- Fri Jan 13, 2017 3:40 pm
#15887697
I managed to defeat him on my 2nd try (died on my first attempt trying to use sword & board (Ice Rapier+5 & Rebel's Greatshield+10) - poke/finesse while observing & learning his patterns.) He squished me, quickly, as soon as my summons bit the dust.
As such, I opted for my tried & true brute force/resistance method. (Build up immunity to boss' damage type(s) and pound him/her/it into the ground using high DPS brute force.
My equipment loadout:
Dragon Tooth+5 (not infused w anything) Wielded 2-handed
Blossom Kite Shield+8, Lightning Priest's Chime+10, Dark Pyromancy Flame +9
Velstadt's Helm+4, Alonne Captain Armor+10, Alonne Knight gauntlets+10, Chaos Boots+5
Flame Quartz Ring+3, Dark Quartz Ring+2, Dispelling Ring+1, Ring of Blades+2 (+1 should be fine too)
Attuned Spells:
Great Magic Barrier (x2), Warmth
I don't know if this will hold up on NG+ or NG++, but it worked very well for me on NG, and I offer my method here in hope it may help others who are struggling.
I brought both summons with me and as soon as I stepped through the fog gate I cast both Great Magic Barrier, and Warmth. (Remember, as noted above, FumeK won't spawn & attack until you approach the sword in the center of the room, giving ample time to initially buff up & prepare.) I then used a gold pine resin on my Dragon Tooth+5 and wielded it 2 handed the entire battle. (I kept the Blossom Kite Shield on my back for help with stamina regen, and I didn't ever re-use gold pine resin. I wasn't 100% sure if it helped or not, so I didn't want to waste valuable time reapplying it.) I kept an Estus Flask queued up just in case I took too much DMG; which would happen at times, but not so often that I couldn't manage it. Don't forget you can double (or triple) chug Estus to speed up healing if your damage is critical. Before running toward the sword in the middle of the room, I popped an Elizabeth Mushroom. (I only did this at the start, and am now thinking I didn't even need to use this one.)
At the start, while Fume Knight was rising out of the ground by the sword, I would get a couple free attacks in before running away. Once he began moving, I would wait for FumeK to aggro on my summons, then I would run up behind him and smash until my stamina was gone/nearly gone, then put a little distance between myself and FumeK. As soon as FumeK attacked one of my summons again, I would run in (behind him if at all possible) and smash him as much as I could before retreating again when my stamina ran out. He often, (but not always,) went for those who were closer to him. Also, Each time I backed off, I would take a quick glance at my health and determine if I needed healing or not. I would also determine if I needed to re-buff/re-cast GMB. I tried to NEVER run in unless GMB was up. I also tried to retreat to the entryway (where I had cast Warmth at the start) whenever possible. (And during the battle I tried to keep FumeK away from there, just in case, as I wasn't sure if Warmth would heal him or not. Thankfully, he didn't often go that way during my fight. His focus seemed to remain toward the middle and back of the room for the majority of my battle, which worked out perfectly for me.)
Be warned, sometimes FumeK WILL aggro & attack you from all the way across the room when trying to re-cast & buff back up; or heal with Estus for that matter. I found having as much distance between myself and FumeK as possible was helpful in giving me a sliver more time to finish casting or drinking Estus Flask. I would also try to wait until he started an attack on my summons to give me as much time as possible for rebuffs/heals.
Using this, it's just a matter of repetition; keeping GMB up and keeping an eye on your health/stamina... attacking whenever able to do so. Popping Lifegems can probably be useful as well, since they continue healing for a little while after you use them. I popped a couple Radiant Lifegems when FumeK was at about 1/3 to 1/4 health, just for good measure, in case he became more aggressive. Not sure if it was beneficial or not; I may have just wasted them.
As a note, I had better hand gear, but I was restricted by weight. If you can afford to wear better gear with higher resists, by all means do so. Also, I wore Velstadt's Helm because of prior comment, hoping it would force him to start on 2nd phase. (I don't want to re-read everything this moment, but I had it in my head during FumeK's 2nd phase that most DMG was FIRE / DARK based. Maybe I'm wrong, in which case Velstadt's Helm was unnecessary. However, it seemed to work out well for me.) But either way, with Great Magic Barrier up, and the gear I mentioned, my fire resist was 971, and Dark was 831, which GREATLY reduced FumeK's DMG output to me. As long as I wasn't too careless, Warmth helped cover a good bit of it; and I used Estus for the rest. Although that Elizabeth Mushroom at the start may have been helpful, but I don't think I needed it. I'm fairly certain Warmth / Estus had it covered.
Praise the sun... and good luck to you.
