Ancient Wyvern is a Boss in Dark Souls 3. This Dark Souls 3 Ancient Wyvern Guide features locations, strategies and videos on how to defeat the Ancient Wyvern easily, as well as tips, weaknesses, trivia and lore notes for the Ancient Wyvern boss.
The Ancient Wyvern is a large grey wyvern, and it's boss fight is unique in that there is an additional way of killing it besides the regular hit-and-run tactic required for most bosses. Instead of fighting the wyvern head on, players can opt to run up the ruins, fighting regular enemies instead, to get high enough to deliver a plunging attack onto the dragon's head.
This boss is optional and there are no NPC summons for this boss fight. A non-boss variant of this creature also exists, just before a group of Rock Lizards before reaching the large bell. This one drops 6 Titanite Chunks, 3 Titanite Scales and 3 Twinkling Titanites upon death.
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 Ancient Wyvern Location
Where to find the Ancient Wyvern in Dark Souls 3?
- Located in Archdragon Peak, immediately after the first bonfire.
- You must have acquired the Path of the Dragon Gesture from the area directly after the Oceiros, the Consumed King boss fight. Then head to Irithyll Dungeon and head to the dragon statue where you picked up the Dragon Torso Stone and use that Gesture next to it.
Ancient Wyvern Drops
What do you get from defeating the Ancient Wyvern in Dark Souls 3?
- Souls: NG (70,000) | NG+ (140,000) | NG++ (154,000)
- Co-Op Souls: -
- Dragon Head Stone
Ancient Wyvern Notes & Tips
What should you know about fighting the Ancient Wyvern in Dark Souls 3?
- Attacks deals Standard Damage or Fire Damage.
- Some attacks can topple player.
- Hits to the head deals extra damage.
- Hits to the torso/tail deals normal damage.
- Hits to the leg deals minor damage.
- Weak to Thrust Damage, Lightning Damage and Frostbite.
- Extremely vulnerable to plunging attack. Any connected plunging attack to the head will instantly kill him, no matter what weapon was used or what amount of hp left.
- Resistant to Poison/Toxic, Bleed, Fire Damage, Standard Damage, Strike Damage and Slash Damage.
Ancient Wyvern Stats
| Playthrough | NG | NG + | NG ++ | NG +3 | NG +4 | NG +5 | NG +6 | NG +7 |
| Health | 7,873 | 7,881 | 8,669 | 9,063 | 9,457 | 10,245 | 10,639 | 11,034 |
Dark Souls 3 Ancient Wyvern Boss Guide & Strategies
DS3 Ancient Wyvern Video Strategies
Dark Souls 3 Ancient Wyvern Attacks
| Melee | |
|---|---|
| Attack Name | Attack Description |
| Fire Breath | Breathes fire in your direction, causing fire damage, knockdown and stamina drain if blocking. Kills enemies as well. |
| Foot Stomp | Stomps players beneath it. |
| Bite | |
| Tail Swipe | Swipes tail, hitting you if you are behind it. Huge hitbox. |
| Range | |
| Attack Name | Attack Description |
| Fire Breath | Breathes fire in your direction, causing fire damage, knockdown and stamina drain if blocking. Kills enemies as well. |
How to fight and beat the Ancient Wyvern
Strategy 1 (Plunging Attack)
This strategy is quite easy. You'll need light fire resistance equipment but make sure you are still able to roll. The weapon doesn't really matter as long as it deals good damage. When the Wyvern arrives, don't even bother attacking it, just go past it and to the left. There will be a path. Just follow the path and the ladders, ignore the enemies, and finally go up to a specific ledge above the wyvern's head. When he is done breathing fire, he will lower his head. Just jump and press R1/RB and victory will be yours. This strategy is super easy but it doesn't include the satisfaction of beating a Wyvern with a bow. Still counts!
Strategy 2 (Directly underneath)
Stand directly under the Wyvern so that you are targeted and facing the dragon's stomach. If positioned correctly, the boss will only attack with blockable foot-stomps and occasionally fly overhead for a fire breath below. Always run away from where you were facing the boss, and not towards, and the fire shouldn't hit you. Hurl Lightning Spears or any damage spell in general, or melee attack its legs whenever possible, rinse and repeat.
Strategy 3 (Jumping Attack)
This strategy uses a jumping/plunging attack, but quicker than Strategy 1. When you enter the boss area, run straight and you can see a bell. Stand on the right of the bell, wait for the Ancient Wyvern to lower his head and breath fire, then do a jumping attack. This strategy must be done quickly, or the dragon will move forward, which makes you have to go back to Strategy 1.
