Deacons of the Deep |
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| General Info | |||
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Location | |
| 4099 (292 p/deacon) | 13,000 (150 p/deacon) | Cathedral of the Deep | |
| Drops | Soul of the Deacons of the Deep Small Doll Archdeacon Set |
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| Defenses | |||
| Weak | Resistant | Immune | |
 Physical-type FrostbiteVow of Silence |
 Dark Magic Bleed Poison & Toxic |
n/a | |
Deacons of the Deep is a Boss in Dark Souls 3. This Dark Souls 3 Deacons of the Deep Guide features locations, strategies and videos on how to defeat the Deacons of the Deep easily, as well as tips, weaknesses, trivia and lore notes for the Deacons of the Deep boss.
The Deacons of the Deep are a group of clerics that wield candlesticks in combat. Some wield their weapon similar to that of a sword, while others use it as a catalyst for pyromancy. This congregation of clerics defends a roaming soul, that is eventually revealed to be the Archdeacon after being brought down to a certain health threshold.
Fighting the Deacons of the Deep is relatively straightforward, though players should position themselves well in order not to get swarmed and overwhelmed. You can summon Anri of Astora and Sirris of the Sunless Realms / Horace the Hushed for this fight (it is possible to summon all three by using Dried Finger). This boss fight is not optional and must be defeated to obtain the "small doll", which serves as a key item to traverse through the magic barrier sealing off the entry to Irithyll of the Boreal Valley.
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 Deacons of the Deep Location
Where to find the Deacons of the Deep in Dark Souls 3?
- This boss is located in the Cathedral of the Deep. The boss chamber is accessed by going up the stairs in the corner behind one of the giants.
Deacons of the Deep Drops
What do you get from defeating the Deacons of the Deep in Dark Souls 3?
- Souls: NG (13,000) | NG+ (39,000) | NG++ (42,900) | NG+7 (66,300)
- Other: Small Doll, Soul of the Deacons of the Deep, Archdeacon Set (revisit the area after defeating)
- Adds: Deacon Robe, Deacon Skirt, Deep Gem, Deep Ring
Deacons of the Deep Notes & Tips
What should you know about fighting the Deacons of the Deep in Dark Souls 3?
- Attacks deals Standard Damage, Thrust Damage, Fire Damage or Dark Damage (2nd phase) damage. During second phase can also kill by Curse.
- Can be parried, which allows to perform a riposte, backstabbed or pinned down. *note* The possessed deacon can't be parried since it doesn't attack the player.
- Weak to the Hollowslayer Greatsword.
- All other than the possessed/real one are susceptible to Rapport and Alluring Skulls.
- Weak to Physical-type damage, Frostbite and Vow of Silence.
- Resistant to Dark Damage, Magic Damage, Bleed, Poison and Toxic.
- For the first phase, kill the possessed (red aura) deacons to get to the 2nd phase of the fight.
- In the second phase, the spirit possessing the Deacons reveals itself to be the Archdeacon, and can now be damaged directly.
- Four new unique blue-robed undead appear alongside him. These will not re-spawn and will heal the Boss. Leave these alone too long and you basically die. Check the moveset for more info.
Deacons of the Deep Stats
| Playthrough | NG | NG + | NG ++ | NG +3 | NG +4 | NG +5 | NG +6 | NG +7 |
| Health | 4,099 | 8,796 | 9,676 | 10,116 | 10,556 | 11,435 | 11,875 | 12,315 |
| Defense | 100 | |||||||
Dark Souls 3 Deacons of the Deep Boss Guide & Strategies
DS3 Deacons of the Deep Video Strategies
Below are video strategies from our Youtube Partners.
DS3 Deacons of the Deep Attacks
| First Phase (Red Orb moves from Deacon to Deacon) | |
|---|---|
| Lunge | A Deacon will lunge at you with the Cleric's Candlestick for weak damage. |
| Fireball | Some of the Deacons throw fireballs at you. |
| Second Phase (the Archdeacon Royce appears and get surrounded) | |
| Curse | The Archdeacon Vanguard will congregate and cast a long build up spell that will cover the arena in curse-inflicting fog. Can be interrupted. |
| Deep Soul | Fires dark soul dregs. These souls are drawn towards life, so they will follow you or nearby summons. |
How to fight and beat the Deacons to the Deep
Strategy 1 (Melee)
This is a relatively straightforward fight. You're going to sprint from enemy to enemy killing the ones with the red aura as fast as you can, following it from one enemy to the next. The undead do very low damage so prioritize offense and heal if you take too much damage.
