Iudex Gundyr |
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| General Info | ||
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Location |
| 1037 | 3000 | Cemetery of Ash |
| Drops | Coiled Sword | |
| Defenses | ||
| Weak | Resistant | Immune |
 Strike Lightning Bleed Frostbite Farron Greatsword |
 Dark |
 Poison Toxic |
Iudex Gundyr is a Boss in Dark Souls 3. He is the first boss that players will encounter. This Dark Souls 3 Iudex Gundyr Guide features locations, strategies and videos on how to defeat Iudex Gundyr easily, as well as tips, weaknesses, trivia and lore notes for the Iudex Gundyr boss.
Iudex Gundyr is a large humanoid clad in heavy armor and attacks the player using a large halberd. Players will find a sword embedded in his chest when they first encounter him. After being brought down to a certain health threshold, a giant black mass emerges from his neck that gives him access to additional attacks. This boss is not optional and the player will have to face him in order to gain access to Firelink Shrine.
As a beginning boss, Iudex Gundyr has a lot of telegraphed attacks that can be consistently sidestepped, dodged, or parried, allowing players to get used to the game's unique combat mechanics. Iudex Gundyr is weak to Fire Damage - and so it is recommended that players make use of the Firebombs they obtain in the tutorial area to defeat him quickly.
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 Iudex Gundyr Location
Where to find Iudex Gundyr in Dark Souls 3?
- Iudex Gundyr is found in the Cemetery of Ash by the Firelink Shrine. He is immobile at first, and taking the Coiled Sword from his chest triggers the fight.
Iudex Gundyr Drops
What do you get from defeating Iudex Gundyr in Dark Souls 3?
- Souls: NG (3000) | NG+ (15,000) | NG++ (16,500) | NG+3 (16,875) | NG+4 (18,000) | NG+6 (18,750) | NG+7 (19,125)
- Co-Op Souls: None, co-op is disabled in the tutorial.
- Coiled Sword
Iudex Gundyr Notes & Tips
What should you know about fighting Iudex Gundyr in Dark Souls 3?
- Defenses do not change between phases - a firebomb will do the same damage in phase 1 as in phase 2.
- Deals Standard Damage.
- Parriable. If you are close enough to hit him, the first attack he will usually use upon wake-up is a one-handed thrust. This attack is one of his more easily-parried moves.
- Can be poise broken, but that does not allow to perform a riposte. He receives extra damage for a brief period of time.
- Weak to Frost, Lightning, and Fire Damage - however, the lightning weakness is only apparent on subsequent playthroughs.
- Resistant to Dark Damage and Bleed.
- Immune to Poison and Toxic.
Iudex Gundyr Stats
| Playthrough | NG | NG + | NG ++ | NG +3 | NG +4 | NG +5 | NG +6 | NG +7 |
| Health | 1,037 | 3,561 | 3,917 | 4,095 | 4,273 | 4,629 | 4,807 | 4,985 |
| Defense | 100 | |||||||
Dark Souls 3 Iudex Gundyr Boss Guide & Strategies
DS3 Iudex Gundyr Video Strategy
Dark Souls 3 Iudex Gundyr Attacks
Iudex Gundyr has two attack phases. In the first phase, he wields a halberd type weapon. In the second phase, which triggers when he is below half health, a dark, lizard/serpent-like mass with a tail and claw erupts out of his body, greatly extending his reach.
