A hardcore Souls pla…
Soulsborne challenge runner Ongbal, whose exploits include no hitting Malenia, Promised Consort Radahn, and every single boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, has uploaded a video showing a solo completion of Elden Ring Nightreign’s maximum-difficulty Depth Five. But he doesn’t really recommend it.
Depth Five was introduced as part of Nightreign’s recent Deep of Night update, and requires slowly leveling up through the earlier depths first. The lower depths introduce more challenging enemies and random Nightlords, but balance this difficulty with powerful new weapon and relic effects that seriously open up the game’s buildcrafting.
“I grinded up to depth five this past week,” Ongbal wrote in the video description. “And well… honestly it’s not enjoyable at higher depths.”
Ongbal accomplished this solo run as John Darksouls himself, Wylder. Despite the YouTuber’s predilection for katanas and Sekiro, Ongbal only favored the Sekiro-parrying samurai character, Executor, early on, with his videos quickly transitioning to focus on Wylder gameplay. It makes sense: Wylder’s mobility and surprisingly high skill ceiling has made him a favorite among the hardcore Souls kiddies.
Perhaps the most notable thing about Ongbal’s Depth Five run is how unremarkable it was: No god drops, shifting earth, surprise invasions, or nail-biter moments, just a meat and potatoes run where the enemies were super tanky and could pretty much kill in one hit.
Build-wise, Ongbal had the extra Wylder grapple and blood loss upgrade from relics, as well as bleed on the starter greatsword, which he kept and upgraded through the entire run. Ongbal paired it with an offhand Flamberge for bonus bleed-inflicting jump attacks, and that’s about it. Otherwise Ongbal just executed everything at a very high level, and for the Nightlord, he squared off with a non-Everdark Fulghur.
That last bit really chafed my hams: On my second Depth Two run, my team wiped to a surprise Everdark Libra whose summons glitched out and turned invisible—we didn’t stand a chance. It’s a shame that Ongbal’s run was so tame, because the real fun in Deep of Night is the new weapon effects you can build around. My favorites have been bows that have powerful effects when you aim with the trigger instead of locking on, like casting the Swarm of Flies spell or inflicting Scarlet Rot.