The Last Giant

The Last Giant is a boss in Dark Souls II.

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

Description
Originally featured in the "Cursed" trailer, the Last Giant is a creature with a rather disturbing appearance. Its skin appears to be made of a mud-like substance and 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 head should connect to its neck. This characteristic is similar to the Gaping Dragon and Titanite Demons from Dark Souls.

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. This also occurs if Pate isn't summoned at all, or is summoned directly after the fight and the player leaves him by taking the elevator.

Strategy
Combat-wise, The Last Giant has some slow and predictable attack patterns. For this reason, wielding a weapon two-handed and dodging instead of blocking is recommended. However, after losing half of its health, the Last Giant will remove its left arm to use it as a club. The giant will become much more violent and aggressive in the process and it 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 around ten 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 whittle away at 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, 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.

Drops

 * Soldier Key
 * Soul of the Last Giant