Dark Souls - do I even have a remote chance against Kalameet with this character?

[ninja666]

I've already tried around 10-12 times (maybe more, maybe less) and he seems to kick my ass every goddamn time! Is he impossible to beat with a strength build (further proving my theory that this game favors dexterous sorcerers) or supposed to be beaten in co-op? He's too fast, drains 80% of my stamina with every hit and about two thirds my health when I'm not quick enough to block. And that's physical attacks. His breath pretty much one-shots me, no matter what I do - the AOE one from above spreads through a laughably large area. Do I have a change against him with this build? Should I modify something? Or should I simply fuck it and proceed to the Chasm of The Abyss?

Here's my toon:
SL 85
Vit 30
Att 16
End 34
Str 36
Dex 18
Res/Int/Fai 11

Equipment:
- Black Knight Greatsword +5 (I also have a Black Knight Sword +5, which is noticeably faster, but its damage output is pretty much shit at this point)
- Pyromancy Flame +15 with Great Chaos Fireball, Great Fireball, and Fire Tempest attuned to it
- Silver Knight Shield +3 for physical protection and Crest Shield +5 for magical protection
- Giants Armor + 3
- Guardian Gauntlets
- Giant Leggings (used alternately with Waistcloth of the Channelers when I need equipment load for something else)
- Mask of the Child for dat stamina recovery
- Havel's Ring
- Wolf Ring

 

[Diablo2000]

You have all that and you still can beat Kalameet?
Well, try to get a Dark Knight Shield for dat fire defense, boost up your End a bit and get a Dad Mask for the extra equipment burden.

If you have mobility then Kalameet shouldn't be a problem, you can escape his AOE pretty easy if you see it coming... Also you did the Gough bit in order to get Kalameet down right?

 

[ninja666]

You have all that and you still can beat Kalameet?

What do you mean "still"? He seems pretty much impossible now, let alone if I tried to fight him 20 levels earlier.

Well, try to get a Dark Knight Shield for dat fire defense

Impossible. There are no Black Knights left for this playthough for me except the ones in the Kiln, but I want to finish DLC before accessing it. Also, isn't Kalameet's breath actually magic and not fire? Crest Shield blocks it pretty damn well, but eats up all my stamina when I do that.

If you have mobility then Kalameet shouldn't be a problem, you can escape his AOE pretty easy if you see it coming...

How, exactly? No matter how far I run it always reaches me. Plus, more mobility means zero protection - he will one shot me if I wear light armor (believe me, I tried) and I don't want that.

Also, I noticed that when you don't lock on to Kalameet, range of his flames elongates and they reach you where they don't if you're standing while being locked onto him.

Also you did the Gough bit in order to get Kalameet down right?

Of course. I'm not an idiot.

 

[Diablo2000]

You have all that and you still can beat Kalameet?

What do you mean "still"? He seems pretty much impossible now, let alone if I tried to fight him 20 levels earlier.

Well, try to get a Dark Knight Shield for dat fire defense

Impossible. There are no Black Knights left for this playthough for me except the ones in the Kiln, but I want to finish DLC before accessing it. Also, isn't Kalameet's breath actually magic and not fire? Crest Shield blocks it pretty damn well, but eats up all my stamina when I do that.

If you have mobility then Kalameet shouldn't be a problem, you can escape his AOE pretty easy if you see it coming...

How, exactly? No matter how far I run it always reaches me. Plus, more mobility means zero protection - he will one shot me if I wear light armor (believe me, I tried) and I don't want that.

Also, I noticed that when you don't lock on to Kalameet, range of his flames elongates and they reach you where they don't if you're standing while being locked onto him.

Also you did the Gough bit in order to get Kalameet down right?

Of course. I'm not an idiot.

I never had any problems with Kalameet, I always use light armor and never had him one shot me like that... But then again, I always cheat a little by using the Ring of Favor and Protection, so maybe the extra health I win is decisive.
The main problem with Kalameet is that he has a very short window in which that you get free hits of him. Like I said, try the Mask of Father, try the Ring of Favor and Protection, try to gain that needed mobility by another means if you don't want to sacrifice Armor... And why are you rolling a Wolf Ring? You don't need the slight Poise boost with Giant Armor...

