Sister Friede |
||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| General Info | ||
 |
 |
 |
| Phase 1: 4863 Phase 2: 7150 Phase 3: 6864 |
72000 | Painted World of Ariandel |
| Drops | Soul of Sister Friede Titanite Slab |
|
| Defenses | ||
| Weak |  Strike (Friede)All Status Effects (Ariandel) |
|
| Resistant |  MagicAll Status Effects (Friede) |
|
| Immune |  Frostbite (Friede) |
|
Sister Friede is a Boss enemy in Dark Souls 3. She is part of the Ashes of Ariandel DLC. This Dark Souls 3 Sister Friede Guide features locations, strategies and videos on how to defeat Sister Friede easily, as well as tips, weaknesses, trivia and lore notes for the Sister Friede boss.
Sister Friede is dressed in nun's clothing and wields a scythe when fighting the player. She fights alone in the first and third phase of the boss fight and alongside Father Ariandel, a hulking figure that attacks with a large bowl, in the second. Rather than having two separate healthbars, Friede and Ariandel share a healthbar when fighting together.
Players might not have much trouble staying alive during the fight, but they may have difficulties in finding opportunities to counterattack due to how aggressive Sister Friede can be. Players can summon the Slave Knight Gael for assistance, although he will only appear after Phase 1. His summon sign is in the same room as the church bonfire, to the left of the staircase. It is highly recommended to summon him, as he will make Phases 2 and 3 much easier to beat. It should be noted that defeating Demon Prince in the The Ringed City DLC first will disable this summon.
After defeating Blackflame Friede, speak with Corvian Settler near the Corvian Settlement bonfire to receive a Titanite Slab. If you want to start The Ringed City DLC before reaching Kiln of the First Flame, killing her is the only way to do so. A special bonfire appears after the fight with her which leads straight into the DLC.
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 Sister Friede Location
Where to find Sister Friede in Dark Souls 3?
- Ariandel Chapel, as a non-hostile NPC. See the Sister Friede NPC page for full dialogue and information. Speaking with her before initiating the boss fight will earn you the Chillbite Ring.
Sister Friede Drops
What do you get from defeating Sister Friede in Dark Souls 3?
- Souls: NG (72,000) | NG+ (144,000) | NG++ (158,400) | NG+3 (162,000) | NG+4 (172,800) | NG+5 (176,400) | NG+6 (180,000) | NG+7 (183,600)
- Co-op Souls: NG (18,000) | NG+ (36,000)
- Other: Soul of Sister Friede,
- Titanite Slab: first time after completing the second phase of the fight. Can only be obtained once per NG cycle.
Sister Friede Notes & Tips
What should you know about fighting Sister Friede in Dark Souls 3?
- Solo fight during 1st and 3rd Phases. During 2nd phase, she shares health with Father Ariandel.
- Parryable: Yes
- Friede's attacks deals Slash Damage or Magic Damage, and also cause Frostbite.
- Friede can be parried and backstabbed. Also, some attacks can turn her over or send her flying.
- During Phase 2, Sister Friede will no longer try to perform critical strikes, but will occasionally try to heal instead.
- Lothric Warbanner weapon art aggravates Friede, resulting in a liberal use of her dash (as long as the buff is active), including often dashing straight into the player, thus making the fight more difficult. This works mostly in the first and third phase; in the second phase it is much less notable.
- This boss fight must be defeated to complete the DLC.
Father Ariandel Notes & Tips
What should you know about fighting Father Ariandel in Dark Souls 3?
- Present during 2nd phase of battle. Shares one health bar with Sister Friede.
- Parryable: No
- Ariandel is a fragile boss, therefore he is weak to all types of damage, most noticeable is weakness to Frostbite, Bleed and Fire Damage.
- Attacks deals massive Strike Damage and/or Fire Damage.
- Due to size, Ariandel makes an easy target for spells with area effects, such as Poison Mist, Toxic Mist, and Pestilent Mist.
- With enough hits, Ariandel can be staggered, allowing players to perform a riposte, dealing significant damage. His recovery after the attack gives players a chance to land a few more hits.
- With Gael or another summoned player pulling away his focus, his backside is completely vulnerable to attack.
Blackflame Friede Notes & Tips
What should you know about fighting Blackflame Friede in Dark Souls 3?
- Parryable: Yes
- Attacks deal Slash Damage, Magic Damage, Fire Damage, and Dark Damage. Inflicts Frostbite.
- Can easily be backstabbed.
- With Gael or another summoned player pulling away her focus, she is vulnerable from behind, especially to backstabs.
Sister Friede Stats
| Playthrough | NG | NG + | NG ++ | NG +3 | NG +4 | NG +5 | NG +6 | NG +7 |
| Phase 1 Health | 4,863 | 4,868 | 5,355 | 5,598 | 5,842 | 6,328 | 6,572 | 6,815 |
| Phase 2 Health | 7,150 | 7,157 | 7,872 | 8,230 | 8,588 | 9,304 | 9,662 | 10,020 |
| Phase 3 Health | 6,864 | 6,871 | 7,558 | 7,901 | 8,245 | 8,932 | 9,275 | 9,619 |
| Total Health | 18,877 | 18,896 | 20,785 | 21,729 | 22,675 | 24,564 | 25,509 | 26,454 |
| Damage Type | Standard | Strike | Slash | Thrust | Magic | Fire | Lightning | Dark |
| Sister Friede Absorptions | -5% | -2% | -8% | -8% | 39% | 16% | 3% | 5% |
| Father Ariandel Absorptions | -28% | -26% | -30% | -34% | 2% | -19% | -27% | -27% |
Dark Souls 3 Sister Friede Boss Guide Strategies
DS3 Sister Friede Video Strategy
Below are video strategies from our Youtube Partners:
DS3 Sister Friede Attacks
Sister Friede has two attack phases.
