If you’ve just dropped into the cursed lands of Limveld in Elden Ring Nightreign, you may have encountered a few unusual weapons with small icons or passive effects listed under their stats. These are weapon passive abilities, and understanding them is crucial for a strong character build.

In Elden Ring Nightreign, every weapon is a potential passive booster no matter if it’s in your backpack or equipped in hand. The random Greataxe you looted from a Nightspawn camp might be restoring your HP or giving you a massive crit boost that you might not even know. Many of these effects stack, meaning the more you understand the passive system, the more deadly and durable your Nightfarer becomes.

This guide tells everything you need to know about weapon passive effects in Elden Ring Nightreign including how they work, how to find them, and how they can turn a modest Nightfarer into a killing machine.

What are Weapon Passive Abilities?

Passive abilities are built-in bonuses on weapons that improve your character's stats or provide unique effects, without requiring you to actively use or equip that weapon. Some passives work just by keeping the weapon in your inventory, while others require being actively equipped, either in your main or off-hand.

These buffs can be from minor stat boosts like increased HP regen to combat perks such as improved charged attack damage, elemental infusions, or bonus effects when two-handing. Nightreign doesn’t penalize you for carrying heavy inventories. There’s no encumbrance or weight management. That means you can hoard all the passive-rich gear you want without turning into a slow-moving tank.

How to Use Weapon Passive Abilities in Elden Ring Nightreign

When you pick up a weapon in Nightreign, scroll down under the weapon’s Skill description. That’s where you’ll find the passive ability. If there’s a little hand icon next to the effect, that means it’s only active when the weapon is equipped. No hand icon means the buff is active just by keeping it in your inventory.

For example:

These stats stack with similar passives from other weapons which makes min-maxing a real thrill for theorycrafters. Regarding how these abilities impact your gameplay, here’s a breakdown of how they work:

Inventory-Activated Passives

These types of passives are the most flexible. Simply having the weapon in your inventory activates its passive effect—no need to wield it. So for a fire-based build, stash a few weapons with "Improved Fire Attack Power" or "Improved Fire Damage Negation" in your inventory for passive benefits.

Equipped-Only Passives

These offer stronger buffs, but only work while the weapon is actively equipped. Switching weapons mid-fight can cause the buff to drop instantly, so timing matters here.

Examples include:

For optimal builds, players often combine high-rarity weapons in active slots with multiple inventory-based passives to increase survivability or burst damage.

Read my other Nightreign guide: How to Increase Item Slots in Elden Ring Nightreign

Passive Categories and Effects

Elemental Boosts increase fire, lightning, magic, or holy damage and can appear in percentages (6%, 9%, 12%) and stack with multiple weapons. These boosts are good for elemental builds or to counter Nightlords weak to specific elements. Further, some weapons like Raptor Talons and the Thorned Whip restore HP on attacks while others such as Reduvia give you FP on hits which is something valuable for sustainability.

There are a few passives that reduce damage while performing specific actions including casting, charging, and blocking. Others simply level up your resistances based on HP conditions (e.g., low HP = better defense). Moreover, Combat Enhancers Bonuses like Improved Charge Attacks, Improved Jump Attacks and Improved Guard Counters let you customize your weapon choice according to what you prefer and what you like to do in the fights.

Spell and skill support is another thing to consider. FP cost reduction, fast casting speed, and improved skill abilities can do wonders for magic or hybrid builds. And utility buffs such as Item Discovery, Increased Poise, and Less Likely to be Targeted are crucial to survive and get maximum loot.

Where to Find Passive-Infused Weapons in Limveld

Limveld’s map offers countless chances to discover weapons with passive abilities. Some of the best locations include:

According to Bandai Namco's official guide, all Nightfarers can use any weapon, regardless of class. Even if you don’t meet a weapon’s full stat requirement, you’ll still gain its passive bonus but not its active skills. That means it’s always worth collecting even off-class weapons for their secondary perks.

Weapon Rarity and Passive Strength

All weapons in Elden Ring Nightreign belong to one of these four tiers:

The better the rarity, the stronger the passive ability. For example, a common weapon might offer +1 HP on hit, while a legendary version can give +6 HP or even a unique stacking buff like successive attack negation. Further, you can upgrade weapon rarity using Smithing Stones at Anvils near merchants. That gives you even more control over how powerful your passives become as you progress.

You can also stack the same type of passive effects across multiple weapons for more strength and abilities. Let’s say you carry a dagger with “Improved Critical Hits (+8%)”, a sword with “Improved Critical Hits (+12%)” and a bow with “Improved Critical Hits (+18%)”, that’s a total of +38% crit damage boost only from carrying the right items.

You can even hold onto duplicate weapons if they carry good passive effects. Even if the main weapon isn’t useful to you, the passives can supercharge your build with wise combo.