Dark Souls 2: How to Beat the Old Iron King

Collect the Great Soul, light the primal bonfire and find Drangleic Castle.

Continue your journey with Prima’s Dark Souls 2 Guide and Walkthrough!

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Reward: Old Iron King Soul 

As with most of the recent boss battles, this fight is fairly easy compared to some of the previous encounters. The Old Iron King uses a very limited set of attacks. He almost always attacks twice, so be prepared to dodge two attacks before you attempt to counter attack.

The Old Iron King’s combo attacks consist of a vertical fist slam and a horizontal swiping attack. It uses these two attacks in random order, so you might see two vertical attacks, two horizontal attacks or one of each. Dodge to the left or right to avoid both types of attacks. When the second attack is a vertical fist slam, move in to attack the fist as quickly as possible. It remains on the ground long enough to hit it three or more times depending on the speed of your weapon. 

If the King lights its fist on fire before using a vertical attack, this generally means there will only be one attack instead of two. However, in addition to dodging the attack, you must wait until the flames go out before you move in for a counter attack. In addition, if the boss leans back, this indicates a horizontal fire attack is coming. Wait near the middle and move to the right as soon as the attack begins to ensure you avoid all of it.

As long as you time your dodges well, you won’t take much damage during this battle. With a decent weapon, the Iron King takes fairly decent damage with each attack, meaning this fight won’t last very long.

Once the boss is down, head through the doorway and into the structure to find a coffer that holds Sublime Bone Dust. Continue down the stairs to find a primal bonfire. Light it and you should now have four Great Souls, and activated four primal bonfires, allowing you to reach Drangleic Castle in the Shaded Woods.


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Author
Bryan Dawson
Bryan Dawson has an extensive background in the gaming industry, having worked as a journalist for various publications for nearly 20 years and participating in a multitude of competitive fighting game events. He has authored over a dozen strategy guides for Prima Games, worked as a consultant on numerous gaming-related TV and web shows and was the Operations Manager for the fighting game division of the IGN Pro League.