Darkeater Midir |
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| General Info | ||
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Location |
| 15,860 | 150 000 | The Ringed City |
| Drops | Soul of Darkeater Midir Spears of the Church |
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| Defenses | ||
| Weak | Resistant | Immune |
 ThrustPestilent Mist |
 Dark  Fire Magic |
 Poison/Toxic Bleed Frost |
Darkeater Midir is a Boss in Dark Souls 3, available with the The Ringed City DLC. This Dark Souls 3 Darkeater Midir Guide features locations, strategies and videos on how to defeat Darkeater Midir easily, as well as tips, weaknesses, trivia and lore notes for the Darkeater Midir boss.
Midir, descendant of the Archdragons, was raised by the gods, and owing to his immortality was given a duty to eternally battle the dark, a duty that he would never forget, even after the gods perished. He is a massive dragon with crystals lining his entire body and four wings.
Players may find the fight against Darkeater Midir one of, if not, the hardest boss fights in the game, with high defense and a large health pool, as well as a multitude of attacks that can punish you hard if you're caught out of position. This boss is optional and not required to finish the DLC. There is one NPC that players can summon for this boss fight:
- Shira, Knight of Filianore - Summon sign is in the preparation room, near the furthest left statue. Shira is available as long as the church is in good favour, such as running Midir before waking up princess Filianore.
- Its highly advisable to NOT summon her as she fights at range which makes Midir do a LOT of his charged dash attacks, dark beam attack, rage charge attack and sky fly fire breath attacks, all of which suck to fight against.
- She uses the same build as in her duel invasion and will cast Lightning Arrow often.
- On the other hand she almost always gets the most of Midir's attention, almost always succumbs to his grab bite attack and generally makes trying to melee Midir's head a lot harder.
- Due to bug - probably - connected with fog before boss room with Midir (visible only for phantoms), Shira may "pass" it before fight begins. After that, she will either fall to death or will try to enter boss room from the wrong side. In both cases, she will become useless. Rarely, after entering boss room in the proper way, it can be difficult for her to spot Midir.
Bosses are unique and challenging Enemies that drop Boss Souls capable of being transformed into powerful Weapons, Spells, and Items for the player.
Dark Souls 3 Darkeater Midir Location
Where to find Darkeater Midir in Dark Souls 3?
- Darkeater Midir is found in The Ringed City: After opening the final shortcut gate near the Ringed Inner Wall bonfire.
- Using the lift, Halfway down there is an opening, jump/roll in. Head left at the junction into a circular room filled with statues.
- Look for the statue not holding a sword, it is an illusion.
- Break the illusory wall and head down the path. Carefully approach the ladders edge.
- Down the ladder is the shrine room where the Shira summon is.
- Then simply drop down the hole behind the altar. Walk into it, you wont be hurt.
- Must have fought him past the Swamp. You will need to cross the bridge that Midir torches continuously and make your way up the ruined stairwell (past the Moaning Knight). There will be another bonfire and Midir will be waiting for you on the other side of it. Simply drain his health and knock him off the side of the cliff and he will be waiting for you in his boss room. Knocking Midir off this bridge will not reward the player any souls, it is simply a pre-requisite that unlocks the boss fight.
- When fighting Midir on the bridge: It can be best to charge him down before he fully stands up and attacks. Try to get behind him and look for a little safe spot he mostly can't hit you in.
- When he looks downwards he sprays fire on the ground near him then it fans out and follows with a dark laser beam. When you are close to him, he claws you with 2-3 hit combo. Avoid it by taking distance and coming back to attack his arms, wrist and head.
- As he gets low HP he goes berserk and can knock you off the safe spot so evade during his tantrum and get in the final few hits.
- When you do enough damage he will stagger and allows you to finish him.
- if you want to keep your distance, use ranged lightning attacks. Aim for the head for extra damage.
Darkeater Midir Drops
What do you get from defeating Darkeater Midir in Dark Souls 3?
- Souls: NG (150,000) | NG+ (300 000) | NG++ (330,000) | NG+4 (337,500) | NG+5 (367,500) | NG+7 (382,500)
- Co-Op Souls: NG (112,500) | NG+ (225,000) | NG++ (247,500)
- Other: Soul of Darkeater Midir
- Spears of the Church covenant badge
- After defeating Midir, meet Shira in order to receive Titanite Slab.
Darkeater Midir Notes & Tips
What should you know about fighting Darkeater Midir in Dark Souls 3?
- Parriable: No
- Midir attacks deals Strike, Fire and Dark damage.
- As long as Midir's health bar is not present, summoned phantoms can't fall to boss fight arena.
- Plunging attack does not work on Midir.
- Fight him head on. Theres no way around it, you must keep in front of him in order to control how he attacks. Having his attention locked onto you makes him more manageable, and thus is suggested to solo this boss.
- Target his head. You will find this the best method of actually killing him. Attack his head a couple of times then back up a wee bit. Stay within an area near his head and in front of him, but don't stray too far. This helps reduce some of the annoying moves he does at range.
- As a general rule always stay in front of him. Going underneath and hitting his legs will almost always make him rear up and do his fire attack.
- Being near his tail and rear area will often make him jerk his tail to one side and then sweep in a large arc. It has to be rolled from the side it's coming from, or suffer massive damage.
- Alternate between using lock on and not. It will be crucial as the unstable camera can often be your downfall.
- Due to large health pool, Midir is extremely weak to Pestilent Mist. His size makes him an easy target for this spell.
- He is an Abyssal enemy, therefore takes a bit of bonus damage from the Farron Greatsword and Wolf Knightâs Greatsword The latter is better when 2 handing. Get a couple of R1's in and prepare to roll or evade his incoming attack.
