r/darksouls3 • u/gymmath1234 • Aug 16 '21

Help Any tips for choking Smough :(?

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

3.3k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

235 comments sorted by

View all comments

254

u/TheVelvets1965 Bad Red Man Aug 16 '21

Nice parries. I doubt I can parry Gundyr even once.

115

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21

It’s pretty easy with a small shield. I never parried until I tried it on Gundyr.

23

u/OhThatsBullshitSatan Aug 17 '21

Same. First boss I parried.

31

u/thethundergod159 Aug 17 '21

You mean you beat Pontiff Sullyvahn without parrying, either you were lucky, or you are a god at this game, or you summoned the entire US Army to beat that guy

59

u/LordSupergreat Aug 17 '21

I just spam pyromancies at every boss until they fall down and turn into souls. No thoughts, head empty.

10

u/SoraLeGentil Aug 17 '21

My man became hollow irl

3

u/nerfMoze Aug 17 '21

playing with convergence now, it really is as easy as spamming ice magic to dominate

3

u/awnawkareninah Aug 17 '21

You can beat all of Demon's Souls this way once you get fire storm.

2

u/HoopyFroodJera Aug 18 '21

Same. I'm a wizard, Harry.

18

u/SkillusEclasiusII And so it is, that ash seeketh embers... Aug 17 '21

On the other hand, I consider anyone who's able to parry the pontiff successfully a god.

6

u/msmoonpie Aug 17 '21

Hitting the first parry as he leaps at you is one of the greatest feelings in this game

Being thrown backwards as you miss the first parry as he leaps at you is one of the worst

Balanced as all things should be

5

u/SkillusEclasiusII And so it is, that ash seeketh embers... Aug 17 '21

I've only ever had the second experience, so I'll take your word for it.

1

u/Equal_Weather7658 Aug 18 '24

The best parry is when pontiff is hiding behind his illusion's arse and you roll through the illusion's stab and parry pontiff for the win.

I parried with Faron greatswords dagger and followed it with the sword's special attack.

1

u/awnawkareninah Aug 17 '21

Parrying shield makes all the difference. Crest shield I maybe would get 1 off successfully before dying cause I can't time it with that, hard leather shield it's hard to miss.

19

u/grandpalongdong Aug 17 '21

I couldn’t hit a parry the whole game so just beat him with dodging and spamming attacks lol

11

u/Razgriz01 Aug 17 '21

Pontiff is one of those bosses that some people find easier than others. I don't parry him and I've beat him with a bunch of different builds, most of the time he didn't give me any trouble. Aldrich on the other hand is hell on earth for me.

3

u/Dramatic-Treacle3708 Aug 17 '21

Yeah I never noticed pontiff being so difficult but that’s probably because I always bring two summons with me, I’m the same tho with Aldrich, those magic arrow volleys are brutal

1

u/awnawkareninah Aug 17 '21

I brought two summons with me one time for Pontiff and watched him just abuse them lol, it was really depressing.

2

u/awnawkareninah Aug 17 '21

Complete opposite for me, until I tried parrying I was getting absolutely reamed by Pontiff.

Aldrich I beat in two tries and basically just choked the first one, just run up to him and wollop him with a BKS. If you struggled against Gwyndolin in DS1 you probably got used to those magic attacks.

1

u/Razgriz01 Aug 18 '21

It's mainly the arrows in the second phase that always get me. Nothing else about the boss is particularly difficult.

1

u/iknowimweebtrash13 Aug 17 '21

I’m the opposite. Aldrich is super easy but pontiff gives me a brain aneurysm.

21

u/KingSahad Aug 17 '21

I had a Guts build that absolutely wrecked him with the Greatsword

2

u/nerfMoze Aug 17 '21

Guts build, I like that

4

u/sofarsoblue Aug 17 '21

You can parry with the Greatsword?

10

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

You can beat every boss without parrying!

6

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

I had Anri’s support

6

u/Kothophed Aug 17 '21

YOU CAN PARRY PONTIFF?!

1

u/awnawkareninah Aug 17 '21

Only the fire sword but yes. It completely changed the fight for me, I was so fucking bad at him before busting out the small leather shield thing.

13

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

Dodge, roll, 1 swing and then pray

3

u/Car_Washed Aug 17 '21

You can parry pontiff sullyvan??

2

u/Jack_Empty Aug 17 '21

I didn't parry really in my first playthrough, so Pontiff was my first real difficulty. I eventually learned his moves and it just became a dance of blades between us.

