Dark Souls 3 boss guide - how to defeat every top tier enemy

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Take down every Dark Souls 3 boss with our complete walkthrough guide

Old Demon King (Optional) 

Smouldering Lake is a hidden area beneath the Catacombs of Carthus. If you venture down there and trek through its hot waters, you can battle the Old Demon King.

The Old Demon King is optional for a reason: he really, really doesn’t go down easily. The fight starts simple enough: his move set consists of sweeping and slamming attacks with his clubs. Your best bet for the sweeps is to roll between his legs to get behind or under him; for the slams, you want to roll to the side.

Unfortunately, he greatly buffs himself once you get him to about 80% HP. During this stage, he’ll be pulsing with fire, which means all his standard attacks do burning damage. He also gains a new  fire breath attack, and you’ll need to keep your distance to avoid being burnt to a crisp. He may also raise his club and summon a ring of flames that moves outward. You can roll through this, or wait for it to dissipate.

His most powerful attacks include an eruption of fire. If he readies his club in the air, back off; he slam it and explode with fire damage. He may also swirl his club and call in a group of meteors. You’ll need to stay running and rolling to avoid them as they fall to earth. Finally, he may release all his fire energy at once near the end of the fight. If this doesn’t outright kill you, then it’ll leave him in a weakened, heaving state. Heal up, then finish him off.

You don’t need to face the Old Demon King if you don’t want to, but there’s a challenging fight for you if you choose to accept. Be persistent, and you’ll eventually chip him down to nothing.

Jump to Boss:

Iudex Gundyr
Vordt of the Boreal Valley
Curse-Rotted Greatwood (Optional)
Crystal Sage
Abyss Watchers
Deacons of the Deep
High Lord Wolnir
Old Demon King (Optional)
Pontiff Sulyvahn
Yhorm the Giant
Aldrich, Devourer of Gods
Dancer of the Boreal Valley
Oceiros, the Consumed King (Optional)
Champion Gundyr (Optional)
Dragonslayer Armour
Lothric, Younger Prince
Ancient Wyvern (Optional)
Nameless King (Optional)
Soul of Cinder

Tony Wilson
Tony Wilson
Freelance Writer

Tony lives in Maryland, where he writes about those good old-fashioned video games for GamesRadar+. His words have also appeared on GameSpot and G4, but he currently works for Framework Video, and runs Dungeons and Dragons streams.