| First Phase | |
|---|---|
| Strong Sweep Attack | He uses his halberd to sweep the ground in front of him. It does considerable damage, but there is a delay between the moment when he raises his arm and when he attacks. |
| Jump and Slice | Creating distance between you and Iudex will provoke him into doing a jumping attack with a long-range, slicing the ground( and maybe you) with his Halberd. It can be avoided by rolling. The player should not try to get more than one attack in after this. |
| Fast Sweep Attack | It's similar to the first attack, except it's much faster and it does approximately the same amount of damage. He tends to do it while getting up to get you off of him. |
| Jump and Jab | It's the same thing as the second attack, except now, instead of doing a slice, they stick their halberd into the ground when landing. He gets up slowly, so use this as an opportunity to retaliate. |
| Rapid Slice | He chops the terrain in front of him quickly. Easily dodgeable, but you still have to be careful. He does this attack rapidly, mostly after doing the second attack. |
| Grab and Stab | He uses his free hand to grab the player and then stabs them, throwing them far away. This is the only attack he uses with his free hand. |
| Second Phase | Gundyr sprouts a Pus of Man from the tentacles around the behind of his neck |
| Transformation | Gundyr transforms into his second phase and in doing so he uses the Pus of Man's hand to smack the player unless they're sticking behind him as he transforms. Additional defenses while transforming. |
| Jump and Slam | Gundyr jumps high up into the air and slams down, anchoring his halberd in the ground upon doing so. This attack usually only happens when you are very close to him and it takes a bit for him to recover. |
| Leap to Smack | Gundyr jumps towards the player if they are a certain distance away and stabs or slashes them with his halberd. |
| Slam and Devour | Gundyr slams his Pus of Man's head onto the ground to his right (unknown if this does damage) and then the head swoops horizontally. This can grab the player. |
| Screech and Bite | Gundyr's Pus of Man screeches and bites downwards on the player, only happens when Gundyr and the player are a small distance apart with the player in front of Gundyr |
How to fight and beat Iudex Gundyr
Strategy 1 (Melee)
Once the Coiled Sword is removed, the player will have the opportunity to get a few attacks in before the Boss begins to attack. If the player has a Weapon with a Weapon Art that acts as a buff, its use before removing the sword is recommended.
Keeping in mind this is a boss fight designed to teach new players the basics of combat, consistently blocking all of his attacks with one of the starting classes is impossible. Rolling through or parrying his attacks is vital to winning this fight. Learn the boss's attack patterns and attack when he's vulnerable.
An easy way to dodge most of Gundyr's attacks is to circle around to your right of him with your shield up. Most attacks will miss the player but be ready to dodge out of the way of his grab.
During the second stage of the fight, he will gain in speed and range.
Strategy 2 (Melee)
If the player has trouble defeating him, keeping your distance and baiting him into doing attacks that are easily dodged and leaving him vulnerable is recommended. Otherwise, sticking to his left side or back allows for an easy kill.
Once he transforms, maintain the same strategy. However, due to a now gained weakness to Fire, using the Firebombs found in the tutorial area is recommended.
Strategy 3 (Magic/Pyromancy)
In both phases, he is weak to Fire damage. Either use Pyromancy or Firebombs for exceptional damage.
Strategy 4 (Magic/Pyromancy)
Contrary to their melee counterparts, sorcerers and pyromancers will have a much easier time keeping maximum distance. This will most likely trigger Gundyr's Jump and Slice, which is one of his easier attacks to evade, especially in phase two when it can be difficult to keep track of his attacks. It is then safe to cast a spell during Gundyr's recovery.
Sorcerers can enjoy the hard-hitting Heavy Soul Arrow during Gundyr's waking animation. They can keep casting it further into the fight provided they keep their proper distance and cast it during Gundyr's longer recoveries. Otherwise, Soul Arrow will also do the trick just fine.
Pyromancers' main damage will come from Fireball, which is a great choice given Gundyr's weakness to fire. However, even more so than sorcerers, pyromancers should really be careful in picking the right time to cast, and only cast one orb at a time. Again, a good tactic is to bait Gundyr into his Jamp and Slice attack and use the recovery time to cast.
In the case of both types of magic, the fight will probably be over pretty soon.
