I was a little stuck on Gwyn for an hour or so, because all my top tier weapons were either great weapons or hard hitting medium weapons with too much recovery frames leaving me vulnerable to Gywn's ceaseless barrage of attacks; hence I was forced to rethink my stance on 'lame' weapons like spears and rapiers. So if Gwyn doesn't have any significant recovery frames for me to exploit, I shall have none of that either. And yeah - I am aware that parry/riposte is a two/three-hit-kill on Gywn, I'm just not that confident in my parry skill.

I backed-off Gwyn to chose from my extensive stash of weapons what seemed to me the right tool for the job. I ended up using the Estoc (long rapier), which I first upgraded to +5 Chaos (weaker than Lighning +4, which I had the mats for too, but whatever - got me an achievement). So just pricking Gwyn to death with an oversized flaming needle from behind the safety of my Greatshield of Artorias circling one of them stone pillars might not be the most glorious tactic ever, but it got the job done.

What tool and tactic did Gwyn in for you and make you Lord of Cinder?

P.S. No decent cinematic or or voice-over as payoff going straight into NG+ was the last straw. T'is the last kick in the balls I'm gonna take from you - Dark Souls! NG+ and second playthrough are cancelled!

@Make_Me_Mad said:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

That's what you get for trusting Frampt.

Que?

@Seppli said:

@Make_Me_Mad said:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

That's what you get for trusting Frampt.

Que?

Stop asking me personal questions about my loadouts and tactics and driving techniques, Seppli! 
I feel violated.

@Make_Me_Mad said:

@Seppli said:

@Make_Me_Mad said:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

That's what you get for trusting Frampt.

Que?

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

As I understand it, the default ending is basically Kingseeker Frampt screwing you over by tricking you into following Gwyn's plan instead of your actual destiny, which the other primordial serpent will tell you all about if you join the Darkwraith covenant.

See, the ending was so non-descript, there's no way I could have figured all that lore out from it. Basically all that happend was that I lit a bonfire and there was a 'lil more fire than usual. I didn't feel screwed because of the outcome. It's just an incredibly meager pay-off.

I used fire.

I used a +5 Demon's Spear from behind the complete set of Havel's armor with Iron Skin on most of the time. At that point, each of his attacks were doing some 5% of my total life in damage.

Just beat him this morning. I used parry/riposte on him. Havel's Armor + Iron Skin + Hornet's Ring and a +5 Lightning Battle Axe.

I decked myself in all Havel armor, with Havel's ring to keep movement speed good. I used an Eagle Shield +14 and a Lightning Winged Spear +4. I just did my best to keep him on the other side of the rocks in the environment and stabbed him around (sometimes through, which helped) them. Took maybe 3 tries.

I sat there with the crystal shield and parried him 4 times. It took about 30 seconds. I had the Hornet's ring on which helped with the critical damage.

@Seppli said:

@Make_Me_Mad said:

@Seppli said:

@Make_Me_Mad said:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

That's what you get for trusting Frampt.

Que?

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

As I understand it, the default ending is basically Kingseeker Frampt screwing you over by tricking you into following Gwyn's plan instead of your actual destiny, which the other primordial serpent will tell you all about if you join the Darkwraith covenant.

See, the ending was so non-descript, there's no way I could have figured all that lore out from it. Basically all that happend was that I lit a bonfire and there was a 'lil more fire than usual. I didn't feel screwed because of the outcome. It's just an incredibly meager pay-off.

Demon's Souls was the same way. You beat the game, got the ending credits and BAM, back at the start.

@Vashyron: at least there was dialogue in DS at the end. I understand why Gywn would just straight up want to kill you at the sight of you because of the story, but after all you went through? You underdo the most amazing adventure in Dark Souls, defeating these legends of an era and gods. Yet, no one really acknowledges you. That's what bothered me the most in the end. You were just some dude. Either linking the fire or becoming Dark Lord of man or whatever, in some 5 second cut scene. So disappointing IMO.

I went into the fight with havel's armor, the wolf's great shield, and a +5 lightning Zweihander, personally I thought the fight was pretty easy. That grapple attack of his leaves him open for quite a while, allowing you to wail on him a bit or chug some estus. Apparently I got the "dark lord" ending, and I haven't the slightest clue if that's a good thing or not.

@thehuntsmen5434: There was some, but it was overall, pretty flat. I'm not saying that it isn't disappointing, but I really wasn't expecting there to be a grand exposition at the end of Dark Souls with the way that Demon's Souls ended. I mean, the story really isn't the focus of the game, so why would there be anything else in the end? Don't get me wrong though, I would love for there to be more or for things to matter more in the grand scheme of things with the story, but alas...

To be fair if you expected some grand ending out of dark souls you probably came to the wrong game. 
 
As far as beating him I just summoned a dude to help. Lol. 

Summoned a guy to help me and shot magic rings at him with my butterfly shield while the guy distracted him.

@Nadril said:

To be fair if you expected some grand ending out of dark souls you probably came to the wrong game. As far as beating him I just summoned a dude to help. Lol.

