Knight Artorias Guide

Knight Artorias

Perhaps the most anticipated new boss in the DLC, Knight Artorias lives up to his legend on the battlefield.  Throughout Dark Souls, tales of Artorias circulate in item descriptions, character dialogue, and even in a major boss fight.  Having the chance to finally face against the mythic knight stands as one of the highest points of the game.  Hyper-aggressive and utterly relentless, Artorias punishes those who let down their guard even for a second.  Nonetheless, once the timing of his attacks is known, this fight becomes much easier. 

Recommended Gear

  • Light-Medium Armor (Dodging is a must for this fight)
  • A Fast Weapon (Zweihander is not recommended)
  • Shield with Decent Stability
  • Some sort of ranged weapon (Magic, Crossbow etc.)

Move Set

  1. Air Somersault Slam - Fast, powerful move that he can chain into two or three hit sequences while tracking your movement.
  2. Dash Thrust - Fast, heavily damaging, ranged move where Artorias glides across the entire arena.
  3. Leaping Downward Stab - Heavily Damaging, distant attack that spans the whole arena
  4. Abyss Buff - A vortex of Abyssal energy surrounds Artorias buffing his damage and defense that explodes for heavy damage at the end.
  5. Gliding Slash Combo - A medium-ranged, medium damage horizontal slash that Artorias can combo into a upward cut..
  6. Abyssal Slime Toss - After landing a hit on Artorias, he sometimes tosses slime around him for light damage and a stagger. 
  7. Spinning Sword Slash - A heavily damaging spinning attack similar to Sif's devastating spin move that can strike twice in rapid succession.
  8. Heavy Downward Slam - A slow, heavy damage blow that strikes from overhead.

Strategy 

This fight is all about dodging.  Learning the timing of his attacks and knowing how long it will take from the beginning of his attack animations to their actual contact is essential to victory.  Use your shield to simply learn these patterns for the first part of the fight and heal when necessary.  Then practice dodging against them.  The Air Somersault Slam and the Dash Thrust are particularly hairy to dodge because they track your character meaning if you dodge too early, Artorias will still connect and deal heavy damage.  The key is to dodge right before the moment of contact not as soon as he starts his animation.  Eventually, once most of his  move set is learned, go on the offensive.  Great moments to counter attack include: Right after his Leaping Downward Stab when he's pulling his sword out of the ground; After the third Air Somersault Slam; and using a ranged attack when he starts up his Abyss Buff.  Also, if ranged damage isn't your specialty, you can go and wail on Artorias during the Abyss Buff but make sure you get away before his final explosion detonates.  As usual, with Dark Souls bosses, get in one or two hits and then get out.  Don't get greedy or Artorias will slaughter you in two or three hits.  

Notes

I'd like to give a shout out to two of the greatest Dark Souls vids on Youtube for their awesome vids: Gamefront's Mitch and James and EpicNameBro.  Thanks for making all your great videos.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep - Ranking Every Exotic Weapon #20 - #1

Image
Ranking Every Exotic Weapon in Destiny 2 #20 - #1 Between the launch of Shadowkeep, the newest expansion, and going to free-to-play, Destiny 2 has seen a vast increase in its player count. New players intrigued by the radical changes at Bungie and old, disenchanted guardians alike are logging in to check out the current PvP and PvE sandboxes. And whether they're engaging with the insidious forces of darkness or duking it out in the Crucible, some of the best tools of destruction to utilize are the exotic weapons. With the ever evolving meta and a vast collection of exotic specific quests, it can be tough to decide which weapons are worth pursuing and which ones are better off vaulted.  With that in mind I've put together a complete list of all sixty-one exotic weapons in the game and ranked them based on a variety of criteria. The categories within which I ranked each weapon are as follows: Player vs. Environment, Player vs. Player, Gambit, Power Fantasy, Endgame, and
Read more

How to Beat Darkeater Midir - Dark Souls III: The Ringed City

Image
Darkeater Midir Widely regarded as the most challenging boss in the Ringed City DLC, Darkeater Midir is an absolute monster. With a massive health bar, seemingly endless hitboxes, and a variety of highly damaging area attacks, he can single-handedly make the end of your playthrough ultra aggravating. However, the challenge of this boss is mostly smoke and mirrors designed to punish those who are overly aggessive. If you approach this fight methodically, like a marathon as opposed to a sprint, and identify Darkeater Midir's heavily telegraphed moveset, you'll emerge victorious. Below, I'll cover my recommended gear set up, the boss's move set and my recommended reaction, and overall strategy to beat him. Additionally, anytime something is written in red , it signifies a good moment for a counter attack or an important thing to note. Let's jump right in with the gear you're going to want. Recommended Gear Medium High Fire/Dark Resistance Armor (Dragonsc
Read more

Top 10 Bosses in Darksiders II

Image
Top 10 Bosses in Darksiders II When I make top ten lists about bosses, I take into consideration three things: the quality of the fight, the art design and fighting style of the boss, and the motivations, from a story perspective or from a pure revenge standpoint, for me to defeat the enemy.  Also, for Darksiders II, I had my difficulty set at Apocalyptic from the beginning. 10. Ghorn By itself, the boss fight against Ghorn is fun, but nothing to write home about.  He does have a pair of unique moves that spice up the action with geysers of lava erupting out of the floor and detonating himself for an AoE move.  Nonetheless, the fight feels fairly familiar considering the enemies strewn throughout The Forge Lands.  The thing that makes him interesting is that he is one of the only bosses that harasses you throughout the dungeon.  As soon as you enter The Scar, Ghorn makes an appearance, destroying a bridge you're walking on.  Later, he causes a pool of lava to rise as you a
Read more