[WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE MAIN AND FINAL BOSS FIGHT OF THE ASHES OF ARIANDEL DLC]
This video features the final boss fight of Dark Souls III's first DLC, Ashes of Ariandel, against Sister Friede and Father Ariandel. They can as well be considered the only encounter from the DLC, since the other boss you can fight, The Champion's Gravetender and The Gravetender Greatwolf, is strictly optional. This video was recorded on a normal playthrough (no NG+) and I chose not to use any summon, both from NPCs and players alike. Before anyone asks, much more like other Dark Souls videos I've uploaded, this gameplay is cobbled together by several attempts I made at this boss.
Sister Friede and Father Ariandel are a nasty difficulty spike in an otherwise disappointingly easy DLC: the encounter is divided in three phases, the two bosses are capable to hit you like a freight train with attacks that are at times hard to predict, you get very little room to strike back and, in the middle of the fight, you must deal with a dual boss.
The first phase involves fighting Sister Friede alone. As a humanoid enemy, she can be stunned and backstabbed to give yourself some pause. It's worth mentioning however that she will retaliate after being stunned once and that backstabbing her is incredibly difficult due to the boss' tendency to move all over the place during the fight. The best place to bring Friede to inflict some damage are the corners of the corridors of the hallway before Father Ariandel: her AI can't handle the tight space so well and will allow you several hits in before fleeing. Friede's special attack for this phase is to turn invisible, jump far away and reapper some seconds later to grab you with her scythe for massive damage. If you get savvy enough, though, you can start to predict where her jump will lead, reach her and take advantage of her charing her move to strike for massive damage.
When the second phase will kick in, Father Ariandel will join the fight along with Friede, and they'll share a single health bar. Summoning Slave Knight Gael will of course make this particular phase far more manageable.
During this part of the encounter is best to focus on Ariandel, for the following reasons:
- Friede will lack most of her attacks and therefore is easier to avoid, provided you can keep your distance and dodge her ice waves in time
- Ariandel is a big target, so locking on him will allow you to check Friede's position at the same time
- Ariandel's attacks, while powerful, are incredibly telegraphed and easy to dodge
At some point Friede will start casting a healing miracle for herself and Ariandel. You can either easily backstab Friede to interrupt her casting or you can keep hitting Ariandel while Friede stands still: hitting him enough will leave him open for a risposte attack, for massive damage.
The third and final phase of the boss fight begins when Friede is resurrected once more as Blackfire Friede. This part of the fight is much similar to the first, but now Friede is much more aggressive, wields a second, magical scythe and can dish out dark attacks with grerat hitboxes and high damage potential. Also, you can no longer corner her around the arena. This final part of the boss fight simply boils down to memorizing Friede's attack patterns and attack every chance you get while staying on your toes for any counterattack

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