The Last Giant

The Last Giant is a boss in Dark Souls II

Description
Originally featured in the "Cursed" trailer, the Last Giant is believed to be the last surviving Giant. It has a giant pillar impaled through its torso, with many swords lodged in its back. The Last Giant also lacks a face: instead, there is a hole where its face should be; though this is moderately normal for the Giants of Drangleic.

Location
Located in the Forest of the Fallen Giants, at the bottom of a pressure plate-activated elevator after the second bonfire.

Summoning
It is possible to summon Mild-Mannered Pate for this battle. His sign is located right in front of the fog gate. If Pate should be summoned and survive the fight, he will gift the player with his armour set, spear, greatshield, and the Ring of Thorns when spoken to in Earthen Peak.

Strategy
The Last Giant has some slow and predictable attack patterns. For this reason, it is better to wield a weapon two-handed and resort to dodging instead of blocking. After losing half of its health, the Last Giant will remove its left arm and use it as a club, giving his swinging attacks more reach. The giant will become much more aggressive in the process and will display a different moveset. Also, the closer you are the more damage it will do.

In the first half of the fight, the giant will use three main attacks,  the first of which is a low sweep with its left arm. This attack is fairly easy to dodge and the wind up is noticeable. Roll between the giant's legs to get a few hits in before backing away. As the player is often right near a leg at this point, the follow up attack is usually a stomp with either foot. The third possible attack is a triple stomp, alternating feet while moving. Roll away to avoid getting crushed, and substantially stunned and damaged.

A semi-rare occurrence during the second part of the fight involves the giant falling forwards, instantly killing the player if he/she happens to be right below. If you are not caught in this, then it serves as a fantastic opportunity to attack. This is sometimes the Giant's first move in the fight, and the Giant can catch itself with both hands, or can land flat on its face, where it will remain motionless for more than a few seconds.

A very simple and effective method is to use the Halberd found earlier in the level and repeatedly use the two-handed R2 spinning attack between the Giant's legs. You will deal massive damage and the only real danger is the Giant's occasional stomps, which are clearly telegraphed and easily dodged.

Another relatively simple strategy is to simply get behind the Giant, and alternate between attacking a leg and moving backwards to avoid the stomp attack. By staying behind him and close to one of his legs, you'll force him to constantly repeat the same animation until he leaps backward to re-engage. By moving slightly backwards and towards his center (and wearing light enough armor), you'll move fast enough to completely dodge his stomp without rolling, leaving you a larger window and more stamina to attack him with. If you get too close to both of the legs at once (i.e. directly under him), or stay behind him for too long, he'll either jump backwards or do a 1-2-1 alternating stomp with both feet (always starts with the right foot), which interrupts your attack window. Avoid attacking him from the front and, if he manages to get away, wait until he starts running towards you to get behind him again to ensure that you have plenty of time to roll under his sweeping attack.

Attacks
Stomp: Stomps his feet once. Uses this move when a player is near him, can be with either foot.

Triple Stomp Combo: Stomps his feet 3 times in a row, going from different foot each time until 3 stomps are performed.

Slam: Uses one of his hands and slams it onto the ground. Also the same move is performed with his arm.

Swipe: Swipes his arm/hand across the ground.

Ripping the arm: When knocked down to 50% HP, the giant will rip its left arm off and use it as a weapon.

Fall: The Giant uses its entire body to hit the player by falling to the ground.

Trivia

 * The head of The Last Giant can be targeted and seems to be a weak point, as all attacks that land in this area inflict far more damage. This is more easily noticed with ranged attacks, which allow the player to target and hit the head more effectively.


 * He is called the Last Giant, however there are two other giants living in Black Gulch in a hidden room.
 * It is possible to make the second phase of the battle easier by cutting the Giant's arm off. To do so, one must damage him in his arm for 50% of his health.