You know, at this point, you’re probably going to tell me how much of an unhealthy obsession I have with Elden Ring Nightreign, but I partially blame that on my friends who constantly rope me in for runs and, dare I say, it’s still a joyous occasion.
And with that continued obsession, it’s time to wake up, because we’ve got another enhanced Nightlord to fight on the horizon, this time being the Everdark Sovereign Fissure in the Fog, AKA everyone’s favorite dragon, Caligo.
With this guide, join me as I give you an insight into Caligo’s brand-new moves to watch out for, the ideal team comp and preparation, as well as the strategy to defeat this powerful foe with its new mechanics.
Recommended Team Compositions
If it wasn’t obvious from my previous Everdark Nightlord boss fight guides, the first step is to have the right team comp. Whether it’s duos or trios, it plays an integral role here, as you’ll find out why with the following characters:
- Wylder: The quintessential character for this fight. Caligo, being a FromSoftware dragon, will move A LOT around the arena. With Wylder’s Clawshot, players can traverse and close the gap on her quickly, even when she’s doing her insane AOE mist attacks. Plus, Wylder’s all-rounder stats allow him to use weapons like Blasphemous Blade and even Mohgwyn’s Spear easily.
- Ironeye: Admittedly, he’s a squishy character, and I’d even tell you to bring Raider instead. However, Ironeye has a key role in this fight, since you’ll need to break the crystallized armor of the new enhanced Caligo, as you’ll soon find out in the latter section. Also, having two Wylders with you can make for some easy Weakening Mark breaks. And if you can get a fire-affinity bow like I did, you’ll be smooth sailing for this fight.
- Recluse: I normally wouldn’t recommend her, but for this fight, she’s a good option due to being able to stay at a medium distance and use her magic spells as well as even launch some fire-based ones if you happen to get lucky in your run.
Again, these are mainly my recommendations; feel free to use the character you’re comfortable with. My friends were both Wylder mains, and I opted to use Ironeye to solely focus damage on a specific body part of Caligo as per her new mechanics, which you’re about to find out in the next section of the guide.
Key Differences With Everdark Sovereign Fissure in the Fog
I’ll be brutally honest, the Everdark Sovereign version of Caligo is one of the most technical fights thus far in terms of the new enhanced bosses due to the preparation you need to make prior to tackling it.
The main difference is that Caligo will have increased frostbite-inflicting attacks and, in her new phase, she’ll apply crystallized armor across her four main body parts, which you can break: the head, torso, tail and wings.
Breaking all of these crystallized armor parts will not only deal extra damage to her but will also make her more susceptible to a poise break for some stagger damage.
Having a dedicated Ironeye on the team to deal damage to the wings is strongly advised since melee characters will have a tricky time targeting them.
How To Prepare For Everdark Sovereign Fissure in the Fog
I’m doing something different here, where I’ll first detail the necessary precautions and loadout that you need for this fight. Trust me, what I’m about to suggest matters a lot here.
Firstly, you must have the Mountaintop Shifting Earth Event active for two different reasons; the various boss fights there will always have an obtainable boon to provide frostbite resistances, and we want to stack this buff as much as possible. Unless you find a tempting weapon, always pick this reward from the boss fights there.
For an optimal route through it: Hit the Frost Ruins > Flying Dragon > Demi-Human Swordmaster > Grab Mountaintop Favor > Mountaintop Ice Dragon > Giant Crows > circle back around for another swordmaster > The duo Ice Trolls.
The second reason is straightforward: the favor of the mountaintop is a must-have for the entire event, as it halves frostbite damage and frost buildup. This crucial component will be invaluable when facing Caligo, especially in her new phase.
Finally, and I know RNG plays a key role in distinguishing this, fire-affinity weapons are an absolute must, or else you’re going to struggle with dishing out damage, especially if you’re playing in trios.
Luckily, both of my friends were fortunate enough to get amazing drops like the Blasphemous Blade and the Magma Wyrm sword without any fire-affinity camps or cathedrals on the map, so I hope fortune’s in your favor with this one.
Everdark Sovereign Fissure in the Fog Moveset
Hoo boy, this dragon didn’t even mess around in her base form, and it certainly doesn’t let up with the new Everdark transformation either. I’ve listed the new major attacks of the Everdark Sovereign version of Caligo below for your convenience.