 

[ninja666]

try the Ring of Favor and Protection.

I have only one of those left and it's the second one, gotten from trading the Xanthous Crown. The first one broke after I had to wear Orange Charred Ring instead of it. I was saving it for Gwyn (since if I wear it now, I'll break it in New Londo because of the necessity to wear the Artorias ring), but looks like I have no choice here.

And why are you rolling a Wolf Ring? You don't need the slight Poise boost with Giant Armor...

Actually, I do need it. I'm using a medium type shield and without the ring I get toppled over or staggered every time Kalameet hits me. That doesn't happen with the ring on.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

My advice is stop blocking. The reason you're constantly dying is because you take hits on your shield that drain way too much stamina. Get your weight down to where you have the fast roll and then use your i-frames to roll through attacks instead of blocking. Hell, I would take the shield off entirely for the fight since taking a single hit immediately makes you lose most of your stamina (or guard-breaks you). Getting rid of the shield and changing out your armor for something a little bit lighter will help get your roll down, and rolling 2 or even 3 times to avoid an attack will still drain less stamina than blocking it against kalameet (and fast-rolling 3 times the moment kalameet is off the ground will let you escape his downward fire-breath attack).

See the problem with your build is that you're not running a real strength build. You have a strength weapon but you have a medium shield. You'd be fine if you had a greatshield, because then you'd be losing less stamina per hit, or you'd be fine with a smaller weapon and less armor, because then you'd be faster. Instead you made a slow character with a slow weapon, and a medium shield. Why the medium shield?

Also you're right about the crest shield being good against kalameet's fire attack. His fire isn't really fire, it deals physical and magic damage, so if you're dead set on using a shield you're best off with a high magic resistance one (I hear the Artorias Greatshield is really good for this fight since it has high physical and magic resistance as well as stability).

Basically, your problem is that your build is very wishy washy. You're not a straight on tank, so you can't take kalameet's hits, and you're not fast enough to evade his hits either, which is what's screwing you up. You'd do well to change your armor to something lighter and your shield to a greatshield.

Btw, I've beaten this boss with a few different characters, two of which were melee focused, including my "guts build" which is a strength build that uses a greatsword without a shield, and a dex build that used a lightning infused scythe and the black knight shield, and both builds were way under your level (I've never had a build that went over level 75). The key is to just to be patient, and know when to back off and when to run in, and not waste your stamina pointlessly. I know you instinctively want to use your shield to block every attack, but fight that instinct and try to roll instead. If you can get the roll timings down you'll have a lot more stamina to work with.

 

[Little Gray]

My advise is try not getting hit. If you can get the Artorias Greatshield but only use it as a last resort. All of Kalameets melee attacks are a joke to dodge and the fire breath is an easy block. Half the time I fight bosses I dont even bother with armour and just use fap and fast roll to dodge everything while two handing my sword.

 

[ninja666]

See the problem with your build is that you're not running a real strength build. You have a strength weapon but you have a medium shield. You'd be fine if you had a greatshield, because then you'd be losing less stamina per hit, or you'd be fine with a smaller weapon and less armor, because then you'd be faster. Instead you made a slow character with a slow weapon, and a medium shield. Why the medium shield?

While building this character I was making it to utilize the Black Knight Sword, since it's the "easy mode" and I got sorta tired of making Dex builds that were hard to operate mid-to-end game because of the low damage output dealt. It was actually pretty neat for most of the game cause it was relatively fast and dealt enormous amounts of damage, but since the Black Knight Sword lost its charm around getting the Lordvessel, I decided it was time to move on onto something better. And what's the logical step when everything you get deals less damage than the Black Knight Sword? Get a Black Knight Weapon that outclasses it. I was first aiming for the BK Greataxe, as it was similarly fast, but didn't get the drop, so the only option was the BK Greatsword. And why the medium shield? Cause I love to parry and with a weapon like I have, every successful riposte means tremendous damage, and even if the enemy is unparryable, the weapon still hits like a truck, so 90% of enemies don't get up to take on a second hit after being brought to the ground with the first one. Nothing apart from benefit in my book.