| First Phase (1st and 2nd battle phase) | |
|---|---|
| Critical Scythe Attack | Friede turns invisible and jumps across the arena (if you are close to her, invisibility is turned off). After a few seconds there is a sound and she performs a swift attack (which can be broken, if player attacks her before she moves to perform visceral attack), in which she grabs the player with her scythe and throws them beneath her. Deals high damage, but with good timing can be avoided. If player is not good at timing, he can either hit Friede with kukri/arrow, which are visible even if boss is invisible or poison her. Sorcerers can also use homing spells. |
| Jump + Freezing | Friede jumps in the air and tries to land on player. After landing a circle of ice appears, which explodes after a second dealing serious frost damage. |
| Freeze Jump | Friede freeze arena directly in front of her, then jumps on player dealing both frost and psychical damage and causes ice path to explode. If she lands far from that path, it gives a good opportunity to perform backstab attack. |
| Freeze attack | Sister Friede freezes the ground in front of her at medium range, in a triangle-like shape. Walking on it causes frost damage. After a few seconds it explodes and causes massive frost damage. Can be avoided with ease. |
| Scythe Swings | Friede swings three times, dealing both physical and magic damage. Can cause Frostbite effect. Simply roll away from her. |
| Scythe Swing + Jump | Friede attacks with her scythe and jumps back to avoid being hit. |
| Healing (2nd battle phase) | Friede, after a short preparation, restores some of the hp lost during the battle. Hit her with any weapon to break the spell. |
Second Phase (3rd battle phase) - In this phase Friede uses Dark Pyromancy and is labeled as Darkflame Friede. She uses a few attacks from her first phase, but they are now more powerful.
| Second Phase (3rd battle phase) | |
| Blackflame flying smash + homing snake | Often the first move she does in phase three. Friede goes up with black fireworks, comes down with a smashing AoE and a homing flame snake. Keep running left or right and after the first smash part, run behind her and backstab. |
| Two invisible ice waves + big blackflame snake | The first ice wave lets you know where she is and the second ice wave lets you know if she is going left or right. If the second ice wave attack happens left from the place she did the first one, she jumps left again and will be helplessly charging the blackflame snake somewhere left, providing an easy backstab opportunity. |
| Fast dash to decapitating grab | While in medium distance from you, Friede's blue scythe flashes and she dashes towards you, grabbing you in a guillotine attack. Dodge the grab a little left and towards her to end up behind her for the backstab. |
| Long combo to small jumping smash | Friede starts with a small jump and keeps swinging multiple times until she finishes with a small and fast jumping smash. Dodge the last move towards her and go for the backstab if you can. |
| Scythe grab + Hit | Blackflame Friede tries to bring player closer with her scyte, then she swiftly attack dealing both Fire and Physical damage. Rolling from her is a good strategy to avoid damage. |
| Quick healing | Very rarely, Blackflame Friede may restore some healthpoints. |
Father Ariandel - Second Battle phase Only
| First Phase (Second Battle Phase) | |
| Fire Breath | Ariandel slowly lifts his huge bowl to his face and blows on it for a few seconds, which releases a huge flame. Inflict huge fire damage, but with good timing player can avoid this flame and perform counter-attack. |
| Bowl Stomp | Ariandel attacks the ground right before him with bowl up to 3 times. Deals high physical damage, but can be avoided. |
| Fire Bowl Stomp | Ariandel attacks the ground right before him with his bowl 3 times - first two attacks deal pure psychical damage, third one causes a massive explosion, which inflicts fire damage. Attacks are telegraphed, so player can avoid them with ease. |
| Rush | Ariandel rushes towards the player and attacks with his huge bowl. Attack deals pretty high physical damage, but can be avoided. After that attack, Father Ariandel needs to stop for a few seconds. |
| Lava Rain | Ariandel tilts his bowl, which causes a huge pool of fire to appear around him (the pool doubles its size in a few seconds). Deals massive fire damage. |
| Bowl Swing | Ariandel swing his bowl, dealing high physical damage |
How to fight and beat Sister Friede
Strategy 1 (Melee)
Before advancing to take her on, summon the NPC by the bonfire.
In the first phase of the fight, Sister Friede will shoot streaks of frost that deal heavy frost damage, and can quickly inflict Frostbite. She will often become invisible and teleport directly over your head, finishing with a lethal move. You can counter this by watching for a puff of fog where she lands behind you or listening for her footsteps. You can walk up and interrupt her invisibility spell. Her attacks can be easily interrupted and she is also vulnerable to backstabbing. When this phase is complete, the next two are incredibly difficult.
A cutscene will indicate the start of the second phase, at which point Ariandel joins the fight. The NPC you summoned prior to the fight will appear at this point and will assist you. Let your companion occupy Friede while you shift your attention to Ariandel. You can hit him from behind, but be wary of his powerful attacks. Eventually he will become staggered and open for a critical attack. During this phase both bosses share the same health bar, but attacking Father Ariandel makes the health bar deplete much more quickly.
In this final phase of the fight, Sister Friede will become Blackflame Friede will begin to deal dark damage in addition to her frost and melee abilities now augmented with increased speed. Be wary of standing next to her as she comes back to life. She will begin to mix in a dark beam as well as a charged dark explosion that both deal a tremendous amount of damage. She will occasionally also take to the air and attempt a devastating attack from above. To defeat her keep your melee distance and dodge her magical attacks to the left and right, dodge far to the left to avoid her dark charged explosion. When she slows down take advantage of the window to get some attacks in and then retreat. Repeat this process of evasion and attack until she is defeated.
In conjunction with everything else that applies to melee players, below is a playbook of tips on how to beat Sister Friede and Father Ariandel (provided the player's weapon is a faster swinger, like a Broadsword, or better):
- In the first of three phases of the fight, Sister Friede will more often open up with a melee attack. In this phase, her attacks do not exceed the number of three hits (not accounting for rapid succession. Sometimes, she will deal two hits, and also she will do two hits, then another two in rapid succession, but an attack window is there) before she calms down, so use that to damage her. She can be back-stabbed so if you are in that position (which is rare), then go for it!
- Sister Friede tends to teleport, when this happens, go up against a wall, and wait for the audio cue, which kind of sounds like swinging blades. Next, dodge roll.
- Sister Friede's dodge roll timing is different than a typical melee user and many bosses, because she likes to roll-catch by using a fast windup, and a very fast swing. Wait for the actual swing to dodge, and you will be good.
