Rant about Heide Knights...

[SmokingBuffalo]

So yeah, who the hell thought those guys were a good idea?

They don't even have weight, they just float around and swing their swords like it's made out of feather. Seriously, i roll behind the knight, close in for the back stab ( after his 3 hit combo ), Suddenly knight swings his sword while he is not facing me and somehow manages to hit me. What the hell is the point of mobility and flanking if the knight can hit you while his back is turned against you?

The only reliable way i have to kill them without taking damage is covering behind a shield and poking them with a spear until they are dead. Because no matter what i do they always find a way to hit me.

Oh also sometimes i can't back-stab them, the animation starts but they just snap out of it. Why?
Well because their animations are so fast that they can just get rid of the back-stab animation and reward me with combos while my guy is stuck in back-stab animation. WTF is wrong with them?

And now that i killed the Dragonrider they just gang up on me the moment i enter Heide's Tower of Flame. "FUN"

[juicy]

parry them with a decent parry shield or use a UGS. Used to have problems with them myself but now that I know how to fight them. They're easy enough to handle.

Edit: Don't bother trying to fight 2 of them at once. Just bait one of them, and kill them one by one.

[+==={::::::::::::::::::::::::::>]

On your first playthrough, they do feel overpowered considering how early you meet them in the game. Those humongous Old Knights feel like target dummies compared to Heide Knights.

But it's just a matter of getting used to.

Here's how you can reliably backstab them -- Stay relatively close to them even when they start swinging. You can do this by either blocking or rolling (your choice, but rolling is better). Staying close to them usually triggers their 3-attack combo. The third (final) attack in the combo is very slow and this is your opportunity to backstab safely (always works for me). Their 2-attack combos are dangerous because they can immediately follow it up with blind slashes which usually catch most people offguard (as those blind slashes are not telegraphed).

In summary, bait their 3-attack combo and go for a backstab. Avoid the temptation to backstab them on their 2-attack combos.

[perico2palotes]

Just spam pancake / launch moves. Large / great club, ultra greatswords, whatever.
As a side note, on my first (blind) playthrough I missed the entrance to Forest of the Fallen Giants so the first zone I did was Heide. It is doable from the start, even w/o stunlocks.

[789it789]

git gud.

[SmokingBuffalo]

Originally posted by Profile Name:

git gud.

i'm trying man. But i suck at this game :/

[BAS1FUK]

Heide Knights are like caviar, the first taste is like sh*t but after a while you can't get enough. Specially if you're after that manly helmet.

[Arnust]

You'll get over it. I've found that most bosses and enemies get pretty easy once you've fought them enough, as a big amount of them are Humanoid. Mid-Late game boss fight: This is the case for Veldstadt, he has mostly the same moves as the Mace dudes in Heide's, so when you finally get to him the only edge he has is dark magic that he uses at 30% health when it's too late
Unless they have weird special combos or moves, the strategy is just to get them to do their fancy moves, learn them and punish.
For example, that moment when thay stay still and then dash, you can punish both ends of the move.

[Arnust]

Originally posted by Alípio:

Heide Knights are like caviar, the first taste is like sh*t but after a while you can't get enough. Specially if you're after that manly helmet.

The Helmet and their weapons must be the most farmed gear ever along the Desert Sorceress Top.
Meanwhile, the base game players laugh at us in the distance they can't render

[ThePresident]

Originally posted by Arnust Guymer:

Meanwhile, the base game players laugh at us in the distance they can't render

the ♥♥♥♥ does that have to do with anything lol

[Arnust]

Originally posted by ThePresident:

Originally posted by Arnust Guymer:

Meanwhile, the base game players laugh at us in the distance they can't render

the ♥♥♥♥ does that have to do with anything lol

I say it becouse in the non-SOTFS version there are less HK but they drop their weapon 100% chance and by bonfire ascetics you can get the armor pieces.
And that it has worse graphics lol

[Inganni]

Bring the great club and equip the stone ring, pancace them a couple of times and hope for a drop

[Ͽ҈҉Ͼ]

Originally posted by SmokingBuffalo:

And now that i killed the Dragonrider they just gang up on me the moment i enter Heide's Tower of Flame. "FUN"

Wait till you meet the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with the spear who can turn on a dime, attack in the span of 6 frames, and takes away 3/5 of your life with each hit of a 3 hit combo. Yeah... that guy can suck the entirety of my ♥♥♥♥.

More importantly, their inclusion ruined the way that Heide Knight equipment was rare and a status symbol in the base game since it required NG+ for the knights to appear in the world. Now they can be farmed for drops at fairly low level, and only serve in making the area an even bigger ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of spawns unless you've despawned the giants or just run past everything.

[HypetheKomodo]

A shield helps tremendously against Heide Knights, especially the spear ones. They're very open after they try their combos.

They'll often get hits in if you play too aggressively. Just chill out a bit, and bait out their attacks.

[Ͽ҈҉Ͼ]

Originally posted by garbagenyx:

A shield helps tremendously against Heide Knights, especially the spear ones. They're very open after they try their combos.

They'll often get hits in if you play too aggressively. Just chill out a bit, and bait out their attacks.

Great advice, except that you only have enough stamina at lower levels to block 2 hits before they hit you with the third anyway.

Better solution, atleast for the first spear guy you encounter is to run to the dragon and let the dragon step on him a few times while you attack. Only works until you kill the dragon, but the best way to give the middle finger to the game is to have other mobs help kill other mobs.

[SmokingBuffalo]

Originally posted by Ͽ҈҉Ͼ:

Originally posted by garbagenyx:

A shield helps tremendously against Heide Knights, especially the spear ones. They're very open after they try their combos.

They'll often get hits in if you play too aggressively. Just chill out a bit, and bait out their attacks.

Great advice, except that you only have enough stamina at lower levels to block 2 hits before they hit you with the third anyway.

Better solution, atleast for the first spear guy you encounter is to run to the dragon and let the dragon step on him a few times while you attack. Only works until you kill the dragon, but the best way to give the middle finger to the game is to have other mobs help kill other mobs.

Actually since i like having a lot of stamina i had enough stamina to block their combos the first time i've encountered them ( Spear knights ) so they are actually easier than the sword knights.

Also thanks for the tips, i hope i can git gud.