The Afflicted Graverobber (Japanese: 冒された盗掘者, Hepburn: Okasa Reta Tōkutsu-sha), Ancient Soldier Varg (古い戦士ウォーグ, Furui Senshi U~ōgu), and Cerah the Old Explorer (古い探索者セラ, Furui Tansaku-sha Sera) are a trio of bosses in Dark Souls II: Crown of the Sunken King.
Found at the end of the Cave of the Dead, a location past the Priestess' Chamber bonfire in Shulva, they are all fought at once and each have their own individual health bar.
Description[]
A group of three NPCs composed of a tanky warrior with high defense and damage output, a more dextrous powerstancing enemy that can easily prock bleed during the encounter, and an archer that prefers to stay at the back and harrass with his great arrows, but who can also switch to a melee weapon when forced into one-on-one combat.
The unnamed "Afflicted Graverobber" dons the Alva Set and wields one Berserker Blade in each hand.
Ancient Solder Varg uses equipment associated with Havel the Rock: Havel's Set, the Dragon Tooth, and Havel's Greatshield.
Cerah the Old Explorer dons a mixture of sets, namely the Lucatiel's Mask headwear part of Lucatiel's Set, the Black Leather chest armor part of the Black Leather Set, and the Leather Gloves and Leather Boots part of the Hunter's Set. His main weapon is a Dragonslayer Greatbow, although he will switch to an Estoc thrusting sword if the player gets close; he only ever wields one of these two weapons, using both hands.
Lore[]
There is no actual lore associated to the characters, although given one's title as "Graverobber", they may have come to Shulva in search of its many treasures. Whether they are still sentient, or have turned Hollow, is unclear. The Graverobber is female, while the other two are male.
Ancient Soldier Varg dons Havel the Rock's equipment: as his name implies he is very old, he might have been an actual member of Havel's knighthood. Meanwhile, Cerah dons Lucatiel's Mask; it is likely not Lucatiel's actual headwear, and rather one belonging to another knight of Mirrah.
Location[]
They are found at the end of the Cave of the Dead.
Summoning[]
Rapacious Andrei and Ruined Aflis are available for summoning as soon as the player enters the Cave of the Dead.
Strategies[]
Cerah the Old Explorer will shoot the player constantly if left alive while dealing with the other two, so it is helpful to either take him out first or move toward him in order to make him draw his Estoc. If left alone to shoot at the player, Cerah has incredibly high damage potential, as he is likely to stagger the player on top of doing high damage, indirectly increasing the damage output of both Varg or the Graverobber. Cerah is the most agile of the three, being able to consistently dodge many attacks, including backstabs. Attacking Cerah will cause his other two team members to charge at the attacker.
The Afflicted Graverobber is a very powerful enemy, causing heavy bleed buildup and being able to catch the player in a stunlock. The damage potential she possesses is phenomenal. The Graverobber will work alongside Varg in a melee situation, stunning the player, then having Varg follow it up with a smash. This is best avoided by trying to separate them and taking them on one at a time.
Ancient Soldier Varg is by far the hardest to topple of the three enemies. Should he reach lower than half of his health, he will begin healing with an Estus Flask. He spends most of his time blocking with his greatshield, though, meaning there will be multiple opportunities to guard break him. He will attempt to work as a tank for his comrades, constantly trying to get in the way to take as much damage for them as he can.
All three are capable of backstabbing the player. This means caution should be taken while healing. They move slower than the player while in the water, which can be used as an advantage to get away from them, although this can become a disadvantage if Cerah's line-of-sight is not broken.
They are very susceptible to being "pancaked" by 2-handed great hammers, the only exception being Varg while he's attacking. With good positioning, you can even pancake Varg and the Graverobber together, and keep squashing them as they get up, as long as Cerah doesn't have line of sight to shoot you. This is probably the fastest way to end the fight.
Toxic and poison work well on all three of them, allowing high damage to be dealt at relatively low risk.
