Valiant Gargoyles, mended with blackened corpse wax. Such is the mark of those who serve Maliketh, the Black Blade.

Bestial SanctumGrace. Forbidden LandsGrace Stance: 110. Parryable: No. Is vulnerable to a critical hit after being stance broken Weak spot: head Negations (or Absorptions). Standard: 10 Slash: 35 Strike: 0 Pierce: 35 Magic: 20 Fire: 40 Lightning: 40 Holy: 40 The negation numbers are the of your damage that gets blocked. For example, if a negation is 60, 40 of that damage by that type will go through and 60 will be negated. Bigger number less damage. A negation of 100 means no damage goes through, and a negation of -100 mean the enemy takes 2x damage from that source. 0 means damage goes pretty much as is. Resistances Poison: Immune Scarlet Rot: Immune Hemorrhage: Immune Frostbite: Immune Sleep: Immune Madness: Immune The resistance numbers are the buildup amount to trigger it. For example, if a resistance is 100 you must deal 100 points of the given buildup to trigger it. Note that these go down over time, and increase each time the effect procs. Black Blade Kindred Boss Guide Black Blade Kindred Fight Strategy. The Best Tips for Black Blade Kindred: Use the Stone of Gurranq spell, awarded by giving Gurranq his 6th Deathroot. This spell comes out decently fast, deals good amounts of damage, and can be used in succession. It also usually aims for the Kindred's head and can even break its poise while doing so. Lightning Spear and Frenzied Burst can work well as ranged offensive spells. For Intelligence players, Glintstone Cometshard or even just Great Glintstone Shard can work wonders. If you have enough set-up, casting Comet Azur can melt the Kindred although the boss can easily avoid it. Suggested weapons: 2 Great Omenkiller Cleavers with Strength/Occult affinity and infused with Cragblade Ash of War. Any weapon infused with Glintblade Phalanx will also work great because it can stance break the gargoyle in 3 hits of the skill. Bring some Boiled Crabs or Prawns, as they provide great boosts to one's physical defense, which may be needed as the boss hits extremely hard. Summon Latenna the Albinauric, as she can provide a constant source of damage with her arrows, as long as the player can keep the Kindred's attention. Other multi-summon Ashes like Mausoleum Soldiers or Greatshield Soldiers can work well. Summon Millicent. She is decently tanky and brings great offense against a fast and large foe like the Kindred. She can also serve as a distraction. Due to its high damage per hit, Opaline Bubbletear mixed in Flask of Wondrous Physick is recommended. It allows you to almost nullify one, and only one of its hits. Melee Users Magic and Ranged Users At the Bestial SanctumGrace, you can stand on the ledge to his right and most of his attacks will not reach you. He will aggressively attack the corner, but the difference in elevation will keep the attacks from connecting. However, he will eventually become unstuck, usually when a leaping attack carries him up the stairs or a jump back lands him on the opposite ledge. The railing in the corner also is an obstacle to many ranged attacks. Standing on top of the railing or on horseback can help with this, but puts you more at risk of him becoming unstuck or you falling off. It can be cheesed relatively easily at Bestial SanctumGrace, but its high HP and the range of the roar attack can make it very tedious. Its initial position makes it very easy to get in a single attack, and it will de-aggro easily and return to that position given enough time. Using ranged attacks, you can exploit this to safely attack once or twice, run to safety, and wait for it to return to the base of the steps and turn around. It cannot enter the Bestial SanctumGrace, but most of his attacks can still hit you through the walls. The roar attack can reach all the way to the Bestial Clergyman (who mercifully will ignore being hit by it), so trying to attack from inside the building is not an effective approach. But if you run all the way to the back of the Sanctum, behind the Clergyman, he will eventually de-aggro and return to his original position. Another reliable approach for this method is the right ledge. You can easily land a magic attack from there (dragon breath spells can pass through the railing as well), and have enough time to summon the horse and run away. Instead of running into the sanctum, where you might get hit with a roar before you can get to safety, run around the side of the building. There are a number of obstacles in that direction that slow him down and shield you from a roar. You can simply circle the building at your own pace, and from the other side, you can stay out of sight and see when he returns to the base of the stairs. It seems to take a shorter amount of time for him to reset, compared to hiding in the sanctum. The Black Flame incantation makes it possible for very low-level players to execute this strategy very early on in the game due to its percentage-based damage. Black Blade Kindred (Bestial SanctumGrace) Attacks & Counters Attack Description Counter Slam n' Swing The Kindred's sword gets turned horizontal at it's waist pointing away from it and it's left hand grips the sword's blade tip, as the sword rotates so it becomes across it's waist. The Kindred then