Deacons of the Deep

The Deacons of the Deep are a collective boss in Dark Souls III.

Location
Cathedral of the Deep

Lore
Led by Archdeacon Royce, one of Aldrich's most devoted followers, the Deacons guard their lord's empty coffin from intruders after Pontiff Sulyvahn left for Anor Londo.

Description
The Deacons of the Deep mainly rely on pyromancies and close ranged melee attacks. Halfway through the battle, the room around the Deacons will become cursed; if the player steps out of the safe zone, they will die instantly.

When the archdeacon appears, he will spawn with two black robed deacons, who at certain points will use Great Heal to slowly regenerate the archdeacon's health.

Strategy
Once you enter the boss room, you will notice one of the deacons is surrounded by a red mist, focus on him until he dies. The mist will then go to another deacon. Every red deacon you kill deals 426 damage to the boss's health bar. At half health, the archdeacon will arise from the ground, along with two unique blue-robed casters which will protect him with their bodies. Focus all attacks on the archdeacon throughout the rest of the battle.

Occasionally, the deacons will raise their staffs and so will the archdeacon, charging up a big Dark elemental energy ball which will be sent away, homing towards your current position. If you do get hit by it, you will get a slither of Curse damage. The second thing they charge up is a curse fog. Killing one of the casters will stop the channeling and the curse fog will fade. If you have good armor, decent health and deal decent damage, then the boss battle should be over in a relative small amount of time.

Melee weapons are probably the best option if you want to beat this boss without too much trouble. A halberd or any weapon that performs wide swings will do great damage toward them, even knocking them down if you break their poise.

Magic is not recommended, simply because there are not many area-of-effect spells. Chaos Storm or piercing spells like Soul Spear are effective, though. The pyromancy Boulder Heave is very effective as it deals both physical and area-of-effect damage.

Drops

 * Soul of the Deacons of the Deep
 * Small Doll