Strategy 4 (Bow/Pyromancy and 'blind spot' cheese)
After starting a fight immediately run into the bell's direction. Turn left, now you will see short bridge with an enemy in front of you. Instead of entering the door stick to right barrier and stand in the corner, the one closer to arena. Apparently, there's a 'blind spot' and Wyvern will constantly attack the door door ignoring the player. Now target lock on Wyvern and use bow or pyromancy (the second one will have a big chance to miss as the Wyvern is constantly shaking head). This strategy take a lot of time, so it isn't recommended until you've been struggling for long and became desperate.
Ancient Wyvern Lore Theories
- Location relationships
- Item transcripts that relate to this boss
- Lore notes on this boss
- Dialogue
Ancient Wyvern Trivia
- Even bare fists will one shot with a plunging attack.
- Excluding DLC, this appears to be the only boss whose arena does not have a corresponding bonfire. Instead, victorious players are teleported to the Dragon-Kin Mausoleum bonfire.
Ancient Wyvern Gallery
AnonymousNOOOOOO YOU CAN'T JUST ONESHOT ME WITH A PLUNGE IN THE HEAD!YOU MUST FIGHT ME DIRECTLY!YOU ARE CHEATING YOU DAMN SCRUB! -said the Ancient wyvern-
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Another valid strategy is to go to the steps to the left of the bell where 3 manserpents are. Standing at the top of the steps baits the dragon to flame the entire cooridor. The bottom of the steps (all 4 of them) baits the dragon into use melee attacks. If you bring the Irithyll straight sword or the Irithyll rapier (since both have thrust attacks in their moveset) in conjunction with the spell frostbite and you can kill the dragon with minimal effort. The dragon will kill the 3 manserpents quickly by flaming the cooridor so icing this dragon should be pretty easy. (See what I did there?)
- Anonymous
Ng: killed it with magic
Ng+: punched its head in with a cestus plunging attack
While the plunging attack is very satisfying, it's more of a pain in the ass to pull off than a normal kill.
- Anonymous
Step 1- 12 INT, grind Storyteller Staff from the corvians that are holding it.
Step 2- Start bossfight and run to the top of the first stairs, cast the staff's weapon art on the wyvern's foot till it gets poisoned
Step 3- Run to the blind spot at the barrier and wait for the poison to stop (+50% HP gone)
Step 4- Go back and apply the poison again (2 applications is enough for anything that gets poisoned by this weapon art)
Step 5- Back to the blind spot
Step 6- Profit
- Anonymous
I really see no point in fighting this boss in the gimmick way, the dragon is totally doable in straight melee combat.
- Anonymous
Plunging attack steps:
1) Get to plunging attack position (ledge over left side just after you enter the arena, surrounded by scaffolding - have fun getting there!)
2) Align yourself with the last message sign just at the ledge
3) Wait for Wyvern to stop breathing fire and settle its head down below
4) Run, jump at the sign and immediately press the R1 button when you are in the air.
Do not forget to press the R1 button, or else the animation sequence will not start and you will simply die from the fall.
- Anonymous
Remember in the start beginning if skyrim? When alduin smashes his head through the tower to breath fire? Why cant this guy do stuff like that
- Anonymous
You know those hours you spent learning how to dodge, parry, attack and more? Yea just throw that out the window. here's some axe lizard guys that hit harder then gael and a annoying wyvern L+bozo
- Anonymous
Storyteller's staff works great in the blind spot as well. Two full applications and a big wait.
- Anonymous
I got the death fall animation on my first two attempts at the plunging attack and my stupid character didn’t even do the plunging animation, just fell next to the dragon’s head and died…. So on attempt 3 i guess I’ll be doing a running jump with L3 and trying again? Guide made it sound easier than it is bc I know I was in the right spot from the message and ****ing just got fatal fall damage and no plunge attack animation. ****in BS, bruh.
- Anonymous
For anyone who has minimal int investment, a few casts of Hidden Body makes the run to the plunging attack platform infinitely easier.
- Anonymous
cool boss but I was expecting to be like the Kalameet boss battle
- Anonymous
This boss probably would have been a great experience if they went all in on "stage hazard" rather than a boss healthbar. Like the lothric castle wyverns but it harrasses you mor throughout the level. Maybe make it drop some sort of key item that lets you ring nameless's bell when it dies, so you still have to kill it. As it stands, it feels like they just tossed him in here.
