Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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No summons/No parry/No magic
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Absolutely insane end to this DLC. I wasn't expecting anything that would take more than a single day but I got humbled pretty quick after reaching his second phase for the first time. It gets to a point where his first phase becomes almost easy and you have to spend every second phase attempt studying the exact inputs you have to perform to not get one shotted by every other attack. I love his first phase, but I don't like his second phase at all. Everything was satisfying to dodge correctly but that doesn't mean it was good. Like a lot of other bosses, it had the potential to be spectacular but was over tuned to a point where it seemed genuinely unfair most of the time. I think about 90% of my second phase deaths were getting stunlocked from the light trails that led directly into another attack. It felt like one minor mistake could spell the end of your run even if you were at full health right before. At a certain point I stopped paying attention to how many flasks I had going into second phase, because I'd usually die before I had the chance to use even half of them. Most of my other deaths in either phase were due to that quick 3 hit combo that he has that can't be dodged with rolls. The attack where he quick strikes with his left hand and immediately follows it up with a right hand slash and ends the combo with an X-shaped cut is fucking terrible. If you roll the first slash, 90% of the time you'll get clipped by the second one and you can't double roll it. You have to dodge the first two attacks with one roll. The only "consistent" way I found was to get as close to his left swing as possible and dodge diagonally--forward and to the right. This is pretty close to being a frame perfect so the fact that its the most reliable way to dodge the attack is pretty concerning. If there was one thing I'd change about the first phase, it's definitely that. Combined with the AOE stunlock that it turns into in the second phase, it doesn't get a lot better. I got incredibly lucky on this run, as my healthbar was pretty much gone at one point but I managed to heal back to full. From there, I guess I had something of a miracle run. I'm trying not to let this second phase taint my perception of the DLC as a whole, but with him being the grand finale to the whole thing, it's kinda hard not to. So far FromSoft is 0 for 2 with final boss second phases in this game, even though they crushed it with the respective first phases. I've heard this is the hardest boss in the entire series and I believe it. Honestly I'd be surprised if it wasn't at least in the top 3 hardest bosses in all of gaming. To end off this description on a good note, I'd like to talk about the music. I think its my favorite track in the game. The tension and atmosphere that both phases create is wonderful. In addition to representing both phases perfectly, its genuinely just a beautiful track all around. The music might be the saving grace of the second phase. While I hate dealing with all his AOE attacks, I think it just might be worth powering through it just to hear the entire rest of the song. Anyway, gonna hit a NG+ run with his weapons & armor now.