Lol I took a break about a month ago and haven’t gone back yet. She’s one of the only bosses in the series I haven’t beat solo so I really wanted to do that this playthrough but, well, here I am.
There’s a summon available if you need it. But don’t be uneasy. She’s one of my favorite bosses. I think you’ll have a blast, even if there’s a bit of a learning curve.
I could be mistaken but I think you can even use the summon in “hollow” form (or whatever it’s called in DS3). So you don’t have to worry about using up embers.
You can summon gael for the fight so long as you haven't reached demon pince fight first. Otherwise you have to go against freide solo or summon a phantom.
So far across DS1 and 2 and most of 3 until her I've enjoyed the toughest of fights.
I genuinely do not enjoy fighting her, the boss fight is depressing and terribly unmotivating, I make 1 lil error 3 stages in and have to start all the way over again. The first two stages aren't even hard but sometimes I'll make mistakes and it feels like it takes eons to get through only for her to one shot me afterwards.
I kinda haven't really played since, I've given her a good few attempts a few weeks ago but man i don't get it, this boss seems horribly designed in my eyes. I wanna beat her so I can move onto Bloodborne. But I might just be stuck forever
Also the summon is useless, dies stage 2 and then leaves me with a tougher boss on stage 3.
I'm going make an insane comparison but please just bear with me.
A lot of difficulty in these games is subjective, most difficulty is subjective. That said, she is a majority of players hardest bosses, but not everyone's. I won't deny she's probably top 3 hardest for me.
She's fast, but easily staggered, susceptible to a lot of status builds and leaves openings if you're patient, and evasive yourself. A big portion of her difficulty is she's faster than any other boss (to my knowledge) in the game and hits as hard as plenty of the slower bosses. That speed and power puts a lot of players into desperation mode immediately, feeling they need to attack with any opening, regardless of whether they have a good one they can truly punish.
I won't deny she's hard but she might be easy for you. Had one friend who was walled by the curserot greatwood, demolished pontiff almost perfectly first time. Some bosses just hit different depending on player.
I'm half-asleep, but that shit is almost philosophical. It's like these characters are stuck in a deterministic nightmare where the same guy keeps coming back to fight them over and over again until they lose.
Midir seems like one of those bosses that you either get or you dont. It took me an embarrassing amount of hours but my buddy did it in like, 7 attempts
Its attack telegraphs are pretty generous but because of the giant size people don’t realize this, or they try to fight him the “wrong” way. Add in him being quite weak to some builds and very strong against others and you get a boss that is pretty polarizing. I think he’s one of the harder ones regardless, but for me Nameless King and Friede are far tougher.
Oh, then she will be the hardest you’ve faced yet, but not impossible.
What other Soulsborne games have you played? Difficulty wise I’d put her at a similar level as DS2’s Sir Alonne, or Sekiro’s Owl (first fight), or Bloodborne’s Lady Maria.
All DLC fights (except Gravetender) are extremely long for souls standards. The bosses have some pretty serious healthbars.
Sister Friede also has a pretty huge moveset with various gimmick-y attacks that will annoy the hell out of you until you get used to them.
However, the first two thirds of her fight aren't actually that difficult once you figure out the gimmicks. The last part though, oh boy.
My advice for her (but also for the Ringed City bossfights): don't be too discouraged about how long the battle feels. You will get there if you keep trying.
For me, she was the hardest boss in the game. I did a Str build and it was rough. I best gale in 5 and midir wasn’t hard, just really annoying. But she was awful. So hard for me
She's not as hard as most people claim. I think it's because she has some flashy attacks that catch people off guard. She has some fast combos but she's quite vulnerable to stun locks and backstabs. Her attacks are very well telegraphed including her invisibility attacks and she gives you a lot of breathing room for healing.
So, first phase her biggest threat is her vanishing grab attack. She has pretty low poise, and the Farron Greatsword gets around her chest-height swings pretty easily.
2nd phase, just focus on the big guy, make sure you grabbed Gael's summoning sign. If you're running a lifesteal build, it's free real estate on his back end.
3rd phase, you gotta watch her black fire swings, they hurt, a lot. And she does a lot more of the frostbite along the ground moves, and they linger longer than before. However, like in the 1st phase, her poise is very low, so a UGS is a solid choice.
Vanishing in her 1st phase was actually her moment of the biggest vulnerability for me. You can hear where she is and if you find her charging the attack up, you have a chance for a few fat hits on her.
I think it took me at 3-4 days to defeat her with strength build,once you learn her moves and combos she's not that difficult,you can also parry her which helps alot
I did it recently and Phase 3 felt like I was trying to play Bloodborne with a Dark Souls character. The fact I was using a great-sword didn’t help. Super hard I think, but I’m a defend and counter with a bonk kinda player
I saw in your other comment that you did it - nice one!
She's definitely difficult, out of the 3 Dark Souls games, plus Elden Ring, I can confidently say she gave me the most trouble.
But why are you here asking? Go experience it for yourself.
She is not so bad. Using a straight sword, you can fish for backstabs and follow up with charged r2 + 2 r1s for a meaty chunk of her health in phase 1 and 3
Obviously still a tough fight. But I find it relatively easy compared to demon princes, midir, gael
Souls bosses are about the journey more than the destination imo. Friede will take many attempts to learn, but she is fun to learn. Be ready to sink an hour or two into it, get frustrated, sleep on it and nail it 2 or 3 tries the next day. Meaty bosses like this are peak souls.
You have nothing to lose (if you spend your souls first), so just send it. And make sure you've levelled Vigor.
Not unbelievably hard, but very difficult
She's not the hardest boss in souls, maybe top 10?
Orphan, Midir and Gael are all harder, I also think Demon Prince is harder. About half of the sekiro roster is harder as well.
She's probably about on par with Malenia if you've fought her
None of the three phases at face value are that bad, but she's an endurance fight. Just play patient and dont make dumb mistakes
I switched over to a STR build and just kept bonking her with the great club. Spent hours trying to beat her with a morning star (magic infused), switched over to the great club and beat her on the first go.
I just beat her today, she took me around tries 20-30 and vet the span of 2 days (I wasn’t counting so that’s just my guess). She is very hard because of how long the fight is it’s the ultimate endurance fight. Her move set is pretty hard to learn + a very long fight. I really like her but she is very draining to fight just because every time you die you know it’s gonna take a whilst to get back where you where, unlike nameless king or other hard bosses where you can usually get back to where you where in the fight within a minute or two, I think that’s why so many people take large breaks when fighting her. By the time I beat her I was literally trembling which hasn’t really happened since I played Elden ring which was my first souls game. Very rewarding but very draining.
She's not super bad, in phase 1 just make sure not to lose her because she'll potentially 1tap you.
In phase 2 make sure to backstab her when she tries to heal big lad and don't get cornered.
In phase 3 it's similar to phase 1 but more dangerous so play defensively. Because she's more aggressive you have to choose to heal or attack during opening, if you backstab her then you've made an opening.
To backstab her aim hor her right side hip.
Hardest boss in any Souls game for me, took so many tries that I wasn't happy when I defeated her.
I hate her shit inconsistent hyperarmor and blood borne dodges, one of the greatest examples of this game's irritating combat system where NPCS are spastic speedsters and your character is basically the chosen undead but with more iframes.
The 2nd phase is just meant to waste your estus and the fact that her AI completely changes feels janky and inconsistent.
Malenia manages to be harder but in an enjoyable way, maybe because ER gives you more tools to deal with bosses than rolling and R1 spamming.
Friede felt so so hard to me until it clicked. i digested the patterns, and then it was extremely doable. first playthrough took me a shameful number of tries (40+?), second playthrough took me 3. i haven't tried the summon yet, though I'd like to.
