what makes it ironic is that you need to defeat this dragon in order to make the battle with Vendrick easier while in fact Vendrick's battle is easier than this battle itself if you got 4 Soul of a Giant of course
Man, Vendrick is a sissy. I fought him with only one giant souls I found on accident and won on the first try, not taking a point of damage. I burned through a few repair powders, but he really needs something better to him.
Maybe this wasn't know when these comments were sent, but you don't need to kill the Ancient Dragon to get his soul. You talk to him and get a memory key, then go to Brightstone Cove boss location and enter the memory of the dead ancient dragon there and you get his soul.
I pretty much need to kill the dragon to kill vendrick because I consumed the first giant soul from the memory of Jeigh. Vendrick is still pretty much impossible with only 3.
@@ihatehandleupdate i will give u a tip: grab Dragontooth +5 and hit one of his legs then if you see the leg that youre hitting getting up run to his 2nd leg and do the same but it can bug and his leg can hit you faster so i wish you luck
They really have, moreso than any other souls game. But ranged battle is always going to be the "easymode" just based on their nature. In PvP it's the opposite though, with it being super easy to dodge all spells and punish them in their recovery animations plus roll bsing.
Scott Morales Idk if I've just gotten lucky in pvp or what, but I haven't lost a single 1v1 with my pure intel and attunement build. I dodge all melee attacks with my 110 agility rolls and then two or three shot with soul spear or greater resonant soul.
+Jazz1992 Well, there wasn't much variation in DS1 boss fights either. Apart from them getting easier after a while (ambush dogs gone, heal after drop, get to more space with Centipede etc etc..
wena dross. como es la vida, no esperaba encontrarte por aca jajajajaj. espero q te haya ido bien con el dragon (yo aun no logro matarlo). Saludos desde Chile compañero
Kryptic Studios Corp I just burned almost 20 effigys while fighting this bastard ..always running for his tail ..works a couple of times but since the fight takes for ever he will 180° turn in mid air at one point ..and than you are dead. Wish I'd seen this video befor I killed him finaly by luck and with a human summon ...
For those of you having a lot of trouble with this, this is the strategy I used that is much simpler and easier than whats in this video. 1 ) So as you enter run immediately to the front claw on your right (Dragon's left side), hit it a few times until he moves. You should be directly in front of the claw because if you are he will step forward with that leg and push you backwards towards his head. 2 ) Now run directly beside the dragon's head (just move a bit back from the front leg) 3 ) Wait here and see if he does a head smash (bite?) move. 4a ) If it USES THE HEAD SMASH ATTACK, dodge backwards and wait exactly in front of where his head used to be. It will return to this spot and you cant get 2-3 hits in. Then back up to in front of the dragon's head and wait. If you waited in the right spot he will try to breathe fire again, this is your chance to hit that same claw again and repeat step 1-3. 4b ) If instead he STARTS FLAPPING ITS WINGS run backwards and to your left (farther away from the dragons left side). Then when the fire is gone, run back to the front claw you ran to originally and hit it as much as you can. From here repeat steps 1-3 until you kill it. Note: Something I noticed is that the dragon will (almost) always aim its fire breath where you were standing the moment when it took off into the air. If you start running too early (before it takes off, ie. just opening the wings), it will aim farther away from its body because you will be farther away when it jumps up. If you only start running right when it takes off, it will breathe fire very close to its body (where you were at the time) and gives you more room on the platform where you will be safe. This strategy got me the kill as soon as i tried it, though I had died dozens of times to all other strategies on youtube, which are much riskier in my opinion.
Sorry but this is a significantly worse strat. By the time you get from the bottom left back up to his front paws he's already doing the attack again and you'll be out of stamina
@@poppapalpatine8624 tbh if stamina is the major inhibiting factor then you are either underleveled or didn't invest enough points in stamina. Doesn't make it not viable though. That's like saying a strategy relying on stagger isn't good because you are using light weapons
@@Dakrontik Sorry I didn't mean to come off as aggressive earlier. I kinda got down the stamina management part of the fight the real trouble I'm mostly having is just getting away in time. Even if I'm running the whole time I still feel like I can barely ever get out of the way of the fire in time it just covers so much of the stage. I appreciate the help a lot.
@@poppapalpatine8624 no worries I was probably overreacting a tad as well. Good luck with the fight and keep trying until you get those timings just right!
OMG, thank you so much. Finally a strategy that actually works. I tried the tail chasing, the x, the ranged. I could not kill him for the life of me. But I did this strategy solo the first try. If anybody's interested in doing this melee, try to have the highest dps weapon setup you have for your character and remove all but very light armor. This was my setup: Weapons: dual +9 Zweihanders, one magic, one lightning. Gave great magic weapon to one of them when I could to help increase damage. Armor: Jester's gloves +10 and Tseldora Trousers +9. Rings: Red Tearstone Ring (I'll come back to this in a moment), Ring of Blades, Silver Covetous Serpent Ring +1, Chloranthy Ring +1 About the Red Tearstone Ring: If your hp is low it increases damage by 20%, well that's great, but if you fight him with full health you don't get that effect, in addition, with my armor, and a 100% fire shield, AND flash sweat, unless I was at full health he would still one hit me. So you might as well go into the battle at low health. Just get your setup ready and then drop a couple times somewhere to decrease your health and get the effect. This is definitely a balls to the wall type strategy, but with a boss like this you don't have much of a choice. Just make sure you pull out after getting in your one or two hits on his toes, and if you see his wings open the slightest bit, book it. The only time he opens his wings with the strategy is to do the overhead flame shower attack.
Hey guys I found an even easier way. You don't have to worry about the fire except for his initial attack when you walk through the fog gate. Here's my method: After walking through the fog gate I ran to the right side of him when he did his fire attack. I then ran to his back leg and stood between his big toe and middle toe (or talon if you prefer). I attacked between those toes and when he lifted his leg, I rolled to the other one. Then I waited between his toes until he moved back to his regular stance and attacked again until he lifted his foot again and rolled back to the other one. Rinse and repeat. This is ALL I did. If you stay between his toes he won't use any other attack aside from the stomp attack. Here's the equipement I used: +10 Lightning Claymore +5 Magic Staff of Wisdom (I usedCrystal Magic Weapon before I walked through the fog gate for a bit of extra damage) Jester's Gloves (For a few extra souls) +1 Cloranthy Ring Third Dragon Ring +1 Ring of Blades +1 Covetous Silver Serpent Ring (Even MOAR souls!) I had enough stamina to attack three times, safely, before he lifted his foot and I rolled to the other one. I just rolled straight at the other foot and never got hit once. PLEASE UPVOTE THIS SO PEOPLE CAN SEE!
@@cheezcruncher That happened to me a few times. I went in naked which helped tremendously because I was fast enough to get under his tail and avoid taking damage. Just run back quickly and get between them toes!
this strategy and the tail chasing strategy was too hard for a noob like me, so i made my own. if youre having trouble too, listen. pretty much do the strategy on the video, but instead of outranging his fire blast while the boss is flying, block it with the grym greatshield w/e the fuck its called. it will take all your stamina but you will take no damage (i had 40 endurance and +8 upgrades on the shield). i had the shield in the weapon slot as well as my weapon, switching between them and dual wielding the shield just to be safe. just make sure you are far enough away from the dragon so the flames dont hit you from above ignoring your shield, and make sure you have enough distance to behind you to back up. i used a bastard sword +10.
A good strategy I use as melee (works for ranged too) is to equip the Gower's Ring of Protection and face your back to the dragon every time he breathes fire. You'll get knocked back and fall on your face but will take absolutely no damage, just remember to bring a bunch of repair powder as the ring breaks in 3-5 breathes.
After several attempts i found out one way that worked pretty flawlessly for me as melee. What I did was hugging one of the dragons rear feet by holding down the walk button so I was moving towards his feet while I was hitting it. I manage to get in 3-4 attacks before he stomped the leg and when he did so I just went to the other leg and repeated that pattern. He only breathed fire under his legs 2 times and flew up into the air 2 times, the rest was just stomps from his part. Make sure to watch his tail while you're doing this because if it starts to move hes planning to take off, same with his feet if he put them more forwards then he attempts to breathe fire under him. This worked for me as melee and all I used was a santiers spear plus cloranthy ring + 2, ring of blades and dragon ring, those helped somewhat.You need luck to manage to do this though because I was close to die when he rose up the sky to breathe fire.
