Nameless King, Worst Boss?

[Clown Babby]

+ Camera abuse like no other
+ Dragon head bob and sway and 0 depth perception mean many missed swings and wasted time
+ NK often ignores shields completely, for not much reason other than to be h4rd
+ NK endlessly spams a 1000+ damage 2 hit combo, first hit staggers, second hit guaranteed
+ NK "gets mad" at 50% life and adds massive lightning cheese to his attacks
+ Endless stagger and knockdown abuse make most combos guaranteed death

Really limited moveset, hyperaggressive bloodborned boss, every hit does 500+ damage regardless of armor, spend 95% of the fight hitting dodge twice, poke, dodge twice, poke.

The Souls series is just DBZ. People expect more and more difficulty with each itteration, and all they can do is make the bosses more cheap and more spammy.

We have now entered GT territory in the Souls series. I'm glad this is the last game, i can't imagine what kind of cheese they would cook up for DS4.

[GrayHound]

Originally posted by Just DO IT !:

Didn't have any problems at all with him.
Use the Dragonslayer shield.

This. Cheese against cheese.

[Pelerin]

That was my favourite boss fight in the game, I don't use lock-on during the Storm King phase though - the camera does fail us there.

I really enjoyed it though.

[*D4rKsKy*]

Originally posted by Kougeru:

People still use shields? Seriously, just roll through his attacks. Even without the Carthus ring you go through most pretty easy

With a greatshield he,s crap u can keep blocking and lose minimal to no health ;)

[Bluelightt]

His lightning attacks are cheese? Only one of them is even semi challenging to dodge

[Bear]

While I think we can all agree that the camera is messed up, most of your other complaints aren't really issues. He "ignores" shields because most of his damage is lightning, NOT physical. If you have a shield that doesn't block lightning or only blocks a small percentage, then you will get destroyed if you try to turtle him.

Having multiple phases isn't exactly anything new to the Souls series. Many bosses have them.

I don't recall him having any instant kill combos if you are the Host. I know some of his combos can easily wipe phantoms if they get caught but not embered hosts. Provided you have a decent pool of health, ofc.

[Thospe]

Second phase of the fight I beat on the third attempt (i.e. third time I got to the second phase). It's pretty straightforward, though I found the dodge timings a little tricky and his damage output is unforgiving. I was using gotthard twin swords, but could see him being much more difficult if I had a slower weapon.

First phase drove me insane. It really is a perfect storm of things that the Souls games are bad at. Weird camera angles, targets that vary in height, poor visibility, etc. Even without lock-on, it's not uncommon for the dragon's neck to block your view of the King, making it impossible to anticipate his attacks (I also had bad luck; he kept throwing his lightning spell through a statue so I couldn't see his windup). Avoiding the flame breath AOE also seemed a matter of luck more than anything and it two-hit combo'd me from full health quite a few times. If he uses the non-AOE flame breath a lot, you'll win. If he uses the AOE flame breath a lot, you'll lose. Lacking a weapon with a vertical strike also killed me here. Very unsatisfying.

[Jotun]

Originally posted by Kougeru:

People still use shields? Seriously, just roll through his attacks. Even without the Carthus ring you go through most pretty easy

Shieds? What is that?

https://youtu.be/u0mw95SCkcI

Seriously, as you said, learning his paterns and rolling is enough. He is not worse than sullyvahn or soul of cinder combo wise (the later does insta kill me at 25 VIG, embered in his second phase).

Also, mowed down the first phase in a handful of seconds... I knew this FTH build would come handy at some point!

[Metal Upa 123]

Originally posted by Jotun:

Originally posted by Kougeru:

People still use shields? Seriously, just roll through his attacks. Even without the Carthus ring you go through most pretty easy

Shieds? What is that?

https://youtu.be/u0mw95SCkcI

Seriously, as you said, learning his paterns and rolling is enough. He is not worse than sullyvahn or soul of cinder combo wise (the later does insta kill me at 25 VIG, embered in his second phase).

Also, mowed down the first phase in a handful of seconds... I knew this FTH build would come handy at some point!

"Learning his patterns" is only half of it raw reflex is the other half. The video you linked shows the guy getting hit multiple times in situations that 1 shot me (or damn close to it). I've built my first DS char in each game around having as little health as possible (usually around 15) while soft capping my stamina then maxing out my STR and DEX for my greatsword while wearing as light armor as I can get away with while still keeping an actual dodge (it's at least really high in this game) while not using a shield since that is what I've always found fun my first run through. (Greatsword ninja!) This boss hard counters the ♥♥♥♥ out of my favorite playstyle though. He has lots of attack speed mix ups, lots of 1 shots, lots of aggro, and 3 forms with the first form being easy as hell (as long as I don't get too annoyed and distracted) and a pure waste of my time.

The only other time I've had this much trouble was Manus and he was at least fun to play against.

