Dark Souls 3 boss: how to beat Dragonslayer Armour
Jessica Wilkins Screw this guy, seriously.
Ready? Okay. From the Dancer of the Boreal Valley bonfire, climb the ladder, run forward, wait for the priest to move right, then dash onto the lift. Bam. You’re at the boss gate with zero fights. High five! Send the lift back by rolling off so you can get back here again just as easily. Oh boy: you’ll be here again.
There is a nasty difficulty spike in this battle, but it’s mostly psychological. While it’s true that there are no tricks you can exploit, and that the Dragonslayer Armour and his pal, the “Pilgrim Butterfly”, are very dangerous, the majority of this battle is just staying calm. It's really worthwhile doing a few practice runs in phantom form rather than spend an Ember immediately, as this is one boss where practice makes... passable.
The thing about the Dragonslayer Armour is that it’s really just a big old knight. It hits very, very hard – you want as much Estus as you can muster – but it doesn’t have any especially mean tricks beyond that.
This is a battle you may have to repeat a few times (good thing you sent that lift down, huh?) until you get the hang of it, but the basic gist is this: dodge the Dragonslayer Armour’s attacks, and give him a very conservative paddle in the recovery after his two hit combo. Rinse and repeat. The more damage you do with your quick smack, the faster this ends – but it’s better to let it draw out, and go into a sort of zen state of rolling and smacking, than to anxiously rush through it.
Dodging the attacks is actually easier if you’re not a great melee player. Those of you with twitchy reflexes may find you roll too early the first few tries, while those of us with reflexes like a dead duck will, for once, sail majestically under the boss’s attacks. Roll behind the Dragonslayer Armour and he’ll sail right past you.
There are a couple of his moves you should watch out for. If he stands up straight or kneels, he’s about to do an area of effect attack, and you should get away as quickly as possible instead of trying to roll past them.
More surprisingly, the shield is far more deadly than the big old weapon. For once, it's much safer to stick to the boss's weapon hand side rather than off-hand, because those shield bashes will absolutely stagger you - and then it's all over.
Whenever the Dragonslayer Armour hits you, you need to heal immediately. This is much easier if you’ve got a lot of stamina and some lightweight armour, as you can just roll, roll, roll away to get some breathing room to heal. Rolling is really key in this one and you should prioritise mobility, as with Aldrich.
The second phase is not too different from the first, except the boss becomes even more deadly and leaves fewer openings, so you have to be even more patient. The hardest part of this battle is dealing with the interference from outsiders. The best way to avoid the regular fire breath is to keep the battle moving from one end of the arena to the other, leading the Dragonslayer Armour around the place; if you keep on the move, the fire’s always one step behind you.
Although the real key here is just never getting hit, lighter armour with lightning, fire and dark resistance is some help (bug pellets on your toolbelt can be a help). A shield is not much chop, but bring one if you find it comforting and know how to manage stamina well.
If you are a melee-focused player, you might want to consider using weapon arts on Dragonslayer Armour. He really is just a big knight, and therefore weak against any skills that bash through shields and stagger. Give it a go.
Good luck with this one, and don’t dismay. You’ll find many summons outside, including Eygon and Sirris if you’ve been following our NPC guide. You’d do well to bring two summons, and if you’ve got choices, a nice light-looking unkindled with double weapons usually indicates an absolute beast of a player, while a pure mage makes a great second summon due to their tendency to go to the other side of the arena and just rain hell on the boss. If you do bring a mage, do your best to keep the boss’s attention of them while staying safe.
You’ll receive the Soul of Dragonslayer Armour when you triumph, which you will. Just be sure you don’t stop moving just because the boss’s health bar depletes; it takes a few seconds for everyone else to give up and stop hammering you with fire and dark attacks. When it’s safe, activate the Dragonslayer Armour bonfire.
With the Dragonslayer Armour down we can proceed into the Grand Archives, but we should take a side trip through an optional area before proceeding. Skip ahead a few pages if you just want to get it done, but the rest of us are going to clear out some optional areas. Head back to the Lothric Castle bonfire.
