Stage I
The Soul of Cinder has very reliable melee combos, and he’ll mix these with a huge variety of optional attacks. You could see poison clouds, Arcane spells of several types, fire buffs and attacks, lightning spells, etc.
But you’re mostly going to be okay as long as you master the timing on the central melee combos. With those perfected, you can safely heal between swings and keep yourself going throughout the engagement.
This stage lasts for the entire health bar. You need to be most concerned if the boss goes into his Arcane phase. That gives him his spells (and he’ll glow with Arcane power, so you know what’s coming). At that point, stick to him like glue. Any distance from the boss is going to get you hurt badly.
Offensively, Stamina is king. You have to dodge before you get any of your openings to strike, and long combos are sometimes necessary for your best damage. You rarely get to wind the Soul of Cinder, and he’ll go to his knees. Use everything on him at that point. More hits, more damage, every ring that you can stack to give you extra Stamina and damage is likely to pay off.
Stage II
When the Soul of Cinder loses his first health bar, back off and heal. He explodes when regenerating, and you shouldn’t need to take any damage.
There are more mix-ups in the second half of the battle, so dodging becomes much harder. However, the core mechanic is similar. Heal only after a good dodge. Strike lightly most of the time, and then unload if you ever stagger the boss. Save your Stamina for these big frenzies. Your normal setup should be dodge, dodge again (if you need to), take a free hit or two, and then get out of range quickly.
And that’s basically all there is to it. This boss doesn’t rely on gimmicks, cheap shots, or invulnerabilities. He fights fair; you just need to keep on him for a few straight minutes without dying. It’s harder than it sounds, but it’s also insanely fun.
