Been trying to SunBro Ancient Dragon for the last 3-4 hours.
So many dumb ways to dieeeee
#4: Getting combo'd by that priestess and the mace dude
#10: Getting tag teamed by the two knights up the stairway after the door
#12: Walking in too late, and getting a face full of fire from Ancient Dragon
#19: Stupid AoE breath
#21: Got stepped on
#22: Got landed on by his foot after he comes back down from an AoE breath (he can do that?!?!)
#23: More stupid AoE breath
#25: Got landed on by his tail after he comes back down from an AoE breath (Well, I died to his foot... so why not his tail?)
#27: AoE breath. GRRRR.
#28: Learnt lesson, got Gower's ring, and then died to the 6th or 7th AoE breath
Been trying to SunBro Ancient Dragon for the last 3-4 hours.
So many dumb ways to dieeeee
#4: Getting combo'd by that priestess and the mace dude
#10: Getting tag teamed by the two knights up the stairway after the door
#12: Walking in too late, and getting a face full of fire from Ancient Dragon
#19: Stupid AoE breath
#21: Got stepped on
#22: Got landed on by his foot after he comes back down from an AoE breath (he can do that?!?!)
#23: More stupid AoE breath
#25: Got landed on by his tail after he comes back down from an AoE breath (Well, I died to his foot... so why not his tail?)
#27: AoE breath. GRRRR.
#28: Learnt lesson, got Gower's ring, and then died to the 6th or 7th AoE breath
Ancient Dragon.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
if (ancientDragon.Stomp() & host.Proximity(ancientDragon) < 1000000000000000)
{
host.Die()
}
Been trying to SunBro Ancient Dragon for the last 3-4 hours.
So many dumb ways to dieeeee
#4: Getting combo'd by that priestess and the mace dude
#10: Getting tag teamed by the two knights up the stairway after the door
#12: Walking in too late, and getting a face full of fire from Ancient Dragon
#19: Stupid AoE breath
#21: Got stepped on
#22: Got landed on by his foot after he comes back down from an AoE breath (he can do that?!?!)
#23: More stupid AoE breath
#25: Got landed on by his tail after he comes back down from an AoE breath (Well, I died to his foot... so why not his tail?)
#27: AoE breath. GRRRR.
#28: Learnt lesson, got Gower's ring, and then died to the 6th or 7th AoE breath
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but neither Vendrick not the Dergan are hard fights once you have their attack patterns and cues down. For Vendrick, hug his left buttcheek and attack between his attacks because from there only his sweeping attack can hit you and you can easily roll to avoid it; that's about it (repeat for many, many soul attacks).
The Dergan is a bit more unpredictable, but the fight is much easier if you keep provoking its forward fire breath (like the one it does at the start of the fight). Loiter some distance in front of its face, then when it rears up, run forward under its attack and get a few attacks of your own in. Run back out, rince and repeat. If it crouches down to jump, judge whether you are really close to it or not. If so, watch for its tail and run straight for it to avoid its breath. If not, run directly away (Gower's ring and/or Gyrm greatshield also a possibility). Don't run behind it or you'll trigger either its jumpy flame or its jumpy stomp, neither of which you want to provoke. Also make your life about 110% more easy by triggering the heat death of all enemies on the run up to the fight.
E: also take off your heavy armour in both cases. Chances are they'll just one-shot you if any of their attacks hit. Bullshit? Yes. Optional bosses? Also yes.
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but neither Vendrick not the Dergan are hard fights once you have their attack patterns and cues down. For Vendrick, hug his left buttcheek and attack between his attacks because from there only his sweeping attack can hit you and you can easily roll to avoid it; that's about it (repeat for many, many soul attacks).
The Dergan is a bit more unpredictable, but the fight is much easier if you keep provoking its forward fire breath (like the one it does at the start of the fight). Loiter some distance in front of its face, then when it rears up, run forward under its attack and get a few attacks of your own in. Run back out, rince and repeat. If it crouches down to jump, judge whether you are really close to it or not. If so, watch for its tail and run straight for it to avoid its breath. If not, run directly away (Gower's ring and/or Gyrm greatshield also a possibility). Don't run behind it or you'll trigger either its jumpy flame or its jumpy stomp, neither of which you want to provoke. Also make your life about 110% more easy by triggering the heat death of all enemies on the run up to the fight.
E: also take off your heavy armour in both cases. Chances are they'll just one-shot you if any of their attacks hit. Bullshit? Yes. Optional bosses? Also yes.
