Did any of you not use Serpent-Hunter on God-Devouring Serpent?

[Lenox]

And its phase 2? And if so, how was that? Satisfying? Is it worth it? How difficult is it compared to other bosses?

I specifically want to know about the experience from those that also did do the fight together with spirits or cooperators.

It's not something I even thought of doing because a friend who reached him way before I did had told me he had "wasted time" not knowing about Serpent-Hunter. So he urged me to not even try without it.

[Citizen of Zozo]

He's vulnerable to Frostbite and to lesser extent Bleed, so you can kill him that way. Any source of Destined Death is also a viable option. Alternatively the best strat is to spam jumping R2's with lightning weapons.

[Chaosium]

On my first try I was like "who cares, that spear won't make a difference", boy was I wrong The main problem is that in melee you're constantly taking the lava damage during the entire fight, it's just a huge PITA to deal with

[Logical Maneuver]

It's pretty lame as melee (mostly jump atk spam) and not how the fight was intended. The magma staggering you constantly is supposed to back you off so you get the full cinematic effect of the fight. That's why the spear is literally right there when you walk in the door. Not using the spear is like going to watch a movie in 3D and not wearing the glasses. But sure it can be done, the boss misses most attacks and just tries to jump away from you to set the stage. He has a lot of empty hit box like Greyoll so you have to learn where you can actually hit him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TBqDLrdsrk

If you have mimic tear summon it'll also use a serpent-hunter, making it very easy. My last fight with him mine ran in with a magma blade and pretty much spammed the weapon art becoming a super tank. Anything in melee range attacking fast takes aggro, and the boss spends more time hopping around like a frog than attacking the ranged attackers.

Coop is more or less the same thing, either they use a spear, or they cast spells. Personally I think when everyone is fighting at range with weaker spells like lightning spear and glint stone without the spears the boss was it's most fun. It's on full offense and not getting stun locked by heavies. The boss has more HP so it drags out a bit more and can be pretty fun. Unless you get an Azur Comet mage that just melts him in phase 2.

That was a super active boss area way back, so I fought him a lot as a gold and saw all kinds of action.

[Koala 4peace]

In my first 3 tries!
And it sucked!
Because it kicked my ass!
A snake, kicking ass!

[rkmugen]

Typically, when I enter a boss arena, i tend to hang a sharp right, to flank the boss, right from the start. So... yeah, I legit didn't see the Serpent Hunter weapon. So I just dove in with my Golden Halberd and Gargoyle's Black Halberd. Killed him, first encounter, no death(s)..... although I admit to having received a message appraisal when I was down to my last HP flask.

[FafnirChaos]

You can corner him during his first phase while on the lava with a fast weapon with frost, second phase can be tricky with his flying skulls, however it is doable.

[Anthreris]

Yes in ng+ with Ancient Dragons' Lightning Strike, which can do insane amounts of damage on a target like this. On ng+ though it was a pain I wish I had done it on a regular playthrough.

[Illumina]

medium bubble trumpet go doot.

[Magic A. I.]

Originally posted by Lenox:

And its phase 2? And if so, how was that? Satisfying? Is it worth it? How difficult is it compared to other bosses?

I specifically want to know about the experience from those that also did do the fight together with spirits or cooperators.

It's not something I even thought of doing because a friend who reached him way before I did had told me he had "wasted time" not knowing about Serpent-Hunter. So he urged me to not even try without it.

The intended way with the spear makes this fight look basically biblical, so I didn't see the point of un-epic-ing it. It might have been even better on Torrent, though, I think.

[Enderspoons]

I fought him with Ranni's Dark Moons and Comets. It was pretty decent; the range and damage was comparable, but the FP constraint meant I had to dedicate pretty much all my flasks to Blues to get it done and there wasn't much room for error.

[Polaris]

I didn't find Rykard satisfying *without* using the gimmick stick (the fight just drags on and on) and the fight was pointless *with* said gimmick (he's designed to die to it... so w/e). The whole fight was built around theatrics with the boss (read: AOE spamming damage-sponge) directing players to the cookie-cutter provided.

It's essentially a throw-away boss like Yhorm (Storm Ruler) or Ancient Wyvern (plunge attack).

Enter arena, grab weapon, leave, upgrade weapon, re-enter arena, spam WA, win, insert yawn if desired.

[♱ Remilia Scarlet 🦇]

Originally posted by Enderspoons:

I fought him with Ranni's Dark Moons and Comets. It was pretty decent; the range and damage was comparable, but the FP constraint meant I had to dedicate pretty much all my flasks to Blues to get it done and there wasn't much room for error.

If you had shard spiral, you could have used it too, it decimates large enemies and bosses! Though you will have to get a bit closer because it has a slightly shorter range than comet.

[Lenox]

Thanks for the varied responses, everyone. It's cool to see the mix of spear vs no spear. I think I have an idea of how I'd like to approach the fight in the future.

[Koala 4peace]

Originally posted by Lenox:

Thanks for the varied responses, everyone. It's cool to see the mix of spear vs no spear. I think I have an idea of how I'd like to approach the fight in the future.

With a cruiser?

[RedEssence]

I did it using black flame, which is incredibly effective because of percentage dot

It wasn't that bad tbh, just sit back and wait for the opening to chuck a fireball in, dont even need to charge it since im only after the 2% dot

this does eat your fp like crazy tho so healing is limited