- Midir is weaker to every physical damage type than he is to lightning, which is the least resisted element. Unless you're on a faith build don't use a lighting infusion (buffs are still fine). Just use a weapon you're comfortable with. Vertical slashing weapons are good at landing solid, fast hits. Thrust Damage is also the least resisted physical resistance.
- A fast, light-weight weapon can also be effective by providing fast attack animations. You can manage to get in 2-3 attacks and still have stamina for evading Midir's incoming next attack.
- Medium resistance to Magic Damage and Fire Damage. High resistance to Dark Damage.
- Immune to Poison/Toxic, Bleed and Frostbite.
- Can be staggered and riposted for the massive damage near the end of the fight if player has been consistently hitting Midir's head. Riposte deals high instant damage. Player should bear in mind, that rarely Midir can survive critical strike, but stagger after that attack gives enough time to finish him off.
- Hitting the head deals double damage; the absorptions for everywhere that isn't the head are pretty high.
- This boss fight IS optional. However, Midir must be defeated at least once, gaining the covenant item upon his death. Letting the player join Spears of The Church covenant permanently.
- Using Dragon Crest Shield is useful in this fight, if you are a fan of blocking. However it is highly suggested to roll his attacks or get out of the way.
Darkeater Midir Stats
| Playthrough | NG | NG + | NG ++ | NG +3 | NG +4 | NG +5 | NG +6 | NG +7 |
| Health | 15,895 | 16,098 | 17,880 | 18,513 | 19,318 | 20,928 | 21,733 | 25,017 |
Dark Souls 3 Darkeater Midir Boss Guide & Strategies
DS3 Darkeater Midir Video Strategy
Below are video strategies from our Youtube Partners:
Dark Souls 3 Darkeater Midir Attacks
Darkeater Midir has 2 attack phases. In the first phase, he can breathe fire, expel a dark beam from his mouth, as well as use an assortment of melee attacks, in the second phase he begins to use dark magic more often, being able to summon Affinity-esque projectiles, and also having the ability to unleash a large AOE.
| First Phase | |
| Claw Swipes | If the player finds themselves close to Midir's head (or close in front of him), he may use his front claws in a quick series of two swipes. Can be avoided with rolls, or simply walking out of range. |
| Tail Whip | If the player finds themselves behind Midir, he will sometimes swivel around to face you, if the player is too close, they may collide with his tail, dealing high physical damage and most of the time knocking them down (depending on poise). Can be avoided with a well-timed roll. |
| Fire Breath - Front | If the player should find themselves in front of Midir, he will begin to channel flames from within, before unleashing a fire torrent in an attempt to burn the player asunder. This move can be avoided with relative ease, and is a good opportunity to hit his head for some free damage. |
| Fire Breath - Under | Throughout the first phase, Midir will intermittently unleash a long lasting torrent of flames under his body. This move can be avoided by running a decent distance in front of Midir (Running behind him will cause you to be hit more often) and waiting for the flames to die out. |
| Fire Breath + Dark Beam Combo | Midir breathes fires a torrent of flame under himself, followed by two quick beams of dark magic (in succession) dealing high damage, these beams leave delayed AOE explosion in their wake. The orientation of the beams is as follows: The first beam will be fired in a straight line at the ground in front of Midir, the second loops around to the side relative to his target. Can be avoided with ease, although it should be noted that this move is unblockable. Midir will refrain from using this attack if the player is close to him. |
| Air Assault | Midir takes to the skies flying away from the player, before doubling back to send down a large torrent of flames to his left. This fire can be easily avoided by simply running in the opposing direction (E.G. If the fire is to your right, run left). |
| Savage Rush | If the player should find themselves far away from Midir (or sometimes under/behind him), he will breathe flame before abruptly bursting into a sprint, he will stop a number of times during this rush to swing his front claws and breathe more fire. Can be completely avoided if the player stays behind him. |
| Dash | If the player finds themselves close in front of Midir (often after a Savage Rush or Fire Breath - Front), he may let out a thundering roar which creates visible sound waves from his jaws, before bounding forward in an intense leap. Can be avoided with a well-timed roll. |
| Critical Strike | If the player should find themselves close to Midir's head, he may attempt to grab them using his jaws, if he succeeds you will be unable to help but watch your character be chewed up and thrown across the arena, dealing critical damage. Can be avoided with ease, is also unblockable. |
| Second Phase | |
| AoE Strike | Upon reaching the second phase, and intermittently throughout it, Midir channels dark energy for a few seconds, and releases it all at once to cause very high damage to anything within range. This attack is heavily telegraphed, so the player can easily avoid it with a well-timed roll. |
| Mass Affinity | Midir summons many Affinity projectiles which rise a few feet from the ground before pursuing the player, these can be eradicated by leading them to hit walls, the floor, or Midir himself (However, they do not damage him). These can be avoided with well-timed rolls. |
| Focused Dark Beam | Midir will charge his dark beam attack for a few seconds and then release it firing it wildly for a short time in front of him, dealing massive damage to the player, however after the attack ends Midir will be exhausted for a few seconds, giving the player a chance to land multiple hits to his head. |
How to fight and beat Darkeater Midir
Strategy 1 (Melee, staying by the head)
Going behind, under or side of Midir triggers moves that are difficult to avoid and usually one-shots low-mid level players. However staying near the head often triggers easy-to-read melee moves that are highly punishable with charged heavy attacks. Attempt to stay by his neck, roll when needed to dodge his claw swipes and charges, in between his attacks hit his head with the weapon of your choice, make sure it has high physical damage, his defenses are very high, and his resistances are even worse.
Bite+bite+flamethrower -combo has a very good opening after the second bite. Dodge it towards the boss and run next to the left front leg (your right). You are safe there. When he attempts to do his area of effect fire blast, run far out in front of him (NOT BEHIND!!) and you will not take damage, run back to your spot by his neck and repeat. When he flies off into the air and doubles back breathing fire on the ground, simply run far to the left, the fire will miss you if done correctly.
