In order to advance further into Elden Ring, you will need to take on tougher foes scattered throughout the lands. Some of these bosses will be optional and will not affect how the story turns out in any way. However, facing these bosses can grant you amazing weapons, runes and get you used to that boss. Some optional bosses have a more difficult variant - Black Blade Kindred is one such boss that you face near the Bestial Sanctum in Caelid.
Taking on the Gargoyle can be tough early on, but the reward for killing it is worth it. Here is all you need to know about Black Blade Kindred in Elden Ring.
Black Blade Kindred Overview
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Black Blade Kindred Overview |
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Location |
Caelid |
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Optional |
Yes |
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Summons |
Players and Spirit Ashes |
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Drops |
Gargoyle's Blackblade |
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Gargoyle's Black Halberd |
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Weak To |
Physical Strikes |
Black Blade Kindred is located outside the Bestial Sanctum in Caelid. The boss is optional, and you can progress the story without facing it. The boss makes an appearance twice, once in Caelid and once in Forbidden Lands.
A similar version of the boss appears as a Duo fight at the far east of Nokron, Eternal City. You can summon Spirit Ashes or online players to help you in this fight. Defeating the boss will drop two weapons, Gargoyle's Blackblade, which scales well with Dexterity, and the Gargoyle's Black Halberd, an amazing Strength.
The boss is weak against Strike attacks. The boss is Immune to Scarlet Rot, Poison, Frostbite, and Hemorrhage.
Black Blade Kindred Attacks
This Gargoyle boss has a limited number of attacks that it performs. Staying close to it also lowers the chances of seeing his power attacks. The attacks to look out for are the Power Sword Slam and Halberd Power Spin, which can deal a lot of damage and more damage over time.
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Black Blade Kindred Attacks |
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Sword Attack
The boss alternates between single sword strikes and sword combos.
Counter: Dodge to the direction the attack is coming from every time.
Sword Thrust
Black Blade Kindred thrusting his sword in a forward direction.
Counter: Roll to either side to avoid the attack.
Halberd Attack
The boss grabs the Halberd from his back and sweeps attack the player.
Counter: Dodge in the direction of the attack leaning towards the boss.
Halberd Charge
Black Blade Kindred jumps in the air and comes down, charging his Halberd at the player.
Counter: As the boss gets close to you, dodge to either side.
Power Sword Slam
The boss raises his sword powering it up and slams it down on the ground releasing a wave of energy that travels forward.
Counter: Roll to either side as the wave comes near you to avoid taking damage from this attack.
Halberd Power Spin
The Gargoyle uses his Halberd to spin around aggressively and then slam it down the player dealing damage over time.
Counter: Roll back to avoid the spinning attacks and roll to either side for the slam attack.
Strategies
There are three strategies for this fight:
- Melee, where you abuse your strike attacks to deal serious damage to the boss.
- Mounted, which is quite risky as you can not dodge attacks with perfection but allows you to keep your distance needed.
- Magic, using Sorceries like Comet Azur to take out big chunks of his health.
You can also cheese the boss and use your horse to make the boss jump off the cliff, but this is difficult to pull off.
Melee Strategy
The melee strategy is quite simple for this fight. Stay beneath the boss at all times, so the chances of doing his charged attacks are lowered. You will need to give extra attention to his sword swings, especially his Sword Combo attack. Bring along any weapon that deals high strike damage.
Attack the boss no more than twice before getting ready to react to his attacks.
It is better to change the scaling on your weapon from Holy, Fire, and Lightning if possible. These affinities deal minor damage to the boss and can prolong the fight and make it more frustrating.
Mounted Strategy
The mounted strategy is not the best option to go for. This is mainly because his sweep attacks are harder to evade on horseback. Sitting on Torrent allows you to keep your distance from the boss and attack him at the perfect intervals.
However, this makes the boss jump around more and use his two dangerous power charge moves. If you plan to use Sorcery on your horse, the mounted strategy is not a bad option.
Ranged Strategy
You can use Sorceries or Incantations on the boss to take his health down from afar. Sorcery is quite helpful against the boss and does decent damage. Comet Azur is a good option for Sorcery as it deals serious damage to the boss in a straight line. However, the boss can sidestep the Sorcery on multiple occasions, wasting a lot of your FP.
Avoid using Fire, Lightning, and Holy scaled weapons or Incantations as the boss has high resistance against them.
However, if your whole build revolves around Faith and Fire Incantations, you do not have much choice and should try to keep your distance and use the Fire Sling properly as the spell does have a slow cast speed.