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Location
- Undead Asylum (revisited) - The floor where you fought the Asylum Demon will collapse on your return visit to the Undead Asylum. This is where you will find the Stray Demon. You can avoid the fight by walking around the perimeter of the room. At least avoid the fight until you have rested at the bonfire on the opposite side room.
Description
The Stray Demon is the second boss in the Undead Asylum, but can only be fought during the return visit to the Asylum later in the game. His shape is similar to that of the Asylum Demon, but much stronger with an additional magical explosion attack.
You can actually see the Stray Demon at the very beginning of the game, from the hallway outside the starting cell. When you are in the Asylum Demon's boss arena, you can hear him walking around underneath you.
Stats
| Play-through | HP | Souls |
|---|---|---|
| NG | 5,250 | 20,000 |
| NG+ | 8,242 | 40,000 |
| NG+6 | 10,303 | 50,000 |
Drop
Note
- It is possible to trigger the collapse of the floor without actually falling. When approaching from Snuggly, proceed to the pillars on the right. The second pillar has a vase immediately beside it. Destroy this vase, face towards the middle of the room, and run across. At about the halfway point, jump. If you're unencumbered, you should be able to make it across. Unfortunately, he can't actually be hurt until you're down there with him.
Attack Patterns
- The Stray Demon swings his weapon horizontally in a large arc, always starting from his right, then following up from his left.
- The Stray Demon raises his weapon above his head, then slams down on the area in front of him, upon impact this causes a large explosion.
- The Stray demon swings his weapon from his left, causing a large explosion. This explosion does extend behind the demon.
- The Stray Demon floats up into the air for a second and slams back onto the ground, facing the player. Sometimes he just floats up to turn around, without doing the slam.
- The Stray Demon will jump back rapidly (sort of like the Tower Knight from Demon Souls' jump back) This is often followed up by two extremely powerful overhead smashes.
Strategies
- His explosive attacks are magic based. As such, it is recommended that you use the Crest Shield found within your return visit to the Undead Asylum during this battle, or any other shield with high magic resistance. Also advisable is the Spell Stoneplate Ring which can be obtained from the Crestfallen Merchant.
- If you have Fall Control, use it before approaching the area that breaks down. It'll protect you from fall damage.
- Take note that the Grass Crest Shield will be of much use, for you will be doing quite a bit of running, and quite a little of resting
Melee Strategy
The most dangerous part of this fight is the fall. Like many bosses, the safest place is close-to and behind the demon, so after falling run towards it and around to its side. You may have to dodge an attack.
*His greatest strengths are his rotation speed & that the entire arena is within his attack range! Stay behind him & get an occasional hit. You will need a fair stamina gauge & to be at 50% encumbrance, max.
Once behind the demon stay there. Locking onto it can be a hindrance, but if you stay at a good distance it's actually helpful. Your ideal position should be close to point blank after his attacks, and around tail length during them. Being close to him will usually provoke him to either flutter up and buttslam (which has a tiny shockwave that doesn't do much damage. Even if he hits you with it you'll be able to get one hit in.), or he will raise his axe vertically and slam it into the ground, creating his red magic blast. This attack gives you plenty of time to move away from it and circle behind him. You can keep this sequence going until he dies.
The biggest problem you will encounter is his reach-forward magic blast attack, which creates a pale red blast about 60ft in diameter and can hit you from behind. This is tricky, but your best bet is to try to roll away from where he's pointing his arm. You might die a few times because of this, but If you stay directly behind him, this forward magic blast won't be fired often.
Be wary of stopping to drink estuses, he may spear you if you're in range & will blast you if you aren't.
Try not to stay too far away from him, as this will encourage him to use his massively powerful axe swings, which will one-hit-kill you almost every time unless you're running a real tank build or are way above par for level.
An important note in the Melee Strategy. If he ever jumps back, move AWAY from him and re-position later, as he will most likely kill you as you are trying to run back around him with his overhead smashes
The Black Knight weapons are very effective, doing 100% of base damage against any demon. Be warned, while the two-handed strong attack does about this much damage too, it is much slower. If you don't manage to tap forward while attacking him this way… well, just don't mess up, okay?