When he begins his second phase he will begin to channel dark energy which will promptly explode in a large AOE around him doing tons of damage, do the same as you would do with the fire AOE, but roll a few times to make sure you are not hit, this move can instantly kill people in NG if they have 30 or less VIG. When he breathes fire in front of him, now is your time to attack! Hit his head while he is breathing fire and you get some free damage! Watch out for the dark explosive beam he will do afterwards, he does it right in front of him and it's easy to get caught. When he summons the dark orbs from the ground, try to get a few hits in and dodge them, this move isn't too bad and can usually land you a few free hits if dealt with correctly. Hopefully following this strategy you will fell the beast, and be victorious.
Strategy 1: Playbook & Tips (Melee, staying by the head)
- Midir is going to open up this fight by throwing a tantrum, where he spits fire, and attacks with his front paws. He is going to very consciously try to roll-catch you, and catch you wherever you are, but is very bad at closing distance, so stay out of range, and dodge as little as possible to minimize the chance of being hit. Let him finish his tantrum, and he will turn around 180 degrees. You have a couple of seconds to hit his head, and begin one of the bigger objectives of the first phase. What you don't want to do is be so far, that he throws a ranged attack, because punishing these requires a lot of dodging, and this increases your chance of being hit.
- For the rest of the first phase (first half of his health bar), the player wants to stay in striking distance of Midir's head. To do this the player has to be conscious of when Midir is going to throw his bite attack, fire attacks, and his dark laser/fire attack. When Midir starts throwing his combo, back out and dodge until you are out of range, so Midir can burn himself out with a heavy attack. Typically, this is a double-front paw slam, or a single front paw slam, but one persisting pattern is that whenever he is open to attack, he lowers his head and calms down for a couple of seconds, and that is the precise reason why the player should hug his head. Sprinting works very well on Midir's movement while he is prowling around and not flying or anything, so implement this to position yourself, as well.
- Be mindful of Midir's rear paws, teeth and tail. Midir is very good at using these to hurt you. If you're in those places, you're also baiting him to turn around and swipe at you.
- Rolling for Midir is not the same as rolling for other bosses. When you roll, you need to roll away from his head, a couple feet out of swiping range of his paws, because again, he roll-catches you, uses variable timing, and follows your path of movement with his paws, and teeth.
- Don't let Midir throw off your camera lock-on, mess up the camera angle, or put you up against the wall. He's fast enough to hit you while you're fixing those problems.
- Don't roll spam more than three times ever, for any reason. Midir is fast enough to seek you out and roll-catch you for any rolling longer than that.
- Don't try to go berserk on hit Midir too many times. His windows of calm only last a few seconds. For reference, a Wolf Knight Greatsword (which is one of the best weapons for Midir) user only has about two hits of the two-handed R1 attack before he needs to be conscious of Midir's next attack.
- Hiding under Midir is a terrible idea. All this does is cause him to spam his flame AOE attack where he sprays the floor with fire, and his defense is much higher on the rest of his body, and it increases the chance of being caught in that flame, making the player lose one Estus.
- Like basically any boss, the player has to be able to do a certain amount of damage to Midir before he can chug an Estus. For example, for 15 flasks, irrespective of strength, every time you take out 1/15th of Midir's health or more, chug an Estus. This keeps your health full in a well-paced way, while his health dwindles down. Midir doesn't heal, after all, so any points you score on him, you keep!
- Midir's basic laser attack, where he draws an exploding line straight away from him, and then in a semi-circle across the arena tries to home in on you. Don't expect this attack to always be dangerous in the same places, because he will adjust things based on your movement patterns. To bypass this tendency, dodge roll into (this reduces the exposure time to the attack, so i-frames work consistently), not away from the beam, and mix sprinting with rolling to give yourself proper distance.
- Follow #2 on this playbook until his health is at about half. He will throw a dark-magic AOE, which may or may not have a persisting hitbox, depending on what he tries to do. Don't get too far in such that he will start doing ranged attacks, because he will start throwing new ranged attacks that are designed to keep you away from him, and he will just spam them continuously. So continue to try to be near his head, so his melee attacks are more likely. Again for this phase, wait for him to throw heavy.
- Avoiding Midir's dark orbs in the second phase is tricky. The slower traveling orbs can be avoided by running under Midir, to his belly, where they all crash on him. These orbs do not go up very high, as well. For his faster, more high-reaching dark orb attack, it is better to, without roll spamming, sprint and roll diagonally to the left or right, keeping track of how many orbs there are. Another way to avoid these orbs is to, after Midir does the AOE attack that comes before the orbs, run toward his face, and roll in that direction. I was able to roll that attack without problems on NG+7 difficulty without getting hit, so I recommend that.
Strategy 2 (Magic/Pyromancy)
First Encounter (on the bridge)
If you play as a sorcerer don't bother with crystal or dark magic. He is extremely resistant (300+ damage per crystal soul spear with 5 items boosting magic damage).
Use Pestilent Mist instead. The boss is stationary and this spell does wonders. Stay under him and cast the spell at his right arm. so that you won't get hit by Mist when you have to move closer to the bridge (his left arm) to avoid his fire attack. When he does his dark magic attack it won't touch you if you stay close to his left arm (there is a more or less safe spot). However, sometimes fire can hit you.
Second Encounter (Midirâs Boss Room)
This fight has two stages and each stage can be overcome with the same strategy though more caution is certainly needed for phase 2.
In both phases Midirâs move set is highly predictable and leaves him immobile for an extended length of time. This combination leaves him open to massive damage accumulation from Pestilent Mist. To use Pestilent Mist you will need 30 INT. The spell does not scale with INT and is not affected by stat boosting rings. Pestilent Mist deals damaged based on the Midir's max health.