I won’t be mentioning the base form Caligo attacks and will only be discussing the new attacks that accompany the Everdark Sovereign version.
|
Moveset |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Crystal Form Transition |
As it begins to transform into its new form, Caligo can let out a short-burst AOE explosion, so try to get out of its vicinity when it’s transforming itself into the crystallized form. |
|
Ice Pillar Explosion |
Caligo will conjure an icy pillar in front of it before shooting it down, causing an AOE blast that builds up frostbite. Thankfully, testing this on both Raider and Ironeye, the blast doesn’t deal too much damage, and even the frost buildup is minimal if you’ve stacked enough resistances. |
|
Unlimited Ice Works |
Apologies for the Fate reference. This attack is essentially an enhanced version of the Ice Barrage of the base form, where Caligo shoots out numerous ice shards from its wings. In this Everdark version, Caligo will fly and dish out larger ice shards while crashing down on you a couple of times before ultimately coming to a standstill to unleash them in full force. This attack can also tank your framerate on the PS5, so try to evade it by continuous dodges or quickly run to the side when you see it coming. |
|
Icicle Wing Blast |
Caligo will drag its wings and unleash an upward gust of icy mist in front of it. Thankfully, this is one of the most telegraphed attacks in its arsenal, so I recommend just running to the side or repositioning behind it to evade this move. |
|
Ice Tail Wave |
Another enhanced version of an existing attack. Caligo will spray an icy mist around it before momentarily lashing its tail down at you, launching icicle waves while exploding any clumped-up shards near your proximity. Either |
|
Downward Ice Breath |
A pretty basic attack where Caligo will breathe down a mist of icy breath that can quickly build up frostbite and damage you. Unless you’re already far away when it’s doing this, you’ll need to quickly get away when it’s doing this attack. |
How To Beat Everdark Sovereign Fissure in the Fog
First Phase
In the preliminary stages of the fight, you’ll first need to bring down the normal version of Caligo. She’ll always start the fight off with her icicle barrage attack, so prepare to avoid that hellfire rain of ice if it’s aggroed on you.
Still, you shouldn’t waste too many flasks on this initial part of the fight. The worst is yet to come, so wasting any flasks here means you’ll have a lesser chance of surviving the Everdark portion of the fight.
Caligo’s overall HP is a bit bloated across both duos and trios, so even if the first phase may take some time despite bringing fire-affinity weapons, don’t get too greedy because you’ll eventually trigger the Everdark phase at 60% health.
Second Phase
Here we go, with the Everdark Sovereign phase of Caligo. She’ll transform her body into a crystallized armored form, and you’ll slowly need to damage it to wear it off. Sounds simple until you realize how hectic the fight can be in hindsight.
To reiterate, the frost buildup will have almost a negligible effect if you’ve precisely stacked a few of the frost resistance buffs as I suggested. Should you get attacked too much, you’ll possibly only have to worry once about getting affected by it throughout the whole fight.
Be extremely cautious of the ice crystals on the ground created by Caligo’s attacks, as moving over them can also build up frostbite; another minor annoyance you’ll need to be mindful of throughout the fight.
Here’s the key detail I want to point out: As I’ve shown in the video clip below, tearing off every single armored body part should also help you trigger an indefinite poise break on Caligo, allowing you to dish out a mighty chunk of stagger damage.
Preferably, ranged players like Ironeye or Recluse should immediately focus on targeting the wings and tail, while the two melee characters should focus on breaking the torso and head while also grabbing the aggro so that Caligo doesn’t target the former characters.
Keep an eye and conserve your stamina as much as possible throughout the attacks, because you’ll need every bit of it to quickly reposition yourself or evade Caligo’s devastating zoning AOE attacks.
And if you optimally damage it enough with fire attacks, you should be able to apply a weakening effect on it, indicated by the emitting orange glow.
Rewards
For successfully defeating the Everdark Sovereign Fissure in the Fog, you’ll be rewarded with 25x Sovereign Sigils for your first-time victory against it, as well as be able to claim the Dark Night of the Miasma relic from the Collector Signboard Merchant in the Roundtable Hold.
I’d honestly say it’s a fairly decent relic in my opinion, especially if you’re an Executor who uses the frost and bleed status effects in conjunction with each other to melt bosses and major enemies. There are still better options that you can roll via RNG, but a nice pickup nonetheless.
