Technologies

How to Fight Elden Ring Nightreign’s Everdark Sovereign Bosses

Nightreign’s new hard mode bosses are a true endgame challenge, but if you can beat them, the Sovereign Sigils are a powerful reward.

Everything you’ve learned about Limveld over the weeks since Elden Ring Nightreign’s launch has just been flipped on its head.

Developer FromSoftware previously announced that enhanced versions of the game’s bosses would feature in post-launch updates, but they were shadowdropped with little to no warning on Wednesday, with full details from publisher Bandai Namco.

These Everdark Sovereigns have certainly been eating their Wheaties, because they’re bigger, stronger and have wicked special moves that you’ll have to learn if you want to stand a chance against this new threat. But if you can conquer the next iterations of the Nightlord, you’ll earn a special currency that opens up an endgame shop filled with loot.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Everdark Sovereigns, ranging from what they are, how to take them on and what goodies you can earn if you’re skilled enough to take one of these bad boys out.

What are the Everdark Sovereigns?

If you’ve put the beat down on Elden Ring Nightreign’s roster of Nightlord aspects and come out the other side thinking they were too easy, the Everdark Sovereigns are designed with you in mind.

These foes are enhanced «hard mode» versions of the regular expedition bosses, and they add new moves and mechanics to the already challenging night three fights. Everdark Sovereign fights begin with the boss’s second phase before shifting into a new third phase, making them some of the deadliest enemies in Nightreign.

Each Everdark Sovereign expedition is available for a week, after which a new fight will become available.

The first Everdark Sovereign is Adel, the Gaping Jaw, and Everdark Sovereign versions of the Sentient Pest and Darkdrift Knight will rotate in and out over the coming weeks. Eventually, there’ll be an Everdark Sovereign variant of every Nightlord aspect, though there’s no word on if they’ll be ready after the first three hard mode bosses have rotated into the game.

How can you embark on an expedition to fight one of Nightreign’s new bosses?

You don’t have to jump through too many hoops to try to take on the Everdark Sovereigns, but they won’t all be accessible at the same time. These bosses are time-gated and are in the game for one week each.

So long as you’ve beaten the normal version of the currently available Everdark Sovereign, you’ll be able to access the special expedition during this time. A new expedition outlined in purple will appear at the bottom of the list, and embarking on the current Everdark Sovereign expedition is as simple as choosing this option and proceeding normally.

If you’ve beaten the easier, base game version of the current Everdark Sovereign and you don’t see the special expedition in your list of available options, make sure you have a functioning internet connection. You can take the Everdark Sovereigns on in solo mode (if you’re a masochist), but you’ll need to remain online and connected to the Elden Ring Nightreign servers to access this new content.

How can you beat these hard mode bosses?

If you want to beat an Everdark Sovereign, you’ll have to «get good.» There are no two ways about it: These bosses are much harder than their base game counterparts. They start in their second phase, have new third phases and special moves that hit like a truck.

With that being said, there are still ways you can even the odds after mastering the basics of Elden Ring Nightreign.

Many of the skills that you should learn to challenge base game bosses still apply to Everdark Sovereign expeditions. It’s more important than ever to set up a cohesive relic build that synergizes with your class’s play style. Buying chalices from the Jar Bazaar and farming Murk to buy up some more relics will help you create the right build for your favorite Nightfarer.

During your expeditions, you’ll obviously want to pick up weapons and shields that provide you with passive stats that pair well with your Nightfarer, as well as your general play style with the character. You should also be running the most optimized rune-earning route possible to get as close to level 15 as you can by the time you enter the third night.

Most importantly, you’ll want to pick up weapons that have status effects that the bosses are weak to. If the enhanced version of Adel is anything to go by, Everdark Sovereigns will move quickly and have short windows of vulnerability. Pick up a weapon that exploits their weakness to break down their poise and extend the amount of time you can whack at the boss.

High damage per second is a virtue. The quicker you can knock out a boss, the less time it has to defeat you and your friends. A war of attrition is an easy way to lose an expedition in Nightreign, so plan ahead before you ever face down the new Nightlord aspect.

What do you get for beating an Everdark Sovereign?

In addition to the normal expedition rewards, you’ll have a chance to earn new boss relics and a special currency called Sovereign Sigils.

The boss relics are incredibly powerful alterations to popular play styles. The first Everdark Sovereign, the Gaping Jaw, drops the Dark Night of the Baron relic. This relic improves the damage of critical hits twice over and makes you generate runes upon landing one of those crushing blows.

It seems as though Everdark Sovereign relics will be a powerful new way for Nightreign’s min-maxers to advance their build in a game where you don’t pick how your stats change past the character select screen.

Beating your first Everdark Sovereign unlocks a new merchant in the Roundtable Hold. The Collector Signboard is located on the beachy area just outside of the Jar Bazaar. It can be found in the southwest corner of the hub. This is where you’ll spend the currency you earn from beating the new bosses.