In phase 2 there will be one enemy that possesses the red aura for the duration of the fight. He will be closely guarded by other undead who will try to put a protective barrier between you and them. Try and maneuver around them if you can, or if you feel confident try and AoE them down with a wide swinging weapon. Rolling into enemies is a good way to get out of trouble, as it will make them stumble backwards which should give you some breathing room.
Casters will pool their magic together with the main hollow to fire a black mass that goes through objects to hit you but won't track. Keep these four casters alive until they start pooling their magic separately making a curse debuff fog. Kill one and their spell will be halted. Ignore them and the player will be instantly killed by a curse.
Pontiff's Left Eye will allow you to dive into the mob safely when you use a weapon with large horizontal attacks as it will heal you for each enemy you hit in one swing. Using an item or consumable that increases stamina regeneration will allow you to remain within the mob longer, assuming a brief pause after each swing. As long as you are swinging with an appropriately sized weapon (such as the Hollowslayer), it is possible to heal at a rate faster than damage can be done to you, effectively rendering you immune to any attack that does not stagger. It is a good idea to avoid allowing enemies to circle in behind you, as it increases the likelihood that an enemy will be able to use a physical staggering attack on you before being knocked off balance by your weapon.
Strategy 2 (Magic)
Only a few magic spells are effective in this boss fight, namely (Crystal) Soul Spear, White Dragon Breath, Soul Stream and Soul Greatsword, which can all help you taking down deacons left and right. It may however be difficult to cast properly due to the high number of enemies and their ability to cast fireballs, which may interrupt your own spellcasting.
Note that despite the Soul Spear's ability to pierce through enemy groups, it can be very difficult to hit the actual boss with it due to not being able to target him properly; the same goes for White Dragon Breath and Soul Stream.
The seldom-used Pestilent Mist can actually be an absolute killer in this boss fight, in particular when used in combination with Aural Decoy or an Alluring Skull. Notice that it takes relatively long to set up such a trap, so it is advised to do so from behind a corner or pillar; also, try to cast The Pestilent Mist first, as its effect expires a little slower than the lure.
For the most part, the best strategy in this fight will be to slay a few deacons with a Soul Greatsword, then pull back behind the pillars on the sides of the battlefield, and start another attack on another deacon cluster.
In Phase 2 the Archdeacon and his henchmen appear, and once again the Soul Greatsword is your best tool to clear the way; however, the best way to attack the Archdeacon himself is with Farron Flashsword (or a regular weapon).
Generally speaking, standing around and casting is a bad idea in this battle, as you will get interrupted or overwhelmed quickly. Try instead to stay in motion, and use corners and columns to your advantage. Notice that Soul Greatsword will not bounce off obstacles and can therefore also be used to attack from behind a pillar.
Strategy 3 (Caster/Pyromancy)
With Pyromancy this fight becomes a walk in the park and you don't even have to be a dedicated Pyromancer, I used this strategy with my Sorcerer and only swapped the equipment and spells to Pyro without respecing my attributes. Use Great Chaos Fire Orb for damage and Flash Sweat to buff yourself. This does several things for you: GCFO does a lot of AoE damage which means you don't have to always target the red glowing guy, it's enough to get one that is near him. It kills a lot of other Deacons too which breaks up the cluster so you can easily focus on the main target. Flash Sweat lets you pretty much ignore their fireballs even at VIG20 on NG+.
If you need to run to the other side of the cluster, run behind the pillars to lessen the damage you receive even further. When the boss is down to 50%, run up to the Blue Deacons and kill them as quickly as possible or they will heal the boss. Use the corners of the building in the middle to heal yourself and pull the Cluster around the corner and away from the main boss, leaving him open on the other side. See video above as an example of this strategy, although it was made on NG+ you can apply the same tactics to NG.
Deacons of the Deep Lore Theories
The deacons use pyromancy in addition to the miracles typical of clerics.
Pyromancy is considered heretical in Dark Souls so this shift to pyromancy is probably connected to their fall from grace.
The red aura that hops from deacon to deacon has appeared before in Bloodborne.
This red aura is connected to blood-drunkness, buffs granted by witches, "rot" and Vermin.
Mad Ghru can also obtain a red aura after grabbing you.
The deacons were followers of Aldrich, Devourer of Gods that stayed behind to protect his tomb.