slams all of it's blade into the ground but the sword 'bounces' to it's left afterwards. Then, it's left hand releases the sword as it's right hand swings it to it's right. The slam has very low range so if you are more than a couple of metres away, you will probably automatically avoid the slam. Otherwise, rolling in any direction is viable to dodge it. When you see the sword 'bounce' and the Kindred's left hand letting go of the blade, roll anywhere but left. Can be followed up with Sword Thrust if you are a few metres away. Power Swings The Kindred brings it's sword pointing vertically to it's right at head level while gripping it with 2 hands. It then slashes down and to it's left to the ground, then does another swing to it's up and right, ending up near where it was originally. The first swing will surprisingly not hit you if you are point blank directly in front of the Kindred. If you see the sword go up and to your left to the Kindred's head, you can get an attack in, then roll anywhere except left after a very small delay. This attack can be followed up with Sword Thrust if you dodge roll backwards, or otherwise end up at a medium distance from it by the time this attack finishes. Backhand Swing The Kindred brings it's sword pointing horizontally to it's waist level to it's left then swings to it's right and up so it ends up at it's right at head level. Dodge roll in any way except to your left when you see the sword be quickly moved down and to your right and ends up somewhat near ground altitude. Be aware it may follow up with Sword Thrust if you dodge away from the Kindred, but can be punished if you jump over it. Running Slice The Kindred attempts to run behind you and to your right with it's sword up vertically to it's left close to it's side, then slashes counter-clockwise slightly less than a second later after starting the attack. Mentally count 0.5-0.6 seconds after the Kindred begins running, then dodge roll forward and/or to your right. The swing has surprisingly large range, albeit with a blind spot. If you are somehow less than about four metres away from the Kindred when it would swing, then you don't need to do anything; the swing will just harmlessly go over you. Sword Thrust The Kindred draws its sword back and thrusts forward. It may use this attack during most of its sword combos and more rarely do it on it's own or multiple times in a row. Dodge to the sides or through the thrust when you see the Kindred's sword drawn back on it's right. Alternatively, if timed correctly, this attack can be jumped over; then you can do a jumping attack. Fury of the Kindred The Kindred brings it's sword up to the left side of it's face, then rushes towards you, bringing it's sword straight down to it's waist level then very quickly brings it to more of it's left side. It then slashes 5 times; a pair of quick horizontal slices in quick succession (right to left and left to right respectively from your perspective), then another slash from your right to left, quickly followed by a slash that goes up and to your right at the same time, which ends with the sword being above the Kindred's head. The fifth and final attack is a vertical sword slam directly in front of it. This is probably the hardest sword move to dodge consistently, as the timing between the two pairs of slashes before the fifth is awkward to dodge roll through both without getting clipped by at least one. Regardless, there is a safe strategy that should work all the time assuming you react quick enough and you have enough space behind you. As soon as you see the Kindred bring it's sword to the left side of it's face, sprint directly away from it, and you should outrange the swings. The Kindred never does this attack if you are within a fairly close proximity to it. The only relatively obvious way of knowing this attack or Wrath of the Kindred is coming is that this attack has the Kindred bring it's sword down then to it's left before swinging, while it brings it's sword diagonally to the left during Wrath of the Kindred. Wrath of the Kindred The Kindred brings it's sword up to the left side of it's face, then rushes towards you, bringing it's sword straight down to it's waist level then very quickly brings it to more of it's left side. After a short while of it running towards you, it does a massive diagonally upward swing to it's right, flinging you high in the air with big damage if the attack connects. As soon as you see the Kindred bring it's sword to the left side of it's face, sprint directly away from it, in case the attack is Fury of the Kindred. However, if the Kindred's sword doesn't move straight down then straight to it's left after the prior telegraph and instead moves straight diagonally downwards, this attack will come. When it runs towards you, dodge roll in any direction a second later. As with Fury of the Kindred, it will never attempt to use this attack when you are up close. Halberd Switch Sheathes its sword and grabs the halberd from its back, performing a counter clockwise twisting swing attack starting from it's right. The Kindred takes a few seconds before it actually swings the halberd but is somewhat hard for melee players to hit it as it is drawing it out, as it moves backwards as it does so. However, ranged weapons can more