Aava, the King's Pet |
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|---|---|
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| HP | 8,930 | 12,502 (NG+) |
| Weakness | Thrust, Fire |
| Resistance | All magic, Poison |
| Immune | None |
| Respawn | NO |
Aava, the King's Pet a Boss in Dark Souls 2 (DKS2). Aava, the Pet Guardian of Eleum Loyce and the beloved child of The Ivory King, is a formidable sabertooth-like ice tiger. She guards the path to the Grand Cathedral and becomes visible with the Eye of the Priestess. Encountered just beyond the first bonfire, she rests along the way to the Grand Cathedral but turns hostile if approached too closely. Bosses are unique and challenging Enemies that drop Boss Souls capable of being transformed into powerful Weapons, Spells, and Items for the player.
Dark Souls 2 Aava, the King's Pet Information
Pet Guardian of Eleum Loyce and the Ivory King's beloved child of the Dark.
Aava is a big sabertooth-like ice tiger whose duty is to protect the path to the Grand Cathedral. She is barely visible but can be seen fully after acquiring the Eye of the Priestess. She usually rests on the way to the Grand Cathedral but becomes Hostile when the player comes too close.
- You may summon Steelheart Ellie to assist with the fight. Her sign is located on the right, very close to the boss fog.
- You may also summon Masterless Glencour to assist with the fight.
Aava, the King's Pet Location in DKS2
- Boss of Frozen Eleum Loyce, found just past the first bonfire. After the large door across the bridge go left and down the stairs. The entrance is immediately ahead.
DKS2 Aava, the King's Pet Drops
- Souls Awarded: 78,000 (Standard Game), 156,000 (NG+)
- Soul of Aava, the King's pet
Aava, the King's Pet Attacks in DKS2
| Attack Name | Attack Description |
|---|---|
| Homing Ice Crystals | Runs farther away and roars, conjuring five Ice Crystals that launch a few seconds after at their target, every crystal tracking the player. Getting hit knocks the player down and thus the rest of them will miss. (With high poise you might get hit by more than one) |
| Leaping Ice Swipe | Runs farther away like with Ice Crystals. Instead of conjuring crystals she leaps at the player and swipes with her paw. |
| Leaping Ice Slam | Runs away in a manner like the Ice Swipe. Instead of swiping you, leaps at you and slams into the ground with her front right paw. Has a large, lingering hitbox around 270 degrees on the right side of her body. |
| Ice Swipe | Swipes the area in front of her; can chain another swipe with her other paw. Note: If she decides to change target and swipe at the same time, she can do a 180' degree turn. |
| Ice Smash | Smashes the ground with her paw, summoning little ice pools around her which erupt an ice spike after a few seconds. |
| Ice Explosion | After a short, stationary charging animation, she emits an icy explosion, dealing damage to and knocking back everyone around her. |
| Bite attack | She leaps away and then leaps towards you with her mouth open. If you are too close to her head when she lands, you will be sucked in her mouth and suffer heavy damage. |
Dark Souls 2 Aava, the King's Pet Strategy
Melee Strategy for Aava: It is important to note that Aava can take away a great deal of health if any of the hits connect. Aava is a melee-oriented boss, so a shield with good damage reduction is recommended to soak up the majority of the damage being dealt. If you’re a dual weapon user, then it is important to have high agility (minimum of 92) to help you when rolling away from attacks.
Now, the first order of business is to lock-on to Aava. This is important, as all your attacks will want to be focused directly Aava. Now that you've locked on, you must ALWAYS stay near the hind legs (the back legs) as Aava will only have 3 methods of attack to get you from there: she can use ice explosion which can and will damage you if you're behind her, as well as her ice smash attack, Aava will move her body to the side that is opposite to your side and do a claw sweep that will force her to directly face you. When this happens you have three things to do (depending on your build):
If you’re a tank with a shield: Raise your shield as soon as you notice Aava moving her body slightly to the side. When she attacks, your shield will soak up the damage and you can then proceed to sprint to her hind legs once again.
If you’re a dual weapon user: Roll to the front of Aava or to the away from her. If you roll to the front, you’ll get underneath Aava ( DO. NOT. ATTACK.), just simply roll to the side and repeat the process of attack that’s already been mentioned.