You're right, though. Maybe I should invest in some lighter armor and get used to dodging more.

 

[Darks63]

All of the bosses in the DLC have one thing in common, their almost nonstop chain combos. The only way to deal with that is to be naked barring a father mask. Being naked maximizes your roll i-frames and reduces your stamina drain on rolls and don't block vs bosses.

Frankly Kalmeet is the easier of the bosses in my view. If you cant beat him Manos the hands of fate is gonna wreck you real bad. I tried something like the build you have on Manus and he destroyed me before the 50% health change up.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I think it's totally possible to beat him with nearly any build. I went in co op with my friend the first time I beat him. I was summoned into his world and we managed to take him down. Then when it was my turn, I summoned him and he got stomped two seconds into the fight so it was just me then. It took a while, but I beat him solo. This isn't going to help much I'm afraid, but it really does come down to memorizing his attack tells and dodging them. I only had a chance to counter-attack maybe once every two minutes, and it usually came when he got ready to breath fire. I bolted in close and practically ran behind him, then when he was busy breathing fire I smacked him.
If I recall right, there's also a brief window after one of his melee combo attacks.

My equipment was on the light side, so I moved and rolled fast. Since he is basically killing you in one or two hits, I suggest getting rid of the heavier armor of this fight (it's not making a difference clearly) and focus instead on dodging and not blocking. I found him relatively easy once I figured out his patterns, but it is walking a razor's edge. One slip up, and he'll toast you.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

See the problem with your build is that you're not running a real strength build. You have a strength weapon but you have a medium shield. You'd be fine if you had a greatshield, because then you'd be losing less stamina per hit, or you'd be fine with a smaller weapon and less armor, because then you'd be faster. Instead you made a slow character with a slow weapon, and a medium shield. Why the medium shield?

While building this character I was making it to utilize the Black Knight Sword, since it's the "easy mode" and I got sorta tired of making Dex builds that were hard to operate mid-to-end game because of the low damage output dealt. It was actually pretty neat for most of the game cause it was relatively fast and dealt enormous amounts of damage, but since the Black Knight Sword lost its charm around getting the Lordvessel, I decided it was time to move on onto something better. And what's the logical step when everything you get deals less damage than the Black Knight Sword? Get a Black Knight Weapon that outclasses it. I was first aiming for the BK Greataxe, as it was similarly fast, but didn't get the drop, so the only option was the BK Greatsword. And why the medium shield? Cause I love to parry and with a weapon like I have, every successful riposte means tremendous damage, and even if the enemy is unparryable, the weapon still hits like a truck, so 90% of enemies don't get up to take on a second hit after being brought to the ground with the first one. Nothing apart from benefit in my book.

You're right, though. Maybe I should invest in some lighter armor and get used to dodging more.

Well there's your problem. You're basing your play style entirely on damage output, but there's more to weapons in this game than just how much raw damage they deal. I'd say that the moveset of a weapon is more important than just the damage per hit. The difference between the black knight sword and the black knight greatsword is not that big in terms of damage. In fact if I remember correctly they had roughly the same base damage and the only differences were requirements to use them, and their scaling with the black knight greatsword having slightly better strength scaling. Your strength isn't at the soft cap though, so considering that the actual damage per hit between the black knight sword and the black knight greatsword is not that big. You could use the black knight sword without seeing a huge decrease in damage. I mean, the decrease would be there, but the faster attack speed would make up for it meaning they would probably have nearly identical damage per second, and the fact that you use less stamina per attack means you'd be able to get more attacks in a string and reduce your weight by 6 units.

The medium shield also isn't getting you anywhere against kalameet because you can't use any of its benefits in the fight. The parry is a benefit, and so is the weight, but considering you can't parry kalameet's attacks, and he breaks your guard if you block, you're not getting any benefit from the use of a medium shield.