Once at the demon's back, a good approach is using a halberd weapon's running R1 attack, this allows you to get a strike in and back off with ample time to avoid either of his explosive blasts if timed correctly. The crystal halberd is an excellent choice here.
2nd Strategy ( Light encumbrance )
When you drop in the hole, he is either going to swing his weapon from his left, from his right, or from above. If he swings from his left, the damage will come from a delayed explosion, not the weapon itself. Wait until the explosion occurs, then roll away from the wave right before it reaches you. If he swings from his right, just dodge the weapon swing, as well as the follow up. If he swings from above, wait until he starts the weapon swing before rolling away. From now on, stay behind him. If you see him fly up, wait until he lands then roll behind him to your right once. As long as you're past his leg, you're pretty safe.
Now, regarding the defense first. If you're behind him, and he does the magic explosion swing ( the swing from his left ), back away as far as you can while waiting until just before the wave reaches you then roll away. If he does the physical swing ( from his right ), just keep your shield up and you'll be fine. Now, if he does the explosion smash, just back away from him, a little past the tail, After the explosion ends, quickly rush foward and land a hit. If you're using a greatsword, you can safely land 2 normal two handed swings. Sometimes as you're swinging your second hit, he might repeat his explosion smash, If this happens, immediately roll away after your swing ends. Repeat this and you may be able to finish him.
Recommendations
- Using the jump attack (tap forward + R2) can provide enough range to safely attack him without taking hits from the tail. A large 2-handed weapon (such as the Black Knight Sword) will do considerable damage with this attack, and can be aimed without locking on.
- The Bandit's Knife, with its bleed property and fast attack speed can inflict a large amount of damage on every third hit. If you're unburdened enough, it's possible to attack his leg three times, roll away from the butt-stomp attack and dash back in to attack again. The stray demon often repeats this pattern and can result in a rather easy, if repetitive boss clear. Video
- The Iaito-sword has high bleed property and fast enough attack speed to work well against the Stray Demon as long as you use light attacks. The two-handed strength requirement of 11 makes it almost certainly useable by all characters at this point, as long as you've been to the top half of Blighttown to get it.
- Upon first falling into the pit, quickly run to either side and into the pillars. If done quickly enough, the demon will NOT immediately engage you, and you will have time to heal and buff before you plan your attack on the demon. Additionally, the demon tends to not engage you unless you move to the closest row of pillars, out of 3, or you attack him. Be aware that once the demon does engage you, hiding behind pillars will not hide you anymore.
Mage Strategy
As a mage, you might believe the best strategy is to pelt with long ranged attacks and stay out of the danger zone of his axe. Unfortunately this tactic is quite hard to do, as his axe follows rolls to some extent, and he has many attacks that can reach more than halfway across the room, leaving very little time to use spells between all the dodging and recovering. Even then, you may be hit with a fire/shockwave spell and have the boss follow up with another hit for your death.
The best way to deal with the demon is to get up close and personal as a mage. After running behind the pillars and healing, position yourself in a place where you can easily get behind the demon and have plenty of space to run around him, as getting stuck on a wall or in a corner will likely mean your death. While behind the demon, the attack he will use most often will be his shockwave/fire spell, and since this has a long cast time you will be able to hit him in the back with your spells. He seems to have two forms of this attack, the first when he moves a bit forward and seems to slam the weapon on the ground during his descent, and the second when he stands in place and hits the ground in this manner. Both are excellent times to attack with spells.
There are only two things you need to look out for with this strategy. The first is his shockwave CAN hit you if you are behind him, but it doesn't go too far behind him. If you stay out of the range it would take you to melee the demon, you will be fine. Secondly, he will occasionally fly up a short distance in the air and do a butt slam, which can hurt you very badly, set you up for a combo, or just outright kill you. When you see him fly up and start facing you, don't panic; just run a safe distance away, wait for him to hit the ground, and resume the strategy. He has a LOT of HP, so don't get greedy and keep hitting him until he falls.
