Four Kings without heavy armor / iron flesh

I've used iron flesh both times and it's still been pretty brutal. The videos on youtube all seem to either use that or some really strong armor set like Havel's or Giants. Is there anyway to beat these guys with light armor? Say a ranged attack? I'm sure you can, but I've never seen it.

Well, if you can dodge all their attacks, it shouldn't be too hard.

Don't use ranged! You have to stay very close to them, or the others spawn faster (I'm pretty sure). Learning to time your dodges is most important, Check out this guy doing it at SL1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUAhMhxRV1Y

CrackSouls wrote:Don't use ranged! You have to stay very close to them, or the others spawn faster (I'm pretty sure). Learning to time your dodges is most important, Check out this guy doing it at SL1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUAhMhxRV1Y

Cool, though it looks like the wiki says you can do well with crystal soul mass?

sjackson12 wrote:
Cool, though it looks like the wiki says you can do well with crystal soul mass?

Yeah, I took them down in NG+ earlier today on my squishy Int. mage. You just cast HCSM, run towards them, and focus on dodging/healing when possible, and slipping in more HCSM or CSSs into them. They go down pretty quick if you're built for magic.

Just don't try and use a bow or long range Soul Spears, oh gawd!

Iron Flesh/Heavy Armor used to be ideal before the patch, but since then I actually think that they do the same amount of damage to you regardless of either. I beat them nowadays without doing anything special - just use decent poise (I usually at least equip Havel's Guantlets or something), decently timed rolls and at least 10 estus. I usually end up killing them quick enough to only fight one at a time.

Just expect to take damage and heal a lot. I find that they almost always give me enough time to heal after a hard hit, and if they don't I definitely can always roll far enough away that their follow-up attack won't hit me.

I've solo'd the Four Kings on each play through even on Ng++++ just get in close and after every dodge fire off a Crystal Soul arrow or Crystal Soul mass.

Yeah I'm thinking iron flesh may just as much be a hindrance in some cases where they fire off some annoying combos, like that purple scream thing followed by something else. It'd be nice to be able to flip away from that.

I really struggled with this boss for some reason.

I have a high INT build (SL65, INT45), and generally, I use melee to take care of lesser creatures and a mixture of Sorcery and melee to take down bosses.

That worked all fine and dandy until I reached 4 Kings, where ranged combat doesn't appear to be a feasible option, at least for your average player.

So ... I tried all kinds of armor and nothing seemed to give me an edge. I didn't study this scientifically, but it seemed to me that wearing heavy armor made maneuverability difficult, which led to me getting hit too much. I then tried light armor, and I would do OK until another king spawned and hit me in the back. Instant death.

I ultimately succeeded by concentrating on offense. I normally don't use Pyromancy, but as someone who wants to collect everything in the game, and who has an INT build, I had a lot of powerful pyromancy spells and decided to load up with the 2 combustion spells, fire whip, and iron flesh.

I then jumped into the abyss. I did wear Havel's armor, but because I am an idiot, I forgot to cast Iron Flesh. I also had Beatrice beside me.

Holy cow, but Pyromancy made all the difference. I closed with the first king as quickly as I could and hit him with every fire spell I could muster. Then the second king popped up, and away I went. With pyromancy, the fight turned into one of the easier ones I have had.

So, I didn't entirely answer your question, but I posted all of this to suggest that you _may_ be asking the wrong question. For my particular build, the issue wasn't so much armor as it was offensive firepower. Once more than one king pops up, which is the direct result of not enough firepower, it may not matter what kind of armor you wear.

from my experience as melee you can def do it without heavy armor

on both my sl108 and sl19 I have done 4 kings using painted guard armor (i use it cause i like the look only) and +5 furysword grass crest shield and mask of child for endurance regen

dodge the melee attacks and soak up the ranged attacks and pot often and it should be all good

I did this the other day with DWGR and medium/light armor (35 weight total) Just dodge when they swing and slip in pokes when its safe.

I pretty much always use light armor against 4 kings. The key is to stack offensive modifiers to quickly kill one king before the next one arrives. For instance, inner strength, dusk crown, and pyro can bust up the kings pretty quickly.

If you have a faith build, great magic barrier is extremely effective, particularly against the kings' missile attacks.

Did it yesterday and had another blast, NG+ Four Kings is so much fun. Being a melee buid with decent INT, I go in with Elite Knight armor +10 with Great Magic Barrier, and used a Claymore +15 with Crystal Magic weapon. Long story short I died with him at one hit, but as the screen was fading black Beatrice stopped being useless and killed it for a win.

I did it the first time with Iron Flesh before the nerf and it wasn't bad, but at this point I find dodging his attacks and having greater magic barrier will keep me alive longer.