Yeah man thats the stategy that worked for me too. way easier and consistend in my experience. The dragon lifted off often tho. I could dodge it by running towards its tail
I killed him on NG with my STR build and on NG+ and NG++ as cleric with greater lightning spear and sunlight spear... I think he is actually pretty easy... just stay close in front of his head ... if he is going to fly just run out of range and then run slowly back in front of him... at this point he should use his fire breath... now you can just stay under/beside his head and shoot those lightnings^^ I admit that, at first, he seems pretty hard but once you memorized his animation for flying and breathing he is pretty much first try all the time^^
Draghful Oh! So his weakness is the bottom of his head and the belly? Well.. I'm pretty afraid he burns me again when I stand under him x) Anyway, I'll try again later today, thx.
OddworldCrash His weakness is that you can control his actions most of the time.. you can easily force him to fly and force him to breath... just make him fly up by standing at his head.. after landing just make him breath by staying in front of his head. Beat him up while he is breathing fire. Repeat. Pretty easy. I wish you good luck and have fun with the rest of the game.^^
It'll totally work slower and even with melee. The one thing I did that I think made it slightly easier was I ran back to 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock at the level of his head. He rears the other way before a headswipe so you can roll out. He flies up in the air maybe 5-6 times, mostly crossing his head and bombing away.
Draghful Exactly. The key to beating him is properly spacing yourself when you're in front of his head. The only thing I would correct with this strategy is not relying on placing yourself on the right side of the head always. Instead, You need to be aware of the real estate behind you before positioning yourself when waiting for his attack, as slight rotations of the dragon can push you to the arena's edge if you're not careful and you'll risk falling off when you're always relying on the right side. If there is more area behind you when your facing the front left foot, position yourself on the left side of his head when waiting for his attack. Vice versa with his right foot.
okay... i watched a bunch of those vids and really try to do what is shown but i always get burned by his air breath, this bus is just ridiculous. I had 30+ tries with this techique, but it always ends up with him burning me up with his freaking air breath, because somehow he manages to predict my movements. Dropped him to 30% once but right now I am really mad don't know what I mess up each time. I will just skip him since he is an optional boss and a very poor designed one (in terms of gameplay)
go get the bracing knuckle ring+2 and then use a bonfire ascetic on Ruined Fork Road Bonfire. Go to the fog area and find gowers ring of protection. voila game easymode
David McDevitt its not even difficulty, they just take a decent boss and then multiply its health by 3. The #1 threat of most bosses is just trying too hard to end the fight as fast as possible cause it's gotten boring..
I found a strategy for this cheap ass boss for melee builds. I guess you could do it with a ranged character too, but it works best for melee. What you need to do is after you bait his first straight-forward fire breath attack, run under him to his back legs. There, stay right next to his back feet on the side that is underneath him, and hit his feet. Have the camera angled so you can see his head. he has an attack where he rears up and breaths fire in-between his legs, but it has an obvious start-up. When he does that, run out from underneath him and wait for him to finish the attack. Then run back underneath him and hug his back feet. Dodge the stomps too. The trick here is to prevent him from doing his flying attack. To do that, you must his him for 1,000 damage or more during his pauses. If you don't, he WILL fly up and you WILL die. If you hit him for 1,000 damage or more, he will never fly. He will just try to either breath fire in-between his legs or step on you. Bring lots of gold pine resin. hope this helped. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
SkyrimSoldier As long as you hug his back feet and stay under him yes. I think the flying attack works on some damage threshold or some shit like that. Tell me if it works.
Good for Range.....Now for Melee tips! Use the "tail technique". Stand near one of his rear feet and attack once or twice (depending on damage) he will stomp very important to remember the count. I would advise not to lock on until the hit is landed and turn the camera slightly to see his wings. Stamina is VERY important and should be watched at ALL times! once his wings move the slightest start a marathon to his tail (above you, not so if it came down it would crush you lol). Things to watch for..... when near the edge of the map he will ether shuffle to the side or AUTO LOCK ON your ass and breath fire while turning in air. Same thing run towards the tail as it moves circular in the air. >>>Battle Prep>>>> Remove ALL heavy gear (light as possible, since he will one hit kill you regardless of gear!) dragon, soldier, stamina rings are all a plus. remove shield, extra weapons not used etc....Last but not least the most important tip DO NOT fight with other players summoned or NPC, this will only make him twice as hard and the battle take twice as long. If this is still proving to be to hard. farm some septic spice? w/e lower int on spells and get a weapon buff spell, then rebuff when he is in air. Good Luck! final note....when you repeat the fight....run directly toward his face to make him blow fire frontal then dodge and make your way to the rear feet....also stand on the outside of feet when attacking....
if you dont have high magic this could take you a long time, try just staying by his back toes, he stomps then go attack other toe. No matter what this boss will kill you till you figure out what your good at!
Bro, this boss was super super easy. Legit followed this exact guide and it was honestly easy. NG first run, level 149, human. Sure he hit me a few times with his fire when I was far but it only did half my health and I was fine. And I went in with only five flasks and came out with two. Key: magic spells are your favorite tool in this fight. Thank you for this video. I was honestly scared of this boss because of how everyone said it was hard. It's not. I set it to the side in difficulty with nishandra.
Thanks so freaking much for this bro! I just beat him on the second try using your strat, I would never have done it without your help! Awesome video and channel!
Man i wish that elder scrolls would get a combat system like this. Or that Dark Souls would get a story and side quests like elder scrolls. That would be the greatest game ever
Great strategy! I'd already killed the dragon on my sorcerer through sheer firepower and geyser farming. However I'd been dying over and over trying to kill this guy with my katana/hex build. I was trying to greater resonant soul him down to no effect. With your strategy I managed to take the dragon down slowly but surely using only dark orbs that do 368 damage! The key is getting a bit lucky at the start getting the dragon into a position where you have enough platform left to flee when he flys up and throws down his blanket of fire. Once you get a good position, it's sort of foolproof. Thanks man, nice work.
The easiest way to kill him is go to his back legs, stand between his inner and outer toe, hit him a few times, he will lift his leg to stomp, run to his other leg, repeat. He will almost only do stomps for the entire fight. You could spend an hour beating him with your fists doing it like this. Be careful though, sometimes, very rarely he'll breath fire between his legs to try and get you, if he flies up run towards his tail and we he lands go back to his feet. It's really easy.
This boss would actually be a fun difficult if it wasn't for that stupid fucking fire breath. Never has there been a more annoying move by a boss in a souls game... Fuck this stupid boss. Edit: Killed him in 1 try on Ng+. Still hate this boss though.
Nothing compared to White Fatalis flying to the summit of the tower and summon lightning for 2 years then fly back down and THEN as soon as he land fly back up and do the same attack rinse and repeat also destroys the time limit
if you max out your fire defense he will do almost no damage with his fire breath, 900-1000 fire defense will make you almost immune to it which sounds like alot but really is not
Gold Pine Resin helps so much since he is weak to Lightning Here is how to get them: Locations In Things Betwixt, up the left trail before the Firekeeper's hut. Purchased from Head of Vengarl in Shaded Woods(1500 souls, unlimited) Can be farmed from the Illuminated Corpse enemies in Dragon Aerie. Note: they also drop other Usage Boosts existing lightning damage by 30% Adds 50 lightning attack value of the right-hand weapon for 90 seconds Can not be used for weapons that are impossible to buff with items, such as weapons infused with an element. This info was obtained from the Dark Souls II Wiki
I believe it makes sense that the Ancient Dragon is cheaper than a $1 steak. Dragons are godlike beings. Massive, colossal and divine. They are the epitome of power and wealth. In all those fun and cute RPGs, it's all good and flowers, you jump around, slash dragons and phoenixes for a bit, then the protagonist says something cheesy and he's the hero. Now here you get to feel what would happen if Mr. Human were to go up against a fully grown elder dragon. You can bring in Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee and Jet Li, they would just be swept aside like ants. The Ancient Dragon is fuckin' huge. His scales are like armor. It makes sense he has a stupid amount of health. His attacks are broken as shit too. Dark Souls is also a game meant to screw over the player, and the boss is optional. I see no problem here. Thank you for the strategy. I've been trying to implement it and so far I got him to 30-25%. I'm using a Blue Flame so I can buff it with the Crystal Magic Weapon. The spells I use with the Blue Flame also get buffed with that, so a Soul Greatsword, mine's doing 585 without the buff, it does 645 with the buff. The projectiles also do more damage. I'm using the Blossom Kite Shield to regain stamina. My defense is very low since everything the dragon does is a 1-hit kill. I wear light gear for better mobility.
Well said. I didn't even think of using a CMW buffed Blue Flame. I just used a regular +5 Magic SoW. With Unleash Magic, Geyser was doing close to 5000(!) per cast, Vortex 2000+ if all bolts hit, and after that, 2-3 casts of Soul Spear and it's gg. I imagine it'd have been even more broken if I used the Red Tearstone Ring. I mean, I was doing 7000+ per Geyser on the Guardian Dragon with the same setup., which almost 1 shot it even in NG+, so I'm pretty sure with 4+5 copies of Geysers and all buffs and hypermodes active, the AD would die in about 5 casts.