easily hit the Kindred as it does so and when it finally swings the halberd, it can easily be jumped over, given you a chance to do a jumping attack. Aerial Halberd Sweep The Kindred flies up into the air with its halberd at its right side (Left side from your perspective) then tries to crash back down on you while swinging the halberd after about a second's delay. Look closely at the Kindred when it does this attack. Here are 3 ways you can dodge it. As the Kindred is diving towards you, dodge roll in any direction at the last second. When you see the Kindred fly up in the air, move backwards a little bit. (Sprinting and rolling isn't necessary) When the Kindred dives to you, jump OVER the halberd so you can punish this attack with a jumping attack of your own. The Kindred itself doesn't have a hitbox, only the halberd does, so you shouldn't take any damage even if you end up touching it. This tactic is considerably riskier than the others, but is still viable. As soon as possible when the Kindred flies, sprint TOWARDS it and get as close under it as you can. If you are fast enough and get close enough to it, the Kindred will dive over you and swing its halberd in the opposite direction from where you are, giving you some time to do a couple of counter attacks. Avoid this strategy if you don't have sufficient stamina to sprint long enough and/or you don't feel confident you will make it on time. Aerial Halberd Rage The Kindred leaps up into the air with the blade of it's halberd by the right side of it's head, slams it's halberd into the ground to it's left as it flies to it's right, then does a counter clockwise swing as it drops back down to the ground. If you see the Kindred fly into the air without also going backwards, it is going to be this attack. Otherwise, it is Aerial Halberd Sweep. Dodge roll in any direction except left a second after you see this and when you see the halberd is at it's right side again, roll again if you think you are close enough to get hit by the swing. For this one, dodging right isn't the optimum direction but other directions work. Spinning Slash Using its halberd to charge up by initially bringing it to it's left (Or your right), the Kindred will spin it and around twice. Back away from this attack when you see the halberd on your right, as it has a very large hitbox. Don't be fooled if you are just out of range of the first spin, the second spin has slightly more reach. An alternative but riskier counter to this attack is to sprint towards the Kindred when you see its halberd on your right so you are practically touching its feet then crouch. If done correctly, the 2 slashes should go over you without hitting you at all. This strategy can be made even more consistent by crouch walking backwards and slightly to your right as the Kindred is swinging to make sure you are as close as possible in front of it and this attack ends with the halberd on your left. Super Halberd Swing The Kindred brings it's halberd far back on it's right side, the blade at the same level where it's chest would be. It then brings the blade to the ground on it's right then immediately does a wide range counter clockwise swing. The follow up attack depends on your distance after this attack. If you are close, then the Kindred will jump a little and slam the blade of it's halberd into the ground immediately in front if it very quickly after, causing a shockwave that spans around the immediate close vicinity around the Kindred. If you are further away, then the Kindred will bring it's halberd to it's left side, the blade slightly above it's head and does a clockwise swing at similar, if not the same range as the first swing, though with a slightly longer delay. If you are close to the Kindred, dodge roll backwards when the halberd touches the ground on it's right. If you are far away then you can dodge backwards or to your left. Try your best to bait the Kindred into doing it's second swing rather than it's halberd slam follow-up. If it does, you can sprint towards it and the swing will go over your head and completely miss you if you are close enough, which will allow you some free hits to get in. Otherwise, if the Kindred does the second swing and you are somehow not close enough, just dodge anywhere except right. If you get too close too soon and it is about to do the slam, dodge in any direction once the halberd blade is level with the Kindred's feet while it is in the air. Beast's Roar Roars a sonic projectile in a straight line. Dodge to either side. Unless you are very far away from the Kindred for an excessive amount of time, it will never do this attack, so you will probably never see it. Charge Forth The Kindred charges forward with its halberd blade in the ground at the front of it then finishes with an upward slash attack. It then follows up with either slamming the blade of it's halberd into the ground if you are close, creating a shockwave, or a halberd slash from the right to left from your perspective if further away. Dodge to either side or forwards when the halberd is close to you. Make sure you pay attention to the position of the halberd and not the Kindred itself, since only the halberd has a hitbox. After you dodge this, you can choose whether to chase the Kindred down or not. If you don't, it will