Dragonrider

The Dragonrider is a halberd-wielding boss in Dark Souls II.

Location
The Dragonrider can be found in Heide’s Tower of Flame. Two are fought later in Drangleic Castle.

Description
The Dragonrider is clad in heavy red armour, matching his crimson-tinged skintone, giving him an almost demonic appearance.

Lore
A Dragonrider who used to serve in King Vendrick's royal guard long ago. These Riders mounted Wyverns and caused chaos on the battlefield due to their unparalleled strength. The rank of Dragonrider was reserved for honorable warriors who helped found Drangleic. Together with the King, they crushed its former inhabitants and erected a magnificent kingdom upon their graves.

Those wishing to join the ranks of the Dragonriders were forced to undergo intense and dangerous training. Only those who passed the training were allowed in the order, those who failed would be ripped apart by the very mounts they tried to command.

Strategy
The Dragonrider possesses a highly predictable attack pattern, consisting of mostly mid-ranged attacks, and the biggest threat is being knocked off the edge of the circular arena, a threat almost eliminated if the guarded lever earlier on is pulled. If he misses an attack on the player, he will take quite a while to recover his composure. Blocking may prove useful, though a dextrous warrior with good timing can dodge roll away from his slow attacks. Circle strafing is also highly effective.

Masterless Glencour can also be summoned from a sign just to the right of the fog gate and is a powerful tank knight wielding a greatsword and a shield, and is even capable of parrying the Dragonrider.

Easy Strategy:

After the third knight (the third knight being the one who guards the lever for the extra ring to fight on), there is the open stone walk way. About half way across, you can see the boss in his tower. From the edge of the path, you can shoot arrows at him. After about 100 wooden arrows, he will put his shield up, preventing you fom hitting him with more. Once you enter the mist, his health will be almost completely depleted, allowing for a one hit kill on the boss.

Even Easier:

Just stay away from him and use firebombs. Should take about 10-15.

Even Easier than that:

Do NOT pull any of the levers (which add extra rings of space for the boss arena) prior to engaging this fight. Upon entering, wait for the boss to commence movement towards you. Count out six steps (for the boss), then proceed to run a quick circle counter-clockwise around him, ensuring not to fall off as you do so. Return right back to the small walkway that you entered the room in and wait. The boss' AI should work as such that he stabs forward and comes dangerously close the edge of the ring (as you run around him), and with the player being back at the walkway after he finishes his animation, he turns the incorrect way to face you, and winds up falling right off the platform, dying instantly.

Attacks
Throughout the boss fight, as his health gets lower, his attack combos begin to get longer and longer. There are three different phases (start, middle, and near-end of fight) to his attack patterns based on his health, and the new attacks simply combo after his normal ones. Most of the new attacks are simply extra horizontal swings, with a few exceptions. Like most enemies, he only continues the combo if the player is still in range of the attacks.

1. Lines his Halberd up and does a straight thrust.

-Phase two: adds a horizontal, sweeping slash.

2. Raises his Halberd up behind him and does two sweeping strikes.

-Phase two is the same, since he already does two strikes with this attack

-Phase three finishes with a downward smash.

3. Raises his Halberd above him and does a downward slash in a straight line.

-Phase two: adds an upward, diagonal slash to the combo

4. Raises his Halberd up similar to the first attack, but instead does a single, twirling swipe very similar to his second attack, with a wider range to his left.

-Phase two: adds another horizontal slash, making it very similar to his second attack set.

5. Performes a shield bash move to break your guard. this has a short range compared to his other moves. This is a good time to attack as the recovery is quite long. try to stay close with your shield up to provoke him into bashing.

In addition to his offensive attacks, the Dragonrider has two main defensive moves. One is to dash away from the player; the other is to simply raise his shield for a short period of time, like a normal enemy. He often combos this after a dash.

Defenses
If you beated this boss leave this game and go pray your life cause you're cursed.

Drops
The Dragonrider also drops 12,000 souls upon defeat