Tips on the Stray Demon?

[roymaster45]

So, I've fought the Stray Demon at least 10-15 times now, and I'm convinced that the only way to beat him is to come back to the Undead Asylum towards the end of the game, or in NG+. (Which I would be fine with, except I had around 20,000 souls before I fought him and I'll be damned if I walk away now with just a few hundred.)

Most of the strategies I've looked up online recommend equipping armor with magic resistance - done that - and trying to get behind him as soon as you land. The problem is, it seems like no matter how quickly I move, it's nearly impossible to get away before he either bashes me with his axe or uses his blast attack, both of which take off 1/3 of my health at the very least.
I realized that I can avoid aggroing him if I sprint to one of the corners, which gives me time to use an estus flask, but from there it's basically the same problem.

Am I missing something, or is it really just as simple as being able to roll and dodge quickly enough?

[CherryKakyoin]

Hug his butt, use a bleeding weapon, if you're by that t h i c c booty he'll most likely spam a single attack which is pretty well telegraphed, or he could also lift up, fly a bit then fall, either way, just hug them buns.

[Taco Cat]

Two ways to deal with AEO: the block it with the crest shield (go back to where you got the estus) or run around and hit that ass (sometimes the tail if you wanna risk if).
To get behind him, just run a little bit and roll until you're far away enough (usually two rolls). By "far away enough" I mean you can't be too close behind him either or else his aoe will hit you.
As for not getting hit with the hammer, just time your roll to the left or right, that's all there is to it.

You're not fat rolling, right?

[Baby don't hurt me]

Originally posted by TacoCat:

Two ways to deal with AEO: the block it with the crest shield (go back to where you got the estus) or run around and hit that ass (sometimes the tail if you wanna risk if).
To get behind him, just run a little bit and roll until you're far away enough (usually two rolls). By "far away enough" I mean you can't be too close behind him either or else his aoe will hit you.
As for not getting hit with the hammer, just time your roll to the left or right, that's all there is to it.

You're not fat rolling, right?

medium roll is not enough, either
be naked

[Corvus]

Hug his behind. When you're real close and behind him, he'll constantly use the blast attack (In my experience). When you see the wind up, back up, then head back in and smack him a few times. Rinse and repeat.

[space madness]

Bleed is ridiculously effective against the Stray Demon, you don't even need to upgrade your weapon against him if it does bleed. Getting behind him is the hard part, once you are in a good position it's relatively easy to stay behind him.

[nomoreblues]

lock-off inbetween to move in straighter lines out of aoe and fast-roll vs. hits and finally

Originally posted by space madness:

once you are in a good position it's relatively easy to stay behind him.

[MundM]

Seek but whole.

[MaenaZ]

Yeah.
1) At the very least move your equip load one range higher up. Fast roll is preferable but unless you plan on just standing there and tanking him mid roll is way better than fast roll. This improves your speed, too.
2) Don't spend the entire fight locked on, this alters your movement patterns.
3) Make sure you have some decent equipment since, yeah, that thing is tough. I tend to not tackle Stray Demon until after Blighttown/Sen's/Anor Londo/One of the Great Soul bosses, depending on how confident I feel about the build and how easy it is to alter it to a better speed.
4) Learn how to roll from his 'axe' slams, since it's weird that you get hit by those when moving.

[MundM]

Originally posted by MaenaZ:

Yeah.
1) At the very least move your equip load one range higher up. Fast roll is preferable but unless you plan on just standing there and tanking him mid roll is way better than fast roll. This improves your speed, too.
2) Don't spend the entire fight locked on, this alters your movement patterns.
3) Make sure you have some decent equipment since, yeah, that thing is tough. I tend to not tackle Stray Demon until after Blighttown/Sen's/Anor Londo/One of the Great Soul bosses, depending on how confident I feel about the build and how easy it is to alter it to a better speed.
4) Learn how to roll from his 'axe' slams, since it's weird that you get hit by those when moving.

The real trick really is just get behind him. The big AOE magic slam is what one shots most players. If you are behind him, you are far away enough to not get hit by it, but don't stand right behind his bussom, you have to be a bit further away. If you then attack him, you can get lucky that he gets caught in an endless flying up attack loop, or in a magic slam attack loop, making the fight really easy. The only difficulty is to first get behind him, because you usually have to dodge one normal attack, and one magic attack.

[MaenaZ]

Yeah, but others already mentioned getting behind him while the OP mentioned having difficulty with that, so I just expanded upon it.

The fight really becomes way easier once you can consistently stay behind that fat demon butt.

[Wyrtt]

Originally posted by roymaster45:

Am I missing something, or is it really just as simple as being able to roll and dodge quickly enough?

You do miss something. You dont need and actually must not roll and dodge most of the time.
Here is an algoritm for this boss.

0. DO NOT USE LOCK ON in this battle.

1. As soon as you land run to his left. Even with EL 50% you should do it in time before boss uses forward AOE attack, Its cone is rather small. No bigger than 90-110 .

2. Stand behind his back and close to the right leg.
3. Hit him as long as you want.

Now 2 things might happen

4a. Boss prepares 360 AOE strike, Just slowly walk way or run if you didnt figure out extremly short range of that attack. Repeat steps 1-3 till boss is dead.

4b. Boss start flying and wants to drop on you. walk 3-4 steps away from him and let him drop. Make sure to be near his right leg again. He keeps his weapon close to his body and its edge will be near left leg. You will recive dmg just by touching his weapon even if he already landed. So Right leg is 20 times safer/
After that repeat 1-3 untill boss is dead.

Boss often bugs out like many ds bosses and he keeps doing same thing. So instead of doing 4a and 4b evenly he most likely will do 4b 4 times in row intill he finaly switches his pattern.

This is an algoritm for killing this boss with any level, build and weapon. If you want to make fight even easier than use bleed. SL 20-30 is enough to kill him with +5 weapon/

[Taco Cat]

Originally posted by BabyDontHurtMe:

Originally posted by TacoCat:

Two ways to deal with AEO: the block it with the crest shield (go back to where you got the estus) or run around and hit that ass (sometimes the tail if you wanna risk if).
To get behind him, just run a little bit and roll until you're far away enough (usually two rolls). By "far away enough" I mean you can't be too close behind him either or else his aoe will hit you.
As for not getting hit with the hammer, just time your roll to the left or right, that's all there is to it.

You're not fat rolling, right?

medium roll is not enough, either
be naked

I usually pair the two cause I feel fat in both situations ;/

[ЗА ПОБЕДУ]

i know this is old but i beat him today on level 35 using claymore +4 and having the Armour of solaire on only. I also used the magic weapon sorcery to buff the sword to do better damage. At a low level its basically just an endurance test

[NightmareGats]

Hit it until it dies.