Astel gates one of Elden Ring’s most demanding secret endings, and Nightreign brought the same cosmic horror back as the final boss of its biggest Shifting Earth dungeon — Noklateo, the Shrouded City. Both fights share a name, a design, and a reputation for one-shotting careless players, but they don’t share the same killer move, and most guides treat them as interchangeable. This one doesn’t: here’s the route into both arenas, the exact dodge window for every attack worth knowing, and which grab actually deserves your fear in each version.
Which Astel Are You Fighting?
Two different fights share the same name, and mixing up their attack kits is how guides get people killed. Astel, Naturalborn of the Void first appeared as a secret superboss in the base Elden Ring, gating the Age of Stars ending through Ranni’s questline. Elden Ring Nightreign brought it back as the final boss of Noklateo, the Shrouded City — a Shifting Earth dungeon that only unlocks after your squad has beaten seven different Nightlords [3]. Same design, same lore, different numbers, and — this is the part most write-ups skip — a different signature grab attack.
The lore is worth knowing because it explains why the fight feels the way it does: in-universe, Astel is described as a malformed star born in the lightless void, one that once destroyed an entire Eternal City and stripped away its sky — the same species as the smaller Fallingstar Beasts scattered across the Lands Between, just fully grown. That’s why the arena in both games is a cramped, starlit cavern instead of an open field — you’re fighting something the size of a small building in a space built for something much smaller.
| Elden Ring (original) | Nightreign (Noklateo) | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Grand Cloister, underground Ainsel River [2] | Noklateo, the Shrouded City (Shifting Earth) [1][4] |
| HP | 11,170 [2] | 6,553 solo / 16,251 trio [1] |
| Stance | 120, not parryable [2] | 120, not parryable [1] |
| Signature killer | Teleport + Diving Grab, near-guaranteed kill on hit [8] | Star Slam gravity lift-slam, can one-shot underleveled builds [7] |
| Reward | 80,000 runes + Remembrance of the Naturalborn [2] | 150,000 runes solo / 100,000 trio + Dormant Power + rare weapon [1] |
This guide covers both versions start to finish: the route in, the exact dodge timing for every attack that matters, and which grab you actually need to worry about — because they’re not the same move.
Verified against the Elden Ring Nightreign Noklateo update (patch 1.03.1+) and the current base-game version of Astel’s fight. Values may shift with future balance patches.
When Not to Attempt This Fight
Noklateo doesn’t unlock until your squad has cleared seven of the eight Nightlords, so this isn’t a fight you stumble into on Day 1 — by the time it’s available, you’re already deep into a run. Even so, entering underleveled kills more attempts than the boss itself does: aim for character level 10-11+ and go in on Day 2 if you want enough clock left to actually reach the chapel and fight properly. If your squad is still dying to the basics of a Nightreign expedition before you even reach a Shifting Earth event, our guide to the deaths that kill every Nightreign run is worth reading before you burn a Noklateo attempt on a squad that isn’t ready.
In the base game, nothing gates entry except reaching the Grand Cloister — but going in without a way to survive or avoid a full-HP grab is how most first attempts end in a single hit. Below roughly 40 Vigor, expect the Teleport Grab to kill you outright even from full health. Treat that as a hard prerequisite, not a suggestion.
How to Reach Astel in Nightreign (Noklateo, the Shrouded City)
Noklateo replaces the map’s central castle and covers the entire southwest quadrant — the largest Shifting Earth event in the game. It only appears as a notification at the Roundtable Hold after your squad has downed seven different Nightlords, in any order.
The city is built as two concentric rings: the outer ring is packed with weaker trash and Malformed Stars sniping from range, while the inner ring holds the real bosses and the real loot. There’s a single entrance with high walls all around, and two paths that both eventually funnel toward a chapel in the southwest corner — that’s where Astel waits.
The more thorough inner route:
- Enter and climb the wall on the right side to reach a merchant for last-minute purchases.
- Follow the inner perimeter and clear the Mausoleum Knight along the way — it drops a Dormant Power.
- Climb the fountain tiers to a Site of Grace in the northwest, then push through the archway into the inner tier.
- Clear the Black Knife Assassin guarding a treasure chest of rare weapons, then jump across to the Royal Revenant pit.
- Grab the inner-central Grace, deal with a second Mausoleum Knight, and climb the stairs to the chapel.
If that route feels chaotic mid-run, the simpler read is: drop into the canal, ignore what you can, avoid the Basilisks entirely (their breath applies Death Blight), find the sewer route, and use the Spiritstream to resurface near the bridge. Cross it, clear the Black Knife Assassin waiting there, and the chapel stairs are right behind it. Both routes converge on the same Site of Grace outside the fog gate — top off your flasks there, because there’s no coming back mid-fight.
The clock is the actual danger here, not the trash mobs. Shifting Earth runs on the same storm timer as a normal expedition day, so a squad that clears every side boss on the way in often reaches Astel with no time left to fight it properly.
