Items to bring:<\/strong> Bleed, Frost, Bloodhound's Step, or maybe a greatshield<\/p>\nI know our scale only goes up to three, but Malenia is arguably the toughest boss ever featured in a FromSoftware game. We go into more depth in our dedicated guide, but safe to say, her strength is due to two main factors: she heals herself when she hits you, even if hitting a shield, and she has one attack that can be almost impossible to deal with depending on whether you have high endurance and a greatshield, or where you're standing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The best bet for beating her is either trading aggro between you with magic, letting you maintain a distance, or ganging up on her with two other summons and stunlocking her into oblivion. Bleed and Frost are very good, as is anything that knocks her off her feet, such as some strength weapon skills, and magic like Comet Azur. Also make sure to bring an incantation or consumable to remove Scarlet Rot for the second phase.<\/p>\n
Astel, Naturalborn of the Void\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Difficulty: <\/strong>\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25
\nReward:<\/strong> Remembrance of the Naturalborn
\nLocation:<\/strong> Lake of Rot. Get cozy in a coffin and take a ride to meet a big bug.
\nWhat to bring: <\/strong>A big weapon to smack him in the head with.<\/p>\nYou can actually fight Astel in multiple locations, but the true Astel appears towards the end of Ranni's quest, past the Lake of Rot, in the depths of Ainsel River. Astel feels very similar to the Fallingstar Beast bosses, using lots of AoE gravity attacks, and creating clouds of stars that explode after a delay. Your best bet is to smack him in the head with jumping attacks in order to stagger him, letting you deal a critical strike. Usually with beast bosses, it's a good idea to stick around their middle, but Astel's AoE attacks mean this is a terrible idea.<\/p>\n
Focus on attacking his face when you can. He will snap at you, and try to grab you with his pincers, but keep dodging and smacking his skull to stagger him. Also watch out for him teleporting around the arena, and the very occasional teleportation grab attack that he has.<\/p>\n
Regal Ancestor Spirit<\/h2>\n
Difficulty:<\/strong> \ud83d\udd25
\nReward: <\/strong>Remembrance of the Regal Ancestor
\nLocation: <\/strong>Nokron, Eternal City. Light the beacons and head to the temple.
\nWhat to bring:<\/strong> Holy or fire damage.<\/p>\nThis fight is very similar to the Ancestor Spirit in Siofra River, but a little harder due to the fact that this boss can heal. During the fight, the stag will summon spirit animals around the arena, then when it gets below a certain damage threshold, kill them to heal itself. This makes the fight a little longer, but it's still not especially tough. The spirit's breath attacks are easy to dodge, and you mainly just have to keep away from its horns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Commander Niall<\/h2>\n
Difficulty:<\/strong> \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25
\nReward: <\/strong>Veteran's Prosthesis
\nLocation: <\/strong>Castle Sol, Mountaintops of the Giants.<\/p>\nNiall is a tough one. He summons two banished knights that will make it hard to hit hit him. You'll want to take out the knights one by one, focusing first on the aggressive dual-wielder, then the shield knight. Luckily Niall is less aggressive when his guards are alive, and will mainly buff them with his standard, letting you deal with them in relative peace. Once both are down, Niall will enter his more aggressive phase, creating a giant frost AoE before whacking out his lightning leg and jumping at you. Now is the best time to use your spirit ash summon.<\/p>\n
The best time to hit Niall is after his lightning leg jump if you can get behind him when he lands. He also has an attack where he unleashes three waves of frost before he comes zooming at you, but this attack leaves him stunned, letting you get some hits in, or a stagger if you're using jump attacks. When you're behind him, be wary of his lightning leg, since he'll back-kick at you and it requires some very precise dodging to evade. This fight is a lot easier if you bring sorceries or ranged for the second phase, since without his AoE attacks, Niall is less fearsome.<\/p>\n
Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree<\/h2>\n
Difficulty: <\/strong>\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25
\nReward: <\/strong>Loretta's War Sickle, Loretta's Mastery
\nLocation:<\/strong> Haligtree Village, Consecrated Snowfield<\/p>\nYou'll first fight a spirit version of Loretta in the Caria Manor, and the actual Loretta boss at the Haligtree is extremely similar. The key differences are that her second phase sorceries are more powerful, and that she jump casts some of them. Rather than just using the Loretta's Greatbow sorcery, she'll use Loretta's Mastery, which fires far more projectiles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She'll also use the two hit Loretta's Slash ash of war that you get from her in the Caria Manor. Like all mounted bosses, you can wait for her to jump attack, then roll behind her to hit, though be aware of the occasional kick from the horse. If you defeated Loretta in Caria, this boss really shouldn't give you much trouble, since you just have to be a little more on your toes in terms of dodging the sorceries.<\/p>\n
Elemer of the Briar<\/h2>\n
Difficulty:<\/strong> \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25