Iudex Gundyr Lore Theories
Gundyr, corrupted by the abyss, spends eternity testing unkindled to see if they are worthy to Link the Flame. He was once an unkindled himself but arose too late to fulfill his duty, never meeting his Fire Keeper, who had been buried within the tower behind Firelink Shrine with the Estus Ring. The flame had already gone out and the bells failed to ring which started a new dark age. As the player character travels through the illusion door, they go back in time to the dark age to face Champion Gundyr at his prime (note: this is fan speculation, it's not proven). This is where they defeat him as the unknown warrior mentioned in the description of Soul of Champion Gundyr, sheathing within him a Coiled Sword and sealing his fate. A prisoner with an unbreakable halberd hoping that one day an unkindled will rise and relink the flame once more. The Pus of Man that possesses him is a form of The Abyss. A Pus of Man behaves like an amalgamation of small morsels and maybe like a Mass of Souls, or perhaps some amalgamation of Humanity.
Leaks from quality assurance testers of the alpha version suggest that Gundyr was originally going to be called Oceiros, with Oceiros not appearing in The Consumed King's Garden, but a cut area called "God's Grave". The character "Gundyr" would still exist, but look and play like Yhorm the Giant - (credit darksouls3theorist and Lance McDonald).
Iudex Gundyr Trivia
- This set bears extreme resemblance to Old King Dorian from Demon's Souls, a probable callback.
- Their crown also bears some resemblance to the one worn by Ludleth of Courland.
- Iudex means judge in Latin, and gund means battle in old germanic. Together it means to judge or test battle. In Japanese, his name is "Judge of Ash Gundyr"
- His move set is interesting to observe on a second playthrough if you also fought Champion Gundyr. Iudex Gundyr's specific halberd move set is almost exactly the same as the Champion's, but he staggers slightly more after each swing. It's not just a simpler move set for beginners: compared to the later fight he seems lethargic and not on point at all.
- When Gundyr came late to the shrine as an unkindled, the fire had already faded, and the fire keeper dead. Bested by an unknown warrior, he became a judge for unkindled planning to link the flame. Upon his duty, he was bestowed an unbreakable halberd, leaving to think that he was fated to be an eternal judge from the beginning. When the player encounters Gundyr in the untended graves, he had been recently made a judge ( you can clearly see that the world is plunged in the dark, which leaves to conclude that untended graves are in the past). The many years Gundyr waited for the Ashen One to claim to coiled sword caused the Dark to corrupt his body to the point where a creature has come to life in his body. We can assume decades, or centuries passed since Gundyr awaits, rendering his technique dull, and making him weak when the player first meets him as Iudex Gundyr.
How souls gaming went from this to Pieta, really makes me appreciate From eh
- Anonymous
we need more souls games that tell you to **** off if you can't beat a boss at the very beginning
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Gościu po parowaniu można dla chłopa riposte walić co Ty gadasz >:(
- Anonymous
You know, it would've made much more sense if this guy was actually oceiros. We actually see a lot of pus of men in the consumed king's garden, and his set even states that his helm is shaped after a crown. When you think about it, we never got a good explanation as to how oceiros turned himself into a pale dragon and why he did that, and also, much of the lore that we hear about gundyr and the untended graves are just speculation because what we know for sure about them is very little, so we just assume that, for example, the untended graves are in the past because it makes sense, not because we are sure of it. I've always wanted to know what the pus of man really are, and why it also affects the wyverns in lothric, and i believe that if gundyr were to be oceiros, we would've had a reasonable explanation, but no, they changed up things last second and don't make the lore satisfying enough to compensate.
- Anonymous
how to troll new players:
step 1: name your character Iudex Gundyr
step 2: dont level up
step 3: reach untended graves
step 4: beat champ gundyr
step 5: beat curse rotted greatwood
step 6: get gundyrs armor set and soul transpose the halberd
step 7: ember up and invade in early game areas
(dont actually do this)
- Anonymous
It's incredible how this fight becomes easy after finishing the game. It was the bane of my existence when I played the game for the first time before Abyss Watchers.
