Executioners Chariot |
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|---|---|
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| HP | 4140 | 7,452 (NG+) |
| Weakness | Lightning, Fire, Bleed |
| Weakness (Skeletons) | Yearn, Alluring Skull, Strike |
| Resistance | Strike, Dark |
| Immune | None |
| Respawns | NO |
The Executioners Chariot is an enemy in Dark Souls 2.
Executioners Chariot Information
The Executioner's Chariot is a boss in Dark Souls 2. This intimidating opponent was present in the early public testing and presents a challenge for the unprepared player. There are several ways to approach this fight, so check the strategies below to identify the one that matches your style.
The chariot was created only to torment Undead, and it took the form of a horrendous mad steed, a window into the soul of its master. Little does he know that is not by his own will that he slays the Undead, but that of his horse.
Location
- This boss is encountered in the Huntsman's Copse across a dilapidated wooden bridge and behind a dark spirit NPC.
- An optional version of this enemy with no carriage can be found in Drangleic Castle in the second room after activating the golem that moves the elevator. Drops reduced souls and the Gower's Ring of Protection but no Boss Soul.
Drops
- Executioner's Chariot Soul
- Chloranthy Ring +2 (NG+)
- Souls: 19,000 (Standard Game) 38000 (NG+)
Attacks
NPC Summons
There is no NPC summons for this encounter.
Strategies
I (Gate Switch)
In this fight, there are 7 or 8 skeletons as well as two necromancers (Black Hollow Mage) that will resurrect skeletons you have killed. The first thing you want to do is kill the two necromancers. The first one is on your left about 2 or 3 doors down. Once she's dead dispatch the first three skeletons in the area. (note: Black Hollow Mage are female) All the while remember to hide in the doorways as the chariot makes his rounds. Getting hit will cause considerable damage, but if health is kept high, chances of death are unlikely. Once the first mage and 3 boneheads are done move down the way a bit further. Proceed with caution and check doorways consistently. There is a skeleton hiding on the right side who will shoot you with arrows. The 2nd mage is ways down and will be hiding in one of the doorways on the right. Kill her then finish of the rest of the skeletons. Now for the boss. One or two doors down, on the left you will see a switch you must pull. (phantoms cannot pull the switch) That will drop the gate right next to it. Pull it right after it runs by you then back away two or three doors down. The boss will run into it, killing the rider and injuring the horse for about 200 - 300 damage. Get off two or three ranged attacks depending on how fast you can dish em out. Then close the distance between you and the boss. He has a charging attack that will eat nearly half your health even if you're blocking. Strafe him until he rears up and stomp attacks. Remember to roll away and not to the side since the tracking is somewhat good and the range is larger than it seems. If you get behind him he will donkey kick you, causing large damage. Also, he will use a dark bead-like attack that has impressive range and seems to lock onto you. While the horse is charging up it's dark magic attack, run to it's side. This presents a great opportunity to do damage to it. Just remember to strafe to the side slightly, since it slowly turns to face you as you attack it. The biggest thing here is to keep close to him and rolling when deemed nesessary. Should be fairly easy assuming you dealt with the mages and skeletons, just remember to take your time; rushing in ignoring the skeletons is a sure way to get yourself killed every time. This should go without saying but summoning someone to help kill them makes a huge difference. Good luck!
Strategy II (Ranged)
Here is another strategy that is relatively safe and doesn't involve going to the gate at all and staying relatively close to where you came in so as not to risk being run over:
Find a doorway/barred crevice that has a clear view of the long hall so you can see the chariot coming around the bend. A light will appear on the wall before you even see the chariot. Equip Soul Vortex (this can cause a large area of damage), Fire Orbs, other strong spells or ranged attacks. Unleash these attacks at it and then quickly roll to safety in the crevice. Don't rush it, take care of any enemies that re-spawn and continue to chip away at the boss. It is advised to slay the necromancers and skeletons first. This should drain his health to the point where the chariot can no longer can jump the gap. The boss will atttempt to jump the gap, but will fall short and end up hanging on the side of the ledge. You can go around the hallway and you should see the horse at the end of it. You don't need to get close to him at all at this point. Equip Lightning Spear or another strong ranged attack and hit him from clear across the hallway. This should knock him down the hole, giving you an easy win. Also, don't choose a large weapon, if you are trying to hide and take care of the skeletons while wielding a large weapon it will hit the wall most of the time and cause your stamina to go down and leave an opening for the enemies.
