Dark Souls 3 is the last game in the series. The third entry offers unique areas as well as boss fights that you will have to complete in order to reach the next zones. A few bosses in Dark Souls are what many players call Gimmick Bosses. These enemies are different from the regular boss you face as you have to use one mechanic made specifically for this battle.
High Lord Wolnir is one of these Gimmick Boss fights — quite an easy one compared to others. Here is all you need to know about the boss and how you can defeat him.
High Lord Wolnir Overview
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High Lord Wolnir Overview |
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Location |
Catacombs of Carthus |
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Optional |
No |
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Drops |
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Weak To |
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High Lord Wolnir is a boss located in the Catacombs of Carthus. After interacting with the cup, a cutscene will play out and teleport you to the boss room. You will appear in a dark arena with an item in the middle glowing. As soon as you approach the item, the boss will emerge, and the battle will commence. You can pick the item to get Grave Warden Pyromancy Tome.
If you fail to acquire the item and the boss fight ends, you can pick it up from the corner of the room with the bonfire near the stairs.
There are no summonable NPCs in this fight. You will have to face the boss alone, or you can summon an online player using an Ember and calling a player through their White Sign Soapstone. Summoning an online player does increase the health of the boss, but as this is a Gimmick Boss fight, it will take you the same amount of bracelets to destroy so that the boss perishes.
The boss fight is not optional and you will have to defeat Wolnir to proceed further into the game. Defeating the boss will drop 22,000 Souls and the Soul of High Lord Wolnir. You can transpose the Soul back at Firelink Shrine to acquire Wolnir's Holy Sword or Black Serpent. If you do not want any of these items, you can consume the Soul for 10,000 Souls.
High Lord Wolnir Attacks
High Lord Wolnir is a Gimmick Boss fight, and he does not have a lot of attacks. Most of them are easy to dodge and have an easy tell. However, the boss does great damage if you get hit by his attacks.
Strategy
For all melee players, the main objective is to run towards the golden bracelets the boss is wearing. The boss does not take damage anywhere else on his body. Shattering a bracelet will take out a huge chunk of the boss's health bar. You have to repeat this multiple times and destroy all the bracelets. Once all of them are shattered, the boss fight will end.
However, after every bracelet is destroyed, the boss will summon different skeletons. Fortunately, you can ignore these enemies as they do not pose much threat, and the boss can take them out for you through his attacks.
From time to time, the boss will raise his head, signaling the Smoke Cloud attack. When this happens, run away from the boss to avoid the cloud.
Wolnir also tends to move his arms around so that it becomes harder for you to break his bracelets. Just wait for the right time to start attacking again while you defense yourself from his summons.
For magic casters and pyromancy users, it is best to space yourself quite some distance from the boss and use your spells and pyromancies on his bracelet. Great Choas Fire Orb is an exceptional choice as it deals a lot of damage, and a few casts will break a bracelet.
White Dragon Breath is a must-have Sorcery for this fight. It makes the fight relatively easier for magic casters. All you need to do is to cast the Sorcery whenever the boss lowers his arm on the ground.
If you are on your NG+ run and do not want to bother with the entire fight, you can use Pestilent Mist. This is a Sorcery that acts as a mist that eats away the boss's health bar. At the start of the fight, you can go to the right bracelet and cast this. A few casts of the Mist will be enough to kill the boss.
You can acquire Pestilent Mist from Orbeck of Vinheim for 1,000 Souls after giving any sorcery scroll. The NPC resides in Road of Sacrifices and moves to Firelink Shrine after you talk to him.