Recluse Remembrance quest walkthrough in Elden Ring Nightreign

The Recluse’s Remembrance quests in Elden Ring Nightreign dig a bit deeper into the dark forces that gave birth to the Nightlords and gives the mage a useful new relic — but not for free. Completing these quests involves taking on an additional boss, solving some puzzles, and engaging in a final showdown with Nightreign’s ultimate boss.

Our in-progress Elden Ring Nightreign guide gives you a Recluse Remembrance quest walkthrough, explaining how to start the Recluse’s Remembrance quest, how to handle Recluse’s Chapter 6 challenge, and how to complete each task along the way.

How to start Recluse’s Remembrance in Elden Ring Nightreign

The Recluse’s Remembrance quest begins in her journal’s second chapter, and like with the other Nightfarers’ quests, there’s seemingly no set guideline for when that chapter becomes available.

In our experience, chapter two showed up after completing three or four expeditions as the Recluse. (Nightreign is flexible with what “complete” means in the early journal chapters, as you don’t have to defeat a Nightlord for an expedition to count toward the chapter unlock requirements. Failure counts as well.)

Check the Recluse’s section of the journal after you return to Roundtable Hold from an expedition, and when Chapter 2 shows up, the option to “begin Remembrance” appears under the journal entry text. Choose to start the quest, and you’ll “relive” a memory. You can only play as the Recluse while reliving one of her memories, but there’s no penalty for changing classes or putting the Remembrance quest on the back burner. You can pick it up again at any point when you’re ready.

The only other thing to keep in mind when deciding whether to start a Remembrance quest is that Nightreign only allows one personal objective per expedition, and there’s no evident process by which the game decides whose objective will show up. If you team up with someone else who’s also pursuing a Remembrance quest, there’s no guarantee your objective will show up on the map.

Chapter 2: Vanquish Enemies Tainted by Night

Speak with the Iron Menial in Roundtable Hold’s dining room to start the Recluse’s first quest. He tasks you with defeating enemies tainted by the night to prove your devotion to the Nightfarers’ cause and returning with evidence that you did so. Despite the Menial’s phrasing, “enemies tainted by night” isn’t a Nightlord, so you don’t have to deal with a major boss for this. You also just need to defeat one enemy.

Start an expedition, and check your map for a red quest icon similar to those that mark Volcano Manor’s quests in Elden Ring. The target monster’s actual location seems to differ from game to game, and it’ll differ further depending on whether Shifting Earth is influencing the map. What stays the same is the boss you’ll face: a Night-Swallowed Golden Hippopotamus, one that behaves the same as the hippos you may face at the end of a day in any expedition. The “Night-Tainted” part is just for thematic flair.

You should be at least level three to safely deal with this battle, though if you’re playing solo, you may want to make this a priority for night two after you have some additional levels tucked away. Upgrading your starting weapon, the Recluse’s Staff, at least once is also a good idea. Avoid using sorceries and incantations with long casting times and short ranges, since you need to remain agile and far enough away to escape the hippo’s lunge attacks. Glintstone Pebble and Magic Cocktail’s standard effect aren’t glamorous, but they’ll be enough to get you safely through the fight.

You receive a Night Shard after defeating the hippo. Take that to the Menial after completing the expedition in failure or success, and exhaust his dialogue options to finish this part of the Recluse’s Remembrance. You’ll get a Recluse’s Chalice for your trouble — a new Reliquary with one yellow, one green, and one free Relic slot.

Chapter 4: Vestige of Night

Complete more expeditions as the Recluse, and you’ll eventually unlock her journal’s fourth entry. Begin the Remembrance, and read the note the Menial left for you on the table. Speak with him again in the dining room, and request the Night Shard back. A message pops up that says imbuing the Night Shard with magic caused it to pulse, but offers no further guidance.

Check the map for the next location — Roundtable Hold’s bedroom. One of the beds has a shadowy stain on it. Examine that to obtain the Vestige of Night, a Recluse-oriented green relic that boosts magic power and creates Terra Magica when the Recluse absorbs magical affinities. Standing in the Terra Magica zone increases the power of all spells while the zone lasts.

Chapter 6: The Witch of the Wheel

The next Remembrance chapter should appear after completing three more expeditions, though again, the number seems random. Just keep checking the journal when you return to Roundtable Hold as usual to see if a new chapter is available. The next Remembrance quest begins with a cryptic task: Find the presence lurking in Roundtable Hold.

The map offers no guidance this time, so you’re left to figure out where this shadowy, nameless presence might be hiding. Head to the training grounds, where you’ll see the Iron Menial standing around. Walk up to him, and give him a couple of punches to reveal the being’s true form, a witch from the Recluse’s coven. Exhaust her dialogue options, and she’ll finally tell you the Menial is taking a little break in the Roundtable Hold’s mausoleum.

The mausoleum’s entrance is in the little low-ceilinged room down from the Small Jar Bazaar. Take the staircase, turn left, and you’ll find the locked door is open now. The Menial is slumped in a corner at the mausoleum’s far end. Speak with him, exhaust his dialogue, and you’ll receive the Bone-Like Stone key item. You can’t do anything with this yet, and it’s not a relic. Conclude the Remembrance, and continue clearing expeditions.

To unlock the Recluse’s final Remembrance quest, you need to defeat three Nightlords after completing the second chapter. Then, challenge and defeat Heolstor, The Night Aspect while playing as the Recluse.

We’re still working on that last part and will update with the final steps and rewards soon.

For more Elden Ring Nightreign guides, here’s a list of all classes, the best class to pick first, how to unlock the Duchess and Revenant, and the best early Duchess build.