How to Reach Astel in the Original Elden Ring
In the base game, Astel is optional but effectively mandatory if you’re finishing Ranni’s questline — the elevator it blocks is the only way down to the Moonlight Altar, which the Age of Stars ending requires. From the Grand Cloister Site of Grace, head west and drop through a series of broken ledges, then cross the Scarlet Rot lake beneath the Lake of Rot — don’t linger, the rot buildup adds up fast even with negation gear. On the far side, board the Transportation Coffin overlooking the chasm; it carries you down into a starlit cavern along the underground Ainsel River, and the fog gate is right there.
Every Attack and Its Dodge Window
Astel’s whole kit reads as chaotic until you separate it by version. This is the reconciled list, cross-checked against both games’ current attack data.
| Attack | Version | Tell | How to dodge it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmic Burst | Both | Head rises, a purple orb charges in the jaw | Sidestep the instant the orb ignites — it’s a straight beam, not a tracking one |
| Waves of Darkness | Both | Ground-level pulse that expands outward up to four times | Sprint away the moment the first pulse lands — don’t try to outrun it laterally |
| Sweeping Nebula / Nebula Shove | Nightreign | A hand extends and sweeps, or drags forward slowly | Back away or roll through as the hand passes — the star explosion trails a beat behind the swing |
| Meteorite of Astel | Elden Ring (~50% HP) | A void gathers overhead | Keep moving and sidestep the falling meteors — standing still is what kills you here |
| Star Slam | Nightreign | Boss floats upward, gathering purple stars | Get clear before it lands — this can one-shot an underleveled build outright |
| Teleport + Diving Grab | Elden Ring | Boss vanishes, brief pause, then reappears — watch whether it lands on top of you | Wait a beat after the teleport, then dodge the instant the arms reach for you |
| Tail Sting / lash | Both | Tail lifts above the head | Close the distance — tail attacks barely reach targets standing right underneath the boss |
| Crushing Bite | Elden Ring | Eyes and jaw flash purple | Dodge toward the head, not away from it |
Two positioning tricks matter more than any single dodge. First, Astel’s frontal hitboxes are oversized, so getting caught head-on means dodging sideways, not backward into the boss. Second, lock-on only tracks the head — fighting without it lets you freely hit the feet instead, which is safer positioning and does the same damage. When the boss finally staggers, the recovery window is long: dump everything you have before the critical hit instead of holding back for a second stagger that might not come in time.
Damage type matters more here than in most fights. Astel only negates 10% of physical damage in the base game (roughly the same weak-to-Standard/Slash/Strike/Pierce profile carries into Nightreign), but negates 40% of Magic, Fire, Lightning, and Holy damage in both versions. A pure spellcaster is fighting through nearly half-strength hits the entire time, which is why melee weapons and physical ashes of war close the fight faster than a comparable-level magic build, even though ranged play is safer. If you’re running a caster, budget for a longer fight rather than switching strategy mid-attempt.
The Grab, Explained — Because It’s Not the Same Attack in Both Games
This is the single biggest point of confusion in Astel content, and it’s worth being precise about, because the two grabs kill you in different ways.
In the base game, the move to fear is the Teleport + Diving Grab. Astel vanishes, there’s a short pause, and it reappears — often directly above you. The tell is well-telegraphed once you know to look for it: wait a beat after the teleport to read whether Astel is repositioning away from you or diving straight down, then dodge the instant the arms reach. Connect with it and it’s close to a guaranteed kill regardless of your Vigor — treat every teleport as a potential grab until Astel proves otherwise.
In Nightreign, that specific animation isn’t in the boss’s attack list at all. What replaces it functionally is Star Slam — Astel floats up, gathers a cluster of purple stars, and slams them down in a wide gravity AoE. It isn’t a literal grab, but the effect is the same: get caught in it underleveled and it can one-shot a build outright. If you see the boss lift off the ground and pause, that’s your cue to already be moving, not waiting to react.
The decision rule: if you’re in the base game and Astel teleports, freeze for a half-second to read where it lands before committing to a dodge direction — dodging early into an empty teleport wastes the invincibility frames you’ll need a moment later. If you’re in Nightreign and Astel starts floating upward, don’t wait at all. Start moving the instant it leaves the ground, because Star Slam’s windup is your only warning.
