And with that let's gear up, grab our swords and shields and take a look at the top five...
5. Sir Alonne
So, at No.5 is this guy, Sir Alonne, who is the main boss from the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC and he wears samurai armour and wields a massive katana, so when you step into his arena, you know you are in for a painful fight.
As for what makes Sir Alonne so tricky, its the fact that the guy has quite a fast moveset and he has the ability to stun and parry you, something which no other boss in the game can do. Sir Alonne also has some sneaky moves, especially one where he can impale you with his blade, which is buffed with dark magic and it blazes red afterward, which will allow him to inflict greater damage afterward. Now I have to say that his impale move drove me crazy simply because he can actually hit you with it even if you are not dead on centre of his target, which to me was basically cheating!
Now similar to quite a few of the other bosses on this list, I seriously struggled with this guy when I summoned the two NPCs to fight him as he of course has much more health and inflict less damage on with NPC summons, which is common rule of thumb about summoning. So, I think the problem there is that the fight becomes too chaotic to deal with at this point and to beat him you are better off going it alone (or alonne even!). The key to fight for me was basically time your rolls to evade his thrust attacks and three strike pattern and just dodge out of the way of his impale attack as well as you can and get your strikes in between his attacks and he will eventually go down.
So, Sir Alonne is no picnic but out of the three bosses in what is unquestionably the toughest DLC of the game he is still the easier of the other two, who will be coming up on this list quite soon!
4. Ancient Dragon
At No.4 is the Ancient Dragon, who is also a massive beast of a dragon, who is actually an optional boss and doesn't become hostile until you attack him but if you do, watch out as this guy can prove to be a real challenge to beat and for me was one of the hardest bosses in the regular game.
The Ancient Dragon actually appears in the Dragon Shrine area and is integral to the story to an extent as he will give you the Ashen Mist that will let you enter the memories of giants to collect their souls and this ultimately will let you attack and defeat Vendrick (yet despite all this these events are optional!). So, basically you can either choose to take the ashen mist and leave, or stay and try and fight him.
And if you do stay to fight, the Ancient Dragon will soon let you know he's unhappy by performing a series of devastating fire attacks that can wipe you out unless you have good fire defense or a good pair of running shoes! However what is even more devastating here is when he flies and comes back down make sure you aren't anywhere near his feet or he will totally flatten you with one shot! Not only that but he has the highest amount of health of ANY boss in the game, so again it will take alot of patience to take this big mother down.
So, I personally found the best way to deal with the AD is to attack his front feet while he is stationary on the ground and he breathes his fire breath outward and if you are under his feet you will be safe from his fire attacks. This will take a big of patience and running away from his aerial flame attacks and getting yourself in position before you can attack again. Also its best to equip armour with high fire defense or a ring that provides good fire protection as well as a weapon that is buffed with lightning of sorts as the AD is weak to lightning in particular.
So, overall the Ancient Dragon is definitely one of the hardest bosses in the game and well deserving of his place here in the top five.
3. Blue Smelter Demon (aka Smelter Demon 2.0)
Now these next two bosses on the list are essentially the same boss but they feature at different stages in the game and they are both pretty similar in terms of their attacks as well as their difficulty, so it was tricky to decide, which one was tougher. So, I have decided to put this one first, which is of course the Blue Smelter Demon, who follows on from his first counterpart, the Smelter Demon.
Now, chosing between these two was pretty tough as they are both VERY tough bosses but I had to put the Blue Smelter Demon in this spot because he is slightly easier to deal with but only fractionally! The BSD himself features in the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC.
As for the actual boss himself, the Blue Smelter Demon is a big guy with what can only be described as a butthole faced giant in hefty armour and the difference between Blue Smelty and the regular one is that Blue inflicts magic damage where as the regular Smelty deals fire damage. So, here you fight Blue in an circular room and he will attack you with a large greatsword that inflicts blue magic flames. Blue lashes out at you with his greatsword with a series of slashing attacks aswell as a plunge attack and he can also buff himself up to inflict even greater damage and can also send flaming magic and he also has an AoE attack (Area of Effect) that knock you back and take quite a bit off your health.
