Hey,

So I basically made this Giant Bomb account for this. The posts in this forum have definitely helped me out in my playthrough, so yeah. Anyways, the reason I'm posting this: Gwyn keeps crushing me over and over. So I need a few tips.

I know most of you would say to parry/riposte, and that's what I've been doing. But I have been using a Quelaag's Furysword since I made it in Anor Londo, and I have never looked back, except now. It only takes 425 of Gwyn's HP per riposte! And he's supposed to be weak to fire. I've watched videos where they seem to take down over a third of this HP with a single riposte, whereas I take maybe a tenth or twelfth. So I upgraded my occult club (I read somewhere that it does more damage to Gwyn), and it still does meagre damage (only like 50 more than Furysword?).

So yeah, I'm out of options. I can usually parry most of his attacks (except his 4-hit combo and the stab) but I manage to flop over and die. I highest I've been able to drop his HP to must have been aroun 15%, I guess. But I was on a roll then, and I'm not now. So any tips regarding which weapons and tactics I should use to beat him would be appreciated.

Well then level up the stat that affect your weapon ... and yeah riposte and riposte... also helps to have a big poise shield with 100% damage reduction on physical (also damage reduction to fire helps too)

You can parry him like your normally would and switch to a weapon that deals more damage. People usually do that trick with a Claymore or Zweihander. You'll need to level up those weapons, but that shouldn't be an issue since you have the giant blacksmith in Anor Londo to buy everything you need.


If he's killing you in one hit you can equip heavy armor and a shield since you'll be parrying him anyway. On the opposite end of the spectrum you can get very light and equip the Dark Wood Grain Ring and just flip away and dodge him all day. You can smack his health little by little over time. That's what I did with my +15 Uchigatana. You should have enough estus to last the fight if you need to heal.

So I'll just get my Zweihander upgraded then. Now I have to go to that annoying catacombs to get it up to +10 fire, but meh. Also, I use a mixture of different medium-light armor and Havel's Ring to be under 25%, and the other ring slot has RoFP, so Dark Wood Grain Ring can't be used, I guess. (It takes him usually 3-4 hits to kill me, but since I have low poise I get stun-locked when I make a mistake, and I'm dead.)

You should increase your poise to 77 to stop the stun lock. Take off Havel's ring and equip the Wolf Ring for +40 poise. The heavy armor you're wearing doesn't matter if Gwyn is breaking your poise. There are light pieces of armor you can equip to add more poise and keep yourself light.

Equip the hornet ring (increase critical damage) if you are going to parry and riposte.

For me everytime Gwyn stood back up after a riposte he would do exactly the same attack so all I had to do was stand close to him and keep parrying that attack until he died.

Finally beat that annoying old man. With +10 Fire Zweihander, I was doing something around 900 damage per parry, and since I used the Wolf Ring, I was able to stand up to his 4-hit combos and parry them as well. Hell yeah, it's NG+ time. Thanks guys, you helped me a lot. :D

EDIT: Took the Dark Ending, felt good. Real good.

@shawnfrost: Awesome! I was going to say just keep trying :)

I had seen so many speed runs of the game that I knew the technique, but it still must have taken me more than 30 tries to beat him my first time. It's all about being able to read his attacks (I still get two mixed up) and knowing which one to parry.

Also, getting grabbed by him is the worst feeling!

I barely scraped by on my first playthrough trying to use a +5 Lightning Zweihander. On NG+ I used fully ascended Pyromancy: Chaos Fireball and Fire Orb; and I brought in Solaire. He didn't touch me that time.

And since you're jumping into NG+, a +15 Uchigatana with some Charcoal Pine Resin does wonders against the Four Kings. Fully upgraded Black Iron set, Grass Crest shield, and a two-handed Uchigatana. Go in solo, get in close, and don't stop swinging ... .

That battle was super easy for me because I just summoned Solaire and he took the brunt of the damage for me.

+15 Uchigatana, eh? I'll try and get that one. Also, I couldn't summon Solaire, since I killed him :p

? I just remember Gwyn being kind of a bitch.

Fight is immensely more enjoyable if you don't parry.

I just used the Silver Knight Sword the last third or so of the game, but it turned out I overleveled a bunch sooo not sure how good it is in comparison.