Potential spoilers for Dark Souls DLC!!!

So, yesterday I went ahead and almost completed AotA DLC for Dark Souls on NG+, had never played it before. Got stuck on the first boss, finally managed to defeat him, after a lot of trial and error with different sets of armor, weapons etc. Went on to go through the rest of the DLC, man Artorias of the Abyss lets you know from the beginning this isn't going to be a cakewalk. I guess maybe I'm not used to playing the game anymore without knowing what's coming up. Those freekin' guardians as well took me a little while to get the hang of. Still managed to get through it all in the end, however, now I'm stuck with Black Dragon Kalameet. He's just relentless and I want to cut off his tail. Maybe I should summon someone, don't know why but recently MP has been working pretty poorly. Had to summon someone for the last boss. But yeah, anyone else have a hard time with this mother fucker? Also cutting off his tail without a phantom seems nigh impossible. Any suggestions? I've already looked up some tactics on the wiki, but more would come in handy.

Keep it real,

Carlos!

Just like all bosses, he has a limited set of attacks that he telegraphs pretty far in advance. The trick is being able to actually see them being telegraphed. I'd suggest not locking onto him so the camera doesn't just get stuck in his armpit or something.

As for the tail, he has a diving attack that can be easily dodged and he pauses long enough for maybe one good smack at his tail. You'll probably have to wait for a couple of these before you lop it off but it shouldn't be too hard once you know what to look for.

Good luck, duder!

Thanks for the advice. You're right, not locking on might help dodge some of his fire attacks.

I can tell you that I had much more success wearing less armor for the movement bonus. Sometimes he's just a flying asshole who doesn't want to be attacked, so just be patient and take as little damage as possible in these phases.

Just managed to beat him. Went for less armor and movement bonus, not locking on really helped. Didn't manage to cut of his tale though. :(

The key for the tail is to keep your equip load under 50% for movement, try to keep locked on at max lock on distance, and just keep trying to bait him into using the diving lunge attack. Once he goes up to dive, you want to make sure you are locked on, and move towards him and to the side so that once he lands you can be directly behind him. If you are right behind his tail, he will slam it to the ground and pause for a second or 2 afterwards, allowing you plenty of time to get a good 2 handed strike in!

Also important to note, it looks like he is breathing fire - but it actually does magic damage. Equip armor and shields accordingly if you make it back to fight him again! :)

I've been having the same issue. I actually fought him on a first playthrough with a new character and though I could dance around him all day I couldn't find a good way to cut his tail off. I'm now on NG++ and trying to get a phantom to help me out. If you need any help with him and want a co-op buddy hit me up with a message and we'll set up a time.

Co-oping is probably the easiest way I found to chop dat tail. Get someone to piss off Kalameet with arrows or something and circle him with the other person. I've heard AoE magic is good for damaging his tail but I haven't had a character specced that way yet.

The tail is difficult to get like Seath though there's nothing obstructing you from moving to it at least. You have to dodge every attack he does so might as well just get used to doing so along the way; the "Rise up on hind legs" breath with the fastest movement speed can allow for a running strike alongside the above mentioned methods; if you're hitting the right area it'll only take about 500 damage. Unlike Seath the fight isn't completely trivial if you don't go after the tail either.

Top ten hardest bosses in both games:

Gwyn

Manus

Flamelurker

Kalameet

Artorias

Ornstein and Smough

Sanctuary Guardian

False King

Four Kings

Bed of Chaos

So yeah, pretty damn challenging (and rewarding) DLC; can't see Dark Souls 2 being tuned to that level no matter what; though hope there's several Gwyn/Manus/Flamelurker/Artorias type boss fights.