The name of the Archdeacon in this fight is Royce, as indicated by the description of the set found on his corpse after reloading the boss arena.
Deacons of the Deep Trivia
- Pontiff's Left Eye Ring is very useful in this fight, due to the clusters of enemies making for good multi-hit opportunities. Spells such as Poison Mist/Poison Spores can also serve as decent crowd-control, simultaneously wiping out a large number of deacons when used properly.
- Bring a Dagger or Mail Breaker to this fight, as it is very easy to fish for backstabs, assuming your target isn't tightly clustered with the other deacons.
- Royce is in the boss fight arena for the whole time - during 1st phase, he is inside the coffin.
- The Farron Greatsword is particularly useful here, due to its special moveset.
- If you want to make this fight even easier try to use the Ring of the Evil Eye and if you need FP regen try the Executioner's Greatsword. In NG+, the +1 version of the Ring of the Evil Eye is found right behind the large altar in the area just before the Deacons boss fight.
- As of App Ver 1.05 Regulation 108, this boss is optional, due to a glitch allowing you to bypass the barrier in Irithyll of the Boreal Valley that requires the Small Doll to go through.
Deacons of the Deep Gallery
AnonymousI like to think that the deacons are singing the song the plays in the background
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Just go with Vordt's great hammer and you're basically OP, it's been the easiest boss of the game by far.
- Anonymous
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With a great wooden hammer you can make the large ones fall backwards and knock over nearby deacons. Makes the fight very easy since it creates a lot of space around you. Not sure if it happens with other weapons.
- Anonymous
just played this game and this fight seems like a rip off of Adyr from Lords of the Fallen.
- Anonymous
just played this game and this fight seems like a rip off of Adyr from Lords of the Fallen.
- Anonymous
When you play without anything (my character only has the sword, I'm not even wearing a ring), this fight becomes a challenge, mainly because it has no defense
- Anonymous
If your playing int build and you have problem with this boss just use poison mist it's OP
- Anonymous
As a pure pyro, don't bother with the minions. Get some space and lob great chaos fire orb at the red guy.
Ashen One at the 35, no coverage. He drops back, looking, looking, ASHEN ONE THROWING DEEEEEEEP
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Demon kings Axe weapon art wipes the floor initial. Then just easy to kill the respawns
- Anonymous
Demon kings Axe weapon art wipes the floor initial. Then just easy to kill the respawns
- Anonymous
This boss is super easy with a melee build, especially when using a charged 1H whip attack - makes the fight trivial, but boy is it a challenge on a newly cooked pure caster sorcerer when you don't have decent spells yet.
- Anonymous
Fighting DOTD normally be like: ahah slash go brr
Fighting DOTD on sl1 be like: ahah slash go... WAIT STOP GANKING ME AHHH...
- Anonymous
I’ve got maybe 300 hours with this game and died for the first time against this boss with a +4 blessed mace. It was like hammering into a wet sponge. Horrible feeling.
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And people complained about dark souls 2 because of the boss fights with multiple enemies........ this **** is way more complicated and the curse is bullshit
- Anonymous
They should have made this boss more resistent to slash, so it at least has a chance
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Although this is a very basic and rather underwhelming boss fight, the music for this fight is absolute fire despite the fact that it's nothing more than a mosh-pit of Zombie Church Boys led by a Demon Pope.
- Anonymous
Don’t call this boss easy until you’ve tried it with a spear. Oml
- Anonymous
I had pontiffs left eye on me and ı was just healing through all of their damage. Didnt even used a flasks lmao.
- Anonymous
i was outhealing their damage with my butcher knife it was so surreal
- Anonymous
Literally just Magus and Congregation 2.0, but with good music, what a lame-ass fight.
- Anonymous
Got chills when the Deacons of the Deep appeared and said "It's Deepin' Time!" Before Deeping allover the place, Truly one of the boss fights of all time
- Anonymous
Bacons of the drip can easily die with spamming the pcks' weapon art,very very wide and also frosty
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I was just using irithyll straight sword and it was still astoundingly easy
- Anonymous
people like to **** on this boss becuase its easy but you cant deny its fun as hell especialy on greatsword builds hell even casters and dex builds have big aoe options. tho i still think the most fun way to fight it is to use pontifs left eye and old wolf curved sword.