They were humans once. That the Pus of Man erupts from some is the proof.
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Pestilent Mist is Very effective, because it ignores the super-buffed defences. Wyvern actually has very few hit points, so it dies in a couple of casts.
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Accidentally glitched the boss into a wall and didnt realize untill i was ready to do the plunge attack. Thankfully, morion blade and lightning arrow were able to deal decent damage and kill it. Only time i ever killed the wyvern without the plunge attack
- Anonymous
NG+3 gives 157,500 souls upon defeating this boss, just did it with no increased souls drop items (i.e. Silver Serpent Ring, Shield of Want, etc.)
- Anonymous
People call ds2 bullshit, honestly this is probably one of if not THE worst boss in the series
I hesitate to even call it a boss, its a shitty gimmick
Worst thing is it may be optional but you have to fight this guy if you want to fight arguably one of the best bosses in the series
- Anonymous
I beat this guy just by staying under him and hitting his ankles, it took forever but I didn't have to deal with any annoying snake people and my estus was almost empty towards the end. But its definitely doable, and quite easy to time the dodges. You just need to bear with the long battle time. Put a podcast or twitch stream on while you're doing it xD
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Hit the head? Hit the torso? Hit the tail? Come on, there's only legs I see, and the stomp is not dodgeable, good luck to those who have not much estus.
- Anonymous
This is a gimmick boss that's supposed to be almost impossible to beat when fighting it normally, and Midir has twice as much health.
- Anonymous
Perhaps the real boss were the manserpents we fought along the way
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My pyro did this boss with gnaw pretty easily just took a couple minutes.
- Anonymous
Izalith Chaosbed vibes here... Annoying boss. The dragon bugged out for me so he would never reach the Position from where you have to jump down for his head.
- Anonymous
first time i fought it, o had no clue what to do so i just run till i found that place he cant hit us and i bow shoot him to death.
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Man I hate how the plunging attack just bugs out sometimes and doesn't trigger even though you literally see your weapon going into the damn wyvern. Thanks game
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The snakes are the real boss, they might not be strong but theyre easily the most annoying enemies on the game, specially the ones with daggers, f*uck those guys.
- Anonymous
"The plunging attack is the most reliable move in the game..."
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It just died for some reason when I got to the chain axe serpent on the bridge. I didn't want to deal with this boss anyway so it's cool.
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Honestly, I'd just rather fight him head on. The snake men are way more annoying than the wyvern.
- Anonymous
worst boss in the entire game
the plunge is unreliable as hell as sometimes it just flat out doesn't register, and god forbid you try fighting him normally since you'll just get murked by hitboxes larger than the observable ****ing universe
- Anonymous
worst boss in the entire game the plunge is unreliable as hell as sometimes it just flat out doesn't register, and god forbid you try fighting him normally since you'll just get murked by hitboxes larger than the observable ****ing universe
- Anonymous
I took a long time to figure it out. A loooooong time. And my dumb as was like "where tf is this plunging attack??"
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A solid strategy a friend and I pulled off was Rose of Ariandel, Morian Blade, Sunlight Spear. Buffed ourselves with the rose (taking damage) until we got to 1HP (tears of denial to stay alive), then we recast tears. Equip Morian Blade, have your rings decked for lightning miracles, and release fire. Neither of us took a hit, and the boss was down in less than ten seconds.
- Anonymous
Yeah...i made it about halfway through the run to the plunging attack spot and he glitches into the floor and dies.
- Anonymous
easiest yet hardest boss ever... dont care about the dragon, F*ck the enemies
Bruh, it wasnt the boss one, it was the second one that appears later, but anyway, somehow I had glitched the dragon and he wasnt leaving the cliff he was hanging on, so I pulled out the dragonslayer great bow and started head shoting it, he didnt do anything, UNTIL he reached 1/5, came down used flamebreath, roasted me, then I tried to fight him head on as normal, and the dude just uses the horizontal flame breath and pushes me off the map and I die, sometimes I wanna choke Miyazaki
- Anonymous
Alternatively you could just stand in front of the dragon and bait him to breath fire on you. When it starts to do it you can run to the side of his head and go to town :P I just did it with the dragonslayer greataxe =P
- Anonymous
Vordt's hammer + torch to reset frostbite makes for a fun time taking down the boss.