Another Mage Strategy
Kill the 2 undead then cast Homing Crystal Soulmass. drop in and cast Strong Magic Shield then blast with Crystal Soul Spear with a Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring equipped. he hardly hit me, but when he did, it was all mitigated by the shield. there is no need to move unless you are going to cast Soulmass and you dont want him on top of you. this method worked easily from NG to NG+++
Cheap Mage Strategy
Equip the Ring Of Fog and run to the side of the room where he doesn't patrol back and fourth, either corner. He should have lost track of you and be patrolling the room in a line now. Wait until he is closest to the corner you picked, and fire a spell at him, and run to the opposite corner of the same side you are on, he'll attack where you were and go back to patrolling. Repeat this until he's dead. If he doesn't drop aggro after you run to the other corner, run to the other side of the room, he should drop aggro then. Its pretty easy for him to lose sight of you with the Ring Of Fog equipped.
Pyromancy Strategy
With an upgraded Pyromancy Flame, the demon's health can be cut down rapidly, particularly when using Fire Orb and Fireball in conjunction with a Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring. The challenge remains in avoiding and mitigating its attacks and casting when time allows.
Lifehunt Scythe
Requirements:
1.15 intelligence for use of fall control
2. The lifehunt scythe ( halberd+10 and soul of Priscilla)
3. Bloodbite ring ( purchased from Oswald the pardoner for 20000 souls )
Cast fall control before falling into the pit to ensure you have time to dodge his first strike. If he swings his weapon to his right it causes an explosion that can be dodged by moving behind him. If he starts lifting up his weapon to plunge into the ground, dodge at least two roll lengths away and then roll back towards him. These are the only two attacks to watch out for during the fight and while he recovers from his attacks 2-hand your scythe and get at least 2 hits in. Every two hits he bleeds for massive damage and using the bloodbite ring to stop you from killing yourself really helps as the scythe causes self inflicted bleed build-up
"Get Him Stuck" Method
There isn't exactly a safe spot. But pillars will give you some breathing room. There are a couple places he might get stuck and not attack at all. If this happens don't move and just rain arrows and spells on him. If you fall coming from the crow get him stuck in the pillars on the left hand side and stand by the little fog gate. Its not actually pillars that get him stuck but the arches on the ceiling. Good luck this boss can be like taking on a god at low levels so just try your best to evade him until you get him stuck in the arches.
- Rest at bonfire downstairs from the room with breaking floor.
- Run upstairs to the room.
- After falling make evasion to the forward in columns (boss will not react on you), heal, go to the left corner.
- Take bow, aim (so columns are in row) and when boss appears from left - shoot JUST BEFORE he turns back.
- Turn 90 degrees CCW run another corner, boss will probably attack you.
- Run to the fog gate along the walls, turn around, boss can make swing attacks but doesn't touch you (except attack from top).
- Now run along the walls to the left cave. You should see him stucked and not moving. Use arrows.
Dung Pie
It is possible to throw Dung Pies at him without getting his attention, so as you fall into the pit, run to one side, and throw some dung pies at him until he gets inflicted with toxic. Repeat as necessary.
Quickroll method
For this method, you need to be under 25% of max load. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter what you wear, if you get hit by him you WILL take massive damage. Removing your equipment or wearing lighter armor will provide the aglity needed for this method
Enter the arena furthest away from him and move back a little way then HEAL, wait until he has advanced to the middle of the room and then run towards him, when he goes to use his weapon roll towards him then get behind them. Make sure you pay attention to his orientation, and make sure you stay behind them. Use his tail as a marker for how far to stay back when he does his massive AOE, wait until the pink/red effect has gone before running in to hit him or you will take damage. The key is "don't be greedy" because you will just end up being punished for it. Doing this becomes easy with practice, it also allows you to learn his patterns, then just watch out for his butt-slam when he leaps into the air.
WATCH HIS LEGS, he will crouch before he jumps, when he does crouch RUN and then roll away from him, he can't follow you all over the room he can only stay up there for a short time, you just need to not be close to him when he lands. When he does his jump, try and move towards the middle of the room, this will influence where he lands and thus keep him away from the walls (If during the fight you get him up against the wall you are going to have an uphill battle on your hands because you really need to try and keep him in the middle of the room.). As soon as he lands you need to get back behind him (you can run "through" his weapon, you don't have to take the long way around it). Rinse and repeat. You can also trigger his massive AOE if you need time to heal by getting in a swipe as you run back behind him, use the time that you would normally be using to get a hit in to heal.