- Anonymous
was trying out an extremely unorthodox build and ended up going so long in this fight that the curse got me. deleted the character immediately after, clearly it wasn’t working out
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The Zweihander is the perfect tool for chopping down these church f*ckboys
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The only real danger in this fight is the curse spell cast by the four blue-robed dudes in phase 2. Just make sure to not to let them get it off, and you should be fine.
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"In my fantasy game, I'll include a blatant imitation of the Catholic Church"
"How original"
"And it will be evil"
"Daring today, aren't we?"
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Exile Greatsword and these dudes cannot respawn as fast as you delete them.
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So, I heard recently that storytellers staff can proc poison on the main deacon (the one that comes out later) before he ever leaves his place in the wall. It's true, it's funny, and it's silly. Point storytellers at the wall behind the first red deacon when you first enter the room and spam poison spores until you see the main health bar get poisoned. By the time the main deacon shows up they're at about 25% health without doing anything else.
- Anonymous
If you think this boss is lame and boring then always use an Ember before entering the fight, because whoever leaves their sign there wants to have fun doing silly stuff like spamming Wrath of the Gods (or wants easy sunlight medals).
- Anonymous
Died to these guys on NG++ with my lvl60+6 pyro. It's like the crystal sage, those projectiles end up being pretty damn dangerous with the damage boost.
- Anonymous
Sellsword Twinblades + Pontiffs Left Eye = LoL.. this is a boss?
Sick ass music though, I’ll give it that.
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these guys are worshiping Aldrich so yeah they need to die
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Ah, the real final boss of From Software games - targeting system.
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when i walked in on them i was like did i just walk in on a orgey?
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Hey.
While trying out a parry run I saw that this line on combat information is wrong:
Can be parried, which allows to perform a riposte, backstabbed or pinned down. *note* The possessed deacon can't be parried since it doesn't attack the player.
The posessed demon does in fact attack the player, but it is very rare. The Archdeacon for comparison has a much higher attack rate/chance.
- Anonymous
Hey i've noticed that in weakness, there is Vow of Silence. I think that you might want to point out that vow of silence doesn't stop them from cursing you.
- Anonymous
Only realized this boss had a curse attack from Jerma’s old DS3 stream. The fight has to go on pretty long whilst being too passive against the important targets for it to happen.
- Anonymous
hollowslayer greatsword moveset shreds this fight, always use it.
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Omg the set didn't even say that Archdeacon name is Royce. Where you get that from? Also where the idea of him being in the coffin came from? It's not mentioned anywhere. It's clearly shown he spawned in with his 4 blue guards from the ground, not spawn walk out of the coffin. Please don't anyhow speculate.
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Possibly my favourite boss in the game, I'm not keen on the Cathedral as an area so these were the perfect ending, it's almost like a stress reliever being able to wail on so many enemies without much reply and it's something you won't get many other times throughout the series.
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well deacons you have a new lord to worship the ashen one you new lord of cinder
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I always summon for this fight. Just to get over quickly from a lame pushover.
Alright... I've killed this boss a few times but I still don't really understand how to stop the curse build up attack that covers the whole arena.
Who exactly am I supposed to be interrupting? Do I need to kill ALL of the dudes channeling dark, or do I just hit the main red guy? Or both? I killed at least 1 or 2 of the dark guys during the cast, but the attack didn't stop. I also hit the main guy several times and that didn't seem to do it.
I'm on them now at SL20 with a +3 weapon, trying to stay there (long story, but no I'm not invading), so not understanding this attack is a bit more of a problem this time around.
When I figure it out I'll post back here, but if someone already knows the answer it'll save some tedium.
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this fight isnt hard but jesus can the fat deacons not force me for TWO GOD DAMN SECONDS
- Anonymous
do the same, gang up on this boss, easy meatshi... i mean diversion
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first time the room went dark i got the **** scared out of me, and promptly died after hiding in a corner for a bit.
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honestly, the fight was agaisnt the target system for me lol.
- Anonymous
Honestly, even though it was super easy, this fight was a blast. The first phase is pretty mediocre, because there's no pressure on you, but the second phase is really fun to just go ham in and kill end up killing the boss just a hit or two away from death.
- Anonymous
Even though it's a relatively easy boss, that doesn't mean it wasn't a good boss. The concept is solid, and that curse attack can be devious if you don't know to target the blue ones.
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Lightning storm wrecks shop like nobody's business in this fight, just did it and with Anri and Horace we were killing them faster than they could spawn.
