Flexile Sentry
HP: 3150
Skills: Double Slash, Lunging Slash*, Mace Combo, Double Mace Slam*
Souls: 14000
Difficulty: 1.5/5
Deaths: 0
So you've beaten the guardians of "Heide's Tower Of Flame"? Then its time to proceed into "No Man's Wharf", a pirate cove of sorts, with undead bandits scurrying all around alongside long armed, reptilian monsters. There's not much to like here other than getting hounded by guard dogs or mauled to death with axes and swords, but there's a pirate ship up ahead, where you'll need to use to get to your next destination. When you do finally make it there...there's a sentry waiting, preventing you from ever steering his ship through the wrong course.
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| Come at me bro! |
Unfortunately for the Flexile Sentry, he's not the hardest boss around. In fact, he's pretty damn easy as long as you don't stand around like a sitting duck. He's rather slow, but his attacks do cover a lot of room and do some heavy. Still, for an early boss, he's very manageable, and if you don't get greedy, you can slowly but surely cut him down. If possible, try dodging more than blocking during this battle, because his attacks may inflict bleed on you.
Double Slash - He slashed you twice with his sword side. Easily blocked or dodged.
Lunging Slash* - He leaps at you from a distance, doing high damage. Blocking may eat up a considerable amount of stamina, dodging is the way to go.
Mace Combo - He slowly swings his maces at you for a few times, easily dodge-able.
Double Mace Slam* - He slams two of his maces down on top of you for massive damage. Roll away for this one, since dodging will leave you wide open for another attack.
The strategy for him is rather simple: just keep moving around. The Flexile Sentry is a very immobile boss with no form of gap closing except for his lunging slash attack, and even for that move, you can easily dodge it. Most of his attacks are pretty slow, so you can just block, or simply just walk out of most of them. His attacks have long cooldown times, so you have plenty of chances to keep going in. He isn't as tanky as previous bosses, so you can take him down pretty fast.
Double slash is simple, he just slices at you twice. As long as you keep close to him, he will spam this move, which is easy to exploit since its so slow. If he's facing you at the other side, he's going to hit you with his mace combo, which isn't very impressive as well. Both can be easily walked out of or dodged, but if you choose to keep a distance, he might use lunging slash, which is probably his most dangerous move (which isn't very dangerous at all). This one will hurt you both health and stamina wise, so dodging is the way to go. Other than that he might just run up to you and try to net you with double mace slam, which is also easily dodgeable.
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| Yeah, keep trying to hit me. |
The Flexile Sentry is simple enough for you to win. For something so easy to beat, he grants a hefty amount of 14000 souls. After this you can go claim your pyromancy flame as well as set sail for the next map, "The Lost Bastille".
...But before you do, you've got an old score to settle.
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The Pursuer
HP: 3110
Skills: Dashing Slash, 3 Hit Combo Variation*, Horizontal Slash, Curse Stab*, Dark Swarm*
Souls: 17000
Difficulty: 3.5/5
Deaths: 10+
Time to go back to "The Forest Of The Fallen Giants". This time, take the soldier key you got from "The Last Giant" and open up the door to a new, short area. Now kill the little undead soldiers that stand in your way and enter a fog gate...to see something that you'll soon come to despise. Meet "The Pursuer", a large knight that hunts those that bear the sign of the undead...which means you. How are you going to beat this massive hulk of a knight? Its time to die.
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| Oh god no.... |
The Pursuer is unlike any boss you've faced thus far, and for the early game, he's probably the hardest boss you have to face. He's has high defenses, he has few openings for you to hit him, he's fast, he has a gap closer, his attacks are powerful, and one mistake can cost you the fight. There are twin ballistas for you to use so that you can deal immense amounts of damage to him, but these require precision, timing, and most of all, your positioning must be perfect. I wouldn't recommend that strategy unless you REALLY need it (you're dieing to him 20 times or more in a row)...if you want to fight him like a man, here's the rundown.
Dashing Slash - His easiest attack to avoid. Blocking this will put you in a stunned state, leaving you open to an attack. Always dodge this, as he just comes straight at you after a brief windup and slashes UPWARDS, which will almost, always not hit you. This is probably the safest time for you to hit him.
3 Hit Combo Variation* - A series of attacks, composed of slashes and shield bashes. It caps at 3 hits at most. You'll need to dodge properly for this one, its going to hurt.
Horizontal Slash - Just a wide, sweeping slash. Dodge forward or backward, this one can be blocked too.
Curse Stab* - His sword glows, then he stabs forward with an unblockable attack. DODGE, if you get hit by this even once the fight is probably over.
Dark Swarm* - He only uses this if he managed to curse you. Its a very power attack where he summons a mass of floating, dark orbs that home in on you. Requires multiple, well timed rolls to dodge, deals massive damage.
At the very beginning of this fight, the game makes it clear to you that you're going to have a pretty hard time. The Pursuer is intimidating, and his bulky build doesn't make it any easier for you. He's going to hit you hard and fast, up close, you stand little chance if you don't memorize his attack patterns by hard. He has a massive shield that blocks a small portion of his body, making it hard to hit him at times, and he can use that to attack you, breaking your guard and leaving you open for an attack that may be your last.
The Pursuer is almost always going to want to be in your face, and he WILL use dashing slash to close the gap every time. If you're not a melee fighter (archer/mage), then you'll want to stay at mid range, where you can have a safe distance for you to start casting, though you might want to be careful, because some attacks can reach you from quite a distance. Anyways, no matter what play style you're using, after a dashing slash, he leaves himself open for quite abit, so this is the safest possible time for you to hit him for some easy damage.
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| Erm...come at me, bro! |
Now then, time for you to actually try to learn his attacks. The one that kills most is his 3 hit combo...this thing f**king blows. Its varied, so sometimes he might open with a sword slash, sometimes he opens up with a shield bash, and every time he tries something different, you need to react differently. If its the shield bash, you'll need to dodge for sure, because that thing breaks your guard and leaves you stunned up for the rest of his combo. The slash can be blocked, but if he opens with a shield bash on his second hit, then you're screwed because he'll get you with his 3rd hit.
While its easier to just block the slashes and dodge the shield bashes, its better altogether, if you memorize the timing and range of his attacks and try to roll past them. Because The Pursuer has such a wide range of attack, dodging to the sides is never worth it, and dodging backwards just means you're going to have to dodge more attacks since he'll keep coming TOWARDS you for the rest of his combo. That means that, as stupid as it sounds, you'll need to roll TOWARDS the monster. If you dodge his attack, you'll be behind him, and you have the leeway to avoid the rest of his combo and go land some hits on him.
Its not quite over though, while his 3 hit combos are killer, he might come at you with a curse stab. While its an easy attack to dodge, it might not be easy to see coming. His sword will glow, then he'll perform an unblockable stab. This thing doesn't really do TOO much damage (it still chunks you decently), it'll curse you and he gets access to his dark swarm ability...which is just frustrating to deal with. Everytime you see the sword glow, just haul ass and dodge with the best of your ability, because that thing will end you.
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| Just get out of my face... |
So, keep playing safe, tactical and cautious....you will EVENTUALLY kill this guy. Killing him grants you 17000 souls, a pretty nice sum for such an early game boss. After all is said and done, you unlock a nest, which grants you access to "The Lost Bastille"...our next destination.
Until then....peace!