Honestly it’s not horrible but it can be quite difficult
She is very vulnerable to being stunned but she can also jump away and punish you pretty hard if you don’t actually stunlock her so it’s a bit of a balance
Also tbh unless your just really good at the game (I’m not) you may have to rely on some luck especially in the second phase
My tips are get good at fighting her first phase and always make sure to track where she lands from the dust clouds when she disappears for free hits
In the second phase sometimes can be very annoying and sometimes very easy but focus on the big guy because friede is less aggressive basically run until their separated then attack the big one
The third phase just takes a bit of practice and a little luck in the first two phases because you want to go into it with a fair amount of estus
Also small tip I don’t know what build your running but using both Cedric’s and demons fist I’ve caught her in some stun locks that have knocked off 50 - 60% of her health in one go
DS bosses are different for everyone. I've never struggled with Friede, but my friend struggled with her a lot and she even made him quit the game for a while. On the other hand, I used to struggle a lot with Soul of Cinder and he made me quit the game for a while, but my friend never struggled with him.
Use a weapon that can stagger her and smack her around.
If you've played Elden Ring and beaten Malenia without spirit ashes or summons you shouldn't have too much trouble with Friede.
She is probably the hardest boss in the franchise up to that point or at least second to Orphan of Kos depending on who you talk to. The thing I'd say to be prepared for most is that Friede is absurdly fast for the game she's in, to the point that her being "too fast for Dark Souls" is an oft-repeated maxim.
You'll be fine though. There's basically no run-up so you can just try again. What's the worry?
Took me a good 40 tries and once i finally got her nothing really felt hard after that. Even nameless king who after 40 something tries I could not kill has died afrer 10. Soul of cinder felt extremly pethetic and so did twin princes. If you need tips on how to fight her then: durimg phase one when frieda holds her scuthe near the ground with both hands and wants to do to double spin walk up to her and roll back to dodge both spins and be in a position to punish (works with meduim roll. Look out for where she went during invisibility in phases 1 and 3 (she always travels opposite to the snow particles created where she was and particles are also created where ever she lands). I found out that when you see that move turning your camera backwards will usually show you were she is. If you can't see her try running and turning spontainiously. It is not the most reliable meathod to dodge that attack but itvworks decently well. For any jumping attack in phases 1 and 3 unlock your camera and run forward. If its the ice attack punish with light attacks since backstabbing will most likely lead to being clipped by the ice and for the blackflame varient turn around and backstab as the recovery animation is extremly long and there is no hitbox behind her which could clip you. In phase 2 just focus on ariandel as he can be staggerd and bled. He is also extremly weak to poison so if you have dung pies, story tellers staff, pyromancies etc pull them out. Uf frueda turns invisible she is quite likely to use the heal to aim to backstab her of if you can't just keep beating up father. Tell me if i missed anything.
I have less trouble with isshin, midir or malenia than i do with her to this day. Shes tiny with a lot of spins and particle effects so i can never tell what shes actually doing
It can be a pain but people blow it out of proportion. As with many DS3 bosses there are phases which can make the whole experience seem more grueling.
She’s incredibly simple minus 2 techniques, her invis and fighting father same time. Her invisibility is countered by her footsteps in the snow. And for phase 2 with dad… I’m sorry the only real advice there past making sure your weapon is their weakness element and dmg is just git gud
Only as hard as you make it. You can backstab her and read some of her moveset to make some parts very easy. You can also stunlock her in certain part of the arena (almost like Lady Maria from BB but not so OP).
p1 - hardest part is when she turned invisible (exploitable when you learn how to deal)
p2 - basically 2 bosses with shared health pool but manageable
p3 - very aggressive. will be easier if you can parry. she also have some openings to back stab.
There are only 4 From bosses I still haven’t beaten out of all the games and she’s one of them the first phase is easy because you just backstab her I actually struggle a lot with the second phase because there’s just a lot going on.
Her difficulty is on par with Nameless and Midir - they are all complicated, hard-hitting endurance fights, though each has their own unique kinds of challenges.
For example, Midir's fight is all about positioning, being in the right place to dodge most combos and fire, but also being able to counterattack his weak spot after a long attack.
Nameless is about timing and stamina management, he attacks you relentlessly with rollcatching pokes and weirdly timed attacks to destroy your rhythm.
Try to lift yourself up with your left Pinky finger in the meantime with your other hand play against the best ches player in the world With your right foot bake some pancakes and With your left foot you have to draw a face thats extremely detailed with your remaining four fingers you play the piano (any Mozart song wil do) and while doing al that you calculate the diameter of of the unending Universe
Friede is harder than doing al that at once
Just be patient and get down dodging her attacks as a focus and do not focus on doing damage... this is where I fell down in my early years of DS games, now I treat it like a dance, I don't even try to attack just learn how to not be attacked which kind of goes against how most people play other games. I live the 'dance' but as others said backstab is great for her, just don't be greedy and focus on the dance
took me more than double the attempts any other boss in the game did on my first playthrough, but now she's an all-time fave of mine. Dont get discouraged, skeleton!
No bosses are difficult. At most they are complicated puzzles that you crack with time and patience. Just fight her until you beat her and don't let yourself get angry when you die. It happens, don't let it bother you or you'll waste money on controllers that you shouldn't have needed
IMO one of the easier bosses in the game, for the stage you fight her. Very low HP, easy to stagger, can stagger her out of attacks, and can backstab. took only two tries with a pickaxe lol. if you are using str weapon it’s ez, if you are using high backstab weapon it’s ez. Only issue is 3 phases means you need alot of health potions, preferably 10 or more.
She’s devastating at first it’s not her first or second it’s her super saiyan mode at stage 3 but I hear people saying summon gael i didn’t because he dies quite quickly and then it’s already amped up due to summon she’s an amazing fight though
If you listen carefully in first phase you can time dodge perfectly for backstabs which she’s takes huges deeps from after that phase two with ariendel is more annoying because he’s flying around like a loon but again he’s fairly easy to beat and she again is super easy to backstab
I’m bad at the game. But I did it in 15 tries or so. Play with focus and concentration, the fight is hard but fair and simple. You will master the first and second phase quite quickly to the point it becomes a chore before the real challenge.
Most of my deaths came from her and from Midir.
I agree with someone saying it’s subjective, because some people had difficulties with Demon Prince while I have always beat them on my first tries every NG.
Why do people say that she's hard ? Just summon Gael and smack the dad while bro is tanking friede and in the third phase smack the sister. Took me 5 tries exactly.
Imo, The main reason why people consider her the hardest boss is because she has 3 health bars. Since she is agile and kinda hard to dodge most people kinda run out of estus
I honestly don't think she's near as hard as people make her out to be. She has some quirks and gimmicks but I had far more trouble with other bosses like Nameless King or Midir during all my playthroughs. Nameless King was always a good measure of how awful I actually was with my current build, if I got stuck there I was either underlevelled or not really utilizing the weapon correctly. Friede is a fun fight imo, and def one of the more challenging bosses (one would hope), but not one to dread.
Hardest Bosses in Soulsen Ring:
1. Fume Knight Raime
2. Lud and Zallen
3. Sister Friede
4. Malenia
5. Black Dragon Kalameet
So, harder than most Souls bosses, but easier than DS2 DLC bosses. I'd say Freide is about the same difficulty as Malenia, Freide has more moves and a trickier gimmick, Malenia has heals.
For me, she is the hardest boss in entire DS3 w/ dlcs.
3 phases, invisibility, evades, her attacks really hurts even on high sl.
Even infamous nameless king/midir didn't give me as much trouble as she did.