In the end I don't think he's a terrible boss and he is certainly a sight to behold the first time around, but he absolutely crushes me once he hits phase 3. My fault for being so stubbern? Yes. Do I still hate him? Yes.

[Jotun]

Originally posted by Quibber123:

Originally posted by Jotun:

Shieds? What is that?

https://youtu.be/u0mw95SCkcI

Seriously, as you said, learning his paterns and rolling is enough. He is not worse than sullyvahn or soul of cinder combo wise (the later does insta kill me at 25 VIG, embered in his second phase).

Also, mowed down the first phase in a handful of seconds... I knew this FTH build would come handy at some point!

"Learning his patterns" is only half of it raw reflex is the other half. The video you linked shows the guy getting hit multiple times in situations that 1 shot me (or damn close to it). I've built my first DS char in each game around having as little health as possible (usually around 15) while soft capping my stamina then maxing out my STR and DEX for my greatsword while wearing as light armor as I can get away with while still keeping an actual dodge (it's at least really high in this game) while not using a shield since that is what I've always found fun my first run through. (Greatsword ninja!) This boss hard counters the ♥♥♥♥ out of my favorite playstyle though. He has lots of attack speed mix ups, lots of 1 shots, lots of aggro, and 3 forms with the first form being easy as hell (as long as I don't get too annoyed and distracted) and a pure waste of my time.

The only other time I've had this much trouble was Manus and he was at least fun to play against.

In the end I don't think he's a terrible boss and he is certainly a sight to behold the first time around, but he absolutely crushes me once he hits phase 3. My fault for being so stubbern? Yes. Do I still hate him? Yes.

Kuddos to you. 15 isn't much you are right. I went in with 25 there and yes, some moves were close to OS me and I did die a lot to some combos because of button pressing being queued (meaning if you miss a roll, you'll miss the next one too).
But I guess most people around here have closer to 35-40 VIG when fighting him.

[Karamell]

I farmed him as a phantom ... his 2nd stage is laughable as a pyromancer using Black Flame and so on, but his first stage is what irks me. My worst opponent in that fight is the camera instead of the boss himself. Luckily locking onto the Nameless King instead of the dragon helps out, but even then I lose track often when the guy flies up.

[Metal Upa 123]

Originally posted by Jotun:

Originally posted by Quibber123:

"Learning his patterns" is only half of it raw reflex is the other half. The video you linked shows the guy getting hit multiple times in situations that 1 shot me (or damn close to it). I've built my first DS char in each game around having as little health as possible (usually around 15) while soft capping my stamina then maxing out my STR and DEX for my greatsword while wearing as light armor as I can get away with while still keeping an actual dodge (it's at least really high in this game) while not using a shield since that is what I've always found fun my first run through. (Greatsword ninja!) This boss hard counters the ♥♥♥♥ out of my favorite playstyle though. He has lots of attack speed mix ups, lots of 1 shots, lots of aggro, and 3 forms with the first form being easy as hell (as long as I don't get too annoyed and distracted) and a pure waste of my time.

The only other time I've had this much trouble was Manus and he was at least fun to play against.

In the end I don't think he's a terrible boss and he is certainly a sight to behold the first time around, but he absolutely crushes me once he hits phase 3. My fault for being so stubbern? Yes. Do I still hate him? Yes.

Kuddos to you. 15 isn't much you are right. I went in with 25 there and yes, some moves were close to OS me and I did die a lot to some combos because of button pressing being queued (meaning if you miss a roll, you'll miss the next one too).
But I guess most people around here have closer to 35-40 VIG when fighting him.

I finally managed to beat him after switching to the washing pole (slightly less animation lock than my GS so I can get a dodge in I couldn't otherwise hopefully) and pumping up my health all the way to 20 along with equipping the bloodring for my dodges. I actually managed to survive mistiming the dodge of his lightning shot from the sky and survive with literally a pixel of health it was intense.

I was really terrified the last 3 seconds of the fight since I backed off a bit since I didn't want to get caught running out of stamina then he was charging his weap for the sky lightning shot so I went back in to deliver a final blow but I kicked instead. I think I lost 5 years of my life in that moment alone. Shadowplay bugged out the first 4/5ths the fight where I dodged pretty much everything up until he started raining lightning and then I went from 11 to 2 estus, but it at least caught the final little bit without corrupting the video footage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nX9ofK6Z1g

[Captain Murphy The Villian]

No the worse boss would be between Ancient Wyvren or Curse-Rotted Greatwood.

[JamuThatsWho]

Your first mistake was locking on.
Lock on is a tool, it's not necessary or useful in every situation. Play unlocked = no wild camera to wrangle.

[Teiryn]

Not the hardest boss imo, not even the 2nd hardest if you ask me; the most difficult for me was soul of cinder.

[MrFluffyWolf]

Originally posted by 🍹 Young Sachi 🍹:

No the worse boss would be between Ancient Wyvren or Curse-Rotted Greatwood.

Curse Rotted Greatwood is a contender for worst..?