If you're a mage: Use phantoms to distract her, and then proceed to stagger her with Dark Hail, Block its magic with a shield that has good Magic defenses in order to absorb the majority of the damage. It is vital that you stay at a far away range from Aava, if she begins to focus on you, it is recommended to roll through her attacks OR use a shield to block the damage she may inflict on you. Retreat to a safe position while phantoms begin to distract her.
Aava also has a long-range attack. She will summon 5 soul spears, which will all fire in rapid succession of each other towards the player. When she summons them, just move behind her and 90% of the time they miss. If you're too far away to make it behind her, sprint to the left or the right and they should all miss you.
Alternate Melee Strategy: (Used at SL138 with Throne Watcher's Armor set +2, fire-infused Heide Longsword +10 and fire-infused Blue Flame +5, Chloranthy ring +1, Fire Clutch Ring and Old Leo Ring on a STR/DEX 40 build)
--(Feel free to use any combination of dual-wielded fire-infused weapons, my setup would have been better with a Fire Longsword instead of Heide Longsword)
You will want a fire-infused weapon for this, and a shield is optional as her attacks will very easily stagger you if blocked. For this reason, dual-wielding and powerstancing with fire weapons is preferable. Lighter, faster weapons are recommended, as you will have more time to dodge after your strike. If you can use Flame Weapon, use it. If not, the only other buff that is useful is Crystal Magic Weapon: it adds both physical and magic damage, and she resists both magic and Dark damage.
First, summon the two NPCs available for the fight; they serve as meat shields and will likely die before the end of the fight. As soon as the fight starts, lock on to Aava and stay that way for the rest of the fight. While Aava concentrates on them (she always turns her head to face her target), stand far enough away that you're out of her spinning swipe range, as this should be the only move that could hit you while she isn't targeting you (other than her AoE ice spike which is easy to dodge), but close enough that you can run in for a few hits. (Using a straight sword, you may feel like you have time enough to go for 4-5 hits, but her spinning swipe has next to no warning, so stay with 2-3 hits). As soon as she finishes her combo, dash in for a few hits to her side. Quickly back away once you finish. DO NOT strike at her flank: she will begin targeting you after doing a backward leap/leaping bite combo if you do. Only strike at her side; the left side seems the best choice. Keep this up until the NPC Phantoms die, which should happen after she is at about 1/3 health.
Once the NPC Phantoms die, Aava will begin targeting you. DO NOT STRAFE at this point. She will unleash holy hell and wreck your ass with AoEs if you do. Allow her to use her biting and clawing attacks (she typically does either 2 swipes or a bite followed by 2 swipes) while facing her head-on. Simply back away before she strikes and after the combo, strike her face 1-2 times and repeat. The only moves you need to worry about are her back jumps followed by leaping bites, which are highly telegraphed but have a deceptively wide hit-box, her leaping swipes, and her spin attacks, which have almost no warning and a lagging hitbox extending ALL THE WAY TO HER OPPOSITE SHOULDER (she shouldn't use this unless you strafe). Move backward, not to the side, to avoid both of these. When you see her leap back, DO NOT APPROACH unless she is charging her soul spears, in which case you need to run forwards and roll between her legs, hit 1-2 times, and quickly move away once the attack is finished.
Optimal healing times are while she uses her ice spike AoE, which can be triggered by attacking her hind legs (not her flank or side, but in between the two) and her spin swipe, which can be avoided once you know how to trigger it and can predict when she will use it. This should take no more than 2-3 minutes.
Video Strategy:
Solo NG+3 Black Knight Greatsword
Aava: Ranged, Sword & Board and Power Stance
Ng+ boss strategy, solo, sl1, melee, no shield just a rapier
NG+2 Shield & Murakumo strategy
NG Rapier & Bow Strategy
Solo, Caestus Only
(( Please respect these video posting guidelines))
Aava, the King's Pet Hints in Dark Souls 2
- Without the Eye of the Priestess, the player can barely see Aava. It is possible, although very hard to see Aava's very faint outline,
- Even with a good shield Aava will most likely drain your stamina completely after 1-2 hits (especially in NG+ and further). However, the Baneful Bird Ring might be helpful and allow blocking 1 more attack, (especially for smaller shields)
- If she has summoned her Ice Missiles, just walk to the side of Aava. Normally none of them should hit you.