Edit: This can actually be done even easier. There are several alcoves in the outer wall, if you position yourself in there, you can shoot the chariot as it rides around the ring. Hit it every time it comes in your sight, this way you never have to leave the alcove and there is not a single risk, as long you make sure to take care of the necromancers and skeletons first. When the chariot gets below 30% hp, it will fall when attempting to jump the gap. At this moment all you have to do is shoot it from a distance and the chariot will fall to its death.
Strategy III (Poison Arrows)
It is possible to cheaply kill the Executioner's Chariot with little risk to the player.
By hiding near one of the first alcoves that the Chariot will pass by, and shoot two poison arrows with each pass, you can whittle the Chariot's health down to about 30% after ten or so passes. At this point, you should hear the Chariot fail to make the jump in its circuit. Go around the hallway, and you will see the horse hanging of the side of the ledge, open to any sort of attack. At this point the player can simply do any attack to knock the boss into the hole, killing it, or finish the Chariot off at their own leisure.
If you stand at the end of the pit where the chariot jumps he will jump over you (unconfirmed)
Strategy IV (Necromancer Exploit/Ranged)
Each of the necromancers seems to be linked to a particular group of skeletons. Upon immediately entering the fight, three skeletons attack you; they are the only ones linked to the first necromancer, who should be about three alcoves down to the left. If that necromancer is killed, the three initial skeletons won't be resurrected after dying. As long as the player doesn't go any further, none of the other skeletons will see the player and so they will never attack. This leaves the player free to hit the chariot using their ranged attack of choice, using any of the alcoves near the entrance for cover. Once the executioner has about 20% of his health left the chariot will fail to make the jump across the gap and stop making circuits around the track; at this point the player can follow the chariot's path and shoot it once with a ranged weapon to end the fight.
NOTE: if you have the spell " Yearn" this fight becomes almost trivial. Cast Yearn as soon as you enter the fog and the skeletons will just ignore you, getting maimed by the Chariot. Find the first necromancer and kill her quickly. Dispose of any of the 3 initial skeletons left. Start running towards the lever. When you see the first skeleton, re-cast Yearn and move to the second Necromancer. After she and all the remaining skeletons are dead, pull the lever for a very easy boss fight.
Strategy V (easy method)
Enter the fog gate and run to the first door on your left, cast yearn across the hall. When the chariot runs by, run to the Necromancer a few doors down on the left and vanquish her and take her spot by the door then cast yearn again across the hall, repeat until all skeletons are dead. Stay put and use Binoculars and Soul Arrows as the Chariot comes around, take a shot then run back into the doorway as far as possible so you dont get clipped. Repeat until he crashes at around 25% life. Run down the hall til all skeletons are up then cast Yearn and run down and kill the necromancer on the right. Fire one cheap wood arrow at the executioner and watch him fall down the pit to his death. Go back and kill remaining skeletons and collect the loot.
Black Hollow Mage Set Farming:
This area is also a good place to net the Black Hollow Mage Set and Lizard Staff as the necromancers in this area always respawn as long as the boss is alive, try using the chariot to mow down the skeletons, cast Affinity or Homing Soul Mass to knock down the skeleton next to the 1st necromancer, kill her as soon as possible and flee with Homeward Bone or Aged Feather. Jester's Hat, Prisoner's Tatters and Covetous Gold Serpent Ring are required for the farming. Alternately, use Yearn to drive out the skeletons and then take down the Necromancers.
Video Strategy:
Hints
- Using a Bonfire Ascetic on the Purgatory Bonfire will reset the Executioner's Chariot
- The spell Yearn or the object Alluring Skull will distract the skeletons, making the first part of this fight significantly easier.
- You could either pull the lever and proceed with the fight as normal, or snipe him as he goes around with a bow or arrow.
- Some doorways are not deep enough to protect you from the chariot. Namely the one across from the archer skeleton.
- The chariot will injure the skeletons but they recover almost immediately. If you try to rely on the chariot to kill them they will quickly bunch up on you and drain your Stamina, ultimately killing you.
- Black Hollow Mages (Necromancers) are what resurrect skeletons if you hadn't noticed yet. That goes for bone heads in every area; if you notice skeletons are being brought back there is a Necromancer in the area.
- If you are building up Faith you can use the Lightning Staff Miracle to dish out quick damage to the boss when he crashes through the gate. Also can be used during fight as well.
- If you are using a Bow, Poison Arrows will be effective (See Strategy III). About 4-5 hits will poison the Chariot, draining approximately 25% of its life.
- The Horse has the similar attack patterns as the Armored Boar from Dark Souls 1, with the exception of the dark breath attack.
