Bosses

A little bit of tips on bosses that both me and Victor (our reviewer, who have cleared the game three times!) beaten. The strategies you see here are based on our personal experiences with the game, so it’s conceivable there are much easier ways to get past the bosses out there. There are tons of spoilers here, so read this only if you must!

Boletaria Palace

1.1 Phalanx

Firebombs and turpentine are your best friends when up against Phalanx. Make sure you shield yourself properly and watch out for the mini Phalanx that start scattering around after their boss taken enough hits. Being right in front of an Archstone lets you buy firebombs and turpentines before entering the fight but I beat it on first try without any of those items, just a good Herbert weapon (I’m a Temple Knight).

1.2 Tower Knight

This dude is an armored giant who packs a mean kick attack and a super laser shot. Upon entering the boss area, your first move is to run up one of the stairs on either side and kill off all the soldiers shooting arrows from above. When that’s done, lock on to Tower Knight’s head and start shooting arrows or casting offensive spells such as Soul Arrow or Soul Light. Tower Knight will use his laser attack on you when he’s hit, so be prepared to roll to the side upon every successful attack. But if you’re strategically positioned, chances are you won’t be hit at all.

If you’ve run out of arrows and have no access to spells, the odds against you have just shot up by about a hundred times. But defeating this boss is still possible. Basically, you have to run up to him and roll continuously sideways when you see that that he’s about to make an attack, be it a swipe or a stomp. With practice and luck, you should be behind him after the rolls and you’ll be able to make 2-3 strikes on his legs. When he takes sufficient damage, he falls down and you can then attack his head for massive damage. Have loads of grasses on standby though, as his attacks may kill you in about 2-3 strikes. If you can, long range is still the way to go for this boss.

1.2 Tower Knight (Killing the Red Dragon)

Killing this flying flame thrower takes tons of patience. For the easy way, equip your “Death Cloud” spell, go to the first passage way where you first meet the dragon. Walk slowly forward until you are right in front of a pool of char-grilled corpses. You should see the dragon swooping down just in front of you and flaming the entire passage way ahead. As it flies in a recurring pattern, watch its flight pattern a few times to gauge the timing. When you’re settled, cast “Death Cloud” on the empty passage way in front of you just moments before it swoop down. The dragon should be poisoned. Now, go have tea and come back a good 15 minutes later. It should be dead by then.

For the slightly harder way, buy about 200 heavy arrows and get a good bow. Proceed past the first guard tower, go underground, and emerge from the second guard tower. Walk out from the entrance (you should be facing the first guard tower now), go into first person mode, and start shooting the dragon. It takes a bit of practice as the dragon flies pretty fast. When you have gauged its timing, you should have no problem taking out the dragon with about 150 shots or so.

1.3 Penetrator

This guy is crazy fast, and packs a super throwing move that lifts you off the ground with his sword and stomps you down for (more often than not) instantaneous death kill. Like most of the bosses in Demon’s Souls, long range is still the best approach against the Penetrator. Basically, stand back, and throw your ranged attacks and spells at him. When he starts dashing towards you, run in a different direction until he goes into his attack motions. Attack, then repeat the formula until he’s dead. It sounds easy but it’s not, because of how lightning quick he is…

Which is why we recommend the wimp method. Before facing this boss, go crazy in the stage and kill off everyone you meet; one of them (a spell-caster with a hat) will leave behind a key which can be used to open up a door at the corridor just before Tower Knight, the boss of stage 1.2. Go through that door, and use the same key to save an old general. Now go back to face the Penetrator, and the general will aid you in the fight, mostly by distracting the impossible boss and ensuring you have ample opportunities to take him out from behind. Using this method, the Penetrator falls in like 15 seconds. A sorry end to a mighty foe.

1.4 False King

The mighty False King is the perfect warrior. He’s fast, and has the ability to dash from one end of the room to the other and cut you down while your stamina replenishes. He’s also strong, and can usually destroy you with 3-4 well-placed attacks even with all your defense-boosting spell in place. Most importantly, he has a soul suck attack that levels you down whilst taking off about 3/4 of your HP.