Died 8 times to this with mercenary. I completed the game and yet he ****s me everytime I start a new game
Rather sizeable gofta on our plate. Love the bloke. What a chill dude!
remember folks, he may be big and strong, but he has dex in his name
also is halberd requires 15 to lift BUT DONT TELL ANYONE YOU LEVELED DEX!
- Anonymous
Fantastic boss. easy introduction guide for new players, easy for speedruns, parryable. Brillaint. 9.5/10
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I struggled fighting this guy cause I couldn't parry his attacks, until I realized that you can't parry with the Plank Shield. I swapped to a Warrior and beat him first try. (i hate this game)
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I think soul of cinder defeated ludex gundyr cause of the coiled sword
- Anonymous
I bought DS3 a few years ago and never got past this guy and gave up on the game, basically thinking this is just stupid hard. Just finished Elden Ring and decided to give DS3 another try. Crazy how much easier he was this time around. Lots of massive openings to get in several attacks before his next one.
- Anonymous
I prefer Margit and Gascoigne as proper first bosses but I'll always look back fondly to grinding this guy for hours after being pressured to play DS3 for the first time
- Anonymous
I prefer Margit and Gascoigne as proper first bosses but I'll always look back fondly to grinding this guy for hours after being pressured to play DS3 for the first time
- Anonymous
Here come the judge, here come the judge, everybody knows that he is the judge
- Anonymous
Gundyr is such a chad. He literally sat in this one place waiting to test us ashen ones for a coiled sword.
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A HARD BOSS AND I'M A BEGINNER I DEFEATED HIM WITH THE MAGE
- Anonymous
damn this boss seems pretty cool, i wonder what is going to happe... OH GOD WTF IS THAT **** OH HELL NAH
- Anonymous
Gundyr is like your dad, when you're play fighting he goes easy on you, and tries his best not to hurt you too badly, but when sh*t gets real he'll slap your ass into next week
- Anonymous
at least this you can actually kill this guy, the first boss in elden ring seemed like a cheap boss that your supposed to die too, but there are zero lore implications, genichiro had lore, he was stronger then you, and even if you do beat him you get a cool different cut-scene, in elden ring if you kill the first boss you just walk off a ledge and die, what fun!
- Anonymous
if ur having trouble then u need to strafe around his attacks u only roll if he does a spin attack his second phase might look hard but just stay close and run when he jumps and punish
- Anonymous
Champion gundyr super underated gotta be one of my favorites in souls something about human like bosses fighting man to man makes me enjoy them more
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if you have issues with the second form, stay close. He cant reach you with his arm so he can only do the bite attack.
- Anonymous
Waitwaitwait
The gravewardens were tasked with keeping the undead from rising. And the ones we see in Untended graves are pretty beefy. Does that mean they tried to stop Gundyr from reaching Firelink?
New headcanon: Gundyr's weaker because he got into a fight with the gravewardens. While we're here, may as well say he also took care of those corvians squatting on your grave, as well as one of the two ravenous crystal lizards.
Man. Props to gundyr, making the tutorial doable for new players.
- Anonymous
Was looking for lore stuff and was surprised to see lots of people complaining about how hard this 1st boss is ... so i will give my tip. On 1st phase, stay away from him by walking in circles (rolling if necessary to dodge attacks) an wait for the big opening: his slow jump attack. Roll to his back on this big opening, strike a few light attacks (r1/rb) and get away again. On 2nd phase, you should still be circling him, but this time really really close and striking his back. Good luck.
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"Defenses do not change between phases - a firebomb will do the same damage in phase 1 as in phase 2."
"Once he transforms, maintain the same strategy. However, due to a now gained weakness to Fire, using the Firebombs found in the tutorial area is recommended. "
Which one is it?
- Anonymous
Next time make a boss that doesn't spam janky instant kill grab bs fromsoft. I swear this mother ****er can hit you the whole arena away, plus this wiki states his second form has a fire weakness? You all must not have even played the game cause i spammed all my firebombs and it didn't do ****. Git gud? More like git someone else to code your game smh
- Anonymous
How to Defeat:
Parry (Optional)
Play it slow and learn dodge timing
You can find fire bombs before the boss. (phase 2 is weak to fire).
