Cursed Pthumerian Defilement - boss tips

[DropeRj]

For anybody that will try out the "defiled chalice" the key to each boss in it is patience and play it safe.

They are at least, until now, the hardest bosses that I've fought (I've plat the game two days ago), so let me try to advise anybody about those bosses.

I've played then solo and with lvl 140 or something around that - my stats were around 30 to 40 for vit, stm, strg, skill, while blood and arc with 25), used a +9 "ludwig" sword with gems that strengthen up the attacks (somewhere around 12% to 18%) and focused on the runes that protect against fire and physical defense.

It's better to take 20/30 minutes or more to beat the bosses than to try to take him in 10 minutes being aggressive and try retry for 100 times. Believe me, I've tried for 3 hours to beat that fire mage when I've realized that I've should all along be playing safe like I've did in Dark Souls all along. (While a lot of bosses I've played with aggressiveness in Bloodborne, because the game mostly asks you to be aggressive and straight forward).

Tips for each boss in Defiled Chalice:

Fire Mage

Without Visceral Attacks, your best bet is to wait the double long fire moves, you have time to land two fast one handed attacks or one Heavy one handed attack.

You can try to make him go on a loop on the Visceral attack (using the gun), but don't corner him in a wall or your visceral attack may fail.

With Visceral attacks you should watch for two movements that has some time breach and are easily doable, the long lunge forward sword attack, and the double stationary sword attack. The first one can be easily seen because he lifts his right arm in a fashion that takes too long to execute the move, so it's a long time breach to shoot him. 

But the loop happens mostly after the first visceral attack lands, try to stay somewhat close to him after a visceral attack, and most of the time he should do the double stationary sword attack, you need to shoot him after the first attack, but before the second attack, and then you're open to another visceral attack and then loop. Remember to not corner him into a wall or your visceral may fail.

If he tries to put flame in his sword after he is with 2/3 of health, you should try to shoot him as soon as possible, so you can cancel his magic and make him loop again with the sword attacks. If he succeeds with the flame sword thing, your visceral attacks loops are finished, because is really hard to attack him with the long range flames that comes together with his attacks. So you should then aim for the two long fires attacks. (patience... remember)

 

Fire WatchDog

This fight his Hard, but you need to play a lot safe and with patience (again).

First you need to have in mind that the attacks that you're looking as a breach will change pattern after some health is taken.

The main idea is to go to his front and he will try to bite the side of his legs, then you back out a little to avoid damage and come closer again and he will trigger the second attack to the other leg, dodge and then land a two handed attack and then back off to the sides, not to your back, because he may trigger the lunge forward that is one shot death and you probably should dodge directly into his attack field (if you dodged backwards).

After a while this attack will change to a 3 attack pattern (learn the time now... it drastically changes), then you should trigger the first attack, back off and go back to the other leg (you can do this without using the dodge button) and he should trigger the second attack (like in the first phase), then do the same as the first attack and back off and go back and since you're up close now he will trigger the third fast attack, dodge this and attack as the first phase time breach. If you don't do this properly, he should trigger from the first attack directly to the third or even do only one attack, making it harder to understand its behavior, so remember, after the first attack, go after his unprotected leg so he can trigger the second attack and maintain a normal behavior and make it easier to read his attacks. Remember that always after you hit him, he may trigger the lunge forward. If he doesn't trigger any attack go back and retry.

When he is about to 1/3 of health, his pattern will change again, sometimes he will trigger the second phase 3 attack pattern, sometimes he will directly do a single fast attack forward, that makes you have a time breach for one attack to his head and then back off of him.

repeat this pattern of reading and triggering his attacks and you should be safe.

There are two other attacks that have room for two handed heavy attacks, the "a lot of bites forward with fire" that you should backwards a little and aim for a heavy attack after he is done, and the vomiting lava, that has time breach to a full loaded heavy attack and sometimes staggering him. But after the stagger, I usually avoid hitting him (max once), because he will do the explosion thing and it can kill you.

It's a long fight and you should play with patience and you need to understand each phase.

 

Amygdala

This boss is almost as hard as the watchdog, but you don't have much tips besides the third phase tip (after the watchdog, you should be pretty good at reading bosses patterns!).

The first two phases you should study his attacks and wait for the ones that leaves his head open for attacks, and sometimes you just need to aim for the arms instead of the head, but sometimes you have a time breach to a full two handed heavy attack on his head, staggering him and opening him for a visceral attack.

The second phase changes a little because the head opening attacks comes with magic explosion hands, so the time to go forward to the head changes because the explosions happens after they hit the floor and you have less time breach to hit the head, leaving you with normal attacks only. (try to hit the arms more on this phase.)