JapanForSale Damn, that's a lot of damage. I completely missed Navlaan's quest because I did my first playthrough almost without Internet assistance (I didn't figure out the Ashen Mist Heart thing), so I accidentally released him while human and I can't get Unleash Magic.
Me too. My first serious char was a hexes, and I didn't find out about Navlaan's quest line until I've already been reverse psychologied by all those messages on the ground. :P Oh, and for reference, my game is still on patch 1.02. I purposefully froze it as soon as I read about the nerfs to SG. Not playing online is no problem when I can gib bosses to my heart's content.
Micheal Taylor That's ok. I respect your opinion, though I disagree. I can just as easily dismiss every boss in the game through an oversimplification of their concept.
Awesome strategy man! I myself was trying to follow his tail before but kept getting killed and was wondering why other RUclipsrs were saying to do. I beat the Ancient Dragon Boss on my 2nd try after watching your video! Thanks a lot man!!
I got no problem on the dragon. However, the path to the dragon? Absolute bullshit. It takes much more patience to pick off the annoying bitches in the stairways to his area than actually fighting the boss
I really wanted to go through my first run of ds2 killing every single boss but fuck this shitty dragon. No point in killing him anyways as I already killed Vendrick. I would keep trying but the path you have to run to even get to the boss is the most cancer shit ever. Worse than the path you have to run for the chariot boss.
dude the worst is the path to smelter demon in the DLC fucking brutal. and then the burnt ivory king is just pain. fuck all the DLC final bosses are cancer
dude between this god damn dragon and the DLC I feel like tearing my hair out of my scalp and smashing my face off the wall. its making me so angry, I just want to start NG+ already LOL I want my damn FUGs
actually the road to rh frigid outskirts bosses is not that har just go from house 1 to house 3 and then follow the sun the bridge is not far from the third house so i foumd it one try and defeated lud and zallen also in one try with the help of three npc summons you can find in the beginning when you arrive
After 5 hours of dying the following method worked for me: I used a giant Club +10 (Dual Wield) and used "Gold Pine Resin" on it to inflict lightning damage, he seems to be weak to it. First attack his rear feet and always run to the tail if he spams the "Flying Fire attack". If you recognize, that a part of its tail is over the abyss and you couldn't run far enough to his tail, spare your attacks and instead run in a huge curve around him and stop when you're in front of him with safe distance. Now let him do a few flying fire attacks until he moves in a position, where his tail is on the platform again. Now you cann approach him directly after his breath and attack his rear feet again. In a safe moment always renew "Gold Pine Resin".
Doesn't matter how or with what you attack. The key for every strat here is getting away from the fire attacks and this strat works very well, if you got used to it!
He's probably using magic with a really low casting time as time is very important in the fight. And as for "easy" I think magic would actually be harder then melee what's easy is the strategy itself not the execution. I can do alot more damage in 2 hits with a +10 lightning greatsword then with any magic really
This has nothing at all to do with what I've said - i really don't think he made a special buid for this fight.......... I am not saying this is not a good straat or anything, but if you have one it's akward to show it with a mage who can stay far away. anybody can use what they want but god at least don't make vides saying "this is easy...this is mad easy...". please.
jp299 And your comment has nothing to do with this video, cause the build doesnt matter at all for the strat presented here ;) Staying away while attacking really isnt a factor for this fight, it doesnt make it easier oder harder. Even as a mage you need to move towards his front legs to avoid the fire breath.
The official strategy guide tells you to run towards his tail, so that's why everyone on the internet is trying to do it that way. I've tried him ten or so times and following that tail is just stupid difficult because you have to be completely behind him to avoid the flames, if you're under his body or near his feet at all, you'll still get hit. Depending on how he turns, you can lose track of it too and waste time moving the camera around, not knowing where you're going. Thanks for making this video!
Great work man. After watching this vid, I killed him on second try. On first try I was careless and just kept on casting and was caught (burnt) of guard. I can survive 1 flying fire breath so I can risk it. I'm running SL 180+ VIT/FTH build on NG. The best tip I got from you is positioning (stay on his far right) so that you can easily run away if he does that move then I unload my 3 scroll GLS. Also carrying less item helps since it improves sprint speed. Technically going melee is a bad idea (I'm a 2hander) so I unequipped and was down to 33%. I ran out of spears but I just drank some spell restore and viola, dead dragon. Could've killed him on one go though, I just didn't equip LSpears and was carrying SB. I also cleared all the monsters so I always fight at full. He's difficult if you don't know what you are doing and this vid makes it absolutely easy. Thanks for this vid EGW. Stay epic.
A friend suggested I use the "run towards the tail" tactic and it got me nowhere. I tried this tactic and nailed it with my second try. Thanks for the video!
One thing I try to do is always run straight in a right angle from where you're facing, whichever way has more room. this tends to prevent the fire from even coming close
This boss is still difficult with this strategy. When I woke him up...he flew up and hit me with his fire breath. I ran but was unsuccessful from escaping it.
1) Strike a few time between its toes, 2) run in front of him (he will fly in the air), 3) run away from glowing circle 4) come back and stand in front of it (trigger fire breath attack in front), 5) run towards right paw, 6) back to 1). I didn't even know he had other attacks before seeing a few YT videos.
Great technique done first time 100% melee, with light armour in desert sorceress set and santiers spear. I found it easier to not lock on as it can throw the camera sometimes.
Sup I found an similar but slightly easier method for ranged builds, one where usually you wont even have to run past that line of brown tiles to do most of the time and is more consistent in baiting his forward breath, so all you have to deal with are his occasional hovering downwards breath and his forward breath, but mostly the forward breath. Just like you do at the start, you run to the right at the start to bait his forward breath attack, but rather than running for his feet at all, you stay behind the line, and hit him with 1-2 ranged attacks, you could try 3 but wouldn't recommend it, he will almost use his fly attack after this, as soon as his wings start to beat, run straight back to the fog gate. Once he lands, he will use his forward breath again, so again you run off to the right, staying well in front of his head, and hit him again, so long as you're still in front of his head and slightly to the right, he should do another forward breath attack, which you dodge by running to the left to about the middle of the arena while staying behind the line, then hit him twice, he should do the forward breath once more, again you run to the left and hit him, He will then fly up again, and again you run back to the fog gate. and repeat. Notes: he should always land in the same spot, but whenever he lands he may reposition himself a bit, this is rare so long as you run straight back to the gate as soon as his wings start to beat, and even if he does this he will still be facing the fog gate and your strategy does not change, except you may only be able to dodge to the left once due to the edge. If he starts up his fly attack instead of a forward breath at any time, just run back to the fog gate.
If you're playing a melee character just run into his back foot at the start. Get between his big toe and middle toe and swing a couple of times. When he goes to stomp get out over to the other back foot and get between those toes. He should just alternate his easily telegraphed stomps if done right. As long as you're at his other foot when the stomp comes down, no damage taken.
Thanks for the video. I was running toward the tail when I was trying this, but I had other people with me and when he flew up he'd move back to target one of us and running to the tail didn't leave enough room to actually avoid the fire. I'll try it this way when I get a chance seems like a great strat.
If you just want to beat the boss and you don't care about wasting souls, you can use a combination of Climax, Souls of a Great Hero and Wilted Dusk Herb. I had the Blue Clearstone Ring +2, Abyss Seal, Southern Ritual Band +2 and 3rd Dragon Ring with a Lion Mage/ Black Hood mix. I had Int&Faith at around 40 and Climax used up about 100k Souls. I was able to kill him in 5 hits though. Instead of the Dragon Ring you could also use the Cloranthy +2 or the Red Tearstone Ring (Keep in Mind that the Abyss Seal drains HP)
I've noticed that this hit and run strategy works for most of the bosses in the game. The Old Iron King and the Queen lady both have easy exploits like this.
Thanks bro! 7 years later and you are still healping people! Been running for his tail, getting insta killed, and started to think that the AoE attack was impossible to dodge. However, with your tip, i've got this bloody dragon's head in the first try.