probably do it's halberd slash after the up slash. You can roll to your right to dodge if you are at a close or moderate distance away when it does this, but any further than one and a half of the Kindred's body height means the swing will miss you automatically. If you are less than a few metres away after the upward slash, it will slam the halberd into the ground. Dodge roll in any direction after a delay of a second for this follow-up attack. Corpse Wax Cutter Raises its sword and then slams it down releasing a reddish wave of energy. It will rapidly drain health for a short period of time if the target was damaged by it. Roll to your left side when the Kindred's sword goes down. Dodging to the right is slighter harder to pull off, because the attack is aimed slightly at the your right. Corpse Wax Whirlwind After a delay, the Kindred swings its Halberd around twice, creating a reddish tornado that covers a wide area, then end with an overhead slash. The whirlwind will rapidly drain your health, akin to the Black Knife's effect. It's best to just roll away from the tornado than to roll through the attacks, it will most likely one-shot you if you're not careful. Black Blade Kindred (Forbidden LandsGrace) Attack Description Counter Twinblade Slashes Performs rapid spinning slashes with its twinblade. Dodge left or right, depending on its position. Axe Switch The Kindred puts away its twinblade and roars, before switching to its axe and slamming down, causing a shockwave. This shockwave will also drain your health for a short amount of time. Be ready to dodge once it switches. War Cry Overhead Slam The Kindred releases a roar before slamming its axe downwards, also causing an exploding shockwave that drains your health. Roll away from this attack. Twinblade Switch It will sheathe its axe and switch to its twinblade, performing a spinning attack. Be prepared and dodge accordingly. Corpse Wax Whirlwind It will begin rapidly spinning its twinblade, before releasing the whirlwind in a large circular area around it. If the target is too far away, it will jump up and land close to them. It's best to just roll away from the tornado than to roll through the attacks, it will most likely one-shot you if you're not careful. Black Blade Kindred Notes & Other Trivia Same moveset as the Valiant Gargoyles, but with added health drain effect on its special moves, which fits with their lore of being Maliketh's servants. One guards Gurranq in front of the Bestial SanctumGrace, while the other guards the Grand Lift of RoldGrace, which leads to the flame which can burn the Erdtree, and thus unbind Destined Death. Black Blade Kindred Bestial SanctumGrace. Drops 88,000 Gargoyle's Blackblade Gargoyle's Black HalberdHalberdl Sanctum. Forbidden Lands Stance: 110. Parryable: No. Is vulnerable to a critical hit after being stance broken Weak spot: head Negations (or Absorptions). Standard: 10 Slash: 35 Strike: 0 Pierce: 35 Magic: 20 Fire: 40 Lightning: 40 Holy: 40 The negation numbers are the of your damage that gets blocked. For example, if a negation is 60, 40 of that damage by that type will go through and 60 will be negated. Bigger number less damage. A negation of 100 means no damage goes through, and a negation of -100 mean the enemy takes 2x damage from that source. 0 means damage goes pretty much as is. Resistances Poison: Immune Scarlet Rot: Immune Hemorrhage: Immune Frostbite: Immune Sleep: Immune Madness: Immune The resistance numbers are the buildup amount to trigger it. For example, if a resistance is 100 you must deal 100 points of the given buildup to trigger it. Note that these go down over time, and increase each time the effect procs. Black Blade Kindred Boss Guide Black Blade Kindred Fight Strategy. The Best Tips for Black Blade Kindred: Use the Stone of Gurranq spell, awarded by giving Gurranq his 6th Deathroot. This spell comes out decently fast, deals good amounts of damage, and can be used in succession. It also usually aims for the Kindred's head and can even break its poise while doing so. Lightning Spear and Frenzied Burst can work well as ranged offensive spells. For Intelligence players, Glintstone Cometshard or even just Great Glintstone Shard can work wonders. If you have enough set-up, casting Comet Azur can melt the Kindred although the boss can easily avoid it. Suggested weapons: 2 Great Omenkiller Cleavers with Strength/Occult affinity and infused with Cragblade Ash of War. Any weapon infused with Glintblade Phalanx will also work great because it can stance break the gargoyle in 3 hits of the skill. Bring some Boiled Crabs or Prawns, as they provide great boosts to one's physical defense, which may be needed as the boss hits extremely hard. Summon Latenna the Albinauric, as she can provide a constant source of damage with her arrows, as long as the player can keep the Kindred's attention. Other multi-summon Ashes like Mausoleum Soldiers or Greatshield Soldiers can work well. Summon Millicent. She is decently tanky and brings great offense against a fast and large foe like the Kindred. She can also serve as a distraction. Due to its high damage per hit, Opaline Bubbletear mixed in Flask of Wondrous Physick is recommended. It allows you to almost nullify one, and only one of its hits. Melee Users Magic and Ranged Users At