For us, there’s only one sure-fire way to win this fight. When you enter the boss area, dash immediately to your left and hide just below the elevated hall. The False King will walk to the middle area, and turn his back against you because he can’t sense your presence. Now sneak up to him, cast Poison Cloud or Death Cloud, and watch his HP depletes (very) slowly. After 30 minutes or so, you have won the fight without even lifting a sword.

If you’re feeling heroic and wish to defeat him face to face, do this: roll away as he’s dashing towards you, attack him once, and run to the other end of the room. Repeat. And while doing so, pray for good luck because you’ll be needing lots of it.

1.4 False King (Killing the Large Dragon)

With a good bow and about 250 arrows, taking out this dragon is actually pretty easy. At the long passage way where you first see it, just stand at a relatively safe distance and shoot it continuously. When you reduce its HP to about half, it’ll roar and fly away.

Now proceed to the palace entrance, and you’ll see it way on top breathing flame down on you. To prevent any mishap, equip your best anti-flame shield, beef up your defense, and start making your way forward. You should be running right at the moment it stops breathing flame, which gives you just about time to dash up the stairs and get past its flame area without sustaining any damage (if you did sustain damage, that’s where all those defense-upping measures come in, giving you just enough stats to survive 1-2 hits).

Now that you’re directly under it, equip your bow, lock on to its head (you don’t have to go into first person mode), and start blasting away. If you run out of arrows, soul light works as well, but you need loads of MP-replenishing goodies to do this. After about 20 minutes, your patience would have run dry but you’ll also have a dead dragon on your hands.

Stonefang Tunnel

2.1 Armor Spider

The first boss of Stonefang Tunnel is a giant spider stuck in a narrow tunnel. Make sure you have full health, preferably in your own body, plenty of health items and your armors are in good condition (repair them as often as possible). It has half a dozen attacking patterns, the fire balls and web attack can be easily dodged (press X to roll, you are immune to damages during the animation) and also your best chance to get close to it and land a few hits. However, don’t be greedy and try to quickly run back to your starting point as fast as possible because it’s hard to get out of its body stomp or fire attack alive when you’re right below it.

2.2 Flamelurker

After taming the lamest boss in Armored Spider, you get to meet arguably the toughest boss in Flamelurker. Straight out of the pages of the Lord of the ring movie and the Berserk manga, Flamelurker is a muscle beast wrapped in flame whose attacks are packed with raw power. It has an area-based flame attack that can easily kill you if you’re not blocking, as well as explosive punches that take you out in as little as 3-4 hits. Let’s not forget it also moves extremely fast especially when its HP is brought to 1/2 or less, and doesn’t seem to allow you any time to replenish your stamina or eat a healing item.

Fighting this guy is all about preparation. For a start, you need to wear your best defensive equipments against fire, but they can’t be too heavy or they’ll hinder your ability to quick roll. You also need to boost your fire resistance through rings, spells, and items; and have a shield that blocks fire effectively. Level up if you must. With all these, fight Flamelurker just as you would any other enemy. Roll away when it attacks, block with a shield if rolling away isn’t an option, and take systematic swipes (usually 2 hits max) with your ranged or melee weapons when the opportunity presents itself. There is no sure way to approach Flamelurker. Sometimes it may go crazy and kill you before you make a move, sometimes it just goes ballistic on empty spaces leaving itself vulnerable to your attacks. All we can say is: Good Luck.

2.3 Dragon God

Dragon God is a humongous dragon with a deadly flame breath attack. When you enter the boss area, equip a thief ring (so Dragon God would notice you less) and beef up your defense using spells. Move down the long narrow corridor, turn right, and make your way to the end. Dragon God may attack you with its claws, so be mindful to hide behind the strategically placed pillars. Once at the end, you’ll see a machine. Activate it, and it shoots an arrow that takes out half of Dragon God’s HP.

Now move to the lower platform and make your way to the other end of the boss area (once again relying on the pillars). This time, Dragon God will use its fire breath attacks which will instantly kill you if you don’t have your shield up and stats-enhancing spells in place – so make sure you do. When you’re successfully on the other side, activate the other machine and Dragon God would be pinned down. Move towards the new opened-up area, and starts shooting arrows or spells at its head. In a matter of seconds, you would have beaten this surprisingly easy boss.

