Hellkite Drake

Location

Drops

Health
NG	NG+
2,208 240 (tail)	5,520^[1] 600 (tail)

Souls
NG	NG+
10,000	50,000

The Hellkite Drake, also known as the Red Drake or Bridge Wyvern, is a miniboss in Dark Souls.

Location[]

The Hellkite Drake attacks the player on the bridge leading to the Undead Parish, although it makes a brief appearance when the player first enters the Undead Burg. It guards the bridge until it is killed. If the player avoids it and runs to the Sunlight Altar bonfire behind it, the drake will fly off, returning when the player attempts to cross the bridge again.

Lore[]

The Hellkite Drake is not a true Dragon, but a Drake. Drakes are seen as underdeveloped imitators of the dragons, but are more likely their distant kin. ^[2]

Strategy[]

In general, the Hellkite Drake is not meant to be fought directly when encountered on the bridge, as it is far stronger than the player. Rather, the best course of action is to avoid engaging it until returning much later with better stats and upgraded weapons.

In order to progress into the Undead Parish, the player has two options:

There is a route underneath the bridge, close to the shortcut to the Undead Burg bonfire. It is guarded by two Hollow Soldiers and several Undead Rats. This route has no rest points until one reaches the bonfire close to Andre of Astora, so it is more punishing should the player die en route to their objective.
Should the wyvern be distracted, it is possible to sprint straight across the bridge and reach the bonfire that is directly below its perch. This approach is far riskier as the player is likely to die instantly if the wyvern lands a single attack. However, reaching the bonfire will cause it to temporarily retreat, and grant the player direct access to the Undead Parish by raising the locked gate via the nearby lever.

Upon initial encounter, it is worth attempting to attack the Hellkite Drake's tail, as cutting off its tail will grant the player the Drake Sword, which is a weapon without any kind of scaling. The most reliable way to do this is to equip a bow and shoot at its tail with arrows. Dealing enough damage to the tail will cause it to fall off and grant the player the sword.

Should the player return to this area later in the game, there are a few ways to permanently dispatch the Hellkite Drake:

Builds with high Strength and Dexterity can use a Dragonslayer Greatbow (or Gough's Greatbow) with an equipped Hawk Ring to dispatch it from a distance.
Lightning Spear, earned through participation in the Warrior of Sunlight covenant, can inflict very strong damage against the drake.
If at the end of the bridge near Solaire of Astora, one can provoke the drake to fly in by walking a few meters on the bridge then sprinting back to safety. While the drake is on the bridge, if the player travels far enough towards Solaire, the drake will lose interest, turn around, and return to its perch. It is possible to walk back and forth causing the drake to alternate between turning to face the player and turning away. As it paces back and forth, the drake is unable to heal or attack. By doing this, the player can then slowly kill it with arrows while it turns uselessly. This threshold is particularly easy to work with headshots from the Black Bow of Pharis with the Hawk Ring equipped.

The Drake regenerates health after it has about 33% HP left, should it still be on its perch; this makes approaches that only use bows and arrows ineffective. In order to kill the Drake, the player must lure it onto the bridge and then engage it with melee attacks. By standing on the bridge and using the nearby walls as cover from its flame breath attacks, it can be goaded into leaving its perch and landing on the bridge. ^{[note 1]}

Notes[]

It is possible to prevent the Drake appearing at all if the player has the Master Key. Taking the shortcut next to the elevator in New Londo Ruins leads to the Valley of Drakes, then going past the Undead Dragon and a pair of Blue Drakes leads to an elevator to Darkroot Garden by a bonfire by a Halberd Black Knight that guards the Grass Crest Shield, at which point the player can choose to go up Havel's watchtower to go to Undead Burg or continue going up Darkroot Garden and go past the Undead Parish Titanite Demon by Andre of Astora to be in the Parish proper. By doing this, the player bypasses the event trigger at the beginning of the Undead Burg just past the first fog door where the Drake shortly perches. This event can still be triggered at any point.
It is possible to kill the Hellkite Drake before the player has reached the Undead Parish safely with a bow, however you will need to use a three shot cycle while standing on the edge of the walkway under the bridge. Standing on the opposite side you would use to acquire the Drake Sword.

Enemy information[]

Attacks[]

Crossing the Burg[]

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
-	-	650	-	Fire	No	AoE	Fast

As the Hellkite Drake flies towards its perch above the Undead Parish entrance, it breathes fire upon the bridge. This can only be avoided by descending the stairs in the middle of the bridge.

Fire Breath[]

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
-	-	230	-	Fire	No	AoE	Fast

The Hellkite Drake exhales a plume of flame which covers the entire bridge. It can only be avoided by hiding against the walls in the middle of the bridge that face away from the dragon.

Forward Stomp[]

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
350	-	-	-	Strike	No	Neither	Medium

The Hellkite Drake moves forward to crush the player with one of its front feet. This can be avoided by retreating out of range of the attack, rolling forward to get past the attack or attempting to block it with a high stability shield.

Stomp[]

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
350	-	-	-	Strike	No	Neither	Medium

Similar to the Front Stomp, however, it uses this when the player is much closer to it. Affects a small area beneath it. Can be dodged by either rolling to one side, or by rolling away from the Drake.

Head Ram[]

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
350	-	-	-	Strike	No	Neither	Medium

The Hellkite Drake rears its head to one side, and then sweeps it across the width of the bridge. Can be avoided by either rolling into or away from the attack.

Tail Whip[]

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
350	-	-	-	Strike	No	Neither	Slow

Used when the player is not directly within biting range but not far enough away to trigger a flame breath attack. It will not perform this attack if the tail has been cut off. Can be avoided by rolling towards and under the attack.

Jumping Flame Dash[]

				Attack Type	Parryable	Tracking	Speed
350	-	230	-	Strike / Fire	No	AoE	Medium

The Hellkite Drake hovers in the air, and then dashes towards the player, whilst exhaling flame on the bridge. Can only be avoided by descending the stairs in the middle of the bridge.

Defenses[]

Physical Defenses				Elemental Defenses			Resistances

198	198	198	238	159	∞	99	S	S	S

These stats are sourced from FuturePress's Official Dark Souls Strategy Guide.

Drops[]

Item	Drake Sword
Drop Rate	Sever tail

Trivia[]

The Hellkite Drake is a reference to the Red Dragon from Demon's Souls, which attacks and harasses the player using fire breath attacks in Worlds 1-1 and 1-2 of Boletarian Palace.

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ Approximate HP value — the exact number was not recorded.
↑ Drake Sword description.

Footnotes[]

↑ Its health regeneration is in effect as of Patch 1.05.

[1] Approximate HP value — the exact number was not recorded.

[2] Drake Sword description.

[3] Its health regeneration is in effect as of Patch 1.05.

[1]

[2]

[note 1]