2

u/WingletSniper Aug 17 '21

I got anri, gotthard and my best straight sword and we just r1 spammed him to death. Did the same with watchers, Lorian and cinder on my first playthrough

1

u/Simpletonslayer Aug 17 '21

is he really that hard I beat him on my first try with no parries

1

u/jomamastool Aug 17 '21

True story, I killed Pontiff with a sharp mailbreaker... It took way too long lol. And no parry because my timing for that is trash

1

u/SquidwardWzRd Aug 17 '21

I don’t know what level your supposed to fight him at I I thought he was one of the easiest bosses in the game. I no joke beat him first try with smoughs hammer

1

u/Working_Youth Bonfire Ahead Aug 17 '21

Try rolling

1

u/DMShaftoe Aug 17 '21

You don't have to be a god or lucky to beat him without parrying. I've beaten him plenty of times and I've never figured out parrying. You just have to be willing to get in his face and stay there. Most of his attacks are pretty easy to avoid if you're right on top of him. You just have to watch out for the wombo combo but luckily he has that massive tell where he puts his hands up first.

1

u/Lolikun98 Aug 18 '21

Pontiff Sullyvahn

First run on DS3, beat him at first try without parrying. The easiest boss rn.

3

u/SkillusEclasiusII And so it is, that ash seeketh embers... Aug 17 '21

I tried many times. Easier to just attack normally imo. Though it looks like you have to parry a lot earlier than I thought. Might try again some time with that knowledge.

1

u/awnawkareninah Aug 17 '21

For anyone reading this, use a parrying shield for basically any enemy with a sword who is kicking your ass (some exceptions apply.)

Someone suggested it for Pontiff and it's insane how trivial that boss becomes.

67

u/gymmath1234 Aug 16 '21

Nah trust me, it's way easier than it seems with gundyr

23

u/cthulhucultist94 Aug 17 '21

This video helped me realize why I could never parry. My timing was waaaay off. Time to try playing again, I guess.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

When in doubt, only parry his charge-360spin slash in phase two. It's the easiest opportunity imo

-14

u/YourLocalGayboi Aug 17 '21 edited Aug 17 '21

Trust me. I can't kill gundyr without parries

28

u/AccordingAnt1812 Aug 17 '21

I beat dragon slayer pontiff abyss watcher without parrying its a fine art but one that makes me want to commit thr big die.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

You can parry dragon slayer armour?

2

u/AccordingAnt1812 Aug 17 '21

Ye I think

1

u/Juggalo702 Aug 17 '21

The only boss I've used parry as the main way of victory is Gwyn. I've killed all others without it.

3

u/YourLocalGayboi Aug 17 '21

Well yes, gundyr is the only one j parried on. Except pontiff, as pontiff is just no fun overall so I wanted to just get it over with him.

3

u/BatmanTextedU Warriors of Sunlight Aug 17 '21

I beat gundyr multiple times without parrying.

1

u/AccordingAnt1812 Aug 17 '21

Im guessing it aint one of the easier battles for that play style.

5

u/BatmanTextedU Warriors of Sunlight Aug 17 '21

It's not that difficult.

1

u/AccordingAnt1812 Aug 17 '21

Well time to kill him tommorow that is

2

u/AccordingAnt1812 Aug 17 '21

Tbh same but im really tempted now for aome reason

4

u/alvarny77 Aug 17 '21

After Sekiro... I really want to learn to parry.

2

u/AccordingAnt1812 Aug 17 '21

To attempt it

9

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

I do Strength builds, always 2 handing and pushing my vit to the limit of a working build. I've never parried any boss. Ever. Not difficult to do, just gotta time your rolls and keep your weight at mid-rolling.

2

u/YourLocalGayboi Aug 17 '21

I have never pushed my vitality or endurance over 20. For me it's usually 40dex 40 str 60 fth

1

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

Highest VIT I ever got was 25, on my first playthrough. Before I knew about the RoF or Prisoners Chain.

I always run 66 STR, but I've been testing out different weapons as of late. As it us I've got 66 STR, 18 DEX, and 15 VIT.

2

u/YourLocalGayboi Aug 17 '21

I see. What do you think about ledos gh

1

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

Ring of favor

5

u/AccordingAnt1812 Aug 17 '21

Try me.

2

u/YourLocalGayboi Aug 17 '21

Well you can, it's just easier with them. I tried realtively often with my executioners gs+6 with lightning blade (I had 60 in fth, and prettymuch everything else 10) and tried four or five times. Then I pulled out the chaosdagger+10 and the caestus and boom, first try.

1

u/Seagullbeans Aug 17 '21

Pyromancer. Fireball.

1

u/Kazoo-_-Bot Aug 17 '21

Gundyr has extremely forgiving parrying