Is the Royal Rat Vanguard mandatory to the progress?

[Feared-HUN]

I simply cannot beat this boss, I died like 10 times without luck.
I cannot find a working cheat for defeating the rats offline, and I'm getting tired of trying without luck.
Is this boss mandatory or can he be completely skipped and still be able to finish the game?

[Caramelpoptart]

He can be skipped. Didnt even know he existed untill my second playthrough.

[Feared-HUN]

Oh nice! Thanks, then goodbye rage quit! :D

[Bricky strong]

You only need to target the boss, which is the rat with the spikey hair. Just dodge all the rats until you see him then attack. Or go fight easyer bosses first, but the rat is easy if you use the techniqe I said. Don't get hit by the boss though because he'll kill you. Attack from behind you'll get him.

[Caramelpoptart]

So i thought you said the royal rat authority. I fought the vanguard on my first playthrough. You can skip it, but you need the silvercat ring and enough health to get all the way to the bottom of the pit in majula.

[Feared-HUN]

I got the silvercat ring and got down the hole from majula.

[Yu Sheo]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Feared:

I simply cannot beat this boss, I died like 10 times without luck.
I cannot find a working cheat for defeating the rats offline, and I'm getting tired of trying without luck.
Is this boss mandatory or can he be completely skipped and still be able to finish the game?

It's a reall easy boss. At first it seems like madness but once you know that you only have to kill one rat (spikey hair dude) it's ridiculously easy. Rat Vanguard is also a bit of a joke once you kill his little rat mob at the start.

[Feared-HUN]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Hairy Shoulders:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Feared:

I simply cannot beat this boss, I died like 10 times without luck.
I cannot find a working cheat for defeating the rats offline, and I'm getting tired of trying without luck.
Is this boss mandatory or can he be completely skipped and still be able to finish the game?

It's a reall easy boss. At first it seems like madness but once you know that you only have to kill one rat (spikey hair dude) it's ridiculously easy. Rat Vanguard is also a bit of a joke once you kill his little rat mob at the start.

Well to me it is the most difficult boss yet, because I cannot summon phantoms to help me (no sign near the boss door), and there are far too many rats to count as potential attackers. But if it's really not a necessity, then I'll pass this boss.

[Yu Sheo]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Feared:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Hairy Shoulders:

It's a reall easy boss. At first it seems like madness but once you know that you only have to kill one rat (spikey hair dude) it's ridiculously easy. Rat Vanguard is also a bit of a joke once you kill his little rat mob at the start.

Well to me it is the most difficult boss yet, because I cannot summon phantoms to help me (no sign near the boss door), and there are far too many rats to count as potential attackers. But if it's really not a necessity, then I'll pass this boss.

I agree. At first it seems impossible but trust me, just watch a YouTube video on how to beat it then you'll see how easy it is. I died quite a lot before I figure it out.

Also, you can't summon for this boss. You have to fight it alone.

[Feared-HUN]

I watched some videos, few of them took 20-30 minutes to beat this boss.
Other problem is that I cannot choose the right weapon. Too big swords always stuck on the rat statues and hit nothing but air. Weaker swords hit the rats, but they kill each rat with 2-3 hits.
Eventually I'm sure I'll manage to beat the boss, but now I chose another path and left this one 'till the end.

[cooperman]

Easy when you know how..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO0_cPHIVjA

[Yu Sheo]

Opprinnelig skrevet av cooperman:

Easy when you know how..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO0_cPHIVjA

Boom! Nicely done. I didn't use sould appease but this technique is great.

[HanLi427]

Soul Appease works on the rats? It should only work on undead and hollows.

But any aoe spell can make this fight easy. If you don't have one, make sure to keep moving so you don't get surrounded. Take out the rats as fast as possible, weapons with narrow hitboxes are useful so you don't hit the statues.

You need to kill 10 or so rats before the boss spawns, then focus on taking out the one with the hair crest, and keep moving around so you don't get surrounded.

Note that the rats cause petrification build up, in addition to poison. So protection against it helps a lot.

[Edible Eyebrows]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Razekh:

Soul Appease works on the rats? It should only work on undead and hollows.
.

The rats are hollow, in the first game they dropped humanity too.
Seems they had their own minor kingdom at some point in history.

[Hunubul]

And soul appease dmg the boss too, so you don't even have to use any weapon.

[Ghost]

if I remember well, once you kill 10 rats, the main boss (spikey) shows up. Then you only have to focus on him. I always try to target lock and use pyromancies that makes a lot of collateral damage so it clears some space. Not overly difficult boss but time consuming.