Dodge Midirâs attacks and deploy the cloud around his head, feet, or tail. The ideal time to hit Midir with a cloud in phase 1 is when he does his forward fire breath combined with the vertical/horizontal dark beam attach. The best time to hit him in phase 2 is when he does his strobe beam.
It is recommended that you summon one other phantom who is also equipped with Pestilent Mist and take turns deploying the clouds. This makes Midir very manageable for two players.
Strategy 3 (Solo Melee)
Midir has a lot of health, high defense and high damage, but he is extremely predictable. This is a strategy for fighting him solo by attempting to manipulate his attacks, and does not work effectively with summons because they make Midir more unpredictable.
Rings
You'll be doing a lot of sprinting during this fight, so Ring of Favor +3 and Chloranthy Ring +3 are recommended. As for the other rings, choose rings that increase your survivability (e.g. Estus Ring, Life Ring +3, maybe Ring of Steel Protection +3). If they don't make a difference with your setup, use whatever 2 rings you want.
Weapons
Midir, like most dragons, is weak to lightning, so using lightning buffs or weapons with innate lightning damage is recommended. Weapons with reach are also advised, as Midir's tail can often be hard to hit. The Dragonslayer Swordspear and Dragonslayer Greataxe are examples of good weapons to use, however when using heavy weapons be sure that you have leveled Endurance to 20 at the very minimum.
Strategy
At the start of the fight, Midir will roar and begin charging you. You can run backwards, left, or right, but be aware that at the end of the charge, Midir will turn 180 degrees and his tail will swipe along his left side. If you are far away from him when his charge ends, sprint toward him. Be careful of his claw swipes, which can come after an extreme delay, and he will sometimes back up during the middle of a combo. Your goal is to get behind him where you can start trying to manipulate his behavior.
When you get behind him, wait for him to attack. He will almost always either turn to face you (which takes a few seconds) or lift his tail up and to his right and sweep it behind him, turning 180 degrees in the process.
If he turns to face you, run at his face an do a running R1 for double the normal damage, then sprint below him again and try to get to his tail.
If he swipes with his tail, roll at about the time he stops raising it and then start sprinting toward his head. While you're running at him, pay attention to his head movements. If he doesn't move much, you can most likely get a running R1 attack on his head, where he takes double damage, and then sprint to his tail. If his head starts moving before you get there, he'll likely do a move, which is usually either breathing fire below him, rearing up and roaring and then lunging forward and biting, or a claw swipe combo. If he breathes fire, run backwards, left, or right until he's finished and then dash underneath him to get to his tail. If he roars, run either left or right and roll as soon as he lunges and then head for his tail. If he swipes, roll his first swipe and then keep sprinting underneath him. He can finish his combo by breathing fire underneath him.
If you get behind him and he's not preoccupied with breathing fire, wait for his next move like you did earlier. If you're feeling confident, you can hit one of his hind legs (which, incidentally, seems to make the tail swipe more likely). If he breathes fire, run until you're more than half his tail's length away from him, as the fire has a long reach under him. While he's breathing, wait for some stamina and try to hit his tail.
You can repeat these steps (waiting for a move behind him, dodging it when necessary, running up to his head and using a running R1, sprinting to attack his tail when he breathes fire) and he will likely not use other moves frequently, and this manipulation works on phase 2 as well. Most of the time, the dark projectiles he summons in phase 2 can be dodged by sprinting left or right, but watch out for his tail if you're behind him at that point. This strategy is by no means the fastest, but it is relatively safe and consistent. One of the few inconsistencies is when Midir flies away and then immediately shoots a laser from his mouth. You'll have to dodge that normally, and it will often kill in one hit, but it's an infrequent move.
Strategy 4 (Faith)
Use lightning arrow spell to his head and get 300-350 damage per hit at 19 FP cost. This has very good range and slight tracking. Use this over sunlight spear. Very easy to hit from far away and you get hits very very frequently.Around 4-5 Ashen estus should do the Job.
Darkeater Midir Lore Theories
Midir may have hatched from Fillianore's egg
Darkeater Midir Trivia
- Midir bears some similarities to Malassa - a dragon from Heroes series.
- Few of Midir abilities mirror Black Dragon Kalameet, a boss from Dark Souls I.
- Midir is also a name of one of the characters from Irish mythology.
- Midir is believed by some to be a reference to Guyra from King's Field.
- Midir's "Fire Breath + Dark Beam combo" attack is believed by some to be a tribute to Godzilla's atomic breath from Shin Godzilla Resurrection.
- Midir is the only optional boss in the Ringed City DLC.
- Staying still during the start of the fight will prevent you from being hit by Midir's initial rampage, allowing a few hits on his head or body.
- Boss fight arena is believed by some to be the same arena, which can be spotted during words about "humanity" from Dark Souls I introduction.
- At the boss fight arena there is a large number of corpses. This bear some similarities to what player may seen during Aldrich, Devourer of Gods boss battle.
- On NG+7 game cycle, with proper equipment, killing Midir may grant player with 1,115,370 souls, making it the largest amount of souls in Dark Souls III, that can be granted by killing one creature.
- Using Chameleon spell or Young White Branch at the boss fight arena will transform character into a humanity phantom from Chasm of the Abyss (Dark Souls I, Artorias of the Abyss DLC).
- Try muting all the sounds while fighting him, because the music and soundFX are distracting you from focusing on the fight (Tried & worked like magic).
- Using Pestilent Mist repeatedly with good dodging movements is one of the easiest ways to kill him without a single hit.
Anonymous"Medium resistance to Magic Damage and Fire Damage"
In what ****ing world is 75% DR medium?
- Anonymous
cameraeater midir. dont go under his legs.
stay infront of his face and bait his claw attacks. he'll lower his head when he finishes and then you can hit him once or twice
- Anonymous
Also if you summon a player and go back to the lift and in the hallway facing the lift. The host can stand in the right corner a couple inches back as the summon going up the lift runs into you.