And what makes this fight so difficult is trying to evade Blue Smelty's slash attacks within the confines of the arena without getting hit, so if you are playing as a melee character it can be pretty tough to move in and get your strikes and pull back before Smelty attacks you again. The timing of his attacks is supposedly also slightly varied over his flamey counterpart although it was hard for me to spot any real difference. But generally speaking the real killer attacks here are his vertical and horizontal slashes that can inflict major damage and if you get caught in the blast of his AoE attack this can also finish you off if you are low enough in health.
So, for me the strategy here is to try and again time your rolls to evade his slash attacks and then get your hits in once he has just finished his attack, if you are a sorcerer then its possible to also finish off Smelty with dark magic, which he is apparently quite weak to. So, you can keep your distance to make things that bit easier aswell if you use ranged attacks as a sorcerer, however melee is definitely the tougher option here.
So, the Blue Smelter Demon is a very tough retread of an already very tough boss and as such deserves a place on this list although I can't help but think the game makers were getting a bit lazy with this one as they decided to put in another of the same boss, which they also did with the underwhelming Dragonrider boss. However, this is still a very tough boss fight and one worth putting on the top five list.
2. Smelter Demon
So, at No.2 is the original Smelter Demon, who is virtually identical with the exception that he inflicts fire damage instead of magic. Smelty here is actually an optional boss that features in the original game and by heck he is one of the toughest boss fights I've have had the misfortune of ever trying to complete and must have taken me near 100 goes before I finally got over the finish line!
So, why is the Smelter Demom taking the runner up spot? Simply because similar to his Smelty 2.0 counterpart, he is a very difficult boss that uses a series of slash attacks and what makes this boss that bit tougher is that you fight him in an even tighter room where you have less space to evade his attacks making this hands down one of the toughest fights in the game.
And the Smelter Demon has very similar attacks to the Blue Smelter as I mentioned he uses horizontal and vertical cleave attacks, he has a plunge attack aswell as AoE attack if you get too near him, you can get caught in the blast and in some cases it will finish you off! Smelty also inflicts somer serious fire damage, which can seriously wipe you out with ease especially as you fight him in such an enclosed area it really is difficult to evade his attacks.
As for how to beat him, well the best way is again to time your rolls to evade his attacks and try and anticipate when he will launch into an AoE attack and you have to get your strikes in just after he has finished an attack and quickly back off. You can also however make the fight a fair bit easier if you use the pyromancy spell, Flash Sweat, which will withstand alot of fire damage, so if you have it, Id highly recommend using it. However I would also highly recommend that you NEVER summon for this fight, as Smelty can quickly finish off your NPC summon, leaving you to fight a stronger Smelty who can deal greater damage than if you fought him alone.
So, the Smelter Demon is unquestionably the toughest boss fight in the original game and if you are unfamiliar with his attacks and his fight then you are in for a real tough one in taking him down and he definitely deserves the runner-up spot on the list.
And so my pick for the toughest boss fight in Dark Souls II is....
The Covetous Demon
Only kidding! No, this boss is a real joke and the easiest in the game! ;-)
No, but this guy is the exact opposite...
1. The Fume Knight
Yep, at No.1 is the pick that most fans would choose for the toughest boss fight in Dark Souls II and they would in my opinion certainly be right and I have chosen the one and only Fume Knight, who appeared in the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC.
The Fume Knight...lovely guy I'm sure when he is in social company (ahem!) but when you enter his ashen arena and face him in battle, its a totally different matter. The Fume Knight is a brutal boss and a ruthless contest that takes some mastering as he is without a doubt the toughest boss in the game. Period.
So, what makes the Fume Knight so difficult? Well, quite a few things.