the Bestial Sanctum, you can stand on the ledge to his right and most of his attacks will not reach you. He will aggressively attack the corner, but the difference in elevation will keep the attacks from connecting. However, he will eventually become unstuck, usually when a leaping attack carries him up the stairs or a jump back lands him on the opposite ledge. The railing in the corner also is an obstacle to many ranged attacks. Standing on top of the railing or on horseback can help with this, but puts you more at risk of him becoming unstuck or you falling off. It can be cheesed relatively easily at Bestial Sanctum, but its high HP and the range of the roar attack can make it very tedious. Its initial position makes it very easy to get in a single attack, and it will de-aggro easily and return to that position given enough time. Using ranged attacks, you can exploit this to safely attack once or twice, run to safety, and wait for it to return to the base of the steps and turn around. It cannot enter the Bestial Sanctum, but most of his attacks can still hit you through the walls. The roar attack can reach all the way to the Bestial Clergyman (who mercifully will ignore being hit by it), so trying to attack from inside the building is not an effective approach. But if you run all the way to the back of the Sanctum, behind the Clergyman, he will eventually de-aggro and return to his original position. Another reliable approach for this method is the right ledge. You can easily land a magic attack from there (dragon breath spells can pass through the railing as well), and have enough time to summon the horse and run away. Instead of running into the sanctum, where you might get hit with a roar before you can get to safety, run around the side of the building. There are a number of obstacles in that direction that slow him down and shield you from a roar. You can simply circle the building at your own pace, and from the other side, you can stay out of sight and see when he returns to the base of the stairs. It seems to take a shorter amount of time for him to reset, compared to hiding in the sanctum. The Black Flame incantation makes it possible for very low-level players to execute this strategy very early on in the game due to its percentage-based damage. Black Blade Kindred (Bestial Sanctum) Attacks & Counters Attack Description Counter Slam n' Swing The Kindred's sword gets turned horizontal at it's waist pointing away from it and it's left hand grips the sword's blade tip, as the sword rotates so it becomes across it's waist. The Kindred then slams all of it's blade into the ground but the sword 'bounces' to it's left afterwards. Then, it's left hand releases the sword as it's right hand swings it to it's right. The slam has very low range so if you are more than a couple of metres away, you will probably automatically avoid the slam. Otherwise, rolling in any direction is viable to dodge it. When you see the sword 'bounce' and the Kindred's left hand letting go of the blade, roll anywhere but left. Can be followed up with Sword Thrust if you are a few metres away. Power Swings The Kindred brings it's sword pointing vertically to it's right at head level while gripping it with 2 hands. It then slashes down and to it's left to the ground, then does another swing to it's up and right, ending up near where it was originally. The first swing will surprisingly not hit you if you are point blank directly in front of the Kindred. If you see the sword go up and to your left to the Kindred's head, you can get an attack in, then roll anywhere except left after a very small delay. This attack can be followed up with Sword Thrust if you dodge roll backwards, or otherwise end up at a medium distance from it by the time this attack finishes. Backhand Swing The Kindred brings it's sword pointing horizontally to it's waist level to it's left then swings to it's right and up so it ends up at it's right at head level. Dodge roll in any way except to your left when you see the sword be quickly moved down and to your right and ends up somewhat near ground altitude. Be aware it may follow up with Sword Thrust if you dodge away from the Kindred, but can be punished if you jump over it. Running Slice The Kindred attempts to run behind you and to your right with it's sword up vertically to it's left close to it's side, then slashes counter-clockwise slightly less than a second later after starting the attack. Mentally count 0.5-0.6 seconds after the Kindred begins running, then dodge roll forward and/or to your right. The swing has surprisingly large range, albeit with a blind spot. If you are somehow less than about four metres away from the Kindred when it would swing, then you don't need to do anything; the swing will just harmlessly go over you. Sword Thrust The Kindred draws its sword back and thrusts forward. It may use this attack during most of its sword combos and more rarely do it on it's own or multiple times in a row. Dodge to the sides or through the thrust when you see the Kindred's sword drawn back on it's right. Alternatively, if timed correctly, this attack can be jumped over; then you can do a jumping attack. Fury of the Kindred The Kindred brings it's sword up to the left side of it's face, then rushes towards you, bringing