Sinner's Rise

Sinner's Rise turned out to be a fairly short stint in the keep and then down to the sewers. Some new enemies - hulking beasts with swiping claws and a tail slash - they're not too tricky but the knee-high water makes maneuvering difficult. Then on for another horde of exploding inmates who again proved very frustrating.

I was surprised how brief the whole of Sinner's Rise proved to be as there was a boss before I knew it. A very tough boss. Artorias except in the dark! The Lost Sinner rushes you and has, initially, tough to predict follow up attacks. The fact you can't see very well is a massive disadvantage (I actually found Artorias not as hard as he's made out tbh). There were some messages outside saying "use torch above" or the like but I didn't have the key for the gates above.

I was taking huge damage from him (I still have the starting stat in VGR - 7!) so decided to switch to a lighter weapon and pile on the armour. I'd just gotten a Malformed Skull which is a Great Hammer but its range is limited and it doesn't scale. Step up the old reliable - Large Club. Levelled that to +3 and it has S scaling with STR :) Allowed me to wear the full Drangleic set too.

I eventually found a couple of able helpers and then, bar a few moments that left me chugging Estus in haste, we made short work of the aul sinner. Upon defeat I was presented with a Great Soul and a primal bonfire which only warps back to Majula. Looks like one of the big 4 is down so. Some kind of build up to the fight would've been nice, a small hint that there was a really important boss ahead to build the tension. Perhaps there was and I missed it. Felt epic which is the main thing.