ane one heer

"You can equip a Black knight shield +5 which has 74 stability and a 95% Fire damage block. Tank his hits until he does his grab move which leaves him vulnerable for several seconds." - For best results, use the Choloranthy Ring (or whatever the Stamina Regen ring is called) and wear either the giant armour (high fire resist, heavy damage resistance) or something else with suitable staying power. If your Endurance is above 45, you should be able to completely block even his longest combo (and with the giant armour, negate his fire damage) providing you time temporary shield drops in order to recover stamina. From this point, he will occasionally leave himself open at the end of combos and failed attacks; thus providing the player time to pick away at him.Good luck to everyone!- Terminus_X, died linking the fire... at least the first time...

theres a rock to the left of the boss that he cant destroy or go through

I had 20 estus(+3) and the black iron armor set, but with the gold hemmed hood instead of the helmet. I used a +3 crystal halberd (of which i did not know has very low durability) and a (+5?) crystal knight shield and i was able to parry most of his attacks, and the one's i didnt the armor allowed me to take a hit without staggering and also allowed me to 50% roll. This set has high fire and physical resistance so I would recommend it if you have havel's ring.

would anyone know what happens if you kill yourself (via posion or power within, etc) instead of leaving, or linking the flame?

dont get me wrong but isnt this the easiest boss? maybe i farmed too much before ng cycle but its not that fast or damaging i suppose. for those who having hard time im not a pro or something but take hint and wear that black armor set and farm black knights for their shield. decent poise and good fire defense. also not that heavy. shield is useful since even if you have random 100 phy def shield youll still take fire damage. another good thing to do is killing fire keepers in londo and quelaags domain for their souls so you can upgrade estus at firelink shrine.

Finally killed him on NG+ today. Had a hard time since I killed him with Solaire on NG (he makes it a breeze), but on this run Solaire died at my hands, accidentally, but I needed his armor anyways so... Main thing that made this fight hard was the fact that you can`t heal, well you can try but he`ll hit you for half your health when you do, I tried Iron Flesh and I can`t parry for crap, I am an average player, not elite, anyways most games are made for average people, there is usually a 'hard' way around. For me it was the Greatshield of Artorias, with 40 END and decent armor/fire protection if you block you take hardly any damage at all. But like all bosses you also need to be patient... and hardly any damage taken at all will eventually accumulate, so you will need to heal. The pillars are the key, put a pillar between you and him, but don`t stand right next to it as he will attack through them and still hit you. This is the only way to safely heal that I could figure. Then pyromancy, at +5 ascended flame I did like 700 damage, I also used the Obsidian Sword buffed with fire, Mask of the Mother for stamina regen and mostly a Giant set at +5, Havel and the ring of Steel Protection, happy hunting! (Also, NG+ to NG++ is awesome, as things don`t escalate as bad as when going from NG to NG+, and by the NG++ time you`ve 'get gud')

Is it ok if i use giant armor set all +5 instead of havels or smoughs on the 7th option?

Velka's rapier +5, power within, hornets ring at least 30 int. 2 parries and thats it. All over. Can use target shield to Make it easier.