it's sword straight down to it's waist level then very quickly brings it to more of it's left side. It then slashes 5 times; a pair of quick horizontal slices in quick succession (right to left and left to right respectively from your perspective), then another slash from your right to left, quickly followed by a slash that goes up and to your right at the same time, which ends with the sword being above the Kindred's head. The fifth and final attack is a vertical sword slam directly in front of it. This is probably the hardest sword move to dodge consistently, as the timing between the two pairs of slashes before the fifth is awkward to dodge roll through both without getting clipped by at least one. Regardless, there is a safe strategy that should work all the time assuming you react quick enough and you have enough space behind you. As soon as you see the Kindred bring it's sword to the left side of it's face, sprint directly away from it, and you should outrange the swings. The Kindred never does this attack if you are within a fairly close proximity to it. The only relatively obvious way of knowing this attack or Wrath of the Kindred is coming is that this attack has the Kindred bring it's sword down then to it's left before swinging, while it brings it's sword diagonally to the left during Wrath of the Kindred. Wrath of the Kindred The Kindred brings it's sword up to the left side of it's face, then rushes towards you, bringing it's sword straight down to it's waist level then very quickly brings it to more of it's left side. After a short while of it running towards you, it does a massive diagonally upward swing to it's right, flinging you high in the air with big damage if the attack connects. As soon as you see the Kindred bring it's sword to the left side of it's face, sprint directly away from it, in case the attack is Fury of the Kindred. However, if the Kindred's sword doesn't move straight down then straight to it's left after the prior telegraph and instead moves straight diagonally downwards, this attack will come. When it runs towards you, dodge roll in any direction a second later. As with Fury of the Kindred, it will never attempt to use this attack when you are up close. Halberd Switch Sheathes its sword and grabs the halberd from its back, performing a counter clockwise twisting swing attack starting from it's right. The Kindred takes a few seconds before it actually swings the halberd but is somewhat hard for melee players to hit it as it is drawing it out, as it moves backwards as it does so. However, ranged weapons can more easily hit the Kindred as it does so and when it finally swings the halberd, it can easily be jumped over, given you a chance to do a jumping attack. Aerial Halberd Sweep The Kindred flies up into the air with its halberd at its right side (Left side from your perspective) then tries to crash back down on you while swinging the halberd after about a second's delay. Look closely at the Kindred when it does this attack. Here are 3 ways you can dodge it. As the Kindred is diving towards you, dodge roll in any direction at the last second. When you see the Kindred fly up in the air, move backwards a little bit. (Sprinting and rolling isn't necessary) When the Kindred dives to you, jump OVER the halberd so you can punish this attack with a jumping attack of your own. The Kindred itself doesn't have a hitbox, only the halberd does, so you shouldn't take any damage even if you end up touching it. This tactic is considerably riskier than the others, but is still viable. As soon as possible when the Kindred flies, sprint TOWARDS it and get as close under it as you can. If you are fast enough and get close enough to it, the Kindred will dive over you and swing its halberd in the opposite direction from where you are, giving you some time to do a couple of counter attacks. Avoid this strategy if you don't have sufficient stamina to sprint long enough and/or you don't feel confident you will make it on time. Aerial Halberd Rage The Kindred leaps up into the air with the blade of it's halberd by the right side of it's head, slams it's halberd into the ground to it's left as it flies to it's right, then does a counter clockwise swing as it drops back down to the ground. If you see the Kindred fly into the air without also going backwards, it is going to be this attack. Otherwise, it is Aerial Halberd Sweep. Dodge roll in any direction except left a second after you see this and when you see the halberd is at it's right side again, roll again if you think you are close enough to get hit by the swing. For this one, dodging right isn't the optimum direction but other directions work. Spinning Slash Using its halberd to charge up by initially bringing it to it's left (Or your right), the Kindred will spin it and around twice. Back away from this attack when you see the halberd on your right, as it has a very large hitbox. Don't be fooled if you are just out of range of the first spin, the second spin has slightly more reach. An alternative but riskier counter to this attack is to sprint towards the Kindred when you see its halberd on your right so you are practically touching its feet then crouch. If done correctly, the 2 slashes should go over you without hitting you at all. This strategy can be made