There are a huge number of potential bonuses players can get on relics to use in Elden Ring Nightreign. Some relics can be much more useful than others, though it’s important to know exactly what they do before deciding on if they take one of your limited relic slots.

Without in-game descriptions, it’s very easy to miss over a potentially useful relic depending on your build. The Improved Initial Standard Attack bonus may not have the most straightforward explanation, and the bonuses can easily go unnoticed in the heat of battle. Here’s exactly what Improved Initial Standard Attack does and if it’s worth using.

Improved Initial Standard Attack Explained in Elden Ring Nightreign

While the wording can be a little vague, Improved Initial Standard Attack boosts the damage of your first basic attack in a chain of attacks. It doesn’t matter if you are one or two-handed a weapon, just as long as you are doing a quick attack and not a strong or wind-up attack. The boost is a little under 15% and offers no additional boosts to the rest of your attacks in a combo. Whenever a combo resets, either by stopping it manually or by finishing a combo and starting another one, the bonus will kick in again, only for the first swing.

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Should You Use Improved Initial Standard Attack in Elden Ring Nightreign

Overall, the benefits of this relic are limited to what your build looks like. Faster attacking classes, such as Duchess, Executor, or Ironeye, probably shouldn’t use it, as they will constantly use longer combos. This bonus is also much more effective when using a larger weapon, as the percentage boost will be greater, and bigger weapons tend to not worry about combos and only hitting once or twice before moving. Ideal classes for this build are:

If you don’t have a ton of useful relics, this can be a good option for just about any character, as the benefits will be taken advantage of in any fight throughout a run, though later relics should always aim to cater towards your playstyle. Using this bonus ideally requires a change in playstyle, so you should focus on single hits, then dodging to reset your combo. If you do use a relic with this boost, just make sure you start every fight with a quick attack, and the bonus will always be in the background, helping you out.

Elden Ring Nightreign

9/10

Released

May 30, 2025

Multiplayer

Online Co-Op

Number of Players

1-3

Steam Deck Compatibility

Unknown

PC Release Date

May 30, 2025