What is up with the Death Rite Bird?

[Havel Himself]

I don't know if I'm just having the worst luck in the universe, or is this dumb excuse of a bird really one of the hardest bosses in all Souls games? What were your experiences with it? I'm just embarrassed at my own incompetence at this point.

[ALBERN DRAKE]

In truth I believe the death rite bird is actual the hardest boss in the game

[Senki]

It was pretty average difficulty for me. I think I died a couple times to the version that has the fire but that was it.

You just need to be very aggressive(try to stay behind it or at the very least under the head as much as you can) and watch out for the aoe explosion around it because it will oneshot you or leave you extremely low.

[Xengre]

They might be a little tricky first few fights until you get used to them but they're actually extremely easy. Their big gimmick is their unnaturally high dmg output and some gatchas (except Caelid's f that and every mountain it jumps on out of reach).

The grab attack has a specific head animation you can learn and simply roll through. Never buff/heal right in front of it at melee because it will use the peck, often up to 2x in a row (3 hits per peck iirc).

The rest depends on which version it is. Also, the camera can make it much harder than it should be for this particular boss cause FROM too lazy to zoom out or fix camera so you can try it unlocked.

Hit head for extra dmg (double iirc). It is also very weak to holy, like extremely. More holy dmg you got the better. Sacred Blade murders it, esp when hit on head. Further, you can use holy pots if you want and throw at head I've heard which apparently murders it, too. You can use the holy scorpion talisman, other dmg boosting talisman/buffs, and also mixed physicks +holy dmg buff to just annihilate the bird.

[Havel Himself]

Originally posted by Senki:

It was pretty average difficulty for me. I think I died a couple times to the version that has the fire but that was it.

You just need to be very aggressive(try to stay behind it or at the very least under the head as much as you can) and watch out for the aoe explosion around it because it will oneshot you or leave you extremely low.

Staying behind him works somewhat, but I still seem to suffer difficulties because of lack of visibility. And staying under his head means you'll either get hit by the close quarter slashes, or get headbutted into a jelly. This boss, annoyingly so, seems to have the perfect combination of close, medium and longe range attacks. Even if you dodge everything, he just jumps to the other side of the arena meaning you'll have barely any time to attack. Died around 20 times now, which is probably more than the rest of this game's bosses so far combined.

[Krazy Wallet]

Don't lock on. The camera just goes haywire and you end up looking at yourself from the deathbird's perspective. I agree though, not a well designed mini boss

[Dollmaker]

You can pretty much cheese those stupid things with Holy dmg, they are extremely weak to it.

So craft some pots and practice your throws

[Xengre]

Definitely try the holy and dmg boosting options. Look at it this way.

A normal fight boss HP = drawn out fight. However, because of this boss absurd weakness to holy being so high if you stack buffs/dmg and holy increase with a holy source of dmg you can kill this boss in mere seconds meaning even if you did screw up a few times you could retry very quickly and probably melt it without a long fight resulting in risks or flask being relevant after one of those attempts despite not perfecting the boss.

Sacred Blade is the best with a holy infused element on weapon for melee. The holy pots should be good. Hit it on head. Even at RL1 you can kill it in lik 10-15 seconds if you stack the buffs. Ex: Holy Scorpion Charm (+holy dmg), Golden Vow (boosts offense, i use weapon ash version), Sacred Blade on my holy infused sword, and holy mixed physicks flask and my RL1 character goes from like 50 dmg on body to like 550 or so on head. Melt it in seconds. I've heard the pots though might even 3-4 shot it so try that, too, if you want.

Also note the Deathrite Bird (both types, there are two variants), the Night Calvary (horse boss), dragons, and Bell Bearing Hunter all have many of these minor bosses in the game and they can all be done at a later time if you are struggling. Just maybe put an icon on map marking them if you can't remember so you don't forget to come back.