The Duke's Dear Freja

The Duke's Dear Freja is a boss in Dark Souls II.

Description
A gigantic two-headed spider, fought in Brightstone Cove Tseldora. She guards one of the Primal Bonfires. Unusually, despite being one of the four main bosses of the first half, she does not wield a Great Soul, only guards it. Thus it can be said that the true "boss" is not just her, but the entire Writhing Ruin that contains all her spider hatchlings.

Locations
Normally fought at the end of Brightstone Cove, from NG+ onwards she can be encountered and fought early at the cliff just outside the cave leading into the church where the player fights the Prowling Magus. It is possible, although extremely difficult, to defeat her here, due to her quickly leaving the area should she not be dispatched in time. Any damage done here will carry across to the actual battle.

Strategy
Her weak spots are her two heads on either end of her body. Hitting any other portion will simply cause the player's weapon to bounce off. Caution must be taken when approaching these spots, however, as most of her attacks occur at her head areas. The heads are also quite hard to hit with a melee weapon, but, fortunately, the lock-on system automatically targets them.

The attacks of the boss are powerful and hard to block, but they aren't too difficult to dodge, however.

Slower characters can stay in the area right under either leg that is beside Freja's head(s) and move in while she recovers from her attacks. It will be easy to bait her into doing her close-range attacks from here and with a long enough recovery time to get in one ultra greatsword swing and to roll away. In this area, players are safe from most of her attacks except for her jumping attack and her acid attack (her front legs slam down close to her body so the player should move further to her side).

Many smaller spider minions also continually attack the player during the fight. They are easy to kill but, if left unattended, can do massive damage from behind so killing them first is a good idea. Once all the spiders have been eliminated, there will be a short delay before another wave spawns. Use this opportunity to attack the Freja.

It is possible to sever a head during combat if it takes enough damage. During this time, Freja will be staggered for a second or two, then slam all of her legs into the ground repeatedly. It is advisable to move out of her range when this occurs.

Summoning
A phantom, Ashen Knight Boyd, can be summoned for this fight. His summon sign is located next to a column beneath a spider web on the opposite wall of the fog door. He makes the fight much easier, as he will easily defeat the first wave of smaller spiders and keep the boss busy for a good portion of the fight. He also has very high defense for not having a shield and will thus last a long time during the boss fight.

Attacks
Leg Spear Smash: Freja slams her large two front legs on the ground. Powerful, but small hitbox. Simply dodge or run away from her face.

Jaws of Death: Freja rears her large pincers horizontally and lunges forward scissoring them. Run to her side to avoid.

Spider Slam: Freja jumps into the air, and falls down in an attempt to land on the player. Can sometimes be difficult to avoid due to her large body.

Black Widow Bomb: Freja rears up high into the air and thrusts quickly forward with her body. Run to her side to dodge her attack, but stay away from her head.

Web Spit: Freja spits out balls of web that immobilise the player. When hit, the player will lose a massive amount of maneuverability.

Manic Tantrum: Freja spits out multiple splatters of acid, which depletes armour durability and does minor damage from both of her heads, while constantly slamming all her legs on the ground for a time. Getting away from her completely is advised.

Ether Stream: Freja fires a deadly beam of magic horizontally from left to right. It deals extremely high damage as well as being unblockable. It is possible to roll under/through the beam with the use of invincibility frames. The most effective tactic is to recognize the set up, then run to the opposite head to negate and deal damage.