The Duke's Dear Freja
HP: 4220
Skills: Lunging Bite, Leg Spikes, Leg Spike Frenzy*, Web Shot*, Laser Beam
Souls: 42000

Difficulty: 3/5
Deaths: 4-5



After going through the entire route of the Doors Of Pharos, you will find yourself in Brightstone Cave Tseldora, the dreaded area filled with spiders and creepy mages. As you'd expect from a map that's practically INFESTED with these creepy crawlies, the final boss that's waiting at the end is none other than a big ass spider. Mind you, after The Lost Sinner, this is the next soul lord, so prepare yourself for quite a lengthy battle. Get your insect repellent and head right in to face the spider queen, The Duke's Dear Freja.



Sonuvabitch!

The Duke's Dear Freja is one hell of an ugly bitch.  One big, ugly bitch. Still, its menacing huge size does bear some merit behind it, The Duke's Dear Freja is quite tough to take down. I say tough to take down, but its honestly not too difficult of a boss. Sure, you'll spend quite awhile trying to kill it, but it shouldn't have too much on you because of its highly exploitable attack pattern. Keep your wits about you and this shouldn't be too tough.


Lunging Bite - Used at close range. The spider bites in the area in front of her after spreading her fangs out. Does high damage, and deducts considerable stamina on block. Just run away after you see her open up her fangs.

Leg Spikes - She flails her front legs around, hitting random, pinpoint locations. Rather easy to dodge, but I don't think its blockable. Just run away from her when you see her spike her legs about. Does moderate damage.

Leg Spike Frenzy* -  She flails her front legs around frantically while spitting out some green liquid from her mouth. This one can hurt quite a fair bit and set you up in an unfavorable position. Run the hell away or spam rolls.

Web Shot* - The spider lifts her head, then shoots out a simple straightforward projectile. If it connects, you will be stuck in place, setting her up for an easy laser shot. Does no damage on its own, but is extremely dangerous.

Laser Beam - Here it is, the boss's killer move. She reels her head backward, then fires off a laser beam. This attack does a stupid amount of damage and reaches throughout the entire length of the boss arena. Unblockable, but with the right timing, you can roll THROUGH UNDERNEATH it. The easier way is to just outrun the laser since it moves from left to right, just keep running right and eventually the laser beam stops.



You actually only have to worry about Web Shot, since its the only attack that the boss might use if you're standing at a distance. The danger about this boss is its Laser Beam attack, everything else you won't have to worry about if you're not in its face, which you should not be, because this boss is a complete beast when she decides to play melee. The worst and most important thing you should look out for however, are the mini minion spiders that crawl about as you enter the boss room. There should be 4 or 5 of these guys, and while you are completely focused trying to dodge out the boss's laser beams, these guys can put a complete dent in your plans if they hit you together and kill you. If possible, KILL ALL THESE LITTLE GUYS before focusing on The Duke's Dear Freja. They respawn, slowly, so keep track of them.


Run circles, CIRCLES.

The trick is to not stand near its face. If you stand at a considerable distance, the boss will almost, ALWAYS use Laser Beam. Laser Beam is a devastating move, but has a major flaw. The start-up time is very long, and the boss has TWO heads, one on the front and one at the back. As the front head reels up and charges for a Laser Beam, you have more than ample time to run to the back head, hit it multiple times as the front head is firing its laser, and when its done firing the laser, back off before the back head attacks. Yes, even though it has 2 heads, ONLY 1 HEAD CAN ATTACK AT A TIME.


With that in mind, the boss becomes a long stretch of just running around, baiting the laser, then running to the opposite head, hitting it, backing off, baiting the next laser from the current head facing you, then running BACK to the original front head. Simple, right? If all goes well, you shouldn't have much problems, though there are times that she will deviate a bit from the strategy. If you didn't back off fast enough, you will be seeing some of her melee attacks. Out of all the melee attacks, most are easily avoided by running away because of their long start ups, like Lunging Bite or Leg Spikes. Leg Spike Frenzy is the tough one, since its fast and covers a larger area than usual.


Also look out for Web Shot, as sometimes it will fire this off instead of the laser. If it does, dodge, and you're gold. If you are hit, you will be stuck, and you will easily be hit by a single laser beam, which can spell death. Other than that, other things you need to look out for as you repeat the boss's exploitable pattern are the spiders. When they spawn, look out for them and KILL them before focusing on The Duke's Dear Freja again. They don't spawn all at once, so take note of them and finish them fast as they come out. The boss has a lot of health, so take your time and whittle her down.



IMA FIRING MAH LAZOR


After beating this freak spider, you get 42000 souls, which is a massive, massive amount. You get access to killing the duke itself, and then followed by the body of Vengarl, who should be a piece of cake compared to what you just faced. Next time we go down the path of the rotten.


Peace.