One time my game glitched out and apparently the Ancient Wyvern fell through the map and died when I was half way through...
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The little dragon *****s have killed me more than the the actual boss
- Anonymous
This boss is so god damn aggravating, especially for no death runs, to the point where the game should just roll a dice and either instantly kill your when you walk through the fog wall or instantly kill the boss. If they want to make the plunging attack gimmick from dark souls 1 again, at least make it so there isn't a 50/50 chance the plunge attack doesn't even register, you phase through the bosses entire head and die
- Anonymous
"I want nameless king mom" "Honey we have nameless king at home" nameless king at home:
- Anonymous
run past the dragon and go up to the big snake axe guy, fight with him for a bit and the ancient wyvern kills itself for some reason
- Anonymous
sometimes i want to murder miazaki this is one of those moments
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I thought this would be easy. Just a plunge attack right? 1- fought my way through only for my plunging attack to miss and fall to my death. 2- fought through again only for the plunging attack to miss again. 3- tried to face it head on, died. 4- tried to just run past enemies to attempt plunge again but got slaughtered on the ladder. 5- fought through but the chain axe guy killed me with a single grab attack even though I had 80% health. 6- fought through but AGAIN the plunge missed??? 7- faced it again but this time stayed under its feet occasionally getting hits to its head/neck with the vordt great hammer, finally beat it. I watched the video here and he did the plunging attack the same way I did but his just connects when mine didn't wtf?
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Who else killed this dragon in gwyn s way (sunlight spear to the face)?
- Anonymous
Just when you thought fromsoft was done with throwaway OHK gimmick bosses. At least this is preferable to the Bed of Bullshit
- Anonymous
It looks dangerous but when you know how to take it down, it is ridiculous.
- Anonymous
***** this boss, ***** the dip*****cocksucker who thought this boss was a good idea. every time im forced to do this bull*****run, it makes me want to do a faceplant into my desk. i know this because i did it before, and i broke my nose in doing so. this boss broke my nose.
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just keep moving behind its legs and smack the base of the tail safest option and very easy with over head attacks like the Greatsword. Alternatively, you can run straight under and past it, go to the raised bell platform, then do a sprinting jump and quick plunge attack to instantly land on his head and kill him. This takes either great timing or pure luck.
- Anonymous
As with everything else that isn't immune to poison/toxic, the Poison Spores from the Storyteller's Staff tear this "boss" apart.
- Anonymous
so was wondering if this happened to anyone else... but I've been playing this game blind (being my first time ever, thanks for getting me into the series Bloodborne) and I was just running around grabbing the items thrown around the arena, healing when it was needed... so found the path to where you are suppose to "plunge" or whatever... I get to top of one of the towers where the big Axe snake dude is... and did my 1v1 with him and after killing him the Ancient wyvern just died... and I don't know what happened can anyone confirm any kind of weird bugs or a dragon that DIES falling into the sky??
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I really don't like this boss. The real boss are the dragon guys in his arena. They are annoying. I really only do this boss on NG+ cycles for the souls. Then go the get the Dragon Chaser's Ashes, then leave.
- Anonymous
Frost + any fire damage is an easy way to fight this boss in a more "traditional" way. Any fire damage will remove the frostbitten debuff and allow the target to be frostbitten again. Even a +0 Iriithyll straight sword +basic firebombs are sufficient to take huge chunks without the hassle of the coin flip plunging attack. Best place to do the fight this way is the right-hand outcrop where the embers and dung pie are found. Standing back will cause the Wyvern to ready a slow straight firebreath attack and open its neck up to a frostbite from two slashes.Toss a firebomb and you can roll back in time to avoid the bite, then repeat.
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Can confirm if you miss the plunging attack even the cat ring wont save you
- Anonymous
hey from software stop trying to make puzzle bosses, after bed of chaos and this boss i'm starting to think it's not working out
- Anonymous
In the first hallway area, there is a spot where he can’t hit you, but you can hit him using the black bow of pharis. Takes like 20 mins and a few hundred arrows, but it works and it’s easy
- Anonymous
thisis a godbye to the plunge attack on bosses. Because is the only boss in the game you can to that.
- Anonymous
Since NG that got frustrated because beat him by plung atack.. now on NG+ , I notice that staying below is neck is a good bet. Only take damage from jumps ( 25% or less ). Sometime is just walk one or 2 squares to adjust position. Used a Vordt's Great Hammer +5 ( not so easy get all the hits but take things ) but it's a safe spot. They could install a bonfire there ^^
i try to hit the toe and only deal a little tiny cute damage. and then i read that the dragon has standard, strike and slash resistant. hmm.. good job dragon.
