Hello!

Dark Souls has been a lot of fun so far and I enjoyed it quite a bit till I arrived in Anor Londo. I already had some problems with other bosses (especially the Capra Demon...) but always managed to defeat them in the end. Now, after a lot of noobing, I had finally arrived in Anor Londo and didn't die as often as I expected... until I met the new boss. Ornstein and Smough. Whatever I do, I can't kill them. I mostly try to focus on Ornstein, but it still happens that Smough hits me although I tried to doge (I'm still quite a noob, sorry 'bout that). And when Smough doesn't hit me, Ornstein hits me with his lightning attacks and I'm dead. I really don't want to know how often I had tried to kill them and failed miserably.

Well anyway, can someone please help me? I tried to summon Solaire but he dies too quickly and I'm too scared to waste all of my humanity.

I'm SL 56 and my stats are

Vitality 27

Attunement 12

Endurance 27

Strength 16

Dex 27

Resistance 12

Intelligence 10

Faith 8

I'm using an Uchigatana +10, Grass Crest Shield +5 and wear the entire Gold-Hemmed Black Set. I also play on PS3 if that makes any difference.

Advice and any help is appreciated, thanks! (please help me, I'm desperate)

I beat them wearing Havel's set.

• Concentrate on one of them exclusively. Don't worry about the second guy til your one on one
• Keep them both in your sights, like the gargoyle fight.
• Use the pillars as cover to allow you to get a heal in.
• The Eagle Shield offers good lightning resistance. That should help you against Ornstein who is arguably the more aggressive.
• Summoning Solaire might help you keep one of them busy but I think most people wind up having to solo them.
• You could always try and position one of them as a human shield to keep the other from gaining any ground on you.

Best of luck. Took me an absolute age to take them down.

They're tough. Is your equip burden under 50%? I remember that armor set you have being fairly heavy, but I don't know if your endurance is high enough to compensate. A shield with some nice stability--the Eagle Shield, as @shindig mentioned, is a good option because of its high stability and low weight--can be a nice backup, but you should be primarily rolling. If you're fat rolling (over 50%), you'll need to rethink your equipment set.

Going after Ornstein first is the easier option here! Smough's slower speed means you can usually stay locked onto Ornstein and move around such that Smough is always in your view, which is absolutely important since while Smough is slower, he still has a good deal of ways to approach you. Always keep tabs on where he is, and if both duders are close to each other, don't attack! Get some distance between them before attacking. The fight will go on longer, but as Jason said to Brad--

if you didn't get hit, I consider that a victory

Roll through Ornstein's attacks in order to give yourself a bigger attacking window--or to give yourself time to escape from Smough if he's closing in on you.

You'll still die a lot! That's perfectly okay. It'll take awhile for you to learn their attack patterns (which is arguably the most important factor here), but when you do, the fight'll go so much smoother.

Good luck! <>

Hello!

Ah well, I attempted to defeat Ornstein and Smaugh again—without success. I greatly appreciate the given advice and I tried to use it (at least somewhat, still a total noob I guess), but got killed anyway. I even started to think that I don't do enough damage with my Uchigatana (which doesn't make sense since it is supposed to be pretty good ((that's at least what I've read, I have no idea!)).

Uh, I think so. It says 21.1/67.0, so i guess that shouldn't be a problem (hopefully..).

Is it necessary to wear the Havel's set? I don't think fat roll for a dex build would be good (but I have no idea..).

I don't have the Eagle Shield and going all the way back to Blight Town to collect it sounds like a nightmare. Is there any other good (but low weight one) I could use?

Thank you both for the quick replies, this boss just frustrates me to no end!

(oh, and I apologize for my awful grammar sometimes, English isn't my first language waaah)

Remember there is a Solaire summon spot halfway up the stairs to the blacksmith outside the boss room. Other than that you should decide beforehand who you want to kill first.

During the battle do not use lock-on (or use it very sparingly, mostly on the fast-moving Ornstein), keep both of them in sight at all times and use the pillars to put space between you and the bosses. Focusing on Ornstein is good for first timers because he has that fast forward moving attack. Ornstein is weak to the fire element and the occult element while being strong against lightning and Smough is weak to lightning while being strong against fire so you can put some resin on your sword to do more damage.

Looking at your stats and equipment, your priorities will be dodging and not blocking (as a general rule of the thumb, it's a bad idea to try to block enemies a lot bigger than yourself). Since you are using the grass crest shield it might even be a better idea to just put it on your back and 2-hand your sword.