Strategy by Player Type
Astel punishes generic advice. What keeps a new player alive is different from what actually speeds up a hardcore run.
| Player type | What to do |
|---|---|
| New to the fight | Summon help before committing. In the base game, Mimic Tear tanks grab hits that would otherwise one-shot you. In Nightreign, an Ironeye teammate’s marks let squishier classes land safe hits from range instead of trading blows up close. |
| Casual / just want the kill | Fight without lock-on. It only tracks the head, and unlocking lets you freely target the feet — same damage, far less exposure to the oversized frontal hitboxes. |
| Hardcore / optimizing the run | Base game: mid-range magic (Comet Azur, Great Glintstone Shard) sidesteps most of Astel’s close-range kit entirely. Nightreign: Raider’s stagger output shortens the fight before the storm timer becomes the real threat, and Executor’s Cursed Sword deflect chips stance for far less stamina than a normal block, with a timing window looser than most parry systems — see the full Executor guide for exact frame data. |
| Completionist / status build | Apply Poison or Scarlet Rot early. Nightreign’s status buildup thresholds (252/542/999) are roughly half the base game’s (552/842/1299), so a status-focused build actually procs faster in Nightreign than in the original fight — an angle most guides never point out because they only cover one version. |
Melee builds work too, but the approach runs against instinct: don’t sit at mid-range, where most of Astel’s AoE attacks are tuned to hit hardest. Rush in, stay close, and chip away instead, since a large share of the moveset simply misses a target standing right underneath the boss or pressed against its head. Spirit Ashes in the base game and any teammate in Nightreign are worth summoning purely to split aggro; every second Astel spends targeting something else is a free damage window for you.
What You Get for Winning
In the base game, defeating Astel is a hard requirement for the Age of Stars ending — the boss blocks the only elevator down to the Moonlight Altar. You also walk away with 80,000 runes and the Remembrance of the Naturalborn to spend at the Roundtable Hold.
In Nightreign, the payout is bigger but split across two steps. The kill itself drops 150,000 runes solo (100,000 split in a trio), a Dormant Power, and a rare or legendary weapon with a Standard or Cold affinity. Clearing the boss also drops the fog gate behind it, opening the Favor of Noklateo shrine — a Dormant Power that grants one free auto-revive plus a temporary power boost — and a weapon-duplication altar for stacking a strong passive across your whole squad’s loadout.
FAQ
Is Astel in Nightreign the same boss as the original Elden Ring one?
Mechanically, no — same model and lore, different moveset. Nightreign strips the Teleport Diving Grab and Reverse Gravity attacks entirely and replaces them with Star Slam, Sweeping Nebula, and a heavier Waves of Darkness pattern. It also hits noticeably softer per attack than the base-game version, even though its unique gravity slam can still one-shot an underleveled build.
Can I fight Astel more than once in a single Nightreign run?
No. You can only trigger it by re-clearing the Noklateo Shifting Earth event, which requires beating seven different Nightlords again in a fresh run. There’s no way to re-enter an already-cleared Noklateo instance mid-expedition.
Is it worth rushing to Noklateo the moment it unlocks?
Not blindly. It’s the largest Shifting Earth zone in the game and eats clock fast if your squad clears every side boss on the way in — go in with a level and gear plan, not just because the notification popped up. If your run has been struggling to survive to Day 2 at all, our Nightreign review covers why the mode’s difficulty curve punishes exactly that kind of rushed decision.
What’s the single biggest mistake first-timers make?
Treating every teleport in the base game — or every upward float in Nightreign — as a normal repositioning move instead of the start of the grab or slam. Both versions telegraph the kill move clearly once you know what to watch for;
Is Astel easier solo or in a trio in Nightreign?
Neither, really — it scales. Solo HP sits at 6,553; a trio fight scales the pool up to 16,251, so a full squad isn’t fighting a fixed target that gets diluted by extra damage sources the way some Nightreign bosses do. The real trio advantage is aggro splitting, not raw time-to-kill: with three targets to track, Astel spends more of the fight animation-locked into an attack aimed at someone else, which is a bigger swing than the HP scaling suggests on paper.
Conclusion
Astel hasn’t gotten any less dangerous for showing up twice — it just kills you with a different move depending on which game you’re in. Learn the base game’s teleport pause and Nightreign’s float-up tell, fight without lock-on so you can hit the feet, and bring a build that either tanks the grab or never gets close enough to eat it. That’s the whole fight, in both versions. New to Nightreign entirely? Start with the Nightreign beginner’s guide before chasing secret bosses like this one.
Sources
- Nightreign Wiki (Fextralife) — Astel Naturalborn of the Void: eldenringnightreign.wiki.fextralife.com/Naturalborn+of+the+Void
- Elden Ring Wiki (Fextralife) — Astel Naturalborn of the Void: eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Astel+Naturalborn+of+the+Void
- DualShockers — Elden Ring Nightreign: Shifting Earth: Noklateo, The Shrouded City Guide
- Nightreign Wiki (Fextralife) — Noklateo, the Shrouded City
- Game8 — Noklateo, the Shrouded City Guide and Rewards: game8.co/games/Elden-Ring-Nightreign/archives/525926
- Game8 — How to Beat Naturalborn of the Void: game8.co/games/Elden-Ring-Nightreign/archives/528596
- TheGamer — You’ll Have A Tough Time Beating These 8 Difficult Bosses In Elden Ring Nightreign
- GameRant — Elden Ring: How To Beat Astel, Naturalborn Of The Void
- Nightreign Wiki (Fextralife) — Executor Guide, Skills, and How to Unlock
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.