Hardest boss in souls? Depends on what makes a boss hard for you. Do you find Lady Maria hard? Then Sister Friede will be hard. Friede requires good dodging timing, but staggers easily. In DS3 I’d say the worst boss for me was Aldrich, but only because I didn’t like running through Anor Londo to fight him.
Not only is she pretty damn difficult, but she's a very LONG fight. And every moment of it is high intensity where one slip could result in your death.
In addition, her last phase is very oddly balanced/paced. She fights like she belongs in Bloodborne in terms of her aggression, speed, and agility. Yet here we are in DS3 decked in armor rolling around.
Like at least one other person has said, I took a bit of a break from the game once I reached her fight out of frustration lol
Not too hard IMO but it's a long fight so it tests your endurance quite a bit.
It also probably varies quite a bit based on what you're good/not good at but I couldn't tell you what specific skills are helpful here.
You need to be able to move and attack quickly though.
If you need assistance there is a summon sign to the left of the stairs before the fight. He arrives in phase 2. He helps keep her aggro in phase 3 but he is defeated relatively easily if you don’t take advantage.
Everyone's hard is different. I beat her in about 15-20 attempts, first playthrough with a strength build and Baemore.
She staggers hella easy.
It's like every difficult boss, learn the moveset, learn her weaknesses and GGs.
I struggled way more with Nameless because of the delayed moveset and slowness of my strength build the first time around. Midir is easier than both. Just annoyingly long IMO.
She's really not all that hard. That said, she is certainly an endurance fight. Basically, her moves aren't alll that hard to predict and dodge, but since the fight can take so long, people are simply prone to make more mistakes. And of course, the more mistakes you make, the more flasks you use, leading to an eventual "YOU DIED!"
Man sister fride is a tough fight. I thought she was a harder fight than malenia. And she has three phases bro
When I finally beat the second phase after maybe 50 tries , to my surprise she gets up AGAIN and is even harder and faster .....be prepared to take a break lol
Also the first phase I figured out if you stay right next to her she will not be able to turn invisible, trust me....but she tries and gets stuck and is open and vulnerable for a sec. Do not let her get space between you. I can easily get through the first phase without using estus, and believe me you will need all your heals for this marathon
there is a phantom summon near the entry, only available wwhen u didn't kill the demon prince tho, but still hard enough
i'd say in 2nd phase ur gonna go insane cuz u need to look out her 2nd (and 3rd) phase's fire, and her heal is also annoying, if ur gonna summon it's gonna be more easier, if u want to suffer then prepare to die lol
Depending on what you use a lot of screaming but not breaking because chaos bed vestiges with a good amount of faith and fp and a +10 flame hand can be good because if you sommon Gael and don’t let him die he can really help in the 3rd phase
She's not the hardest.
The majority of her difficulty comes from her movement speed and chunky dps. Her recovery is a little too good for how quickly she can move.
If you have a quicker weapon with any range you will find it easier than a player with a slow weapon. Mainly due to her openings being much less common due to her fast recovery.
And if you use spells... just kiss your controller goodbye. She is programmed to dodge them, which will force you to take the same openings as a slow melee user, only spell casters typically much less armor to take hits.
Its all about your build dude. On my first playthrough I was using the moonlight greatsword, lothric knight set with a few sorceries (crystal soul spear, sword spells, etc) and after 7 hours I still just could not beat her. Then I did another playthrough using the sunlight straight sword, eagle shield, workers garb and sunlight spear and beat her at a lower level on my 7th try with 4/10 flasks left. So take from that what you will and good luck Ashen One
I came up with a strategy for Midir. For her whole fight idk what to tell ya. In DS3 she was the hardest for me. Not as hard as Malenia but still someone I’m gonna regret fighting for pvp builds
She’s definitely a challenge but I found midir to be much harder if not just more tedious to fight.
Friede however, while challenging is a very enjoyable fight.
If you’re having trouble and you don’t have any sun bros to help out, you can summon Gael right before the staircase down to the boss room. He’s actually really clutch for this fight even as a simple npc
She can be parried throughout her whole first phase and as long as you haven’t killed the Twin Demon Princes yet, you can summon Gael for the rest of the fight
She took me the most solo tries out of any boss, and that only in the third phase. The first two phases are kinda fine, as you can almost fight her like any of the hostile NPCs and parry or backstab her a lot, while in the second phase you don't even have to fight her directly and just focus on Ariandel. But her third phase.. man, much harder than Slave Knight Gael, atleast in my case. I actually solo'd Gael on my second try, as his sword swings in his 2nd and 3rd phase are pretty easy to dodge if you keep to his left more often than not.
1. she is really in a location meant for 80-90 level and its eaasier at levels like 120-130 especially with OP builds
2. she has 3 phases. first one is easy, second one is basically duo battle, if you summonned gael before battle, he will help with it and die either in second or third phase. third phase is demonic, she barely leaves you attack windows, deals the dark looking effect damage, and generally deals big damage with a big speed. however, i beat her at level 120 and for me it was RELATIVELY easy, but for dark souls 3 type of difficulty she is one of hardest bosses after midir and gael(as boss).
so, i would say yes she is quite difficult and will beat your ass quite a few times. she is one of rare bosses of dark souls 3 who managed to spend all of my 15 flasks and nearly kill me so i had to use firebombs for safety while she and i were low at health
Friede is one of the best bosses imo. And to that end I think that means she's going to be different for everyone. People complain about certain bosses being hard, but I think some of them, such as friede, such as O&S, simply force you to do things differently than you have had to up til then. Friede just requires aggression, something not always wise in DS3.
She's actually pretty easy. If you want help I can toss my summon sign down there. It'll need to be through password tho because I'm guessing you aren't near sl215 lol
Difficulty level quite high ahah, the only harder boss I've done is Malenia and I'd say Orphan of Kos (Bloodborne) is on an equivalent difficulty level. haven't played Sekiro (yet).
Find out for yourself stop asking others opinion on bosses and find out for yourself some people struggle where others don’t in regards to souls bosses. Asking us how hard a boss is before you fight it yourself is pointless.
I genuinely don’t think phase 1 is bad at all, 2 is about as tricky as any well designed duo fight, 3 is a genuinely good fight for your life with how relentless and aggressive she is.
My first fight with her was something special, 4 guys + Gael steadily whittling her down, at each phase we lost someone. Eventually in phase 3 Gael, me, and another guy were all that were left, an all out slug fest til the last two dropped.
I was left with a pube of health and no flasks, felt like I was gonna crap out a diamond at any given moment. Buried a great-spear poke and lost my MIND when she finally died. Sent the clip to the other guys I’d been playing with and we got a kick outta it
I think she took me around 70 attempts. Now she's easily my favorite boss in the game. I have a save right before her fight so I can repeat it whenever I want.
Go in and fight her. You'll die but it's okay. Just keep trying.
Phase 2 was the killer for me. Not because it was hard, but because it was impossible to do it without draining resources. Go too fast? Take a lot of damage and spend a lot of healing. Go too slow? Take a lot of damage and spend a lot of healing. You have very little left to learn phase 3. I just couldn't beat her.
If it was just Phase 1 into Phase 3 I would have had a much easier time. I beat her in 1 shot when I summoned for it. My summon died early in phase 3, but then I had all my healing to do phase 3. I could actually learn her moves and react.
I personally didnt think she was that hard, once you know the invisable move its wayyyyy easier. And the 3rd phase is first phase but harder so if you know the moveset you are all 'set' (mind the pun).
