Velstadt, The Royal Aegis
HP: 6290
Skills: Overhead Smash, Lunging Strike, Stomp, Bell Swing*, Sacred Oath*, Dark Bead
Souls: 50000
Difficulty: 3/5
Deaths: 2
So the Undead Crypt is a pretty shitty map. I know its not your day and all but don't worry, you're about to meet one of the most epic bosses in the game. You come all this way to look for King Vendrick, and when you're about to meet him, you're stopped by his aide. Venrick's right hand man stands in your way, and clearly, he doesn't want you to proceed. Enter Velstadt, The Royal Aegis, the most Garl Vinlind looking motherf*cker in the series other Garl himself. Veslstadt may be incredibly intimidating, but with the right moves, he can be taken down without TOO much difficulty.
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| Quit Stomping around. |
So with old Velstadt, you just have to keep in mind that he's one hell of a slow bastard. Usually, that's a good thing, but here, it's actually a little bit of both good AND bad. He does a crap ton of damage, and while he doesn't pack too many attacks, he can kill very easily with a couple of hits at most. Coming into this battle, you should be prepared to dodge a lot - this is one of those bosses that I won't recommend relying too much on the shield for, just like the Smelter Demon, except this time, Velstadt is considerably easier because of the massive arena and his lack of exceptionally terrifying attacks.
Overhead Smash - A straightforward smash after lifting his bell over his head. Does a lot of damage, but is probably the most predictable out of all his attacks.
Lunging Strike - He dashes at you while piercing his bell forward from a distance away. The startup of this attack isn't as obvious as others, but its still an attack that takes awhile to execute. Does good damage.
Stomp - If you're around his feet, he stomps once for some damage. Doesn't do as much damage as his other attacks, but its extremely easy to get tagged by this if you aren't careful.
Bell Swing* - A tricky attack where he swings his bell in a wide arc around him to get you off him. Has little startup and does quite a fair bit of damage, it also leaves you exposed to more potential attacks. Always back off after a few strikes to avoid this.
Sacred Oath* - He stops moving completely and goes into a prayer position. After a short while, he buffs himself up, increasing both his attack and defense parameters by large margins. This buff persists for the rest of the battle.
Dark Bead - Similar to the hex with the same name, it fires off a spread of dark bolts in an arc in front of him. Easily dodged by moving to the sides.
Make use of the big arena that you have when confronting Velstadt. His attacks are slow, most of them have quite a bit of range thanks to his size and weapon, you should mostly be safe strafing around him looking to take hits. His attacks are very slow but do a lot of damage, this makes the timing to dodge his attacks quite manageable. The dude is massive, so hacking away at his ankles is the way to go. He doesn't have much to hit you with, at close range, he'll most probably try his hand at Overhead Smash, which is a slow and easily dodged attack. If you're hacking away at his feet, he might try to tag you with Stomp.
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| Ready...fight! |
If you ever need to heal, its not particularly a good idea as Velstadt likes to use Lunging Strike from a distance, which will almost always net you if you're in the middle of flasking animation. Finally, he has Bell Swing, which is an attack he loves to use if you're strafing him too much. Honestly, this one has the least recovery time and the widest arc, so it may unintentionally tag you, then he'll follow up with another attack (probably Overhead Smash) for some dirty damage. Other than that, most of his other attacks have ridiculous recovery times so you can get in some free damage. At about 50% HP, he moves on to his second phase.
He'll start to cast Sacred Oath, rooting himself in place for the entirety of the spell's casting time. During this time, he takes reduced damage, but you can get plenty of free hits in. When the spell in complete, Velstadt takes reduced damage and dishes out a whole lot more for the remainder of the fight. During this phase, you'll need to be even more careful than usual, his already high damage becomes absolutely ridiculous and you may find yourself being unable to block attacks that you were able to before. The overall strategy though, remains the same, strafe around him, dodge his slow attacks, and slowly chip him down. Also, during this 2nd phase, he gets access to Dark Bead, a spell which is rather common for you to have seen now, but it takes Velstadt quite awhile to charge up. Just run up behind him and enjoy some free hits.
Nailing Velstadt grants you 50000 souls, a rather hefty amount for a big guy like him. You then get access to Vendrick's tomb and can pick up the King's Ring to further progress into the game.
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Guardian Dragon
HP: 5270
Skills: Fire Breath (Ground), Fire Breath (Air)*, Fireball, Tail Whip, Bite, Stomp
Souls: 37000
Difficulty: 1.5/5
Deaths: 0
For the guardian to the Dragon Aerie, one of the coolest areas in the game, we get to fight a boss that's pretty much going to be a staple normal enemy in the next map. That's just disappointing. Anyway, after taking the King's Ring and making it through the dreaded Aldia's Keep, you are stopped by this massive thing in a birdcage that's blocking your way to see the ultimate dragon that foresees everything. If you've braved the likes of Kalameet in the original "Dark Souls", prepare to steamroll this pup of a dragon.
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| A dragon that can't breath out fire isn't a dragon at all. |
The Guardian Dragon is probably one of the easiest dragon bosses in the history of "Souls" games outside of Dragon God. In terms of boss design he reeks of unoriginality when you consider how similar his attacks are to Kalameet before him. Plus, the fact that he's pretty much a normal enemy in the next map just shows how...bland of a boss this guy is. His attacks are pretty bland and basic, check it out.
Fire Breath (Ground) - He breathes a fan of flames in a cone area in front of him. Easily dodged by either staying out of range of running away from the flames.
Fire Breath (Air)* - He flies into the air and spews forth a torrent of flames. Deals AOE damage below him. Run the hell away when he flies upwards.
Fireball - He fires a simple bolt of fire in the air. Easily dodged or blocked.
Tail Whip - He swings his tail in an arc when you're around his backside. Can be blocked or dodged, its a rather slow attack.
Bite - A simplistic sweep attack using his mouth. Only affects you if you're in front of him or below his neck.
Stomp - He...simply stomps on you when you're around his feet area. Rolling away works.
Sharing a dumbed down version of Kalameet's kit, this bugger is very easily dealt with by the average player. Being a dragon, his hitbox is massive so its very easy to cut him down considering his relatively small health pool. Most of his attacks aren't too impressive as long as you stay beneath him to hack away at his ankles. With that in mind he can only retaliate with Stomp or Tail Whips depending on which part of the ankles you're at, both of which are ridiculously easy to dodge. If you're in front of him, he might try to Bite you, but even that is easily seen coming as his head cocks back a fair bit before he takes the bite.
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| Get beneath the dragon! |
From afar the Guardian Dragon's arsenal is slightly more intimidating with his various ways of spitting fire. He has two forms of Fire Breaths, one of the ground and one in the air. The ground variation simply sweeps in a cone fashion in front of him, which is easily bypassed by running around him, the air version is a weaker spinoff of Kalameet's Flying Flame Breath. Still, its powerful enough to inflict significant damage on you if you aren't careful, so move the hell away when he starts to fly up. Finally, in the air, he can fire a straightforward fireball that is easily dodged or blocked.
This pup of a dragon poses little to no threat to most adventurers, so quickly dispatch him and move on. He's a normal enemy later on and to make matters worse, the normal enemy variation of this guy has even MORE health than he has. A pathetic showing, really. Killing him nets you 37000 souls, which is a lot more than you can bargain for against such an easy boss, but at this point of the game, its quite little.
