Gwyn Lord of Cinder | How to kill a boss Dark Souls Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

Description

With no doubts, the most powerful boss in the game. He apparently seems to be less dangerous than dragons, hydras, giant wolves and other beasts, which you met earlier. Do not be fooled - Gwyn is a real fear, even in Dark Souls. His speed, mighty blows and endurance are a hard test for many heroes.

Attacks and weaknesses

Gwyn is absolutely fast and powerful beast. His weakness, despite appearances, is fire. But he is resistant to lightning damages. Besides, this is one of the bosses, which blows can be parried.

1) Overhead jump - if you're away from Gwyn, he can run to you or jump towards you. In the second case it is best to run towards him and roll to the side when he jumps.

2) Stab - on an average distance Gwyn tries to stab you. It is best to jump aside.

3) Slashes - if you're close to the enemy, you can count on a series of slashes from side to side. Despite appearances these are slowest attacks, which can be easily parried (check tactics below).

4) Kick - knocks off balances. It is often followed by...

5) Grab - probably most dangerous attack, because it can't be blocked with the shield. Gwyn leans in and tries to grab your character with his left hand and then detonates it in a fire explosion, which takes a lot of HP.

Tips

1) Prepare good equipment - you should do this. Check below tactics and adjust your equipment to one of them.

2) Make sure that you can heal yourself - if you're good, the fight will be "piece of cake". Otherwise make sure that you can heal yourself often, because Gwyn can inflict really huge damage.

3) Prepare to die - Gwyn can kill with two blows an 80 level character. Good luck!

Tactics

There are many tactics to kill Gwyn - we will describe two most effective and addressed to two groups: players who want to play safe and people who want to risk and end the fight quicker.

"Walking tank"

In this case we need a character with 34 Strength and following equipment:

1) Havel's Ring + Flame Stoneplate Ring - to have a good armor and increase your fire defense.

2) Good armor set (Havel's Set) + Black Iron Greatshield (or Havel's Greatshield, if you have 50 Strength!).

3) Spear - would be best, if it deals fire damage.

4) Iron Flesh - Pyromancy spell which increases characters defenses. Game creators have weakened it in patches but we can deal without it.

Once you equip above item, to the fight arena and head to its left side. Try to place yourself that there are any rocks between you and Gwyn. From this position block your opponent's attacks and hit him with the spear, controlling you Stamina. The fight will be long (it depends on the spear you have) but relatively safe. The only threat is Gwyn's grab - watch out particularly for that.

"Killer" - parrying

This tactics is addresses to people with the right reflex - it actually allows you to win the fight without any armor, on any soul level and literally crushes Gwyn. In this case you need:

1) A weapon dealing fire damage - Quelaag's Furysword or other (or possible another weapon dealing reasonable damage while parrying).

2) Black Knight Shield - a shield of this type or another shield which allows you to parry attacks (this one is good because it blocks a lot of fire damage).

3) OPTIONAL - Hornet Ring - a ring which increases inflicted damage while parrying.

Equip above items and enter the arena. Instead of fleeing from Gwyn, run towards him - the idea is to get very close to the enemy and force him to use close attacks (slashes). If the boss jumps on you, roll under his feet. If you're close to him, parry his blows with a shield by pressing LT (Xbox 360) or L2 (PS3) right after beginning of his blow animation. Repeat this until he is dead - the only threat is a grab attack, which you have to avoid by jumping aside.