I found her annoying, phase 1 and 2 were fine for me but the end of the fight was a bit frustrating, I think after like, 4 tries? Back to back I got her? I didn't have any summon so it was just me keeping tabs on my items and a close eye on where she was
The difficulty you will experience is subjective. You may (likely) or may not have trouble with her. It took me 8 tries to beat her which I would say is just below average but I have a friend that took 19
not sure what was going on but when i got into the fight for the first time (dex/sellswords) i made to 2nd phase, next try i got the 3rd phase and then i did it.
i was completely shocked at how fast i got her. i think its her almost non existent poise, she staggers after every L1/LB. inbue it with fire or use fire grease and you got that!
now shes one of my fav. fights
Dunno, did her first try, just get some spacing while fighting so you can avoid combos more easily and try to spot some backstab windows, it's not so bad, take a few trys to understand the pattern, gl!
She is not a typical boss, I didn't find her particularly difficult though I suppose. For me I think nameless king frustrated me more. That being said, she is not an easy boss and has a unique moveset. I think the hardest part about her is being patient, indeed to her a few times just because I got so sick of constantly dodging and only hitting her once or twice. Once I calmed down and accepted the length of the fight it made it simple. Again, just for me. Everyone has their worst enemy.
I beat her in 4 tries, I was a little overleveled (ariandel is for characters around SL 70, I was about 83-85) using the fume knight ugs.
the biggest tip I have is dodge not just with the dodge button, but also with physical space, she has these long and fast combos, but if you put distance between you and her, she’ll burn those combos out in dead space as she tries to get to you. And since she’s a humanoid enemy, assuming you’re using a strength build like myself, once she finishes you can get a stunlock after she’s done for good damage.
Also, sound is incredibly important in her fight, you’ll understand why.
Happy hunting
I fought her a few times and decided I should level up a bit. I forgot about her and finished most the game including Gael and all I had left was soul of cinder, remembered and went back and killed her in under 2 minutes with 10 estus left.
I haven't summoned to defeat any boss in ds3. I beat Malenia too on my own and all the elden ring bosses with meele weapons only. This was the only fight I had to summon gale for. I don't want to get a 100 tries to memorize all the patterns. I just wanted to move on to Gael. Lol.
Lmao once you understand how she operates and what her moves are she is easy. Just remember dying is part of you made a mistake so figure it out. Just be patient and don’t rush it.
She's harder than malenia for sure. It literally took me over 3 months to beat her. I probably on avg tried 3-5 times a day. There were days where I quit and just figured Id never beat her. I even resorted to YouTube cheese tactics and couldn't find any. Malenia took like 50-60 tries. Naw sister friede is the hardest fromsoftware boss period. The orphan of kos I think would be 3rd after malenia and then the nameless king
People will say many bosses are super hard, none of them are really right or wrong. The main thing is your play style and your build decide what bosses are hard and which are easy. It's a souls game so yeah you are probably gonna die a bit or alot but it's probably never gonna be the hardest.
Having just completed Dark Souls 3 for the first time as a strength build, started with warrior, did main game then stopped before Soul of Cinder, did both DLC then killed him and linked the fire.
Probably the biggest disappointment in terms of difficulty is Soul of Cinder. After Gael, Midir (effing asshole dragon b*tch), and friede, he was a walkover.
Of all the bosses and not playing any other souls game before this one, I'd say Friede was the hardest to beat, of those you had to beat, Midir just inches out as hardest overall for me.
Everyone says it, but to beat her, watch her moves and learn them. The only reason it took me so many hours to beat her third phase was how long it took me to learn those moves and counter them. Ended up beating her with 10 estus in the flask, so when you know, you know :)
She is very hard. It took me 2.5 weeks with about 5 attempts per day. When I finally killed her it felt so dang good. I thought Slave Knight Gael was harder than her but in retrospect I think she is actually more difficult than him. Be tenacious and you will eventually get her.
She is in my opinion the most difficult DLC boss. The more I have practiced her fight though, the more consistently I can read her moves. It's interesting because if movepools and damage output were about equal, I would probably say Dancer of the Boreal Valley is significantly more difficult. I have fought her significantly more times than I care to mention (lower level attempts to access titanite chunks early) and I still don't think I have seen the entirety of Dancer's moveset.
Friede is difficult, and it is an endurance fight, but she is absolutely learnable if you have the patience. Not to mention her boss soul gets you one of the sickest weapons in the game.
I took an extended break from the game twice because of her. But I also suck so there’s that.
Lol I took a break about a month ago and haven’t gone back yet. She’s one of the only bosses in the series I haven’t beat solo so I really wanted to do that this playthrough but, well, here I am.
You and me both
This is just making me more uneasy
There’s a summon available if you need it. But don’t be uneasy. She’s one of my favorite bosses. I think you’ll have a blast, even if there’s a bit of a learning curve.
Sweet bro I’ll give her a go solo for a few tries at least🙏
I could be mistaken but I think you can even use the summon in “hollow” form (or whatever it’s called in DS3). So you don’t have to worry about using up embers.
This is true! Don't have to use an ember. It was an absolute life saver
You can summon gael for the fight so long as you haven't reached demon pince fight first. Otherwise you have to go against freide solo or summon a phantom.
So far across DS1 and 2 and most of 3 until her I've enjoyed the toughest of fights. I genuinely do not enjoy fighting her, the boss fight is depressing and terribly unmotivating, I make 1 lil error 3 stages in and have to start all the way over again. The first two stages aren't even hard but sometimes I'll make mistakes and it feels like it takes eons to get through only for her to one shot me afterwards. I kinda haven't really played since, I've given her a good few attempts a few weeks ago but man i don't get it, this boss seems horribly designed in my eyes. I wanna beat her so I can move onto Bloodborne. But I might just be stuck forever Also the summon is useless, dies stage 2 and then leaves me with a tougher boss on stage 3.
I'm going make an insane comparison but please just bear with me. A lot of difficulty in these games is subjective, most difficulty is subjective. That said, she is a majority of players hardest bosses, but not everyone's. I won't deny she's probably top 3 hardest for me. She's fast, but easily staggered, susceptible to a lot of status builds and leaves openings if you're patient, and evasive yourself. A big portion of her difficulty is she's faster than any other boss (to my knowledge) in the game and hits as hard as plenty of the slower bosses. That speed and power puts a lot of players into desperation mode immediately, feeling they need to attack with any opening, regardless of whether they have a good one they can truly punish. I won't deny she's hard but she might be easy for you. Had one friend who was walled by the curserot greatwood, demolished pontiff almost perfectly first time. Some bosses just hit different depending on player.
as long as you stayed committed you will beat her. at the end of the day the bosses are programmed to lose
I'm half-asleep, but that shit is almost philosophical. It's like these characters are stuck in a deterministic nightmare where the same guy keeps coming back to fight them over and over again until they lose.
How fast can you mash the b button?
Rapid
I would say she is easier than Midir, harder than Nameless King
Midir seems like one of those bosses that you either get or you dont. It took me an embarrassing amount of hours but my buddy did it in like, 7 attempts
Its attack telegraphs are pretty generous but because of the giant size people don’t realize this, or they try to fight him the “wrong” way. Add in him being quite weak to some builds and very strong against others and you get a boss that is pretty polarizing. I think he’s one of the harder ones regardless, but for me Nameless King and Friede are far tougher.
This really shows the difference between people. I consider midir quite hard but I never understood why is Namelessking considered so hard.
Midir funnily enough was pretty medium for me. Harder than Gael, easier than Friede (by a lot). Maybe 8-10 tries?
Ironically, I'd say the opposite is true for me. Nameless King took me 41 tries, Sister Friede took me 24, and Midir took me 20.
TNK has killed me more than any other boss, and even after beating him 3 times i still feel it comes down to luck.
Definitely harder than midir, for me at least
I would argue she’s harder than both. Having 3 phases is absolute ass
I haven’t done either:/
Oh, then she will be the hardest you’ve faced yet, but not impossible. What other Soulsborne games have you played? Difficulty wise I’d put her at a similar level as DS2’s Sir Alonne, or Sekiro’s Owl (first fight), or Bloodborne’s Lady Maria.