Thanks so much!!! After trying so many other tactics and dying so many times till almost all the knights despawned leading up to the boss, I finally got him on the 2nd try using your tactic! Solo is definitely easier than in a group. I removed most of my armour, equipped Ring of Binding and just rushed the boss over and over till I got it.
amazing video. one of the best boss guides I've ever seen. had 8 tries without taking even a third of its health. saw your video and beat it in 2 tries
It worked! Thanks dude. Took lime 15minutes but got it done. Also tried like 50 times. Solo, co-op all to no avail. But this worked well. Patience is key.
by far the best guide. i hadnt fight against him, looked for some guide to know what i was up against. beated him first try because of your guide. (as a melee)
For melee fighters: Remove all of your armor so you will have enough stamina and speed (since he is most likely to one-shot you, the armor just hinders you). Go for his hind legs and attack wielding a weapon two handed to get as much damage as possible. Depending on the weapon you can attack 2-4 times before he either stomps or flies in the air to do this fire attack. So after you attack those few times watch what he does next. If he stomps, dodge and attack him a few more times. If he flies in the air, make sure you have his tail in sight and run towards it. You will see a that the tail has a small sign under it, if manage to get to it, you should be safe. Be careful not to be directly under his tail when he lands. When he lands, go for his hind legs again. Repeat until he's dead.
This boss is easier said than done, he will frequently fuck you over on positioning and put himself somewhere where you cant run far enough to avoid the fire breath.
oh my God thank you for showing me a strategy that didn't involve chasing a tail I can't tell you how many times I've died because I was stuck directly under the Dragon trying to get to the tail in time because if you're standing near the back feet and he jumps he won't centers himself directly above you so it's real hard to outrun his centering in time
My problem is that, if he does his flying thing, he also moves quite a bit during it. Even if you start booking it immediately when you notice him going up, if he decides to travel in the direction you run, you can't get out of the AOE. I'm doing awesome at predicting his attacks, it's just a quarter the time I literally cannot get out of the AOE, just because he moves in the direction I went.
Hey guys, I found a pretty simple way to kill him if you want to. All you need is gower's ring which you can get by using a bonfire ascetic on the ruined fork road bonfire in shaded woods. Just go into the misty area and hug the right side and you'll run into a body pretty close to the beginning of the area. Then just equip it and buy a bunch of repair powder. When you fight this boss just turn your back to him anytime he attacks or goes in the air. When he hits you, you just fall forward. After you get up use a repair powder or two so the ring doesn't break. So just hit him when he lands then rinse and repeat, it's pretty simple. They're getting ready to patch the ring to where it only negates some and not all of the damage, so do it quickly if you wanna. Hope this helps, good luck!
thank you so much, worked like a charm, so much easier when i knew what to watch out for/where to stand, especially as a melee, 1st try using this strat
For melee: Use Gowers Ring, bait the breath and hit his front legs a few times. When he starts to fly, run away. Gowers ring will protect you if he hits you. Killed him on my first try with a +10 lightning Murakumo.
Actually it is better ti stay outside his head melee range, diagonal to him. He will to a fire breath in wich he turns his body, lowering his head first. That is what you're baiting. Change sides at each time. Pretty much the same as yours, but more sure to bait the attack. Also, baiting this other firebreath I've told it is harder for him to use the flying fire breath.
This boss is really easy once you understand how to do it. As soon as you enter the room run to your right a little and fast to his back left foot and stand in between his toes. Attack the foot 3 or 4 times, wait to see what happens. He'll usually stomp. If so, just get out of the way. After the stomp just get back in between his toes and keep attacking. No need to switch feet or anything. And if you are between his toes the fire under his belly won't even hit you. Easy as hell. Also don't use lock on. And you can also tell when he's about to stomp because sometimes his tail will sort of vibrate before the stomp. If he flies up in the air which he did a few times run as fast as you can towards his tail. If you are on his back foot you'll be able to make it clear of the flames each time. Then when he lands just back in the toes. Seriously, this was by far the easiest boss of the whole game.
![Quando Rondo - Life Goes On [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eIf3fhMXAow/mqdefault.jpg)
what makes it ironic is that you need to defeat this dragon in order to make the battle with Vendrick easier while in fact Vendrick's battle is easier than this battle itself if you got 4 Soul of a Giant of course
You don't need this giant soul.
What the hell is wrong with his comment? He said you need it to make it EASIER, not that you need it to KILL him.
Man, Vendrick is a sissy. I fought him with only one giant souls I found on accident and won on the first try, not taking a point of damage. I burned through a few repair powders, but he really needs something better to him.
Maybe this wasn't know when these comments were sent, but you don't need to kill the Ancient Dragon to get his soul. You talk to him and get a memory key, then go to Brightstone Cove boss location and enter the memory of the dead ancient dragon there and you get his soul.
I pretty much need to kill the dragon to kill vendrick because I consumed the first giant soul from the memory of Jeigh. Vendrick is still pretty much impossible with only 3.
-Try to get away when dragon flies in air
-Dragon always flies right over me
-Can't escape the fires of all Hell
-Die
-MFW ಠ_ಠ
Ragnarok ラグナロク lol yes thats the hard part
Ragnarok ラグナロク yeah fuck that dragon, everywhere i run i get burned. Anyway ill keep trying
Leandro F in the first run you can reach over 800 fire defence easily with piromancy and ring, which makes you almost immune to his fire attacks
You wont. Beating this boss is pure chance and luck. This game is toddler shit. Just turn it back in for your money, its worthless
+Ragnarok ラグナロク Running toward his tail when he starts flying saves you from the Hellish fire
Yeah... ranged. Me and my sword still suffer
@@solaris4015 yep i recommend: Greatsword +10 in NG and NG+
@@vilwinde Yeah, you and 90% of people recommend greatsword, original for sure.
@@sandunderradi killed him with dragontooth +5 in NG+2 now im in NG+6 😂
@@vilwinde I'll try that. This boss has 6 tanker ships of damage, and it 1 hits me every time with the stomp if I'm not on full HP.
@@ihatehandleupdate i will give u a tip: grab Dragontooth +5 and hit one of his legs then if you see the leg that youre hitting getting up run to his 2nd leg and do the same but it can bug and his leg can hit you faster so i wish you luck
Damn, they've made the game easymode for ranged.
They really have, moreso than any other souls game. But ranged battle is always going to be the "easymode" just based on their nature. In PvP it's the opposite though, with it being super easy to dodge all spells and punish them in their recovery animations plus roll bsing.
Scott Morales
Idk if I've just gotten lucky in pvp or what, but I haven't lost a single 1v1 with my pure intel and attunement build. I dodge all melee attacks with my 110 agility rolls and then two or three shot with soul spear or greater resonant soul.
Ben Delat Soul Memory? If I have a PvP viable character around your SM we can set up a match and i'll show you what I mean :P.
Scott Morales
22360664
Ben Delat holy...22 milion?? Do you happen to have any other accounts with less lol; even my highest character is only at 15 million O.o
3:59 "it's basically the same thing over and over again" Dark Souls 2 boss fights in a nutshell.
+Jazz1992 Well, there wasn't much variation in DS1 boss fights either. Apart from them getting easier after a while (ambush dogs gone, heal after drop, get to more space with Centipede etc etc..
***** wait till you get one shot dragon in 3, bizarrely gimmicky
That's literally most boss fight in the souls series. Don't be a pleb and act like it's only in ds2.
@Mohammed Uddin no they don't it deserves the slack
@@fuzzinator9523 true, I mean how did they fuck up everything good from ds1??? I dont even wanna think about this game tbh, it sucks ass
Awesome strategy.
wena dross. como es la vida, no esperaba encontrarte por aca jajajajaj. espero q te haya ido bien con el dragon (yo aun no logro matarlo). Saludos desde Chile compañero
mira ese open english :v
#Hail(inserte nombre del grupo aquí)
Hubiera sido genial Dross juega de toda la saga Souls. :B
Google translator detected.
DON'T run towards the TAIL!
I've tried this 15+ times and if the fire doesn't get you then his big ass claws will when he lands.
Kryptic Studios Corp I just burned almost 20 effigys while fighting this bastard ..always running for his tail ..works a couple of times but since the fight takes for ever he will 180° turn in mid air at one point ..and than you are dead.
Wish I'd seen this video befor I killed him finaly by luck and with a human summon ...
I cant outrun him when he flies up to save my life... literally. Gets me every time.
+Noodliest you would want to get ur character naked
+El Grande Apparently both this dragon, and the Skeletal Dragon are supposed to kill you in one hit... not for me
I have never felt such fear in my life it's a monster
Phantoms are a waste of time for this boss. It only buffs him and screws you in the long run.
Than and now the Dragons attacks are unpredictable as he could go after either one of you.
I killed this broken boss with two phantoms, god i never felt so friggen relived in all of my gaming life.
Congrrats man. After this boss, nothing else felt difficult ever again.
@@Pliskkenn *fights Darkeater in ds3*
@@subscribedtowithnotasingle4048 You poor bastard. Yeah to be fair she felt like she tipped the series nicely. Orphan of Kos was a close contender.
Excellent guide. I followed your advice and killed the Ancient Dragon on my second try. Subbed.