That works well enough for the dragon but it is still not a sure thing. I used a combination of baiting the forward fire breath attack and having 75% fire reduction to finally drop him but it still took probably 50 tries. Even with that much for damage reduction it did close to 1k damage per flame breath attack. Maybe more. It is the Dark Souls 2 equivalent of Bed of Chaos and Hellkite dragon combined. Massive amounts of luck and random instant deaths are crap design anyways. Thankfully it is completely optional.
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but neither Vendrick not the Dergan are hard fights once you have their attack patterns and cues down. For Vendrick, hug his left buttcheek and attack between his attacks because from there only his sweeping attack can hit you and you can easily roll to avoid it; that's about it (repeat for many, many soul attacks).
The Dergan is a bit more unpredictable, but the fight is much easier if you keep provoking its forward fire breath (like the one it does at the start of the fight). Loiter some distance in front of its face, then when it rears up, run forward under its attack and get a few attacks of your own in. Run back out, rince and repeat. If it crouches down to jump, judge whether you are really close to it or not. If so, watch for its tail and run straight for it to avoid its breath. If not, run directly away (Gower's ring and/or Gyrm greatshield also a possibility). Don't run behind it or you'll trigger either its jumpy flame or its jumpy stomp, neither of which you want to provoke. Also make your life about 110% more easy by triggering the heat death of all enemies on the run up to the fight.
E: also take off your heavy armour in both cases. Chances are they'll just one-shot you if any of their attacks hit. Bullshit? Yes. Optional bosses? Also yes.
Nobody is complaining about them being hard. We are complaining that whatever difficulty they have is because of bullshit. The fights are unpleasant, unfun and tedious as all shit. The Ancient Dragon might as well be a shell game where you have to pick correctly 10 times in a row. A single failure and you're dead. Vendrick might as well be a rhythm minigame: tap according to the rhythm for 5 minutes. If you get bored and lose focus, you die.
Terribly designed fights, and this is in a game where 50% of the boss fights are pretty bad (easily).
Oh, the fights are complete bullshit as far as that's concerned, no argument from me. There is a certain amount of predictability to both though if you're truly set on beating them.
Alternative Dergan strategy: Max Int, Staff of Wisdom +5, Soul Geyser. Literally two- or three-shot kill depending on bonfire intensity. (Very late E: with unleash magic)
I was shown a pretty clever strategy for keeping NPCs alive through boss fights. Basically Red-Eye ring+a good shield. That way you'll have aggro most of the time, so the boss doesn't end up just hammering the NPC you want alive into the ground. Not tested it extensively yet, but it definitely works for NG+ Sinner.
Been trying to SunBro Ancient Dragon for the last 3-4 hours.
So many dumb ways to dieeeee
#4: Getting combo'd by that priestess and the mace dude
#10: Getting tag teamed by the two knights up the stairway after the door
#12: Walking in too late, and getting a face full of fire from Ancient Dragon
#19: Stupid AoE breath
#21: Got stepped on
#22: Got landed on by his foot after he comes back down from an AoE breath (he can do that?!?!)
#23: More stupid AoE breath
#25: Got landed on by his tail after he comes back down from an AoE breath (Well, I died to his foot... so why not his tail?)
#27: AoE breath. GRRRR.
#28: Learnt lesson, got Gower's ring, and then died to the 6th or 7th AoE breath
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but neither Vendrick not the Dergan are hard fights once you have their attack patterns and cues down. For Vendrick, hug his left buttcheek and attack between his attacks because from there only his sweeping attack can hit you and you can easily roll to avoid it; that's about it (repeat for many, many soul attacks).
The Dergan is a bit more unpredictable, but the fight is much easier if you keep provoking its forward fire breath (like the one it does at the start of the fight). Loiter some distance in front of its face, then when it rears up, run forward under its attack and get a few attacks of your own in. Run back out, rince and repeat. If it crouches down to jump, judge whether you are really close to it or not. If so, watch for its tail and run straight for it to avoid its breath. If not, run directly away (Gower's ring and/or Gyrm greatshield also a possibility). Don't run behind it or you'll trigger either its jumpy flame or its jumpy stomp, neither of which you want to provoke. Also make your life about 110% more easy by triggering the heat death of all enemies on the run up to the fight.
E: also take off your heavy armour in both cases. Chances are they'll just one-shot you if any of their attacks hit. Bullshit? Yes. Optional bosses? Also yes.
Dergan?