- Anonymous
This thing dies pretty quick with Sunlight Spear in particular if you just keep ramming it into his gut. Killed him with a sorcerer in a similar way too so there's at least a few ways besides bashing his head or using the plunge gimmick to kill him.
The whole trip up to the plunging ledge is a nightmare gauntlet with all those snakes patrolling the place, especially the huge freak with the chain-axe. Save yourself lots of needless anguish and use Hidden Body and Spook/Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring; going ninja is the best strategy here.
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Does this boss feel out of place to anyone? I have a theory that, at one point in development, this boss was going to have a corresponding dragon covenant where players could invade players that attempted to fight this dragon. Invaders would have to stop hosts from reaching the wyvern's head, and would recieve a dragon scale or something for fulfilling their duty. This boss feels really underdeveloped, though, so I might be giving From too much credit.
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I'm disappointed that a freaking ancient wyvern can be one shoted with a falling plunge from any weapon. I shall try to go toe to talon with this majestic beast. Hmmmmm.....
- Anonymous
I was climbing up the ladder leading up to the scaffolding that eventually leads to the plunging attack ledge when its health instantly went to zero and died lmao. Wtf happened?
- Anonymous
First time I traversed the path to do the plunging attack and he is stuck on a wall far away :c
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I was in the middle of making my way around when it suddenly died on its own...I think it fell off a ledge!
- Anonymous
Use pestilent mist and hang out in the middle of the stairs. Make coffee. Repeat.
Seriously was this mini-boss even finished?
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No boss, wrongly listed as boss. Boss drops Boss souls, which you can use to craft weapons or spells. So, all encounters with enemies with seperate healths are at least mini-bosses.
- Anonymous
I just stupidly died twice to this boss. Simply by not pressing attack when plunging down, splattering myself on the stones and having ot run through those serpents three times before it finally came to me :-D
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For Strength builds with sufficient vitality (done in NG+2, you can probably do it earlier), if you hate navigating the arena for the plunging attack and/or just want to fight a dragon face-to-face: +5 Dragonslayer Greataxe with a high-stability shield like the Dragonslayer Shield or Yhorm's Greatshield.
Meleeing the wyvern is a matter of NOT. LOCKING. ON. and also recognizing the tells; its neck positioning tells you what it's going to do. It's ridiculously slow and reliably telegraphs its attacks--its neck swipes always start from its right and move diagonally to its left, its head tends to move in the opposite direction (slight left-to-right shift) when it's going to breathe fire. It often--not always, but often--breathes fire twice before shifting to reset; the second breath usually puts the wyvern's head a little lower, allowing for more damage. The AOE flame attack when it lifts off to spray fire on the ground is extremely limited. Flame-breathing and foot-stomps, which also involve the wyvern lowering its head, are highly punishable. Get in two, maybe three, hits, leaving enough for your shield, then move a little to the side. This will give you time to see what its next move is.
It is also a matter of not falling off the edge. Try hard to stay in the middle of the path. Of the three times I died before killing the wyvern, twice were due to falls.
The fastest way is to stand at the right of the bell you first see (his tail when he appears), wait for him to breath fire and do a jumping attack, no need to run all the path.
- Anonymous
***** this boss fight. You never interact with the boss, a single enemy in the arena is more threatening to your life than the dragon because they kill you with one combo (8 hits in a row is ridiculous), they bombard you with homing fireballs and the guys with axes on chains (who exactly came up with that?) can attack you through walls and through the ground when they are below you. First time I fell through the dragon, second time he followed me to the left and glitched out, never returning to the place where you can drop on him.
- Anonymous
Like Midir, you can Pestilent Mist him into submission. The two difficulties to overcome are the wyvern's knee slams/stomps and the tight quarters of the arena. The knee stomps are hard to see coming and you can get hung up on protruding architecture or run out of room to maneuver and get trapped between the dragon and the wall. Just don't lock on and try your best to stay out of the mist clouds. Other than that, the spell does massive and very quick damage, and the lack of room to maneuver actually works in your favor here because the wyvern has to stay in the cloud until it dissipates.
Sitting here doing scratch damage thinking "man I bet this is a puzzle boss and I'm just brute forcing it right now" and sure enough. Still clinched out the W though.
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