Soul of Cinder | Dark Souls 3

Soul of Cinder is the final boss in Dark Souls 3. Once you defeat him you can activate the ending and start (or not) your new NG+ playthrough. This guide will show you how to beat Soul of Cinder in Dark Souls 3.

How to defeat Soul of Cinder

Name: Soul of Cinder
Area: Kiln of the First Flame
The Closest Bonfire: Kiln of the First Flame
Basic Rewards: Soul of the Lords, 100,000 Souls, ability to activate the ending cut scene and start NG+

The fight with Soul of Cinder consists of two phases. In the first one he changes between four weapons from time to time. This phase lasts until you deplete its health pool entirely. In the second phase, the boss uses a sword-like weapon and throws light charges at you.

The first phase is rather difficult. You want to adjust your play style toward the weapon Soul of Cinder is currently using. If he has a sword, keep close to him and dodge/avoid his attacks to your left (boss’ right) side. Don’t attack more than once. If he uses a saber, move away from him to medium range. Once he casts a fireball, roll toward him and hit him once or twice. If he uses a polearm, keep close to him and dodge/avoid his attacks to your right (boss’ left). The best time to attack is once the boss has a staff. If you keep close to him and dodge ONCE as he attacks, you can unleash your full stamina bar and do massive damage. This is the best time to attack and you should use it as best as you can.

The second phase is somehow easier than the first one. The thing that makes it easy is one predictable move. If you are a bit farther away from the boss he will do the jump attack. Dodge it. It will leave him open for a short time, which you can use to attack the boss as he slowly turns to you. Rinse, repeat. However, if you were comfortable with the phase 1 sword attacks you should definitely try to be more aggressive.

Note: As the second phase is about to start, the area near the boss detonates in a fiery explosion. If you manage to stay safe at medium range, you can rush to the boss as the explosion ends and hit him many times before he comes to. It can even stagger him, allowing you to peform even more strikes.

Soul of Cinder Main Rewards

The soul you get from him can be transposed into a spell or a greatsword:

• Sunlight Spear: This is a 40 minimum faith miracle that hurls a sunlight spear toward the target’s location.
• Firelink Greatsword: This standard thrust greatsword does physical and fire damage. It requires a minimum of 20 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 10 Intelligence and 10 Faith points.

Soul of Cinder Move Set

Phase 1

• Sword attacks
1. Swipes, Pokes, Slams – Can enhance these attacks with fire.
• Polearm attacks
1. Poke, Poke and Poke – Easiest to dodge and use for counter attack.
2. Swipes – Rarely does it.
3. Spin attack – Starts with a short-ranged AOE explosion.
• Staff attacks
1. Sparks – Works more like a buff. Sparks remains above the Cinder until you get close to it. Once you are close to it, it shoots them toward the player.
2. Frost crystals – Cinder raises his staff and shortly after charges this attack. Dodge quickly to avoid it.
3. Cone frostbolts – Cinder raises the staff and moves it to the back before he unleashes this attack. It is a wide frontal cone attack of made up of many frostbolts.
4. Kamehame wave – Once he brings the weapon to his back with some white/blue essence going into it, this wave will be unleashed. It is hard to dodge it if you are farther away. Run to the boss and use this time to attack it.
• Saber attacks
1. Swipes – Does frontal and side swipes. Extremely fast attacks sometimes come with spin moves.
2. Poison cloud – Cinder exhales a cloud of gas from time to time.
3. Fire bolts – Shoots them toward the player or uses them to ehnace his attacks.

Phase 2

• Weapon attacks – acts like sword attacks from phase1, but with a longer range.
• Unarmed hand grab – Easy to dodge, does moderate ammount of damage, buffs boss with damage inrease.
• AOE weapon ground slam – Large fiery explosion.
• Thunder strikes – Cinder raises an arm and charges the lighting attack. He throws this lighting toward the player or at the sky. You have to dodge the first attack instantly and the second with some delay.
• Jump, slash and slam – Rather fast attacks, triggered if you are farther from the boss.