- If you are trying for Melee, few of his attacks will hit you from the side and are easy to evade without rolling. During the dark breath attack, if you sit just behind his head, the breath won't hit you and you can slash away while he pushes you along the inside of his turn.(confirmed)
- It is possible to roll over the spikes attached to the Chariot's wheels, but should be used as a last resort if taking cover should lead you to be overwhelmed.
Trivia
- The Executioner's Chariot may have given rise to Ludwig of Bloodborne (theory found here)
AnonymousWhy are there 2 pages?
https://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Executioner's+Chariot
- Anonymous
I hid deep in a cubby, still got one shot by the chariot. Maybe make your cubby's a little bigger, or actually test your boss, or even update the game with actual improvements instead of the garbage we got with scholar. Guess what DS3 has? Bonfires outside the boss room, but nope tedious = hard. Screw this guy, deserves to be cheesed in every respect.
- Anonymous
I’m ashamed to report that this guy has my highest body count in the game so far. I’ll just go face the corner now.
- Anonymous
Theses horses: ok. The ones from Frigid Outskirts: not so much.
- Anonymous
So I cleared the mages/skeletons, took a nice cozy corner, and just killed it with a crossbow, weirdly, at around 30% hp, Not sure if it was scripted or just arrow was on perfect time, but the chariot just fell in the hole and lost. LOL
Those walls are pretty tight, there's not enough room for 3 people
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I had a fun time where the Chariot was killing my squishy mage character even when in the alcoves. Specifically the first alcove with the necromancer. Every other run, I just sprint at them and kill em as the chariot goes by. Here, across 12 deaths, it killed me in the alcove every single time.
The funniest part is when I failed to get to the alcove in time, I got hit but survived with HP remaining. Like the alcoves made me take more damage instead of being safe zones. Never had this happen before but this character truly was a FEEBLE CURSED ONE.
- Anonymous
say whatever you want about the boss, but DAMN the skelly on the chariot is just ballin
- Anonymous
On my first playthrough. Yes runback sucks but you can just run past all the bros, get to the end of the bridge and jump off to one of the landings on the left or right. When I did that like 2 of them fell and the rest just eventually wondered back.
Boss itself took a few tries to get the hang of but actually is a pretty cool idea and break from the norm. This and Lost Sinner probably my favorites so far
- Anonymous
Kinda weird how in Scholar of the First Sin, the Chariot Horse is just hanging around in Drangleic Castle as a random mob, it's really weird that this Giant Skeletal Undead two-headed horse is in the middle of Drangleic Castle of all places
- Anonymous
There is npc summons for this boss just need to clear the way from bashful ray (and possibly the other skeletal lord boss summon in the cave) so clear all enemies then summon them and run straight to the boss
- Anonymous
NG+ red phantoms are pure misery but 5 of them chasing you when you're trying to reach the boss is purely bad game design. This is DS2... you should never expect something good.
- Anonymous
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I went into this kind and easily cheesed him with a bow from one of the alcoves after killing the necros and skellys. At about half health he stopped spinning so I went to investigate.. there was some kind of slug thing near the jump? I shut it with one lightning spear and he was dead. Weirdest boss.
- Anonymous
Bashful Ray literally killed all the mobs and I just attacked the boss with my crossbow... I must say, this is by far the weirdest boss I've ever faced in any souls-like...
- Anonymous
I really like this boss. It has one of the best boss themes, intimidating design and an interesting mechanic/concept. I think it stands out among most of the rest of the base game bosses, even if the skeleton mob can be frustrating.
- Anonymous
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It's way too easy to get mobbed by the skeletons while waiting for the chariot to go past (Alluring Skull or Yearn can help, but they're not foolproof). And if you are not leveled enough to nuke the enemies in the alcoves fairly quickly, forget about it. My general problem with this boss is that so much of the fight is out of your control (and can lead to an insta-death) until you actually derail the chariot. Also, finding the f'ing lever is pain in the a**.
- Anonymous
Usually skip this boss, because, well, I hate it. Plus, the runback blows.
- Anonymous
Poison arrows shot from the alcove where the first Necromancer was prior to being pancaked.
- Anonymous
you can get killed by the horse after it’s dead if it used the breath attack at the last second. it happened to me in draglic castle and i lost the spooky ghost hug ring.
- Anonymous
Why is the quality of this article so bad? Just edit false information out instead of putting corrections next sentence.
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This thing is actually one of the cooler bosses I've seen in games. Hope Elden Ring has similiar bosses to offer. Ds2 was way too early to implement something like this without the help of the entire fromsoft studio.
