I'm stuck on these god damn Belfry Gargoyles

I'm using a strength build with the Ultra Greatsword, it's a lot of fun so far, but I can't handle this boss.

It's clearly a Anyone else stuck on a boss? It might feel good to vent about them in this thread!

DPS Race, but I can't get in a position to get damage on these guys. I keep getting overwhelmed on the tiny roof. Also, to top all of that off, I couldn't see a single summon sign last night! maybe there will be one tonight.

Okay, that's not what I wrote! It switched "Anyone else stuck on a boss? It might feel good to vent about them in this thread!" and the DPS race thing and removed the spoiler blocks. :/

There is so much to do, and so many areas/bosses. If you are having a hard time, go elsewhere for a while and come back.

@viciousbearmauling: They are weak to lightning, but yeah, they are pretty tough regardless, and I'm playing a dex+faith/dual-wield build. I was able to summon another dude, and we had numerous close calls, just barely beating them (Used all 5 of my estus flasks with and all my casts for Heal).

Also, it seems what triggers more gargoyles to join the fight is based on how much HP is left in the main health bar, so I found focusing on killing one at a time is the best way to minimize being overwhelmed. Granted, I could be wrong though, but that's what I observed.

@paco: Ah, Lighting would probably help a bunch! Yeah I'm seeing summon signs now so I'll get me some resin and go at it a few more times before I call it quits and find a new area.

Cannot stress this enough. I was stuck on between the part you're doing and another boss, but I went back to the hub world and went to Heides Tower which was super easy and helped immensely. I'm currently hitting up No Man's Wharf and almost done with it.

Optional boss, though I guess the key is rather important. They aren't very aggressive if you run to the other side of the roof repeatedly. Firebombs work; but pay attention to when they spawn.

I'm in the same boat. I've summoned numerous people and even together we just get overwhelmed. I burned all my weapon buffs (resins) along with all of my Human Effigies. I've probably fought them about 40 times at this point and I'm no closer than I was 4 hours ago.

When I take it slow,eventually too many of them spawn to keep up with. If I try to single them out and try to focus them down individually, I end up getting crushed trying to get to the one I am working on (they seem to hide in the back and blow fire).

All of the other bosses have been manageable but this one is a fucking nightmare.

I finally just beat these guys myself, it's a pretty exhausting fight. Definitely focus on one at a time. On my previous attempts I was attacking indiscriminately and found myself getting overwhelmed very quickly. If you don't have an opportunity on the weakest one, just wait it out. To avoid losing one of them off screen, I kept strafing around them from one end of the roof to the other, switching my lock-on as I went along. That would help to keep them somewhat bunched together.

I had trouble initially, left and came back like 5 hours later with a better shield and more stamina and got it on my first try. As long as you can tank and deal out damage relatively quickly, it's not too bad of a fight.

At the point you're at, there's likely 3-5 other areas that you have access to. Head to any one of them and come back later.

Just curious, but are the folks having immense trouble with this fight attempting it solo? It doesn't seem like the type of fight I'd like to try and tackle alone. The same thing went for the gargoyles in DaS1 and the Ruin Sentinels in this game. If you don't have at least one other person to distract one of the enemies... I just don't see how it's possible without being ridiculously overleveled.

@viciousbearmauling@bnutz2k@noremnants I've beaten every boss in the game solo so far using a primarily dex build(strength, vit, endurance secondary and a peppering of other stats for trying to talk to some NPCs) and I have I'm gonna guess 3-5 bosses left. Depending on how many bosses are between finishing off the big 4 and the final boss. Anyway, if you use a shield, get one with 100% phys reduction, it makes the game so much easier.

Location for one after second boss: After you beat the pursuer, go to the area with the nest that takes you to the bastille, look for an area to drop down. You get an amazing armor set, I still use the shield a lot.

Alternatively, you can farm one from the big knights in Heide's Tower of Flame The durability is low on that one, but otherwise it's a great shield.

As for the gargoyle's themselves, single one out at a time, and patience. Circle around with your shield up and wait for an opening, get 1-2 hits in at a time, don't get greedy. When you get one to about half health another gargoyle will come in and the weak one will start doing fire attacks. I found the fire attacks to be the easiest time to kill them. They would be stationary for a long time and the fire won't rotate with you so I would run up behind them and deal as much damage as possible. If you're feeling confident, I was willing to take a couple hits if it meant finishing one off.

If you're out of effigy's and want to be full health, helping another player while being a member of the blue covenant and having the blue ring equipped will restore your health. You don't have to kill a boss, just be summoned.

That said, I'm currently stuck. I think I found a way to skip the boss I'm having a tough time with, but the Smelter Demon in The Iron Keep is kicking my ass. Fire damage sucks.

@bnutz2k: I am doing it solo since I burned all of my Effigies already. Most of the people I summoned would die almost instantly.

@yi_orange: I'm not having problems blocking most of the damage (using Twin Dragon Greatshield, 95% physical reduction). My issue is when they start blowing fire. They all end up in one big mass and I'm unable to move in to get behind the one blowing fire without taking damage from the other ones.

