Moonlight Butterfly

The  is an enemy in Dark Souls encountered as a boss in Darkroot Garden and as a regular enemy in the Crystal Cave.

It is, of course, a very large butterfly, yet it manages to be one of the most mysterious creatures in Dark Souls in terms of appearance. Moonlight Butterflies are another one of Seath's creations and are capable of only firing various magic attacks.

The Butterfly in the Darkroot Forest is a boss and attacks as soon as its room is entered, but those found in the Crystal Cave are passive and will not attack the player unless provoked.

Darkroot Garden

 * It is possible to summon Witch Beatrice in the destructible shrubs underneath the stairs, just before the boss. Her magic attacks, which have accuracy issues, significantly boost damage output to the boss.


 * The Moonlight Butterfly spends most of the fight outside of melee range, firing magic-damage attacks. Without a bow or magic, the player is left to block and dodge until it rests within melee range. After a few seconds, it will glow and emit noise before releasing a large area-of-effect attack. Move out of range before the attack goes off to avoid significant damage.


 * The Moonlight Butterfly's magic bolts can be dodged by walking out of the way of the eight lasers it shoots. These lasers shoot out relatively quickly so dodging them requires precise timing. They deal magic damage and therefore will be rendered less effective against shields and armor of high magic resist.


 * The Moonlight Butterfly also attacks with slow homing missiles which deal significant damage if they all hit as it shoots more than one at a time. The missiles can be dodged if the player rolls at the last moment before contact, as they will attempt to follow and subsequently hit the narrow bridge.

Crystal Cave Enemy

 * The Butterfies in the Crystal Cave are not aggressive, so the best strategy is to leave them be. If attacked or approached too close to, they will never land to rest, therefore some form of ranged attack is absolutely necessary.


 * The laser attack deals significant knockback, and the platforms in Crystal Cave are very small; care must be taken to dodge precisely.

Attacks
* Damage listed is per orb.

Trivia

 * The Moonlight Butterfly's battle theme is the same of Dark Sun Gwyndolin's battle.