- Anonymous
And that's how you do a gimmick boss. Not that Bed or Volnir bs
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>Weakness : Probably lightning like every other enemy in DS2
Amazing info there
- Anonymous
man this boss gotta have some pretty high poison resistance if he can be poison, literally shot him with like 22+ poison arrows with a +7longbow & got to his 30% hp mark without a single poison tick (done on ng)
Why leave in all the false information for the boss strategy? Edit it out instead of correcting it in the very next sentence. It's a readability issue. This happens all over the wiki and really detracts from its quality and usability.
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Thank you dark souls from whole no death run i just died twice on this bullshit !
- Anonymous
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cool boss idea, it's a shame you can't even walk up to it without dying most of the time
- Anonymous
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Jesus, this boss must have the worse hitboxes in the souls franchise. I mean it, is so freaking garbage, the person who did it should be forever banned from gaming development.
- Anonymous
I used to skip those 4 mother****ers when i was going to that white mist. I swear. How do i delete those axe and whip monstera
- Anonymous
"If you are building up Faith you can use the Lightning Staff Miracle to dish out quick damage to the boss when he crashes through the gate."
The Lightning Staff Miracle? Who even writes this nonsense?
- Anonymous
I accidentally cheesed this **** in an unexpected way while trying to cheese it. First, go in, Alluring Skull to lure them bones and then kill the 2 Necromancers. And then let the Chariot kill them bones and circle the place 1 time to make sure everyone is dead. And then pick one doorway on the left side that gives me a good view of the hallway. Drain all Great Soul Arrow on it, and then abit of bow and arrow. But then after that I noticed the Chariot is not coming back for like 10 seconds so I went towards opposite the way the Chariot would have gone through. Piece of **** was still above 40% HP but then I saw the horses' shadows looking like they're struggling. I moved forward a bit more and wow, they're stuck in the pit. I was a pussy and was like "eh I think I'd just attack it from this range". So then I shot an arrow on it, one time, and poof they lost grip of the floor and then fell to death. That was real cheese
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Not exactly a satisfactory boss fight, but i'm close to finishing the base game and till now this is the only memorable fight in the game. The problems are the same of other boss fights: too many underling enemies; the fight against the horse itself is standart (boring); The gate switch machanism doesn't make any sense. Seriously what's the lore explanation for that gate?
- Anonymous
very funny and original using a happy souls quote for the millionth time
- Anonymous
I'm gonna say it here. This is worse than the Bed of Chaos.
That's right. I think this is worse. The Bed of Chaos is at least easily cheesible and saves your progress. This bastard however, has like 20 respawning skeletons who destroy you and your stamina and corner you when you're hiding, which isn't helped by the boss who can knock 95% of your health out in an animation shorter than the time it takes for you to start running. All of this is unfortunate, because until now I thought the DS2 bosses weren't so bad.
- Anonymous
You can summon that dude in the caves where the skeletons are on the way to the three skeleton boss fight. By the bonfire you have to unlock with the key by the big bridge. Grab that NPC and he will follow you to the chariot fight
- Anonymous
the ez way(xbox360): Run past all the mobs on the way to the boss fight, make sure you have enough stamina to jump once u reach the end of the bridge. Jump to where the sublime bone dust item is and wait for the mobs to go back to where they're sposed to (if u still need to fight the red phantom make sure they are all the way off the bridge or they'll come back), then jump back to the bridge, aim through the gate so you dont roll off the other side. Once you get into the boss fight ignore the skeletons and first necromancer, and try to get as far as possible before the chariot comes. Instead of hiding in the doorways, a well timed roll through the wheel blades is the easiest and fastest way to get through the area. Make sure you kill the second necromancer before you finish off the second wave of skeletons. Pull the lever and take the chance to heal, now comes the real fight. The horse is pretty simple, but will spam kicks if you end up stuck behind it, staying to the side of the rear legs is the easiest way to avoid hits, good luck chief.
- Anonymous
The run to this boss is a ****ing pain in the ass, and every time I died it was because the skeletons ganked me on the entrance of the covers while I was protecting myself from the chariot
Such a bull****
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Amazing boss. It shows the potential of creativity. Think about it, the first phase has the multiple enemy setup which is one of the biggest factors that made DS2 worse and yet it’s handled in such a better way for this fight and ironically the second stage with the horse is the less interesting part of the fight even though it’s a 1 v 1 setup which makes it fairer. The team for DS2 REALLY wanted multiple enemy setups to be the norm but it really only works when you use very unique ideas like this one.
- Anonymous
In SotFS, it drops Gower's Ring of Protection when you beat it in Drangleic Castle, too.
- Anonymous
There are two pages for this enemy, one with an apostrophe and one without. Also, in SotFS, there's one of these (minus the chariot it pulls) in Drangleic Castle. https://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Executioner's+Chariot https://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Executioners+Chariot (apostrophe can also be %27 in the url)
- Anonymous
I died mostly to the ****ty skeletons that blocked me in the doorways.