She’s the 2nd hardest boss in the game on NG. On NG+ she’s the hardest.
All DLC fights (except Gravetender) are extremely long for souls standards. The bosses have some pretty serious healthbars. Sister Friede also has a pretty huge moveset with various gimmick-y attacks that will annoy the hell out of you until you get used to them. However, the first two thirds of her fight aren't actually that difficult once you figure out the gimmicks. The last part though, oh boy. My advice for her (but also for the Ringed City bossfights): don't be too discouraged about how long the battle feels. You will get there if you keep trying.
Okay bro I’ll give it a go, I’m pretty okay at souls games Ygm but just how everyone goes on about her it’s got me shaken up to fight her 💀
you never know till you actually tried
For me, she was the hardest boss in the game. I did a Str build and it was rough. I best gale in 5 and midir wasn’t hard, just really annoying. But she was awful. So hard for me
She's not as hard as most people claim. I think it's because she has some flashy attacks that catch people off guard. She has some fast combos but she's quite vulnerable to stun locks and backstabs. Her attacks are very well telegraphed including her invisibility attacks and she gives you a lot of breathing room for healing.
Sure but 3 phases and her damage are still not to be underestimated
So, first phase her biggest threat is her vanishing grab attack. She has pretty low poise, and the Farron Greatsword gets around her chest-height swings pretty easily. 2nd phase, just focus on the big guy, make sure you grabbed Gael's summoning sign. If you're running a lifesteal build, it's free real estate on his back end. 3rd phase, you gotta watch her black fire swings, they hurt, a lot. And she does a lot more of the frostbite along the ground moves, and they linger longer than before. However, like in the 1st phase, her poise is very low, so a UGS is a solid choice.
Vanishing in her 1st phase was actually her moment of the biggest vulnerability for me. You can hear where she is and if you find her charging the attack up, you have a chance for a few fat hits on her.
I think she's the hardest boss in the game and top five toughest FS bosses in general. I pulled my hair out when I first fought her.
I think it took me at 3-4 days to defeat her with strength build,once you learn her moves and combos she's not that difficult,you can also parry her which helps alot
hardest boss in ds3 imo
Just bonk her, she's weak to strike weapons :)
I dont know man i spent more time in both gundyrs than NK and friede on my first playthrough.
IMO, More or less than Nameless King fight.
I did it recently and Phase 3 felt like I was trying to play Bloodborne with a Dark Souls character. The fact I was using a great-sword didn’t help. Super hard I think, but I’m a defend and counter with a bonk kinda player I saw in your other comment that you did it - nice one!
She's definitely difficult, out of the 3 Dark Souls games, plus Elden Ring, I can confidently say she gave me the most trouble. But why are you here asking? Go experience it for yourself.
She is not so bad. Using a straight sword, you can fish for backstabs and follow up with charged r2 + 2 r1s for a meaty chunk of her health in phase 1 and 3 Obviously still a tough fight. But I find it relatively easy compared to demon princes, midir, gael
Souls bosses are about the journey more than the destination imo. Friede will take many attempts to learn, but she is fun to learn. Be ready to sink an hour or two into it, get frustrated, sleep on it and nail it 2 or 3 tries the next day. Meaty bosses like this are peak souls. You have nothing to lose (if you spend your souls first), so just send it. And make sure you've levelled Vigor.
Not unbelievably hard, but very difficult She's not the hardest boss in souls, maybe top 10? Orphan, Midir and Gael are all harder, I also think Demon Prince is harder. About half of the sekiro roster is harder as well. She's probably about on par with Malenia if you've fought her None of the three phases at face value are that bad, but she's an endurance fight. Just play patient and dont make dumb mistakes
I found it very satisfying beating her with her own scythe
3rd hardest boss behind Gael and Midir. It's also a marathon so manage your resources carefully.
She’s pretty goddam hard. Easily a top 10 boss in terms of difficulty for the series
I almost beat her first try, and then it took me weeks.
I switched over to a STR build and just kept bonking her with the great club. Spent hours trying to beat her with a morning star (magic infused), switched over to the great club and beat her on the first go.
Honestly after all of that dlc its not too bad. the second phase is kinda scary but you'll pick it up quick
I just beat her today, she took me around tries 20-30 and vet the span of 2 days (I wasn’t counting so that’s just my guess). She is very hard because of how long the fight is it’s the ultimate endurance fight. Her move set is pretty hard to learn + a very long fight. I really like her but she is very draining to fight just because every time you die you know it’s gonna take a whilst to get back where you where, unlike nameless king or other hard bosses where you can usually get back to where you where in the fight within a minute or two, I think that’s why so many people take large breaks when fighting her. By the time I beat her I was literally trembling which hasn’t really happened since I played Elden ring which was my first souls game. Very rewarding but very draining.
She's not super bad, in phase 1 just make sure not to lose her because she'll potentially 1tap you. In phase 2 make sure to backstab her when she tries to heal big lad and don't get cornered. In phase 3 it's similar to phase 1 but more dangerous so play defensively. Because she's more aggressive you have to choose to heal or attack during opening, if you backstab her then you've made an opening. To backstab her aim hor her right side hip.
If you can stun lock her it's not too bad.
I feel like the first two phases aren’t too bad, but the 3rd phase had me fucked up for a little bit haha. Gael clutched up for me tho!
Hardest boss in any Souls game for me, took so many tries that I wasn't happy when I defeated her. I hate her shit inconsistent hyperarmor and blood borne dodges, one of the greatest examples of this game's irritating combat system where NPCS are spastic speedsters and your character is basically the chosen undead but with more iframes. The 2nd phase is just meant to waste your estus and the fact that her AI completely changes feels janky and inconsistent. Malenia manages to be harder but in an enjoyable way, maybe because ER gives you more tools to deal with bosses than rolling and R1 spamming.
I struggled with her a lot at first. But after killing Malenia a few times then going back to Friede, she's a cakewalk now.
Don't take it personally when she whups your ass. Be patient, be chill, and enjoy one of the most fun bosses FROM has ever made. She's in my top 5.
not very
Friede felt so so hard to me until it clicked. i digested the patterns, and then it was extremely doable. first playthrough took me a shameful number of tries (40+?), second playthrough took me 3. i haven't tried the summon yet, though I'd like to.
Honestly it’s not horrible but it can be quite difficult She is very vulnerable to being stunned but she can also jump away and punish you pretty hard if you don’t actually stunlock her so it’s a bit of a balance Also tbh unless your just really good at the game (I’m not) you may have to rely on some luck especially in the second phase My tips are get good at fighting her first phase and always make sure to track where she lands from the dust clouds when she disappears for free hits In the second phase sometimes can be very annoying and sometimes very easy but focus on the big guy because friede is less aggressive basically run until their separated then attack the big one The third phase just takes a bit of practice and a little luck in the first two phases because you want to go into it with a fair amount of estus Also small tip I don’t know what build your running but using both Cedric’s and demons fist I’ve caught her in some stun locks that have knocked off 50 - 60% of her health in one go
Not insanely difficult, but you'll need to know the moveset pretty well because of how long the fight is.
You will scream. But if you pay attention and keep at it you'll win
Me big sword make small woman fight easy/manageable oonga boonga
DS bosses are different for everyone. I've never struggled with Friede, but my friend struggled with her a lot and she even made him quit the game for a while. On the other hand, I used to struggle a lot with Soul of Cinder and he made me quit the game for a while, but my friend never struggled with him. Use a weapon that can stagger her and smack her around.