Woah elgin?! What are you doing here?
@@zankfrappa6427 It is hilarious when I run into random youtubers I know in completely unexpected places, especially 6 years later.
Nice man congrats
Please make an exercises in futility episode consisting entirely of Joel Seedman
For those of you having a lot of trouble with this, this is the strategy I used that is much simpler and easier than whats in this video.
1 ) So as you enter run immediately to the front claw on your right (Dragon's left side), hit it a few times until he moves. You should be directly in front of the claw because if you are he will step forward with that leg and push you backwards towards his head.
2 ) Now run directly beside the dragon's head (just move a bit back from the front leg)
3 ) Wait here and see if he does a head smash (bite?) move.
4a ) If it USES THE HEAD SMASH ATTACK, dodge backwards and wait exactly in front of where his head used to be. It will return to this spot and you cant get 2-3 hits in. Then back up to in front of the dragon's head and wait. If you waited in the right spot he will try to breathe fire again, this is your chance to hit that same claw again and repeat step 1-3.
4b ) If instead he STARTS FLAPPING ITS WINGS run backwards and to your left (farther away from the dragons left side). Then when the fire is gone, run back to the front claw you ran to originally and hit it as much as you can. From here repeat steps 1-3 until you kill it.
Note: Something I noticed is that the dragon will (almost) always aim its fire breath where you were standing the moment when it took off into the air. If you start running too early (before it takes off, ie. just opening the wings), it will aim farther away from its body because you will be farther away when it jumps up. If you only start running right when it takes off, it will breathe fire very close to its body (where you were at the time) and gives you more room on the platform where you will be safe.
This strategy got me the kill as soon as i tried it, though I had died dozens of times to all other strategies on youtube, which are much riskier in my opinion.
ur a god send
Sorry but this is a significantly worse strat. By the time you get from the bottom left back up to his front paws he's already doing the attack again and you'll be out of stamina
@@poppapalpatine8624 tbh if stamina is the major inhibiting factor then you are either underleveled or didn't invest enough points in stamina. Doesn't make it not viable though. That's like saying a strategy relying on stagger isn't good because you are using light weapons
@@Dakrontik Sorry I didn't mean to come off as aggressive earlier. I kinda got down the stamina management part of the fight the real trouble I'm mostly having is just getting away in time. Even if I'm running the whole time I still feel like I can barely ever get out of the way of the fire in time it just covers so much of the stage. I appreciate the help a lot.
@@poppapalpatine8624 no worries I was probably overreacting a tad as well. Good luck with the fight and keep trying until you get those timings just right!
this is actually the most helpful video i have ever seen. thanks
+The Dark Rider Thanks!!
one question tho when i enter, he flies and i dont have time to run away from the firebreathe aoe
Is the ancient dragon optional
im wondering the same thing. but i just took him out anyways B)
+Nassir J Same because he drops a giant soul
OMG, thank you so much. Finally a strategy that actually works. I tried the tail chasing, the x, the ranged. I could not kill him for the life of me. But I did this strategy solo the first try. If anybody's interested in doing this melee, try to have the highest dps weapon setup you have for your character and remove all but very light armor. This was my setup:
Weapons: dual +9 Zweihanders, one magic, one lightning. Gave great magic weapon to one of them when I could to help increase damage.
Armor: Jester's gloves +10 and Tseldora Trousers +9.
Rings: Red Tearstone Ring (I'll come back to this in a moment), Ring of Blades, Silver Covetous Serpent Ring +1, Chloranthy Ring +1
About the Red Tearstone Ring: If your hp is low it increases damage by 20%, well that's great, but if you fight him with full health you don't get that effect, in addition, with my armor, and a 100% fire shield, AND flash sweat, unless I was at full health he would still one hit me. So you might as well go into the battle at low health. Just get your setup ready and then drop a couple times somewhere to decrease your health and get the effect.
This is definitely a balls to the wall type strategy, but with a boss like this you don't have much of a choice. Just make sure you pull out after getting in your one or two hits on his toes, and if you see his wings open the slightest bit, book it. The only time he opens his wings with the strategy is to do the overhead flame shower attack.
Hey guys I found an even easier way. You don't have to worry about the fire except for his initial attack when you walk through the fog gate. Here's my method:
After walking through the fog gate I ran to the right side of him when he did his fire attack. I then ran to his back leg and stood between his big toe and middle toe (or talon if you prefer). I attacked between those toes and when he lifted his leg, I rolled to the other one. Then I waited between his toes until he moved back to his regular stance and attacked again until he lifted his foot again and rolled back to the other one. Rinse and repeat.
This is ALL I did. If you stay between his toes he won't use any other attack aside from the stomp attack.
Here's the equipement I used:
+10 Lightning Claymore
+5 Magic Staff of Wisdom (I usedCrystal Magic Weapon before I walked through the fog gate for a bit of extra damage)
Jester's Gloves (For a few extra souls)
+1 Cloranthy Ring
Third Dragon Ring
+1 Ring of Blades
+1 Covetous Silver Serpent Ring (Even MOAR souls!)
I had enough stamina to attack three times, safely, before he lifted his foot and I rolled to the other one. I just rolled straight at the other foot and never got hit once.
PLEASE UPVOTE THIS SO PEOPLE CAN SEE!
whatevermhs this works great!
Doesnt work at all for me, he keeps going up in the air and since im at his hind legs im fucked and cant escape.
@@cheezcruncher That happened to me a few times. I went in naked which helped tremendously because I was fast enough to get under his tail and avoid taking damage. Just run back quickly and get between them toes!
MrHous26 Got it now, thanks mate
Guess its my turn now lol
this strategy and the tail chasing strategy was too hard for a noob like me, so i made my own. if youre having trouble too, listen. pretty much do the strategy on the video, but instead of outranging his fire blast while the boss is flying, block it with the grym greatshield w/e the fuck its called. it will take all your stamina but you will take no damage (i had 40 endurance and +8 upgrades on the shield). i had the shield in the weapon slot as well as my weapon, switching between them and dual wielding the shield just to be safe. just make sure you are far enough away from the dragon so the flames dont hit you from above ignoring your shield, and make sure you have enough distance to behind you to back up. i used a bastard sword +10.
6 years later but thank you, never thought about shielding the fire, the fight is long as fuck but with your tips i got it, thanks.
I've been stuck with the boss for ages too, i thought the fire was insta kill. Thx for the tips.
Cheers mate. Did it on my first try after following this to the letter.
A good strategy I use as melee (works for ranged too) is to equip the Gower's Ring of Protection and face your back to the dragon every time he breathes fire. You'll get knocked back and fall on your face but will take absolutely no damage, just remember to bring a bunch of repair powder as the ring breaks in 3-5 breathes.
After several attempts i found out one way that worked pretty flawlessly for me as melee. What I did was hugging one of the dragons rear feet by holding down the walk button so I was moving towards his feet while I was hitting it. I manage to get in 3-4 attacks before he stomped the leg and when he did so I just went to the other leg and repeated that pattern. He only breathed fire under his legs 2 times and flew up into the air 2 times, the rest was just stomps from his part. Make sure to watch his tail while you're doing this because if it starts to move hes planning to take off, same with his feet if he put them more forwards then he attempts to breathe fire under him. This worked for me as melee and all I used was a santiers spear plus cloranthy ring + 2, ring of blades and dragon ring, those helped somewhat.You need luck to manage to do this though because I was close to die when he rose up the sky to breathe fire.
Yeah man thats the stategy that worked for me too. way easier and consistend in my experience. The dragon lifted off often tho. I could dodge it by running towards its tail
Actually this is THE BEST method! I haven't beat him yet...but I've gotten further with this method than any other.
Worst boss in the game. Really, this "strategy" only works this well with mages. As a cleric, lightning speer is pretty much useless.
I killed him on NG with my STR build and on NG+ and NG++ as cleric with greater lightning spear and sunlight spear... I think he is actually pretty easy... just stay close in front of his head ... if he is going to fly just run out of range and then run slowly back in front of him... at this point he should use his fire breath... now you can just stay under/beside his head and shoot those lightnings^^ I admit that, at first, he seems pretty hard but once you memorized his animation for flying and breathing he is pretty much first try all the time^^
Draghful Oh! So his weakness is the bottom of his head and the belly? Well.. I'm pretty afraid he burns me again when I stand under him x)
Anyway, I'll try again later today, thx.
OddworldCrash His weakness is that you can control his actions most of the time.. you can easily force him to fly and force him to breath... just make him fly up by standing at his head.. after landing just make him breath by staying in front of his head. Beat him up while he is breathing fire. Repeat. Pretty easy. I wish you good luck and have fun with the rest of the game.^^
It'll totally work slower and even with melee. The one thing I did that I think made it slightly easier was I ran back to 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock at the level of his head. He rears the other way before a headswipe so you can roll out. He flies up in the air maybe 5-6 times, mostly crossing his head and bombing away.