- Anonymous
Died more to the skeletons trapping me in the doorways than to the boss itself.
- Anonymous
I feel bad seeing the boss struggle while holding onto the edge of the cliff jump.
- Anonymous
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You can summon Bashful Ray as a shade for this fight he'll actually help by fighting the skeletons while you kill the summoners and close the gate
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This is probably the only fun gimmick boss, at least compared to Ancient Wyvern, Storm King and the Bed of Bullshit
- Anonymous
executioner's chariot: level 1 run up to executioner's chariot: level 9999
- Anonymous
One of the more fun bosses and one of the best soundtrack of the soul series
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
You can summon Ray if you clear out the path to this boss before summoning him in the hut with the two hollows.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This boss can be easy with a sword, bow, and a bunch of arrows. Pick a cubby door along one of the straight ways and fend off skeletons with your melee weapon. Whenever the chariot starts approaching, jump out and shoot him once or twice befote hopping back into your door way. Rinse and repeat until he crashes in the pit, then shoot his horses until they fall into the pit. You win!
- Anonymous
Had a lot of fun with this one. Managed to roll through it once but then died when it passed me by while on an alcove and hugging the wall, so it's a bit jank. But the path to it is not too long, the enemies on the way are easily baitable and dispatched one by one, the spirit at the door is just spicy enough, the chariot plowing through skeletons is hilarious to witness, the necromancers are a nice touch, and the horsie phase is easy but fun and a bit dangerous. All in all I think this is so far the best boss encounter I've had in the game so far.
- Anonymous
I just found out if you have a good leveled pyromancy flame, (Mine was at +4 at the time and it was the normal one, not the dark pyro flame.) You could kill the boss in one attack, that is if you can put 3-4 Lingering Flames in his way. I only hand time for 2 and I know off over half his health.
- Anonymous
If you need to cheese this boss with ranged weapons you should not even be playing this game.
- Anonymous
For people having issues running the torturer gauntlet to this boss; run past all of them (roll as needed), and onto the bridge. At the end of the bridge, there is a dead hollow in the corner with the item. Jump onto that platform and wait a bit; all those torturers will leave and *attempt* to get back to their original location. The majority of them will however fall off the bridge and die.
For the red spirit with the Greatsword... well... you could try to bait him into swinging himself off the bridge; or bait him across roughly a quarter of it, sprint past him, and enter the fog wall.
- Anonymous
So do people just not like being a phantom for this fight or...?
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I used both summons for this boss fight and the Skeleton Lords boss fight. Once you clear the pathways to either Boss, pop an Effigy if needed, then go back and collect your phantoms. I know both Phantoms remain if you kill the Skeleton Lords first. I don't know if you kill the Executioner's Chariot first if the summon signs remain.
- Anonymous
There actually is a summon in the PS4 version at least bashful Ray if you can get past the mobs fast enough hell go into the boss room with you
- Anonymous
Sick of how far you have to run from the bonfire to get to this bossfight. It's just annoying as hell, especially with the gank squads you need to run past.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
you can also use a whip if you want (preferably the old whip as it is the strongest whip). Just kill all the skeletons first, and the mages, then hide in an alcove with your back against the wall, and use a two handed light attack just as the horse starts to pass you. With 24 dex and 30 strength i was able to hit him for around 250-200 damage each pass around. Then just wait until he stops coming by, which means he is struggling to climb the hole, and knock him in. This is the ultimate cheese strat.
- Anonymous
The easiest thing to knock him out: Have a crossbow or bow with enough ammo as soon as you enter the room, stay in the first alcove next to the skeletons. Stay at the bottom of the alcove so he does not hit you, shoot when he passes or shortly before (depending on your position or if you want to get out to hit more). Once his life is low enough he will get stuck in the hole, now you can go kill the esqueltos and necromancers with ease and when you turn around and get to the hole any blow he dies.
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Warning -- reloading the crossbow causes you to step forward enough to get hit by the spikes. Learned this the hard way a couple times when I was shooting the boss as it passed the alcove.
- Anonymous
I have been able to consistently (and easily) roll over the wheel mounted spikes on its right side. I find it much easier than hiding in the alcoves (I have been hit by the spikes while cowering in the alcoves more times than I care for)
- Anonymous
Gren sells the armor set of the rider, technically making it a boss armor set for this.
- Anonymous
You can summon Ray if you kill all of the enemies before summoning him or just run past them straight to the boss.
You can actually summon ray for this fight, just make sure you kill every enemy I'm the path before going with him
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