Understand the loop before the combat
Nightreign compresses a Souls-style run into a timed expedition. You pick a Nightfarer, you spend your days getting stronger, and you finish against a Nightlord. The clock matters as much as the fighting, because time spent walking is time not spent upgrading.
That difference trips up new players. In a normal Souls game you can grind a route slowly and safely. Here the run keeps moving toward its end whether you are ready or not.
The three-day shape
Your expedition runs across days. Each day you pick objectives across the map, clear them, and take the rewards. Between days you consolidate, and then you face what you have built toward.
Treat each day as a budget. Decide what you need before you go looking for it, because wandering is the most expensive thing you can do with your time.
Choosing your first Nightfarer
Nightfarers are the classes, and they play very differently from one another. Some carry a team through damage, others keep people standing. Your first pick should be the one whose role you can actually play, not the one that looks best on paper.
If you are coming from Elden Ring, resist assuming your old build transfers. Nightreign rewards its own habits.
The Night closes
A shrinking safe zone pushes the expedition toward its end. Ignoring it is a common way to lose a run that was going well, because the damage compounds while you are busy elsewhere.
Plan your route so the closing edge is doing work for you, not against you.
What actually ends runs early
Three things, usually in this order. Route hesitation, where too much time goes into the wrong objective. Poor target selection, where the team commits to a fight it cannot finish. And relic neglect, where permanent upgrades go unlearned.
Fix those three and the Nightlord stops being an impossible wall.