Regardless of pedigree, expecting some form of payoff other than a credits screen is far from outlandish. I did beat Demon's Souls and I definitely got a better sense of closure from it.

Despite opposite intentions, I dabbled a bit in NG+ and damn that Estoc & Greatshield combo is overpowered. Got invaded too. Dude just gave up after noticing how he hits my shield while I ceaselessly prick him to death. I guess the fog ring helped discourage him too. Usually stacking the Mask of a Child with the end-reg ring from Great Hollow. Being below 50% weight with 3 pieces of Ornstein Armor being behind a 88 stability Greatshield or Artorias with double stacked endurance regeneration buff and an extreme low cost high frequency attack, I'm never running out of stamina. Now that's safe needlework!

@Seppli: I was a hardcore tank. uh-ha uh-ha uh-ha

Went in there like I do with most bosse in my full Havel's armor, ring that reduces physical dmg, Havel's shield and my trusty Zweihander +15, plus the Iron skin and Great Fireball spells. On the first try I realized that he is an asshole and will be on me like a fly on shit. So I swapped the Zweihander for Demon Greataxe +14

Upon entering cast Iron Flesh. Swapped Demon Greataxe into 2h stance and just fucking took his sword to the face like a MAN. While he was trying to wallop me I laid in with 4 standard 3h attacks and half his health was gone. Backed away to chugged 1 flask, recast Iron Flesh, and finished him. On my 3rd try, no guides, Iron Skin rocks, woooooooooooo!

Ending SUCKED ASS.

Peace.

@Tennmuerti said:

@Seppli: I was a hardcore tank. uh-ha uh-ha uh-ha

Went in there like I do with most bosse in my full Havel's armor, ring that reduces physical dmg, Havel's shield and my trusty Zweihander +15, plus the Iron skin and Great Fireball spells. On the first try I realized that he is an asshole and will be on me like a fly on shit. So I swapped the Zweihander for Demon Greataxe +14

Upon entering cast Iron Flesh. Swapped Demon Greataxe into 2h stance and just fucking took his sword to the face like a MAN. While he was trying to wallop me I laid in with 4 standard 3h attacks and half his health was gone. Backed away to chugged 1 flask, recast Iron Flesh, and finished him. On my 3rd try, no guides, Iron Skin rocks, woooooooooooo!

Ending SUCKED ASS.

Peace.

I neglected Vitality in favor of super-high Endurance, which doesn't help much against Gwyn. Even with Iron Skin, my HP wasn't enough to deal with the pain. Never was a problem 'til Gwyn though. Generally endurance performs way better.

@Seppli said:

@Tennmuerti said:

@Seppli: I was a hardcore tank. uh-ha uh-ha uh-ha

Went in there like I do with most bosse in my full Havel's armor, ring that reduces physical dmg, Havel's shield and my trusty Zweihander +15, plus the Iron skin and Great Fireball spells. On the first try I realized that he is an asshole and will be on me like a fly on shit. So I swapped the Zweihander for Demon Greataxe +14

Upon entering cast Iron Flesh. Swapped Demon Greataxe into 2h stance and just fucking took his sword to the face like a MAN. While he was trying to wallop me I laid in with 4 standard 3h attacks and half his health was gone. Backed away to chugged 1 flask, recast Iron Flesh, and finished him. On my 3rd try, no guides, Iron Skin rocks, woooooooooooo!

Ending SUCKED ASS.

Peace.

I neglected Vitality in favor of super-high Endurance, which doesn't help much against Gwyn. Even with Iron Skin, my HP wasn't enough to deal with the pain. Never was a problem 'til Gwyn though. Generally endurance performs way better.

My vitality was 28 and my endurance 35. (1034 hp) Yeah endurance here was just enough for me to be able to get off my 4th attack without waiting for stamina regen. I gave up blocking after 1st attempt, as the fucker is relentless and still chips away though the block with that fire dmg.

HP was my fuck up buffer throughout the game :)

I had a Fire Claymore +10, the Greatshield of Artorias, and some upgraded Black Iron Armor. I just blocked all his stuff and then countered with the 1-handed strong attack of the Claymore which is a high damage stabbing attack with decent speed. It took 4 or 5 attempts, and I could have used Iron Skin or something to make the fight really easy, but I really didn't feel like cheesing the final boss like that.

@Seppli said:

Regardless of pedigree, expecting some form of payoff other than a credits screen is far from outlandish. I did beat Demon's Souls and I definitely got a better sense of closure from it.

Which ending did you get? I had heard about the "good" ending and decided I would make a second character that would do all the good stuff since I made so many mistakes throughout my first play through...

Anyway, when you walk out of the last boss room you are greeted by a bunch of those goat-snake dudes including Keath and Frampt and, if I recall correctly you are called the new "dark ruler of man".

Edit: Oh, and for the last boss, I two-handed my lightning spear +5 with Iron Flesh and rocked him pretty good. Nice thing about Iron Flesh is I don't even have to back off to heal because being staggered during an animation rarely (but still does) happen with Iron Flesh and a full set of Havel's armour.