- Aava is very resistant to all magic - dark orb does 25% dmg only and the other 3 elements seem to be no better.
- However, Dark Hail is actually handy for staggering Aava.
- It is highly recommended to get your magic resistance as close to 900 as possible to minimize damage from her spells
- Magic Shield and Rebel's Greatshield infused with Magic makes this fight almost trivial, as both provide 100% magic damage reduction
- Fighting Aava with under 92 Agility is incredibly difficult, most notably; the Leaping Ice Slam attack is impossible to avoid via dodge iframes, level up Adaptability or equip some combination of the Peasant's Set, Simpleton's Ring and/or Handmaid's Ladle if you are running SL1 until you have sufficient Agility to avoid being hit.
- Can be poisoned, took 19 arrows.
Anonymous
- Anonymous
For some reason this was the boss that killed me most on my first run. Just tons of damage, plus sometimes janky hitboxes and low visibility
- Anonymous
The true battle is the 180 swipe hitbox. I like most of the DLC bosses but some of their hitboxes are truly terrible, like a couple of Fume Knights attacks. Sir Alonnes were perfect.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
her swipe atacks were annoying af.still got her 2W fire longsword and 24 adp
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I beat this boss with 85 agility at 78k soul memory with a greatsword wearing the Agape ring. Took a couple hours.
- Anonymous
super mega delayed attacks designed to roll catch you, massive instant oneshot aoes with no telegraphing, constant dodges and hitboxes so broken, you can stand right up to her, literally colliding with her (when walking forward doesnt move you because you are walking into her) swing at her and still miss because her hurtbox is so much smaller than her collision box.
truly one of the worst bosses in from software's history, fitting for the worst area in from software's history.
I am going to summon everything I can, kill this stinking pussy, take the vessel shield and never ever come back to this god forsaken area
a truly rancid dlc, which is a shame since the brume dlc was an absolute banger and sunken king dlc wasnt bad either.
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```If you’re a dual weapon user: Roll to the front of Aava or to the away from her. If you roll to the front, you’ll get underneath Aava ( DO. NOT. ATTACK.), just simply roll to the side and repeat the process of attack that’s already been mentioned. ```
roll toward her and dont attack or roll away from her, then repeat? what the hell am i supposed to make of this?
- Anonymous
Lame hitboxes and delayed attacks. Either roll late into the attack or roll twice earlier. Took me 5-6 tries to beat it as a pyromancer. Dance on Fire really shines on this fight.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I actually like this boss, however, “Can be poisoned, takes 19 arrows” my ass, loaded it with 20+ and it did nothing
- Anonymous
Cons: Janky hitboxes that are even jankier than the falconers themselves. (Someone call limit breakers.)
Hits like if you take a loaded garage truck and put it on a metal rod.
Fast and its grab will destroy you.
Tanky boi.
Not much resistances.
Pros:
Cool idea.
G O O D E S T (or baddest I guess) O F K I T T I E S
- Anonymous
super fun boss to learn, the projectile hitboxes feel a bit janky but otherwise just a fun time all around.
- Anonymous
is it just me or does hitting her just DESTROY my weapon durability?
- Anonymous
"DO NOT strike at her flank, only strike at her side." Those are the same thing, so...
- Anonymous
I killed her fast years ago as a DEX char... Now replaying as STR char is a nightmare, 200 Stamina swept away in a hit, wtf?
- Anonymous
Stupid EZ boss, all attacks are delayed and shes stuck after attacking leaving her open to be hit. Just dodge, hit once, repeat. When she summons crystal spears untarget her, run away at slight angle to dodge them, then lock back onto her to dodge her attack. EZ. Beat with +8 and +6 club wearing unupgraded smelter demon armour. First club broke then used the +6 one only doing 134 damage lol. EZ
I find fighting her without phantoms lot easier, her attacks are more predictable and takes a lot more damage, like all other DLC bosses. Also phantoms available for this fight dies way too quickly, often leaving you alone with buffed aava anyway.