Eventually they will clip into the wall and can run across the ledge and drop into his boss zone. The summon will die but it will begin his fight, the host can continue to resummon and allow the summon(s) to throw themselves at Midir.
Host
- Stand in the right corner of the archway facing the lift, just a few inches from both the ledge and the corner
- Wait for the summon
Summon
- While going up the lift run/walk into the corner the host is in
- Repeat until you clip
- Once inside the wall, walk along the edge of the floor on the left as far as it will let you
- Fall off the ledge towards Midir's arena
**Boss fight "starts" for the host**
Both
- Continue to place summon sign and resummon to enable infinite tries for the summon
- Anonymous
Why is this like an actual dragon boss and not a ****fest like elden ring dragons.
- Anonymous
This boss is very love or hate for many people. Personally, I find this boss to be enjoyable. It's a challenge, and because it's such a long fight, it feels rewarding at the end. Of course, some may find it boring because you're dodging the same patterns again and again for 15 minutes which I understand.
Here's some of my melee tips for anyone who wants it.
- Stay on the head, and sometimes go to the tail.
- Unlock your camera. I play on PC so it's easier for me and I understand how annoying it can be to unlock your camera on controller because I used to play on controller. However, it might be better to get used to unlocking for this bossfight. It's up to your preference.
- Wolf's greatsword/farron blades helps, along with physically resistant armor.
- Helps to have a lot of heals ready or a spare ember to use mid-fight because this is a very long fight.
- Have patience
Claw Attacks -
There will be a claw attack where his claw crashes downwards onto you. Roll forward through this, and then run to his tail. He will proceed to miss his second claw attack, and then start charging up his fire breath under him. When he does this, run to his tail (make sure you don't get hit by the fire) and hit his tail.
When you are on his tail, he will do one of three things. 1. He will tail swipe. In that case, dodge it and hit his head. Sometimes he will miss you. 2. He will turn around slowly. If so, hit his head. 3. He will do the flame attack under again and you can continue hitting his tail. (very rare)
Note that hitting his tail is kind of hard because it moves, you'll have to get used to it.
There is a swipey version of previous attack, where Midir will swipe across with his claw. The same strategy is applicable there.
Bite attack -
This attack is the one where Midir does two bites. This is an attack that you want, because you can punish him really easily! He will bite once, dodge it sideways, then he will bite again, dodge that too. Do not by any means roll into him, otherwise he will breathe fire underneath him. You want to stay at his head when he bites. After that, he will charge a flame attack that will swipe from your left to your right. As soon as he finishes his bite attacks and starts breathing fire, run to your right and a bit forwards. Depending on how well you run, you may be able to reach his head before the flame attack finishes. With the wolves greatsword, I got two attacks in, but make sure to walk forward (his head goes to resting position and you may not reach him otherwise) and hit him once more.
Dash Attack -
If he looks at you sassy from far away, it means he's about to dash into you. If this happens while you're close up, bad RNG. Not much you can do about it if you don't notice it.
Critical Strike -
The screaming bite attack that puts you into an animation. Easily avoided if you dodge forwards. After going under him, I personally go to the tail. Rolling forwards into him and then going back to the head confuses me.
These tips worked for me. However, don't be afraid to experiment and try something different if it doesn't work out for you. Ganbare!!
- Anonymous
Thanks elden ring for zooming the camera a bit futher out, so i see more than feets and an instant death. **** the camera for bigger enemies in ds3
- Anonymous
This boss gave me ds2 ancient dragon flashbacks, midir is as tedious as him and both seem to have stupid fire bitboxes hell i think ancient dragon is this guy's father, proud to say i skipped this tedious fight and finished the game without beating him
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
You can block his fire breath using a perfectly timed force miracle. You'll still take the burn damage over time from the ground afterwards.
- Anonymous
i followed the wiki and stuck to the front, and my fighting performance got worse, honestly i don't understand
- Anonymous
Gonna be honest and say while I really like fighting midir, his swipe attack hitboxes make little to no sense. Im fully underneath him sometimes and he swipes in front and still hits me. Little annoying but eh
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
sorry but this is impossible for a pyro build without pestillence mist, gotta come back later with a melee build
- Anonymous
sorry but this is impossible for a pyro build without pestillence mist, gotta come back later with a melee build
- Anonymous
I was playing a max pyro class and I was trying to beat this guy with a sword for about 30 attempts until I said F it and got the mist sorcery. Proceeded to down him in 3 tries after that. If it wasnt for the mist this would be a very hard fight for the pyro. I was using lightning longsword and lightning claymore
- Anonymous
Honestly easy, it just seems difficult cuz of the resistances and huge hp pool. You run out of patience and die, thinking it's hard.
- Anonymous
Honestly easy, it just seems difficult cuz of the resistances and huge hp pool. You run out of patience and die, thinking it's hard.
- Anonymous
Struggled soloing the boss and decided to duo with a sunbro, was one of the most epic fights on my run.
- Anonymous
this type of boss that's massive, hard to get to and which you have to chase around the arena (examples: Midir and Elden Beast) needs to die off, I hate those bosses
- Anonymous
One of the worst bosses in the game. Jank hitboxes and attack spam.
Honestly, this is the only boss in the series that once I beat, I didnât yell in joy, I didnât just move on like nothing happened, I didnât sigh with relief, I just stood there, I set my controller down can just proceed what happened, as a slight slime spread on my face, I think I literally just stared at my screen for a good 5 minutes before checking out the items. I hope elden rings DLC makes me have the same feeling as this boss when I first beat it
- Anonymous
Hot take - if not for the huge as reistances and inflated hp pool this fight would be not half that hard, but now it is just a boring life long slog.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Hot take: Hardest boss in the series. I've played all the games, but Midir consistently kills me without using any cheese (pestilent mist).
