Hardest boss in the game for me thus far

you see him again when you pray with owl's bell

I finished NG without seeing this boss, i think he's optional.

lead the samurai down there. One Deathblow with stealth the other with help of the samurai

dont punish his attack were he jumps up and drops down with his knee. He will follow up with an unblockable sweep attack. Jump and kick him for good posture damage. Same can be applied in the o rin fight

This guy got bugged as ***** for me. Started the fight with a stealth, I fell to the precipice, lead him to the woods and then he did nothing but defend and receive attacks.

Since I was tired of his bull*****combos I lead him to the entrance (after the bridge, before you enter the forest bit) and there was an invisible barrier for him making him unable to chase me past that, he was still aggro'd so I kept lowering his posture right at the entrance and whenever he leaped in the air I would just dodge back as his swept can't reach me, easy way to cheese him

Its possible to miss this guy and not fight him if you skip him and proceed with the questline. Monkeys take over the location but the bonfire room is empty where this guy should be.

you can use the flame vents charged attack to stagger him at the start of phase 2 and prevent him from buffing, i only had to do it once and he never tried to buff after the fact.