[SPOILER] Questions regarding a certain boss...

[lazymagpie]

Hoenir, Keeper of the Abyss is giving me a lot of trouble... or rather, the endlessly spawning extras are. The super mobile boss plus extremely tanky and highly damaging axe knights makes this fight a bit of a drag, and I wonder how other people beat it. Any recommended loadout / tactics?

[Promestein]

I used Western Merchant and Dark Witch and just killed big guys if they were in front of the boss. You also deplete stamina of the boss pretty quickly with the help of the Merchant.

[Oroshi]

You can ignore the extras for the most part. They aren't very aggressive and only use slow attacks when you get near them, which can be avoided simply by jumping. I used the headless defender if necessary to take care of them, since those attacks are easy to parry with him. Otherwise, defeat the extras far away from Hoenir first so his daggers don't disrupt you while cleaning up the arena.

Generally, you can avoid most of the danger of the first two phases by jumping. In the last phase I stayed on the ground for dodging by dashing.

If I remember correctly, my spirit set was Silva/Defender/Executioner. Executioner is good for hitting Hoenir before he jumps away, though the extras can get in the way of targeting.
And of course, smacking him with Silva wherever possible. Charging attacks takes to long, so just hit him once or twice and then chase him down when he retreats.

Sorry for the massive block of text. I hope it helps, though.

[Sarga]

You can also find up to two damage reducing relics before going for the fight. Plus before rest place there's a nice upgrade hidden in previous room for your sword. Personally went with level 2 sword/level 3 (point blank/up close) "fallen archer"/level 3 floral sorceress. Sorceress is for stunning and archer is surprisingly good at finishing the adds dealing some extra damage. Had him two times at 1 hp as he butchered me, before finally defeating him. You also should switch between aggression and more defensive playstyle as battle goes on as he will come for you at the end.

[tell me whats wrong w my pain]

LOADOUT
SPIRITS
Umbral Knight / Western Merchant / Dark Witch Eleine (First Set)
Umbral Knight / Cliffside Hamlet Elder / Guardian Silva (Second Set)
RELICS
Fretia's Ring - Broken Music Box - Cracked Familiar Stone - Kilteus' Ring - Manisa's Ring


STRATEGY
In first phase, use Guardian Silva to deplete his stamina bar quickly while also dealing heavy damage to him, ignore the non-stop spawning guys as they almost do zero impact entire fight, you should be fine doing one or two hit and chasing after him, if he went too far away to chase before he jumps around again, you can use Cliffside Hamlet Elder from a distance, if you need healing but can't find an opportunity, you can just run at the edge of the boss area since its the safest spot in the fight.

In second phase, just non-stop spam Western Merchant & Dark Witch Eleine, use Lost Rites on either of Dark Witch Eleine or Umbral Knight to deal heavy damage to Hoenir. He should die in no time.

[Roober]

Set 1 - Umbral + Dark Executioner + Cliffside Hamlet Youth.

Set 2 - Umbral + Silva/ Siegrid + Headless Defender/ Hidden Test Subject

Concept: Ignore adds, isolate Hoenir, bust his armour.

Phase 1-2: (Offense) Jump over adds while lobbing the Youth at him (The Youth DELETES his armour). Spam Executioner in between cooldown while chasing him to the far side with Umbral. Once his armour goes down use Siegrid Umbral combo (If you brought her. Spam Umbral otherwise since Silva's too slow). Repeat until phase 3.

Phase 3: (Defense) switch to set 2. You should have full meter for Last Rites by now. Your main focus should be countering his spinning jump. Silva LR is amazing for this. If you picked Siegrid, her jump attack can be cheeky but risky, she's solid for armour busting. Headless Defender deals insane dmg if you catch him in front of you. Otherwise, H.TestSubject is a safe choice for the AoE.

Props to you if you find the Ancient Soul before this fight.