Pontiff Sulyvahn Dark Souls III Guide

When you enter the arena the boss will quickly move towards you - perform a dodge. You will be frequently dodging during this duel. This battle is a great test of the ability to avoid attacks at correct time. Some attacks of Pontiff can be of course blocked, but the boss is able to perform a series of fast hits thanks to which his main attack immediately breaks defense. This makes few dodges much more effective. You should wear the lightest armor and the Chloranthy Ring that speeds up the stamina regeneration.

Two swords and two damage types - fire and dark.

During the first phase of the battle the boss will attack with his two swords and turn around creating a combo of 5-6 hits. You should remain close to him and perform dodges to the sides or towards the enemy so that you get behind his back. In addition to that, you should also try running behind and walking around the boss. During this phase you must also watch out for the rare but very strong pushes. When enemy uses this attack use it to counterattack while the enemy will be temporarily immobilized after attacking.

By running around the enemy you will have an opportunity to dead one, two hits. After that you should jump away immediately.

Once boss' health bar drops to half he will kneel for a moment (move away in order to avoid damage or risk your health in order to hit him few times). After that black wings will grow from his back. From now he will have new attacks - shooting a projectile from one of his swords and attacking from above and crushing into the ground with the second one. The boss will also quickly summon his phantom which will stick close to the real Pontiff. Keep attention to the attacks of opponent - the demon attacks first and the actual boss follows just after. You must be ready to avoid two hits, one after another. This will give you a chance to predict how the boss will attack and prepare an adequate counter.

The both opponents are performing the same attack sequences but one of them has a small delay.

You should deal with Pontiff's phantom as facing two enemies simultaneously might be much harder. Luckily, when attacking one of them you damage the other as well since they are close to each other. Once the ghost is gone, Pontiff will resume regular attacks. If the battle will take too long, he will summon his ally once more - you can use that time to run towards him and attack him. If you are able to use area attacks (like spells), in first order you should aim at the ghost which has low resistance to magic attacks.

You have a good opportunity to attack when Pontiff is summoning his ghost.

Note: When having serious trouble with avoiding Pontiff's attacks you might prefer not to kill his phantom in the second phase of the battle. With the phantom nearby the boss is less aggressive. He focuses on powerful attacks which deal more damage but are easier to avoid than the regular series of hits and pushes. If you still have trouble in the battle, consider summoning NPCs to help - you will find at least 2 signs before entering the arena. In addition to that, summoning the Londor Pale Shade will be possible if you followed Yuria quest (Anri was killed by the killer). You will receive the duel bow gesture immediately after summoning.

Reward: Soul of Pontiff Sulyvahn, 21 000 souls

Location: Irithyll of the Boreal Valley