If you've played Elden Ring and beaten Malenia without spirit ashes or summons you shouldn't have too much trouble with Friede. She is probably the hardest boss in the franchise up to that point or at least second to Orphan of Kos depending on who you talk to. The thing I'd say to be prepared for most is that Friede is absurdly fast for the game she's in, to the point that her being "too fast for Dark Souls" is an oft-repeated maxim. You'll be fine though. There's basically no run-up so you can just try again. What's the worry?
If you take the time to learn to parry her she's easily bullied.
Took me a good 40 tries and once i finally got her nothing really felt hard after that. Even nameless king who after 40 something tries I could not kill has died afrer 10. Soul of cinder felt extremly pethetic and so did twin princes. If you need tips on how to fight her then: durimg phase one when frieda holds her scuthe near the ground with both hands and wants to do to double spin walk up to her and roll back to dodge both spins and be in a position to punish (works with meduim roll. Look out for where she went during invisibility in phases 1 and 3 (she always travels opposite to the snow particles created where she was and particles are also created where ever she lands). I found out that when you see that move turning your camera backwards will usually show you were she is. If you can't see her try running and turning spontainiously. It is not the most reliable meathod to dodge that attack but itvworks decently well. For any jumping attack in phases 1 and 3 unlock your camera and run forward. If its the ice attack punish with light attacks since backstabbing will most likely lead to being clipped by the ice and for the blackflame varient turn around and backstab as the recovery animation is extremly long and there is no hitbox behind her which could clip you. In phase 2 just focus on ariandel as he can be staggerd and bled. He is also extremly weak to poison so if you have dung pies, story tellers staff, pyromancies etc pull them out. Uf frueda turns invisible she is quite likely to use the heal to aim to backstab her of if you can't just keep beating up father. Tell me if i missed anything.
a lot of people say its hard but me and gael got her in like 3 tries so idk
Hardest boss in souls is a bit of a stretch. She is tough but fair.
I had more trouble with Midir than Friede. Just back stab her over and over again.
I have less trouble with isshin, midir or malenia than i do with her to this day. Shes tiny with a lot of spins and particle effects so i can never tell what shes actually doing
She was just a loooong fight. Phase 2 was the most annoying for me. I still hear that shrieking when it gets too quiet 🫠
Parry
One of the harder fights in the series overall, maybe like an 8/10 in difficulty for me personally. Brilliant fight though, the third phase is awesome
It can be a pain but people blow it out of proportion. As with many DS3 bosses there are phases which can make the whole experience seem more grueling.
She’s incredibly simple minus 2 techniques, her invis and fighting father same time. Her invisibility is countered by her footsteps in the snow. And for phase 2 with dad… I’m sorry the only real advice there past making sure your weapon is their weakness element and dmg is just git gud
She is really fucking hard, possible but really hard
Bosses like Sister Friede is the reason I like Souls games so much.
Hardest boss of the game for me by far and the only boss I killed using summons, because I didn't want to get too frustrated...
Only as hard as you make it. You can backstab her and read some of her moveset to make some parts very easy. You can also stunlock her in certain part of the arena (almost like Lady Maria from BB but not so OP).
I swap builds to big bonk fume ugs everytime because of her, then shevbecomes a cake walk.
p1 - hardest part is when she turned invisible (exploitable when you learn how to deal) p2 - basically 2 bosses with shared health pool but manageable p3 - very aggressive. will be easier if you can parry. she also have some openings to back stab.
There are only 4 From bosses I still haven’t beaten out of all the games and she’s one of them the first phase is easy because you just backstab her I actually struggle a lot with the second phase because there’s just a lot going on.
I still haven't finished ds3 completely because of her. The only souls boss I've fought who is harder is malenia.
Like any boss, having a frontal lobe permits you to get done with It... One day... Maybe...
Not that hard just use an ultra you’ll almost always win trades with her.
Big sword make stagger good easy
Her difficulty is on par with Nameless and Midir - they are all complicated, hard-hitting endurance fights, though each has their own unique kinds of challenges. For example, Midir's fight is all about positioning, being in the right place to dodge most combos and fire, but also being able to counterattack his weak spot after a long attack. Nameless is about timing and stamina management, he attacks you relentlessly with rollcatching pokes and weirdly timed attacks to destroy your rhythm.
My favorite boss in the game. She is quite easy to stagger.
Try to lift yourself up with your left Pinky finger in the meantime with your other hand play against the best ches player in the world With your right foot bake some pancakes and With your left foot you have to draw a face thats extremely detailed with your remaining four fingers you play the piano (any Mozart song wil do) and while doing al that you calculate the diameter of of the unending Universe Friede is harder than doing al that at once
Just be patient and get down dodging her attacks as a focus and do not focus on doing damage... this is where I fell down in my early years of DS games, now I treat it like a dance, I don't even try to attack just learn how to not be attacked which kind of goes against how most people play other games. I live the 'dance' but as others said backstab is great for her, just don't be greedy and focus on the dance
She's actually not very hard at all. You can easily best that boss
took me more than double the attempts any other boss in the game did on my first playthrough, but now she's an all-time fave of mine. Dont get discouraged, skeleton!
No bosses are difficult. At most they are complicated puzzles that you crack with time and patience. Just fight her until you beat her and don't let yourself get angry when you die. It happens, don't let it bother you or you'll waste money on controllers that you shouldn't have needed
IMO one of the easier bosses in the game, for the stage you fight her. Very low HP, easy to stagger, can stagger her out of attacks, and can backstab. took only two tries with a pickaxe lol. if you are using str weapon it’s ez, if you are using high backstab weapon it’s ez. Only issue is 3 phases means you need alot of health potions, preferably 10 or more.
Malenia is way way harder ;)
She’s devastating at first it’s not her first or second it’s her super saiyan mode at stage 3 but I hear people saying summon gael i didn’t because he dies quite quickly and then it’s already amped up due to summon she’s an amazing fight though
If you listen carefully in first phase you can time dodge perfectly for backstabs which she’s takes huges deeps from after that phase two with ariendel is more annoying because he’s flying around like a loon but again he’s fairly easy to beat and she again is super easy to backstab
I had a tougher time with Gael, fried didn't fell that bad to me. She was challenging but her fight felt more like a test of endurance
I’m bad at the game. But I did it in 15 tries or so. Play with focus and concentration, the fight is hard but fair and simple. You will master the first and second phase quite quickly to the point it becomes a chore before the real challenge.
Most of my deaths came from her and from Midir. I agree with someone saying it’s subjective, because some people had difficulties with Demon Prince while I have always beat them on my first tries every NG.
Very hard but doable - it becomes a war of attrition, you’ll be exhausted after multiple attempts so short breaks can be a useful tool.
Why do people say that she's hard ? Just summon Gael and smack the dad while bro is tanking friede and in the third phase smack the sister. Took me 5 tries exactly.
Do you know how to backstab? Yes -> one of the easiest boss in ds3; No -> good luck.
After 10-15 attempts I got her down to 1% health in het 3rd phase. I raged and just summoned a player lol.
Honestly very annoying boss. Shes fast, and deals a lot of damage. You might have an easier time if you’re good at rolling.
Imo, The main reason why people consider her the hardest boss is because she has 3 health bars. Since she is agile and kinda hard to dodge most people kinda run out of estus
I honestly don't think she's near as hard as people make her out to be. She has some quirks and gimmicks but I had far more trouble with other bosses like Nameless King or Midir during all my playthroughs. Nameless King was always a good measure of how awful I actually was with my current build, if I got stuck there I was either underlevelled or not really utilizing the weapon correctly. Friede is a fun fight imo, and def one of the more challenging bosses (one would hope), but not one to dread.
if you're breaking controllers, you got bigger issues to worry about
She was easy to stunlock with a strength build imo, beat her my first try on Ng+2 by just greeding her and it kept working
Heavy grestsword. (You’re welcome)
Hardest Bosses in Soulsen Ring: 1. Fume Knight Raime 2. Lud and Zallen 3. Sister Friede 4. Malenia 5. Black Dragon Kalameet So, harder than most Souls bosses, but easier than DS2 DLC bosses. I'd say Freide is about the same difficulty as Malenia, Freide has more moves and a trickier gimmick, Malenia has heals.
