Elden Ring Nightreign carries over many familiar mechanics, gear and items from the original Elden Ring – boluses being one example. However, these consumable items have silently been tweaked in Nightreign, making them a lot more meaningful than originally thought.
The core function is unchanged – boluses help you cure or reduce build-up from status effects like poison, Scarlet Rot, blood loss, frostbite and the like, depending on the type. However, players have noticed that consuming boluses in Nightreign increases your resistance to the corresponding status effect – and this buff lasts through the entire match. I was able to verify in-game that even if you die, your resistance stays active for the rest of the run.
Not only that, but the effect of boluses stacks. Consuming the same type of boluses multiple times will increase your level of resistance, which will show up as a “+” indicator in your Special Effects (i.e. Poison Resistance +9).
Inventory management in Nightreign is tight as you can normally only carry four items at a time – so the fact that boluses have a lasting effect without needing to be re-consumed mid-match makes them super valuable. But curiously, this new spec isn’t listed in the official descriptions, so it’s gone under most players’ radar.
Until now, that is. Now that the secret is out, players are rethinking their strategy, especially when it comes to certain boss fights where dealing with status effects can get really tedious. If you stumble across extra boluses that you can’t carry, it might be a good idea to just consume them on the spot to buff your resistances for the rest of the run. Thankfully, Nightreign lets you use items straight off the ground without adding them to your inventory – just hold the triangle button and press up on the D-pad (on DualSense).
Elden Ring: Nightreign is out now for PC (Steam), PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One.
