Knight Artorias
HP: 3750
Skills: Forward Thrust, Jump Slam*, Leaping Strike, Spinning Slash*, Black Sludge, Sword Strikes, Power Up*
Souls: 50000
Difficulty: 5/5
Times died on 1st playthrough: 10+
After beating Sanctuary Guardian and wandering into Oolacile, you know things are going to be hard. Anyway, make your way to the center area, where a great arena resides. If you have played enough games, seeing a great arena should alert you immediately...especially with a fog gate right at the entrance. As if that wasn't a bad enough warning, you should stay away. But, since we are fated to die tens of thousands of times, head into the fog gate and meat one of the toughest bosses in the game, Knight Artorias. He is the boss of Oolacile Sanctuary.
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| May the best man win... |
As far as looks go, Artorias is cool as shit. Being a knight with the powers of the abyss surrounding him, he might be one of the most imposing bosses in the game with just looks alone. And that's just how he looks...in combat, Artorias is a monster. His swordsmanship is second to none, and he will cut you down, over and over and over. He hits very hard on almost every one of his skills, he strikes fast and with precision. You will need to be at your best to defeat the abyss walker, because he is absolutely no freaking joke. Whatever strategy you're going to use to defeat him, you'd better be prepared for an insanely hard fight.
Forward Thrust - Used at mid range. He dashes towards you with a piercing strike with his sword, dealing heavy damage. Dodge to the side to avoid, blocking works too.
Jump Slam* - Used at short-mid range. He'll jump short distances and slam on the ground. He may do this 2-3 times in a row, which is deadly, to say the least. Dodging in rapid succession is advised, since it may not be possible to block multiple hits of this attack.
Leaping Strike - Used at far range. He jumps towards you at an incredible range with great speed. Easily dodged by running TOWARDS him, blocking is also a good idea.
Spinning Slash* - Similar to Sif's spinning slash, only for this, he spins TOWARDS you instead of on the spot, and he's way faster. Very deadly, dodge it if possible. Its risky to block it if your stamina isn't great.
Black Sludge - He flings some black goo towards you. Does minimal damage, but will damage you if you walk to it.
Sword Strikes - Simple combos consisting of swings and strikes. Simple to avoid and dodge, but he may chain these together to form multiple hitting combos.
Power Up* - He charges himself up with the power of the abyss, eventually causing a massive explosion around him, dealing high damage. He also receives a massive damage buff if he successfully casts this.
Alright, so to beat this guy, you'll need guts, and you'll need the attentiveness of an A grade student in university. Your eyes need to be on Artorias at ALL times, because making a single wrong decisions can cost you the fight. Artorias strikes hard and fast, and you may not be able to recover from receiving a fatal blow. Despite him being a scary knight with a huge sword, its in your best interest to stick close to him, because he has plenty of ways to stick to you. Even if you're going for a magic, pyromancy or bow kill, be respectful and stick near at all times.
Let's first talk about gap closers, because if you're going to need to heal you'll need to do it away from him. At mid range, forward thrust is his most common move. Its fast and it takes off a good chunk of stamina upon blocking. Dodging to the side works, since he uses this at mid range, you have some time to react. Leaping strike makes Artorias come at you from afar, this one hurts a lot, but is easy to avoid. Just run towards him or roll towards him, and if you're feeling ballsy, you may want to block it as well. For both of these attacks, its possible for you to damage him when he's recovering.
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| Uh...you might be dead. |
Okay, so lets talk about actually beating this guy. For starters, he has a small opening every time he does one of his attacks at melee range, so you can actually hit him. Sword strikes is probably his most common option when you're trying to stay in his face. These are multiple sword swings, but its hard to tell whether he'll do it once or multiple times, making it a tough move to read. You might go in for a jab on his face but if he decides to swing again you're f**ked, always pay close attention, both when trying to attack or heal.
Jump slam is another move that'll actually murder you like an insect. This one is like leaping strike, only deadlier and more relentless, it has shorter range, but he will use it multiple times in a row to home in onto you and inflict some massive hurt. For starters, since its closer range, its faster and harder to see coming. You need to dodge it, since if you decide to block it and he uses this move 3 times in a row, you're screwed on the stamina side. Getting stun locked by 3 jump slams is just depressing, and often leads to death. Always, ALWAYS try to dodge this move, don't get greedy and try to land hits on him unless he uses this 3 times (that's the maximum), then go in for some hits.
And of course, since this bugger is Sif's master, he's going to have her signature move, the spinning slash, only for Artorias, he moves forward and is quicker. Being quicker is not that much of a big deal, but the catch is him moving forward, because one: he can use this as a gap closer and two: you might not be able to land hits on him after this move. Of course, this should almost always be blocked, because like Sif's version of the attack, the stamina consumption upon block is monstrous, and if you are not able to block it...its big damage.
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| Who wouldn't shit bricks at the sight of this? |
Now let's talk about his final move, and easily his deadliest one. Through the course of the fight, Artorias might just stand still and start charging up, drawing energy from the abyss towards him. When you see this, try to run towards him as fast as you can and smack him continuously to stun him, because you don't WANT him to finish casting it. He receives a massive damage buff, and will likely become able to one shot you, or at least deal massive stamina upon blocking. The drawback is that if you fail, a massive explosion will occur, and you'll take a lot of damage.
That's all for this beast of a boss. Artorias nets you 50000 souls upon death, a worthy amount for a worhty adversary. Of course, your journey isn't over, there are more monstrous things out there in Oolacile. Still you should congratulate yourself for slaying the infamous abyss walker, he is insanely hard after all.
Peace.