I got it down to 1 Gargoyle with about 50% health but I had no healing items left and took damage from his fire (ground wide spray).

I have a clear path to three separate bosses The Pursuer, Old Dragonslayer, and Dragonrider. I haven't had any luck beating them. I've heard you can cheese Dragonrider but I want to win in a straight up fight.

@viciousbearmauling: As a not terribly skilled but persistent player that just spent three hours worth of time on these guys, here's what I found.

1) A shield is a must. They hit hard with physical attacks, but with a good shield you should be able to absorb several hits and still have enough stamina left for a swing.

2) Blunt weapons do much better. I was rolling with a +5 Bastard Sword for every boss up until this, but switching to a +1 Great Club (I think that's the name) did a considerable bit more damage per hit.

3) Focus on single hits. This is why you want a heavy hitting blunt weapon, because you want to do as much damage as you can on single swings. The key to this fight is recognizing when you have enough time to strike and get your shield back up before another gargoyle attacks.

4) Circle strafe and let them come to you. If you get too close to the group, you are liable either to trigger their lightning attack or for one of the jumping attacks to land behind you. When they start breathing fire at around 3/4 health you definitely want to be out of range, as it's unlikely you have a shield with both excellent physical and fire resistance. They key is to bide your time and wait for one to come forward, finish its attack, and get a quick strike in before another reaches you.

It can be frustrating, but this is an endurance match. Even I got greedy and tried to finish low-health gargoyles off with a second hit, and this usually backfired. Good luck!

Edit: I wish I'd had a reliable source of Titanite to level up a blunt weapon more, or to experiment with a faster, lighter blunt weapon. Curious to hear what worked for others.

@thelastgunslinger: By "cheese", do you mean flipping those switches prior to his lair to get rid of the water hazard? He's really not that tough, but he can easily knock you off the ledge if you haven't flipped the switches. The Old Dragonslayer is insanely easy. Always circle around to his left and if he jumps straight up in the air, you best roll away from him.

@bnutz2k: @thelastgunslinger: I think the way to cheese him is actually by only hitting 2 of the 3 switches. I've heard something about his lunging spear attack can cause him to fall off the platform and die that way. I never tried that though, as he is pretty easy if you have a shield and like most boss battles exert some amount of patience.

The Pursuer is actually a really fun fight when you realize his pattern. Dodging is key rather than tanking with a shield. Roll to the left, his right, when he does that rushing attack and you can get in a free hit or two depending on how much stamina you have left. Always leave enough stamina to roll away after hitting. Roll backwards when he's doing a combo swing. His combos will almost always have 3 hits and very rarely 2. After a combo you'll be able to hit him. You'll usually only have to roll on the final hit of his combo. I found I was able to backstep/back away and avoid getting hit. When his sword glows blue, just stay away from his sword distance. Or, if you're feeling bold, dodge to the side at the last minute.

Right now I'm stuck as to where to go. I killed the Primal Sinner and lit the primal bonfire and now I don't know where to go. I already cleared out the two paths to the Lost Bastille. Like everyone else, I haven't killed the Belfry Gargoyles, but from the sounds of things that path isn't integral to the main quest. So should I just farm souls and get the cat ring to go down the well?

@adamwd: @bnutz2k: I didn't know you could face him without hitting the switches. What I'm referring to is that you can get him to walk off the ledge due to one of his animations.

@minipato: The well sucks. But you do have to go down there at some point. Did you find the lady who's a stone in front of a switch near a door? If not, she's a short ways along a path coming off of Majula. If you beat the Sinner you should have a Fragrant Branch of Yore you can use to turn her back. That will open a path.

If you've done The Tower of Flame and exhausted the dialogue options for the miracle woman, she'll be near the contraption in the big circle room in Majula. You can pay her 2000 souls to open that up.

Also, on the Pursuer, your strategy sounds way more intense than mine. I found that if I was constantly circle strafing to his shield side most of his attacks would just miss without me having to roll, and this that didn't would get blocked(with the exception of the 3 hit combo where he jumps in the air and his shield bash). Also, by trying to stay at a slight mid-range, I made him do his charge alot which was always two or three free hits.

@noremnants As @ragnarok7038 says, keep your distance. Always be moving away from them, making them come to you until you get an opportunity to strike. I found that doing this, they would cast their fire and I would be well out of range by the time it started, and since the other gargoyle(s) would follow me, I could move in and get a couple of hits on the one using fire. This could get dangerous though, so you can also just avoid the fire all together. Always be moving, only damage one gargoyle at a time. You don't want multiples of them casting fire. I don't know if you've played a Souls game before, but the biggest thing is patience. In this game more than the other two I'm finding that being greedy and going for an extra hit or taking a dangerous opportunity will get you killed. Just take your time. If you can survive for a minute or two then you've already beat the fight, it's just a matter of repetition at that point. A lot of the bosses have really easy to manipulate behaviors.