When pursuing the player in melee, the bosses are willing to chase them over the arena's ledges into the water. They tend to hesitate at the edge before jumping, and when landing will pause for a moment even after they're no longer locked into the landing animation. Thus, goading the bosses into chasing you over these edges is a reliable way to get a safe, if small opening to hit them after they land, to get a slight lead over Varg and the Graverobber in their pursuit of you with which to get a hit in on Cerah, or to hit them with ranged attacks when they linger at the top of the ledge. Be careful not to stand directly below any of the bosses when doing this, as they can perform plunging attacks on you.
The AI pathing also seems to have a slight preference for taking the ramps down instead of jumping off the ledges, so if you jump off while the bosses aren't particularly close or, after dropping, wander too far from the edge closest to the bosses or too close to the ramp, they may opt to take the ramp instead. This pathing preference is not terribly strong, you do not need to wait until the last second to jump off or hug the wall after jumping, just don't drop when your pursuers are halfway across the room or start running for the ramp before they've followed you over the edge.
Character Information[]
Health and souls[]
| Enemy | Health | Souls | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NG | NG+ | NG | NG+ | |
| Afflicted Graverobber | 3,350 | 4,260 | - | - |
| Ancient Soldier Varg | 3,310 | 3,972 | Collectively 60,000 | Collectively 90,000 |
| Cerah the Old Explorer | 2,540 | 3,048 | - | - |
Defenses[]
| Physical Defenses | |||
|
|
|
|
| ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Elemental Defenses | |||
|
|
|
|
| ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Resistances | |||
|
|
Can be Backstabbed | Can be Parried |
| ??? | ??? | Yes | Yes |
| Physical Defenses | |||
|
|
|
|
|
| ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Elemental Defenses | |||
|
|
|
|
|
| ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Resistances | |||
|
|
|
Can be Backstabbed | Can be Parried |
| ??? | ??? | Yes | Yes |
| Physical Defenses | |||
|
|
|
|
|
| ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Elemental Defenses | |||
|
|
|
|
|
| ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Resistances | |||
|
|
|
Can be Backstabbed | Can be Parried |
| ??? | ??? | Yes | Yes |
Equipment[]
| Right Hand | Left Hand |
 Berserker Blade |
Berserker Blade |
| Head | Chest | Hands | Legs |
 Alva Helm |
 Alva Armor |
 Alva Gauntlets |
 Alva Leggings |
| Right Hand | Left Hand |
 Dragon Tooth |
 Havel's Greatshield |
| Head | Chest | Hands | Legs |
 Havel's Helm |
 Havel's Armor |
 Havel's Gauntlets |
 Havel's Leggings |
| Right Hand | Left Hand | |
 Dragonslayer Greatbow |
 Estoc |
– |
| Head | Chest | Hands | Legs |
 Lucatiel's Mask |
 Black Leather Armor |
 Leather Gloves |
 Leather Boots |
Drops[]
| Item |  Twinkling Titanite ×3 |
 Petrified Dragon Bone ×3 |
 Titanite Slab |
| Drop Rate | Guaranteed | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
Notes[]
- It doesn't matter in which order the three are killed, the drops at the end of the fight will be the same.
- As a phantom, it is possible to get a Puzzling Stone Sword, Lightning Clutch Ring, Promised Walk of Peace, Dried Root, or a Sanctum Mace as a reward for completing this fight in another world, allowing players who do not own the DLC to use these items too.
- Varg has 7 Estus Flasks total. Coupled with his incredible defense, it makes him the most durable foe of the encounter.
- None of them will slow down when in the water at the bottom of the arena, unlike the player character.
- Even at lower levels of NG+, this boss fight becomes one of the most challenging ones in the game, as the three enemies can all kill the player in only a few hits. In addition to that, the player cannot attack the same enemy for more than a few hits without them rolling away, especially when they have no means of stunlocking them or dealing consistent damage through ripostes or backstabs, making this fight incredibly tough. All of this makes summoning other players or NPC phantoms a very good idea.
Trivia[]
- All three enemies are actually Hollow underneath their armor.
- The Afflicted Graverobber is female, and uses the hollowed female voice when hit or staggered.
- It's possible that Varg was one of Havel's Warriors, owed to his ownership of their equipment as well as his title of "Ancient Soldier", implying he belongs to an older era than that of Drangleic.