Move around the outside of the area, using the pillars/and pillar stumps as obstacles for the bosses. Ornstein's speed should assure that he's usually closer to you than Smough. Dodge his stab attack (with a roll) and slash at him. Keep your stamina up and continue this pattern until Ornstein is dead.

Assuming you killed Ornstein first you will now have to fight an even larger Smough who is using big electricity attacks. On the bright side he doesn't get much faster so his attacks are slow and predictable. The only annoying thing is his charging hammer attack which seems to home in on you at times. Again, use the pillars to put some obstacles between you and him. The only other threat is just you overcommitting/getting too greedy. Slow and steady wins the race. Don't get caught in the range of his electric butt bomb. Keep your eyes on him and you will see he really telegraphs his moves.

When hurt, put 2 or 3 pillars between you and the boss(es) and drink an estus or use a healing item.

If you have a Thunder Stone Plate ring and a free ring slot, don't hesitate to use it. The knight near the top of Sen's Fortress sells it for 15000 souls.

Good luck and I hope you realise just how awesome Ornstein is.

Step 1. Be patient, Pikachu and Snorlax are probably the toughest boss fight in the whole game.
Step 2. Mobility is a priority. As others have said, it is recommendable to be capable of fast rolling in order to avoid attacks more efficently.
Step 3. Always try to keep both bosses in sight. This is, don't lock on to either one of them, keep the camera free to look at the one you're not trying to attack.
Step 4. Try to separate them. Ornstein has fast attacks that can travel the whole length of the boss stage, so you can draw him away from Smough, then either attack him or run away and attack the other one instead. In theory, this is why you're allowed to summon Solaire for the fight: Solaire draws the attention of one of them so you can rush the other until he's dead.
Step 5. If the fight is really getting on your nerves, you can take a (admittedly risky) trip to New Londo Ruins to get the Very Large Ember and farm Titanite Chunks to get your Uchi up to +14 (+15 if you get a Titanite Slab).

Use the pillars! Don't even worry about armor. Just be as fast as possible. Always get a pillar between you and them. This fight is 90% patience, so take it slow. Try and take out orenstine first, because that's the easiest option. Once it's just you and smough, you just gotta always keep a pillar between you and him. Bait his attacks and go in for a hit or two then get out.

I can't remember what it is called, but the armour set that you get from ceaseless discharge just behind the spider queen has solid stats for very low weight. Your uchigatana should do splendidly. I personally got through fatty and speedy on vanilla and NG+ by putting HEAPS of distance between fatty and I, then going in for some uchi jabs when speedy rushes.

Good luck man! They are a HUGE difficulty spike, but the feeling of elation when you win is something else :D

Hello!

Thank you all for the helpful advice. I'm pretty sure everyone else would be able to kill Ornstein and Smough easily now. Too bad, I'm god damn awful at this game and can't defeat them, whatever I do or how much help I get.

So, uh, I tried everything mentioned in this topic; I tried to be more patient (which worked for the first 500 times pretty well before I gave up), hold my Uchigatana with two hands and dodged Ornstein's attacks (that was surprisingly easy), only used lock-on sparingly on Ornstein and still tried to keep an eye on Smough (that worked kinda well) and the thing I failed at; attemptin to put a lot of distance between O&S. I'm not really sure why, but I'm not able to put enough distance between those two. The few seconds I had with Ornstein alone were really nice and I was able to get him down to maybe 30% of his health, but that only happened once. Normally, for some odd reason when I'm playing, Ornstein almost always prefers it to walk slowly next to Smough instead of running high speed at me. He only starts to run when Smough is already close enough to kick my ass (I dodge Smough's attack and sprint away, but then I have to wait for him again). It's good see that they're such close friends, but come on, it frustrates the hell outta me.

What am I supposed to do? I want to continue playing Dark Souls, it's so much fun but I'm apparently too much of a noob for it (I really wasn't that bad before those two, come on!).

I know it's a different game, but when I was having trouble like this with Bloodborne I just put the game down for a few days and came back fresh. Shadow of Yarhnym went down second try after that break.

Try the Silver Knight Shield. Someone said the Eagle Shield, but they are wrong. Eagle does not have 100% physical reduction and far less stability than the SKS. Also take out Smough first. Makes the second phase somewhat more managable. Also if all else fails you cam message me and summon me. I have Characters at 30 45 75 95 110 and 130 all with the game cleared. PSN is BrockStrongo420. I'm always down to help. Good luck and keep at it. After these 2 the game really start to open up.

I don't remember it very well, but I believe I summoned an NPC for this battle. This way one of them was kept busy for while I focused on the other. The NPC will die, but you're at least a lot further with both by the time that happens. I'm also fairly sure I could consistently kill Smough before Ornstein after a while. In addition, perhaps look up their weaknesses and adjust your attacks accordingly.

