Grave robber help.

[Patchworth+]

The wiki about this fight has two of my favorite friends when it comes to this fight, Jack and ♥♥♥♥♥. I have nothing so I need to ask, what works against them and what are they weak to? I'm using a +8 broadsword and barely scratching them while people in videos are going upwards of 300 damage.

[Enderspoons]

I'm surprised you went into Shulva without a +10 weapon. Ah, well, +8 can do in a pinch.

Cerah, Varg, and Graverobber — affectionately called together, the Gank Squad — are an archer and two melee combatants. Their biggest weakness is that none of them know how to sprint. This opens them up to some bigtime AI exploitation.

Just look at their arena. It's absolutely nothing like any other boss arena in any Souls game. Not only has it got loops around the sides of the arena where you can kite the two melee dudes in circles for days so you have cover out of sight of Cerah.

It's also got two layers to it: An upper one where all the dry land is, and a lower one covered in water that slows you down (and only you, so try not to spend long there). You can trip up their AI even more by baiting them to drop down from upper floor to lower floor, then sprinting back up to get some alone time whacking Cerah in the face.

For NPC enemies in general, they are extremely predictable. Once you're left with one or two members of the Gank Squad, you can just stand around in place for a few seconds and they will walk directly toward you in a straight line, right into whatever you have waiting to smack them with.
One of my personal favorites is smashing NPCs intto the ground using two-handed heavy attacks with large weapons, like Ultra Greatswords or Great Hammers.

Hope this helps.

[Patchworth+]

My ongoing strategy for tough invaders has been an unleveled poison knife. I get in enough stabs to poison, then switch back to my weapon. but if I need +10 then I'll make that happen. I've also been running miracles/spells and I'm not sure if the sanctum shield actually does better or worse for that.

[Patchworth+]

Actually no, my broadsword is +10. darn.

[King Robert Baratheon]

Originally posted by Patchworth+:

The wiki about this fight has two of my favorite friends when it comes to this fight, Jack and ♥♥♥♥♥. I have nothing so I need to ask, what works against them and what are they weak to? I'm using a +8 broadsword and barely scratching them while people in videos are going upwards of 300 damage.

Considering that you're using a broadsword and it's only +8 while you're in a DLC area, my main advice to you is to go to a non-dlc area and level up a bit more and maybe use a stronger weapon. DLC areas are very tough (at least much tougher than the main game areas) and you should go in there with your build almost complete and definitely at least one fully upgraded weapon. Regular upgrade materials in DS2 are pretty easy to acquire and special upgrade materials (twinkling titanite and petrified dragon bones) can be somewhat easy to acquire if you know where to look. Other than that...try to space out the npcs in that boss fight. Don't let the powerstancing dual katana npc backstab you. One time when doing that boss fight the katana npc backstabbed me twice in a row. They didn't even let me finish my "getting up animation". As soon as I stood up they backstabbed me again before I had a chance to roll away. It was like Dark Souls 1 pvp all over again. It was horrifying... *has vietnam style flashbacks of DS1 pvp*

[King Robert Baratheon]

Originally posted by Patchworth+:

Actually no, my broadsword is +10. darn.

Oh. I just saw this. Well...like I said above. I think you should use a (much) stronger weapon. The Broadsword scales equally with strength and dex I think (probably C/C scaling, even at +10 but I might be wrong). If you're doing a quality build you should upgrade to at least the Claymore (Vengarl of Forossa in the Shaded Woods sells it, but he's a little tricky to get to if you've never met him before).

Here's a video showing where Vengarl is located: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7NvZoP1sHM&ab_channel=RayDhimitri

There are other weapons that scale with str and dex well, but the Claymore has some advantages over other quality greatswords. It's light for a greatsword class weapon, it's versatile, and it's fast for it's weapon type.

[Insomniac Jack]

Use poison and run.

[King Robert Baratheon]

Originally posted by Insomniac Jack:

Use poison and run.

Poison is always a great option for cheesing enemies (especially in DS2, because poison does a lot of damage over a short amount of time), but trying to poison one of those npc's through melee or even with poison arrows in this boss fight would be really tricky. There are also poison spells (like poison mist, toxic mist, and dark fog) but those would require very some good timing. Plus the spell Dark Fog has int and faith requirements, which I doubt op has (they mentioned that they're using a broadsword, so I doubt that they are doing a hexer build).

