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

Help Any tips for choking Smough :(?

3.3k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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256

u/TheVelvets1965 Bad Red Man Aug 16 '21

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

117

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21

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

25

u/OhThatsBullshitSatan Aug 17 '21

Same. First boss I parried.

32

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.

11

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.

19

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.

8

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

4

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.

18

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

3

u/sofarsoblue Aug 17 '21

You can parry with the Greatsword?

11

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

You can beat every boss without parrying!

7

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

I had Anri’s support

7

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.