Dark Souls III MAX Quakestone Hammer vs Soul of Cinder Boss Strategy!
1https://www.gamefaqs.com/ps4/168566-dark-souls-iii/faqs/73818
On New Game +2 at soul level 125+ I had a really hard time against this boss. I remember my battle with the demon's fist the first time I fought the Soul of Cinder to be much easier. This time around I will be using the Quakestone hammer at maximum which is +5. It deals around 570 damage at the time it was used.
I also used the black iron armor set, a life ring, black iron great shield and an Estus ring. The ring of favor is an option and I highly suggest having either a chloranthy ring + or some green blossom for the stamina boost. The reason for the black iron set is the fire absorption same goes for the shield. Ring of steel protection is also a viable candidate for rings.
The Soul of Cinder has two phases. The first phase has four variations. These get hard to notice when you first encounter him. The Soul of Cinder will change weapons with each variation. He will start with a long sword and that is the easiest variation to do damage to him in. Try and pack in as much damage as you can while he is using the long sword. The Soul of Cinder will start the battle with this weapon. Get used to having at least 3-4 hits of stamina left in your bar with your weapon. Save that stamina for when he is staggered as you can deal massive damage.
If you are using the Quakestone Hammer, know that you can be invincible to knockdown's while you are using the "Quake" ability. I would save this for the very start of the battle and it may be a huge risk to use otherwise. For phase two you may want to avoid your shield and Quake skill completely.
The second variation will have the Soul of Cinder using his spear. This seems to be a huge problem. I did catch on that rolling forward into the spear and a bit to the right works better than running away. The spear has a huge range so backing up is not very viable.
The 3rd variation is the curved sword. This is the most dangerous variation and I would rather avoid it completely. You can back away and run away from this move and hope the Soul of Cinder changes variations. You should, however, defeat him before he even uses this variation.
The 4th variation is the staff, this one is also good for landing in some hits. This goes double for when he does the power beam attack. It's hard to dodge at first but you can easily get behind the Soul of Cinder and land tons of direct hits in, possibly going for a stagger on the boss at the same time for more massive damage.
Finally, in phase one the Soul of Cinder can empower himself and burn red. At this time I suggest avoiding him completely. He is faster, stronger and may take less damage until it wears off.
The 2nd phase has four main moves to look out for. The Soul Of Cinder takes more damage or has much less HP ( Hit points ), than in the first phase. On the downside, he is much more powerful and you may be running low on estus. Even if you have plenty of estus left some of his attacks can destroy your health bar and leave you scared and panicking.
The first major attack is the four swords I like to call it. When the Soul of Cinder swings his sword from right to left in a large arc, he will swing it twice more. Finally, he will crash down a circle of fire on you. This move may have got you caught in a four-hit combination. If it did than you know the move! Stay away from this one and know that once it is finished you can quickly land in a hit on the Soul of Cinder. Knowing his moves and what they are capable of is a huge part of this boss battle.
Next, beware of the grab! You can avoid this by a very quickly timed backroll. Also be on the look-out for this one as you can not block it with your shield. You also can not use your battle skill to gain invulnerability through the grab, even with the Quakestone hammer +5.
Lightning spears are next and they are pretty easy to dodge, just do a roll. If you can quickly follow up with an attack if your close to the Soul of Cinder. The next lightning attack takes a bit longer to charge and is more deadly. This attack can be dodged by rapidly rolling in one direction, just be aware of it and mightily quick with your button inputs.
Remember that you can still stagger the Soul of Cinder even in phase #2. Just be sure to have enough stamina to not only hit the soul of cinder when staggered, but to escape whatever his next attack may be. It's an immensely tough battle and took me around 50+ attempts on New Game +2 solo. Don't give up as beating him is quite rewarding as it is fun!
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