How To Beat Maris, Fathom Of Night In Elden Ring Nightreign

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In the game Elden Ring Nightreign, your objective is to overcome the mighty Nightlord who looms at the heart of the advancing darkness. To secure a chance to fight this formidable foe, though, you’ll initially need to conquer a succession of other Nightlords that stand in your way. In all, there are seven of these powerful entities for you to vanquish. The first one you’ll face is Gladius.

After them, you’re welcome to engage any remaining Nightlords in whatever sequence you prefer. In your voyage, Maris would be an excellent pick for your next encounter. They are challenging and demand a particular strategy to dominate, but with the right knowledge under your belt, it should feel like a walk in the park. So let’s dive into the ocean depths!

Maris’ Strengths And Weaknesses

Maris, your boss, stands out as unique compared to others you’ll encounter, as they are significantly more reserved. Instead of plunging into the depths like the rest, Maris prefers to navigate above you during most of the battle. From this elevated position, they can launch attacks such as waves, which you primarily counter by dodging. In other words, maintaining a defensive strategy would be your best approach in this encounter.

Regarding Maris, the primary ways to confront her are through archery (bows), crossbows, or magical spells, so make sure you’re well-equipped. You can find bows, staves, and seals scattered across the map regardless of your character, so be vigilant. Additionally, remember that Maris is weakest against Light affinity, making Sacred Seals and bows with this affinity your most potent weapons in this encounter.

  • Strengths

    • Magic
    • Sleep

  • Weaknesses

    • Lightning
    • Projectiles

In terms of fortifying yourself, it’s beneficial to enhance your immunity against illnesses and alignments. Since Maris predominantly attacks using water waves, which are categorized as Magic damage instead of Water affinity, increasing your Magic resistance would be advantageous. Additionally, Maris often induces Sleep and then follows up with strong attacks, so bolstering your resistance to Sleep and other debilitating conditions is a smart move in this encounter.

Recommended Characters

Maris tends to move slowly and can be elusive most of the time, appearing only for brief instances before vanishing again. This makes it challenging to attack them directly, so it’s advisable to carry ranged weapons since they might be difficult to reach with melee ones. There are a limited number of characters who come equipped with ranged abilities by default.

In this scenario, Ironeye stands out as an obvious choice. He comes equipped with a bow right from the start, and selecting him increases your chances of discovering even more powerful bows. Additionally, his Ultimate Art allows you to target Maris at any time, and it has a high probability of interrupting their most potent abilities.

In this case, Sacred Seals could be a strong choice. They tend to offer a greater variety of Lightning abilities for Revenant to utilize during combat with Maris. Moreover, some of her summoned creatures are quite sizeable and possess ranged moves, making them effective against additional enemies summoned by Maris, while still being able to target Maris when she’s airborne.

Wydler and Guardian could also join the fight here. Even if Wydler is limited to the ground, their Claw Shot allows them to bridge the distance with Maris as they descend effortlessly. Guardian can quickly get near Maris using their Halberds. However, their exceptional defensive skills make it easy for them to fend off Maris’ attacks and revive any allies that require help. Essentially, they would be taking on a more supportive role in this battle.

As a gamer, I find Recluse has some distance prowess, but the scarcity of Lightning abilities and her relatively low health make her more of a liability than an asset in many situations. On the other hand, Executor can excel here, particularly with their Ultimate Art, though they’ll struggle to utilize their deflective skills given Maris’ sluggish and passive nature.

Maris’ Moveset

In the game, Maris is divided into two distinct stages, much like the majority of its bosses. Unlike some other bosses, Maris doesn’t undergo significant transformation between phases. Instead, it acquires additional abilities and generally grows more aggressive. For the most part, strategies for both phases remain consistent, though Maris does introduce a new deadly move during its second phase that should not be overlooked.

Here are all of their moves across both phases, and how to counter them:

  • Phase 1

    Attack Description Counter
    Water Wave Maris digs their tendrils into the sand and drags up a wave that cascades outwards Dodge into this wave as it approaches. It is quite wide and hard to outrun if it was initially aimed at you.
    Explosive Jellyfish Maris will ascend and send out an army of jellyfish. These will close in on you and allies, exploding after a few seconds. These jellyfish are weak, and will die in just a hit or two, preventing their explosion. They also do not move much, allowing you to outrun them. Just don’t stay beside them.
    Spinning Dash When descended, Maris will perform a spinning dash in one direction. These can be performed multiple times in a row. Maris will stay still a moment before doing this move, so simply move away. It is easily dodged as well.
    Sleepytime When near the party, Maris will suddenly leap away, and then slowly descend again on their back. This attack builds up your sleep no matter how far away you are. When you see Maris moving away, give chase. Dealing enough stance damage to them will cancel the attack, and open them up for a critical hit.
    Tendril Arms When lowered to around 70% HP, Maris will ascend and summon a series of Tendril Arms around the arena. These remain until defeated, but cannot move. These arms have a decent degree of HP. They can be avoided, but it is best to take them out with a bow or similar to thin them out and allow you some free movement.
    Tsunami If surrounded on all sides, Maris begin spinning, and then unleash a wave that knocks back allies all around them. If you see Maris start spinning, move away. If you have a ranged weapon, try to keep your distance to avoid this attack activating.

  • Phase 2

    Attack Description Counter
    Sleep Drop Maris will ascend high in the air, and make a glowing orb that slowly drops to the ocean floor. This puts the party to sleep and deals massive damage once it touches the ground. Once the drop spawns, focus all your attacks on it. This will requires ranged attacks. It won’t damage Maris, but it will prevent a severe attack.
    Sleep Roar While roaming on the ocean floor, Maris will perform a light roar periodically. This deals minimal damage and builds up Sleep slightly. As long as your HP isn’t low and your Sleep status too high, this isn’t a move you have to worry about.

During the second stage, Maris exhibits increased hostility. Their attacks grow stronger, and they’re likely to call forth explosive jellyfish more often. Moreover, their Tendril Arms will be continually summoned, so focus on eliminating only the essential ones. Otherwise, all other tactics from Phase One still apply, with the same methods for countering them.

Keep a close watch for The Sleep Drop at all times. Once you spot it emerging, direct all your damage towards it. Apart from this, continue dealing damage to Maris primarily using ranged Lightning attacks, and try to break them free from the Sleepytime attack.

During Sleepytime, Maris’ position is particularly vulnerable, meaning even significant previous damage to their stance won’t prevent it from being broken, making them susceptible to critical strikes.

Tips For Beating Maris

Maris can be intimidating if you’re not properly equipped, but becomes straightforward when you’re well-prepared. In the ensuing conflict, Lightning is expected to inflict most of the damage. However, it’s wiser to engage in a prolonged struggle rather than relying on a single powerful blow. In this particular engagement, an unenhanced bow would prove more effective than a sword charged with Lightning. Melee weapons will seldom connect against Maris, whereas bows will consistently have the opportunity to strike.

An important part of Maris’ battle strategy is to constantly keep moving. Standing still could lead to being struck by Tendril Arms, ensnared by explosive jellyfish, or left out of reach during Maris’ Sleep Drop and Sleepytime attacks.

It’s crucial to enhance your ability to resist sleep, but that resistance won’t help much against the Sleep Drop. Therefore, if given a choice between Magic resistance and Sleep resistance, it’s always better to opt for the Magic resistance.

Once you defeat Maris, you’ll gain access to additional Traces of Night, plus a one-of-a-kind memento called a Relic, to celebrate your triumph.

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2025-06-01 15:39