The Afflicted Graverobber, Ancient Soldier Varg, and Cerah the Old Explorer are a trio of bosses in Dark Souls II: Crown of the Sunken King.
Description
Cerah the Old Explorer wears Lucatiel's Mask, Black Leather Armor, Leather Gloves and the Leather Boots. He also wields the Dragonslayer Greatbow and an Estoc.
The Afflicted Graverobber wears the Alva Set and wields two Berserker Blades.
Ancient Soldier Varg wears Havel's Set and wields Havel's Greatshield and the Dragon Tooth.
Location
They are found at the end of the Cave of the Dead.
Summoning
Rapacious Andrei and Ruined Aflis are available for summoning as soon as the player enters the Cave of the Dead.
Strategies
Cerah the Old Explorer will shoot the player constantly if left alive while dealing with the other two, so it is helpful to either take him out first or move toward him in order to make him draw his Estoc. If left alone to shoot at the player, Cerah has incredibly high damage potential, as he is likely to stagger the player on top of doing high damage, indirectly increasing the damage output of both Varg or the Graverobber. Cerah is the most agile of the three, being able to consistently dodge many attacks, including backstabs. Attacking Cerah will cause both Varg and the Graverobber to charge at the attacker.
The Afflicted Graverobber is a very powerful enemy, causing heavy bleed buildup and being able to catch the player in a stunlock. The damage potential she possesses is phenomenal. The Graverobber will work alongside Varg in a melee situation, stunning the player, then having Varg follow it up with a smash. This is best avoided by trying to separate them and taking them on one at a time.
Ancient Soldier Varg is by far the hardest to topple of the three enemies. Should he reach lower than half of his health, he will begin healing with an Estus Flask. He spends most of his time blocking with his greatshield, though, meaning there will be multiple opportunities to guard break him. He will attempt to work as a tank for his comrades, constantly trying to get in the way to take as much damage for them as he can.
All three are capable of backstabbing the player. This means caution should be taken while healing. They move slower than the player while in the water, which can be used as an advantage to get away from them, although this can become a disadvantage if Cerah's line-of-sight is not broken.
Toxic and poison work well on all three of them, allowing high damage to be dealt at relatively low risk.
Defenses
Graverobber
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Can be Backstabbed | Can be Parried |
| ??? | ??? | Yes | Yes |
Varg
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Can be Backstabbed | Can be Parried |
| ??? | ??? | Yes | Yes |
Cerah
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Can be Backstabbed | Can be Parried |
| ??? | ??? | Yes | Yes |
Drops
| Item |  Twinkling Titanite ×3 |
 Petrified Dragon Bone ×3 |
 Titanite Slab |
| Drop Rate | Guaranteed | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
Notes
- It doesn't matter in which order the three are killed, the drops at the end of the fight will be the same.
- Even at lower levels of NG+, this boss fight becomes one of the most challenging fights in the game as the three enemies can all kill the player in only a few hits. This added to the fact that the player cannot attack the same enemy for more than a few hits without them rolling and with no means of stunlocking them or dealing consistent damage through ripostes or backstabs, can turn this fight into a nightmare. All of this makes summoning a very good idea.
- As a phantom, it is possible to get a Puzzling Stone Sword, Lightning Clutch Ring, Promised Walk of Peace, Dried Root or a Sanctum Mace as a reward for completing this fight in another world.
Trivia
- Ancient Soldier Varg and the Afflicted Graverobber wear the armor sets of people who are supposedly dead, being Havel the Rock and Alva the Wayfarer, respectively.
Music
Yuka Kitamura - Worshippers of the Dead (Extended In-game version) (Dark Souls II Full Extended OST)