In seriousness: Having beating the Ancient Dragon twice alone, and failed much more often than that: There is NO set strategy for evasion. I've had so, SO many fights against the Dragon where he will behave "normally" until he as at 50% health, or 20% health, doesn't matter. Then, he crouches down to initiate his flying flame breath and...spins around 210° while moving a fair distance, only for me to suddenly be in the centre of the attck with no chance of escaping.
Speaking of the flame breath attack, the hitbox on this is sketchy at best. Sometimes you can touch the flames and be fine. Other times you're well outside the radius and magically take damage. Which isn't AS big a problem with other enemies because they don't tend to one shot you, so it's fine. But not here. Which is precisely why giving him enough damage to one-shot players is pants-on-head dumb.
Dergan: big dude, bad breath. Been killing you over and over?
But yeah, there's a certain amount of predictability. I've a feeling that they get more unpredictable with greater bonfire intensity, but I've not got more than my own experience to go by.
It's saying something that the dude who can kill the Ancient Dragon with the fucking ladle, on video, is scared that the Dragon is gonna act in an unpredictable way several times during the fight.
It's saying something that the dude who can kill the Ancient Dragon with the fucking ladle, on video, is scared that the Dragon is gonna act in an unpredictable way several times during the fight.
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but neither Vendrick not the Dergan are hard fights once you have their attack patterns and cues down. For Vendrick, hug his left buttcheek and attack between his attacks because from there only his sweeping attack can hit you and you can easily roll to avoid it; that's about it (repeat for many, many soul attacks).
The Dergan is a bit more unpredictable, but the fight is much easier if you keep provoking its forward fire breath (like the one it does at the start of the fight). Loiter some distance in front of its face, then when it rears up, run forward under its attack and get a few attacks of your own in. Run back out, rince and repeat. If it crouches down to jump, judge whether you are really close to it or not. If so, watch for its tail and run straight for it to avoid its breath. If not, run directly away (Gower's ring and/or Gyrm greatshield also a possibility). Don't run behind it or you'll trigger either its jumpy flame or its jumpy stomp, neither of which you want to provoke. Also make your life about 110% more easy by triggering the heat death of all enemies on the run up to the fight.
E: also take off your heavy armour in both cases. Chances are they'll just one-shot you if any of their attacks hit. Bullshit? Yes. Optional bosses? Also yes.
Dergan?
In seriousness: Having beating the Ancient Dragon twice alone, and failed much more often than that: There is NO set strategy for evasion. I've had so, SO many fights against the Dragon where he will behave "normally" until he as at 50% health, or 20% health, doesn't matter. Then, he crouches down to initiate his flying flame breath and...spins around 210° while moving a fair distance, only for me to suddenly be in the centre of the attck with no chance of escaping.
Speaking of the flame breath attack, the hitbox on this is sketchy at best. Sometimes you can touch the flames and be fine. Other times you're well outside the radius and magically take damage. Which isn't AS big a problem with other enemies because they don't tend to one shot you, so it's fine. But not here. Which is precisely why giving him enough damage to one-shot players is pants-on-head dumb.
It's saying something that the dude who can kill the Ancient Dragon with the fucking ladle, on video, is scared that the Dragon is gonna act in an unpredictable way several times during the fight.
And yet he spends 90% of the fight making it do the same thing over and over. Standing in between those talons really does work as he says it does, just tried it again myself to make certain.
It's saying something that the dude who can kill the Ancient Dragon with the fucking ladle, on video, is scared that the Dragon is gonna act in an unpredictable way several times during the fight.
And yet he spends 90% of the fight making it do the same thing over and over. Standing in between those talons really does work as he says it does, just tried it again myself to make certain.
It's saying something that the dude who can kill the Ancient Dragon with the fucking ladle, on video, is scared that the Dragon is gonna act in an unpredictable way several times during the fight.
And yet he spends 90% of the fight making it do the same thing over and over. Standing in between those talons really does work as he says it does, just tried it again myself to make certain.
I'm only trying to help...
And I'm saying his fear of being burned alive even when he's got the pattern down like this is justified. Like I said, I killed him too, and not with the gowers ring of protection either, but it happens way too often that he just spazzes out.
If you post that video with the ladle guy again we can start all over :P
Another thing to consider is that you're going to experience more unpredictable behaviour the longer the fight is drawn out. My current boss-killing build is a deep-Int sorcerer, and with Unleash Magic and Soul Geyser I trade about five blows with it before the fight is over. This probably makes the fight disproportionally easier as there are fewer times it can do something unexpected.
