Harald Legion Knights are enemies in Dark Souls III: The Ringed City.
In-Game Description
- Harald Legion, who sought the dark soul.
- The armor sank into the dark with the legion, where their cavities bloated in grotesque displays, never again to fit any ordinarily-shaped body.[1]
Description[]
Giant, rotund knights that wield curved greatswords. Their heads have been replaced by a mass of humanity and their bodies are wrapped in chains and dead branches.
Location[]
Throughout the Dreg Heap and the Ringed City Streets.
Lore[]
Knights of the Harald Legion that sought to acquire the Dark Soul of Humanity. However, they were ill-prepared to combat the dark and were devoured by the Abyss, their empty shells used to combat intruders.
Strategy[]
Harald Legion Knights have a lot of vigor and hit incredibly hard, so it is recommended to employ hit-and-run tactics against them. They move slowly but their sword blows have a long reach and they will often perform a back-swing if the player remains behind them too long. Their most dangerous move is Sever: a series of sword slams followed by a leaping sword slam attack that will often kill the player if they are unable to escape the combo. This move does leave them vulnerable for a few seconds, provided the player evades the initial slam attacks.
Harald Knights are extremely vulnerable to plunging attacks. In fact, using plunging attacks on the Harald Legion Knights constitutes a critical in and of itself, as such, weapons with split damage can outright kill them with a plunging attack.
Any projectile that hits the head of these knights will stagger them and deal about double the damage. As such, a ranged engagement of these enemies with bows or knives should not be overlooked.
Parrying their one-handed attacks opens them up for a riposte to deal great damage and stall time to fully charge a strong attack while they are getting up.
Moveset[]
| Attack | Description | Countermeasures | Parryability | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Double-slash combo |
|
Parry not before the blade starts its swinging motion |
|
Moderate |
| Uppercut slice | After a brief charge for the attack, places the blade on the ground backwards and only then sweeps up with a little ⭯ rotation |
|
✓ | Slow |
| Sever (regular) | Long charging animation of lifting the sword by both ends above the humanity lump and wildly slamming the ground while advancing forward with a very little tracking potential up to six times served with a jumping slam at last |
|
✗ | Slow |
| Sever(at feet) | Possibly identical to sever in other ways than making the first three slams near the legs of the knight covering ground behind them but without forward advancement | This may come out as a nasty surprise for the lovers of rear-battling as differentiating this attack from the regular is presumably impossible before the knight starts slamming, so if the adversary started the charge animation when you were behind them, it is possibly better to back away out of harm's way | ✗ | Slow |
| Double sword slam | An incomplete version of sever with a faster execution and more rigid moves: the first slam covers ground immediately in front and a bit to the right of the knight, the second slam comes a bit later compared to sever and covers more ground to the left of the knight | At close range, especially after lowering your guard because of the slowness of their attacks, this one can be devastating. So the key to evade this attack is differentiating it from sever by the speed of lifting the sword to their "eye level".
Although it's worth noting that these slams pin the player to the ground, so the i-frames for being nailed may save you from the second slam if the first connected, however it is still advised to try and roll out of the ground to the left |
✗ | Rather fast |
| Overhead slice | After lifting the sword above their head with two hands, they take a few steps a slice downwards with a very little ⭯ rotation | If they start to swing as they approach you
|
✗ | Slow |
| Chopping slice | Two-handedly brings the sword behind their humanity lump and does a descending ⭯ slash covering about 200° in front of them | It is possible to just make it through by sprinting ⭯ around the knight as soon as they start the animation | ✗ | Moderate |
| Jumping slam | For a moment aids itself with their sword by both ends, then bounces and lingers in the air for a moment before slamming the sword ⊥ to their longitudinal axis of body |
|
✗ | Slow |
| Jumping sit | Jumps backwards and comes crushing down on their bottom, it's worth noting that they travel a short distance and not just sit down on place | Aside from reacting by rolling away, none have been developed | ✗ | Rather fast |
| *Back-swing | This attack is just the first move of the double-slash combo but with the knight rotating 180°, it is even comboable into the ⭮ second swing | See double-slash combo | ✓ | Moderate |
Drops[]
| Item |  Titanite Chunk |
Titanite Chunk ×2 |
Titanite Chunk ×4 |
 Dark Gem |
 Harald Legion Armor |
| Drop Rate | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Item |  Harald Legion Gauntlets |
 Harald Legion Leggings |
|||
| Drop Rate | ??? | ??? |
Notes[]
- Immune to Alluring Skulls, Aural Decoy and Rapport.
- One-handed attacks can be parried.
- Abyssal creature, therefore weak to Wolf Knight's Greatsword and Farron Greatsword.
- Despite their size, they have low poise and can be staggered easily.
Trivia[]
- Their head is missing, and instead a humanity orb replaces it.
- It is entirely possible that the Harald Legion Knights are in fact Humanities that possess the deceased, vine-filled body of the Knights who lost their lives[2].
- Their attacks can damage other enemies and dark spirits.
- Looks similar to Human Effigies from Dark Souls II.
- Their armor looks similar to the Slave Knight Set.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Harald Legion Armor description.
- ↑ Dark Gem description: "Born of disembodied humanity"