How to find the enemy stealing your runes in Elden Ring Nightreign

Elden Ring Nightreign locusts stealing levels: A close-up shot of Wylder, keeled over with his head dipped. — (Image credit: FromSoftware)

Unquestionably the most annoying and harmful random event in Elden Ring Nightreign is the plague of locusts that can appear quite regularly once you've beaten most of the Nightlords. These pests steal your levels (yes, plural, as they can attack each player more than once) and fly away, and the only hint you're given is to "find the enemy who is stealing your runes". Not very helpful, is it?

To save you precious time and levels, especially if you've been to the best Elden Ring Nightreign rune farming spots, here's how to stop the locusts stealing your runes.

How to stop the locusts stealing your runes in Elden Ring Nightreign

Elden Ring Nightreign locusts stealing levels: Ironeye chasing a cloud of locusts, with a red arrow pointing in the direction they're heading. — (Image credit: FromSoftware)

To find the enemy stealing your runes during the locust plague event, follow the black clouds of bugs as they fly away, and they'll lead you to an invader boss (which I'll spoil below) that you'll then need to kill. The boss is almost invisible until you attack it, though its health bar will appear, so you'll know when you're in the right place.

When you kill the boss, all the levels they stole from you will be returned to you in runes, so you'll need to spend them to level back up—an easy detail to miss amongst all the chaos. As with the Fell Omen invasion, you'll also get a special buff for the rest of your run: Random hits against enemies have a chance to reward you with a great amount of runes. Unfortunately this event is random and can happen on either day one or two, because getting this buff at the start lets you reach level 15 very easily, which is a big advantage against any of the Nightreign bosses and Nightlords.

Elden Ring Nightreign locusts stealing levels: An almost-invisible moth called the Sentient Pest in a marsh area with magic swirling around it. — (Image credit: FromSoftware)

The enemy stealing your runes—an invading Sentient Pest—can sometimes be on the other side of the map, so you'll need to keep an eye out for more locust swarm clouds as you go. While the boss doesn't move, Limveld is far from flat, making it hard to consistently keep track of. This is also why I recommend dropping everything to complete this event right away, especially if you're on day two, as there's a risk the wall starts closing and the Sentient Pest could be outside the zone. If you're ever unsure where to head, stand still and look at the skyline, where you should see multiple clouds of locusts to reorient your pursuit.

Thankfully, finding the Sentient Pest is the hard work. Unlike the expedition to hunt this Nightlord specially, you'll be fighting the massive moth on its own when it invades you, and it's relatively easy to take down.

Rory has made the fatal error of playing way too many live service games at once, and somehow still finding time for everything in between. Sure, he’s an expert at Destiny 2, Call of Duty, and more, but at what cost? He’s even sunk 1,000 hours into The Elder Scrolls Online over the years. At least he put all those hours spent grinding challenges to good use over the years as a freelancer and guides editor. In his spare time, he’s also an avid video creator, often breaking down the environmental design of his favourite games. If you can’t track him down, he’s probably lost in a cave with a bunch of dwarves shouting “rock and stone” to no end.

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