Draghful Exactly. The key to beating him is properly spacing yourself when you're in front of his head. The only thing I would correct with this strategy is not relying on placing yourself on the right side of the head always. Instead, You need to be aware of the real estate behind you before positioning yourself when waiting for his attack, as slight rotations of the dragon can push you to the arena's edge if you're not careful and you'll risk falling off when you're always relying on the right side. If there is more area behind you when your facing the front left foot, position yourself on the left side of his head when waiting for his attack. Vice versa with his right foot.
THIS FLYING PIECE OF DRAGONFIRESPITTING PIECE OF SHIT
REVENGE SHALL BE MINE
okay... i watched a bunch of those vids and really try to do what is shown but i always get burned by his air breath, this bus is just ridiculous. I had 30+ tries with this techique, but it always ends up with him burning me up with his freaking air breath, because somehow he manages to predict my movements. Dropped him to 30% once but right now I am really mad don't know what I mess up each time. I will just skip him since he is an optional boss and a very poor designed one (in terms of gameplay)
go get the bracing knuckle ring+2 and then use a bonfire ascetic on Ruined Fork Road Bonfire. Go to the fog area and find gowers ring of protection.
voila game easymode
wow I did it yesterday by only making two hits each time. took me over 10 minutes with my 350 dmg katana, but patience pays out
The whole game is poorly designed. It uses difficulty as a staple, as well as to pad out a relatively poor game.
David McDevitt its not even difficulty, they just take a decent boss and then multiply its health by 3. The #1 threat of most bosses is just trying too hard to end the fight as fast as possible cause it's gotten boring..
Deshara HE'S NOT A BOSS. YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO ATTACK HIM. He is this challenging to DISCOURAGE you from attacking him like a dumbass.
Not all heroes wear capes
I found a strategy for this cheap ass boss for melee builds. I guess you could do it with a ranged character too, but it works best for melee. What you need to do is after you bait his first straight-forward fire breath attack, run under him to his back legs. There, stay right next to his back feet on the side that is underneath him, and hit his feet. Have the camera angled so you can see his head. he has an attack where he rears up and breaths fire in-between his legs, but it has an obvious start-up. When he does that, run out from underneath him and wait for him to finish the attack. Then run back underneath him and hug his back feet. Dodge the stomps too. The trick here is to prevent him from doing his flying attack. To do that, you must his him for 1,000 damage or more during his pauses. If you don't, he WILL fly up and you WILL die. If you hit him for 1,000 damage or more, he will never fly. He will just try to either breath fire in-between his legs or step on you. Bring lots of gold pine resin. hope this helped. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
So if I do 1000 right after he put a fire between his legs he won't fly up?
SkyrimSoldier As long as you hug his back feet and stay under him yes. I think the flying attack works on some damage threshold or some shit like that. Tell me if it works.
No shit, I can't do that much damage to him lol. Even with my Greatsword +10 and gold resin buff ,2 hits only deal around 800+
Andy Fate Try Gower's ring of protection.
MicahLikesMnMs Try Two swings?
Good for Range.....Now for Melee tips! Use the "tail technique". Stand near one of his rear feet and attack once or twice (depending on damage) he will stomp very important to remember the count. I would advise not to lock on until the hit is landed and turn the camera slightly to see his wings. Stamina is VERY important and should be watched at ALL times! once his wings move the slightest start a marathon to his tail (above you, not so if it came down it would crush you lol). Things to watch for..... when near the edge of the map he will ether shuffle to the side or AUTO LOCK ON your ass and breath fire while turning in air. Same thing run towards the tail as it moves circular in the air.
>>>Battle Prep>>>> Remove ALL heavy gear (light as possible, since he will one hit kill you regardless of gear!) dragon, soldier, stamina rings are all a plus. remove shield, extra weapons not used etc....Last but not least the most important tip DO NOT fight with other players summoned or NPC, this will only make him twice as hard and the battle take twice as long.
If this is still proving to be to hard. farm some septic spice? w/e lower int on spells and get a weapon buff spell, then rebuff when he is in air. Good Luck!
final note....when you repeat the fight....run directly toward his face to make him blow fire frontal then dodge and make your way to the rear feet....also stand on the outside of feet when attacking....
When i run to far back from the arena, the music stops -_- this boss was just..umm..bad
I think you're bad. That's why the music stopped. The boss thought you pussied out.
Kaiser 😂
if you dont have high magic this could take you a long time, try just staying by his back toes, he stomps then go attack other toe. No matter what this boss will kill you till you figure out what your good at!
***** lmao slamming his toes with a club. considering he's a massive dragon idk that sounds so funny. pictured him crying n stuff
***** XD yeah i know, not the smartest dragon!
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Bro, this boss was super super easy. Legit followed this exact guide and it was honestly easy. NG first run, level 149, human. Sure he hit me a few times with his fire when I was far but it only did half my health and I was fine. And I went in with only five flasks and came out with two. Key: magic spells are your favorite tool in this fight. Thank you for this video. I was honestly scared of this boss because of how everyone said it was hard. It's not. I set it to the side in difficulty with nishandra.
This tact works well for ranged powerful spells.
For a melee doing 200 dmg per hit... not so much.
*****
Yeah... no...
Kryptic Studios Corp If you are melle stuck to his left back leg or tail when he flies he wont turn on you,its easy if you are patietent.
Kryptic Studios Corp The trick is. Do more dmg!
Dr. PanCake...usefull...
Kryptic Studios Corp im a melee doing 200 dmg per hit and i beat him first try with this tact
Thanks so freaking much for this bro! I just beat him on the second try using your strat, I would never have done it without your help! Awesome video and channel!
No problem thats what I'm here for. Took me 2 tries too doing this. lol
Man i wish that elder scrolls would get a combat system like this.
Or that Dark Souls would get a story and side quests like elder scrolls.
That would be the greatest game ever
um no. :P
Dark Souls and the way it delivers its narrative is part of what makes it so amazing.
Your comment is disturbingly full of douchebagginess . Either agree with me or dont comment at all.
how bout NO
Lol! Fuckin seriously? "Don't talk to me unless you agree with everything I say."
Oh man, that was the funniest thing I've seen on RUclips.
The world would be much more peaceful if everyone agreed with me.
Great strategy! I'd already killed the dragon on my sorcerer through sheer firepower and geyser farming.
However I'd been dying over and over trying to kill this guy with my katana/hex build. I was trying to greater resonant soul him down to no effect.
With your strategy I managed to take the dragon down slowly but surely using only dark orbs that do 368 damage!
The key is getting a bit lucky at the start getting the dragon into a position where you have enough platform left to flee when he flys up and throws down his blanket of fire.
Once you get a good position, it's sort of foolproof. Thanks man, nice work.
THANK YOUUUU T___T I really fucked up with this boss many times is really harder than the final boss..
Easiest strategy post-DLC: Full Chaos set and Pharros Mask, highest fire resistance rings, and Flash Sweat. Now the rain of fire does scratch damage.
I follow this strategy and still get fucked up. I'm starting to give up. The game aggravates me more than it brings me joy. Eh. Whatever.
Just patience and follow the Tail, and if i remember correctly the Dragon turns always clockwise. Took me forever too.
The easiest way to kill him is go to his back legs, stand between his inner and outer toe, hit him a few times, he will lift his leg to stomp, run to his other leg, repeat. He will almost only do stomps for the entire fight. You could spend an hour beating him with your fists doing it like this. Be careful though, sometimes, very rarely he'll breath fire between his legs to try and get you, if he flies up run towards his tail and we he lands go back to his feet. It's really easy.
Descendant of Kraff I beat this like right after I posted this and stopped raging xD
It gets better. Just keep on trying.
Dem effigys hurt...
thank you so much, id been stuck on this fight for a while not really understanding his movements but the video cleared it up. thank you
This boss would actually be a fun difficult if it wasn't for that stupid fucking fire breath. Never has there been a more annoying move by a boss in a souls game... Fuck this stupid boss.
Edit: Killed him in 1 try on Ng+. Still hate this boss though.
Nothing compared to White Fatalis flying to the summit of the tower and summon lightning for 2 years then fly back down and THEN as soon as he land fly back up and do the same attack rinse and repeat also destroys the time limit
if you max out your fire defense he will do almost no damage with his fire breath, 900-1000 fire defense will make you almost immune to it which sounds like alot but really is not
WhiskeySquirrel I've only died to him on my first playthrough. Ng+ and up, i've always killed him without dying.
