Crucible Knight, is there an actual legitimate way to fight these guys?

[Janthis]

That doesn't involve staying at long range, summoning, or using the biggest shield you can? I used the fingerprint stone shield enchanted with Barricade just to see how long I would last and what his patterns were. He never stopped attacking. Did 5 attacks, followed by a fire breath, followed by 4 more attacks, with no break in between. He also seems to be immune to backstabs and stagger. I ended up relying on the shield and poking him to death. Am I missing something?

[Kapakc]

you can usually attack him after almost any attack he does, and then roll away. It just requires you to do some good spacing.

[TyresTyco]

He needs ridiculous amounts of poise dmg. I only saw him poise broken once when I spammed Oracular Bubble.

Yeah either you get gud at parries.. or dance around him with the strongest stuff you have to punish after one of his combos end.

I still have trouble dodging his freaking tail swipes.

[Muse Snooze]

uhhh..dodge? It's a little tricky, but, seriously, dodge.

[Janthis]

you can usually attack him after almost any attack he does, and then roll away. It just requires you to do some good spacing.

Maybe with a faster weapon. I was using a greatsword and we'd just end up trading hits.

[Arlen]

Originally posted by Johnny_B_80:

That doesn't involve staying at long range, summoning, or using the biggest shield you can? I used the fingerprint stone shield enchanted with Barricade just to see how long I would last and what his patterns were. He never stopped attacking. Did 5 attacks, followed by a fire breath, followed by 4 more attacks, with no break in between. He also seems to be immune to backstabs and stagger. I ended up relying on the shield and poking him to death. Am I missing something?

the stagger statement is false. They can be staggered, and even interrupted. I have done so using an upgraded knights greatsword and jump attack.

[Sweatington]

https://youtu.be/MDov1qSx3M8

[Baron01]

These knights have openings but it depend on, which type you are fighting. It is very likely you will have to dodge through his attack to get behind him to get a quick hit in, heavy jump attacks also work. You should not expect to stagger them as they have extremely high poise and I could not get them to flinch with greatswords or greatspear.

Shield is solid option and you do not need Fingerprint Stoneshield either. However, if you intend to block several of his attacks at once with shields with lower guard boost you need to use Barricade Shield ash of war.

[Netsa]

The variant with fire breath doesn't have the tail swipe. So, what this guy said is true:

Originally posted by Kapakc:

you can usually attack him after almost any attack he does, and then roll away. It just requires you to do some good spacing.

Hit n' run.

[Janthis]

Originally posted by TyresTyco:

He needs ridiculous amounts of pose dmg. I only saw him poise broken once when I spammed Oracular Bubble.

Yeah either you get gud at parries.. or dance around him with the strongest stuff you have to punish after one of his combos end.

I still have trouble dodging his freaking tail swipes.

I could never parry reliably, he mixes up his attacks too much. If I meet another one I'll probably just try long range spells or something. Let me guess, he's probably immune to poison/rot as well.

[Sabaithal]

Yes, yes there is. It just requires patience as they (the shield and sword variants to say) have few openings in phase 2. Fighting this guy is all about patience.

During phase 1 just rolling behind them after an attack and slashing at them a few times works well enough, but in phase 2 he punishes that kind of behavior. BUT he does have openings during 2 main attacks.
- Shield bash - Brief opening, but right after he finishes this animation he leaves himself open enough just long enough for 1-2 swings of a quick weapon (then dodge away as his next attack is coming. Stick close but not right in his face to bait him into doing this. If you maneuver correctly you can avoid the attack without even having to dodge.
- Two handed - Biggest opening is when he 2h his weapon and stomps the ground. He will always slam his sword on the ground, and if the player is far enough away he will stop right here. If however the player is close he will followup with a double slash forward, which will end the combo. Either one is a very large opening that a player can get 2-3 hits in easily

Another thing to note JUMP over his group slam attacks instead of dodging if you can help it. Its much less likely to get you hit.

Also as a note to some other people, stop recommending to parrying him. If the OP was able to parry him so easily he wouldn't be having issues. If you can parry stuff reliable, almost nothing is an issue, so you're really not being very helpful.

[aristateles]

Originally posted by Sweatington:

https://youtu.be/MDov1qSx3M8

What is this fight wth..

....


Oh LOL

[Týr'el]

Crucible with sword => pure parry/riposte/escape, no need to take risks with his other attacks. You don't need lot of skill to pull the parries, use a buckler early game or the golden parry ash.

Crucible with spear => Not a treat if alone, so as you wish, punishable after his jumping attack or after one of his moves.

[Baron01]

The video above is perfect illustration of what you should not do--never dodge away from their attack. If you stay in front of them, they will continue attacking without abandon. They are slow to turn around and redirect their attack, even if some of their attacks track you. Your best bet is to dodge through their attacks to their side and trying to get behind them. It often triggers their shield bash that you can step away from or dodge again, which gives you opening to get few hits in (few with fast weapon, most likely only one with slow ones).

[Professor Hugedix]

Roll through his attacks and hit him with your attacks.

[Dan_The_Noob]

the sword ones you jus back up, bait an attack, give'm a tap. rinse and repeat.
or parry/poise the attacks.