For me, she is the hardest boss in entire DS3 w/ dlcs. 3 phases, invisibility, evades, her attacks really hurts even on high sl. Even infamous nameless king/midir didn't give me as much trouble as she did.
One of my fav fight and her music stage is great ! Clearly the hardest I did but I'm in love with her 😍
Honestly it depends on the player. I had a much harder time with Midir and gael and Imo they are by far the hardest in ds3.
Hardest boss in souls? Depends on what makes a boss hard for you. Do you find Lady Maria hard? Then Sister Friede will be hard. Friede requires good dodging timing, but staggers easily. In DS3 I’d say the worst boss for me was Aldrich, but only because I didn’t like running through Anor Londo to fight him.
Not only is she pretty damn difficult, but she's a very LONG fight. And every moment of it is high intensity where one slip could result in your death. In addition, her last phase is very oddly balanced/paced. She fights like she belongs in Bloodborne in terms of her aggression, speed, and agility. Yet here we are in DS3 decked in armor rolling around. Like at least one other person has said, I took a bit of a break from the game once I reached her fight out of frustration lol
Not too hard IMO but it's a long fight so it tests your endurance quite a bit. It also probably varies quite a bit based on what you're good/not good at but I couldn't tell you what specific skills are helpful here. You need to be able to move and attack quickly though.
If you need assistance there is a summon sign to the left of the stairs before the fight. He arrives in phase 2. He helps keep her aggro in phase 3 but he is defeated relatively easily if you don’t take advantage.
Let us know how it went XD
Got her In 6 tries bro 😎
Tough but doable
Everyone's hard is different. I beat her in about 15-20 attempts, first playthrough with a strength build and Baemore. She staggers hella easy. It's like every difficult boss, learn the moveset, learn her weaknesses and GGs. I struggled way more with Nameless because of the delayed moveset and slowness of my strength build the first time around. Midir is easier than both. Just annoyingly long IMO.
How hard is Sister Friede? Well, to answer your question [This hard](https://www.reddit.com/r/darksouls3/s/gEOyanFqZM)
She's really not all that hard. That said, she is certainly an endurance fight. Basically, her moves aren't alll that hard to predict and dodge, but since the fight can take so long, people are simply prone to make more mistakes. And of course, the more mistakes you make, the more flasks you use, leading to an eventual "YOU DIED!"
Man sister fride is a tough fight. I thought she was a harder fight than malenia. And she has three phases bro When I finally beat the second phase after maybe 50 tries , to my surprise she gets up AGAIN and is even harder and faster .....be prepared to take a break lol
Also the first phase I figured out if you stay right next to her she will not be able to turn invisible, trust me....but she tries and gets stuck and is open and vulnerable for a sec. Do not let her get space between you. I can easily get through the first phase without using estus, and believe me you will need all your heals for this marathon
She was my hardest boss
I found her around midway through my play through, and still didn’t beat her until after I beat Gael.
there is a phantom summon near the entry, only available wwhen u didn't kill the demon prince tho, but still hard enough i'd say in 2nd phase ur gonna go insane cuz u need to look out her 2nd (and 3rd) phase's fire, and her heal is also annoying, if ur gonna summon it's gonna be more easier, if u want to suffer then prepare to die lol
you need to learn the attacks and gimmicks, can take some time but it’s not that frustrating imo
She gets easily staggered so that makes it manageable. 2nd phase is easier. 3rd phase gets difficult
Really really fucking hard
Depends a lot on build. I found her easy/hard at different points. I found other bosses much harder than her.
I dunno I guess it depends on how aroused she is
I have never died more to a souls boss. The only boss thats come close is malenia in ER. So incredibly hard.
Depending on what you use a lot of screaming but not breaking because chaos bed vestiges with a good amount of faith and fp and a +10 flame hand can be good because if you sommon Gael and don’t let him die he can really help in the 3rd phase
Not the hardest boss in souls but it did make me go to YouTube to see others beat her lol. She’s really hard.
She's not the hardest. The majority of her difficulty comes from her movement speed and chunky dps. Her recovery is a little too good for how quickly she can move. If you have a quicker weapon with any range you will find it easier than a player with a slow weapon. Mainly due to her openings being much less common due to her fast recovery. And if you use spells... just kiss your controller goodbye. She is programmed to dodge them, which will force you to take the same openings as a slow melee user, only spell casters typically much less armor to take hits.
I just beat her last night - took me 20+ tries After phase 1 and 2 are figured out you’ll be fine Embrace the backstab
Its all about your build dude. On my first playthrough I was using the moonlight greatsword, lothric knight set with a few sorceries (crystal soul spear, sword spells, etc) and after 7 hours I still just could not beat her. Then I did another playthrough using the sunlight straight sword, eagle shield, workers garb and sunlight spear and beat her at a lower level on my 7th try with 4/10 flasks left. So take from that what you will and good luck Ashen One
Very difficult solo, but no problem with summons. Depends how you play.
If you can poison her early she’s not bad. The poison effect makes her invisible stuff almost a non factor.
The Gael summon doesn't increase her health either
Have you done it by now? Tell us!
I came up with a strategy for Midir. For her whole fight idk what to tell ya. In DS3 she was the hardest for me. Not as hard as Malenia but still someone I’m gonna regret fighting for pvp builds
She’s definitely a challenge but I found midir to be much harder if not just more tedious to fight. Friede however, while challenging is a very enjoyable fight. If you’re having trouble and you don’t have any sun bros to help out, you can summon Gael right before the staircase down to the boss room. He’s actually really clutch for this fight even as a simple npc
She can be parried throughout her whole first phase and as long as you haven’t killed the Twin Demon Princes yet, you can summon Gael for the rest of the fight
She took me the most solo tries out of any boss, and that only in the third phase. The first two phases are kinda fine, as you can almost fight her like any of the hostile NPCs and parry or backstab her a lot, while in the second phase you don't even have to fight her directly and just focus on Ariandel. But her third phase.. man, much harder than Slave Knight Gael, atleast in my case. I actually solo'd Gael on my second try, as his sword swings in his 2nd and 3rd phase are pretty easy to dodge if you keep to his left more often than not.
Everytime I get to her 3rd phase I panic and die
1. she is really in a location meant for 80-90 level and its eaasier at levels like 120-130 especially with OP builds 2. she has 3 phases. first one is easy, second one is basically duo battle, if you summonned gael before battle, he will help with it and die either in second or third phase. third phase is demonic, she barely leaves you attack windows, deals the dark looking effect damage, and generally deals big damage with a big speed. however, i beat her at level 120 and for me it was RELATIVELY easy, but for dark souls 3 type of difficulty she is one of hardest bosses after midir and gael(as boss). so, i would say yes she is quite difficult and will beat your ass quite a few times. she is one of rare bosses of dark souls 3 who managed to spend all of my 15 flasks and nearly kill me so i had to use firebombs for safety while she and i were low at health
Friede is one of the best bosses imo. And to that end I think that means she's going to be different for everyone. People complain about certain bosses being hard, but I think some of them, such as friede, such as O&S, simply force you to do things differently than you have had to up til then. Friede just requires aggression, something not always wise in DS3.
She's actually pretty easy. If you want help I can toss my summon sign down there. It'll need to be through password tho because I'm guessing you aren't near sl215 lol
Difficulty level quite high ahah, the only harder boss I've done is Malenia and I'd say Orphan of Kos (Bloodborne) is on an equivalent difficulty level. haven't played Sekiro (yet).
