Hellkite Dragon

Hellkite Dragon
Location	Undead Burg
Drops	Drake Sword (sever tail)
Health
NG	2,208 200 (tail)
NG+	~5,520
Souls
NG	10,000
NG+	50,000

The Hellkite Dragon, also known as the Red Drake and Bridge Wyvern, is a miniboss in Dark Souls. 

Location

It is located on the bridge that leads to the Undead Parish, although it makes a brief appearance when the player first enters the Undead Burg. It guards the bridge until it is killed, or if the player manages to get to the room behind it, although it will return in the latter case when attempting to cross the bridge again.

Lore

The Hellkite Dragon is actually a Drake. Drakes are seen as undeveloped imitators of the dragons, but they are more likely their distant kin.

Strategy

• Can be killed with very few shots from the Dragonslayer Greatbow while wearing the Hawk Ring as each shot deals nearly 300 damage.
• If standing at the area where Solaire is, one can provoke the dragon to fly in by walking a few meters on the bridge and sprinting back to safety.
• When the dragon is on the bridge, if the player travels far enough into the area by Solaire the dragon will lose interest, turn around, and fly away. It is possible to walk back and forth causing the dragon to alternate between turning to face the player, and turning away. As it does this dance the dragon is unable to heal or attack. By doing this, the player can then slowly kill it with arrows while it turns uselessly. This threshold is particularly easy to work with headshots from the Black Bow of Pharis while the Hawk Ring is equipped.
• There are then two ways to go about dealing with the Drake. The normal route is to go down the stairs to the right and kick the ladder down. Afterwards, the player can sprint to either one of the bridge sides and wait (without provoking it) until the creature comes down to fight. One can then run to the next bonfire and rest to prevent it from breathing fire that may kill the player.
• When under the bridge, the Drake's tail will be slightly visible. If the player has a bow, enough Dexterity, and some arrows (30-40), the Drake's tail can be attacked until it falls off, granting the player the Drake Sword. There is a glitch that will occasionally cause the Drake to immediately die.
• The Drake regenerates health after it has about 33% HP left. In order to kill the Drake through melee attacks, the player must lure it onto the bridge. Hiding behind the walls near the stairs, that lead below the bridge, can help defend the player against the Hellkite's flame attacks. After roughly ten seconds, the Drake will jump down and engage the player in melee range.
• One can stand under the bridge next to where the three Undead Rats spawn and subsequently snipe the Drake in the head and body after it jumps into the middle of the bridge. To counter act the healing effect, several hundred Large Arrows will effectively kill the Drake. Despite this, the Drake will still commence healing once, but the arrows should stop it from healing again.
• If one acquires the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring by either completing Sen's Fortress, or by killing Griggs, the player can travel up the ladder shortcut from the Undead Burg to the middle of the bridge. If the Hellkite Dragon is standing on the bridge, it will not hear you and you can freely cut off its tail and kill it from behind.
• The dragon could at one point also be killed by making it fall out of the map; standing atop the tower where the greatsword-wielding Black Knight was and shooting the dragon with a ranged weapon (like a bow or spell) will cause it to jump to the bridge, leaving the spawning range and promptly vanishing. Shortly after, the player will hear the dragon dying and will receive 10,000 souls. This was fixed in a patch. Now, the dragon will disappear but not die. It will reappear when the normal trigger to make it appear occurs.

Notes

• It is possible to completely prevent the Drake from appearing at all if the player has the Master Key. This involves running through Valley of Drakes and Darkroot Basin to reach the first Bell of Awakening from the other direction. The Drake's appearance is only triggered if the player has passed the point where it appears in Undead Burg, so as long as the player does not cross that point, it will not attack the bridge.
• Note that the 5,520 health of the NG+ Hellkite Dragon is an approximation as the exact number was not collected.

Enemy information

Attacks

Crossing the Burg

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
-	-	650	-	Fire	No	AoE	Fast

As the Red Drake flies towards its perch above the Undead Parish entrance, it breathes fire upon the bridge. Can only be avoided by heading down the stairs in the middle of the bridge.

Fire Breath

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
-	-	230	-	Fire	No	AoE	Fast

The Red Drake exhales a plume of flame which covers the entire bridge to the Undead Parish. It can only be avoided by hiding against the horizontal walls in the middle of the bridge.

Forward Stomp

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
350	-	-	-	Strike	No	Neither	Medium

The Red Drake moves forward to crush the player with one of its front feet. Can be dodged by rolling under the Drake, and can also be blocked, but causes heavy stamina drain.

Stomp

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
350	-	-	-	Strike	No	Neither	Medium

Similar to the Front Stomp, however, the Red Drake uses this when the player is much closer to it. Affects a small area beneath it. Can be dodged by either rolling to one side, or by rolling away from the Drake.

Head Ram

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
350	-	-	-	Strike	No	Neither	Medium

The Red Drake rears its head to one side, and then sweeps it across the width of the bridge. Can be avoided by either rolling into or away from the attack.

Tail Whip

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
350	-	-	-	Strike	No	Neither	Slow

Used when the player is far away from the Red Drake when it is on the bridge, unless the player has already removed it's tail when obtaining the Drake Sword. Can be avoided by rolling in the direction which the attack is coming from.

Jumping Flame Dash

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
350	-	230	-	Strike / Fire	No	AoE	Medium

The Red Drake hovers in the air, and then dashes towards the player, whilst exhaling flame on the bridge. Can only be avoided by going down the stairs in the middle of the bridge.

Defenses

Physical Defenses				Elemental Defenses			Resistances
198	198	198	238	159	396	99	S	S	S

These stats are sourced from FuturePress's Official Dark Souls Strategy Guide.

Drops

Item	Drake Sword
Drop Rate	Sever tail

Trivia

• A "drake" is a kin of the mighty dragons, but not a full dragon. The word is often used to describe a particular type of draconic creature.
• If the drake's tail is cut, it will remain absent even when a bonfire is used or the player has left the area, but will reappear once the player dies.
• The term "Hellkite" is most famously used for red dragons in the Magic: The Gathering card game, and may be a reference to it.  It also appears in Shakespeare's "Macbeth," Act IV, sc. 3.

Gallery

The Hellkite perched waiting its prey

The Chosen Undead facing the Hellkite

Battle on the bridge

Wings spread

Concept art