Dark Souls Catch-All

GD is a heavy hitter. The best advice I can give is that you should keep the GD on the edge of the room while you are in the center so that you can run away from it easier.

Don't summon Solaire or Lautrec for GD. They are useless in the fight and actually make it worse because GD gets more HP.

manta173 wrote:

Gaping dragon has killed me 5 times in a row... random summons and using both Soltaire and Laurtec (sp?) have little benefit. I keep getting cornered just once and it's over.

I'm level 30, and using the drake sword and the starter pyro armor due to weight. I try fire orbs and balls, but I think my aim is a little off and they are just so short range.

I guess I need to head off in another direction before I finish him. Have to go get the armor mentioned earlier.

Spoiler:

Stay next to his left arm and legs, I'm pretty sure that's the side that the tail doesn't hit. If I'm wrong it's the other :p

I'm on PC. I did get grabbed on the right once but button mashing the triggers saved me... I just don't have any poise and get knocked on my butt so easily I never have time to recover.

I have seen a few things about Iron skin pyromancy being very effective for standing and fighting him here, but I also saw it was nerfed an I don't know if it is still useful.

You can grief the gaping dragon with a crossbow.

Otherwise the basic advice to keep your distance and hit him as he chases you is good. He has a few attacks where he chases, then stands still for while. That's your window to hit him. Run in, hit him, then run away again.

You should not be counting on poise for this fight IMHO. Having enough stamina to block with a shield is more important. Just running far enough away to not get hit at all is best.

I'm a poise junkie but for GD I prefer to go with light/no armour for better running speed.

The easiest way to fight him (IMO) is:

Spoiler:

Get a bit of distance from him then stand next to a wall to lure him into charging at you. The second he starts charging, run away at a right angle as fast as possible. He should smack into the wall and get stunned briefly, which gives you an opportunity to run back and get in a couple of hits - I recommend going for his middle set of legs. Don't get too greedy; as soon as he starts moving again run off to the other side of the room and try and lure him into another charge. Rinse and repeat.

It'll take a little bit of practice to get down pat, but I've found it to be pretty reliable.

As mentioned earlier, don't bother with the summons on this fight, they're not much help and give him more HP.

Sonicator wrote:

I'm a poise junkie but for GD I prefer to go with light/no armour for better running speed.

The easiest way to fight him (IMO) is:

Spoiler:

Get a bit of distance from him then stand next to a wall to lure him into charging at you. The second he starts charging, run away at a right angle as fast as possible. He should smack into the wall and get stunned briefly, which gives you an opportunity to run back and get in a couple of hits - I recommend going for his middle set of legs. Don't get too greedy; as soon as he starts moving again run off to the other side of the room and try and lure him into another charge. Rinse and repeat.

It'll take a little bit of practice to get down pat, but I've found it to be pretty reliable.

As mentioned earlier, don't bother with the summons on this fight, they're not much help and give him more HP.

This is the exact strategy I have always used to take him out. It works well makes the fight very easy, if not a bit long. You just have to not get too greedy when you have attack openings. Get out of there right when he starts recovering.

If you play during a peak time, you might try summoning a human or two to help. There are some people who love to co-op and are utterly bad-ass.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

If you play during a peak time, you might try summoning a human or two to help. There are some people who love to co-op and are utterly bad-ass.

And then there's the assholes who wait around NPC summoning areas to invade and pick off players who need help killing those bosses.

I'm looking at YOU, one-hit-backstabber.

I am so tired of being backstabbed by people that are visibly in front of me. I got stabbed in the back by a guy who performed the entire backstab animation with his ass jammed into my crotch. Usually, if it's a little glitchy, they pop up behind you as soon as they hit the button and the animation is performed properly behind you. I may have said some terrible things.

So I did some grinding after having my butt kicked a lot by the gaping dragon... I'm having a bit of analysis paralysis on gear though.

I went back to the smith in Undead parish and ground for shards and upgrades. I killed the titanite demon in the bsaement and the mooonlight butterfly boss. I got the Wolf ring, Elite Knight set and the evil eye ring. Got the balder shield and the armor and leggings. (No rapier)

I also went back to the undead asylum and got the gear there and killed the black knights with my upgraded pyro gear. I tried the boss once, but he one hit killed me so I figure I'll come back later for him.

My endurance is still a little too low to wear the full elite knight set and stay under 50% weight. I have the chest plate up to +5 along with Estoc at +5 (thinking about this plus gold pine resin for bosses) and the winged spear is now a divine weapon (seems to do a lot less damage now, but I have like 8 faith).

I also have the drake sword which still puts out more DPS than anything else, the gargoyle tail axe, and the gargoyle helm. I am debating upgrading the helm, but it requires twinkling titanite.

I'm thinking about grinding to get the gate open in the forest so that I can grind more easily and gain a few levels (still at 30) to fully pimp out the elite knight set.

TL;DR

I want to kill the invading NPC and gaping dragon to move on... but I'm not sure what I should do gear-wise which will help me out here and in the long term.

Last thing...

Spoiler:

I know Knight Lautrec kills the firekeeper at firelink shrine, but I think that there are benefits after I resolve that storyline. Are the benefits good enough to outweigh the inconvenience? Should I kill him now?

