How to beat Everdark Sovereign Gaping Jaws in Elden Ring Nightreign

Update: We've added another couple of tips to this Everdark Gaping Jaws boss guide, including some recommended Nightfarers, to help you out with the fight.

So you’ve beaten all of the Nightlords in Elden Ring Nightreign and are wondering exactly what to do next. Fortunately, FromSoftware has very quickly accounted for this issue and has introduced the Everdark Sovereign mode to the game, which allows you to go on Expeditions against enhanced versions of the Nightlords.

That said, only one Nightlord per week is available in the Everdark Sovereign mode (though, they’ll no doubt come back into rotation sooner or later), and in this guide, we’re going to explain how to beat the Everdark Sovereign version of Gaping Jaws in Nightreign.

How to beat Everdark Sovereign Gaping Jaws

The Everdark Sovereign version of Gaping Jaws is quite the beast in Elden Ring Nightreign, but he’s nothing that you and your teammates can’t handle if you’re prepared for it. Some things to note before setting off on this Expedition:

• The fight begins with Gaping Jaws’ second phase. Once he reaches 50% HP, he will enter his third, enhanced phase. And oh boy, he sure has been enhanced!
• Gaping Jaws’ primary weakness is still Poison. You can try Relics that allow you to start with a Poison armament to ensure you have one.
• Look for traits and passive effects that boost your Maximum HP, Physical Damage Negation, and Lightning Damage Negation. This version of Gaping Jaws is, of course, tougher, so any Damage Negation effects you can get are great. Lightning especially, given that is the damage type he primarily deals.
• The Night of the Fathom Relic from Augur is great for this fight. This Relic boosts your Maximum HP, allows your flasks to heal allies, and allows your items to confer effects to nearby allies. Gaping Jaws’ third phase forces your team to be close together, so this Relic will definitely be put to good use.
• Aim for Level 13 at minimum. This isn’t the be all and end all. We’ve seen Level 8 Revenants make it through some tough fights, and you can no doubt do it here. For an easier time though, try your best to hit Level 13 or higher.
• Upgrade your equipment. Diving into bosses with a blue-rarity weapon is no big deal at all really. They get the job done! However, those purple-rarity and legendary weapons will make all the difference in this fight. Gaping Jaws is tougher than usual here, therefore you ought to be too.
• Consumables, consumables, consumables: I'm a huge advocate for consumables as it is, and even moreso with Everdark fights, Exalted Flesh, Boiled Prawns, Warming Stones. Line your item pouches with as many buff items as possible prior to the Nightlord; they can make a huge difference, especially if your item effects are shared with allies!

As mentioned, this fight begins with Gaping Jaws second phase, so his moveset during this portion of the fight shouldn’t be surprising to you. If you need a refresher however, check out our Gaping Jaws boss guide for his original fight, which details his moveset.

Once the boss reaches 50% HP, his third phase begins, which is no joke. His second phase attacks continue, so expect him to go back and forth plenty trying to grab you and your team in his mouth. He’ll also do plenty of lunging, meaning you want to avoid being in front of him wherever possible.

There is one move during Gaping Jaws’ third phase to be aware of, and that’s his tornadoes. As Gaping Jaws enters his third phase, he begins zipping across the arena at ridiculous speeds before vanishing into the air and summoning a huge tornado that surrounds him. You want to make sure you are inside the middle of the tornado where possible.

Those who stray outside of it will find that they will constantly take damage – much like if they were stuck in the Night’s Tide – until they return to the center of the tornado again. Fortunately for anyone who does end up flung away from Gaping Jaws and into danger, there will be Spiritsprings outside of the tornado that you can use to land back inside of it.

The tornadoes that Gaping Jaws summons during the latter half of the fight also appear to get smaller as the fight progresses, and simultaneously, he’ll now conjure lightning strikes around the arena that are relentless.

Sure, AoE lightning attacks aren’t new to Gaping Jaws’ fight. He has multiple of them, after all. This time, however, he will conjure lightning strikes around the arena – sort of like the circular lightning fissures that appear during the Night Aspect fight albeit smaller and more annoying – and they don’t stop. Keep an eye out for these as well as his other AoE attacks. A rule of thumb is that if he stops and starts glowing purple, run away, and if there are purple fissures in the floor (or purple strikes of lightning), make sure you are not on top of them by dodging or running to the side.

When it comes to stacking Poison or Rot on the boss during this fight, I found Ironeye with a Relic that kitted him out with a Poison-affinity bow from the get-go was really handy. This meant that even if nobody on my team found a relevant weapon for the fight, I could consistently pull off Poison damage from a distance while they maintained aggro.

Another Nightfarer I really like for this fight is Raider, who can be really punishing if luck is on your side, especially paired with Ironeye's Character Skill, which allows the team to do more stance damage to the boss. Raider is great for cancelling some of Gaping Jaws' worst attacks and maintaining aggro while Ironeye safely fires away, and if you can get an axe or hammer with a Scarlet Rot affinity on the Raider... the fight will very quickly be over. Good luck!

For more help with Elden Ring Nightreign, take a look at all of our tips and tricks for successful runs. Additionally, here’s our guide on all map events and what they do, and how to beat the Night Aspect if you’re yet to do that.