- Friede is only open when she is recovering. When she poises herself to attack by going into stance (she will align the handle of her scythe parallel to her upper shoulders)
- One big tactical advantage is to stay in swinging distance of Friede when she is not trying to evade. This way, you can interrupt her attacks (she has little poise) and stun-lock her for some hits. She is fairly forgiving on the player needing stamina, so don't fret if you get greedy and eat up more than half of your stamina hitting her.
- One big tip is Estus timing, here. Because of this boss fight's overall HP of 18,877, the player should wait, provided they have 14 of +10 strength Estus or more (easy, if you finished the main story), and only pop an Estus when they do 1349 damage, so their Estus reserve is in pace. If not, the player sadly has to adjust their Estus to the enemy's health.
- For phase two, just get in hits when things are calm, and people are not attacking. Ariandel takes more damage per hit and shares the same health bar with Friede, but don't bait yourself into getting hit by rushing. The player can use Ariandel as a buffer, but constantly trying to make this happen can get the player hit, out of distraction. Ariandel's attacks do not stick to the player much, and overall both bosses are less aggressive, so when Friede is in her calm periods, it is easy to get damage on Ariandel for an easier phase two, but Friede will use some of her attacks in first phase, so be ready to go after Friede if you're really trying to conserve Estus.
- In phase three, as you probably know, Friede becomes Blackflame Friede. She will open up with a roughly five-hit cyclone, has homing attacks, an AOE, and does a combo where she frosts the floor with a trail, that may slightly home in on the player. After about two swings of this frost combo, the player is open. Other openings are very dangerous!
- The player should not rush this fight. Friede and Ariendel are kind of glass-cannon builds, so although openings are the absolute scarcest (just to be all-inclusive and safe), the player gets in nice damage for every opening, and the fight ends fairly quickly. With a physical AR of 426 or better, the player gets a nice pace.
- To speak in visible terms, this is a hybrid boss fight. Ariendel and Friede borrow, with respect to severity from Lorian's teleportation, Aldrich's ranged magic, Lord of Cinder's curved sword attacks, Dragon Slayer Armor's slow but heavy attacks, Ornstein & Smough's mobility, Manus' short opportunities for damage, and Nameless King's insane AOE attacks. Now, does this make them as hard as those guys? Not so much. The low HP offsets that, but the player should absolutely be very survival-oriented, and hold their survival much higher over doing DPS, because magnetism towards the bosses tends to create most, if not all the damage caused in this fight.
However, the demands scale up really high when one goes into NG+7, so I will add some new caveats for each phase
Phase I:
- A good rule of thumb here is that when Sister Friede has done a combo and has gone calm or idle, she is open. One may know from previous playthroughs that she staggers easy, but please know that she comes out of her stagger very quickly, no matter how big the weapon is. When this happens, it is VERY likely that she will counter you, so STOP your attack combo and don't spam. Get ready to book it and get back to dodging when she comes out of that stagger!
- Friede deals Physical and Magic damage for her first two phases. Her third phase also includes Dark damage, but her Dark attacks are easily nullified with horizontal rolls, so using a +2 Magic Stoneplate Ring is a nice addition because one gets a benefit on every hit.
- Her teleport can be dealt with in three ways. A. You can run into her while she is teleporting to keep her in one place and visible for some free damage. B. You can wait for the snow under her feet to fluff up, showing she has teleported, then spin 180 degrees and scan around for a few seconds. The snow will splash where she lands and you can hit her. C. jog (not sprint) in a circle in case you fail to find her. Once the audio cue comes up, roll in a circle and you get a safer dodge roll.
- Having an equip load of under 29% helps a bit. Not a game changer, but it improves your dodge roll animation.
- She almost always finishes a combo with a fast, emphasized scythe swing with a distinct metallic blade audio cue, where the scythe sounds like it is cutting air.
Phase II:
- The fight will start with Friede being resurrected. Lock on to Friede, and move left, and back, towards that corner of the room, so about 7 o'clock, where the snake doll in the nook behind Father Ariandel would be 12 o'clock, for reference.
- Move counter-clockwise. This allows you to be on the side of Friede's ice trail traps so you can punish them. Moving clockwise is acceptable if you're trying to hit Ariandel.
- Hitting Ariandel in passing is a way to get free damage.
- Don't try to fight these bosses when they are close together. You may get caught during rolling.
- Moving in and out of Friede's range to bait her melee combo may reward big, safe damage while Ariandel is not a threat during her cooldown window.
- Do NOT let them get you in any of the two nooks in the map. Father Ariandel will easily blow flames, making it hard to escape. Sometimes, even Friede will block your escape, causing serious problems. Getting locked up against a wall also nets a similar result.
- When Friede goes invisible to heal Ariandel, she almost always is nearby him. Scan in the radius around him, and you should find her. Backstabbing her keeps you safe from counters, here, because again, comboing Friede can de-stun her and let her counter you.
- Father Ariandel likes to hit you when his bowl is out of view, he likes to catch you off guard, and he likes to roll-catch. So don't think you're safe around him.
Phase III:
- This is the Blackflame Friede phase. Be prepared as this is the most difficult phase.
- Her first attack of this phase is almost always a jumping AOE slam, that deals dark damage. Be out of range and roll sideways for a safe counter.
- Her attack where she spins and tries to cut your throat may be an instant death. Rolling around three times is a good way to survive it.
- There is no free damage during this phase like the last two phases. In other words, you have to wait for those ending animations and windup animations to get your damage in.
- If she's invisible, she will do two or three ice trails. The player can then go up against the wall and see which trail she's making. Rolling with a preference for fast reactions may be a solid counter, here.
- She follows up her invisible attack with a black serpent which is both difficult to dodge and is heavy hitting, your best bet is to get up close and watch for her scythe instead of the flame.
- Her black flame AOE attacks always have a black flame trail. Rolling sideways is very good, here.
- For many players, one hit is one Estus worth of health lost in this fight. Almost every hit is one of her magically charged attacks (these attacks show a blue flash or flash of black flame, so learn the counters for these attacks well).