I can help tonight Manta, if you like. Sorry about over the weekend, I was at my folks place.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

I can help tonight Manta, if you like. Sorry about over the weekend, I was at my folks place.

Thanks, but my weird play schedule is in effect again. I am free Tuesday and Wednesday nights though.

I have the mods installed for allowing friends to come into the game, but I haven't ever tried it. I don't even know how to volunteer to go into someone else's game.

Don't feel obligated though, I'll get it eventually. I'm just stuck on the RPG part. I know the strategy for the boss, just keep screwing up really. I was getting trampled and knocked over a lot so I hope the poise will help stop that. Also, I need to be more cautious.

Do you have white soap stone? That's all you need. If your having trouble with the dragon the best way to farm souls is to help someone else defeat it. It'll also give you a heads up on the patterns. So, I'd lay your soap stone down by the fire and then go farm a bit and wait to be summoned.

Helping Beat the boss will give you a humanity and half the the souls beating it in your game will.

If you're still having trouble late tuesday or wednesday and Im not dotaing, Ill help.

manta173 wrote:

TL;DR

I want to kill the invading NPC and gaping dragon to move on... but I'm not sure what I should do gear-wise which will help me out here and in the long term.

Last thing...

Spoiler:

I know Knight Lautrec kills the firekeeper at firelink shrine, but I think that there are benefits after I resolve that storyline. Are the benefits good enough to outweigh the inconvenience? Should I kill him now?

I'd say you're putting way too much emphasis on your gear. If you spent half as much time trying to learn the fights as you have grinding, you would probably be on to the next areas. The only gear upgrades that are truly important in a first playthrough are weapon upgrades.

Remember, people finish this game all the time at very low levels or completely naked. Information is the most valuable currency in the Souls games, and you can't get that if you spend your time grinding. Better armor can give you a slight leg up, but if you follow some of the above advice and give it a few tries, the Gaping Dragon will never even hit you, making that armor irrelevant.

As for Lautrec, you can kill him now, but you'll miss out on a very cool encounter if you do. I can't remember if you actually miss out on drops for killing him early.

He's talking about Kirk, not Lautrec.

You do get something for killing Kirk, but you have to do it three times in three different places.

I'm talking about both actually.

Lautrec? He never invades.

Regardless, theres usually a benefit to killing an invading NPC --items, or the ability to summon them at the next boss. Ýou should be able to summon both lautrec and solarie for the gaping dragon .

In the spoiler I was weighing the benefits of killing Lautrec.

I want to kill Kirk to be able to get his gear later.

@Dyni I know this is a very skill based game, but I'm hoping the occasional gear grind will make it a little easier as I am by no means an expert with a controller. I know his patterns, and I know what I'm supposed to do, but I keep getting greedy, or running the wrong way and I couldn't survive the one mistake.

EDIT: I fought him at least 5 times, always with summons. Once was another player, the rest were the two NPC's which apparently add hitpoint to the dragon. I haven't tried without them yet.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

Lautrec? He never invades.

But to answer Manta's question, killing him early does keep you from certain items later in the game. Items I used during my first playthrough, fwiw.

I have only let Lautrec's story play out a few times in my many, many times through the game. I pretty much kill him as early as possible. However if you're really concerned about the loot, even if it's just out of curiosity then let the story play out. There is nothing Lautrec has regardless of what you do that is so important as to ruin the game by making you too powerful or too weak.

Gimpy_Butzke wrote:

I have only let Lautrec's story play out a few times in my many, many times through the game. I pretty much kill him as early as possible. However if you're really concerned about the loot, even if it's just out of curiosity then let the story play out. There is nothing Lautrec has regardless of what you do that is so important as to ruin the game by making you too powerful or too weak.

In my subsequent games, I've killed him early.

I mean for you to get summoned yourself --its quicker to farm that way.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

I mean for you to get summoned yourself --its quicker to farm that way.

Do I get the souls if I die before the boss does? (I know it is most likely a no.)

When I put down my sign, can i farm the slimes by continually resting at the bonfire? or will that erase my sign? And what happens when I return? am I at a bonfire or just wherever I was at when I left?

No, you have to be there when the boss dies. But it's lower stakes, and you dont lose and souls or humanity or being human.

As long as you're in the area your sign will stay up. Best places to put it are either right before the boss, or at the bonfire, depending on where you want to farm.

Is there something other than the boss to farm?

You can load up on curse resistant gear and hit the basilisks while you wait for the dragon. Recomend remaining agile and having a long range weapon. The Boss is still the best bet for a quick boost.

You could also head back and farm the lower undead burg and help people with the capra demon.

What level are you by the way? What are you running gear wise? Weapon level too.

I'm wearing the Gargoyle helm, Elite knight chest +5, elite knight gauntlets, starter pyro pants (due to weight), wolf ring, evil eye ring.

I have a +5 Estoc, and a +5 winged spear I turned to divine which doesn't seem to do anything but reduce damage, and the drake sword.

I had been using a hollow soldier shield due to stability, but the balder shield I just got is much better for this. I have most of the medium shields (no grass, black night, or silver night... but I think that's it) so let me know if I should be using a different one for this fight.

I'm level 30.

EDIT: I also have a +3 pyromancy glove. Fire ball, fire orb, and combustion. (3 slots)

What stat are you focusing? You might want to un-divine that spear if you're not maxing your faith.