- Anonymous
Beat her with Pyromancies (Flame Swathe and Lingering Flame mostly) with Iron King Helm after a bit of time to get used to her attacks. Even with the stuff she's weak to, she's still tanky as hell and doesn't give much openings so basically you definitely should not get too greedy with your attacks
- Anonymous
...Holy ****, you actually DO need to max out every stat to have a sliver of a chance to solo this fight.
- Anonymous
Kept dying to her with different tactics so I just left, came back two days later and did her in one try. Summons DO help keep her off my back. Thank you Ellie and Glencour.
- Anonymous
Very fun boss, forced me to learn like sinh and fume knight and music fits incredibly
- Anonymous
Beat it first try, and thank **** my build was perfect for this boss. Full Havel’s armor and the greatshield +5, but even that was barely enough to block all of its swinging attacks. Black knight ultra greatsword +5 infused with fire cuts through this kitty like butter.
- Anonymous
I'm glad I only entered the boss area after obtaining the eye. This is the coolest boss from DS2 I've fought so far. It really feels like a souls like boss, hard but not impossible with good rewards. My uchigatana almost broke during the boss fight, so big thanks to NPC that distracted her while I was in the inventory searching for repair powder xD
- Anonymous
Soul lvl 150 with 10+ pyro flame. Dex build. Penal handcuffs equipped. Pyromancy does not deal big damage against Aava (tried fire tempest, chaos storm, fire whip, great combustion, and fire orb) especially since Aava is very aggressive in DS2 standard, finding right moment for tempest and chaos storm is difficult. After testing those spells at least once on Aava, i decided to use old trusty warped sword and make Aava into mincemeat much faster.
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Wait, Aava is "she" not "he" ??? Never noticed it until reading this page (・∀・)
- Anonymous
Pretty brutal for mages. I will say I prefer using soul arrows/spears to dark orb for this boss because of the added range. Felt like I had to be right on top of it to get the dark orbs to connect.
- Anonymous
why get 900 magic resist when you can dodge her magic by literally straffing sideways?
when i looking back, this game really makes me feel like an idiot. I fought this giant cat as invisible and I thought it was a compelling feature of the game. i didn't even think we needed to find an item to see him.
likewise Mytha ( medusa ) i didnt know we can using a Torch to burn away the Windmill's Blades.
my stupidity was probably more challenging than the game, but goddamn that game was hell of a fun.
- Anonymous
To let you know, if you didnt already:
All DLC enemies are insanely resistant to SPELLS specifically. While their elemental damage is generally high it's still more than viable to use weapon buffs AND infusements.
Like, Lost Sinner Sword is capable of doing roughly 1000 damage on certain attacks if infused. Granted that is with an incredibly OP weapon, but I've used infused Bandit Axe and it works fine.
It's kinda weird that they'd be super resistant to spells, but then take **** loads of damage from infused + buffed weapons. Hell, I ran a split faith/int build so I could use a dark infused weapon, then built entirely around support spells for co-op. Dark Infused Red Iron Twinblade is fun.
- Anonymous
Man... the NPC summons do nothing. Not that it was a particularly difficult encounter (first try) but they basically just ran around and didn't even distract it much. Although there was a moment where I had to go into my inventory to grab a weapon as my spear was about to break. Didn't see that one coming.
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And I thought Nioh was a cheap boss compendium but this boss takes the cake of cheapness of the millenium!
- Anonymous
If anyone wants to help a fellow sun bro out, I could really use it atm :)
- Anonymous
This boss sucks as all other DS2 bosses...can't this game just vanish out ofexistence? Such a piece of disgrace
- Anonymous
My strat using an archer with 5 vit
55 dex
hunters black bow +10
flynns ring
ring of blades +1
old Leo ring
chloranthy ring+1
I summoned one phantom because I'm noob.
when aava attacks, don't roll to her, but run back instead, she eventually gives up and stops chasing you, then she targets the phantom. Took around 60 arrows
- Anonymous
"I'll make a character with 5 ADP, what's the worse that can happen"
yeah nah, this is impossible with no adp
- Anonymous
On NG at SL 150 it’s still wiping the floor with me. This is a problem. This boss completely sucks ass, there’s rarely a moment to counter attack through aava running away, many of the attacks look the same so it’s a gamble which way you should roll, and the fact that your equipment WILL break is just complete BS.
