I thought Elden Ring Nightreign's DLC Scholar character was bad — then I saw a build turn throwing pots into 8,000-damage nukes and realized he's cracked

Over the course of the last week, my friends and I have been playing the new DLC for Elden Ring Nightreign, The Forsaken Hollows, extensively.

The $15 expansion for FromSoftware's bold, experimental roguelike twist on its acclaimed Game of the Year-winning 2022 ARPG features two new Nightlord bosses, an entirely new map to play on, and a pair of new character classes to play — both of which we've been testing.

Heavy-hitting builds with giant weapons have always been my favorite in the studio's "Soulsborne" games, so I naturally gravitated towards Undertaker — a relatively straightforward Strength/Faith mace wielder with a special Trance ability that buffs her stats and movement speed, a powerful DPS ult that works across huge distances, and the unique ability to use a weaker version of her ultimate when someone else on your team uses their own.

Scholar, the other new Nightfarer character, is far more complex and far less forgiving.

For one, he has middling stats in everything other than Arcane. Then there's Analyze, a skill that requires him to awkwardly stare at enemies on the battlefield for several seconds before buffing himself with extra stamina or debuffing foes with reduced damage. He also has a worse dodge with fewer invincibility frames than most other characters.

His Communion ult is pretty strong, as it threads all nearby enemies together, making them share damage and heal you and your allies when hit. Overall, though, his unremarkable raw damage, mediocre health and stamina, below-average dodge, and tricky character skill definitely put me off of him at first, and for a time, I thought he was quite underpowered.

But then I saw this:

And this:

And, uh, this:

No, your eyes do not deceive you: that's Scholar dealing thousands of damage — up to roughly 8,000 damage — with individual throwing pots, which made me realize just how powerful his passive skill, Bagcraft, is.

This mechanic levels up different classes of consumables as you use them throughout each Expedition, boosting their power significantly at Level 2 and adding a special new effect at Level 3 (this handy community-made cheat sheet shows the effect of each level on every consumable).

Consumables are generally pretty worthless on other Nightfarers, or at the very least, not worth building into. With Bagcraft, however, Scholar is effectively the closest thing Elden Ring Nightreign has to a full-blown artificer, and you can lean into that in some incredibly powerful ways with your Relic loadout.

For example, you can transform Fire Pots into deadly boss-melting grenades with Relics that improve throwing pot damage, fire damage, attribute damage, and attacks made while full HP (their ranged nature means you don't have to be in melee range of the boss).

The crazy 8,000-damage nukes seen above are only possible with the right advanced upgrades and Depth Relics of the Deep of Night hard mode, but even in normal Expeditions, the right Relics make your throwing pots rip sizable chunks off boss HP bars

And since merchants sell them for a measly 600 runes a pop, you can load up your inventory full of them extremely cheaply (they also sell a 5,000-rune pouch that gives you an extra item slot).

Another potent strategy is to use any Relic with "Items confer effect to all nearby allies," an effect that allows Scholar to share the buffs from his enhanced consumables with his teammates.

Level 3 Boiled Crab, Exalted Flesh, and Pickled Turtle Neck items give huge boosts to physical defenses, physical attack, and stamina regeneration, respectively, and the ability to pass those out to allies periodically during big boss fights is S-tier utility.

My approach to playing Scholar changed completely as I learned to take advantage of Bagcraft, and while it is unfortunate that maximizing its potential requires a fair amount of Relic investment, doing so made him feel way more enjoyable — and potent — to play as.

But as I've invested more playtime into the character, I've also come to appreciate the value of his other strengths, those being the Analyze skill's effects and his high Arcane stat.

Debuffing a boss when the Analyze circle on it is filled halfway is a quick way to reduce its damage, but if you're able to find the time to allow it to fill completely (being closer to your enemy fills it faster, but is riskier), you'll also reduce their defenses for the next hit they take. Coordinate with a friend so that the next hit is a charged heavy attack or a serious damage ult, and you'll do huge DPS.

Alternatively, you can also buff yourself with a full circle, which briefly covers you in a shield that makes you immune to damage and interrupts nearby enemies, knocking trash mobs down entirely and staggering (not stance-breaking) bosses out of their current move.

This doesn't work against big phase-change moves that Night and Nightlord bosses do, but against pretty much everything else, it's effectively a "parry" that makes them much easier to contend with.

As for Scholar's S-rank in Arcane, this makes him very adept at building up status effect procs with Bleed, Poison, Scarlet Rot, Frostbite, and Sleep. Getting your hands on a weapon that inflicts these ailments (especially thrusting swords since he has an exclusive moveset for them) is a great way to work around his low melee damage.

Scholar is Nightreign's most versatile Nightfarer

Ultimately, I've come to realize that Scholar is easily Nightreign's most versatile Nightfarer, and while he has some clearly defined, significant weaknesses like underwhelming stats and a poor dodge, his strengths far outweigh them in the right hands.

Flowing between souped-up consumable buffs, timely Analyze debuffs, and attack chains to build up status effects in moment-to-moment gameplay is a challenge, but it's a thrilling one — and one that brings unmatched utility to your squad.

So if you're like me and have a poor first impression of Scholar, stick with him for a while. Once you figure him out, you'll see just how powerful he truly is, and you'll become Scholarpilled as I have.

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Elden Ring Nightreign (Xbox): was $39.99 now $19.99 at Woot!

Elden Ring Nightreign is one of 2025's biggest and best new action RPGs, and features a distinct focus on fast-paced co-op Soulslike carnage against bosses from Dark Souls and Elden Ring, as well as bespoke new encounters. The Standard Edition doesn't include access to the new DLC, but you can buy it standalone $15 at a later time.

PlayStation version: $33.99 at Amazon
PC version: $35.99 at Loaded

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Elden Ring Nightreign: was $54.99 now $29.99 at Woot!

The Deluxe Edition of Elden Ring Nightreign includes access to The Forsaken Hollows DLC that recently came out, which itself includes two new playable Nightfarer characters (one of which is Scholar), two new Nightlord bosses, a new map to play on, and more.

PlayStation version: $32.99 at Woot!
PC version: $48.99 at Loaded

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