Very nice, I was always kinda tanky and had to switch to a full fire resist build to do, but that kinda ruined the fight and made it boring.
me 2
the game was a cake walk until the dragon fight... such an unnessecary boss
just because the firebreath is one hit and hits you so easily
Gold Pine Resin helps so much since he is weak to Lightning
Here is how to get them:
Locations
In Things Betwixt, up the left trail before the Firekeeper's hut.
Purchased from Head of Vengarl in Shaded Woods(1500 souls, unlimited)
Can be farmed from the Illuminated Corpse enemies in Dragon Aerie. Note: they also drop other
Usage
Boosts existing lightning damage by 30%
Adds 50 lightning attack value of the right-hand weapon for 90 seconds
Can not be used for weapons that are impossible to buff with items, such as weapons infused with an element.
This info was obtained from the Dark Souls II Wiki
I believe it makes sense that the Ancient Dragon is cheaper than a $1 steak. Dragons are godlike beings. Massive, colossal and divine. They are the epitome of power and wealth.
In all those fun and cute RPGs, it's all good and flowers, you jump around, slash dragons and phoenixes for a bit, then the protagonist says something cheesy and he's the hero.
Now here you get to feel what would happen if Mr. Human were to go up against a fully grown elder dragon. You can bring in Chuck Norris, Bruce Lee and Jet Li, they would just be swept aside like ants. The Ancient Dragon is fuckin' huge. His scales are like armor. It makes sense he has a stupid amount of health. His attacks are broken as shit too. Dark Souls is also a game meant to screw over the player, and the boss is optional. I see no problem here.
Thank you for the strategy. I've been trying to implement it and so far I got him to 30-25%.
I'm using a Blue Flame so I can buff it with the Crystal Magic Weapon. The spells I use with the Blue Flame also get buffed with that, so a Soul Greatsword, mine's doing 585 without the buff, it does 645 with the buff. The projectiles also do more damage. I'm using the Blossom Kite Shield to regain stamina. My defense is very low since everything the dragon does is a 1-hit kill. I wear light gear for better mobility.
Well said. I didn't even think of using a CMW buffed Blue Flame. I just used a regular +5 Magic SoW. With Unleash Magic, Geyser was doing close to 5000(!) per cast, Vortex 2000+ if all bolts hit, and after that, 2-3 casts of Soul Spear and it's gg. I imagine it'd have been even more broken if I used the Red Tearstone Ring.
I mean, I was doing 7000+ per Geyser on the Guardian Dragon with the same setup., which almost 1 shot it even in NG+, so I'm pretty sure with 4+5 copies of Geysers and all buffs and hypermodes active, the AD would die in about 5 casts.
JapanForSale Damn, that's a lot of damage. I completely missed Navlaan's quest because I did my first playthrough almost without Internet assistance (I didn't figure out the Ashen Mist Heart thing), so I accidentally released him while human and I can't get Unleash Magic.
Me too. My first serious char was a hexes, and I didn't find out about Navlaan's quest line until I've already been reverse psychologied by all those messages on the ground. :P
Oh, and for reference, my game is still on patch 1.02. I purposefully froze it as soon as I read about the nerfs to SG. Not playing online is no problem when I can gib bosses to my heart's content.
dragons are big fire breathing lizards, who in my opinion isn't worthy to be called boss. lool
Micheal Taylor That's ok. I respect your opinion, though I disagree. I can just as easily dismiss every boss in the game through an oversimplification of their concept.
Awesome strategy man! I myself was trying to follow his tail before but kept getting killed and was wondering why other RUclipsrs were saying to do. I beat the Ancient Dragon Boss on my 2nd try after watching your video! Thanks a lot man!!
I got no problem on the dragon. However, the path to the dragon? Absolute bullshit. It takes much more patience to pick off the annoying bitches in the stairways to his area than actually fighting the boss
Just used this method. Did it on one try after over an hour trying without help. Thanks for the solid guide, man.
Do you even praise the sun?
I did it! Thank you for the video, I was using the tail method and he got me every time.
I really wanted to go through my first run of ds2 killing every single boss but fuck this shitty dragon. No point in killing him anyways as I already killed Vendrick. I would keep trying but the path you have to run to even get to the boss is the most cancer shit ever. Worse than the path you have to run for the chariot boss.
dude the worst is the path to smelter demon in the DLC fucking brutal. and then the burnt ivory king is just pain. fuck all the DLC final bosses are cancer
Dylan Green Thank god I don't have the DLC lol
dude between this god damn dragon and the DLC I feel like tearing my hair out of my scalp and smashing my face off the wall. its making me so angry, I just want to start NG+ already LOL I want my damn FUGs
Dylan Green Yeah I just said fuck it and killed the final boss and started NG+. Fucking hate this cancerous dragon.
actually the road to rh frigid outskirts bosses is not that har just go from house 1 to house 3 and then follow the sun the bridge is not far from the third house so i foumd it one try and defeated lud and zallen also in one try with the help of three npc summons you can find in the beginning when you arrive
After 5 hours of dying the following method worked for me: I used a giant Club +10 (Dual Wield) and used "Gold Pine Resin" on it to inflict lightning damage, he seems to be weak to it. First attack his rear feet and always run to the tail if he spams the "Flying Fire attack". If you recognize, that a part of its tail is over the abyss and you couldn't run far enough to his tail, spare your attacks and instead run in a huge curve around him and stop when you're in front of him with safe distance. Now let him do a few flying fire attacks until he moves in a position, where his tail is on the platform again. Now you cann approach him directly after his breath and attack his rear feet again. In a safe moment always renew "Gold Pine Resin".
This boss ruined the whole game for me. I cannot beat him. Tried about 40 times. Thanks from software.
lol optional boss ruins ur experience ill remember that one
Matthew Steele Well, I thought that it wasn't optional. Should have thought of that before writing. Woops! I beat him eventually though. Great game.
Remember this meme? Thanks obama
Over 4 years later, you're still having a positive impact on others. Thank you for this video.
So, you have 69 int... And use crappy magic. What the he'll... And how can you write "easy" just because you use magic? Crap.
Doesn't matter how or with what you attack. The key for every strat here is getting away from the fire attacks and this strat works very well, if you got used to it!
Alexander is correct, the easy part of this is the strategy. When EGW attacks with magic, you can attack with melee or whatever you use
He's probably using magic with a really low casting time as time is very important in the fight. And as for "easy" I think magic would actually be harder then melee what's easy is the strategy itself not the execution. I can do alot more damage in 2 hits with a +10 lightning greatsword then with any magic really
This has nothing at all to do with what I've said - i really don't think he made a special buid for this fight..........
I am not saying this is not a good straat or anything, but if you have one it's akward to show it with a mage who can stay far away. anybody can use what they want but god at least don't make vides saying "this is easy...this is mad easy...". please.
jp299 And your comment has nothing to do with this video, cause the build doesnt matter at all for the strat presented here ;) Staying away while attacking really isnt a factor for this fight, it doesnt make it easier oder harder. Even as a mage you need to move towards his front legs to avoid the fire breath.
The official strategy guide tells you to run towards his tail, so that's why everyone on the internet is trying to do it that way. I've tried him ten or so times and following that tail is just stupid difficult because you have to be completely behind him to avoid the flames, if you're under his body or near his feet at all, you'll still get hit. Depending on how he turns, you can lose track of it too and waste time moving the camera around, not knowing where you're going.
Thanks for making this video!
stay epic? worst catch phrase ever..
Great work man. After watching this vid, I killed him on second try. On first try I was careless and just kept on casting and was caught (burnt) of guard. I can survive 1 flying fire breath so I can risk it. I'm running SL 180+ VIT/FTH build on NG. The best tip I got from you is positioning (stay on his far right) so that you can easily run away if he does that move then I unload my 3 scroll GLS. Also carrying less item helps since it improves sprint speed. Technically going melee is a bad idea (I'm a 2hander) so I unequipped and was down to 33%. I ran out of spears but I just drank some spell restore and viola, dead dragon. Could've killed him on one go though, I just didn't equip LSpears and was carrying SB. I also cleared all the monsters so I always fight at full. He's difficult if you don't know what you are doing and this vid makes it absolutely easy. Thanks for this vid EGW. Stay epic.
A friend suggested I use the "run towards the tail" tactic and it got me nowhere. I tried this tactic and nailed it with my second try. Thanks for the video!
One thing I try to do is always run straight in a right angle from where you're facing, whichever way has more room. this tends to prevent the fire from even coming close
This boss is still difficult with this strategy. When I woke him up...he flew up and hit me with his fire breath. I ran but was unsuccessful from escaping it.
he doin the fatalis strat
1) Strike a few time between its toes, 2) run in front of him (he will fly in the air), 3) run away from glowing circle 4) come back and stand in front of it (trigger fire breath attack in front), 5) run towards right paw, 6) back to 1).
