That is all.

Okay, well I'm having the freaking hardest time with this guy. I thought he wasn't a big deal at first but he keeps getting harder somehow. I'm trying a lot of different strategies and trying to be patient but it seems like he just decides to randomly go nuts and keeps doing his circle slash and the weird dash thing that drains all your stamina....GUHHHHHHH

Maybe it makes it worse that I'm playing the Artorias of the Abyss content for the first time on NG+. Still, he's a freaking beast.

@MormonWarrior: all his attacks are dodgeable, just stagger him with physical attacks when he tries to power up.

@MormonWarrior: yeah he hits alot harder on ng+ heh , the key is to do as mentioned above and stagger him while hes charging , if he powers up 1 or more times you are done for .. but the window to stagger him is pretty small on ng+ (or at least you have to hit harder) but if you can master that , its just a matter of time.

plus defending against his attacks and learning when to damage him will train you well for the next boss :)

Don't block, dodge. Always be dodging. Equip armor that gives you fast roll or use the flip ring and get the timing of his attacks down. He was a really great fight early one when people didn't know how to fight him, but the last time I fought him as a phantom the match was basically a recreation of my 6th birthday with Artorias a pinata (all the kids ran in with stick and broke it).

When in doubt put down your summon sign and see how other people fight him. You'll have nothing to lose and nothing, but knowledge to gain. If you get really desperate you can always summon someone to help. He's a very popular boss so you'll always find help.

Only block if you have a serious greatshield with maybe at least 80 stability. Otherwise he's just going straight through your shield in a few cuts.

Also look for when he starts rolling away from you. That's a signal for you to start fucking booking it towards him and cutting him with all your shit. That'll get him out of his powerup.

It's one of my favorite fights in the whole game - really fun to dodge all that stuff.

PS: You're gonna LOVE the DLC's ending boss.

I finally beat him when a summon sign actually worked for once. I think my real problem is I'm playing this stuff on NG+ so even though I have rocking equipment and I'm level 110, he wiped the floor with me in two or three hits every time.

Now to cut off the tail of that dumb black dragon...any of his fire moves are instakill against me, again probably because I'm in the NG+. Goshdangit. I love this game but seriously...

Tip for all boss fights;I know a lot of people go for the big heavy weapons but those things are seriously slow, get something small and quick then upgrade it to plus 14/15.

I was a heavy weapons guy for a while but then I realized that with a small weapon you can hit even between an enemies combo, that's ridiculous!

With a big weapon you had to ages for an opportunity to strike, with a small one you can lift your guard for a nanosecond,and get a few hits and get back into blocking while the enemy is trying to do a fucking combo, you get waay more hits than you can imagine.

I always went for the mid ranged to high end weapons till I realized what the lower end could do...

Balder straight sword is a favourite of mine, but you can get a gold tracer from where you last fought aratorias so get that.

He's probably my favorite boss in the game.

@musclerider said:

He's probably my favorite boss in the game.

He's up there for me but is ever so slightly inched out by Kalameet. Not only is Kalameet a awesome one-eyed black dragon with a wide range of attacks, he's the most fun I'd had soloing a boss of that size in Dark Souls.

Artorias was really fun and really difficult. I could barely touch him until I figured out how to consistently dodge his huge leaping attack. Dodging is absolutely essential though, blocking only really helps on one or two attacks. And I believe his charged up state only lasts for a little bit, so if you don't think you can stagger him, just use the time to heal or shoot some ranged attacks at him. There's about one second at the end of the charge up where he loses the extra damage resistance and stands still for a bit where you can usually get in a good solid hit. So save particularly powerful magic for that moment if magic is your kind of thing.

Overall I like how fast and aggressive the bosses in the DLC are. Up until then most of the bosses were slow, lumbering giants of various sizes and shapes.