Dark Souls 2 Enemies Guide - Part 5

Welcome to the final installation of the Dark Souls 2 Enemies Guide! Chosen Undead, your journey is coming to a close, but before you can rest on your laurels, you'll have to vanquish a plethora of tough and powerful enemies. Follow this guide to clear your path to victory!

Dark Souls 2: Enemies in Shrine of Amana 

Lizard Men
Lurking in the water waiting to drag you down, the Lizard Men can be identified before battle by fireflies above the water. Using the fireflies as indicators is a good way to get the drop on them and use ranged combat to damage them before they can get to you. If they get close you’ll want to lock on as quickly as possible so you’re not swinging your weapon blindly. More annoyingly their attacks will increase your bleed and curse meters. 

Archdrake Maiden & Archdrake Priest/Priestess
If you’re the kind of player who revels in casting Homing Soul Arrows at your enemies and watching them die, it’s time for some cold, hard revenge. The Archdrake Priestesses have an extremely long detection range and will be continually spamming Soul Arrows at you until you either die or shut them up. Once you get close to them they do switch to melee but it’s quite pathetic. The Maidens and Priests will be up next. Even though the Priests will be the ones knocking you around for damage, Maidens are your top priority when you see them. They use their magic to heal everyone around them making it an incredibly painful time. It wouldn’t be so bad if the Priests weren’t so annoying however. They use halberds, so their reach is quite good and they are also quite powerful. A lot of the time you’ll find these three enemies grouped together, take the maidens out first, then the priestesses and finally the priests so you can focus on their combat. 

Aldia Warlock
You may recognise this guy from the mask it wears – the Prowling Magus boss from Brightstone Cave Tseldora also wore a mask like this. He doesn’t respawn but has a chance to drop his pretty cool helm.

You can also find an Ogre (covered in Part 1) in the Shrine of Amana, as well as a couple of Rats (Part 2). In addition you’ll find some Poison Horn Beetle enemies (Part 3) that are a little different in that instead of poisoning you with the gas they release, they will break your equipment instead. 



Dark Souls 2: Enemies in Undead Crypt

Leydia Witch
A ghost and a witch at the same time - as if you haven’t had enough different enemies to deal with already. Predictably, they use sorcery and are pretty good at it too. Get close and take them out. 

Leydia Apostle
Not as powerful as their witch counterparts but make up for it with a decent melee sword attack, and they can respawn infinitely unless you smash their tombstone. Take note of any bells you see dotted around the Undead Crypt. If you haven’t smashed a tombstone of a Leydia Apostle and a hollow rings one of the bells, they will spawn collectively making it a lot more difficult. 

Wall Ghosts
Their name pretty much gives away what they are and what they do. Get close to certain points of the wall and you’ll have a spirit trying to hack away at you. Pretty weak, but can be annoying if you don’t take them out and get caught while fighting something else. 

Imperious Knight
When you run into the Imperious Knights you could be forgiven in thinking that you’re just looking at a brick wall. The big slabs of concrete that you see blocking your path will also be the big slabs of concrete smacking you in the face if you aren’t careful. They are, in fact two greatshields that the Imperious Knight’s dual wield. Because there are two of them and considering where you run into them it can become a bit of a pain to fight them. To make it easier on yourself, clear out the room before the hallway where you find them and lure them here. You’ll have a bigger playground to dodge around and dispatch them.

The Undead Crypt also houses a few of the Castle Knights (covered in Part 4). 

Dark Souls 2: Enemies in Aldia’s Keep

Hollow Dwarf
Undead, small, ferocious and wield glowing weapons. They don’t really pose too much of a problem, you know what to do. 

Dragon Acolyte
Identified by their hoods, the Dragon Acolyte’s are not very strong but can damage you quite badly if you let them. They are also quite slow, so get rid of them before they really sink their teeth into you.

Aldia’s Keep features a slew of old enemies including Ogres (Part 1), Water Giants (Part 1) and Mimic chests (Part 3). 

Dark Souls 2: Enemies in Dragon Aerie

Dragon
You can’t really say you weren’t expecting this, can you? The Dragons don’t respawn and can be killed very cheaply by smartly using the environment. Hide behind rocks or other bits of the map and use ranged combat to take them out. Another tedious exercise, but its better to be careful than dead.

You’ll also find some of the infuriating Undead Citizens (Part 1) around here in all of their belly flopping glory. Be careful in engaging them as there are quite a few wooden bridges around here that they will blow you clean off to your death if they manage to belly flop you.



Dark Souls 2: Enemies in Dragon Shrine

Drakekeeper
They look quite similar to the Old Knights in Heide’s Tower of Flame (Part 1) but they are a whole lot more troublesome. There are a couple of different variants; one wields a greatsword, another a regular sword and the most dangerous of the lot comes equipped with a greathammer. While killing them with melee combat is entirely possible, they hit so hard that it’s just not worth the risk. 

Drakekeeper Priest
An annoying so and so who will attack you with lightning orbs that do a bit of damage and also send you flying on your backside. This really isn’t ideal when fighting the Drakekeepers, so slaughter him ASAP. 

Drake Shrine Warriors
With the game coming to a conclusion, you’ll find that like the Drakekeepers, the Drake Shrine Warriors are no joke. They always come in a pack of 2, which makes the fight even more problematic. It is possible to use the tactic of using ranged combat and running away when they get close so they return to their original spawn and continuing this until they are dead. Considering the boss fight you have to deal with after this lot, it’s quite logical to do so. 



Dark Souls 2: Enemies in Memories of the Ancients

And so finally we come to the last area of the enemy guide. Predictably, the enemies here will take some beating and will absolutely have no problem in dismantling you into a bloody corpse if you aren’t prepared.

Royal Soldier
If you accidently (or purposely) strike one of the soldiers fighting the giants, presumably word spreads very quickly in the Drangleic barracks as they will all decide to then smack you around. They aren’t particularly troublesome, but you will come across quite a number of them. 

Giant
Remember the first boss you fought way back in the Forest of the Fallen Giants? He was a giant, but these guys are so much stronger. One form of these giants in particular has a massive club that could possibly crush you in one hit, so be warned. Given the time limit you have in the memories, using ranged combat may not be an option for you, but it is by far the easier option. 

Sorcerer Giant
As if a Giant wasn’t enough, good old Dark Souls 2 has decided to give them the power of magic to mangle you as well. Don’t be fooled into thinking you can just rush in and smack him around just because he’s a magic user though. He is a giant after all, they have no problems hitting you with their fists. 

Warrior Giant
Massive? Check. Two clubs to decimate you with? Check. There is nothing funny about the sheer destruction the Warrior Giant can cause. No matter the time limit, if you aren’t using ranged against this guy you’re really going to have a bad time. He will also hit through your shields with his clubs, but one look at the sheer brutishness of him; did you expect any different?