This guide will show you the easiest way to kill Slave Knight Gael in Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City. Slave Knight Gael is an extremely agile and hard-hitting boss, but with enough patience and the right moves, you’ll be able to beat him in no time.
How to Kill Slave Knight Gael
Killing Slave Knight Gael in Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City is extremely challenging for all styles of play, with melee being difficult due to how close you'll need to be, and spellcaster offering its own challenges due to Slave Knight Gael’s natural resistance to sorcery.
In order to kill Slave Knight Gael, you must deal damage to him through three different phases. The first phase he moves on all fours and swings his sword, the second phase he imbues his weapon with blood, and the final phase he increases his blood and soul abilities.
Unfortunately, there are no NPC summoning signs near the Slave Knight Gael boss fight, so if you need to, get online and find another player to help you. Slave Knight Gael appears to be weak to fire, so come prepared with fire-based buffs like the
Slave Knight Gael: Phase 1
As you enter through the fog wall, Slave Knight Gael will come charging toward you from the left. While he’s crossing the distance, take a moment to buff your weapon and eat some Green Blossoms. Don’t buff before entering the fight, as you’ll waste a lot of time simply reaching him.
His move set is fairly easy to predict and dodge, so if you’re struggling with the first phase, the next few phases are going to be outright murderous. Take your time watching his moves, rolling through his slashes. Try to rotate around his non-sword hand (his left, your right), as most of his attacks sweep that direction and will miss.
When he jumps backward into the air and his sword glows red, he’s about to charge forward and spear you with his sword. Roll to the side or through the attack and counterattack where possible.
Keep an eye out for his 2 and 3-hit combos, as these offer good opportunities for a counterattack. Especially the 3-hit combo, as it finishes with a linger sword slam.
When he roars, be prepared to dodge or block, as he is about to unleash a 5-hit combo. Do not get caught in this else you will likely suffer a loss.
Slave Knight Gael: Phase 2
Phase 2 of the Slave Knight Gael fight will begin when roughly one-third of his health is gone. He will become empowered off of the dark souls he’s consumed and his abilities will become stronger.
Slave Knight Gael will also gain new abilities. This section of the Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City Slave Knight Gael fight is much faster than the first phase.
After the cutscene, you will start further away from Slave Knight Gael, take this opportunity to buff your weapon and wait for him to pounce.
He will be standing upright during this section, with his cloak infused with power. Whenever he attacks, his cloak will deal additional damage as it swooshes around him.
Slave Knight Gael will use a crossbow that shoots out 14 bolts. To dodge this move, run in a zigzag, roll back and forth, or sprint as fast as you can. A good idea is to try and get close to him while he’s firing to deal damage while he’s locked in the animation.
Another ranged attack Slave Knight Gael has is the Way of White Corona ability that sends out spinning discs of light that return to the caster. So watch out for when it casts it, as they can hit you on the way out and the way back to Slave Knight Gael.
Reposition behind him, so as to avoid the secondary hit. It’s possible to stagger Slave Knight Gael if you deal enough damage, though he has a fast recovery time, so don’t bank on it happening often.
Finally, Slave Knight Gael has a charged sword attack, where he crouches and lifts his sword up and releasing the energy into a double-spin attack where his sword swings around followed by his cloak. In Phase 2, keep your cool and learn the new abilities, because they’ll stick around for Phase 3.
Slave Knight Gael: Phase 3
Phase 3 of the Slave Knight Gael fight in Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City begins when Slave Knight Gael has only one-third of his health left.
You will know Phase 3 has begun when, after dealing damage to Slave Knight Gael, he moans and hunches over before blasting out an area-of-effect dark soul attack. This blast will release a writhing mass of homing dark soul entities that you will need to dodge.
Slave Knight Gael will typically follow this attack with a flying attack where he curves through the air and finishes with a sword swipe.
During Phase 3 of the Slave Knight Gael fight, lightning will begin striking the ground. You can predict where the lightning will land as the ground will become highlighted before it hits.
The lightning will deal damage to you as well as Slave Knight Gael, though the lightning will only deal 1-damage per bolt to the boss.
Slave Knight Gael will have a new jumping crossbow attack – your best bet is to roll toward and beneath him to avoid the main brunt of this assault.
Watch out when Slave Knight Gael disappears.
As he will reappear behind you priming an attack.
Another attack to be wary of is Slave Knight Gael’s invisibility move. He will disappear from the field and appear next to you pre-charging an attack.
The best strategy for this phase of the fight, as with all the previous ones, is to dodge to your right (his left and weapon-free hand), as he has difficulty connecting a hit on that side. All of his standard sword attacks moves are fairly easy to dodge, so long as you are in front of him and have the timing to dodge to the right.
The Slave Knight Gael fight, more than the others, is about slowly whittling away his health one-to-two hits at a time. Try to attack his sword-free side, as most of his attacks will miss from here and are easy to dodge. Get in extra blows whenever he is doing a charged attack, but just be ready to dive away to avoid damage.
It’s a difficult fight if you get hit, but dodging trivializes a lot of his attacks. Try to use Estus sparingly, and remember that when you’re not
Keep your cool and summon help if Slave Knight Gael continues to get the best of you.