- Blackflame Friede is slightly weak to rolling, including double-rolling and triple-rolling, because her Scythe's hitbox is small, and moves fast. Take advantage of this.
That is all! The player should now know how to avoid damage from Friede and Ariandel, while dealing it out, for that easy but still skillful win.
Strategy 2 (Melee + Lightning Blade, Solo)
For Stage 1: Try to be aggressive when she teleports so you can cancel her attack as it's very powerful and can almost one shot the player.For Stage 2: Leave Friede alone and go after Ariandel. Attack him from the back or the sides while being wary of his attacks and AOE smash. Roll through Friede's ice attacks. Ariandel may or may not be ripostable but he should go down fairly quickly.
For Stage 3: Play more passive while you understand Friede's attacks. Most have a wide or long AOE and do massive damage. There is a slight delay between the scythe swings, giving you a chance to attack and break her poise.
Strategy 3 (Melee - Bleed build, Solo)
Before fight: Find, equip and upgrade Warden Twinblades (or any weapon, that by default can cause Blood Loss and can be buffed) and buy at least 20 Carthus Rouge (in case you fail to beat the boss on first run - average run with final phase requires up to 4-5 Carthus Rouges). While choosing the rest of your set (shield is not necessary) try to increase fire and frost resistance as much as possible, but do not forget about agility and physical defense. Just before the fight use Carthus Rouge and reapply during break in fight or at beginning of phase.
1st phase: You will face only Sister Friede, an easily staggered boss on whom critical attacks can be deadly. During her invisibility run across the room and after the sound jump in opposite direction of her attack (hard, but possible to avoid). Attack after her attacks - every three to four hits you will trigger the bleed damage, on NG+3 this was around 1000 damage.
2nd phase: Instead of fighting Friede focus on Ariandel because he seems to be more vulnerable to bleed than Friede, but keep in mind that the combination of Friede's frost attack and Ariandel's bowl stomp is usually deadly. The most suitable moment for attacking is after Ariandel's rush. Dodge and then simply run to him and strike multiple times (On NG+3 his rush can easily deal 4500 damage). When Friede uses her healing spell you don't have to interrupt her, as simply attacking Ariandel will negate the spell effect (as well as lowering the total amount of HP). Just keep in mind to avoid Ariandel's attacks, because no matter what armor you use they will probably deliver a lot of damage, if not a fatal blow.
3rd phase: DON'T RUSH TOWARDS HER during her transformation (her HP will replenish and you will take some fire damage). Use that moment to heal or use Carthus Rouge. In this phase she is WAY more dangerous than in the first or second phase. The best opportunity to attack her is after the massive dark flame AoE attack that uses some kind of upgraded Dark Serpent. A few successful hits will deal massive bleed damage.
Strategy 4 (Sorcery, Solo)
Equipment: Court Sorcerer's Staff +10, Magic Clutch Ring, Bellowing and Young Dragoncrest Ring, Sage Ring (+1/+2). Scholar's Candlestick in offhand for sorcery boost. A fast weapon like a straightsword is also helpful for flushing her out when she turns invisible.
Armor: Crown of Dusk, rest of Northern Armor Set
Estus: 11 orange/4 blue
With this loadout and 99 INT, I was doing around 600 per hit with GHSA. This spell is your bread and butter for this fight since there is so much HP to burn through, and it also staggers her reliably.
First phase: Just try to keep your distance constantly as she attacks, avoiding corners and the ends of the room. I like to save up stamina to full or almost full before firing off a volley of spells, as opposed to hammering R1 when you have minimal stamina. When she turns invisible, jog up and down the length of the room, reversing course occasionally to confound her aim. Or, if you happened to see the direction she went, (sometimes you can catch a glimpse of her as she flies past) run after her and hit her with your weapon to stagger her out of the assassination attack.
Second phase: Other than her exploding ice patches, you can ignore Friede almost entirely as long as you stay away from her. Focus fire on Ariandel from a distance, which will probably cause him to use his bowl slam to drag himself toward you. The thing about this attack is he can't easily turn once he commits to a direction. Right after he slams his bowl into the ground near you, roll/run behind him, and you should get a ton of free hits as he careens past. This phase should be a gimme as you can burn down Ariandel quickly with sorcery.
Third phase: During her resurrection animation, Friede will prop her scythe on the ground to pull herself to her feet. Don't stand too close, but right at this moment, you should be able to lock on to her and get 2 or 3 free shots before she starts attacking. This phase comes down to staying away from Friede while effectively dodging her ranged attacks. Her black flame tornado followed by shooting a flame snake got me a few times, but you can avoid it just by locking onto her and strafing sideways. When she goes invisible, avoid her exploding ice patches and wait for her to reappear, watching out for her black flame snake. You can sometimes interrupt her combos with sorcery, but I found it to be more reliable to hit her at the end of her combos, as she sometimes punishes your casting by firing a black flame snake that will hit you during your spell animation. Just back/roll away from her constantly while waiting for an opening.
Strategy 5 (Backstabbing Pyromancer, Solo)
Equipment: Rings boosting fire damage and Ring of Favor, 5 Estus and 7 Ashen Estus, Armor & Weapons: Brass Set, Chaos Mail Breaker +10 (right hand), Pyromancy Flame +10 (left hand), Spell: Chaos Bed Vestige
Pyromancer using this spell with 32 Intelligence and 32 Faith will deal high damage with Chaos Bed Vestige - around 700 in case of Friede and even 1,000 or more to Ariandel. Mail Breaker is a must to break dangerous Friede attacks or backstab her (backstab may deal up to 700 damage).
1st phase: Try to limit attacks to moments where Friede is preparing to strike; otherwise, you risk Friede evading the spell or receiving minor damage. If you play carefully, Friede will be downed pretty fast.
2nd phase: Don't focus on Friede, but watch for her attacks with AoE or when she starts to heal. Attack Ariandel, and when he has a cooldown or stationary attacks like Fire Breath spam him with CBV (if you're not in danger) as he is very weak to fire. If Friede starts to heal hit her with CBV to break down the spell or backstab her.
