The Champion's Gravetender (orig.: 王者の墓守 hepburn: Oja no Hakamori, lit. Champion’s Gravetender) and Gravetender Greatwolf (orig.: 墓守の大狼, hepburn: Hakamori no Tairo, lit. Gravetender’s Greatwolf) are a pair of optional bosses in Dark Souls III: Ashes of Ariandel.
Location[]
From the Depths of the Painting bonfire, the boss can be reached by turning right and dropping down into the flower field opposite from the side of the frozen lake with Frost Crabs, beneath Crossbreed Priscilla's old battle arena.
Description[]
The Greatwolf is simply an enlarged Wolf that possesses great speed and strength, with numerous scars that suggest a life of hardship. The Gravetender is a male warrior wielding his master's sword and shield, wearing a Dark Mask, Chain Armor, Leather Gloves and Loincloth.
Lore[]
Long ago, an Undead declared a tournament in which their fellow cursed souls would battle to the repeated death, with their worth being measured in deaths. This was seen as a gift to the Undead, who go hollow without a purpose, and a fight with no end was considered by some to be a glorious use of their immortality.[1]
The Champion of the Undead Match eventually went mad, and at some point died. As they had stayed with him in life, the young fighter training under the champion and a large wolf stayed to protect the sanctity of his grave and were eventually drawn into the Painted World of Ariandel, where they utilized frost sorceries to continue their task.[2]
Strategy[]
It is advised to kill the three wolves that accompany the Gravetender at the beginning of the fight as to ensure they do not become problematic when facing the Gravetender himself. The Gravetender will fight very aggressively, using his sword and shield's unique combination attacks to strike while blocking, turning each attempt to attack him into a trade that minimizes damage to himself. For this reason, it is not suggested to use small arms such as straight swords to fight him, but rather to use ultra weapons such as an ultra greatsword to inflict heavy stagger on him and to break his guard to open him up to ripostes.
At about 50% health, the Gravetender will stop attacking the player and will perform By my sword, summoning the Gravetender's Greatwolf; if the player is still within melee range of the Gravetender, he may cancel out of it but still summon the Greatwolf. The Gravetender will then bring out a staff and use Great Soul Arrow and Snap Freeze to support the Greatwolf from a distance, switching back to his sword and shield should the player get too close.
The Greatwolf fights very aggressively and will perform a charging attack very similar to that of Vordt of the Boreal Valley, albeit much faster. It's not advised to block these attacks with anything less than a greatshield, as they can devastate the player's stamina, leading to a guard break and an almost guaranteed hit from the Greatwolf. Once the Greatwolf is at 50% health, it will perform a howl and its eyes will glow red. At this point the Greatwolf gains a Frost breath attack and becomes even faster and more aggressive.
The ideal strategy during the second phase is to try to finish off the Gravetender as quickly as possible, to remove the Greatwolf's support and ensure that there is only one enemy to focus on. A good tactic to minimize exposure to the Greatwolf's attacks is to lure it around the pillars of Priscilla's arena; this works particularly well against its charging attacks as the pillars provide cover against them as well as deflects the Greatwolf away from the player. This can allow the player to avoid the Greatwolf's attacks, and buy time to maneuver around to engage the Gravetender alone.
Equipment[]
| Right Hand | Left Hand |
 Valorheart +5 |
 Sorcerer's Staff +10 |
| Head | Chest | Hands | Legs |
 Dark Mask |
 Chain Armor |
 Leather Gloves |
 Loincloth |
Drops[]
| Item |  Champion's Bones |
Valorheart |
| Drop Rate | Guaranteed | Guaranteed |
Notes[]
- The player may meet the Greatwolf twice before fighting it as a boss, as it, along with regular wolves, guards the entrance and exit to the ruins of the tower with Millwood Knights. During these encounters it uses the same moveset as during the boss battle. For each victory the player will receive three Large Titanite Shards.
- If the player defeats the Greatwolf in these two encounters, its health during the boss battle will be lowered by around 10-15%. The effect will not reset if the player dies in their first attempt of the boss battle.
- There is also a small chance the wolf will fall over the cliff; this is extremely unlikely but can happen.
- Both enemies are weak against Lightning and Bleed. The Greatwolf is additionally weak against Fire.
- The Greatwolf has nearly identical attacks as Vordt of the Boreal Valley. As such, tactics that work against Vordt also work very well against the Greatwolf.
- Translation of these boss' names may cause some confusion: Greatwolf is just a pet of the Gravetender, not the Gravetender himself.
- The word 大狼, which means a "Great Wolf", was also used in the first game in the Sif's name
- It is possible to cheese the fight against the boss: from the Depths of the Painting bonfire, approach the ledge around the arena, but do not hop down. Instead, equip the Black Bow of Pharis and the Hawk Ring, plus Feather Arrows. The bow paired with the ring and standard arrows doesn't work for the cheese, as they don't go far enough. Zoom in and there will be a wolf visible to the right, next to a column. Shoot at it to aggro it and the fog wall will appear. Step back at this point and cast poison Mist or Toxic Mist around the area where you just stood. Three wolves at the base of the short cliff will get poisoned and their diminishing health bars will appear visible behind the wall. The Gravetender will walk up after a short time (his footprints will be visible through the fog) and cast Poison/Toxic Mist again, until his health bar begins to shrink. Note that he can shoot sorceries through the fog and they can hit you. Once he is dead, in order to spawn the Greatwolf, you have to make your way all the way up to the chapel (warping via a bonfire resets the fight) and down into the basement with the flies until the howl of the Greatwolf is heard, then run all the way back to the fog wall of the boss fight, and repeat the cheese on the wolf as with the champion. However, since the trip is long and arduous and the flies are particularly dangerous, you can just enter the fog after the man dies (the prompt appears when close to it) and deal with the wolf in normal combat. The wolf will appear near the building, as soon as the fog wall is entered.
Music[]
References[]
- ↑ Champion's Bones description.
- ↑ Valorheart description.