What am I doing wrong in Dark Souls

I have been dying over and over again on The Four Kings.

I have tried Beatrice who is a waste of time. I have stood around waiting for a summon sign to show up for 40 minutes. I just can't figure out anything else to speed up my progress of killing them.

If anyone can help please reply

You could always go with the tried and true dark souls strategy of putting on the most defensive gear you can and chugging estus while you facetank damage. This should allow you to keep your damage up enough to kill them fast enough so you don't get overwhelmed. I'd recommend watching some videos of how people approach the fight. There are a lot of different ways to do it successfully. You just have to find the one that works best for you. Unless this is the last boss you need to fight to progress, you can always come back after you tackle the other bosses available to you at this time.

What platform are you on and what level? If PS3, and I've got a guy close in level, I'll help you out.

My first experience with The Kings was just max DPS, Havels and I beat them first try. You can watch Vinny's run if you need to see that strategy in action.

@bceagles128: I am on PS3 my guy is level 84 it would be great to have you join

Put on your best armor/weapon, get as close as you possibly can, swing away. focus on killing one as quick as you can (hopefully before others spawn). Don't roll or try any fancy dodges, just block and swing.

Don't bother summoning (especially AI companions). The more phantoms you have the more HP bosses have.

The faster you do damage the better as they are on spawn timers and will overwhelm you. A great tip is stay very close, this makes it easier because it causes theyre sword swings to only hit you with the hilt of the sword resulting in drastically less damage. Also use the crest shield it has the best magic defense in the game and is great for just blocking theyre attacks

I am using a plus 4 greatsword of artorias with a plus 5 crest shield and lastly I am wearing full orenstein armor

The main reason I want a summon is extra dps to help and I know about the Hp consequence of it but the good outweighs the bad in my opinion

Having a strong weapon helps a lot. If you pick up a Black Knight's Halberd and wear either Havel's/Stone set + Wolf Ring and just chug Estus and pop humanities while you tank their hits, you should be good to go.

Sorry dude. Just reinstalled and booted up. I have one guy that's SL 86 but he's on NG+

I think I used a +10 man serpent sword my first time against them. Did you get the rite of kindling yet? If not, you should and then max out the kindle. I only had the 10 estus when I faced them because I hadn't located pinwheel yet on my playthrough, so it's def possible.

@bceagles128: dang I will just keep trying I guess. I mean that's what dark souls is about right?

Beatrice is discouraged for this fight, since the damage she does does not make up for the bump in HP given to the boss. TBH I didn't find summoning a human to make this significantly easier than soloing, presumably for the same reason.

The tip to stay really close is good; a lot of the attacks will barely hit you. Another important thing is that you can keep hitting for a little while even when it looks like a king is "dying". The battle ends when you've reduced the life bar to 0, the fact that there are multiple bosses present is kind of misleading, and basically you're racing to do enough damage before more kings than you can handle spawn.

Havel Armor, 20 flasks, and the biggest damage weapon you have.

That's how I've always done it, just keep attacking and chug those estus in need. That's how @vinny did it too ;)

The four kings are a DPS race, you do not want summons as they increase the boss' HP. Get your best weapon, the crest shield and 2 hand it. Swing away and chug estus like no tomorrow. Just make sure you dodge the backhand dark empowered swing and you should be alright.

With the gear you have this fight should be a breeze, just get used to dodging the right attacks and eating the ones without poise damage/huge health damage.

Looks like you should have sufficient damage output. What everyone else is saying is what I did too; this was a zero finesse hack/slash affair for me.

As soon as you land, run to the enemy as quickly as you can, try to stay behind them (ISTR they have an annoying grab, could be misremembering), and just go to town. Green blossom is a good idea so that you can get more swings in.

When I was playing as a sorcerer and going for the other ending, I was way underleveled and ended up using Quelaag's Furysword. It deals fire damage and scales with humanity. They are weak to fire, I think.

On my last play through I two handed the large club with havel's armour and used absolutely no skill :)

The Iron Flesh pyromancy is a BIG help in this fight - get hold of it if you don't already have it and consider pimping up your pyromancy flame too. Everyone else's advice above is also very true - don't worry about agility, just set yourself up to absorb and deal as much damage as possible. Slug it out! Good luck

I just tanked it with Havel's gear. They take further damage after each King's death so even if one is in the dying animation, you can still get another hit in to take the overall health down.

Beat them on my first try, but I always seemed to do everything in the wrong order in that game. I rang the second bell first, did the additional content before beating Nito or the 4 kings...

When I did actually fight the 4 Kings, I beat them in one attempt. I either used Quelaag's Furysword +5 or the Silver Knight Spear +5, with the Black Iron Armor set, each upgraded fully. Havels Ring/Wolf Ring(that's the Poise one, right?).

Watch out for the move where the suck you in, and just work em one at a time. If it's too much trouble, go fight another boss and come back a few levels higher.

Not sure if the Greatsword of Artorias is your best bet.....yeah, it does extra damage against the 4 Kings and scales well with 4 different abilities but, depending on your current Intelligence, Faith, Dex and Strength levels, and the fact that it cannot be buffed, it may not be your best DPS bet....also, the strong attacks take a minute to come out and really you should be whacking the hell out of 'em with 2 handed strongs as much as possible.

Fire and lighting buffed weapons are a good bet.

Also, if you are are wearing Orenstein armor I am wondering what your encumbrance/movement speed is and if you might not get more protection from another heavier set that still keeps you at the same movement speed.

How did you wear Havels Ring, the Wolf Ring and The Covenant of Artorias ring at the same time?

@cwniles: oh that's right you needed the ring from Sif for that fight. Just Havels Ring, then. It's been a while.

My dex build, I more or less just spammed heavy attack with Balder Side Sword and wrecked their shit.

DON'T.STOP.FOR.NOTHING.

@relkin: ah, gotcha. thought maybe there was some trick to fighting the four kings without the Artorias ring on.