Whoever designed Skalpel, you're a devious person (and I like it)

[TheRaienryuu]

Hi, same guy who made the "God I hate Trokka" post. I had already seen Skalpel being name dropped in a lot of boss related posts (good and bad) so I was very curious to fight him myself.

At first I was majorly let down, as with my Greatsword I could perma stunlock him with combo's in a corner until his HP bar was gone. And his moveset also felt very lackluster, with super easy to read moves.

Then the twist happens which, let's be honest, surprised me not in the slightest. I've come to expect those from easy to kill bosses, especially with this dude literally carrying a coffin. But his second phase felt much better and the new attacks he can do are cool.

But I can understand why I saw him mentioned so much in other boss posts, as it basically is a double boss fight (phase 1 being relatively easy, but if you cant stunlock it is still a boss with decent HP and attacks that can mess you up take it a bit too relaxt) and then phase 2 won't even allow for stuns/staggers and you have the new attacks, as well as the massive amount of Plague to deal with. Getting it all done is almost more of a battle of attrition. Requiring, preferably, perfect phase 1 and then no slacking in phase 2.

[Baron01]

I have already learnt to expect 2nd phase from bosses and judging it whether you get a loot when the boss "dies" or not so when I defeated Skalpel--took me surprisingly few attempts, 6 I believe, with my dual-wield build--I expected second phase. I was quite surprised when "Mission Completed" announcement appeared and I felt relief I was mistaken. Imagine my horror when Skalpel jumped out of the coffin and began chasing me.

His second phase was not as difficult as first one as it only took me 2 tries, first one where I only had one Netherworld energy left and the 2nd was where I defeated him. I can not stun-lock any boss but his first phase is still relatively easy as long as you can hit those counters and have moves that decimate his health bar when he is staggered. I got him down to 20% HP after 2 counters with full damage rotation. The remaining HP was a bit of a struggle as he did his annoying plague hoover move and few others that are just pure chaos to deal with.

Tips:
1. Get both necklace and ring with Plague resistance, it massively helps to reduce Plague build up.
2. Craft some Plague resistance and removal potions. Do not use them early but once you get hang of the fight, chug them before entering his arena to have it easier. You will have to use 2nd Plague resistance potion in 2nd phase as mine run out.
3. You need to hit those counters of his spin move, the hit is very delayed--look for his hand movement rather than the sword. There is also another red attack he does from a distance, charging at you with his sword, which I rather dodge as hitting counter is much harder on it.
4. If you have good stamina recovery, I suggest you hold block while trying to dodge some of his attacks, especially those from range where he uses Plague waves. The block will reduce damage taken if you fail to dodge on time even if you get some Plague build up. You want high stamina recovery as holding block slow down your stamina regen so either have a build with high stamina recovery or hold it only when you have 80% or more stamina.
5. Always try to attack form the back when you stagger the boss, either use dodge to get there or a skill that reposition you at enemy's back. The amount of bonus you are able to dish out this way is quite significant.
6. You can play passively in phase 2. His HP is slowly going down, you just need to survive long enough. Dealing damage to him speeds up the process and might save you if you are short on heals.

[TheRaienryuu]

Originally posted by Baron01:

I have already learnt to expect 2nd phase from bosses and judging it whether you get a loot when the boss "dies" or not so when I defeated Skalpel--took me surprisingly few attempts, 6 I believe, with my dual-wield build--I expected second phase. I was quite surprised when "Mission Completed" announcement appeared and I felt relief I was mistaken. Imagine my horror when Skalpel jumped out of the coffin and began chasing me.

His second phase was not as difficult as first one as it only took me 2 tries, first one where I only had one Netherworld energy left and the 2nd was where I defeated him. I can not stun-lock any boss but his first phase is still relatively easy as long as you can hit those counters and have moves that decimate his health bar when he is staggered. I got him down to 20% HP after 2 counters with full damage rotation. The remaining HP was a bit of a struggle as he did his annoying plague hoover move and few others that are just pure chaos to deal with.

Damn you're a much better player than me then that's for sure. Haven't beaten him yet for various reasons (bad play, greedy, bad timing etc) and sometimes I can't get past phase 1 if he has bad pattern RNG. Stunlock won't always work and in some attempts he gets a weird attack pattern that guarantees he goes into that enraged/power up state. I dont even fight him when he does that, as I feel like if he goes into that mode it's just a waste of time and resources to keep trying. Rather reset and go again, hoping for better attack rng.

EDIT: Scratch that entire thing, beat him literally the next attempt after I typed all this lol.

[Guldo]

so a boss that does a fake out. ill keep that in mind.