Welcome to Dark souls.
- Anonymous
Okay, so I've noticed a lot of people talking about how hard this guy is, so here's my two cents.
Instead of trying to defeat him, spend a few runs just moving around him and trying to survive. No attacks, nothing. Afterwards, drop him to half health and practice surviving that. It really helps, with every single boss.
- Anonymous
i made my friend play dark souls 3 for the first time, couldn't even kill gundyr after dying more than 10 times, I had to kill him for him smh my guy
- Anonymous
When you wake up Filanore, walk toward the boss fog and this guy comes running towards you again loololol guess i will die now
- Anonymous
im now at ng+3. I have finally parried him consecutively.
This runs gonna be fun now , also this wiki says he is vulnerable to riposte, since when did this version of gundyr be available for a riposte
- Anonymous
i find his name interesting, Iudex Gundyr. as in Judge Gundyr. hes much more difficult than the starting bosses of DS2 and DS1 and he has deep lore around him, hes the Judge, the one who couldnt link the fire so he tests all others with this goal to see if they are worthy, maybe im rambling on but hes interesting as a boss.
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So is no one going to mention the fact that the arena you fight this dude in is literally Gravelord Nito's tomb ? You can see it cracked half open in the corner.
- Anonymous
What idiot lead game designer thought 'yeah sure, this is a good tutorial first boss'. I just came off playing through DS 1 and 2, which redeemed themselves as you continue, but this first boss...Nothing but starting gear, which is nothing if you happen to choose deprived, and no way to level up or find helpful gear. This is how you get players to never recommend this game to other people, jeezus. 30 minutes into this 'game' and I'm already disappointed.
- Anonymous
Honestly I think he's a good first boss. For previous players of dark souls games it really tells you quick that ds3 is going to be a bit more fast paced than it's previous installments and for new players it quickly shows that the game can be punishing if you don't time dodges or play cautiously
- Anonymous
who ever picked this as the literal tutorial boss is a ****ing quack, the boss itself is not that hard, but far too hard for a tutorial boss, especially since hes virtually impossible for casual players that choose anything that isnt the meta class, god forbid you want balanced stats, or super high dexterity
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I started the series with this game and my first boss ever was this guy. Unfortunately I had chosen the deprived class, so u know what happened next... Anyway, I finally two handedly clubbed him to death on maybe 20th try.
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erm gundyr i think you may have a tumor on your back should i call a doctor or something
- Anonymous
Ah yes.. the substitute Asylum Demon.. Gundyr.
And people legit say Dark Souls 3 isn’t just the original Dark Souls Remastered.
- Anonymous
This game has a very welcoming and happy start. F u c k you
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Was a pain in the @ss on my first time in DS3, now on ng+12 and +500 hrs, I simply obliterate the dude before he even gets up with 3 hits of DS Greataxe Weapon Art
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Would be nice if the camera didn't constantly get stuck on the black serpent
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Idk why but Gundyr was boss I struggled on most at first. He took he most attempts than any other boss, including nameless
- Anonymous
it's curious how Gundyr's lore mentions he came a tad too late, meaning there already has been an age of dark at some point in the souls timeline.
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fun fact: if you are a parry king but your starter class doesnt have anything to parry with you can put away your weapons to bare hand parry him, then riposte using your weapon
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To get firebombs, just go to the doors that you enter the boss fight from. Turn around. You will see a cliff on the left side. Under the cliff is a grave warden. He is really under there. You will have to go to the absolute edge to target him. Don't confuse him with the spear-wielding one further up. It will drop firebomb X 5.
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Just circle him and hit his back. When he starts to transform hit him so hard. If you lucky that will finish the rest of his health. Is weak to fire as abomination. There is a guy on the right side of intro that drops firebomb.
