, flying around out of reach while summoning allies to wear you down. But there’s one attack, the sleep aura, that you’ll need to know how to stop before it’s too late. If you’re failing the Augur expedition, it’s probably because of that. It’s also worth noting that Maris doesn’t really have a second phase; they just create more jellyfish and tentacles.

• Jellyfish: Particularly at the start of the fight, Maris summons hordes of jellyfish that swarm towards you. Get too close and they’ll blow up, dealing a fair amount of damage, especially if you get caught between multiple. They’re slow, so they’re easy enough to run away from and kite around while you focus on Maris, though you can also kill them if you need to.
• Spin charge: Occasionally, Maris will actually attack you itself, diving to the ground and spinning. The attack itself is quite easy to dodge and avoid, though be careful not to run into a jellyfish (or a tentacle) in the process.
• Tentacle: Later in the fight, Maris begins to summon tentacles across the arena. Like the jellyfish, these are more obstacles than attacks, though they do a surprising amount of damage. You’re best off staying away from them altogether, and only kill them if they get in your way.
• Wave: Maris can create large waves of water that cover a fair distance. To avoid them, you can either block or dodge towards them.
• Nap time: At key points, Maris will lie down and start channelling a sleep aura that builds this annoying and dangerous ailment. To avoid getting put to sleep (and taking damage as you are), you need to stagger Maris using ultimate abilities or by applying enough lightning damage, though the former is more reliable.
• Teardrop bombs: Once you’ve got Maris below 50% health, it’ll start creating bombs that slowly fall to the ground. These deal massive damage and cause sleep buildup in a sizable radius. You have two options to deal with these: either destroy them before they hit the ground or run far away. These aren’t too hard to destroy using ranged attacks, but you’ll want to make a quick team decision, as it’s too much for just one player to handle—unless you’re Ironeye.

2. Interrupt Maris’ sleep aura

I know I’ve already said it, but it’s worth repeating: You need to counter Maris’ AoE sleep attack using ultimate attacks, or you’ll either die outright from the blast or inevitably die shortly after from a follow-up hit. Like fighting Libra, it’s the most likely reason you’ll fail, so it’s worth saving your ultimates until the time is right, especially Ironeye’s Single Shot to quickly prevent it at range.

3. Run and kite constantly

Since Maris turns the entire arena into a minefield thanks to its jellyfish and tentacle traps, you need to stay on the move almost constantly. Thankfully, you can still move while shooting with bows and even while casting spells. Alongside the obvious range advantage against this flying foe, mobility is important.

PCGamer.com