Getting rid of the shield entirely would free up 3-5 units of weight, and switching out your sword would reduce your weight by another 6 units bringing your total weight down by 9-11 units. That's a significant decrease, so in order to get the fast roll you wouldn't actually have to change that much of your armor around. Then again, armor is only useful if you're getting hit. Now sometimes taking a hit is unavoidable, but I think that wearing heavy armor is kind of pessimistic because you're expecting to take hits. Personally I just use whatever armor I think looks cool and don't worry too much about weight. If you're really worried about taking hits you could switch to a medium armor and then put on the ring of steel protection to get you a bit more physical damage resistance, and then you'd also have the speed and roll distance to avoid attacks. I agree with Diablo2000 in saying that the Wolf Ring isn't helping you much.

 

[ninja666]

Then again, armor is only useful if you're getting hit. Now sometimes taking a hit is unavoidable, but I think that wearing heavy armor is kind of pessimistic because you're expecting to take hits.

Well, I expect to get hit because I do get hit. I'm not that good at playing Dark Souls and can't dodge through everything, rendering armor useless - that's simply not my style.

As for the rest, those are some pretty good insights, actually. Might rethink my whole gear all over.

The key is simple, but very risky-

Stand perfectly still. No lie, just do it. He's 40% likely to stand on his hind legs in front of you and either:
A) Breathes fire downward as he's standing on his hind legs.
B) Goes to do his special eye levitation attack which reduces your defense if caught in it.

Either one, immediately run to the left and go for his tail/side/back. Doesn't matter. Rinse and repeat. His moves can be easily dodged too if you time them right. Best to go lightweight since he is fast in head swings or tackles.

That's... pretty interesting and sounds like it might actually work better than anything else suggested here. Will surely try it out.

And on a totally unrelated side-note: Isn't it awkward for you to have Zone-tan as your avatar? I mean, everybody who's in the internet more than a year knows who she is and what kind of site she's the mascot of.

 

[default]

I beat him with a Soul Level 1 character, so by goodness so can you.

Don't worry too much about stats, they don't really mean all that much at the end of the day anyway. They are important, but far less so than playstyle and gear.

The very first thing you're going to need to do is drop all that heavy armour and fastroll. Kalameet will fuck you five days to Friday if you try and block or tank his flame attacks, and the extra movespeed and agility will let you outrun and circle him much much more efficiently. Learn how to fastroll, it's honestly pretty much mandatory for more skilled souls play. Your pyromancy is also going to do jack-shit to him. Your weapons are fine, as long as you can hit him with them when he stands still long enough. Learn his telegraphs, keep to his sides, and don't get too far away from him or he'll do a really powerful lunge attack. That's pretty much it.

 

[Maphysto]

Armor and shields are damn near useless against Kalameet. Heavy armor won't mitigate enough of his damage to be worth the speed tradeoff, and his fire attacks will bleed through your shield no matter what.

Drop your heavy armor for something light enough to let you fastroll, put on the Grass Crest shield for better stamina regen and two-hand your greatsword. From there, it's just a matter of learning his telegraphs and the timing of his moves. Be prepared to die a lot, though; Kalameet is arguably the hardest boss in the game, and it only takes one or two mistakes to get you killed.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Then again, armor is only useful if you're getting hit. Now sometimes taking a hit is unavoidable, but I think that wearing heavy armor is kind of pessimistic because you're expecting to take hits.

Well, I expect to get hit because I do get hit. I'm not that good at playing Dark Souls and can't dodge through everything, rendering armor useless - that's simply not my style.

As for the rest, those are some pretty good insights, actually. Might rethink my whole gear all over.

But do you get hit because you can't help getting hit, or do you get hit because you're wearing enough armor that you just consciously decide to take the hit? From what I've noticed a lot of the people who wear heavy armor in Dark Souls just decided that they're going to get hit and there's nothing they can do about it so they might as well take as little damage from said hit as possible, instead of deciding to learn enemy patterns and figuring out dodge timings. Personally I think that one only needs enough armor to not get one shot killed.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I treated him as a larger version of Sif.

Just run between his legs, or next to them(never behind, he kicks) and then hack away. My advice is crap though, because when I faced him, I was around level 114 because I farmed the crap out of the phalanx guys in the Painted world after Seath handed me my own arse several times.

Frankly, I thought Artorias was both more challenging, and more fun.