Seriously the black blade kindred can go F itself.

[Syro System]

I'm level 109 and hitting it with a +16 great hammer and it deals pi$$ damage.
He's also taking more than half my health per hit when I got the damage reistance physik and boiled prawn buff.
And he's in Caelid.

This thing is so extremely overtuned it's beyond insane, and thatäs not taking his incredibly annoying moveset and dodging habit into account.

[Hong Kong Phooey]

I keep coming back to this thing thinking I'm levelled enough and get consistently proved wrong.

[2001 Space Oddity]

You should be able to beat him at lvl 109, as long as you have the right stats. You should have at least 45 vigor at this point, preferably more. Your weapon should be at 18 by this point too.

They're weak to strike damage so your hammer is a good choice, I would put cragblade on it with heavy affinity assuming you're a str build. If you're using an elemental or status affinity then you're handicapping yourself because they are strong to elemental damage and immune to all status effects.

[Duilf]

First off what affinity of great hammer? The thing is an elementally infused weapon isn't a good choice in this fight.

Second the Black Blade Kindred deal split holy damage, and drop split holy damage unique weapons. So if you aren't a faith build there is little reason to bother.

Third like the Tree Sentinel in Limgrove that boss is higher level then the zone it is in

[Fresh]

These mobs are genuinely never a good time.
twig like legs and pole like body makes ur target lock more of a hassle than a help
they deal so much damage through like 80% reduction. they're literally stronger than most bosses with an hp pool to compliment it.
then they drop weapons that are relatively weak for the zones they're in, and actually get weaker as you get closer to the end of the game.
You run into them and you genuinely have to wonder like, wtf is this doing here. their locations just dont make sense.
and the ranged ones have like way less health i just dont understand. maybe they got tired of using margits model and had to come up with something else.

[John]

I dunno, i kinda had fun, took me like 10 tries but i took him down when i completely understood his attacks. Staying close is actually rather useful, just be careful for the sword smack (which completely ignores shields) and his halberd special. Dodging forward during the spear swoop, dodging when he starts to drop down with any aerial attack, once you got the pattern he's kinda easy. In the end the only thing which i had to watch out for was an instant kill combo with the halberd special when i was too close.

[lolschrauber]

Originally posted by Sawayaka:

These mobs are genuinely never a good time.
twig like legs and pole like body makes ur target lock more of a hassle than a help
they deal so much damage through like 80% reduction. they're literally stronger than most bosses with an hp pool to compliment it.
then they drop weapons that are relatively weak for the zones they're in, and actually get weaker as you get closer to the end of the game.
You run into them and you genuinely have to wonder like, wtf is this doing here. their locations just dont make sense.
and the ranged ones have like way less health i just dont understand. maybe they got tired of using margits model and had to come up with something else.

I noticed this with a bunch of bosses. You're just running after some leg to beat on, camera bugs all over the place. It's really not good sometimes. You're often better off without locking on.

[Senki]

yeah i'm not a fan of how they're designed either especially when I use short weapons like a dagger or flail

[Mecharion]

One of the more fun bosses in the game i would say

[beaker_redux]

Originally posted by Mecharion:

One of the more fun bosses in the game i would say

I would agree with this. Fantastic boss fight. When I first started, I cursed him for exactly the same reasons as the OP. I think I died probably 30 times. I was running a bleed build centered around Rivers, so you can imagine how piss poor that did against him. I stepped back and build a crag blade stone club. That did ... okay damage.

Some advice:
1) Break down the fight into the sword and the halberd.
2) The sword is pretty easy to dodge with practice. The halberd is roll catch hell with all the drags and delays.
3) I fight him close. The only real danger there is his halberd AOW. If he jump/flies backward, it's an easy to dodge dive bomb. If he jumps straight up and hangs a second, get ready to dodge his circular AOW. Two circles and a slam. Very hard to dodge. I usually get hit by one and survive. Get hit by all three ... death.

Sword:
A) When he does his quick two swipes, hit him once and roll. He'll follow with a third swipe after you hit him. After the third swipe, I can quick hit him again.
B) When he holds the sword close to his breast in a quick salute, his flurry attack is coming. Dodge forward between his legs and usually the 3rd and 4th miss completely, so only one dodge is needed. After this, you have time to do a quick buff or a fully charged attack.
C) His AOW hits hard but is easy to dodge.

Most of the sword fight I dodge then hit, dodge then hit. Just pepper away at him.

Halberd:
Most of his attacks are easy if you can wait out the roll catch BS animations at the start of them. Dodge then snipe a quick hit. Watch out for one of his attacks. He'll attack and then do a quick slam. That one hits me often. It's his only halberd attack that isn't a roll catch so the timing is tough.

Once you get the moveset down, maybe you'll agree with me that he's a great boss? Very predictable, gives plenty of opening to heal (if you can tank his hits), and is satisfying to chip down and beat without bleed or rot.

I usually play the Convergence mod, and the arena for him is flat and open. Much preferred to the front of the Bestial Sanctum.

Practice well and good luck!