3rd phase: Watch out for attacks, and attack during cooldowns or to break some of her actions. Mail Breaker is useful to backstab or stun her.
Sister Friede & Father Ariandel Dialogue
Player approaching Father Ariandel, before first fight
(Ariandel): I see flame. Flame, flickering, once again. Not enough blood yet shed. My flail.... Bring me my flail. Ahh, Friede. What stops thine ears? Please, my flail, right away...
Cutscene dialogue, before fight (needs to be triggered by approaching Ariandel and choosing option "Talk")
(Ariandel): Ahh, oh. Bring Friede to me, please. Canst thou not see? The flame, flickering once again. Soon it will surge. I can see it, feel it...
(Friede appears, this time as boss)
(Friede): Fret no father, we have no need of thy flail. Tis only the flame, quivering at misguided Ash. Please avert thine eyes. I will snuff out these ashes for good.
Dialogue, after second phase
(Ariandel): When the Ashes are two, a flame alighteth. Thou'rt Ash, and fire befits thee, of course...
Player is not a Lord of Londor
Dialogue, first phase, player dies
(Friede): Return from whence thou cam'st
For that is thy place of belonging.
Dialogue, second/third phase, player dies
(Friede): Leave us be, Ashen One.
Sweep all thought of us from thy mind. As thy kind always have.
Player is a Lord of Londor
Dialogue, first phase, player dies
(Friede): Return from whence thou cam'st
Yuria surely awaits thee.
Dialogue, second/third phase, player dies
(Friede): Leave us be, Ashen One.
Thou art the Lord of Londor and have thine own subjects to guide.
Player completed Lord of Hollow ending, but not started next NG Cycle
Dialogue, player dies
(Friede): Return Lord of Londor. You have your own subjects to attain to.
Sister Friede Lore Theories
The eldest of three sisters: Friede, Yuria and Liliane are founders of the Sable Church of Londor.
Sister Friede Trivia
- If player approaches the statue which covers the boss room before opening it up, he can hear sound coming from the room. It is Father Ariandel smacking himself with a Rose of Ariandel. Strangely, near Ariandel there is no flail he may hit himself with, and when player enters boss fight arena for the first time, he asks to bring him one.
- However, in Ashes of Ariandel trailer, player can spot a flail he may use.
- Father Ariandel will mostly go for the player, which attacked Friede last.
- Father Ariandel has green skin, similar to Hollow players in Dark Souls II.
- Gael's summon for this battle does not count as a regular summon. Therefore, player can still summon up to 3 player phantoms. And does not increase her health.
- Weapon used by Father Ariandel bear some similarities to the Lordvessel from Dark Souls I.
Some people say that Friede is on a speed scale to Bloodborne, while the player is at a Ds3 speed scale, mainly due to her extreme comboability and her extremely low attack lag during the 3rd phase.
Sister Friede Gallery
Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I always loved how despite being a human boss with no poise just like us and every other human character, she can get of combos so easily, shows how deticated her footwork actually is; maybe that is why she bare footed to begin with
- Anonymous
Fun (and not particularly useful for NG) fact: her boss soul weapon can consistently stunlock her (2h light attacks). It felt rather satisfying to give her hell with her own scythe after my struggles in NG.
- Anonymous
This is terrible boss and anyone who thinks otherwise should kill themselves and throw their dead body in pack of hounds so people can die die die die die die die
- Anonymous
WHY GOD?! WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN US SORCERERS?! WHY IS HALF OF THE BOSS ROSTER RESISTANT TO MAGIC?!
- Anonymous
got angry and farmed 60vitality on winged angels, put some havel's + his shield, lothric knight sword+10, lighting greese. tanked the **** outta of her phase3. Boys, dont try to play nice & 'right'. that ***** along with 2demons in ringed city DOES NOT deserve it. gael was far more entertaining, midir was rng but bearable. this fight is just annoying, nothing else. i was really happy when i beat Gael. and felt nothing but anger and relief after beating this bullshit
Would be an S tier boss if not for those got damn recovery animations taken straight out of Bloodborne. She will literally do a 10 hit combo and dash away the millisecond it is over and before you even get to do anything
- Anonymous
thank you miyazaki for all the barefoot women in your games
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
For Sorcerers, you can cast Crystal Soulmass whenever she goes invis in phase 1. It hits her right as she becomes real and staggers her so she can never get the grab off. Normal Homing Soulmass might work, but I haven't tested :p
- Anonymous
in stage 3 wait for her blue charge dash attack and slam attack, then dash towards her
dont get greedy when she slams and lands on the ice she created, itll explode and deal alot of damage to you
thats pretty much her only opening. i used black knight greatsword + glass crest shield, it staggers her in 1 hit but its really slow so you can only attack after she does those attacks.
summon gael as well he'll save alot of time in 2nd phase, if he survives its really easy to gank her
- Anonymous
Waiting for attacks that can be backstabbed and then spamming r1 as she gets up is the only viable strategy in phase 3, not great if you ask me. But still better than Malenia because no waterfowl/clone bs that kills you instantly
- Anonymous
Idk, maybe took 10 tries, absolutely loved it this time (nostalgy run). But boy, 7 years ago when i got the titanite slab i was already celebrating, then got stomped so fuc***g hard that i had to summon a phantom.
But now i git gud
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
**** soloing, me and the boys know summoning Gael and cornering her in phase 3 is the real strategy.
- Anonymous
can someone make a list of all the bosses that are barefoot in all the souls games? i want to know to see exactly how far miyazaki has gone with it lol
- Anonymous
This is among the worst bosses ever designed by FS. Up there, alongside Demon of Hatred. ****ing hell 3 phases design is atrocious
- Anonymous
Just solo'd her after what must've been 40+ attempts. Finally won because I switched to an axe (usual choice is greatsword), she's really fast. Midir was easier tbh.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Legit one of the retard boss from this game and the main reason why frostbite is one of the worst **** they made.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Anyone else screamed "WHEN IS IT MY TURN TO ATTACK MOMMY" in phase three? No? Just me?
- Anonymous
New player doing first playthrough so I don't know if this is a bug, but even after killing Friede I'm still able to see and use player summon signs outside of her Arena.
