Core goal: Keep Ironeye's Mark up 100 percent of the time (it's a damage amp, team buff, and iframe dodge or reposition) while still doing enough personal damage to not feel like a passenger. The single most common I can't play without this line is plus 1 Character Skill use. Everything else is built around that.

1Lock in the Mandatory Relic Effect First

  • 1
    Prioritize any relic that has Ironeye plus 1 additional Character Skill use, even if the other two lines are mid.
  • 2
    Community consensus across recent threads: this is treated as S+++ or malpractice not to run it.

    Mark is both your survival tool and the team's damage multiplier. One charge is not enough to keep it on the boss and use it as a dodge.

  • 3
    Pair it with skill cooldown reduction if you can roll it on the same relic or a second one.
Decision point: If you only have a one-effect plus 1 skill relic, run it anyway. Players repeatedly say a bare plus 1 skill relic beats a god roll without it.

2Choose Your Damage Package

Poison / Mark Burst

Most common for Deep of Night and general play.

Look for: Art or Skill applies poison, attack power vs poisoned enemies (these stack across plus 0, plus 1, plus 2 if they are different tiers), starting bow inflicts poison, Night of the Wise or ED Pest-style relics.

Deep relics: Character Skill inflicts heavy poison damage on poisoned enemies is called mandatory by Depth 4 to 5 players.

Why: Mark plus poison turns your skill into a burst button and lets you keep the debuff rolling.

Physical / Hybrid Melee

Katanas, claws, dual Balancer.

Relics: Red Balancer plus second Balancer or Night Invader, Physical Attack plus 3 or plus 4, Dormant Power: Katanas (or claws).

Strength relic (Vigor plus STR, minus DEX) is praised for letting you use greatbows and quality weapons with almost no bow damage loss.

Why: Ironeye's skill iframes make melee safer than it looks. Players use bow in one hand, katana or claw in the other and weave mark to melee to mark-out.

2Night Invader vs Evergaol

Current Depth meta leans Night Invader (especially Depth 3 to 5). Evergaol is still strong in Normal or early Depth if you actually hit 3 or more gaols. Many players run both when they can.

3Concrete Relic Setups Players Post

3Safe Starter (Shop plus Remembrance)
  • 1
    Edge of Order (bow attack plus thrusting counter after Art).
  • 2
    Plus 1 Skill (any source).
  • 3
    Night of the Lord or Evergaol or Night Invader or poison starter.
3Depth-Focused Example
  • 1
    Plus 1 Skill plus Night Invader plus Physical plus 4 (or poison vs afflicted).
  • 2
    Deep: heavy poison on skill plus Physical plus 4 plus Dormant Katanas.
  • 3
    Extra: defeating enemies fills Art gauge (lets you ult more for revives and tempo).
3Katana Hybrid

Double Balancer plus Dormant Katanas plus Physical Attack plus 4 plus the plus 1 skill relic.

4Weapons Players Actually Use

  • 1
    Primary: Bows (keep one even in melee builds for revives and spacing).

    Mighty Shot, Rain of Arrows, or Barrage are the ashes people mention.

  • 2
    Off-hand or swap: Katanas (Rivers of Blood style when lucky), claws (venomous claw for poison), sometimes whips for specific Nightlords (Caligo fire whip).
  • 3
    Dormant Power relics are how people force the weapon type they want instead of hoping the map drops it.
Decision point: Pure bow vs hybrid. Pure bow if you want to stay at range and mark. Hybrid if you have Balancer relics and want stagger plus skill damage. Most high-Depth Ironeye players describe themselves as hybrid now.

Common Mistakes

Play loop most people describe: Mark to apply or refresh plus iframe, poke with bow or weave melee, mark again before the first one drops, ult when Art gauge is ready (poison ult if you have the line). Survival and mark uptime come before raw personal DPS.