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First time I played this game I tried to beat him by trying to make him jump off the cliff.
Lol turns out you cant do that.
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Is it just me or does the giant coffin behind him look like Nito's from DS1?
- Anonymous
Gundyr but he is playing with his eyes closed, one hand behind his back, too fat to kick and not even trying. Just read his attacks and dodge, or parry. Spending extra time on this boss will reward you in the game.
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Why was it decided to give a perfectly fine intro boss a second form where it gains a bunch of unreadable flailing limbs? I'm not surprised hearing anecdotes about people refunding the game after getting to this boss. If this was your introduction to the series then I can't blame you.
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AKA refund man, seriously if you gave up on this guy you still have time to refund the game.
- Anonymous
beware of giant but hole
anybody make that message or just me?
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For beginning sorcerers, follow the 'Dark Souls 3 Intelligence kills Iudex Gundyr' video and playlist
- Anonymous
Wanna cheese him as a mage in your first playthrough? Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iea9wBXcoIw
- Anonymous
I have a top guide to anyone struggling with Gundyr or any knight enemy/boss, just keep on strafing around them getting a few good hits or a backstab if you’re behind them.
- Anonymous
iudex gundyr: "i fear no man, but that thing *looks at heavy soul arrow* it scares me"
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New players may find this boss pretty hard. Veterans will have an easy time. For beginners: don’t give him too much respect. Stick to him - keeping space between you and him makes it hard for you to reach him, while he can hit you easily with his long halberd. There is plenty of time to hit him and heal between his attacks. Heal right in his face, don’t feel the need to run to the end of the arena. Second phase when he deals lots of damage learn how to roll, all his attacks are dodgable. When you beat this boss easily you start understanding the secrets of Dark Souls
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Iudex Gundyr when fighting new players:Casuls all over the cemetery,you'll be one of them sooner or later
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New unkindled: oh wow, a whole new adventure? I just got resurrected out of a coffin with, learned the basics through messages on the ground and some undead on the way here and now i stand here in this arena, with this big gladiator who had a twisted, scorched sword in the chest that i pulled out of him. I wonder what awaits me ahea- Gundyr: DODGE! New unkindled: ded.
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The surface of water symoblizes the border to another realm. The golden gate is the entry to that realm. Behind that gate begins the real game. But first we have to be judged by Iudex Gundyr if we are worthy to enter it. The boss, the arena...the whole thought process they've put into that first boss battle is just amazing and proofs that DS3 is more than just a rehash of what came before.
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Does he count as abyssal for the wolf/beyblade swords? Not that it matters bc he's easy, just couldn't find data on this
- Anonymous
easiest boss, i used black firebomb, normal firebombs found there and killed him only with fire and fists
- Anonymous
So I'm currently doing a fist only run and I'm able to parry all of his attacks in phase one, so does anyone know if he can be parried in the second phase? I'm guessing it's a no but I want to be 100% sure. Thanks in advance
- Anonymous
Wanna laugh? Watch it till the very end: search for 'Dark Souls 3 Intelligence kills Iudex Gundyr'
Does anyone else remember when it took 2 parries and 1 RB attack with the Bandits knife to kill him?
- Anonymous
Please, respond and correct the defenses and attacks, so I found out that fire dmg absorption is different on other parts of gundyrs body, so if you play with a pyromancer and shoot gundyr himself they deal about 80 dmg each, but when you lock on to the pus of man on him in the second fase the y deal 120 dmg at least (hopefully I remember it correctly) and please fill the attacks, cause it is really obvious that there are much more.
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i found that smacking Gundyr's ass with my sword is one of the best strategies. just go behind him and smack that ass a couple times then protect your own ass with a shield. this also works in the second phase, especially when he goes into the air and plunges down. Just stick behind him to avoid damage and then spank Gundyr in the ass for an easy kill.
His leaping thrusting attacks in the second phase can be parried easily. The fact you can parry him in that state kinda doesn't make sense though
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