Got to him today and ended up spending a few hours learning him. Since for me he was by far the hardest boss in the game I decided to record the strategy that worked for me. It is much faster than the ones I have found online (less time to make a mistake therefore easier in my opinion) dropped him in under 2 mins with a greatsword at level 100. You'll just need to spend a few minutes getting used to the timing for his head swings. It took me much longer since I was figuring out when and how to hit him from scratch.

I've made my own video guide with commentary for 'low' level characters (lvl 80-90, all builds) Hope this helps!

It's one of the best bosses and most fair to fight in a 1v1 combat, as all of its attacks are really predictable and easily dodged. And i'm not being a jerk here, i'm totally saying he's got to be one of my favourites dungeon-exclusive bosses in the game, if not my favorite one. If you stand in front of him, locked, and pay attention, the fight is a cakewalk. He will always do the same 4 bite combo, and that's only once he's down to 50% health, previous to that it will almost always just bite twice. If not, the claw swipes that send forth a wave of fire, the "fire burps" or the lava puke, which leaves its back legs wide open to attacks. Add to this that he has breakable armor, and you have yourself a super fun battle. It's probably the only hound i feel bad to kill in this entire game...as all the other dog enemies are really frantic and hateful. God i *****ing hate dogs in Souls games...

Just locked on him with Bowblade and kept shooting him, if you don't stay too far away from him he won't charge you, all of his attacks have a ridiculously small range, so you can easily kill him (Killed him without being hit on my first try)

I did it!! Praise the Sun! I mean Blood.. Ludwig GS +7, Saw +7. Only 31 Vitality! Fading5%, Lake3%, Clockwise 10% hp Runes. Charred attire. Bring a heavy hitter. Serrated fast weapon also recommended. Some bolt paper. Used Bone marrow to finish it off. After breaking its head (V.A didn't work) I managed to do over 1035 damage with a single shot of Eveyln +7 +bma to the face!

Dropped Blood Stone Chunk for me. Is this even possible?

I've beat him twice now without dying. both times with Ludwigs by stunlocking him with charged attacks from behind. The hard part is is actually getting behind him and landing the first strike. If you do, he should stun long enough where you can just keep holding r2 the moment you regain a sliver of stamina.

I was fighting him in the best place on earth (defiled chalice) with a cooperator. The cooperator died during his third phase and I was getting ready to finish him off. He charged up the AOE, so I backed up a fair bit and let him do his thing. Then out of nowhere he comes flying though the air at me and smashes my face in. It didn't kill me outright, but it scared the s*** out of me and I panicked and died with a sliver of health left to go on him. Really made me angry. The point is, I'd never seen that particular attack before, even during 30 odd attempts on my first character. Is it just incredibly rare or what?

this boss just sucks it looks stupid {the neck} its moves are just boring and its ai cant tell when to use certain moves i have seen it use its melee attacks when i was on the other side of the room and i have seen it charge when im behind it its just a dumb boss you may enjpy itss design but that dosent change how dumb its ai is