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Friday 28 October 2011

GAME COMPLETE!!! - YES!!!

Ok, so after about 30 attempts, innumerable 'F**KS', and launching my controller from one end of the room to the other i finally defeated Lord Gywn, the Lord of cinder. I'd like to say thank you and sorry to Gary for putting up with my ongoing rage over the last few days as i fight my way through the final bosses in the game to my great desperation and despair, but as always with Dark Souls - I HAD to beat them. Funnily enough, this was my last attempt at the final boss before i had to go and catch a train - and when i say 'last' i actually meant last as i hadn't packed etc. Well all i can say is *MASSIVE, MASSIVE sigh of relief* *tear to the eye* and *fist pump*.

The absolute key to this battle is parrying and ripostes. Unfortunately this is the hardest technique in the game and its quite appropriate that you have to master it to defeat the final boss. As ripostes are VERY important in this battle its good to wear the hornet ring as this significantly increases your damage with critical attacks, i.e. counter-attacks/ripostes. The flame stoneplate ring can also play an important role in this battle as Gywn uses a huge flaming sword, Although you will mainly want to focus on not taking any hits at all although resistances are handy when he [inevitably] breaks through your guard.

You will need a strong set of armour with high resistances across the board, especially flame and physical; and don't try to use a lightning weapon such as the lightning spear which i previously blogged about as he has resistance to lightning weapons. Personally i used the Quelag's furysword, forged from the soul of Quelag in Anor Londo, as it has high fire damage and OK physical damage. Ironically Gywn is actually fairly weak against fire damage so that's where this sword comes in handy - especially with the bonus the hornet ring grants.

As soon as you enter the battle he will BE ON YOU LIKE A BI*** NON STOP!!!! He won't leave you alone for the entire fight unlike pretty much all of the other bosses in the game, and avoiding his attacks doesn't give you any respite either so forget about trying to run away to regain stamina/heal - he's on your ass and its scary as f*** (excuse the large amount of curses but its important to emphasise the difficulty of this boss).

In case you were wondering it is possible to sprint past the black knights outside of the arena where Gywn is, although its not easy - you'll get a knack for it as you'll probably be doing this trip quite a lot but if you want to learn how to do it well just watch the speedrun video on youtube. These black knights are great for farming every type of titanite chunk (all colours), so you can upgrade all your weapons to level 9, although you will need the slabs to reach level 10 and ultimately get the achievements/trophies - rumour has it that there is only one of these slabs per playthrough so be careful when allocating them.

In order to break down Gywn's attacks I've listed them below, but i would recommend just going against him again and again in order to learn them and master them for yourself, most importantly don't stay at a distance from him as he will do his most devastating attack, and make sure to exploit the riposte!!

1. Leaping down-slash attack: He does this as his first move after you enter the arena. Don't stay too far away from him (if you get the chance after entering the arena) as he will execute this on you. In order to dodge it try rolling at the last minute sidewards (?).
** It's really important to dodge roll this first attack of his as if he strikes you he will get you down and from there on it's difficult to regain your poise and get back into the fight properly!

2. 3/4-hit combo: When you're right up close to Gywn he will either do his grab technique or this devastating 3/4-hit combo. This is by far his most powerful attack as it will no doubt break your guard and most times kill you. It's important to have a LOT of stamina and a shield which has 100% physical and high flame DEF. This is your best/only chance to SMASH HIM!! so get your LT/L2 buttons at the ready!! When he's swinging the sword from side to side you can time it right and parry him, immediately after it makes the *whoosh* noise (you have probably already heard this), give him the riposte! - again, hornet ring will significantly increase this damage - and if you have the +5 furyblade it will deal around 700 damage.
** After successfully executing the riposte, it's your best time to heal (quickly) or get your pyromancer hand out, circle around behind him, and spam him with ONE supremely powerful fireball (probably the great chaos fireball fully upgraded - +15). then get your sword straight back out. Doing so, will hit over 1000 in combination with your counter-attack and severely hurt Gwyn.

3. Grab: When your really close Gywn will try grabbing you. He pulls back his hand quite far and lunges down to grab you, i noticed he generally tries to do this when your behind him or just after he recovers from the riposte. Avoid this attack by rolling backwards out of the way, he sometimes does this multiple times in succession so be careful of that, sometimes you have to suffer the first blow of his 3/4-hit combo to realise he's changed his attack type again.


There are a number of different strategies to defeating Gywn, and some include using a greatblade to slash him through the pillars, some include using the iron flesh pyromancy spell and spamming him with fireballs - keep these in mind and whether they will be easier for you, but in my opinion the riposte strategy is the easiest and you will eventually get it - just don't give up! (and don't use a precious controller as it may end up getting smashed). If you're getting in a bad mood try to take a break, or at least a break from fighting this boss - maybe farm some shards from the black knights, you can also get their weapons from them occasionally; or go farm souls in the forest or something to pile a few more points into endurance.

Hope this has helped guys and invite me to chat if you need any more help, just remember - this isn't an easy boss and I'm sure everyone who has fought him has struggled so don't worry, take the opportunity to enjoy the rest of the world, collect hidden/rare items, forge, and clear up any areas you haven't discovered yet. I will continue be posting to this blog, and I'll be uploading more item locations, covenant tips, and other stuff that i may deem helpful/cool. Now that I've completed it though it would be great to hear your feedback and comments, so please comment on some posts if i have left anything out.

Good luck, and take no mercy!!!

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