Minor detail but I got the Plain Doll's Gherman dialogue without killing the black spirit (I feel too bad for the orphan to kill it completely)

Everything in this fight just felt so fair and well designed. My first few tries I had no idea what I was doing, but it was so satisfying retrying over and over and learning each of his plethora of attacks and figuring when to dodge, walk, backstab and parry. The fact that he's the only foe in the game to give you bonus health and bullets for visceral attacks really incentivises you to take a moment to learn everything about him. The transformation from hunter-like first form to beast-like second form forces you to reevaluate your entire approach and they give you so many tools like different terrain and wide open areas. A few flaws though. One is that the camera will often force you to dodge into attacks whilst locked on due it 'pushing' you along during some of his more mobile attacks. Viscerals also tend to seriously glitch out on the uneven beach terrain.

I mean, just the sheer difficulty of that fight, the awesome transformation, that epic soundtrack especially when fighting the real Ludwig, it just makes more sense. The OoK fight was too easy, playing on NG++; did not even take any damage whatsoever. The trick to this fight is to know exactly when and how to quickstep, staggering to do visceral attacks is not even worth the hassle. Just evade and hack at least three times (your second hit will stagger him enough to get another hit, but you have to get out quickly afterwards as this resets his combo)

Did anyone notice how the "bones" the Orphan pulls himself out of as he exits his mother, looks like a carcass of another creature? I think I see a head and a torso and I definitely see skinny legs, with feet. Maybe that is the Orphan's true body/corpse?

I have successfully made it past the Orphan's first stage in a fight without using any blood vials. To do this I used the best of these runes: Blood Rapture, Clawmark, and Anti-Clockwise Metamorphosis. My character is mostly arcane, so I use Augur to backstab fish the Orhpan whenever I can get around to his backside. Blood Rapture will keep your health full for the first stage of the fight as a single visceral heals to 100% health from only about an 8th of your health left. Clawmark helps to chunk the health away from the Orphan and Anti-Clockwise Meta gives you the stamina to dodge some of his wilder attacks. Burial Blade +9 in trick form with 34 ST, 32 DEX, and 20 Arcane does around 250-350 damage per hit. Augur does 100+ most times and is great for backstabs. Partying...not so much. I have yet to beat on NG+ (which is where I've been fighting him the whole time), but I'm determined not to let this Placenta-wielding stick figure best me.

NG Runes: Great Lake? +4% Resistance to all damage, Clockwise Metamorphosis +5% Health, Anti-Clockwise Metamorphosis: +15% Stamina OATH: Hunter-Increase Stamina Recovery Character: Quality Build- Vit 27-ish, STR 33, SKL 33, END-20, Bloodtinge-9, Arcane-25. Using Ludwig's Holy Blade in Transformed mode. Dodge. Dodge. Dodge. Dodge. His first form is fairly easy to track the movements for, I've read and tried both approaches for backstabbing and gun-parrying him. Personally, I've found that backstabbing after certain attacks is much much easier to time and less risky than trying to gun parry him. For example, his leaping attack and the arcane explosion attack are the easiest to charge a full R2 attack to trigger the backstab animation. I may just be bad at gun parrying, but I kept timing it incorrectly and I would trigger the stun animation, but he'd hit me anyway and I'd miss my window. The bonus with the R2 attack is even if you don't stun him, you deal quite a chunk of damage to him. Anywhos, dodge into him on his left side (your right) constantly. Those mid range attacks are devastating. Heal up close to him when you have a chance, or Rally whenever possible. 2nd Phase: Bee-line out to the water to give you time to dodge the inevitable lightning surge attack and for the love of all the good blood, do not stop dodging when he attacks. Continue circling to your right/his left side (opposite of his weapon). Most times, he will overshoot you and miss you and continue slamming his weapon in that annoying-*** series of attacks that kills you instantly. Be patient, don't get greedy, and if you've rubbed the buddha belly for good luck you'll send that little orphan ****** to meet his mother. Additionally, I would advise against attempting to stun/parry him in this stage, if you miss him or time the stun wrong (if it's even possible), he can knock you out in the blink of an eye. Note: The above strategy took me 4 tries, gun-parrying was met with little success (roughly 30-40 attempts) If you need any help let me know PSN: shooprard_

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I absolutely despise this boss I just cannot beat it. So ***** fast and no time to recover or do anything! Its just insane I cant even count the number of times i've died to it its gotten even more than Ludwig. His second form is just nuts and his first one the parry windows are absolutely miniscule. Im LV92 and using LNB +10 with physical gems and he's just too too fast and does such high damage...i dont think im even going to bother with NG+ with this guy if he's this hard on the base game.

im doing good damage agaisnt him with a co op partner but as soon as they die in phase 2 i get destroyed in seconds i could use assistance from some one im using church pick thats plus 10 and loaded with the best runes i got and im level 80 ish and just need assistance and please i know lv 80 is low but my damage out put is fine and i can survive his hits pretty well its just the crazy combos in phase 2