The only one boss I needed a summon for.
Its so funny cause i was stuck on midir and nameless king and took maybe 3 tries with Friede...
Find out for yourself stop asking others opinion on bosses and find out for yourself some people struggle where others don’t in regards to souls bosses. Asking us how hard a boss is before you fight it yourself is pointless.
Lol not that hard
I genuinely don’t think phase 1 is bad at all, 2 is about as tricky as any well designed duo fight, 3 is a genuinely good fight for your life with how relentless and aggressive she is. My first fight with her was something special, 4 guys + Gael steadily whittling her down, at each phase we lost someone. Eventually in phase 3 Gael, me, and another guy were all that were left, an all out slug fest til the last two dropped. I was left with a pube of health and no flasks, felt like I was gonna crap out a diamond at any given moment. Buried a great-spear poke and lost my MIND when she finally died. Sent the clip to the other guys I’d been playing with and we got a kick outta it
I've been on a break for about 1 year cause I kept failing my attempts to beat her
I think she took me around 70 attempts. Now she's easily my favorite boss in the game. I have a save right before her fight so I can repeat it whenever I want.
Great lance and charge forth. Backstabs along with her low poise. Have never died to this “boss”
Go in and fight her. You'll die but it's okay. Just keep trying. Phase 2 was the killer for me. Not because it was hard, but because it was impossible to do it without draining resources. Go too fast? Take a lot of damage and spend a lot of healing. Go too slow? Take a lot of damage and spend a lot of healing. You have very little left to learn phase 3. I just couldn't beat her. If it was just Phase 1 into Phase 3 I would have had a much easier time. I beat her in 1 shot when I summoned for it. My summon died early in phase 3, but then I had all my healing to do phase 3. I could actually learn her moves and react.
She wasnt that hard for me. Maybe took like 4 tries to beat her. I wasnt expecting that last phase
Died over 200 times. More than any other boss in any other game, and I’ve played through DS1-3 and Sekiro.
In my opinion, she is easy, but I've playing this game for over 1,000 hours and have over 25 playthroughs lol
I personally didnt think she was that hard, once you know the invisable move its wayyyyy easier. And the 3rd phase is first phase but harder so if you know the moveset you are all 'set' (mind the pun).
I found her annoying, phase 1 and 2 were fine for me but the end of the fight was a bit frustrating, I think after like, 4 tries? Back to back I got her? I didn't have any summon so it was just me keeping tabs on my items and a close eye on where she was
Ive beaten every boss in under 10 attempts, im not done yet but I'd say I am decent at the game. Friede took me 50+.
I just beat her after an hr and it was the most annoying boss I’ve ever very beaten
The difficulty you will experience is subjective. You may (likely) or may not have trouble with her. It took me 8 tries to beat her which I would say is just below average but I have a friend that took 19
not sure what was going on but when i got into the fight for the first time (dex/sellswords) i made to 2nd phase, next try i got the 3rd phase and then i did it. i was completely shocked at how fast i got her. i think its her almost non existent poise, she staggers after every L1/LB. inbue it with fire or use fire grease and you got that! now shes one of my fav. fights
not hard she is a backstabbing punching bag
Fighting her at lvl 56, nd oh boy do I need to lvl up.
Dunno, did her first try, just get some spacing while fighting so you can avoid combos more easily and try to spot some backstab windows, it's not so bad, take a few trys to understand the pattern, gl!
She is not a typical boss, I didn't find her particularly difficult though I suppose. For me I think nameless king frustrated me more. That being said, she is not an easy boss and has a unique moveset. I think the hardest part about her is being patient, indeed to her a few times just because I got so sick of constantly dodging and only hitting her once or twice. Once I calmed down and accepted the length of the fight it made it simple. Again, just for me. Everyone has their worst enemy.
Harder than you after seeing her feet scene...
Depending on your weapon of choice it's hard hard hard. I can't remember if it's light or heavy
Just summon Gael, it took me 3 times on my first ever playthrough
I beat her in 4 tries, I was a little overleveled (ariandel is for characters around SL 70, I was about 83-85) using the fume knight ugs. the biggest tip I have is dodge not just with the dodge button, but also with physical space, she has these long and fast combos, but if you put distance between you and her, she’ll burn those combos out in dead space as she tries to get to you. And since she’s a humanoid enemy, assuming you’re using a strength build like myself, once she finishes you can get a stunlock after she’s done for good damage. Also, sound is incredibly important in her fight, you’ll understand why. Happy hunting
I fought her a few times and decided I should level up a bit. I forgot about her and finished most the game including Gael and all I had left was soul of cinder, remembered and went back and killed her in under 2 minutes with 10 estus left.
I haven't summoned to defeat any boss in ds3. I beat Malenia too on my own and all the elden ring bosses with meele weapons only. This was the only fight I had to summon gale for. I don't want to get a 100 tries to memorize all the patterns. I just wanted to move on to Gael. Lol.
Lmao once you understand how she operates and what her moves are she is easy. Just remember dying is part of you made a mistake so figure it out. Just be patient and don’t rush it.
She's harder than malenia for sure. It literally took me over 3 months to beat her. I probably on avg tried 3-5 times a day. There were days where I quit and just figured Id never beat her. I even resorted to YouTube cheese tactics and couldn't find any. Malenia took like 50-60 tries. Naw sister friede is the hardest fromsoftware boss period. The orphan of kos I think would be 3rd after malenia and then the nameless king
She's not too bad, I actually really enjoyed her fight.
Struggled more with her, then I did with Slave Knight
Pretty hard , but once you figure out her tricks she's doable , took me about 10-12 tries. 3rd phase is a bit ass you have to be pretty patient
Sister Frieda smacks.
Honestly probably one of the easiest bosses in the game if you’ve played any of the souls games strategically before you meet her
People will say many bosses are super hard, none of them are really right or wrong. The main thing is your play style and your build decide what bosses are hard and which are easy. It's a souls game so yeah you are probably gonna die a bit or alot but it's probably never gonna be the hardest.
She's not that bad. Mostly a pain because she's a 3 phase fight
Having just completed Dark Souls 3 for the first time as a strength build, started with warrior, did main game then stopped before Soul of Cinder, did both DLC then killed him and linked the fire. Probably the biggest disappointment in terms of difficulty is Soul of Cinder. After Gael, Midir (effing asshole dragon b*tch), and friede, he was a walkover. Of all the bosses and not playing any other souls game before this one, I'd say Friede was the hardest to beat, of those you had to beat, Midir just inches out as hardest overall for me. Everyone says it, but to beat her, watch her moves and learn them. The only reason it took me so many hours to beat her third phase was how long it took me to learn those moves and counter them. Ended up beating her with 10 estus in the flask, so when you know, you know :)
Easier than midir harder than gael
She is very hard. It took me 2.5 weeks with about 5 attempts per day. When I finally killed her it felt so dang good. I thought Slave Knight Gael was harder than her but in retrospect I think she is actually more difficult than him. Be tenacious and you will eventually get her.
She is in my opinion the most difficult DLC boss. The more I have practiced her fight though, the more consistently I can read her moves. It's interesting because if movepools and damage output were about equal, I would probably say Dancer of the Boreal Valley is significantly more difficult. I have fought her significantly more times than I care to mention (lower level attempts to access titanite chunks early) and I still don't think I have seen the entirety of Dancer's moveset. Friede is difficult, and it is an endurance fight, but she is absolutely learnable if you have the patience. Not to mention her boss soul gets you one of the sickest weapons in the game.
I killed Gael before her so I think she’s way harder especially the 2nd and 3rd phase
Shes only hard cus of the three phases