Arguably the main-game optional boss in Dark Souls 3 that has fans the most divided, the Ancient Wyvern is a colossal draconic foe who is a descendant of the everlasting dragons that can be defeated in a few vastly different ways. Some players claim that this boss is way too easy thanks to the gimmick path provided by the developers, however, others have tremendous complaints about this same feature and opt to avoid it entirely.
For those who seek to face this titanic beast in true battle, there are also challenges to overcome that revolve around dealing with the great scaly enemy’s huge hitbox and the uneven terrain. Regardless of one’s combat tactics, there are numerous ways to lay waste to the Ancient Wyvern.
This is the fastest and easiest way to slay the massive monster for most players, as it does not require any combat except for a single plunging attack. When one enters the boss arena, head up the first set of stairs and then take a left. Ignore the Ancient Wyvern and all of the snake-men enemies and keep heading up the relatively linear path. Just take care to not get swarmed by the snake-men, as they are arguably more annoying to fight than the boss itself. When one reaches the area directly above the Ancient Wyvern, there will be a ledge with an orange in-game message hinting that the player should do a plunging attack. This maneuver, if done with correct timing, will always be a one-shot kill on the boss, even if performed without a weapon.
The right time to walk off the ledge (don’t jump or roll, as this might mess up the player’s falling trajectory) is when the wyvern finishes using its firebreathing attack and lowers its head. The moment it does, drop from the ledge and use a light attack while falling to initiate the unique plunging attack animation for this boss that will always drain the draconic fiend’s entire health bar. Be wary of missing, as that will plant the player in front of an angry wyvern and will force the Ashen One to make another annoying trek up the gimmick path past the areas with even more annoying snake-men.
Like with most draconic enemies, the damage that the Ancient Wyvern takes depends on where one’s strikes land; hitting the beast in the feet will do minimal damage, attacking their wings and tail will do moderate damage, and landing blows on their head will deal noticeably greater damage. Though, keep in mind that this boss has a massive pool of HP at just under 8000, which, for perspective, is almost twice that of the King of the Storm (the Nameless King’s stormdrake ally).
The best way to defeat the Ancient Wyvern is clearly to hit them in the head, though this can be tricky due to the boss’s large body and the weird shape of the area that is basically 3 linear paths that meet at a raised section. Try to get the boss to stand on the raised area in the center and attack it while one is on some stairs, as this will make moving back and forth, in and out of attack position, quicker due to players being able to move slightly faster on stairs (to put it simply).
Triggering the boss’s standing firebreathing attack is definitely the easiest way to land head-hits. To trigger this flaming assault, move around in front of the beast’s face, just out of range of their bite attack. The wyvern will telegraph their firebreathing maneuver very obviously, which will give players plenty of time to run forward and out of harm’s way. While the gouts of flame are being unleashed, it is totally safe to be next to the fiend’s neck, just behind the head.
This is the place where one should be able to unleash at least 3 or 4 attacks before the firebreathing ends. When it does, simply trigger it again with the same method, rinsing and repeating until the boss is dead. This tactic also prevents the colossal enemy from using any of their more dangerous attacks, like their flying firebreathing or tail swipes, which have huge hitboxes and are very tough to dodge, as well as their stomping attacks that are very frequent and tedious enough to deal with to be not worth hitting the foe’s feet.
A couple of weapons that are ideal for taking on this boss are those that deal innate lightning damage, as this is one of the boss’s main weaknesses, like with almost all draconic enemies. The Dragonslayer’s Axe can be very effective for its fast attack speed while the Lothric Knight Greatsword is also very handy for also being able to deal thrust damage (another of the Ancient Wyvern’s weaknesses) in addition to lightning with some of its attacks.
The third and final true weakness for the Ancient Wyvern is frost, therefore sorcerer builds can greatly hurt the flying foe with the Snap Freeze spell as this cloud of chilling mist will easily stay in the big boss’s hitbox for optimal frost build-up. Letting off other spells, like Great Heavy Soul Arrow or even harder-hitting ones that usually miss smaller targets, like Soul Stream, can be helpful to cast while the boss is being afflicted by frostbite. Pestilent Mist could also be of great use here, as this boss has a lot of max HP and a huge hitbox that makes them very susceptible to lingering clouds of effect-damage.
Obviously, lightning-based spells are the best to use here. Alternate faster and stronger ones depending on what the wyvern is doing and where the player is positioned; Lightning Arrow and other fast ones are greatly helpful most of the time, however, if one can trigger the boss’s standing firebreathing attacks, these would be ideal moments to unleash a Lightning Stake directly onto the beast’s head for excellent damage.
Don’t bother with fire, poison, or toxic spells, as the Ancient Wyvern resists all of these kinds of assaults. Instead, players should use dark pyromancies like Black Fire Orb to hurt the huge enemy with dark damage, which it does not resist. Although not capable of the highest damage numbers, this is still a decently viable method for pyromancers who wish to fight fire with fire.
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