I did this fight with a dex build (yes I know cringe) for my first playthrough and am doing a pyromancy playthrough now. After dying 5 times in a row and not even getting a 1/4 of his health I gave in and used pestilent mist. This spell makes this fight such a joke: costs no mana and if you get a good one it can do about an 1/8 of his health.
This is probably a skill issue but half of your pyromancies will just miss and he only stays still long enough for cast time + travel distance after 2/3 moves. With pestilent mist: chuck it down, stand behind it, and wait for him to walk through.
- Anonymous
Best dragon boss, ER's Plastic Duck Sacks and Fortnite Sacks wish they had a quarter of what Midir has. Prove me wrong Shadows of The Erdtree.
- Anonymous
Pestilent Mist really helped me as he stayed in place for some time, probably concentrating on the npc summon. His hitbox seems large enough to be caught in the Pestilent Mist even if cast a bit off. Casual build with lots of farming wearing Havel's Shield and Lothric Knight Straight Sword (Lightning) - R2's thrust attack seemed to do just fine damage. NPC survived. Was my first try. I was really afraid because of all the comments on what a nightmare this fight is. For me the gravetender and the twin princes are much harder bosses. GL all!
Knowledge is power. Don't force yourself by trying to defeat the boss with the wrong build. Bring Farron Greatsword or Wolf Knight's Greatsword as a weapon, they hit %20 more on abyssal creatures. Bring Black Knight Shield and upgrade it to +5, it has very high fire absorption, feel free to use it every time Midir blows fire. Lastly wear armor that give highest strike damage and fire damage absorption. Good luck.
- Anonymous
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Placidusax: Hey dudes! Check out our lightning nuke and Lazer beams! Pretty rad right?
Midir: GET OUTTA ME FOOKIN SWAMP!
Midir
- Anonymous
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Honestly the hardest boss fight in the whole DS3 (for me). I just kinda hate dragon boss fights deeply lol. With this boss it's kinda hard to read his attacks because of how big he is and he keeps moving and throwing stuff at you so basically you only have to wait on his attacks to go on cooldown and have a really short window to attack his head. That's it. Just an annoying boss.
- Anonymous
once you play enough you'll realize he is the easiest boss ever
- Anonymous
how the **** do I hitless midir on ng+7 and then go die to gael 200+ times in one day
- Anonymous
I killed him using almost the exact opposite strategy as in this guide:
Pharis bow, Hawk Ring, feather arrows, and summoning Shira.
Somehow I missed him the first times I played though, so my first encounter was in NG++ (str/dex build at 52/50).
I thought the fight was VERY tough, so I consulted the guide for ideas. The Pestilent Mist worked to some extent, but I still had trouble with him.
Finally I decided to try something completely different, and it worked. Normally, ranged fighting never works with bosses, but Shira and I worked surprisingly well together in this strategy. I killed Midir in only two attempts, after trying for several hours with melee.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Ok after doing a pyromancy play through and going to ng+2 with it I can say itâs easier to abandon the long ranged playstyle and use a weapon with innate lightning damage like lothric knight greatsword. You can also use the rock pyromancy on him for 400ish damage lol.
- Anonymous
Not to brag but i beat midir first try just now, didnt read his moveset and only played sekiro and ER. Am i built different. Oke now im bragging but you guys really scared me with the hardest boss thing. Thought nameless king and gael were much harder
- Anonymous
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beat in third attempt, no cheese or buff. I found some other bosses being much harder somehow but I assume it's cuz I became pretty good at dealing with dragons after Elden ring, and also I'm sl120.
what I used and found useful (I'm sharing so maybe it can help others?) : flame stoneplate ring, ring of steel protection +3, black iron set, my dear dragon tooth +4
I have a not very optimal strength build at all, but at least get some vigor (+25 I'd say) so that Midir won't one shot you. this is important bc you have the time to heal between his attacks, if you're not in front of him when he combos, you'll be hit rarely BUT it will do a lot of damage.
FIRST THING : DON'T LOCK. learn to turn your camera yourself. when you dodge, especially if he attacks with his front legs, always roll towards his hind legs and hit them whenever you can. in this position, below his chest near the hind legs, you'll want to stay here as much as possible. it's pretty safe and he's slow. when he combos, roll towards him a bit on the side and let him go far away. you can run towards him, hit his face (does much more damage) if you have the time and go back below him. when he breathes fire below his body, you can still do dps : just run and go for his tail. when he flies and does a huge trail of fire, you have the time to run IN the direction he breathes fire (only the left side I assume) and by doing so you go behind his breath. for the weird dark explosion, honestly just run away from him and if you didn't have the time, spam roll and pray gwyn..
the fight takes a while, but better play it safe. while playing like that I never got hit by the laser beam for example.
good luck
- Anonymous
My tips for the fight are these:
* Farron Greatsword does a decent amount of chip damage, considering Midirâs health pool. I donât recommend the spin attacks though, just stick to normal attacks.
* For those who are relying on Embers to boost HP, donât use them until Midir uses does his first AOE Strike. That way youâre not burning through them like hot cakes.
* Definitely recommend having high stamina and being below 30% load capacity
- Anonymous
Me: Summons Shira, sees Shira summon. Jumps down hole.
Shira: Dies either by not jumping down or dying from the fall.
Midir: Wakes up.
Me: "Just kill me, Midir."
- Anonymous
camera doesnt work, lock on doesnt work, theres like 1 opening every 7 minutes of running in circles and his healthbar is the most obnoxious bs in the entire game.
what a horrible unfun **** experience, at least let me zoom out so half of this ****er fits on my screen. i cannot wrap my head around the fact that the same studio which created artorias, sir alonne and slave knight gael put this pile of **** into a boss arena and called it a day. the game's camera is literally unable to show me what this thing is doing at any point in the fight.
hands down the single worst boss in all of dark souls 3, if not the entire series.
what a tragedy to end this wonderful series with. really enjoyed finally discovering the dark souls series and killing all the bosses. but how anyone can unironically say that this bossfight isnt the most janky **** ever is beyond me. what an absolute ****ing catastrophe.