Lastly, applying poison to a enemy with a melee weapon is more easily done with a dedicated poison build or just a poison setup. The "Crest of the Rat" (the ring you get from the Rat King Covenant) helps poison infused weapons apply the poison status effect faster. Also the Sanctum Soldier Gauntlets help apply the poison status effect faster. So using both of those items plus a fast weapon, or even two fast weapons while powerstancing, you could inflict poison on a enemy really fast. But even if you had that kind of setup, it would still be very tricky to pull off in this boss fight.

[Patchworth+]

Originally posted by King Robert Baratheon:

Originally posted by Insomniac Jack:

Use poison and run.

Poison is always a great option for cheesing enemies (especially in DS2, because poison does a lot of damage over a short amount of time), but trying to poison one of those npc's through melee or even with poison arrows in this boss fight would be really tricky. There are also poison spells (like poison mist, toxic mist, and dark fog) but those would require very some good timing. Plus the spell Dark Fog has int and faith requirements, which I doubt op has (they mentioned that they're using a broadsword, so I doubt that they are doing a hexer build).

Lastly, applying poison to a enemy with a melee weapon is more easily done with a dedicated poison build or just a poison setup. The "Crest of the Rat" (the ring you get from the Rat King Covenant) helps poison infused weapons apply the poison status effect faster. Also the Sanctum Soldier Gauntlets help apply the poison status effect faster. So using both of those items plus a fast weapon, or even two fast weapons while powerstancing, you could inflict poison on a enemy really fast. But even if you had that kind of setup, it would still be very tricky to pull off in this boss fight.

Actually my build is spread across physical and magical. I have most spells, miracles, and pyromancies at my disposal.

[Patchworth+]

New plan: Stink like a butterfly, float like a bee.
1. aquire butterfly set.
2. dance around the arena like a pretty fairy.
3. stab with sword.
4. Profit.

[King Robert Baratheon]

Originally posted by Patchworth+:

Originally posted by King Robert Baratheon:

Poison is always a great option for cheesing enemies (especially in DS2, because poison does a lot of damage over a short amount of time), but trying to poison one of those npc's through melee or even with poison arrows in this boss fight would be really tricky. There are also poison spells (like poison mist, toxic mist, and dark fog) but those would require very some good timing. Plus the spell Dark Fog has int and faith requirements, which I doubt op has (they mentioned that they're using a broadsword, so I doubt that they are doing a hexer build).

Lastly, applying poison to a enemy with a melee weapon is more easily done with a dedicated poison build or just a poison setup. The "Crest of the Rat" (the ring you get from the Rat King Covenant) helps poison infused weapons apply the poison status effect faster. Also the Sanctum Soldier Gauntlets help apply the poison status effect faster. So using both of those items plus a fast weapon, or even two fast weapons while powerstancing, you could inflict poison on a enemy really fast. But even if you had that kind of setup, it would still be very tricky to pull off in this boss fight.

Actually my build is spread across physical and magical. I have most spells, miracles, and pyromancies at my disposal.

Nice. That surprised me. Well if you can manage to poison one of those npc's in the Graverobber boss fight with poison spells that will help the fight be a little easier. I still think you should use another weapon besides that +10 Broadsword of yours, but it sounds like you actually don't need that much help.

[Patchworth+]

I'm only level 94. everything is spread quite well. so no major bonuses to speak of.
The broadsword is special to me. It shares mostly the same moveset as the DS1 shortsword. My old Holy Shortsword in DS1 was what finally let me defeat lord Nito. I always called it Sting after that. Sadly I cannot get a new one in this game.
Remember kids, it's not the power in the weapon but the power you put into it.


*105.

[Patchworth+]

Yeah so it turns out you cannot poison them with the poison butterfly set. Not unless it's insanely slow to poison.

[Patchworth+]

I need testing. I need hard numbers. How much does it take for the set to poison enemies?
I watched the havel give the green puff that indicates you have been poisoned 3 times. he was not losing health.

[Insomniac Jack]

All you need is a pyromancy flame and poison/toxic mist or, preferably dark fog with a quick staff. Poison them one by one. Drop down to the lower area to bait, avoid them, then rush back up (at which point you can poison the ranged one). Rinse and repeat until they're dead. It take's two casts at most to poison them, once if you time it right and keep them in the mist (block, bait).

[Enderspoons]

Originally posted by Patchworth+:

I need testing. I need hard numbers. How much does it take for the set to poison enemies?
I watched the havel give the green puff that indicates you have been poisoned 3 times. he was not losing health.

I'm gonna level with ya: I have absolutely no idea on hard numbers. The wikis have literally no data on the Gank Squad's resistances.

To be honest, I've never even considered poison on the Gank Squad, not once. Running their AI in loops for days has usually been enough. Just top off your supply of lifegems and you should be good.