Velstadt, the Royal Aegis

Velstadt, The Royal Aegis is a boss in Dark Souls II.

General Information
Velstadt can be found in the Undead Crypt. Take note that in order to get to him the player must pass through a long corridor with indestructible tombstones that spawn spirits. However, if you drop down from the first staircase and go under the stairway, there is a hollow there, kill him. He won't ring the bell, and the shades will not spawn.

He is a large knight wielding a massive hammer, guarding the door to Vendrick. He is similar to Garl Vinland from Demon's Souls, in that he has similar armor, a similar weapon and task.

Strategy
His attacks are mostly made up of hammer strikes and occasionally some spells that are either offensive or improve his attack power. Dodging well can prove effective in this battle, as his hammer causes pretty high stamina damage and almost all of his attacks are in combos of 2-3 strikes. Be careful when behind him since he does a 180 degree turn and swings his hammer.

When he has lost about a third of his health he will enter in a kneel position and will cast a self-buff for around 7 seconds. This is a good opportunity to wail on him, buff a weapon, or heal because he will not be able to interrupt the player. The buff will cause him to receive less damage and cause more damage. Once buffed, he also gains a Dark magic attack which fires several orbs in a wide angle, any of the orbs that come near the player will home in on them, however, they can be rolled through. If one of the orbs hits the player, it will likely be fatal. Ranged builds can take advantage of this, firing before and after his spells, then dodging once he casts them.

If you speak wth, and exhaust the dialogue of, Gravewarden Agdayne, his summon sign will appear next to the second to the last tombstone on the left in the long hall just before the fight. He does pretty good damage, and has a couple of spells that will cause decent damage as well. However, once Velstadt is buffed, he is likely to kill Agdayne shortly after.

Using fire damage is very effective for this boss.