Spending Sovereign Sigils is a great way to grow your power between runs. They’re also the keys to unlocking quality-of-life features that many players have been clamoring for.

Sovereign Sigils can be spent to unlock a suite of new chalices that unlock more relic rites for your Nightfarers, as well as an improved version of the Scenic Flatstone that guarantees you purple-rarity relics. Nightfarer garb can also be purchased with Sovereign Sigils, but it’s the same wardrobe of skins purchasable with Murk, the other currency you earn from expeditions.

This currency can also be spent to choose specific Shifting Earth events for your next run, restore the Roundtable Hold to its appearance from before the defeat of the final Nightlord and change the appearance of the relic earned at the end of the Guardian’s remembrance questline.

Beating one of the Everdark Sovereigns for the first time will reward you with 25 Sovereign Sigils, while subsequent runs will earn you just 5 of the coveted new currency. The most expensive items in the shop — the skins that are worth 35,000 Murk — cost 20 Sovereign Sigils, so the earn rate of this currency is fairly generous so long as you can consistently beat these bosses.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Sept. 19

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Sept. 19.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

I didn’t get off to a great start with today’s Mini Crossword, completely blanking on 1-Across. Thankfully, the other clues were easy, and that answer filled itself in. Need some help? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Cancel on plans at the last moment
Answer: FLAKE

6A clue: Shade of light purple
Answer: LILAC

7A clue: ___ acid (protein builder)
Answer: AMINO

8A clue: Sarcastic «Yeah, sure»
Answer: IBET

9A clue: Sardonic boss on «Parks and Recreation»
Answer: RON

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Stylish panache
Answer: FLAIR

2D clue: Party game that tests how low you can go
Answer: LIMBO

3D clue: Visitor from outer space
Answer: ALIEN

4D clue: Philosopher who posed the question «What can I know?»
Answer: KANT

5D clue: Environmentally friendly prefix
Answer: ECO

Technologies

Your Old Android Isn’t Dead. These Tweaks Can Bring It Back to Life

Clear space, optimize your battery and update the basics. These quick changes can make an old Android phone feel snappier.

You don’t need the latest Android flagship to get good performance.

Thanks to longer software support from brands like Google and Samsung, older models can still run smoothly, as long as you give them a little attention. Clearing out unused apps, updating your software and tweaking a few settings can breathe new life into a device that feels sluggish. These quick fixes can help your phone last longer and save you from spending on an early upgrade.

Before you start shopping for a replacement, try a few simple adjustments. You might be surprised by how much faster your phone feels once you free up space, optimize battery use and turn off background drains.

Whether you use a Samsung Galaxy, Motorola or OnePlus phone, chances are you can still improve battery life and overall speed without buying something new. Just remember that Android settings vary slightly from brand to brand, so the menus may look a little different depending on your phone.

Don’t miss any of CNET’s unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

Settings to improve your battery life

Living with a phone that has poor battery life can be infuriating, but there are some steps you can take to maximize each charge right from the very beginning:

1. Turn off auto screen brightness or adaptive brightness and set the brightness level slider to under 50%

The brighter your screen, the more battery power it uses.

To get to the setting, pull down the shortcut menu from the top of the screen and adjust the slider, if it’s there. Some phones may have a toggle for auto brightness in the shortcut panel; otherwise, you need to open the settings app and search for «brightness» to find the setting and turn it off.

2. Use Adaptive Battery and Battery Optimization

These features focus on learning how you use your phone, including which apps you use and when, and then optimizing the apps and the amount of battery they use.

Some Android phones have a dedicated Battery section in the Settings app, while other phones (looking at you, Samsung) bury these settings. It’s a little different for each phone. I recommend opening your settings and searching for «battery» to find the right screen. Your phone may also have an adaptive charging setting that can monitor how quickly your phone battery charges overnight to preserve its health.

Why you should use dark mode more often

Another way to improve battery life while also helping save your eyes is to use Android’s dedicated dark mode. Any Android phone running Android 10 or newer will have a dedicated dark mode option.

According to Google, dark mode not only reduces the strain that smartphone displays cause on our eyes but also improves battery life because it takes less power to display dark backgrounds on OLED displays (used in most flagship phones) than a white background.

Depending on which version of Android your phone is running, and what company made your phone, you may have to dig around the settings app to find a dark mode. If your phone runs Android 10 or newer, you’ll be able to turn on system-wide dark mode. If it runs Android 9, don’t despair. Plenty of apps have their own dark mode option in the settings that you can use, whether or not you have Android 10.

To turn it on dark mode, open the Settings app and search for Dark Mode, Dark Theme or even Night Mode (as Samsung likes to call it). I suggest using dark mode all the time, but if you’re not sure, you can always set dark mode to automatically turn on based on a schedule, say from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day, or allow it to automatically switch based on your location at sunset and sunrise.

Keep your home screen free of clutter

Planning to hit up the Google Play Store for a bunch of new Android apps? Be prepared for a lot of icon clutter on your home screen, which is where shortcuts land every time you install something.