- Anonymous
Ringed Knight Paired Greatswor goes brrrr. On others bulids 2nd is garbage
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Friede in Phase 3 be like: swing, swing, swing swing, cross slash, swing, flame burst, floor swipe, swing, grab attack, swing swing, fire snake, fire snake, hoarfrost stomp x3, defying gravity jumping slash, swing swing, swing, cross slash, grab attack, swing, grab attack, swing, poops, swing, fire snake, fire snake, cross slash, hoarfrost stomp x3, ends combo. fun game. been at this all day sl1 for 10+ hours. ost sucks so much, turned it off, replaced with serene calming music, got high, pls kill, my address is 123help
- Anonymous
Dumbest things in Dark Souls:
1) duo bosses
2) bosses that have phases with full hp bar
Shes not hard, she is annoying. Also worst part is that last phase has different moveset and first two phases simply exhaust and waste time.
Tips for this dogshit boss:
-Use throwing knives/kukri etc/ they will stick to her and you will have easyer time to find her when she is in stealth
-Use fast weapon with good reach/good roll+attack weapon -> Astora greatsword is very good here, every attack will stagger her and interrupt her
-Backstab her when she is in stealth preparing attack in phase 1 or in phase 3 go for backstab on her 3rd hit out of stealth - first and 2nd will be frost cones, 3rd - blackshit something projectile.
-You can corner her in phase 1 and spam L1 with Astora GS to death (to phase 2 actually)
-2nd phase is patience test, just run from 1 corner to another and when mfkers are split hit her daddy like no tomorrow.
-Spam dodge rolls
-Come when you done like full game. This boss is real battle of attrition and having 14 flasks +10 will help alot.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Spiked Mace + lightning blade or lightning grease, beat her 3rd try
- Anonymous
I just beat this ***** as god intended, with a lot of parrying and very shaky hands! God damn havent felt such a rush since O&S in DKS1 on my first playtrough.
can someone help me I've given up after 100 attempts not joking I counted
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
dogshit bossfight. 3 phases with the last having the most attacks to learn and almost all of them rollcatch.
- Anonymous
When I killed her I had help from a co-operator named Yeshua.
Praise Jesus!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
am I doing something wrong with this fight I'm using uchigatana +7 and 50 dex and I'm on attempt 87
- Anonymous
“With Gael or another summoned player pulling away her focus, she is vulnerable from behind, especially to backstabs.”
- Anonymous
Decent fight but I have no idea when I was supposd to hit her in phase 3, it always felt like I was doing it wrong
- Anonymous
profaned flame knocks her ass on the ground if it connects and can stagger her out of phase 3 combos. Not the most useful spell in this fight, but it helped me out a few times.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
can we talk about the bizarre wooden doll in the back of the room?
- Anonymous
Consiglio per tutti quelli che l' hanno battuta :ottenete da Silvano le armi di friede (spendendo l'anima de friede) potenziate la a +5 è n'a Madonna(n.2(
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Absolutly horrible boss, her 3rd phase is ****, she just spams aoe attacks and never leaves opening room, plus her invisability is BS.
- Anonymous
If you want to make this fight 10X easier:
Build-wise, fast weapons are best, both for interrupting and for applying poison/bleed to ariandal. Also a huge help for ganking her in phase 3.
1) Bring 30 Kukris. Start the fight by hitting her with around 5 of them. They will stick into her head and when she turns invisible, the kukri won't and you'll easily be able to combo her to interrupt her invisible throw every time she tries it. Makes first phase pretty simple, really. They stay visible for about a minute, but that should be lots of time to finish the first phase. Otherwise, throw a few more into her head as you go. When she does the Donatello-Bo stance, she never seems to dodge Kukris, so thats always a good time to stick a couple more in.
2) Second phase, just put poison or bleed on a fast attacking weapon and try to kill Ariandal with it as fast as you can. Stay as close as you safely can until you have an opening on his back or side or he does the stationary fire breathing, and you should be able to kill him in 3 or 4 passes. If you're fast enough so Gael Survives Phase 2, phase 3 is especially a piece of cake.
3) Third phase, as soon as you can target her during the revival animation, start throwing Kukris at her to remove the danger of invisibility. If Gael is still alive, just keep going for her back and gank the **** out of her. Again, fast attacking weapon is the best. If Gael is already dead or gets dead, make sure you reapply 4-5 kukris to her every 45-60 seconds.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
One time I was streaming to my friend and she somehow managed to shove me into one of the corners of the room in her blackflame phase.
Long story short: she tore me a new one and I was like “Aww man! She shoved me up against a wall!” and then my friend said, incredibly loudly and completely out of nowhere; “Damn! I wish that were me!”
Hardest I ever laughed in my whole life lmao
- Anonymous
If you are having trouble trying to solo melee Friede, using a weapon with the perseverance weapon art makes the fight a lot easier.
- Anonymous
"Ariandel is a fragile boss, therefore he is weak to all types of damage, most noticeable is weakness to Frostbite, Bleed and Fire Damage."
...while his absorptions are fire -19%, lightning/dark -27%... not so sure why fire is mentioned as a weakness specifically.
- Anonymous
Finally beat her at sl30 +3 after close to 100ish tries. Popped off so hard I broke my chair lol.
- Anonymous
Still haven't beat her. She's kicking my ass and it's pretty hot.
- Anonymous
Personal favorite Souls boss. Dunno, maybe my build was broken or something at this point, but I had a blast against her.
+cool design
++banger soundtrack
- Anonymous
Beat her for the first time just now (solo, fully upgraded flasks, +10 straight sword). I only parried her in phase 1, during phase 3 I was too scared of whiffing it and losing all my progress. Each phase has its challenges, but once you've got 1 and 2 down 3 isn't too bad. Good fight. Ended up finishing with a backstab, which was suitably cinematic.
PS: I can totally vouch for that other user whose heart started racing at the end of phase 3. My hands are still shaking from the adrenaline, lol.
