Like all the gimmick bosses in Dark Souls 3, High Lord Wolnir can be defeated without too much trouble if one knows what to expect, however, for newcomers to the game (or careless veterans), this immensely huge skeleton can pose some unique challenges found nowhere else in the game.
Despite there being a great many ways to destroy his bracelets and cast him into The Abyss, Wolnir has some tricks up his bony sleeves that can spell the end for unwary players. To help avoid such pitfalls, here's a quick rundown of all of his attacks, and other hazards, and how to avoid them:
- Dark Vapor Cloud Breath: Wolnir tilts his head back in a slow and obvious manner, though this will be hard to see if the Ashen One is focusing on his bracelets. Simply run away (uphill, for heading downhill is death) and get clear of the dank vapors before he leans over and spews them forth.
- Skeleton Minions: These are weak enemies identical to the more flimsy skeletons found in the Catacombs of Carthus. Don't waste time on them, as Wolnir's attacks greatly damage his feeble minions and will kill them quickly enough.
- Wolnir's Holy Sword: The boss can summon this huge sword at any point in the fight. Wolnir uses this to slash and stab at the player, which will do a fair bit of damage, however, the wind-ups for each swing are very obvious and will be hard to miss. Dodge-rolling, as usual, will be more than enough to evade these swipes. The only thing to truly worry about is the AOE attack that he uses to dismiss his blade. When one sees him plunge it into the ground in front of him, run away, for the blast that erupts will do a lot of damage.
- Crawling Charge:Â If the Ashen One gets too far away from him, Wolnir will claw his way uphill aggressively to chase his foe down. Getting trampled by this can lead to the boss area's hazards killing the player, so be sure to avoid this assault by staying towards the sides of the boss room.
- Hand Slams & Swipes: These are Wolnir's most common attacks, though also the weakest. They are more annoying than deadly as they don't do very much damage. Blocking these can be tough, as Wolnir's arms are so big that they can hit the player from multiple angles that are hard to guard against with a shield, so try to dodge-roll around them.
- The Abyss: While not an attack, or even caused by the skeleton lord, The Abyss takes up much of the area behind Wolnir's torso and will instantly kill the player if they stumble into its dark realms. Just don't go behind Wolnir and this hazard won't be an issue.
- Static Dark Cloud: This is not an attack either, however, it is the same exact dark vapors that Wolnir vomits forth in his breath attack. Stay away from his ribcage, as there is a constant haze there that will deal continuous damage very quickly.
Melee Strategy
High Lord Wolnir's bracelets can take a bit of a beating, so players intending to destroy them from up close should bring a sufficient strong weapon. No quick and stealthy daggers or wickedly wily whips will help here; this is a job for a melee weapon with high single-hit damage.
It is recommended to break the lone bracelet on the high lord's right arm (the player's left) as this is Wolnir's dominant arm; the one that moves around the most. Taking it out in the first part of the fight will make things quicker and easier.
Bring to this fight any melee weapon that focuses on doing a lot of damage in very few hits so that the bracelets can be broken quickly, as destroying them is based on total damage dealt, not how many hits are launched. While smashing the shiny trinkets, one should not lock on to them as to more easily keep an eye on the Wolnir's head and see a potential deadly breath attack coming.
Spellcaster Strategy
Trying to keep one's distance from Wolnir will be tricky, as he will crawl after the player, plus his most common attacks, the hand swipes and slams, have a lot of range. For this reason, spellcasters should use sorceries, miracles, or pyromancies that are more effective up close to break the bracelets. Avoid spells that apply bleed, poison, or frost build-up as Wolnir is resistant or immune to all of these. He also is incredibly resilient against dark damage, so don't bother with such spells either.
A couple of great spells to use against the skeleton high lord are the Soul Greatsword sorcery, for its highly-damaging wide horizontal slashes can hit both bracelets on his left arm (the player's right) at once, and the Lightning Stake miracle, due to its huge yet short burst of lightning damage.
Cheese Strategy
Not only does this next tactic make the entire boss fight trivial, but it also is immensely satisfying to give High Lord Wolnir a taste of his own dank medicine. The Pestilent Mist sorcery envelopes targets in a cloud of haze that damages all within it (including the caster) by continuous amounts based on a percentage of their health. That is to say that it deals more damage to those that have greater max HP, thereby making it incredibly efficient at killing tougher enemies and bosses who don't move around too much to evade the cloud.
Large targets like Wolnir are especially susceptible since there is no way for their big hitbox to flee from the deadly fog. Most importantly, Pestilent Mist does not trigger a foe's attack response, meaning that at the beginning of the fight, when Wolnir is sleeping, players can cast this directly in his gaping, skinless mouth and he won't do anything. He'll just continue to remain inactive as his huge health bar drains and will die before even waking up, making this less of a boss fight and more of an exorcism.
It should also be mentioned that if Wolnir is defeated before all of his bracelets are broken, he will have a different death animation. Usually, he is dragged down into The Abyss, however, when killed in an alternative way to shattering his shiny trinkets, he will instead tilt his huge head up towards the heavens and then dissipate into smoke, fading from the world peacefully instead of succumbing to the darkness that he feared so greatly.