Abyss Watchers is probably the most difficult boss you will encounter so far in the game if you don’t pay attention to what is happening on your screen. There are a few tricks you can use and there are plenty of things you should keep in mind depending on your approach, so let’s get right to it.
Tips all players could use
- You will not be facing a single opponent. An additional Watcher will spawn after 20 seconds or so. The first add will have you as his primary target while the second one will go for the boss. You can keep track of him since he has glowing eyes. The cap for additional spawns is 2.
- In the second phase, a good armor or shield with Fire Resistance is going to be vital and make the battle a lot easier.
- Although not listed as a weakness like lightning, this boss is vulnerable to parry, riposte, backstab.
Bringing the fight to him
If your plan is to go face to face with the watcher then you will have to combine an aggressive strategy with defensive thinking.
The enemy combos are easy enough to avoid and each time you will have an opening large enough to land a few hits. Or you can wait long enough for the second add to spawn and have someone help you out. Since the one with the glowing eyes is going to keep respawning, you will always have someone else pulling the aggro from you from one or both of the enemies.
You can either kite the main watcher and let the “friendly” corpse do the damage for you, or you can use the friendly one as a diversion to increase your windows of attack. All Watchers will target the last person who hit them and you can be damaged even by the friendly one.
In the second phase after a cutscene, you will be facing a single Watcher with a flaming sword. Note that the boss will have a bigger range, and will be more aggressive as well as more powerful. However the pattern of attacks will stay the same so if you can avoid his attacks one way or another, getting behind him will deal the most damage.
Dealing with the boss with magic
If you have a magic user, then this battle is going to test your limits. Your stats here are very important and you should try to avoid this boss until you have an intelligence score of 20 and the weapon you have for casting is at least a +4.
Once you get into the fray there is only one thing you can do. RUN. A lot! Keep your distance away from the boss and keep enough stamina to dodge when he gets close. Take your time and wait for the adds to spawn and the glowing eyed corpse to tank for you. Attack only when you have a good opening and note that the boss is weak against lightning. If you have a good enough melee weapon, then a backstab is worth it, should you be in a good position.
In the second phase, things will get even worse. If you thought you were running fast in the previous phase, here you will have to run even faster. The boss will have attacks with more range, damage, and speed. Keep running in big circles and prefer that to dodging as he can catch you and perform a lethal combo on you.
A moment of silence for your Pyros
If you are a pyromancer, you drew the short end of the stick. Make sure you have your flames upgraded as much as possible. Just like above, you will have to run a lot. The best strategy for you is to kite and bait the two hostile Watchers into fighting with the friendly one. Once that is done, you will be able to simply stand still and keep casting.
In the second phase keep as far away as you can and wait for his sliding or slamming attacks. If you are far away enough, you will be safe from the following combo and have the time to land a few hits. After that, keep running and repeat.