I had another random player join me and I beat them on like my 2nd attempt because of it. I just wanted to try the online feature and happened to encounter the boss on the way, and next thing I knew we had won!

I wouldn't know how to beat them otherwise though.

Everyone has already given all the advice I could think of. I'll just say I had the same problems as you. Keep at it and don't be afraid to take a few days off and best of luck. Also I beat Ornstein first, so maybe try that? Best of luck.

I haven't read most of everyone else's advice so I'm probably just repeating them, but I saw you are still having troubles so I'm posting anyway.

The way I did it my first time, summon solaire and absolutely kill Ornstein first. If you're going for achievements or want the better gear you should probably kill Smough first, but if you just want to get it done fighting Smough second is easiest. If you have solaire here the goal is to just get him to distract Smough for you. Which is mostly just chance. If Smough leaves you to fight Solaire you should be in the clear for the rest of this section of the fight. Smough doesn't chase as hard as Ornstein does, so he won't suddenly cross the entire room on you. Just be very careful of Ornstein. Even in the first stage he can be quite deadly. Circle strafe at a close distance and use the pillars to block him out as necessary. If you get into a situation where both of the bosses are on you just back the hell away and circle around the room until one hopefully goes to attack Solaire. Don't try to fight them both unless Solaire is dead. You'll have to at that point, but you ideally want to avoid it if you aren't knowledgeable enough of their patterns to take them both on.

The second stage is a bit easier provided you are fighting Smough here. He gets some new lightning and a larger size but that's it really. You can still lead him into the pillars and rubble all the same to block out his attacks. Allowing you to move in for a hit or two while he is picking his hammer up. Just don't get greedy here. Patience is key. This is the easy part, but a wrong move can still lead to your health being gone very quickly. And if you see the butt slam coming get out immediately. That lighting hurts far too much to want to be hit by it.

If you choose to fight both at once without Solaire, just remember that you absolutely always have to be moving so they both can't attack you at once. Constantly move in a circular motion around the perimeter of the room leading them around. When one extends to attack you hit him and then back the hell out. Rinse and repeat. Ideally while using the pillars to help zone them out and give you distance.

I kept getting invaded by PVP'rs trying to make that boss run and am too stubborn (or stupid) to play off line. Talk about making it more difficult than it needs to be. When I finally beat Smough & Ornstein I am not embarrassed to admit that I jumped out my chair, pumped my fist in the air and screamed like a lunatic.

Be patient,keep your distance and use the pillars. Good Luck!

@crownkitten: If they don't separate by themselves you'll have to bait them. Due to Ornstein being the faster of the two they will separate naturally. Another piece of advice for you if you still can't manage it is to watch some videos online of people beating them. Especially the low level/bad equipment runs because those people will not be doing a lot of damage to the bosses so you will be able to see the strategy.

Another option is putting your own sign down at the fog gate or the bonfire and helping other people beat them. This is easy, risk free practice with a potential reward if you win as well. Just make sure you follow the host's lead so you know which of the bosses the host wants dead first.

YOU DEFEATED

Just helped him kill it on the first try. Team work for the win :D

@crownkitten: You should be able to find a person to summon near that bonfire. I would take coop partner over an Npc anyday. The only time I've bothered to fight S&amp;O solo was my first play through just to be able to say that I did. That said, I definitely had to summon my first time facing Capra's fucking gank squad as well as the Ruin Sentinels in DS2, so don't get yourself down.

If you are going to do it solo, I think the easiest way is to lower equip load, focus on orstein and roll through his attacks. Keep a pillar between you and Smough.

Edit: never mind, sounds like you pulled it off. Congrats.

The best part is that fight is the skill ceiling of the base game.

Hello!

So after hours of dying I finally concluded that I wouldn't be able to defeat Ornstein and Smough (at least not alone).

That's why I messaged @rich666; he already offered some help and I thought to give it a shot. Well anyway, we both took down the boss (first try, it's amazing how much easier it was) and I'm able to enjoy the game thoroughly now (I already loved it but now, after O&S..., damn, it's just really cool).

Well anyway; Although I wasn't able to kill them alone this time, there's still NG+ waiting for me and that's why everyone's advice was still extremely helpful and I'm so grateful for that! Just wanted to say a huge Thank You to everyone who replied to my stupid thread. This thing can be locked now.

Congrats! I'm so bad at Dark Souls it took me multiple tries with another player AND Solaire to beat these guys. Any win is a good win!