Game:

Dark Souls (2011)

Category:

Guide

Duration: 10:49

372 views

5

Knight Artorias

Health: 3,750
Souls: 50,000

Strategy:

-Found after the Royal Woods in the ARTORIAS OF THE ABYSS DLC.

-First and foremost, Artorias is an aggressive fighter with a lot of attacks which makes him difficult to predict. Because of the speed of his attacks, you'll either need to get a good shield and armor with VERY high stability and poise with a medium roll or be ready to pull out the fast rolls. I think learning to roll makes it easy to learn and predict this boss's attacks, so that's what I recommend, but he's perfectly doable by just blocking. Be prepared for a long and slow fight if you chose that route, however.

-There's a couple attacks that are good for getting a counter hit in. When he howls and jumps at you, landing on all fours, that's a good opportunity to attack. He has a similar leaping attack where he attempts to hit you with his sword, but don't try to attack after it; he often follows up with one (or more) follow up sword attack.

-Another decent attack is an overhead sword attack; it'll probably stagger you if you block it, but if you dodge he has no direct follow-ups, so it's a good chance to hit him.

-Another decent attack to counter is his charging 360 slash, where he dashes at you then spins his sword around him. If you dodge forward, you should be able to hit him.

-Circling around Artorias can be a useful strategy. Stick to the side where he doesn't have a sword and attempt to circle around him. If you're near his side, a lot of his slashing attacks will actually miss you completely, no dodge or blocking required.

-In general, having a good shield in conjunction with a fast roll is very handy. He's often unpredictable, and you're not going to be able to anticipate every attack he'll pull off. Most of his attacks CAN be blocked, so that's a plus at least.

-Time for healing can be very hard to find, wait for him to perform an attack that's good to counter like the primal roaring leap or his big overhead sword attacks that give you a little bit of time before countering. When you're almost dead, if feels like he just gets more aggresive!

-When you see him charging up abyssal energy, it's possible to stagger him and cancel this magic attack. Switch to 2-handed and do what you can. Remember, it doesn't take long before an magic damage explosion will occur, so you'll have to be fairly quick. A Sunlight Spear can interrupt him. If he succeeds in charging up, his attack speed, area-of-effect and damage are increased significantly for awhile.

-This abyssal charge-up happens first when he's around 80% health or so; fairly early in the fight. Try to anticipate it, as it provides some free hits even though his defense values increase while he's charging.

Attacks:

-Savage Roaring leap: Artorias goes down on all fours before roaring and leaping at you. Can be blocked, but better dodged so you can get a free hit in as he has no direct follow-ups.

-Somersault combo: Similar to the leap attack where he jumps at you, but instead jumps with his sword in the air and smashing it down. Can follow this up with a second somersault immediately after, sometimes with a THIRD. Dodging is pretty much vital for this attack, but you CAN counter him after blocking if your shield is strong enough. Interesting thing about this is that the attack completely ignores invincibility frames, so attempting to dodge through this attack will never work, you HAVE to dodge to the left or right to avoid it.

-Stab n' Charge: Dashes forward and stabs. Hits twice and will suck up most of your stamina, and often will follow up with a dodge attack, especially if you're positioned behind or to his side.

-Slash dodge: performs a VERY fast slash while leaping away. Almost impossible to anticipate; this is why a shield is so important for this fight.

-Short stab: likes to follow up attacks with an extra stab just to make things harder for you.

-Slash combo: He'll swing at you between 1 to 3 times and likes to follow this up with either a 360 spin or a short stab.

-720 spin: Spins his sword twice. If you're dodging, dodge into the swing rather than away from it, otherwise it could still hit you, depending on your I-frames.

-Slime splash: If you're to his side or behind him, he likes to follow up any attacks with a wide splash of black goo. Can be avoided, but it's fairly fast.

-Abyssal charge: Once you've knocked off around 20% of his health, he'll start charging up with magic energy. After a few moments he'll cause a magic explosion then he'll be charged up for awhile. His attack speed, area-of-effect and damage output are all greatly improved while he's got the magic aura. Best to avoid him while he's charged up or interrupt him before he's able to charge.

Special Rewards:

-Soul of Artorias

-1 Humanity

Other Statistics