- Anonymous
Just wanted to agree with the comment below - never thought Iâd be able to do this fight without summoning help (besides Shira, who I do recommend depending on your approach), but beating Midir was one of the most rewarding moments of my Souls experience.
I used +9 sellsword twin blades, lighting pine resin, and budding green stamina regen on a dex character and I thought it worked well (after 15ish tries)!
From my experience, being very aggressive, hitting the head, belly, and legs was effective. Focusing on drawing aggro, baiting the downward fire breathe to back off to heal or pop a consumable, and then re-engaging proved to be a good strategy.
The twinblades with the pine resin did big damage on the head, but because of their short range, I whiffed a lot. But Shira kept damage consistent until she died in the bottom 1/3rd.
Only locking in when going for the head was good - otherwise putting pressure on the back legs, belly, and tail to bait a fire breathe or tail swing worked out.
One of my new favorite Souls fights! I hope others find joy in overcoming the strongest dragon in the franchise as well!
- Anonymous
This is one of the most rewarding bosses to kill once you get a hang of his move set. Not to mention just how fun he is to fight in general. The triumph was worth it.
- Anonymous
one of the worst bosses to fight gameplay wise other than that cool design. Horribly long and boring fight due to his inflated hp pool.
- Anonymous
This is the type of dragon boss we need in elden ring a actual challenge
- Anonymous
You: (get close to Midirâs head)
Target lock: Would you like to renew your subscription to our services?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Just beat on first playthrough after only a few attempts, SL96. Maybe what I'm doing is cheese but I used the DS Great Axe WA over and over again on both his feet, while staying close to the cliff edge. Keep an eye on his feet when they raise cause an attack is coming and you'll need to roll. After a few WA's he'll stagger then you can deliver the killing head blow. Be careful with that too because I fell off the cliff moving to the wrong part of his head and had to replay the fight.
- Anonymous
Just beat on first playthrough after only a few attempts, SL96. Maybe what I'm doing is cheese but I used the DS Great Axe WA over and over again on both his feet, while staying close to the cliff edge. Keep an eye on his feet when they raise cause an attack is coming and you'll need to roll. After a few WA's he'll stagger then you can deliver the killing head blow. Be careful with that too because I fell off the cliff moving to the wrong part of his head and had to replay the fight.
- Anonymous
Just beat him. Honestly the first time learning the fight is the worst. Seems almost impossible to start with. But after that he's not so bad. Don't go underneath him, stay Infront of his head, learn to dodge the swipes and you will eventually win. If I can beat him anyone can. Don't give up.
Put yourself in front of his head and then it's a dodging game basicaly. Evade until he needs a breather and then hit the skull. Rince and repeat. The Black Knight shield is perfect for this too. Just don't rely too much on it. And don't lock on to the head! Don't be the guy who left his brain in the toilet...
- Anonymous
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shoutout to Fromsoft for making a boss fight where you not only get to fight a giant fire breathing dragon but also the ****ing camera too
- Anonymous
Real talk, how the actual **** do you do this boss as a solo pyromancer / sorcerer? Dorhysâ Gnawing for the demon prince is a no brainer because theyâre weak to bleed, but what on earth are you going to do for Midir?
Iâm asking this because Iâm considering doing a pyro / melee build in the future.
- Anonymous
9/10 boss imo
Would be 10/10 if he had more health and his attacks did a bit more damage.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I think this is the only boss where a running R2 makes sense, especially when you have a low damage weapon and every bit counts.
For example, you have a dagger that does 150 damage per R1, and you can probably get in two R1s for a total of 300 damage before waiting for the next opportunity to attack.
What happens is, sometimes my character misses or Midir moves his head (or the target unlocks because Iâm close to his head), so that I can get only one swing in. This made the fight slow and tedious, especially when I died and had to start over.
So I got fed up and began running in with an R2, which did around 230 damage. A guaranteed 230 was better than 150s, with the occasional 300.
Just make sure you have enough stamina to roll away after landing your attack.
- Anonymous
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I distinctly remember not needing to knock midir down in order to fight him. You could beat him as a boss and still find him alive on the bridge if you just run by him. Did they fix this in a patch?
- Anonymous
Angy lizor with autism, ADHD, lazer beams, and the power of God and anime on his side
- Anonymous
There's mid in midir for a reason lol main gripe I have with this boss is that he lasts too long to be enjoyable and all the moves where he dashes halfway across the map just make this drag-on for too long. Also the rewards suck, please keep using the frayed blade in pvp it'll totally work after the 1235th attempt trust
- Anonymous
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I deserve a free battle pass for beating this guy without pestilent mist!
- Anonymous
Just boop his nose a few hundred times. And when he faints from happiness, poke his eye with a dagger.
- Anonymous
isn't it weird how much lightning resistance he has despite being a dragon? in the lore lightning to dragons is like sunlight to a vampire, but in the game he's more vulnerable to getting hit by a club than to lightning
- Anonymous
"Summoning the npc is not advisable" wrong! Super easy with her, but make sure you stay close to the dragons head as mirdir will repeat most of the same attacks way, a lot of arm swipes. Plus she take a lot of aggro but will definitely die. The damage reduction difference with her summon is zero? Anyway, if I can get do it with her in ng++, just because, with Leo's great hammer than anyone can. Also make sure you use something that swing vertically otherwise you may miss a lot of attacks. Also, after a few attacks midir just chills for a few seconds before doing anything again, you have time to get two hits in or more then heal quickly as midir raises her more to do another attack.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
For Midir on the bridge, slightly past him there's a small cleft where the rock juts out. I've noticed if you stay on that ledge, all of his attacks including the fire whiff while you can still hit him. It's easier to approach from the other side if you've ran past him before.
