How to beat Kin of the Black Dragon in the Dark Souls: Nightfall demo

The demo for Dark Souls: Nightfall is finally out, featuring a decently sized slice of content for players. The demo features three bosses — Blistering Demon, Kin of the Black Dragon, and a third semi-secret boss that we won’t spoil. While Blistering Demon is fairly straightforward, Kin of the Black Dragon can be a lot more difficult to deal with, so here’s how to beat the Kin of the Black Dragon fight.

There are a few things you can do to prepare before stepping into the arena. In the area before the bridge, travel to the right. You will come across an area that is home to the Giant Cats. Unlike in Dark Souls, these cats are half-stealthed, and will attempt to sneak up on you to use a grab attack. Dispatch them carefully, as once they are unstealthed they will use their rolling attack like normal. Around this area there is a Wellspring for easier travel to the Kin of the Black Dragon’s boss room if you die.

While traveling to the Kin’s boss room, you may have noticed some giant Mushrooms fighting off some enemies. Killing these Mushrooms yields a high chance for you to obtain Gold Pine Resin, which adds Lightning to your weapon, just like in Dark Souls. This helps a tremendous amount for the boss fight, so it’s worth farming a handful of these. It is also recommended to use the Sightless Grace greatsword, as with Gold Pine Resin applied, you can kill each Black Wolf in about five or six hits.

Kin of the Black Dragon takes place in Great Gray Wolf Sif’s arena in Darkroot Basin. Upon entering the arena, you will notice nothing happens — until you approach the stone tablet in the middle. The boss gate will close, and you will find yourself surrounded by three black wolves. They will attack you at the same time, so make sure you turn on Sprite mode, as you will need your dash to dodge their attacks.

With Gold Pine Resin applied, wait for one of the wolves to attack, dodge, and then counter attack. If you see the wolves charge up a magic attack, backdash away — those attacks hurt, but have a small range. You should only have time to hit them once or twice before needing to evade, so play it safe. When you defeat one, a Red Wolf takes its place momentarily, but these Red versions are far less aggressive, so rushing down one of the Black Wolves at the start of the fight is highly recommended.

Once you defeat all three, Calamity Wolf Guyra spawns in, and attacks you. Guyra attacks much like Sif does from the base game, but with the additional three Red Wolves, the fight becomes much more perilous. Stay close to Guyra and take one or two swings before dashing and waiting for another window of opportunity. It’s better to focus on Guyra and ignore the Red Wolves as much as possible — killing them will only cause them to respawn. Dash away when you see a magical attack coming, counter attack, and you’ll have Guyra down in no time.