The White Lady fight could've been great

[Firellius]

If perfect guarding was more rewarding.

As it stands, I can spend about an hour on defense trying to get my perfect guards in, and sometimes I'll perfect guard a whole string. But since she's either attacking or input reading for a parry, I can't actually get any opportunity to attack.

I caught myself thinking 'This fight is great!' when I got the hang of her and shattered her rapier by blocking with her like in a proper duel.

And then five minutes later it had gotten old because while I can keep from losing, I can't win the fight, either.

Perfect Guard should do WAY more posture damage, perhaps in particular once a weapon is broken.

[Psycho Pie]

I just beat here moments ago. It is true that she has a very high attack speed but I think there is a pause in her attack pattern that allows you to place up to 3 hits, especially at after her quick attack flurry.

Furthermore, as a mobility/health/capacity build with bonesaw blade / mobility-modified police nightstick handle, I saw I could stagger her with every hit, enabling me to hit her several times.

[Firellius]

Originally posted by Psycho Pie:

I just beat here moments ago. It is true that she has a very high attack speed but I think there is a pause in her attack pattern that allows you to place up to 3 hits, especially at after her quick attack flurry.

Furthermore, as a mobility/health/capacity build with bonesaw blade / mobility-modified police nightstick handle, I saw I could stagger her with every hit, enabling me to hit her several times.

I'm running daggers, and those don't stagger her at all. Most of the time when I attack, I just immediately get parried, even if her rapier is broken.

[Psycho Pie]

That's problematic...

Maybe stock up on throwable weaponry -especially acid flasks- and throw them at her face when you have the chance ?

[Firellius]

Originally posted by Psycho Pie:

That's problematic...

Maybe stock up on throwable weaponry -especially acid flasks- and throw them at her face when you have the chance ?

There's no way you can carry enough throwables to take her down that way. And it's not what should be the solution, anyway, that makes for a godawful bossfight.

[SteelaiRizel]

Originally posted by Firellius:

If perfect guarding was more rewarding.

As it stands, I can spend about an hour on defense trying to get my perfect guards in, and sometimes I'll perfect guard a whole string. But since she's either attacking or input reading for a parry, I can't actually get any opportunity to attack.

I caught myself thinking 'This fight is great!' when I got the hang of her and shattered her rapier by blocking with her like in a proper duel.

And then five minutes later it had gotten old because while I can keep from losing, I can't win the fight, either.

Perfect Guard should do WAY more posture damage, perhaps in particular once a weapon is broken.

From what i am seeing you say, you just aren't handling the fight very well. She is very easy. I did it on a technique build and this playthrough ill do it on a motivity build.

Dodge at the right moments to the left or right then get attacks in. Or perfect guard, dodge forward, then backstab her. She does pitiful damage in the first place and with a broken weapon even more pitiful.

Bait her attacks after backing off if you want to get a nice heavy in. Slam a shot put in her face if you are worried about getting a heavy attack off in time when she is in stagger state.

[AltPlusF4]

I struggled with her for a good while until I realized she suffers from the same weakness as every human NPC boss:

Just go fishing for backstabs. Sometimes you'll catch a boot...or a rapier combo to the face.

[Poyzo]

Dodge and backstab her. End the fight within two minutes.

[Giganx]

Yea, it's kind of a lame fight. Don't even have to dodge, literally just circle around her and most of her attacks will just straight up miss and set her up for a backstab.

[SadPlatty©]

Honestly - just use puppet string for anything like this.

Fight her and be ready to pull her in when she tries to back up or something. Human "NPC" bosses don't have general resistance to it beyond trying to dodge out of getting hooked, and it stuns them at the very least while dealing some chip damage (but often the pull in gets you enough time to hit them once with a plain attack). If you get the "Link" to pull yourself into them, you also stun them and land right on top of them to keep up aggro, which honestly seems like the bane of some NPCs. Youngest of Black Rabbits for example could be stun-locked with some ease and I just bully her into a corner every-time until she leaves via puppet string (especially on NG+ with Link Attack/heavy combo).

There is also dodging into the attacks to try and get behind her for back-stabs/heavy attacks/Fable Attacks. If you get the timing down, even most red attacks can be dodged across encounters without needing the item to do so.

But here is a case I feel perfect guard is the wrong path as it relies on being a bit more passive when a couple of encounters are just straight DPS battles (just wait for Door Guardian later). Went straight aggro/trading some blows, and took her down first try both times I fought her so far.

[Lucifer_]

that's the problem with this game. parrying is way too risky with too little reward, the game becomes a joke if you just focus on dodging everything instead of parrying