Soulsborne developer FromSoftware has created eight new "Nightlord" bosses for its recently released co-op roguelike spinoff Elden Ring Nightreign, and having slain all eight of them before writing my review earlier this week, I can honestly say that I think the entire lineup is stacked with some of the studio's best ever bosses. Out of all of them, though, there's one that sticks out the most to me: Libra, Creature of Night, a demonic goat-headed monster you'll encounter at the end of the Equilibrious Beast Expedition.
When you first get to his arena, you'll find him waiting for you in a hooded, human form. Naturally, thinking our bombastic battle was about to begin, I shot him with an arrow in my first encounter with him — but to my surprise, he just growled at me about why that was "unwise," making me realize you can talk to him.
When you do, a golden scale icon representing trade appears over his head, and he offers you several monkey's paw-style bargains that range from trading three levels for a legendary weapon to giving both you and him a major damage buff for the duration of the fight. My favorite of these is an accord in which you get several extra levels, but lose a level each time you drink a healing flask. You do have the option of not making a deal, but where's the fun in that?
Once every player makes their choice, "the time is ripe," and the fight with Libra begins. Immediately, he transforms into his monstrous form and begins to assail your party with several magical attacks that build up Madness — the status that deals a chunk of damage and makes you clutch your head in despair for several seconds if it procs, leaving you wide open to further assault.
These are easy to see coming since they originate from bright gold glyphs on the ground and air, but Libra is capable of spawning these so fast and so quickly that he tends to rapidly turn the entire arena into his own personal bullet hell unless you stay aggressive and up close. This prompts him to swing at you with his giant staff with attacks that are far easier to punish.
Even if you do so, though, you're bound to deal with a ton of Madness buildup sooner or later — especially when he performs a particularly nasty move where he falls to his knees and slams the ground repeatedly, creating a Madness-inducing miasma that blankets the field. But during any Madness-based attack, his magic spreads little golden crystals on the ground as it's cast...and if you pick them up, they recover a small chunks of your HP and your Madness meter.
I don't think there's ever been a mechanic like that in a Soulsborne boss fight before, and it's a perfect fit for the Dionysus-inspired trickster interpretation of Madness that Libra exemplifies as opposed to the desire to simply see the entire world burn that characterized Elden Ring's. It's also incredibly rewarding to take advantage of, as are all of the special mechanics present in the Nightlord battles.
Another thing that makes Libra particularly unique is the fact that his strongest asset is also his Achilles' heel, as he's weak to Madness damage himself. He can even be enraged if you hit him with it enough, locking him into a frenzied combination of melee strikes; this gives him an attack buff, but manage to avoid his empowered combo and you'll be rewarded with a massive counter-attack window.
Sources of Madness damage are rare to find in your runs, but you have a decent chance of getting something able to dish it out at points of interest marked with a Madness icon. Libra is also weak to Fire and Holy, too, so that's something to keep in mind.
Even if nobody on your squad has access to Madness, you can still provoke Libra into this infuriated state a few times during the battle. Every so often, he'll start meditating within a magic shield as multiple golden glyphs appear around him, and given enough time, he'll complete his ritual and buff his defenses. By either destroying all the glyphs (a bow is best for this) or doing enough heavy damage to the shield to break it, however, you'll interrupt his ritual and frenzy him.
Both thematically and mechanically, Libra is undeniably one of FromSoftware's weirdest, wildest, and most creative bosses — and as much as I love all seven of the other Nightlord bouts, this one might actually be my favorite of Nightreign's roster. I've had an absolute blast kicking his butt and subsequently getting my butt kicked by him so far, and I can't wait to do it again and again with my friends now that they've picked up the game.
Elden Ring Nightreign is a bold new experimental spinoff from FromSoftware that spices up the original game's Soulsborne combat with a roguelike, co-op driven twist. Though it has sizable issues like only having one map or underwhelming enemy variety, it's nevertheless going to be one of this year's best Xbox games and best PC games for Souls fans craving action. It's $39.99, but you can get it for $33.99 at Newegg with the promo code XVSAVE (Xbox) or EPES3Z23 (PC).
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