If you don’t want that, there’s a simple way out of this: Long-press on an empty area of your home screen and tap Settings. Find the option labeled something along the lines of Add icon to Home Screen or Add new apps to Home Screen and turn it off.

Presto! No more icons on the home screen when you install new apps. You can still add shortcuts by dragging an app’s icon out of the app drawer, but they won’t appear on your home screen unless you want them to.

Read more: Best Android Phones You Can Buy in 2024

Set up Do Not Disturb so that you can better focus

If your phone routinely spends the night on your nightstand, you probably don’t want it beeping or buzzing every time there’s a call, message or Facebook alert — especially when you’re trying to sleep. Android offers a Do Not Disturb mode that will keep the phone more or less silent during designated hours. On some phones, this is referred to as the Downtime setting or even Quiet Time.

Head to Settings > Sounds (or Notifications), then look for Do Not Disturb or a similar name. If you can’t find it, search for it using the built-in search feature in your settings.

Using the feature, you can set up a range of hours when you want to turn off the digital noise. Don’t worry, any notifications you get while Do Not Disturb is turned on will still be waiting for you when you wake up. Also, you can typically make an exception that allows repeat callers and favorite contacts’ calls to go through. Turn that on. If someone is calling you in an emergency, odds are they are going to keep trying.

Always be prepared in case you lose your phone or it’s stolen

Is there anything worse than a lost or stolen phone? Only the knowledge that you could have tracked it down if you had turned on Google’s Find My Device feature.

To prepare for a successful recovery, here’s what you need to do: Open the Settings app and then search for Find My Device. It’s usually in the Security section of the Settings app.

If you have a Samsung device, you can use Samsung’s Find My Mobile service, which is found in Settings > Biometrics and security > Find My Mobile.

Once that’s enabled, you can head to android.com/find from any PC or mobile device and sign in to your account. Samsung users can visit findmymobile.samsung.com to find a lost phone.

If you have trouble setting any of this up, be sure to read our complete guide to finding a lost Android phone.

Assuming your phone is on and online, you should be able to see its location on a map. From there, you can make it ring, lock it, set a lock screen note to tell whoever has it how to get it back to you, or, worst-case scenario, remotely wipe the whole thing.

And always keep your phone up to date

As obvious as it may seem, a simple software update could fix bugs and other issues slowing down your Android device.

Before you download and install the latest software update, make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi, or else this won’t work.

Now, open the Settings application and type in Update. You’ll then either see Software update or System update — choose either one. Then just download the software, wait for a few minutes and install it when it’s ready. Your Android device will reboot and install the latest software update available.

There’s a lot more to learn about a new phone. Here are the best ways to boost your cell signal, and here’s a flagship phone head-to-head comparison. Plus, check out CNET’s list of the best cases for your Samsung phone. More of an Apple fan? We have tips for boosting your iPhone’s performance, too.

Technologies

Your Pixel 10 Might Have Issues With Older Wireless Chargers

You might want to try taking the case off your phone in order to successfully charge it.

When Google introduced the Pixel 10 lineup in August, it became one of the first major Android phones to receive the Qi 2 wireless charging standard, which Google calls Pixelsnap. However, users noticed issues with wireless charging on the Pixel 10 almost immediately after its release.

Some people are having trouble charging their phone with the new Pixelsnap charger, and others are having issues with older wireless chargers, including Google’s own Pixel Stands. The bulk of the problems happen when a case is on the phone — whether it has the magnet array or not.

I own both the first and second generation Pixel Stands and both will charge my Pixel 10 Pro XL without an issue if there’s no case on it. However, when I add a case to my phone, the problems begin.

I have three cases for my phone, the Mous Super Thin Clear Case, the Magnetic Slim Case Fit by Grecazo, and a no-name soft TPU case. If my phone has any of those cases on and I attempt to charge it while it’s vertical, it starts to charge and then stops after a second or two, and keeps doing that.

I can fix this for the first-generation Pixel Stand by turning the phone horizontal, but it will still charge very slowly. I can’t seem to fix it at all for the Pixel Stand 2 — vertical, horizontal, it doesn’t charge.

Not everyone has this issue

The problem doesn’t seem to be universal. CNET editor Patrick Holland said he had no issues charging the Pixel 10 Pro during his time with it.

A Google spokesperson told me the Pixel 10 lineup is not optimized for older Qi wireless charging standards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the phones won’t work with older wireless chargers.

Qi 2 is backwards-compatible with older standards, but the phone’s height and charging coil placement on both the phone and the charger are still factors. If you’re having problems, you might see if removing the case helps.

The prospect of potentially needing to replace your older wireless chargers with newer ones isn’t ideal, especially if you shelled out $80 for one or both of Google’s own Pixel Stands. Still, if you want the best wireless charging speed for your brand new Pixel 10 phone, it won’t be with wireless chargers that only support older Qi standards.