how are you [i] supposed [/i] to fight Commander Gaius?

[catsgomeow]

for context I've already beaten him but am slightly confused about the intentions of the fight. I started out fighting him on torrent which seemed like the obvious choice, almost every mounted/large enemy in the game feels tailor made to be fought with torrent and I've always had great success doing so. Not with Gaius, several of his attacks seem near undodgeable while mounted, not to say they literally are but the precision, positioning, and timing to pull such a thing would likely be absurd and certainly not worth doing. After ~15 deaths I decided to try fighting him dismounted and beat him first try with little effort which felt pretty cheap and unsatisfying. So much of the fight feels like its designed around torrent but then fighting him on torrent just... doesn't work? Has anyone had success fighting him entirely on torrent? I genuinely feel like I must have been missing some obvious easy way to avoid a few of these attacks because fighting him on foot just felt so wrong...

[LuckyCheshire]

Some of his hotboxes are bugged currently. I really don't recommend using horseback combat for him, or really for much any fight besides just chasing down dragons before switching back to being on foot. Torrent is just too difficult to control precisely to be at all viable, unless you're exclusively a spellcaster and just want the extra mobility or something. Even then not my favorite way to fight.

Just pretend you're playing Sekiro and fighting Gyoubu Oniwa.

[catsgomeow]

Publicado originalmente por LuckyCheshire:

Some of his hotboxes are bugged currently. I really don't recommend using horseback combat for him, or really for much any fight besides just chasing down dragons before switching back to being on foot. Torrent is just too difficult to control precisely to be at all viable, unless you're exclusively a spellcaster and just want the extra mobility or something. Even then not my favorite way to fight.

Just pretend you're playing Sekiro and fighting Gyoubu Oniwa.

I totally disagree with horseback combat being unviable, many fights in the game are obviously designed with torrent in mind and it trivializes pretty much every normal enemy encounter. Also you may have missed the start of my post, I dont need tips for the fight since I already beat him I just want to know if anyone had success while fighting exclusively/ near exclusively on torrent.

[Wheee333ee33e3e]

Publicado originalmente por LuckyCheshire:

Just pretend you're playing Sekiro and fighting Gyoubu Oniwa.

Lmao, I saw his battleground before he came out and knew I would fight him. Looks like the elden ring version of gyobu battlefield with random weapons and stuff on a battlefield.

On topic, a lot of his hit boxes are busted, so many times I clearly hit him point blank and it didn't register.

[LuckyCheshire]

Publicado originalmente por catsgomeow:

Publicado originalmente por LuckyCheshire:

Some of his hotboxes are bugged currently. I really don't recommend using horseback combat for him, or really for much any fight besides just chasing down dragons before switching back to being on foot. Torrent is just too difficult to control precisely to be at all viable, unless you're exclusively a spellcaster and just want the extra mobility or something. Even then not my favorite way to fight.

Just pretend you're playing Sekiro and fighting Gyoubu Oniwa.

I totally disagree with horseback combat being unviable, many fights in the game are obviously designed with torrent in mind and it trivializes pretty much every normal enemy encounter. Also you may have missed the start of my post, I dont need tips for the fight since I already beat him I just want to know if anyone had success while fighting exclusively/ near exclusively on torrent.

Sure, I caught that you had already beat him, I'm just sharing my two cents.

I agree that a lot of fights are designed with Torrent in mind. I still just don't think he's good for anything but mobility. Any mounted melee attacks are incredibly easy to whiff, and aren't significantly stronger than on foot. I can beat up basic mobs easily once I practice timing the strikes a lot, sure, but why would I bother when just doing a jump attack is far more intuitive and usually more effective?

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree here.

[DEDloc_©]

I just pinned him against the wall with the guts and lion's claw. I made one try on torrent and it didn't go well.

[Agoraphobic Meep]

I tried horseback a few times and generally just didn't find it too successful, but I'm just going to chalk that up to the fact I rarely, very rarely ever fight on horseback.

I focused on learning him on foot and it felt fine. It took a few tries but I learned how to dodge the charge with around 70-80 percent success, and after that it was typical souls boss learning. Where to strafe, what to dodge immediately and what to delay, the works.

I think he's meant for both styles honestly. He felt pretty good to fight normally, but I can see how he might be a good horseback fight too. I honestly have so little experience in that field I don't think I'm even equipped to fight tree sentinel or the drakes, it just feels unintuitive to me as someone who prefers being able to roll and guard.