Random? Unfair? Sudden hyperarmor jump backs which make literally zero sense? Teleporting around like on crack? 3 (!) overly prolonged phases? Weird scythe delays? Input reading? All is nothing, for a pair of feet and a blackflame bdsm mommy spank, 10/10
- Anonymous
Finished the fight just for the first time just now. Fought her square and fair - solo, melee 2 handling Exile greatsword. Was rough, due to how slow sword attacks, but in about 3 hours I managed. Liked it a lot and my heart was beating fast at the end of the last phase - rarely happens. Her 1st phase never stopped bothering me. 2nd is sort of easy and 3rd can be extremely discouraging at first. Would've loved a 2nd mini cutscene from phase 2 to 3 instead of the wait time.
- Anonymous
Fought her square and fair - solo melee with big ass 2 handing Exile great sword. Was rough, due to how slow great sword attack, but in about 3 hours I managed. Liked it a lot and my heart was beating fast at the end of the last phase - rarely happens. Her 1st phase never stopped bothering me, but it's manageable. 2nd is sort of easy and 3rd can be extremely discouraging at first. Would've loved a 2nd mini cutscene from phase 2 to 3 instead of the wait time.
- Anonymous
After spending what must have been 5+ hours trying to beat this boss on ng, I can attest to the fact that this fight is pretty poorly designed.
Phase 1 is an engaging duel on the first few attempts, until she becomes invisible. You spend a couple of attempts getting your s*it kicked in until you figure out how the gimmick works, after which the first phase becomes trivial. Wait for her to go invisible, see where she goes, raptor flurry her and then keep attacking until she bleeds, rinse and repeat. If you feel frisky you might even try to parry or backstab her, but it's not necessary.
Second phase is atrocious. In their neutral state father ariandel and friede stick together, making them way too dangerous to attack, as every neatly desined duo boss battle by from software does not account for friendly fire, so friede's scythe can conveniently phase through ariandel's body and hit you when you least expect it. And it f*cking hurts. You have to wait for one of father's very dangerous tantrums to occur, avoid his charge as to not get squashed and pretty much instakilled if friede decides to to do her freeze attack (which is pretty much always) and rush straight after the big simp and wail on him, before the inevitable frost explosion, friede closing in on you or her trying to heal, because this phase wasn't bullsh*t enough apparently. Pray to god your camera doesn't get stuck in a corner in the process. Also ariandel hits for a billion damage, expecially with his exploding slam that i barely understand how to read, and his weirdly long and slow horizontal swing that still hits you for full damage even when it really shouldn't. And his lava pool attack. I really recommend using the lance for this phase. Also his wonky hitboxes can prevent you from hitting him at all, and cause you to get hit during his charge even if you're behind him. Getting hit by both him and friede at the same time pretty much means death. Instant.
So never wail too much, or even at all, because you'll have to gtfo before the frost explosion goes off, and have the stamina to do so. Which you most likely won't have. During this phase it is better to solely focus on the father, as trying to focus on friede will result in ariandel using his fire breath attack, which is the only ranged attack he has, and also his only attack that doesn't have a (very loud) audio cue like the rest. The only thing it has in common with the rest of his moveset is the damage it does. So never focus on friede unless she's trying to heal, probably on the opposite side of the arena. If you can't run fast enough, that's on you.
After the atrocity that is phase 2, you're finally able to have a proper duel with friede, after having all of your estus consumed by the second phase, as well as your will to live. She has a grab attack that will kill you, an incredibly complex moveset, a lot of health and also a lot of input reading. And have fun managing your stamina in this phase. But that's all i have to complain about in phase 3. It's the only phase of the fight that's worthy of being praised, only thing is that to reach it you have to go through the boredom that is phase 1 and endure the CBT that is phase 2 in order to attempt it, every single time. I do believe that the best way to do this fight is summon gael for phase 2 to make it bearable or trivialise it, then let gael get decapitated and face blackflame friede with double her health. You'll still have a challenge, but at least it's a fun one
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This was the first difficult DS3 boss I beat that gave me no rush or sense of satisfaction afterwards. I didn't even get a sense of relief that it was over, I just feel exhausted and sick of the game. The fight is just too damn long. Phase 2 is just both too unenjoyable and long. Having to spend 8 minutes or so getting through Phase 1 & 2 cleanly for every chance to maybe learn something about Phase 3 just becomes exhausting and unfun.
Learning Phase 1 was fun, and I got it down to nailing it hit-less. All attacks are telegraphed, you can figure out the invisibility move if you pay attention and she staggers easily. You can even parry her if you want, though that is risky.
Phase 3 is possibly just beyond what I'm capable of dealing with in terms of pace, but it was still pretty fun in isolation, despite being a tad too hectic for me.
The story of the fight, the cutscenes and the shock value of phase 3 is epic the first time you see it, but Phase 2 is just such a slog that trying to learn Phase 3 becomes a frustrating, tedious chore. Maybe this is the point in the Souls-games where I am supposed to give up, and accept that I am not good enough to play them.
I spent probably 15+ hours in total on Friede over the course of three days, and I don't know if I have it in me to continue into The Ringed City DLC. Especially if this is a sign of what's to come.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Me and my homeboi Gael stunlocked her in 3rd phase when i first played ds3. years later me and my homeboi mimic tear stunlocked malenia in ER. *****es are temporary but bonk is eternal. truly magnificent experiences.
- Anonymous
I want to like her, but for me the fight is mostly defined by how reliably my char can stunlock her in phase 3. Having to actually learn her patterns is annyoing because of all sins thrown together: input reading, wonky AoEs and hitboxes, delays and snap attacks.
phase 1 is fine and i actually like phase 2 a lot. it's only annoying when you have to repeat 1 and especially 2 a lot.
- Anonymous
~40 tries later , like a week in total , switching weapons and embering mid fight , friede is finally beaten without any summons at level 63 .....
before you say "no one thinks youre cool because you beat a boss in a video game "the right way"" i say **** you, i know that , do whatever you like , i did it because thats how i want to play the game
- Anonymous
Malenia if she was actually good. Both are dex using monkey ladies with feet.
- Anonymous
A 10/10 boss that gets dragged down by a very mid 2nd phase. It would of been much better if either they went with Phase 2 or Phase 3, and not have kept both in there.