For starters and what would make this fight impossible to beat is that outside the Fume Knight's arena, there are four creatures known as Ashen Idols, which you MUST destroy before you go in to face him because what they do is regenerate his health when you attack him, making the fight literally unwinnable. So, what you do then is get items called smelter wedges and to jam them into the idols, which will destroy them and once they are out the way you can get then go in and fight Fumey.
As, for the fight itself, Fumey has two phases, the first is no joke by any means but is still the easier of the two, where he will attack you with two swords, a longsword and a large greatsword, which will begin to glow with fire as the phase progresses. In this stage, the Fume Knight will attack you with a serious of combos and also perform a vertical smash with his greatsword aswell as a backswing that can knock you off your feet. So, essentially this phase involves carefully timing your rolls to evade his attacks.
Now, the second phase however is where things get really hard and the Fume Knight ditches his longsword and fires up his greatsword with flames and he starts to deliver some very aggressive, frenzied combo attacks with his sword. In this stage he also performs a wide sweep with his flaming greatsword, which can inflict major damage. He also performs an AoE attack by stabbing his sword into the ground that unleashes a series of fireballs out toward you, which again deal alot of damage if you don't avoid them.
Its also worth noting that if you enter this fight wearing any piece of armour belonging to the knight, Velstadt (whom you also fight earlier in the game) the Fume Knight automatically go into the second phase of the fight right from the get-go. This is because in the lore, Velstadt defeated the Fume Knight (aka Raime) in a duel, which is something the Fumester never forgave him for, so if you wear Velstadt's gear, he might just be a tad peeved at you for it! The irony of it all is that Velstadt's fight is much easier than this one is!
So, as for strategy in how to beat the Fumester, well I SERIOUSLY struggled with this guy of course and it must have taken me near 100 goes or so before I nailed my first win over him. In the first phase, its a case of simply getting good at timing your rolls again to evade his combo attacks and heavy swings of his greatsword and getting your hits in when he has ended each attack and try and keep behind him as much as you can. In the second phase, its tougher to successfully avoid his angry combo attacks and I'd suggest keeper a bif of distance between him and you while he does them and definitely keep your distance when he does his sweep attack and the AoE one, so when he finishes them, move in and attack and back off.
I also found if you are a sorcerer you can use your spells at a distance and keep circling the arena and backing away from him as much as you can, however I had limited success doing this because it is too easy to get stuck in the corners using this strategy and when you do, the Fumester will have you for breakfast!
So, for me overall, I'd say the best strategy for this fight is try bring in just one of the two summons (usually I'd recommend Steelheart Ellie over the sorcerer Carhillion as she tends to last a bit longer) who will distract the Fume Knight just long enough for you to get your strikes in with the weapon of your choice. I personally in my second win against him, used the Greatsword to kill off Fumey with Steelheart Ellie managing to deliver the KO blow, which is funny because Ellie hardly deals out much damage and mostly tickles the Fume Knight!
And on my latest win against the Fume Knight, I found using even a battle axe was a good weapon against him and I just performed a series of strong attacks while again I summoned Ellie to distract him. So, I'd suggest bringing in just one summons because its a good compromise in dealing out damage as with two, the Fume Knight will be stronger but with just one he will be just that bit weaker, so it will allow you to inflict a good amount of damage but also keep him distracted long enough to get your strikes in that will win the fight.
So, overall, The Fume Knight is a brutal boss, who is incredibly difficult to beat and until you learn his moveset and get used to his attacks, then you are going to be in a very tough battle against him. However for me, he's not only the toughest boss in the game but also the best aswell as his fight is pretty exhilirating overall and that's makes the best Dark Souls bosses is the ones that are a real challenge.
So, for these reasons the Fume Knight more than deserves his place at the top of the list as the toughest boss in Dark Souls II.
SIGN OFF
Right, so that's it for now and if you have read my list, I hope you have enjoyed it and please feel free to also leave a comment and say which bosses did you find the toughest in the game.
So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post.
Till then its bye for now!
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