I didn't even know he had other attacks before seeing a few YT videos.
I Beat the boss in the first attempt with a Catarina/Zweihander build... thanks for the video mate!
Great technique done first time 100% melee, with light armour in desert sorceress set and santiers spear. I found it easier to not lock on as it can throw the camera sometimes.
Better late than never, but hey thanks for making this vid in general.
Putting lightning on your weapon helps tremendously if you're melee
Sup I found an similar but slightly easier method for ranged builds, one where usually you wont even have to run past that line of brown tiles to do most of the time and is more consistent in baiting his forward breath, so all you have to deal with are his occasional hovering downwards breath and his forward breath, but mostly the forward breath.
Just like you do at the start, you run to the right at the start to bait his forward breath attack, but rather than running for his feet at all, you stay behind the line, and hit him with 1-2 ranged attacks, you could try 3 but wouldn't recommend it, he will almost use his fly attack after this, as soon as his wings start to beat, run straight back to the fog gate.
Once he lands, he will use his forward breath again, so again you run off to the right, staying well in front of his head, and hit him again, so long as you're still in front of his head and slightly to the right, he should do another forward breath attack, which you dodge by running to the left to about the middle of the arena while staying behind the line, then hit him twice, he should do the forward breath once more, again you run to the left and hit him, He will then fly up again, and again you run back to the fog gate. and repeat.
Notes: he should always land in the same spot, but whenever he lands he may reposition himself a bit, this is rare so long as you run straight back to the gate as soon as his wings start to beat, and even if he does this he will still be facing the fog gate and your strategy does not change, except you may only be able to dodge to the left once due to the edge. If he starts up his fly attack instead of a forward breath at any time, just run back to the fog gate.
If you're playing a melee character just run into his back foot at the start. Get between his big toe and middle toe and swing a couple of times. When he goes to stomp get out over to the other back foot and get between those toes. He should just alternate his easily telegraphed stomps if done right. As long as you're at his other foot when the stomp comes down, no damage taken.
Thanks for the video. I was running toward the tail when I was trying this, but I had other people with me and when he flew up he'd move back to target one of us and running to the tail didn't leave enough room to actually avoid the fire. I'll try it this way when I get a chance seems like a great strat.
This is probably the best strategy video I have found for this boss. This strategy helped alot with this boss.
GREAT STRAT! I had been trying the tail version, had some luck on it in ng. This works much better for ng+, thank you so much
For melee builds, one trick you can do is two hand wield your grym greatshield. You'll lose all stamina but be able block the aerial firebreath.
If you just want to beat the boss and you don't care about wasting souls, you can use a combination of Climax, Souls of a Great Hero and Wilted Dusk Herb. I had the Blue Clearstone Ring +2, Abyss Seal, Southern Ritual Band +2 and 3rd Dragon Ring with a Lion Mage/ Black Hood mix. I had Int&Faith at around 40 and Climax used up about 100k Souls. I was able to kill him in 5 hits though. Instead of the Dragon Ring you could also use the Cloranthy +2 or the Red Tearstone Ring (Keep in Mind that the Abyss Seal drains HP)
I've noticed that this hit and run strategy works for most of the bosses in the game. The Old Iron King and the Queen lady both have easy exploits like this.
Thanks bro! 7 years later and you are still healping people! Been running for his tail, getting insta killed, and started to think that the AoE attack was impossible to dodge. However, with your tip, i've got this bloody dragon's head in the first try.
Fantastic tutorial brother, much appreciated. Just subscribed, lookin forward to more.
Thanks so much!!! After trying so many other tactics and dying so many times till almost all the knights despawned leading up to the boss, I finally got him on the 2nd try using your tactic!
Solo is definitely easier than in a group. I removed most of my armour, equipped Ring of Binding and just rushed the boss over and over till I got it.
amazing video. one of the best boss guides I've ever seen. had 8 tries without taking even a third of its health. saw your video and beat it in 2 tries
It worked! Thanks dude. Took lime 15minutes but got it done. Also tried like 50 times. Solo, co-op all to no avail. But this worked well. Patience is key.
by far the best guide.
i hadnt fight against him, looked for some guide to know what i was up against.
beated him first try because of your guide. (as a melee)
For melee fighters: Remove all of your armor so you will have enough stamina and speed (since he is most likely to one-shot you, the armor just hinders you). Go for his hind legs and attack wielding a weapon two handed to get as much damage as possible. Depending on the weapon you can attack 2-4 times before he either stomps or flies in the air to do this fire attack. So after you attack those few times watch what he does next. If he stomps, dodge and attack him a few more times. If he flies in the air, make sure you have his tail in sight and run towards it. You will see a that the tail has a small sign under it, if manage to get to it, you should be safe. Be careful not to be directly under his tail when he lands. When he lands, go for his hind legs again. Repeat until he's dead.
This boss is easier said than done, he will frequently fuck you over on positioning and put himself somewhere where you cant run far enough to avoid the fire breath.
Thank you very much !!! I had big trouble and first time with your tip !
Very helpful, as a melee it took a little longer but the strategy still works.
oh my God thank you for showing me a strategy that didn't involve chasing a tail I can't tell you how many times I've died because I was stuck directly under the Dragon trying to get to the tail in time because if you're standing near the back feet and he jumps he won't centers himself directly above you so it's real hard to outrun his centering in time
First try, NG+ and latest patch, still works. Thank you
This is a great strategy. Thank you. Worked much better for me than chasing the tail, which failed when he turns.
My problem is that, if he does his flying thing, he also moves quite a bit during it. Even if you start booking it immediately when you notice him going up, if he decides to travel in the direction you run, you can't get out of the AOE. I'm doing awesome at predicting his attacks, it's just a quarter the time I literally cannot get out of the AOE, just because he moves in the direction I went.
Thank you Epic for all your DS2 videos, very helpful!!!
Man Your video really helped I FINALLY beat him-Thanks! Of course it takes longer since all the magic and hex nerfs, but technique is spot on!
Hey guys, I found a pretty simple way to kill him if you want to. All you need is gower's ring which you can get by using a bonfire ascetic on the ruined fork road bonfire in shaded woods. Just go into the misty area and hug the right side and you'll run into a body pretty close to the beginning of the area. Then just equip it and buy a bunch of repair powder. When you fight this boss just turn your back to him anytime he attacks or goes in the air. When he hits you, you just fall forward. After you get up use a repair powder or two so the ring doesn't break. So just hit him when he lands then rinse and repeat, it's pretty simple. They're getting ready to patch the ring to where it only negates some and not all of the damage, so do it quickly if you wanna. Hope this helps, good luck!
I don't know about yall, but this is the best walkthrough I've seen of this boss...real talk
This...this after almost 3 months of dying to him. Thanks. Best caster strategy ever.
thank you so much, worked like a charm, so much easier when i knew what to watch out for/where to stand, especially as a melee, 1st try using this strat
For melee: Use Gowers Ring, bait the breath and hit his front legs a few times. When he starts to fly, run away. Gowers ring will protect you if he hits you. Killed him on my first try with a +10 lightning Murakumo.
I tried all other strategies for ages, I thought I gave up hope. Then I gave this a try and I beat him my first time.
I used this method and it totally worked!
I was trying to kill this boss for about a week
ThanX for this amazing helpful video!
I'll subscribe
This is actually a pretty good strategy! You should do more like this one. different from most youtubers doing same old thing;)
This worked a charm! Much thanks for this strategy man!
Excellent job, after watching the video it worked for me on the first try, thanks man
Actually it is better ti stay outside his head melee range, diagonal to him.
He will to a fire breath in wich he turns his body, lowering his head first. That is what you're baiting. Change sides at each time. Pretty much the same as yours, but more sure to bait the attack.
Also, baiting this other firebreath I've told it is harder for him to use the flying fire breath.
This was just what I was looking for! Arggro his standing fire spray and get distance on the flying one. Thanks, got it on try 3 like you said.
This boss is really easy once you understand how to do it. As soon as you enter the room run to your right a little and fast to his back left foot and stand in between his toes. Attack the foot 3 or 4 times, wait to see what happens. He'll usually stomp. If so, just get out of the way. After the stomp just get back in between his toes and keep attacking. No need to switch feet or anything. And if you are between his toes the fire under his belly won't even hit you. Easy as hell. Also don't use lock on. And you can also tell when he's about to stomp because sometimes his tail will sort of vibrate before the stomp. If he flies up in the air which he did a few times run as fast as you can towards his tail. If you are on his back foot you'll be able to make it clear of the flames each time. Then when he lands just back in the toes. Seriously, this was by far the easiest boss of the whole game.