Tower of Latria

3.1 Fool’s Idol

First, kill the zombie on top of the church before fighting Fool’s Idols. The door can be hard to find but it’s just right in front of you when you first enter the area outside the church (where the red phantom is). If you don’t kill him, Fool’s Idols will just keep respawning no matter how many times you kill her and you’ll have no access to the other areas of the map.

I’m a Temple Knight and it’s alway tough against magic-powered enemies, so this one is no different. I use only bow here, with a little hack-and-slash for Idol’s clones and the zombies. Idol won’t attack you unless you hit her first or are out in the open, so run to the first pillar (the one closest to her) and give her as many arrows as possible (four is the max I figured out before she teleport).

Next, run and hide behind the last pillar (the one closest to the church entrance) while keeping an eye on where Idol and her clones reappear. Their only difference is the magic attacks, Idol’s attack is a powerful wave while the clones are the magic arrows. You should focus on the real Idol but two arrows are normally enough to kill the clones (or you can just use your weapons if you don’t have that many arrows left). The more hits you get on Idol, the more clones she will makes, so try to get as many hits from your chances before she fill up the church with clones!

3.2 Maneater

Another tough nut in the realm of the Flamelurker of stage 2.2, Maneater is a winged gargoyle with a ferocious punch that can send you flying backward upon impact, which isn’t a good thing seeing how this boss fight takes place on a tiny stone bridge hanging in the sky. Like Flamelurker, there’s an element of luck in fighting this boss. You may be dropping off the bridge in the first 5 seconds if Maneater goes ballistic, or you may totally destroy it if it decides to stay passive. There’s no way to tell for sure.

To fight this mean beast, make sure you enhance your defense using spells or you’ll be dead upon 2-3 well connected hits. When you enter into the boss area, dash straight for the platform at the centre of the bridge (to ensure Maneater doesn’t make you fall off the bridge with one good hit). Circling around the centre area, wait for Maneater to go into its attack motions, then dash forward and take 1-2 clean hits. When it flies off to the distance, equip your wand and starts shooting Soul Light. After getting moderate damage on Maneater, another Maneater appears and you’ll be fighting off two of them. Basically, follow the same patterns as above, and pray that they do not attack you simultaneously from both directions. With practice and a little luck, you should have two dead Maneaters in about 10 minutes.

3.3 Old Monk

Old Monk is quite a generic boss. He walks around, attacks you when he gets near enough, and shoots orbs at you which can be easily dodged off by side rolling. To fight him, simply equip your best weapon (be it melee, ranged or magic), and take 1-2 hits from a safe distance, then run / roll away when he gets too near. The only thing you need to watch out is the sheer power of his attack, which has a tendency to take off almost your entire bar of HP with one clean hit. If you remember to keep your defense boosting spells up and have an abundance of grasses on standby, this fight should just be like fighting any other enemies – tough, but survivable.

Shrine of Storms

4.1 Adjudicator

The Adjudicator is a beast with a mean tongue-lashing attack, and worse of all, the fight takes place in a small area with little room to run away or heal. To fight him as a magic-caster, stay on the upper floor of the room and circle around in an anti-clockwise direction. Because the Adjudicator is somewhat slow in turning, you should be able to get behind it, target its head and cast an offensive spell such as Soul Light; then run off before it is able to lash at you with its tongue. Keep doing this and it should be dead in mere minutes.

If you’re going in melee-style, beef up your defense with spells and equip yourself with your best weapon. Jump down onto the lower floor where it is, and aim for a very visible wound on its body, always keeping in mind to roll sideways when you see it’s about to make an attack. Do this long enough and the Adjudicator should fall down, exposing its head and weak-point to you. Using this pattern, you’ll have another dead boss under your belt in no time.

4.2 Old Hero

First thing’s first: the Old Hero is blind, but insanely powerful. To tackle this boss, you need to stay quiet, and equipping a thief ring usually helps to further diminish your presence. Basically, you just need to stay far away from him, wait for him to go into one of his attack motions, then dash in from behind and give him 2 to 3 clean hits. He’ll go mad and starts smashing the surrounding because he can’t see you. Simply dodge away, and run to the other end of the boss area. Repeat.

If you have plenty of arrows and offensive spells, shooting him from afar works even better, as it gives you ample time to run to safety in case he rushes you – which could easily eats up 3/4 of your HP. Whatever the case, the Old Hero is one of the easier bosses of the game, so you really shouldn’t have any problem especially when you’ve come this far in the game.

4.3 Storm King

Storm King is a giant alien-like flying creature with the ability to shoot multiple high-damage arrows at you. The fight with Storm King isn’t so much fighting the boss, but more of getting rid of the 20 odd smaller flying creatures each equipped with the ability to shoot arrows at you. Without defense-boosting spells or shield, every arrow easily eats away half of your HP, which is what makes this boss fight so dangerous.

If you’re a magic caster, systematically killing off the smaller creatures from afar with Soul Light will be the safest way. But if you’re a pure melee character, equip a thief ring, boost up your defense, and rush to the open area where the stone pillars are. You should see a sword sticking up from the ground. Pull it up and equip it. Now you’ll have the ability to summon an air-splitting sonic boom that destroy anything in its path. Using one of the larger stone pillars as shield, abuse your new-found power to take care of the flying creatures. Pretty soon, Storm King would appear. Dodge its arrows and use the sonic boom when it’s near. About 10-12 hits should finish off this boss.

Valley of Defilement

5.1 Leechmonger

Although I’ve yet to find any success with it, mainly due to me being Temple Knight at early stage, strong magic users should be able to clear Leechmonger with just ranged magic attack like Soul Arrow. However, since the monster know how to regenerate its health, you’ll have to have a longer MP bar so you don’t constantly need to feed yourself with spices to regenerate your MP, which will give it ample time to recover and turn this into a really long and boring fight.

Melee fight is dangerous but much more exciting. It takes some observation but Leechmonger’s attacking pattern is really predictable. My winning weapon is Halberd, which I don’t think is recommended but it works for me. It will be extremely useful if you have turpentine to apply to your weapons but without it, it’s still highly possible (I only had one).

Always try to get it to attack you with the “leech balls” by hiding in a couple of spots that are not easy for them to hit you. If you run randomly while it’s making this attack, you should be able to avoid it most of the time. When it’s doing this, I would run towards it quickly and make a few slashes, the monster will takes a while to come up with its close range attack. Enough for you to roll away to avoids its swing attack or at least cut down the damages you’d take. Repeat this a few times and the ugly monster will be gone.

5.2 Dirty Colossus

In the tradition of Leechmonger, Dirty Colossus is another boss with the ability to infect you with goo-like creepies-crawlies that seriously hinder your movement and condition. But unlike Leechmonger, Dirty Colossus is somewhat easier because you have the opportunity to burn off the goo by hugging any one of the strategically-placed flames surrounding the boss area.

In terms of fighting this boss, there isn’t really a preferred or more effective strategy as far as we know. Just follow the standard pattern of rushing in, unleashing 1-2 hits, rolling away, and treating yourself with the relevant grasses or flame as needed. Like most bosses, shooting magic spells such as Soul Light from afar works well. Just keep an eye out for your HP and you should do fine.

5.3 Astraea

Fighting Astraea is all about actually getting to her, which is quite a daunting task. Because the entire boss area is a poison swamp filled with re-spawning creatures, and the only trail leading to her is blocked by her armored bodyguard – a dude with super high defense due to his awesome equipment – we have yet to successfully get close enough to defeat this boss the melee way.

To defeat Astraea, we suggest a good bow (ie. the white bow) equipped with close to 150 hard arrows. Moving right from the entrance of the boss area, you should come to an area which allows you to see Astraea, but not close enough for you to lock on to her. With your bow, go into first-person mode, and start blasting Astraea with arrows. She usually counters by summoning a healing spell, but the rate of her HP restoration should be a tad slower than the damage she’s suffering. If you have moderate archer stats and enough arrows, she should die pretty soon.

Wannabe Allant

This fight is so easy it’s unbelievable. The so-called final boss, Wannabe Allant, basically swims around in a swamp ahead of you, waiting for you to blast him with arrows and spells. You won’t need to shed an ounce of HP taking him out.