[catsgomeow]

Publicado originalmente por LuckyCheshire:

Publicado originalmente por catsgomeow:

I totally disagree with horseback combat being unviable, many fights in the game are obviously designed with torrent in mind and it trivializes pretty much every normal enemy encounter. Also you may have missed the start of my post, I dont need tips for the fight since I already beat him I just want to know if anyone had success while fighting exclusively/ near exclusively on torrent.

Sure, I caught that you had already beat him, I'm just sharing my two cents.

I agree that a lot of fights are designed with Torrent in mind. I still just don't think he's good for anything but mobility. Any mounted melee attacks are incredibly easy to whiff, and aren't significantly stronger than on foot. I can beat up basic mobs easily once I practice timing the strikes a lot, sure, but why would I bother when just doing a jump attack is far more intuitive and usually more effective?

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree here.

For me it comes down to two things 1: having to dismount and remount every fight is annoying I prefer to just stay on all the time for mobility, and 2: enemies that can catch up to you while on torrent are pretty much nonexistent, what this functionally means is that you can wind up an attack while outside the enemies attack range pass by them during your swing for a hit and just keep moving straight for a bit to easily avoid any attacks then do it all over again. This works for literally every enemy in the game, although ones with projectiles require a bit of weaving the strat is fundamentally the same. This isnt even mentioning that the poise damage of a charged horseback R2 is ludicrous I think it might even be better then a jumping R2 and has essentially zero risk attached, hell just normal horseback R2's are enough to stunlock most enemies in the game.

[RichieJ]

Get off the horse and dodge his moves on foot. More consistent, less jank. Try to keep to his left side, it's the weak side. That's pretty much all you need to know

[C1REX]

I've tried fighting on torrent but I don't think it's a good option.
I've tried melee and ranged fight but it was to difficult to avoid his attacks and torrent dies too easily even with torrent healing items.
Maybe somebody will find a good torrent strat but I couldn't.

I used a heavy shield and lance strat for the boss.

[Midnight]

It's not that his attacks "seem" undodgeable, they ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ are. I loved the base game but this DLC is utter trash.

[Drachenfurz]

Publicado originalmente por catsgomeow:

for context I've already beaten him but am slightly confused about the intentions of the fight. I started out fighting him on torrent which seemed like the obvious choice, almost every mounted/large enemy in the game feels tailor made to be fought with torrent and I've always had great success doing so. Not with Gaius, several of his attacks seem near undodgeable while mounted, not to say they literally are but the precision, positioning, and timing to pull such a thing would likely be absurd and certainly not worth doing. After ~15 deaths I decided to try fighting him dismounted and beat him first try with little effort which felt pretty cheap and unsatisfying. So much of the fight feels like its designed around torrent but then fighting him on torrent just... doesn't work? Has anyone had success fighting him entirely on torrent? I genuinely feel like I must have been missing some obvious easy way to avoid a few of these attacks because fighting him on foot just felt so wrong...

You didn't miss anything.

You can't outrun Gaius on Torrent, so one logical conclusion is trying not to.

In the beginning you made an assumption, which was proven wrong by you consecutively failing to defeat him with your chosen strategy.

You tried something differently and succeeded.

That's it.

Analyse, adapt, overcome.

It doesn't matter much how you feel it should have worked, when it didn't. Grief your loss of illusion (in assuming differently/wrongly at first) and move on.

You already did the hard part.

Now learn to give yourself grace to enjoy it.

Not every victory needs to be a close call, too.

[RichieJ]

Publicado originalmente por Midnight:

It's not that his attacks "seem" undodgeable, they ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ are. I loved the base game but this DLC is utter trash.

Every single one of his moves, including the aoe is dodgeable

[StraightUpJay]

Dodging his charge attack was the worst part, it's either broken or has the most insanely narrow timing window on it.
In the end I had no patience for it and just nuked him from orbit with Meteorite of Astel while he was distracted by my Greatshield Soldiers.
On the flip side there are two Erdtree Sentinel mini bosses just around the corner in Hinterlands, and they prove mounted bosses can be fun.

[Napalm®]

First laugh for about 15 min at his name which HAS TO BE someone trolling.
Then you figure out he has pretty much one actually dangerous attack (5 hit spear-pig-spear-pig-spear combo).
Then you win.

[Drachenfurz]

Publicado originalmente por StraightUpJay:

[...] nuked him from orbit [...]

"It's the only way to be sure."