Pinwheel (三人羽織) is a boss in Dark Souls.
Location[]
Pinwheel is found in The Catacombs. Players must defeat this boss in order to reach the Tomb of the Giants.
Description[]
Pinwheel is a necromancer wearing three masks: those of the Father, the Mother and the Child. Their body looks swollen and has three pairs of "arms", hinting that they are composed of three bodies or skeletons fused together.
Lore[]
The Pinwheels were servant of Gravelord Nito. They were taught necromancy by the Gravelord, and imitated his form by becoming a composition of three bodies, which wore the masks of a father, a mother and a child.[1][2][3] They were also pyromancers[4], and operated mainly within the Catacombs.[5]
At some point one of them stole a part of Nito's power[1] and the Rite of Kindling,[2][6] a ritual that enabled Undead to collect even more Estus from bonfires through further kindling.[7]
The thief then taught necromancy to a group of undead,[8] and with them took over the Catacombs. The other Pinwheels took refuge in Nito's domain,[9] while the Necromancers and the thief Pinwheel continued studying necromancy and reigned over the Catacombs,[1] employing the area's skeletons as their army.
Summoning[]
It is possible to summon Paladin Leeroy to help out in the fight. His summon sign is on a ledge the player has to drop down on, above the Skeleton Wheel area before Pinwheel's room.
Strategies[]
Pinwheel is a very frail boss, with the fifth lowest hit points of any boss in the game.[10] However, he can quickly become dangerous as he can summon an unlimited number of clones, all of whom deal the same amount of damage as he does. Therefore, a good strategy for fighting Pinwheel is to rush at him right when the fight starts and do as much damage as possible. When he teleports after summoning his clones, it is still possible to land some hits on him before he disappears. A simple tactic to identify the clones from the real Pinwheel is to lock on to him when possible.
Pinwheel's high fire damage can be greatly reduced through the use of Flash Sweat and shields with high fire resistance like the Black Knight Shield or Dragon Crest Shield. However, caution is advised as taking multiple hits at once will still deal a large amount of damage to the player, especially if they are trying to block while surrounded.
Boss information[]
Attacks[]
Quick Fireball[]
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Attack Type | Parryable | Tracking | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 291 | 0 | Normal | No | Both | Medium |
His six arms will glow and spin before firing it. This is easy to dodge with the right timing.
Cleansing Fireball[]
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Attack Type | Parryable | Tracking | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 326 | 0 | Normal | No | Both | Medium |
Slower, larger fireball that does more damage and has a bigger hitbox, though it takes Pinwheel longer to charge. Note that Pinwheel can also use this while jumping at a downward angle.
Combustion[]
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Attack Type | Parryable | Tracking | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 384 | 0 | Normal | No | Both | Medium |
A close range melee attack that does big damage. Pinwheel will telegraph this by moving in close and begin spinning and igniting his arms.
Flamethrower[]
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Attack Type | Parryable | Tracking | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 291 | 0 | Normal | No | Neither | Medium |
Extremely powerful mid-range attack. There is a long delay before this attack is executed. Blocking it is unwise, as it hits multiple times, breaking the player's guard, and potentially dealing a fair bit of damage.
Clone[]
Pinwheel will spin in the air and give off a purple light before conjuring an identical clone of himself. The clones are exactly the same as Pinwheel and there's no easy way to distinguish one from the other without keeping track of the original. The clone can also use all of Pinwheel's attacks but will disappear instantly when hit. There is no known limit to how many clones Pinwheel can spawn.
Vanish[]
When the real Pinwheel is approached, he may attempt to flee by disappearing, leaving the player at the mercy of his clones. A short time later he will reappear in a fashion similar to the spawning of the clones.
Defenses[]
| Physical Defenses | Elemental Defenses | Resistances | |||||||
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| 151 | 151 | 151 | 151 | 128 | 121 | 99 | B | B | B |
These stats are sourced from FuturePress's Official Dark Souls Strategy Guide.
Drops[]
| Item |  Rite of Kindling |
 Mask of the Child |
 Mask of the Father |
 Mask of the Mother |
| Drop Rate | Guaranteed | 1 of 3 Guaranteed | 1 of 3 Guaranteed | 1 of 3 Guaranteed |
*One of the masks will always drop, never more than one
Trivia[]
- Pinwheel's teleport animation was changed between Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered: in the first versions, Pinwheel would disappear in a dark orb, while in following versions his teleport ability is similar to Gwyndolin's.
- Pinwheel's fire spells have a different shade unlike the Pyromancies, so whether the spells they use are really Pyromancies, a kind of flame sorcery or something different is unknown.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
Pinwheel Intro
Pinwheel's boss intro
Music[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mask of the Father and Mask of the Mother and Mask of the Child descriptions.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Pinwheel#Drops
- ↑ File:Pinwheel_Ingame.jpg
- ↑ Pinwheel#Attacks
- ↑ There are various statues wearing the Father, the Mother and the Child's masks, implying that the Pinwheels operated in the catacombs for quite some time and built statues modeled after themselves
- ↑ Rite of Kindling#Availability
- ↑ Rite of Kindling description.
- ↑ The Necromancers' appearance suggests that they are undead.
- ↑ These Pinwheels are not illusions like the boss's copies, but living beings, as they drop souls and do not disappear with one strike. They have a flock of skeletons bowing to them, and they hinder the path to Nito, showing that they are allied with the Gravelord.
- ↑ Behind the Asylum Demon, the Taurus Demon, the Capra Demon and the Bed of Chaos.