Old Dragonslayer

Old Dragonslayer
HP 2,880 | 5,760 (NG+)
Weakness None
Resistance Dark
Immune None
Respawn NO

The Old Dragonslayer is a Boss in Dark Souls 2 (DKS2)The Old Dragonslayer, adorned in armor and wielding a spear reminiscent of Ornstein from the original Dark Souls, retains a familiar moveset while introducing new elements, including what seems to be dark elemental attacks. Displaying remarkable aggression, engaging The Old Dragonslayer demands careful and vigilant dodging from the player. Bosses are unique and challenging Enemies that drop Boss Souls capable of being transformed into powerful WeaponsSpells, and Items for the player.

 

Old Dragonslayer Information in Dark Souls 2

The Old Dragonslayer is a boss in Dark Souls 2. Wielding armor and a spear very similar to Ornstein’s, from the original Dark Souls, the Old Dragonslayer has a similar moveset, with some new additions, including what appears to be dark elemental attacks, in addition to the lightning ones that fans are used to. He leads with his spear and has a variety of moves. He is very aggressive and requires vigilant dodging from the player.

  • The Old Dragonslayer is reminiscent of a certain knight that appears in old legends.

 

Dark Souls 2 Old Dragonslayer Location

  • Boss behind the fog gate across a large drawbridge dropped by pulling a nearby lever, at Heide's Tower Of Flame.

 

Old Dragonslayer Drops in DKS2

 

DKS2 Old Dragonslayer Attacks

 

Description

Counter Measures

Spear Sweep Sweeping attack directly in front  
Jump Attack Lunges forward at the player, while thrusting spear.  
Spear Thrust Thrusts spear forward. This attack is typically followed by a upwards cutting attack immediately afterwards.  
Sliding Spear Thrust When slightly out of range, will slide towards player during spear thrust to close ground.  
Aerial Slam Jumps into the air and slams down from seated pose. When landing, an AoE effect that does dark damage will be released and can also fire a homing projectile.  
Dark Burst Tip of spear glows. Fires ranged, slightly homing projectile after a brief pause.  
Dark Explosion Black and purple smoke will rise from the ground. After 3-4 seconds, a massive explosion will knock any players within range to the ground doing a large amount of damage to them.  

 

NPC Summons

Masterless Glencour can be summoned for this encounter, though his summon sign is located closer to the Dragonrider's fog gate than to Old Dragonslayer's. His summon sign is located on a small outcropping of brick to the right of the fog gate.

Strategies

Dodging:
(Individual input): I found that it is easier to dodge his Spear towards him than away or to the sides.
This is because a lot of his spear attacks lock on to you and will hit you when you aren't able to get completely out of his range.
Since he wields the spear with his right hand almost all attacks can be evaded by moving to your right, away from his weapon-hand. Applies to all thrusts, leaving only the sweep and his AOE attack which have to be dodged by rolling away from him. Dodging his attacks with this method gives you the time to land two to three strikes (straight sword) before he attacks again.

Melee:
Nearly all of the Old Dragonslayer's attacks are vertical/thrusting types. Strafing or rolling is a superior defensive tactic here, especially since several of his strikes will penetrate your defenses and all his blows take much of your stamina to block. Despite his deceptive name, this "old" dragon slayer leaps and repositions quite often, so stay on your toes, be patient, and wait for your chance to strike while his guard is down. Also try to stay behind him at all times to avoid his attacks.
Most of the time he will have to turn around to attack you, but if he is already locked into a combo you can chain in a few attacks. His only attack that can hit you from behind is his dark AoE attack, but that is fairly easy to dodge.

Old Dragonslayer Video Strategies in DKS2:

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Dark Souls 2 Old Dragonslayer Hints

  • It appears that the NPC Summon located outside the Dragonrider boss fight works for fighting the Old Dragonslayer as well. Be sure to defeat all enemies in the area to clear a path for him, as he will engage and they could brush him off one the many narrow pathways. Having him along makes the fight much simpler. Though his damage is relatively weak, he will distract the boss long enough for you to heal up after suffering too much damage.
  • The Old Dragonslayer uses the same moveset as Dragonslayer Ornstein after Executioner Smough is killed. Only doing using dark as well as lightning
  • If you are in dragon form with the dragon torso stone you can stagger him with the roar and allow npcs or summons to take him on easily, making this boss very trivial.
  • He can be parried, but the stun time is very low, so you can attack him once or twice. 

 

Old Dragonslayer Story/Lore in Dark Souls 2

There are many theories currently going around trying to prove or disprove this being Ornstein.
Things we do know so far:

  • Old Dragonslayer drops the Old Leo Ring which both the effect and description seem to match with it being the Leo Ring worn down over time. The Leo Ring description in Dark Souls says it was given to Ornstein.
  • Old Dragonslayer uses Dark magic where as Ornstein did not. However, Artorias being corrupted by the Abyss also used dark magic, meaning he could be corrupted like Artorias.
  • In regards to the above, it is possible that the player character in the first game killing Smough first, causing Ornstein to absorb his essence, is the canonical order of death; as Old Dragonslayer is larger than Ornstein but smaller than Smough-absorbed Ornstein. Possibly representing a wearing of his power, or, as previously mentioned, a result of being corrupted.
  • It's also possible that Ornstein's body was brought back to life through a powerful hex, as he happens to be using dark attacks and hex magic manipulates life.
  • In this game it is a common occurrence for great souls to appear again in new form, in this case the magic is now dark rather than lightning
  • The Tower of Flame area is greatly reminiscent of Anor Londo from the first Dark Souls. Since the princess from the first game was but an illusion generated by Gwyndolin, it can be speculated that Ornstein might have been also. Since the giants fled Anor Londo, the princess might have fled to Drangleic. This would explain Ornsteins being here, as he was tasked with the defense of the princess, so he would have followed her. However the Old Knights that guard the area look nothing like any of the soldiers who protected Anor Londo. This leaves much to speculation however as there are no other initial clues that hint towards the princess's residence.
  • Old Dragonslayer lore video

 



 




Tired of anon posting? Register!
    • Anonymous

      My headcanon is that this is an Ornstien who, in place of the player character from Dark Souls 1, delved into the abyss to save Artorias but failed and became corrupted himself

      • Anonymous

        i finally understand now, this dude is supposed to be a fightable advertisement for the dragonslayer armor from ds3, tanimura you've done it again!!!!!

        • Anonymous

          It's been many months since finishing up ds1, but coming up to this guy, he was incredibly easy. It's due to fighting Ornstein and Smough so many times, which was much harder. He's as easy as basic Ornstein and he doesn't have a Smough with him.

          They could have at least had him copy Super Ornstein, but nope.

          • Anonymous

            My Theory:

            This guy is THE DRAGONSLAYER who served under both the firstborn (NK) and Ornstein. This is mentioned in the Sacred Oath miracle in DS3. Ornstein's armor is Gold, this guy's is a more dull grey (Iron). After his defeat by the bearer of the curse, his armor (with his body still inside of it) would become warped and melted by the Pilgrim Butterflies. It would make sense why the armor was in Lothric before the Butterflies melted him. It remembers that they served the firstborn (the Nameless King was one of the Kings of Lothric before Oceiros). And the Dragonslayer Armour's soul would be born from the memories of the Old Dragonslayer. The shield was once part of the armor. And the melted Dragonslayer Greataxe (DS3) looks VERY similar to the spear that the Old Dragonslayer uses (it was possibly melted and warped as well if you look at handle behind the axe blade). Both the Old Dragonslayer AND the Dragonslayer Armour are resistant to Dark damage.

            -So yeah. I think the Old Dragonslayer is NOT Ornstein, nor is he an imposter who stole his armor. He is THE brave dragonslayer who once served under Ornstein. His armor was simply modeled after Ornstein since he was his knight. You guys agree?

            • Anonymous

              You can actually get another NPC summon besides Masterless Glencour. I forgot who though. Closer to Old Dragonslayer than Masterless Glencour though, I recall

              • Anonymous

                So I did the "get OP early with dark orb" trick to become a hexer and get dark orb early and 60k souls by cheesing the dragonrider twice with bonfire ascetic, but because of that, this ornstein guy is now at NG+ stats because of the bonfire so cant beat him, plus his super resistant to DARK dmg only so dark orb is useless. RIP

                • Anonymous

                  I'm imagining this guy might just be a huge Ornstein fanboy who was inspired by him to the point that he emulated his gear and fighting style, Idk tho, It's weird how an Ornstein clone is just hanging around Heide Tower with no real explanation or obvious reason.

                  • Anonymous

                    Even if he is basically just Ornstein with a new coat of paint and some dark attacks, his music goes surprisingly hard

                    • Anonymous

                      You can also summon devotee Scarlett for this and the dragonrider boss her sign is to the right just before the stairs leading to the dragon

                      • Anonymous

                        is this fight even worth it if you have to run past the entire US army and have to kill a goddamn dragon to get the lever?

                        • everyone is so dumb about this guy's lore, it's obvious he's not ornisten, he has ornisten's stuff but in ds1 you can have it too, lore goes like this: vendrick and his dragon riders were conquering the lands and for a warrior defend the categral he somehow got the dragon slayer equipments, this warrior probably has dark powers, and in ds2 vanila he must have killed the dragon of dragon rider

                          • Anonymous

                            tbh I think his swap from lightning to dark magic is a hint to his betrayal with how lightning is effective against dragons while dark magic is more the opposite since whats the point on keeping your lightning abilities when you're planning on siding with dragons, it does make more sense with how he is positioned in the map with him seeming to have allied with the dragon rider and the dragons

                            • Anonymous

                              This is not the real Ornstein, just an impression and follower he left in the world in his journey to find the Nameless King

                              • Anonymous

                                I like to believe that this is the real ornstein. So for me In ds1 i kill smough first and ornstein gets powered up. And After we kill him while powered he dosent actually die. He is still alive before smough smashes him in his power up phase. So no reason for super mega ornstein to not live aswell. Probably not true but its fun to think about

                                • Anonymous

                                  Batshit insane DS2 fans be complaining about the fan service in DS3 then you've got this copy and pasted mofo over here.

                                  • Anonymous

                                    I think Old Dragonslayer is similar to the Dragonslayer Armour in DS3. Its just Ornstein's armor animated by something else (in this case, the abyss).

                                    • Anonymous

                                      ‘Let’s take a famous and beloved boss fight from 1, remove one of the bosses and a second phase, and change the color/element of damage.’ ‘That’s great, Jeff. Any other ideas?’ ‘Well, further down on my list for boss ideas I’ve got Jabba the Hutt, three NPC’s, a group of random enemies, three identical enemies, and a mohawk rat. Plus I figure we can do repeats or just change the colors. Players won’t notice that.’

                                      • Anonymous

                                        I think it is Orenstien but out of odd conclusion. So we know in DS3 its heavily implied that he followed to archdragon peak. What we see in ds2 is his "souless" body that he left in meditation to join the dragons. Now why does the old corpse has the soul ? Because Dragons have no souls so Orenstien left it. Leaving his mind and consciousness to join the dragons and letting his soul and body to be left, corrupted by time.

                                        • Anonymous

                                          i have a weird bit of lore i dont think anyone else has heard about. what if this IS ornstein, or at least, his body? okay okay i hear you but hear me out! according to Vaati it was Gwynevere who settled Heides tower of flame, and who was her protecter? sworn to guard the princess? Ornstein! but then, who is in the cathedral of Anor Londo? and why do i think Ornstein is dead? well i think in Anor Londo it is an illusion made by Gwyndolin, and i think it is Ornsteins dead body because, it fights like him and shares the same armor and weaponry. but the old dragonslayer also uses dark magic. see where im going? sometime between DS1 and DS2 Ornstein died and they tried to revive him, creating a hungry monster bent on blood but still guarding what he thinks is the cathedral!

                                        Load more
                                        ⇈ ⇈