Phase 1 was actually very enjoyable. The only part that gets me is the teleport attack, which isn't the *worst* to get used to, as you need to pay attention to where the snow goes, or as I learned from trial and error, just rush at her and one attack seems to prevent her from doing it til she winds it up again.
Phase 2 at first was really cool, I loved the cutscene of Ariandel raging out, and then Fride essentially coming back to life using the fire, seemingly embering herself (idk if she's kindled or not but still just seeing that was so damn cool and made me hype). HOWEVER, it starts to become a bit of a pain when you got the big guy bum rushing you, and then Fride playing support now, even coming equipped with a heal. Poison did the trick, and then I equipped my Serpent Ring and was happy with how the boss was; phase 2 worse than phase 1, but still a absolutely fantastic bo-
*And then phase 3 starts*
And this is also where I said **** it, I'm going to the wiki to see what shes weak to and if there's anything else. And then I found out Slave Knight Gale is a summon, and decided that it was justified using a summon, when I hadn't in any other boss fight. Phase 3 visually is super cool and more of the same with added attacks and damage, but it comes after 2 other phases, meaning that your running low on estus, meaning that one more mistake means back to the start. I don't want a checkpoint or anything, however there should be *some* kind of leniency at least, like maybe she starts at 75% or the flames from the 2nd phase puts you in the ember state, something to even the playing field when you get 1 full life, and she gets 3, alongside an ally.
It really felt overtuned a bit. Now granted, I'm not 100% sure what lvl you should be doing it at as its my first playthrough and decided to try and beat the DLCs before beating the game, and was at lvl 81 when fighting her, but even considering that I could be underlvled, it would still be quite a bit to fight against even if I was an appropriate lvl.
Overall: 8/10, but easily could of been 10/10 and one of my favorite boss fights between both ER and DS3, maybe even all of gaming to be frank, the story telling and atmosphere are elite. Here's hoping Nameless King, Gael, and Cinder aren't overtuned.
(I wanna leave another post when I get to those, so I guess I'll sign it with Zero for anyone who cares to read this dissertation about the feet church lady)
- Zero
phase 1: parry
phase 2: focus on father whatshisname
phase 3: R U N
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
phase 2 drags this fight down so much, phase 1 and 3 are both solid 1v1s but goddamn that second phase is garbage, no matter what strat you have for it. filler ass phase
- Anonymous
Second phase makes this fight a drag. Nothing worse than reaching phase 3, with her being one hit away, getting offer by her scythe gap-closer, then having to repeat everything all over again.
- Anonymous
Any decently strong weapon for first phase
Dorhys gnawing or other bleed for Ariandel while Gael takes Friede
Ganking Friede with Gael in third phase
Easy
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Great fight Overall. Might be a Phase to long but satisfied after she dies. Fight feels fairer then most like Gael or Dancer.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Boulder heave is an incredibly reliable cheese strat. Backstab her and spam it and she rarely gets out.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Worst boss fight in the game (didn't die hundreds of times to Friede).
Also. still would.
- Anonymous
"With Gael or another summoned player pulling away his focus, [Ariandel's] backside is completely vulnerable."
Reject Friede, and focus on what's important in life...
- Anonymous
"It is highly recommended to summon him, as he will make Phases 2 and 3 much easier to beat. It should be noted that defeating Demon Prince in the The Ringed City DLC first will disable this summon."
Guh.
- Anonymous
I don't think I saw this above, but her invisible teleport is telegraphed. She'll swing her scythe to kick up some snow, and then jump. As she jumps, more snow is kicked into the air. If it launches straight up, she lands behind you. If it sprays to the left, she jumped directly right, and if it sprays right she jumped left. Run up and smack her around as she charges the dash.
- Anonymous
1) push your advantage, she has a crippling habit of running into your attacks after getting hit. She can dodge them but can't follow dodge with anything, so no big deal.
Rush her down with a running attack when she takes stance. She has three moves out of it only one of which is fast enough to trade with you and it barely does any damage on the first hit of the two.
Done with exile great sword, not sure if smaller arms can poise break her.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
finally figured out a consistend way to beat p2: respec and get faith to 25 -> Dorhys Gnawing since Ariandel is weak to Dark and Bleed, then simply walk away until he collapses for a second, 2 casts and repeat. from range you can even look for Elfriedes heal.
- Anonymous
Honestly, i dont think p3 is that hard. what makes it hard is you having to fight through p1 and especially p2 again. p2 is just so annoying. If you want to play it save to have enough estus for p3 you need to run away and separate them, which takes time and patience.
p2 feels so inconsistent, sometimes they just attack simultaneusly and you just get slightly staggered by a invisible Friede (bc of Ariandels huge model) and thus get hit by the larger attacks of Ariandel. Just not fun, i found every other duoboss (except double crucible knight summonless) so much more fun then p2 here, because most of the time you can simply cheese with raw damage. If you only had to fight p3 i think most people could do it in 0,5-1h.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
lame having to fight thru phase 1 and 2 just to try and learn phase 3 before getting 2 shot
- Anonymous
I know I will get many dislikes for this comment but: godskin duo is a better fight than friede
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
im so bored of fighting phase 1 and 2, this is the worst boss fight in the game imo
- Anonymous
shes so passive in phase 2 it makes me wonder why shes even there, shouldve just been ariandel
- Anonymous
The boss is cool and quite surprisingly easy, but the second phase is forcibly prolonging the fight with the boss
- Anonymous
Miyazaki, PUT HIS OWN FOOT FETISH IN A CUTSCENE. FOR ALL TO SEE. well we now know which boss Miyazaki could call his favorite
- Anonymous
I DEFEATED HER IN THREE TRIES.
Use havel's hammer. Dodge then backstab. Just role when she goes invis.
In the second phase, whack ariandel in the face.
phase 3 repeat phase one.
EZ win
Use a fast weapon (nothing bigger than a greatsword, preferably a straight sword).
Seriously, you can land 2-3 hits when a UGS is lucky to land one. She has basically no poise, so a straight sword will stunlock her, especially when trapped in a corner.
0
+10
-1