No clue why but I’m using a +8 raw twin blade and each hit is only doing like 3 damage, I’m having to go full tank and shield everything for the summons to do their work
- Anonymous
This is a pretty cool boss. The delay attack is very punishing, but not unfair; you just have to remember the timing. My only real complaint is that the ice projectile attack is a bit annoying to dodge. I rate it 8/10.
- Anonymous
I'll tell you what;
This boss can beat the entire game, even all of the DLCs.
And itt can actually be the perfect summon for any difficult bosses like Sir Alonne, herself, Lud and Zethh, and even the Ivory King.
- Anonymous
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I have to big tips for anyone stuck on this boss
1 always dodge backwards except for the grab attack
2 bring some repair powder
- Anonymous
Yeah I might be a bit underleveled for this boss... Dealing 140 dmg/hit. Tbf I don't know where to go since I got the key inside the Drangleic Castle.
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for me she didnt even care about the summons and only went after me and when i try to hit her she just ran away
- Anonymous
i like the phrase "sabertooth-like tiger", cuz putting bigger teeth on modern tiger isnt what sabertooth tigers were
- Anonymous
I can dodge the slam attack consistently with 10 ADP while under 30% equipment load while wearing the cloranthy ring +1 third dragon ring, bracing knuckle ring +2 and the ring of blades +1. You definitely do not need 92 ADP whoever wrote that was salty af
- Anonymous
I like aava because even though she hits like a truck and delays her attacks a lot she still gives you heal chances and attack opportunities. Then lud and zallen appeared and ruined everything good about aava.
- Anonymous
This boss is nonsense.
Fast, hits like a truck, isn't weak to anything and has huge lingering hitboxes on every melee attack.
- Anonymous
the jump attack on this thing is total bullshit
Takes all my HP in human form with 20 VIG, the hitbox is large the entire boss and cannot be blocked by shields
I knon DLC bosses are far more difficult than main game bosses, but this is just unfair
- Anonymous
I genuinely hated this boss, at least give it a weakness...
Nearly ate my controller like f***
- Anonymous
If you don't have the eye, he is not barely visible the whole fight but instead but completely invisible for a good 10 seconds or so and then barely visible for 2 seconds.
- Anonymous
But... the boss is invisible
Is my game bugged or wtf are you talking about ‘lock on’
to the snow??
- Anonymous
this Boss beats my muscle memory in a way that I hate the attacks are too slow compared to the dlc Bosses of the old iron king who are really serious
- Anonymous
Did you dodge?
"Yea, nearly frame perfetly t--"
Well you didn't
"what...?"
Yea, die
- Anonymous
I had a lot of trouble with this one in NG+ until I figured out to stop trying to be behind the boss. Aava is pretty slow on the recovery, and if you're rolling backwards the swipes are easy to dodge.
So what worked for me was just standing in Aavas face to bait an attack, roll it, then whack once or twice with a quick weapon. Took 50/60 durability so watch out for that.
Good healing windows are at the start of the ice soulmass and when aava very first starts running away. (Aava will run away and then usually set up a lunge attack pretty often). You can also wait til you dodge a lunge to heal.
Hope that helps someone
- Anonymous
After 10+ attempts it was really damn scary when my weapon broke and I had to switch weapons in the middle of the battle. Why do weapons break so easily :d
- Anonymous
I bonfire asceticed the first bonfire in order to fight her again but everything has returned into being invisible, the eye is still in my inventory and can't be dropped and there's nothing at the altar, does anyone know what to do?
- Anonymous
One of my absolute favorite bosses in the series. Difficult but really fun to fight and they look cool as hell.
- Anonymous
Beat this frosty **** with powerstance caesti, never doing another melee build again
- Anonymous
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Wonder why this wiki doesn't indicate status immunities. 100+ Poison arrows from the host and a phantom and no poison proc, so it IS immune to poison.
