Dark Souls III: Champion Gundyr Boss Fight

Champion Gundyr is an optional boss that becomes available after you kill Oceiros the Consumed King and make your way through the hidden area called Untended Graves.

If you think he and the area looks familiar, you are correct. It is a darker and harder version of the games’ starting area and the boss is also a beefed up version of Iudex Gundyr, the very first boss you encounter in the game.

You may remember Iudex Gundyr as being difficult enough, but that was just because he was your first boss in the game. His upgraded version, Champion Gundyr, is much tougher.

The fight is not technically much different than the previous version, but the boss is faster, more aggressive and hits harder.

He is sitting in the center of the arena when you walk in and will become aggressive as you move closer.

As with most of the bosses in the game, this fight is very much about learning his attack patterns and baiting out opportunities to strike back. Be careful as he has rather long range with his halberd and he also likes to do jumping and charging attacks.

During phase one, it is fairly straightforward, but in phase two (which starts when he has around 50% of his health left), he becomes even more aggressive and uses faster attacks. He also gains a shoulder charge ability, which usually leads into a chain of attacks, so try to avoid that. Make sure to never be out of stamina so you can roll out of the way.

If you need to heal – and you probably do – it is safest to bait out a long attack chain, after which he will usually pause for a couple of seconds. Keep your distance, but don’t get too far away from him or he will jump on you or charge you.

This fight is fairly intense, but staying calm and disciplined helps. As usual, don’t get greedy with attacks – swing once or maybe twice if you’re using a fast weapon – then back off to safety or you'll get a big halberd in your face and that's just never what you want. I know this is easier said than done, I often get too excited and fall into the greed trap myself ;-)

Champion Gundyr can apparently also be parried, but I've never done much of that myself. I realize it's a valuable skill in some situations, but as most bosses can't be parried anyway and I never play PvP, I've just never gotten around to really learning it. This particular boss will evidently become a lot easier if you're good at parrying, so if you happen to be just that, more power to you. I managed to kill him without ever parrying, so that is quite possible too.

Once Champion Gundyr is dead, you will get access to a darkened version of the next area where you can also find the Firelink Shrine, but without the fire. The area is patrolled by Black Knights and depending on your equipment and how far you are into the game when you get there, it may be a good idea to farm them for a bit to see if you can obtain the Black Knight Shield, which is very useful for another boss fight, the two princes in Lothric Castle.

The black knights can be tough opponents as they hit hard and move fast, but just remember that you just killed Champion Gundyr, so those high and mighty knights have nothing on you! ;-)