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The Skeleton Lords are a collective boss in Dark Souls II.

Location[]

Located at the far end of the main path in Huntsman's Copse, near a waterfall.

General information[]

During this battle, the player will not fight one but multiple foes at once. At the beginning of the fight, the player will have to face the three Skeleton Lords: one on the left, one in the middle and one on the right. The Lord on the left carries a Great Scythe, the Lord on the right wields the Roaring Halberd and the Lord in the middle carries a large and unique bone staff.

Killing the Lord on the right will cause swordsmen skeletons to spawn, killing the Lord on the left will spawn armored skeletons and killing the Lord in the middle will spawn bonewheel skeletons. Since all the skeletons share the same health bar, the player is required kill all of them in order to defeat the boss.

Lore[]

The Skeleton Lords were originally servants of the Old Iron King and were tasked with hunting and imprisoning the undead. However, they were eventually consumed by the very curse they were trying to contain and abandoned their duties, choosing to create their own kingdom out of the bones of their victims.

Summoning[]

There are no characters that can be summoned for this fight in the original version of Dark Souls II.

Scholar of the First Sin[]

In Scholar of the First Sin, the player can summon up to two phantoms for this fight, Bashful Ray and Creighton the Wanderer.

Bashful Ray's summoning sign can be found inside one of the jail huts found between the two Artificial Undead spawn points. Creighton's summoning sign can be found in the cave inhabited by skeletons and necromancers after exhausting his dialogue.

Defenses[]

Physical Defenses
Physical Defense Strike Defense Slash Defense Thrust Defense
407 -50% 0% 40%
Elemental Defenses
Magic Defense Fire Defense Lightning Defense Dark Defense
50% 10% 30% 30%
Resistances
Poison Resist Bleed Resist Can be Backstabbed Can be Parried
100% 100% Yes Yes
(Stats are from Param Studio and are not estimated)
Strike/Slash/Thrust defense are applied on top of Physical Defense. -50% strike means taking 150% damage.
Curse Resist is 50%.

Strategy[]

Upon entering the room, the player will be in the presence of the three Skeleton Lords that reign over the Huntsman's Copse, each one sitting on a throne made of bones. The Lord on the left carries a scythe, the Lord on the right wields a halberd and the Lord in the middle comes armed with a large bone staff. While all three Lords are capable of casting pyromancies, the scythe- and halberd-wielding ones will focus more on chasing the player, trying to hit them with melee attacks. The one in the middle will usually stay near the center of the room and cast powerful pyromancies throughout the course of the battle. Upon getting into melee range with this Lord, however, he will also try to bash the player with his staff.

It's advisable not to kill more than one Lord at a time, since each time one of them dies, a large group of skeletons will emerge in his place. If the player defeats two or all three Lords before taking care of their respective minions, then they would end up having to deal with all groups of skeletons combined, making the fight needlessly difficult.

At the beginning of the fight, the three Lords will first have to stand up from their thrones and slowly levitate down until they reach the ground; this will provide enough time to attack one of them repeatedly, usually allowing to defeat him before he even gets a chance to retaliate. The player should focus in attacking either the Lord on the left or the one on the right at first.

Upon death, the Lord on the left (scythe-wielding) will spawn a large group of normal skeletons, the one on the right (halberd-wielding) will spawn a medium group of armored skeletons and the one in the middle (staff-wielding) will spawn bonewheel skeletons; since these are harder to dodge, it's better to leave them for last, when there are no other enemies around.

Items or spells that can distract lesser enemies, such as Alluring Skulls or Yearn, are especially effective in this battle as they can be used to both distract and group large numbers of skeletons, allowing the player to attack them with impunity. Weapons that perform wide horizontal swings, such as those from greatswords and ultra greatswords, are recommended for this fight as they will allow the player to kill many skeletons at once. Also, since all skeleton-type enemies have an innate weakness to fire, bringing a weapon infused with this element or casting pyromancies will render this battle much easier.

The boss room also counts with four big columns the player can use for protection. Furthermore, the Lords' thrones themselves can be used for this purpose as well, although they will crumble after receiving a hit.

Drops[]

Item Boss Soul
Skeleton Lord's Soul
Clear Bluestone Ring+2
Clear Bluestone Ring+2
Drop Rate Guaranteed Guaranteed (NG+)

Notes[]

  • At the beginning of the fight, the player can dish out tons of damage and even kill one of the Skeleton Lords before they can even touch the ground to fight back.
  • The Skeleton Lords can be backstabbed and parried. They can also be knocked down with heavy, ground-slamming attacks.
  • The skeletons spawned during this fight are notoriously less aggressive than those found in other areas of the game. While they will still chase the player relentlessly, most of the time they will just linger around and only attack every now and then.
  • Spawned skeletons are able to parry and riposte.
  • All skeletons, including the bosses, are weak to Fire and Lightning.
  • Blue Sentinel members can buy Holy Water Urns from Targray for 300 souls, making this fight much easier.
  • The pillars in the room can easily block the Skeleton Lords' pyromancies.
  • By burning a Bonfire Ascetic on the Undead Lockaway bonfire, the Skeleton Lords can be respawned.
  • Their armor set, the Bone King Set, can be purchased from Titchy Gren after defeating them.
  • Alluring Skulls and Yearn can be used to great effect in this battle to corral the skeletons created after a Lord's death. While the Lords themselves will not be attracted by the effect, the spawned skeletons will. This allows a player to finish off all three Lords separately and fight the remaining skeletons with relative ease.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Music[]

Dark_Souls_II_OST_-_Skeleton_Lord-0

Dark Souls II OST - Skeleton Lord-0

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