Anyway I think we all agree the fight is bullshit and exists as an arbitrary challenge for poor suckers to try their luck against RNG. If it were gating content of some kind I'd have much less patience with that design philosophy, but as it stands you can get a spare giant soul from using an ascetic in Black Gulch if you're worried about Vendrick.
Honestly, I don't have AS much a problem with the Ancient Dragon as it seems. The fight is entirely optional AND doesn't give you anything exclusive. Not even a trophy/achievement attached to it!
I dislike the no death ring much more. No bonfire is fine since you can still die as often as you want.
Honestly, I don't have AS much a problem with the Ancient Dragon as it seems. The fight is entirely optional AND doesn't give you anything exclusive. Not even a trophy/achievement attached to it!
I dislike the no death ring much more. No bonfire is fine since you can still die as often as you want.
I only fought it the first time because I thought it was an achievement I was missing.
Felt kind of bad afterwards. Feels, man.
Incidentally, I just read that Vendrick apparently has vastly-reduced defenses if you fight him straight after Velstadt and he only gains his super-defenses if you leave the area. I have no evidence for this at all but might try it next time I run through the story.
Incidentally, I just read that Vendrick apparently has vastly-reduced defenses if you fight him straight after Velstadt and he only gains his super-defenses if you leave the area. I have no evidence for this at all but might try it next time I run through the story.
I tried it, but it seemed like bull to me. It took like 100 hits just to get him to even acknowledge me and start the fight proper, and then I was doing single digit damage to him. The only thing I can think of that I did was I waited like 10 minutes between fights (went to the bathroom, stuff like that). Never left the boss room though. Maybe you have to literally go straight after.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Yeah I'm willing to call urban legend on that for now. Still going to give it a go some time!
0
Sirialisof the Halite Throne.Registered Userregular
edited June 2014
Killed an invader in the Dragon Aerie named YOLOSWAGxxx... What the fuck kind of name is that even, If he wanted a name that sounded like it was made by 12 year olds, I guess he succeeded?
He picked a bad time to invade though, I got bored with Alva armor on this new guy and decided to try out Havels, that did not end well for him.
Incidentally, I just read that Vendrick apparently has vastly-reduced defenses if you fight him straight after Velstadt and he only gains his super-defenses if you leave the area. I have no evidence for this at all but might try it next time I run through the story.
This is true, but buggy... no one's sure if it's straight up some kind of bug or what, but it doesn't seem to happen every time. So no one really knows what *does* cause it.
Posts
Not estus man. bottle Woman. The most desired thing in all of Dark souls world.
http://www.rice-boy.com/order/index.php?c=201
Been trying to SunBro Ancient Dragon for the last 3-4 hours.
So many dumb ways to dieeeee
#4: Getting combo'd by that priestess and the mace dude
#10: Getting tag teamed by the two knights up the stairway after the door
#12: Walking in too late, and getting a face full of fire from Ancient Dragon
#19: Stupid AoE breath
#21: Got stepped on
#22: Got landed on by his foot after he comes back down from an AoE breath (he can do that?!?!)
#23: More stupid AoE breath
#25: Got landed on by his tail after he comes back down from an AoE breath (Well, I died to his foot... so why not his tail?)
#27: AoE breath. GRRRR.
#28: Learnt lesson, got Gower's ring, and then died to the 6th or 7th AoE breath
Ancient Dragon.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Edit:
Score card:
Ancient Dragon: > 30
Ecco: 0
if (ancientDragon.Stomp() & host.Proximity(ancientDragon) < 1000000000000000)
{
host.Die()
}
Hate that fight.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
The 5th one requires Ancient Dragon down.
Or you could ascetic for it, I guess.... =P but that's the easy way out!
Washing Pole with an Ash knuckle ring is pretty nice for the fight.
E: Cleared the game 3 times so far with very different characters. Trying for a semi-berserk run on my main through NG+ now.
Spoilered for Boss and size:
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
The Dergan is a bit more unpredictable, but the fight is much easier if you keep provoking its forward fire breath (like the one it does at the start of the fight). Loiter some distance in front of its face, then when it rears up, run forward under its attack and get a few attacks of your own in. Run back out, rince and repeat. If it crouches down to jump, judge whether you are really close to it or not. If so, watch for its tail and run straight for it to avoid its breath. If not, run directly away (Gower's ring and/or Gyrm greatshield also a possibility). Don't run behind it or you'll trigger either its jumpy flame or its jumpy stomp, neither of which you want to provoke. Also make your life about 110% more easy by triggering the heat death of all enemies on the run up to the fight.
