The Duchess is one of the eight available classes in Elden Ring Nightreign, but it’s not one that you’ll have unlocked by default at the start of the game. Instead, you have to complete a specific action to unlock the class and start using it on your expeditions.

Of course, if you already have the Duchess unlocked in Nightreign, then you might be wondering the best way to build out the class. Fortunately, we have you covered on both fronts. You can see our full detailed guide below on how to unlock the Duchess and the best build for it in Nightreign. You can also check out our tier list for all eight classes so you can see how the Duchess stacks up to its counterparts.

How to unlock the Duchess in Elden Ring Nightreign

First and foremost, you need to know how to unlock the Duchess if you want to start using the class.

You won’t be able to unlock the Duchess until you defeat the first expedition boss in Nightreign, Tricephalos. This is the only major boss you have access to after completing the tutorial, and you can go on the expedition to fight the boss by interacting with the Roundtable Hold’s central table.

After you have defeated the Tricephalos boss, you’ll receive an “Old Pocketwatch” as a reward for completing the expedition. This Old Pocketwatch can be used as a Relic at the Relic Rites station in the Roundtable Hold. However, you don’t want to make plans with the Old Pocketwatch just yet, as it’s the main way to unlock the Duchess class.

With the Old Pocketwatch in your inventory, go speak with the white-gowned woman who first spoke to you upon arriving at the Roundtable Hold. During the dialogue with the woman, she’ll ask you to give her the Old Pocketwatch, as it was hers to begin with. You can either choose to hand over the Old Pocketwatch or keep it for yourself.

You want to choose to hand over the Old Pocketwatch to the woman. Doing this results in the woman trusting you more, causing her to reveal her true identity. The woman is the Duchess herself, and as soon as you hand the watch over, she transforms into the Duchess. You now have full access to the Duchess in Elden Ring Nightreign, and you also get to keep the Old Pocketwatch as a usable Relic.

Duchess class overview in Elden Ring Nightreign

The Duchess is unlike any other class in Nightreign, as she excels in quick combat with fast attacks and speedy movement. However, with this speed, the Duchess doesn’t have a ton of HP, so you’ll need to use your movement to weave your way in and out of battles to avoid being hit too much. The Duchess’s starting weapon is a dagger that can attack extremely quickly, but doesn’t do an overwhelming amount of damage per hit.

Here are all of the Duchess’s abilities in Nightreign:

Passive Ability: Magnificent Pose

• Attack and dodge optimally, dodging repeatedly when necessary.

The Duchess’s increased movement abilities allow her to dodge over and over, which gives you the ability to avoid damage as much as possible.

Character Skill: Restage

• Stage reprisal of recent occurrences to damage nearby foes.

Restage is a fairly decent ability that gives the Duchess a chance to deal damage while not engaging with foes. You can stand back, cast the ability, and watch a phantom deal the same moves that you just dealt to the nearest enemy.

Ultimate Art: Finale

• Obscure self and surrounding allies to hide from foes.

This is a classic assassin-type skill that the Duchess can use to get out of trouble, sneak past enemies, or turn the aggression of a boss to another character. The Finale skill also obscures your nearby allies, though, so it’s important to consider their positioning before casting it.

Best Relics for the Duchess in Elden Ring Nightreign

Now that we’ve gone over how to unlock the Duchess and all of her skills, it’s time to build out the class using Relics.

For starters, it’s best to go to the Small Jar Bazaar and purchase the Duchess’ Goblet for 1,200 Murk. This gives you a new set of Relic Rites, which include two orange slots and one green slot. By default, you have access to the Duchess’ Urn (two red slots, one blue slot). By swapping to the Duchess’ Goblet, you’re able to make use of much stronger Relics. You can also eventually upgrade to the Duchess’ Chalice.

Old Pocketwatch

Coincidentally, one of those Relics is the Old Pocketwatch, which is tailor-made for the Duchess. The Old Pocketwatch is a green Relic Rite and has the ability to restore FP upon successive attacks and gives a flat +3 to Dexterity, the main stat the Duchess utilizes.

The FP restoration after successive attacks is perfect for the Duchess since you can attack multiple times using her default dagger and any other fast weapons you find during an expedition.

Golden Dew

The other Relic you want to make sure you equip for the Duchess is the Golden Dew, which is an orange Relic Rite that can slide right alongside the Old Pocketwatch. The Golden Dew Relic is unlocked through the Duchess’ Remembrance quest in Nightreign and offers improved Character Skill Attack Power for the Duchess specifically, as well as boosts the attack power of added Affinity Attacks.

The third Relic slot for the Duchess (using the Goblet) can be filled with other Relics that you earn as rewards while playing as the Duchess. You want to focus on the Dexterity attack, dagger attack power, and bonuses for attacking quickly.

That does it for our Duchess class guide in Elden Ring Nightreign. If you’re interested in another class, you can take a look at our class guides for the Revenant and Recluse. For more tips, make sure to check out our full guides hub for Nightreign.