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I played DS3 blind with a DEX build and this boss gave me a bit of a tough time. Took me about 5 tries to figure out what to do in phase 2, come up with a plan, and equip properly. It was simple once the "puzzle" was solved. Appreciate how different it is from the bosses in DS1!
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I like the concept of the boss but holy **** it's too easy. Sometimes I purposely draw out the battle just to enjoy the music.
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Excluding Iudex and Vordt, this is the easiest boss for me.
By the time I get to this boss I've leveled up my stats, got a nice amount of estus flasks, can summon NPCs to help.
Just need to get through the cannon fodder.
I two hand my weapon and hack away.
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i didnt know the blue deacons didnt respawn so i jusy ignored them lol. no wonder i have so much trouble with the big curse fog
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at sl1 ng+ these guys can actually be quite dangerous, so here's my trick. storyteller's staff. run up to the middle of the coffin and use the WA, poisoning the archdeacon. while the red thing bounces around the deacons as they die, run to the back of the room and wait for them to gather there, strafing around as necessary. once the archdeacon and his blue bumbuddies arrive, throw an alluring skull at the wall and run. they shouldn't chase you. simply dps the archdeacon down while throwing alluring skulls to distract the blue pricks.
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have had to homeward bone out of the fight twice out of sheer boredom. This boss has way too much HP on NG+
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Farron Greatsword and Ringed Knight Paired Greatswords turn this boss into a joke. Using them together makes it just sad. You'll spend more time looking for deacons than killing them, though...
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Next boss: "The Hollowed Children That The Deacons Molested."
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In NG+7 on a super high SL pyro build this is the funnest fight in the game. It's like being that skeleton guy from the one anime who destroys that whole army of guys in one attack.
- Anonymous
I'm running a challenge broken sword no summons run, and the second phase was legit tough. I died a solid half dozen times to these guys. Probably cause my AR is bs and the fatties kept healing the main dude, and knocking me down with force, and insta-KOing me with the curse cloud, and aaagghhh!! God, whats Dancer gonna be like...
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i don't get why so many people say this boss is the easiest, i have made a pyromancer run, which means that i use all kinds of magics, pyromancies, sorceries and miracles, and i know this boss is easy as ***** when you focus on having a high damage MELEE weapon, but for mages like myself, fighting these dudes is very hard, to be honest every time i have to fight these guys i die at least 5 or 10 times until i beat them, but i don't use magic do kill them though, last time i fought them for example, i used my crystal gem infused broadsword+4 and i'm not gonna lie, i died 7 times so far trying to beat them, because the fatties just kept pushing me away with their force spell and stunning me to the ground, and the main archdeacon from the 2nd phase of the boss just kept healing itself, while i was trying to hit him and having all these deacons hitting me at the same time, many times i just ended up delaying too much and getting cursed from their magic and had to try over and over again, and believe me i am not that bad with other bosses, i killed the abyss watchers at the VERY FIRST try by using my Great Heavy Soul Arrow and i defeated the Dancer of the Boreal Valley rather easily with my Pestilent Mist (though not on the first try) and Dancer is a HARD boss, and still i have some trouble with the Deacons every time i have to fight them, i even find it easier to kill them WITHOUT using the alluring skulls, and everytime i defeated the Deacons was NOT using the alluring skulls, but i'm gonna be honest to you, the easiest boss i ever fought was actually High Lord Wolnir which i just defeated on the first try and it was just ABSOLUTELY easy to kill him, but please don't hate me or other people just because they have difficulty fighting the Deacons, remember that the experience of Dark Souls 3 and each of their bosses is completely different for some people than it is for others :)
- Anonymous
i've never died to this boss and i got 300 hours on dark souls, if you cant seem to beat these bruhs dark souls isn't the game for you.
- Anonymous
Oh. My. God. Farron's GS turned this fight into a massacre. A few spin moves later and I spent more time running around the coffin looking for deacons than actually hitting the deacons. I actually felt bad.
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does the curse affect npcs? also if the npc summons die this fight does it affect their questlines?
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fromsoft really be sticking 70 pinwheels in a room and calling it a boss
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Wow look at this*****ty boss good job FromSoftware probably one of the easiest souls bosses I’m on ng+++++++ and I regret saying that
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Wish from had more fun with their bad bosses. Just change this dude's boss theme to an arabic nokia ringtone and call it a day
Died to this boss like 5 times on my sorcerer playthrough. I just thugged it out with soul greatsword. I’ll come back with pestilent mist in ng+
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