With a lightly armored character, during his boss fight I've found it easiest to hug his left leg (your right). This will usually trigger him into doing his large swipes over and over, keeping him on the ground while being fairly easy to dodge. If you see him stand up to do his aoe, run out of its range behind him, then run back to his leg. You might have to dodge his tail spin. I've found this worked for both phases.
- Anonymous
Its worth noting that absorptions on its head are considerably lower than the rest of its body, particularly for physical damage. Lightning absorption goes from 61% on body to 22% on head, a significant change, though other elements are not affected quite as much. Hitting its head enough times will eventually stagger it, allowing for a high damage riposte. Hopefully this might help if you are struggling.
- Anonymous
people here are crying about how easy midir and how fun he he is.... bruh
i've never once fought a dragon this annoying.... like no i cheese Nameless but his massive swings and flying when i'm right next to him forcing me 2 tank his damage
like toxic dragon fight in dark souls 2 was annoying
no dragon beside the guardian dragon and landsexx was a fun fight
no spamming fire breath.
fun that theres no bonfire right next to it.
going to have to farm just get more int just to cheese this fast quickly
- Anonymous
> "weak to lightning"
> looks inside
> "61% lightning absorption"
- Anonymous
This guy ruined my first playthrough in which I used a heavy great club +10 which I got after defeating the big tree boss iirc. I've used it for all the bosses till now but after 5 tries I was like, **** it I will try the wolk knight's great sword +5, beated it the very first try lol.
Stats:
SL: 103
Vigor: 30
Endurance: 32
Vitality: 20
Str: 50
Dex: 20
The rest aren't leveled
No ember used
- Anonymous
There is no npc summon for Midir and I'm convinced it's just a running joke to claim there is. I have searched the internet for an horu straight including youtube looking for a shred of evidence that there is an npc summon and have found 0 proof, I haven't fought the church and magically somehow there is no npc summon while I am embered, isn't that mysterious? Nobody has ever done it according to any publc record I could find. There genuinely is no summon for this boss.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This feels like a raid boss in an MMORPG. Gigantic, bs resistances and bs aoe attacks. There's no "git gud" in the world that excuses poor design.
- Anonymous
A boss designed to either be cheesed with the head method or mist, or to completely curbstomp you. And either way requires RNG at the start of the fight whether he'll actually play along or if he'll keep jumping and flying away every 5 seconds. And of course he's called "Darkeater" like some 14 year old's edgelord OC donut steel.
Pestilent mist deals 1600 damage per cast to midir if he stays there all the time (he won't)
- Anonymous
im gonna be fighting this guy for the first time ever, on an sl1 char. lord help me
- Anonymous
Reminds me totally of Kalameeth and a bit of Placidusax. I think they took inspiration for Elden Ring dragons from Midir. Nice boss
- Anonymous
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Wow I tried fighting him with the NPC summon first and that was literally impossible, then I read this wiki page and tried fighting him solo and beat him 2nd try. BKGS+5 lvl 111. It was actually a pretty fun fight 1v1, very much unlike 2v1.
- Anonymous
Man I don't say this often but took him out 2nd attempt (5% on first attempt). Considering he's a pretty cookie cutter souls dragon, it's not like I hadn't practiced enough in ER. Went ultra optimal with Wolf Knight GS, Dragonhead Greatshield and whatever else. That's all you really need. I used the video strategy of staying near his head and running behind and lumberjacking his tail but honestly Dragonhead Greatshield has so much fire absorption you could just stand in front of him and block his flame breath head on and Wolf smack him in the face when he's done and probably marginalize this fight. Oh by the way, don't ever camera lock.
- Anonymous
Lucerne goes crazy on him... thrust damage, has good reach and an overhead running r1 to nab him when he lifts his head up... run from the fire-breathing in the rignt direction, his second claw swipe is slower than the first, stay closer in the late phase to get underneath the laser, get to his ears, not his belly... love to hate him
- Anonymous
Use a sharp-infused winged spear, put all into Dex and aim for the head. Did it first try with this
- Anonymous
Don't know if this counts as cheese, but with a sharp broadsword +10 and a dragon crest shield I was able to loop him and get the kill in 5-6 minutes. The trick is to stand under his neck, just behind his head. In both phases he'll just keep trying to swipe you with his claws, which you can block pretty easily with your crest shield if you *don't* lock on and do learn the timing & direction of each swipe. In between each swipe sequence I could get 3-4 hits in on his neck/head, which consistently did around ~600 damage.
Seems like the game expects this boss to be harder than Gael; on NG it gives you 30k more souls for beating Midir than Gael. Either that or this boss is just very optional.
- Anonymous
cool fight, not that difficult except for the camera (the primary reason for 80% of my deaths) but really solid fight once it clicks great boss, got him on my 10th try, my mistake was using a greatsword for 8 of those tries, I tried a faster weapomn and it became a cakewalk (still died once more tho lmao)
- Anonymous
ngl I'm having my first go at him in ng+4 and he's an absolute pain, I defeated Gael on my second try, yet I'm having such a hard time w Midir, seems like an ok fight ngl, but then the camera goes batshit crazy and I find myself completely blind, dying in just a single attack, I'm sure I'll get him, but after hearing all the hype I thought it was gonna be a bit better, I get almost no time to hit him between his attacks, should I use something other than a greatsword for him or sum?
- Anonymous
Home come this guy took an hour of attempts, but Gael went down in one try?
bro this guy is a pain, but at least i killed him, demon of hatred makes me want to end myself
- Anonymous
Dragonslayer Greataxe is the best weapon for this fight, with 40 str/fth and Lloyd's sword ring its L2 does 1,5k damage to Midir's head. Wolf Knight's GS L2 R2 on optimal build does about 1k even though Midir is weak to it
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