- Anonymous
This fight was absolute ass at 100 agl, I bumped it to 105 and I beat it easily
- Anonymous
bro there's no archer strategy XD. My poor level 30 bow only build, it takes almost 100 arrows to kill this boss plus I get one shot, this is the only struggle in the game so far
- Anonymous
This is my second time playing this game
I was dreading this fight, as Aava and fume knight gave me the hardest time ( I’m admittedly not Very good)
I did better on fume
But I was not doing well against Ava
Then I read a comment on here that she was weak to fire
So I put away my hammer and whipped out my fire rapier
3 tries and I was done
Hooray
- Anonymous
Has anyone noticed that Aava is affected by the Promised Walk of Peace miracle? I was stuck on this boss for quite a while with a full caster build (rip me) and was basically throwing everything against the wall to see what would stick. When I used the Walk of Peace miracle Aava seemed to halt whenever it tried one of the bouncy/moving attacks. Made the fight a lot easier.
Might need verification if this is (still) true and I haven't tried it on the other pets yet...
- Anonymous
don’t summon Ellie for this boss... she’s decent enough for punching fume knight but for whatever reason devs decided to give her wet noodle pyromancies to use against aava. dead weight.
- Anonymous
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I haven't got a problem with hitboxes (except for one time). If you got some problem, ist's about your characters agility. You need at least 24 ADP for increase your i-frames.
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So is Aava cannonicaly a he or she? In my language Aava is referred to as a he. I know this is a stupid question but I don't want to misgender.
- Anonymous
As a hexer this fight is a pain in the a**. I summoned Glauica and Ellie but they do little damage and are too squishy as distraction if you dont kill Aava fast enough. Dont rely on them and dont stay behind Aava cause it will then only focus you instead of the npcs.
- Anonymous
I find this fight really difficult I’m doing a sorcerer build and it’s not easy
- Anonymous
A fun fight once you figure out her moveset, but still tough. I found her more predictable without summons.
- Anonymous
'Fighting Aava with under 92 Agility is incredibly difficult, most notably; the Leaping Ice Slam attack is impossible to avoid via dodge iframes, level up Adaptability or equip some combination of the Peasant's Set, Simpleton's Ring and/or Handmaid's Ladle if you are running SL1 until you have sufficient Agility to avoid being hit.' i found a way to easily dodge them and i never level adaptability (so it stays under 10) all u do is roll under it and it cant hit u, i also used the summon just outside the fog gate to keep its aggro off me but its really unnesasary if ur patient and hit only after it attacks
- Anonymous
this boss has a hitbox that is absolute trash. dumb paw swipe attack makes 0 sense with how it hits you. and what the heck is the durability reduction for*****s and giggles? its an ice cat not a rusty McChonker
- Anonymous
NG+1 with 50 Vigor and Aava 2 shots me with the swipe attack, WAT.
- Anonymous
I made this boss the first boss fight on one of my characters with a little help from ymfah.
- Anonymous
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Should be noted that Aava will corrode your weapons. My red rust scimitar broke towards the end of the battle, and the final hit came from a fire orb, and only because I never bothered unequipping my pyro. And just like with the other DLC bosses, the damage dealt will decrease if you summon npcs.
- Anonymous
She’s definitely weak to fire or slashing damage. My Fire Black Knight Halberd +5 was doing 600+ damage per hit. It was close to breaking so I switched to my Lightning Heide Spear +10 and was only doing about 350 damage.
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>Without the Eye of the Priestess, the player can barely see Aava. It is possible, although very hard to see Aava's very faint outline Partial credit. Without the Eye you can barely see Aava PERIODICALLY. Most of the time she is completely invisible but a transparent form will appear every so often.
- Anonymous
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She's tough, but if you bait the Jump & Bite attack; it should be fine (for melee). When she almost land, roll to the right and give a few hits. Take a Havel Greatshield with you, equip load below 60% and shield-circle her other attacks.
- Anonymous
Absolute hell at SL1, but I found the fire longsword to be better than the rapier. That paired with flynn's ring, blades +1 and simpleton ring worked for me. Still took me like four days. Anyways, poor little Aava just wanted to play I guess
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