jeudi 27 octobre 2016

Dark Souls 3 Ashes of Ariandel: How to Defeat the First Boss


The Champion's Gravetender and his Gravetender Greatwolf are the first of two Bosses you will face in Dark Souls 3's Ashes of Ariandel DLC - and the only optional boss.

The Champion's Gravetender may be optional - but is required to defeat if players seek to join the Undead Matches and engage in arena PvP. He can be found in the Depths of the Painting, far below the rope bridge that can be cut to form a ladder down.

Both the Gravetender and Greatwolf are actually just strengthend versions of regular enemies - the Gravetender acting like any other NPC invade (minus estus) and the Greatwolf uses attacks similar to the other wolves. As such, both have generally low hit points, and being humanoid, the Gravetender can be parried, staggered, and backstabbed.

Champion's Gravetender Video Guide

As you draw near the large structure, the Champion's Gravetender will emerge from the fauna to attack, sending three Wolves ahead of him.

Taking out the weaker additions is going to be a theme in this fight, and thankfully these are the only three small Wolves you need to deal with. It’s in your best interest to aggressively engage the Wolves as they draw near, before the Gravetender can catch up with them, since the Wolves will only take a few hits to down. If not, you’ll have to do a delicate dance to keep them all at bay while you finish picking off the Wolves - or risk getting torn to shreds.

Alone, the Champion's Gravetender isn’t the toughest enemy you’ll ever meet. He comes equipped only with a straight sword and shield combo known as the Valorheart. This weapon allows him to form quick strikes, and even stunning shield bashes, and he’ll often either run in for a leaping strike or go into stance before unleashing a spinning attack combo or shield bash.

Thankfully, he has a rather short range, and a hefty weapon can even break his guard with a couple strikes to his shield. Beneath that, he only wears a bit of chainmail, so expect his health to drop fairly fast, especially if you can capitalize on breaking his guard, or getting behind him when he tries a leaping strike. In fact, if you can consistently break his guard, you should be doing this as much as you can, because he won’t be alone for long.

When he gets under half health, and hopefully even lower if you can lay into the damage, he’ll often do two things: He’ll pull out a Sorcerer’s Staff to start harassing you with simple Soul Darts and the like - and he’ll summon the Gravetender Greatwolf. This is why you need to take out the Gravetender as quick as you can, because if both are alive at the same time, things are going to get really frustrating. Left unchecked, the Gravetender will alternate with sniping you with magic arrows to bait you into attacking him, or leaping in to strike you while you’ve got your attention. And make no mistake, the Greatwolf is by far the most dangerous of the two, and is able to destroy your health if you aren’t constantly dodging.

If you fought the previous Greatwolves in the Snowfields, you’ll have some idea of what to expect: The Greatwolf here has much more health, but uses similar attacks, hopefully you spoke to Lady Friede and got the Chillbite Ring as it will help negate some of his frostbite attacks. It can lunge in for one or two strong bite attacks which are the best to dodge and strike back on. It will also leap around before summoning a wind around it before dashing at you in a very strong attack (think Vordt or Oceiros) that you need to dodge to survive. He’ll often do it twice, so stay locked on and wait for the wind to form to find the right time to dodge. When he lowers his head - prepare for him to leap forward in a strong head bash that will send you flying - blocking will likely take a lot of stamina, so try dodging behind instead to strike.

At around half of the Greatwolf’s health, he’ll let loose a long howl giving you a moment to strike before his eyes turn red and he transforms into his next phase. In addition to being stronger, faster, and meaner, he’ll also be able to breathe out an immense wave of frost starting from his right side (again, think Vordt). The range is long and the damage is immense - requiring you to either run far away or get around behind him - or dodge around his face to his right when the breath moves left. He’ll also try and trick you during his wind dashes, leaping about several times before making his move. The key is always to wait until you can see the wind form around him before getting ready to dodge.

Plan your hits carefully - like after his close range bites or if you can run past his frost breath, and he will eventually fall before you - granting you Valorheart weapon and the Champion’s Bones to access the Undead Matches back the Firelink Bonfire.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire