Old Iron King | Dark Souls 2 Wiki

Old Iron King
HP	6,070 | 10,319 (NG+)
Weakness	Lightning
Resistance	Fire, Poison
Immune	Bleed
Respawn	NO

The Old Iron King is an enemy in Dark Souls 2.

Old Iron King Information 

Old Iron King is a boss in Dark Souls 2. He takes the form of a giant horned and winged demon, with rivulets of iron pouring from its body. The closest bonfire is near turtles and called Eygil's Idol. Based on the description of the Iron King Hammer, it is possible that the being you fight is not the Old Iron King and instead is Ichorous Earth. However, Crown of the Old Iron King's description can suggest that they are literally one in the same. It can be implied that it was a metamorphosis of the Iron King to Ichorous Earth.

• A powerful but short-sighted king who exalted the virtue of might, the Old Iron King has been transformed into a demon. He possesses the soul of an ancient king of long ago

Location

• The second boss of Iron Keep; there is a nearby bonfire called Eygil's Idol, which is hidden at the top of a ladder in the room with flaming minotaur heads and spikes before the fog gate.

Drops

• Old Iron King Soul
• Old King Soul (NG+)
• Souls: 48,000 (Standard Game) 96,000 (NG+) 144,000 (NG+++)

Attacks

Souls Awarded

• No changes to souls awarded beyond Bonfire Intensity 8.

NPC Summons

Manhunter O'Harrah (Her summon sign is just before the entrance to the boss battle in the room with the fire and spike wall traps), only in Scholar of the First Sin.

Strategy

Very intimidating but not as bad as you think, he has very limited ranged attack and the ones that are, are his fire breath that are slow moving. BUT BE VERY CAREFUL up close. He has very strong attacks that are easy to anticipate and if not wary will kill if not at full health. Take it slow, keep your distance, and keep your defenses up until he is done attacking then go in for the kill as he takes his time getting to his feet so to speak. Good Luck. You can do this on your first try.

Use Flash Sweat and Hexer Set. The "lethal" beam did a quarter of my health.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do NOT attempt to fight this boss with heavy armor.(You can fight him with heavy armor just dont get overloaded) It won't protect you well enough to matter, and it will only slow you down to the point where you can't dodge or outmaneuver his attacks. You should focus on maximizing mobility and attack power instead. You need as much mobility as you can, while having decent defense. Fast rolling is essential for this boss fight.

For casters, I would recommend staying close and dodging his melee attacks. Aside from the 2-handed smash, they're pretty easy to avoid unlike the fire attacks. The single fist smash is merely a roll away. The swipes are only slightly more tricky. If you're close and roll toward the swinging arm, you should have his elbow pass directly over your head. The pattern is sweep then smash or vise versa.

With the fire attacks you also get put on your back and hit multiple times, most likely into the lava. And unlike the melee in the video below, his fire attacks took out 80% of my health most of the time at SL 77 with Hexer's set and a fire resist ring.

For casters (alt). When you come into the arena and he is coming out of the lava, quickly lock on and get a free hit. Then run and hide behind the wall. When you are behind the wall, he will use only two attacks: the fire breath attack and the fire beam. When you get behind the wall, peek out and lock on and hold the lock on. It is then best to stand at the corner of the wall to see what the boss is doing. If it is doing the fire breath attack just stay behind the wall and once it has finished run out and take a shot. The more important attack is the fire beam as it can attack you through the wall. If you aren't at the corner you won't be able to see the attack coming and thus be either hit or knocked back into the lava. When you see the fire beam attack getting set up, roll out of the way. You can then either wait until the attack is finished and take a shot or you can (if suitably placed) get a few shots off. Eventually the boss while go into the lava to reposition. What you then need to do is quickly run over to the far edge and just stand there. The boss will resurface at the far left (in this respect you can manipulate the bosses position) and you again take a quick shot, run back to the wall, rinse and repeat. This makes the fight easier.

All of his melee attacks can be easily dodged, provided your equipment weight is less than 70%. Learn the boss's moves, and attack at the end of his combos when he leaves his arms on the ground. While you might not think it, his fire breath attacks CAN also be dodged through, just mind your timing.

For pure strength builds, as long as you stay below 70% this fight is almost trivial. The trick is to wait in front of the fog wall, dodging his attacks until he comes in close. DO NOT BLOCK any of his attacks unless you absolutely can't dodge. Once he comes close, use your biggest, longest, most damaging weapon,(I used a greatsword +10, took him down in like 12 hits) and walk right, infront of the small pool of lava, trying to bait either his fire breath or melee slam, either way when that happens run right again and wail on him, making sure to stand somewhat farther right during his firebreath to give yourself time to step back after your attack. Rinse and repeat until he dies.

Video Strategies:

(shield)


(two hand/SL1)

Hints

• Depending on where he is positioned, you can hide around the walls, taking cover from some (but NOT all) of his attacks for a time, until he dives back into the lava to reposition himself.
• When he dives into the lava/molten iron reposition yourself to where you want him to be because once surfaced he will remain in that position until his next dive. This is best utilized by keeping him towards the left and or middle of the platform so that you can hide behind the wall on the right side.
• His fire beam attack can hit you through walls and cover, causing stamina break, destroying your guard, causing damage and a knockback effect. This could knock you straight into the lava so take caution from the tips above that were used in Co-Op
• His fire beam attack causes instant death if you come into contact with his palm during it--even if you have an upgraded Greatshield held up and full stamina, plus heavy armor, it will instantly kill you--so don't try to dodge this attack by getting closer to the boss. This attack also lasts quite a while, so take extra care not to get hit by it--chances are, even if you survive, the attack will still be going after you get up, hitting you again.
• If you have a shield that has 100% Fire reduction, like the Gyrm Greatshield, can block his fireball breath. This will take out all your stamina and stun you for a few seconds, but while you're stunned, the fireballs won't hurt you.
• Getting to this boss without the Third Bonfire can be a bit rough if you aren't good at or don't want to bother dodging enemies on the way. Also you need this bonfire to revive him with a bonfire ascetic to farm for his souls. In the last room with the spikes and several fire breathing bull statues, when entering, there is a ladder on the Northwest wall in line with a pillar. Up this ladder is a Bonfire and a shut-off switch for the fire breathing statues.
• This boss is an excellent way to prepare if you aim for the No Death/Bonfire run. You can endlessly farm him with Bonfire Ascetic, and he will drop Old Iron King Soul and Old King Soul (Bonfire Intensity 2 and onward). Using both souls will grant you with 100.000 souls, allowing to bypass the Shrine of Winter if you store enough (every 10 pairs means 1.000.000 souls!). Also, you will get tons of souls just defeating him (wearing the Tseldora Set and the Covetous Silver Serpent Ring +2 you will get you 310.000 souls at the max intensity.
• The key to this fight is manipulating the boss' AI, and evading his more dangerous moves while timing your attacks for when he's vulnerable during his less dangerous moves. Just be sure not to accidentally fall into the lava.
• A very good strategy to use is a quick bow such as the Long Bow with Poison Arrows (Around 100 or more will do) to wittle down his health. It can take around 5-7 arrows to start the poisoning process and using this strategy with hiding behind the wall (AVOID HIS FIRE BEAM AT ALL COSTS) you will be able to beat him in no time. NOTE: If he dives down to change positions move over to the far left of the area so that he will pop up closest to you and avoid ending up in the wrong spot.
• The spell Soul Vortex is incredibly effective here due to the bosses size.
• The beam attack will go through the wall where the grayish fog gate is, your best bet is to dodge the beam attack.

Bugs

• After killing the boss in NG+, using a bonfire ascetic at Eygil's Idol and going to face the boss again without dying freezed and pacified the boss, allowing me to kill him with ease over and over again until I ran out of ascetics. Happened on PS3. Does NOT WORK on Patch 1.03, Calibration 1.04

Trivia

• Some people theorize that he is the reincarnation of Gwyn, Lord of Cinder from Dark Souls
• However, he shares similar appearance of Ceaseless Discharge
• According to the description of the Iron King Hammer, the corpse of the Old Iron King became the vessel that bred the Ichorous Earth. Therefore, it is possible that the entity fought in the boss battle is actually Ichorous Earth, and the Old Iron King's corpse is contained within the creature itself.

Gallery