even more consistent by crouch walking backwards and slightly to your right as the Kindred is swinging to make sure you are as close as possible in front of it and this attack ends with the halberd on your left. Super Halberd Swing The Kindred brings it's halberd far back on it's right side, the blade at the same level where it's chest would be. It then brings the blade to the ground on it's right then immediately does a wide range counter clockwise swing. The follow up attack depends on your distance after this attack. If you are close, then the Kindred will jump a little and slam the blade of it's halberd into the ground immediately in front if it very quickly after, causing a shockwave that spans around the immediate close vicinity around the Kindred. If you are further away, then the Kindred will bring it's halberd to it's left side, the blade slightly above it's head and does a clockwise swing at similar, if not the same range as the first swing, though with a slightly longer delay. If you are close to the Kindred, dodge roll backwards when the halberd touches the ground on it's right. If you are far away then you can dodge backwards or to your left. Try your best to bait the Kindred into doing it's second swing rather than it's halberd slam follow-up. If it does, you can sprint towards it and the swing will go over your head and completely miss you if you are close enough, which will allow you some free hits to get in. Otherwise, if the Kindred does the second swing and you are somehow not close enough, just dodge anywhere except right. If you get too close too soon and it is about to do the slam, dodge in any direction once the halberd blade is level with the Kindred's feet while it is in the air. Beast's Roar Roars a sonic projectile in a straight line. Dodge to either side. Unless you are very far away from the Kindred for an excessive amount of time, it will never do this attack, so you will probably never see it. Charge Forth The Kindred charges forward with its halberd blade in the ground at the front of it then finishes with an upward slash attack. It then follows up with either slamming the blade of it's halberd into the ground if you are close, creating a shockwave, or a halberd slash from the right to left from your perspective if further away. Dodge to either side or forwards when the halberd is close to you. Make sure you pay attention to the position of the halberd and not the Kindred itself, since only the halberd has a hitbox. After you dodge this, you can choose whether to chase the Kindred down or not. If you don't, it will probably do it's halberd slash after the up slash. You can roll to your right to dodge if you are at a close or moderate distance away when it does this, but any further than one and a half of the Kindred's body height means the swing will miss you automatically. If you are less than a few metres away after the upward slash, it will slam the halberd into the ground. Dodge roll in any direction after a delay of a second for this follow-up attack. Corpse Wax Cutter Raises its sword and then slams it down releasing a reddish wave of energy. It will rapidly drain health for a short period of time if the target was damaged by it. Roll to your left side when the Kindred's sword goes down. Dodging to the right is slighter harder to pull off, because the attack is aimed slightly at the your right. Corpse Wax Whirlwind After a delay, the Kindred swings its Halberd around twice, creating a reddish tornado that covers a wide area, then end with an overhead slash. The whirlwind will rapidly drain your health, akin to the Black Knife's effect. It's best to just roll away from the tornado than to roll through the attacks, it will most likely one-shot you if you're not careful. Black Blade Kindred (Forbidden Lands) Attack Description Counter Twinblade Slashes Performs rapid spinning slashes with its twinblade. Dodge left or right, depending on its position. Axe Switch The Kindred puts away its twinblade and roars, before switching to its axe and slamming down, causing a shockwave. This shockwave will also drain your health for a short amount of time. Be ready to dodge once it switches. War Cry Overhead Slam The Kindred releases a roar before slamming its axe downwards, also causing an exploding shockwave that drains your health. Roll away from this attack. Twinblade Switch It will sheathe its axe and switch to its twinblade, performing a spinning attack. Be prepared and dodge accordingly. Corpse Wax Whirlwind It will begin rapidly spinning its twinblade, before releasing the whirlwind in a large circular area around it. If the target is too far away, it will jump up and land close to them. It's best to just roll away from the tornado than to roll through the attacks, it will most likely one-shot you if you're not careful. Black Blade Kindred Notes & Other Trivia Same moveset as the Valiant Gargoyles, but with added health drain effect on its special moves, which fits with their lore of being Maliketh's servants. One guards Gurranq in front of the Bestial Sanctum, while the other guards the Grand Lift of Rold, which leads to the flame which can burn the Erdtree, and thus unbind Destined Death. Black Blade Kindred Bestial Sanctum. Drops 88,000 Gargoyle's Blackblade Gargoyle's Black Halberd HP 12,297