E: also take off your heavy armour in both cases. Chances are they'll just one-shot you if any of their attacks hit. Bullshit? Yes. Optional bosses? Also yes.
That works well enough for the dragon but it is still not a sure thing. I used a combination of baiting the forward fire breath attack and having 75% fire reduction to finally drop him but it still took probably 50 tries. Even with that much for damage reduction it did close to 1k damage per flame breath attack. Maybe more. It is the Dark Souls 2 equivalent of Bed of Chaos and Hellkite dragon combined. Massive amounts of luck and random instant deaths are crap design anyways. Thankfully it is completely optional.
PSN:Furlion
Nobody is complaining about them being hard. We are complaining that whatever difficulty they have is because of bullshit. The fights are unpleasant, unfun and tedious as all shit. The Ancient Dragon might as well be a shell game where you have to pick correctly 10 times in a row. A single failure and you're dead. Vendrick might as well be a rhythm minigame: tap according to the rhythm for 5 minutes. If you get bored and lose focus, you die.
Terribly designed fights, and this is in a game where 50% of the boss fights are pretty bad (easily).
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
Alternative Dergan strategy: Max Int, Staff of Wisdom +5, Soul Geyser. Literally two- or three-shot kill depending on bonfire intensity. (Very late E: with unleash magic)
Seriously people, get a life!
That was my entire strategy. It would alternate stomps and that was about it.
I dunno if they plan to patch that behavior but it did it on three separate occasions.
Wait, what?
every giant soul you carry reduces vendrick's defense
you can get up to 5 in a playthrough
Each giant soul you don't hold doubles his defenses. So without any, his defenses are 32 times his base.
Dergan?
In seriousness: Having beating the Ancient Dragon twice alone, and failed much more often than that: There is NO set strategy for evasion. I've had so, SO many fights against the Dragon where he will behave "normally" until he as at 50% health, or 20% health, doesn't matter. Then, he crouches down to initiate his flying flame breath and...spins around 210° while moving a fair distance, only for me to suddenly be in the centre of the attck with no chance of escaping.
Speaking of the flame breath attack, the hitbox on this is sketchy at best. Sometimes you can touch the flames and be fine. Other times you're well outside the radius and magically take damage. Which isn't AS big a problem with other enemies because they don't tend to one shot you, so it's fine. But not here. Which is precisely why giving him enough damage to one-shot players is pants-on-head dumb.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
But yeah, there's a certain amount of predictability. I've a feeling that they get more unpredictable with greater bonfire intensity, but I've not got more than my own experience to go by.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
YOU DEFEATED (the debate)
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Dergan
And yet he spends 90% of the fight making it do the same thing over and over. Standing in between those talons really does work as he says it does, just tried it again myself to make certain.
I'm only trying to help...
Pfft. You're such a Dergan.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
And I'm saying his fear of being burned alive even when he's got the pattern down like this is justified. Like I said, I killed him too, and not with the gowers ring of protection either, but it happens way too often that he just spazzes out.
If you post that video with the ladle guy again we can start all over :P
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
Anyway I think we all agree the fight is bullshit and exists as an arbitrary challenge for poor suckers to try their luck against RNG. If it were gating content of some kind I'd have much less patience with that design philosophy, but as it stands you can get a spare giant soul from using an ascetic in Black Gulch if you're worried about Vendrick.
It was shitty.
I kind of love that the term exists. I'd imagine it's a melange of Derp and Dragon.
I dislike the no death ring much more. No bonfire is fine since you can still die as often as you want.
Steam ID: 76561198021298113
Origin ID: SR71C_Blackbird
I only fought it the first time because I thought it was an achievement I was missing.
Felt kind of bad afterwards. Feels, man.
Incidentally, I just read that Vendrick apparently has vastly-reduced defenses if you fight him straight after Velstadt and he only gains his super-defenses if you leave the area. I have no evidence for this at all but might try it next time I run through the story.
I tried it, but it seemed like bull to me. It took like 100 hits just to get him to even acknowledge me and start the fight proper, and then I was doing single digit damage to him. The only thing I can think of that I did was I waited like 10 minutes between fights (went to the bathroom, stuff like that). Never left the boss room though. Maybe you have to literally go straight after.
He picked a bad time to invade though, I got bored with Alva armor on this new guy and decided to try out Havels, that did not end well for him.
This is true, but buggy... no one's sure if it's straight up some kind of bug or what, but it doesn't seem to happen every time. So no one really knows what *does* cause it.