Dark Souls - Demon Firesage boss strategy
How to tackle Demon Firesage in Dark Souls.
Demon Firesage is a boss you'll face in the Demon Ruins in Dark Souls.
If you're looking for more help, our Dark Souls walkthrough and guide can help with all other areas of the game, including the dreaded Taurus Demon, Capra Demon, Ornstein and Smough bosses.
Demon Firesage boss strategy
Demon Firesage is a boss of Demon Ruins, and is pretty much identical to the Asylum Demon and Stray Demon, sharing a lot of the same moveset. If you're having trouble with the Demon Firesage, you've come to the right place, this fight is different and in a tougher environment, meaning that some of the same strategies that came in handy for those bosses might not work quite as well here.
Demon Firesage is pumped up with Fire energy, and dishes out some fierce attacks that cannot be blocked by anything but Greatshields, if you are not rocking a Greatshield, we would strongly recommend that you instead rock your weapon two-handed and with magical buffs using Great Magic Weapon or Crystal Magic Weapon.
From here, you are going to want to be able to be comfortable with rolling out of the way of attacks. Equip some lighter armour (such as the Gold-Hemmed set) and you will have access to a very fast dodge.
Right, in this arena, ranged attack is incredibly dangerous, this is due to the Firesage having an area of effect blast that it will spam at you if you are not within range of its axe. Although the blast is directly in front of it, it will do a swing before to get you in range.
Beware when fighting this thing at range, we would strongly recommend you go melee for this fight as solely using magic or arrows is not viable.
Onto its attacks. The Demon Firesage also has vertical or horizontal axe swings that can also be comboed into each other, meaning that you will want to watch out for any followup attacks- especially on the horizontal swing. However, in the middle of the swings you should have ample time to dodge behind it, which is the safest area to stay in.
This is because of a few other attacks. It will leap at you if you try to heal at range, and there is also this type of demon's signature ground pound attack. This Demon Firesage is devilishly simple to beat, all you need is some decent timing and to space yourself behind it during one of the enemy's swings.
This will lead to the Demon not being able to hit you, as many of its attacks come from the front. The main one that you have to watch out for when positioning yourself is the area of effect blast attack.
If you're looking for more help, our Dark Souls walkthrough and guide can help with all other areas of the game, including the dreaded Taurus Demon, Capra Demon, Ornstein and Smough bosses. Meanwhile, we have explainers on how to access DLC Artorias of the Abyss, the best gift and best class in Dark Souls, Dark Souls' best weapons, Dark Souls Covenants, Dark Souls Estus Flasks locations, Dark Souls Titanite Slab locations and NPC quests including Lautrec of Carim.
More often than not, the Firesage will attempt to jump back to put some distance between you and itself. This is to lead up and get you back in front of the Firesage, vulnerable to its attacks. Try to position yourself in a corner, where you will be able to handily avoid most of the Firesage's attacks and also dish out some meaty damage at the same time.
One thing that we would definitely suggest avoiding is using Fire Weapons, Chaos Weapons and Pyromancies against the Demon Firesage, you will do very little damage and it's very much worth upgrading another weapon to take this one out if you are finding it difficult.
Instead try to go and upgrade a normal weapon up to +14 and you will be dishing out heaps of damage, in addition to being able to enchant it further with sorcery. After killing the Demon Firesage, push onwards and further into Demon Ruins.