After he takes out his arms, (third phase) try to go to his back (hit his tail), and he will enter a loop that makes fairly easy to end the fight, he will do the flight attack, but it will go away from you instead of trying to hit you like the first two phases, leaving a time breach to go back to his tail and then attack again. This tactic will do less damage, but since you're playing safe, this will make the end fight a piece of cake... but the thing is getting to phase 3.

Good luck and have patience, you'll need it.

[NarcissusBaz]

Nice, DropeRj. I think I might add something as well.

#1 Fast weapons are great here. I used Beast Claw and I could see the boss cry a little bit. You can actually corner and lock him. Use your entire stamina on attacks (once again, they've got to be really fast so he doesn't interrupt you - Beast Claw ftw) and corner him. Wait a seond to regain a little bit of stamina for at least a single attack. If you're lucky, he'll try to put fire on his blade, but you'll be faster and interrupt it. Rinse and repeat The fastest and cleanest kill I've seen, was from a guy using Beast Claw + Beast Roar. Same as above, but when you run out of stamina immediately use Beast Roar - your opponent will fall on his back and it will take forever for him to get back up - you'll regain your stamina and be ready for round two

#2 His ramming attack can (will) insta-kill you. You can heal through the rest of his attacks, but when he jumps forward - you HAVE TO avoid it. He signalises this attack with a tilt of his head and a small fiery roar. Your life depends on recognizing this signal and dodging in time. DropeRj mentioned the "vomiting lava" attack <--- THIS! Don't waste a single second, 'cause this is the best chance for you to deal enormous amount of dmg. Sprint to his side as soon as you see the swelling of his throat. If you're lucky, you'll land 2x charged attacks AND this can stagger him further - drop another charged attack. Oh, and one more thing - Threaded Cane! I think this is the beast weapon for this boss. The whip form is fast and long-ranged. You can bitchslap the doggy from safe distance, avoiding almost all of his attacks by backstepping once. Give it a try!

#3 Phase 1 & 2 are rather straightforward. Stand in front of her, but not too close. Close enough to quickly jump in and hit her, but far enough to reach the wall when things get tense. Your aim is to get her do the two-handed slamming attack. It's a finisher of a 3-move combo, so learn the pattern and be prepared to attack. To perfectly avoid the hand slam attack (especially in phase 2) jump back and to the right. Although the attack is two-handed, she'll only use one hand to try and reach you, with second hand further away:

Dodging immediately after backstepping helps you avoid the arcane charge in second phase, but also positions you perfectly in front of her head. After avoiding the slamming attack, sprint towards her ugly face between her hands and slap it! In second phase wait for the arcane charge to end, then sprint towards her head.

Third phase is a piece of cake if you use my strategy. Stand underneath her - not under her legs, but under her belly. She won't attack you. Hit her right hand repeatedly from underneath her. She will be helpless after a few hits she will jump up, but don't be afraid - she won't land on you - she's just running away, the poor bastard! She will land a few steps further - immediately run under her belly again and go for the hand. You can also try and hit her head, but that made me go too far in front of her once and I got hit. Stick to the right hand and you won't get hit!

Hope this helps. I had so much fun with this dungeon and so will you, just don't give up easily. Repeat every boss a few hundred times if you have to - you'll get it eventually, believe me. And you will feel REALLY good after that :]

ps. Results may vary the above-mentioned tips may not work for you. These bosses are challenging and unpredictable. What worked for me, doesn't necessarily have to work for you. Good luck and may your dualshocks survive this!

Edited April 10, 2015 by NarcissusBaz

[SooFany-R]

Hm, I don't know why, but I struggled with the Fire Mage more than other bosses in this dungeon. I literally did The Watch Dog and Amygdala on my first try, but it took me 4-5 tries to beat the Fire Mage. Anyway, very nice guide guys!

[TwilightSpira]

I really hope it helps, it was my strategy against then, also it helped me beat then again for a second time

[DropeRj]

#1 Fast weapons are great here. I used Beast Claw and I could see the boss cry a little bit. (...) when you run out of stamina immediately use Beast Roar - your opponent will fall on his back and it will take forever for him to get back up - you'll regain your stamina and be ready for round two

#2 Threaded Cane! I think this is the beast weapon for this boss. The whip form is fast and long-ranged. You can bitchslap the doggy from safe distance, avoiding almost all of his attacks by backstepping once. Give it a try!

 

 

ps. Results may vary the above-mentioned tips may not work for you. These bosses are challenging and unpredictable. What worked for me, doesn't necessarily have to work for you. Good luck and may your dualshocks survive this!

I've got used to playing with Ludwig, but never tried beast claw and threaded cane, but will try it out on those bosses.

But about the beast claw mechanic, since I have a lot of insight on when I play those dungeons and I've read that the beast claw is better used with lower insight. How does the beast claw goes effective with high insight?

But nice tips, surely will try out different weapons on new runs.