Gough the Giant, Gwyn's last knight whom the Chosen Undead meets his path, is a holdover from the past. A past that has swallowed him, the knight Artorias, his beloved Ciaran, and a whole people, that of Oolacile.
Dark Souls' only DLC, Artorias of the Abyss, tells of the fall of Oolacile, in the present become the Dark Root Wood where we faced the Butterfly of the Moon for example, or where we meet Dusk, an ancient princess trapped in one of the two golden golems of Seath the Scaleless. Originally from Oolacile, land where witchcraft was born, it recurs a lot in the Dark Souls series, up to having echoes in Dark Souls III.
It is, in a sense, the beginning of everything or the beginning of the end.
Artorias was sent by Gwyn to Oolacile to prevent the advance of the Abyss, but he fell. He fell and it fell to the Chosen Undead to take his place in the legends, killing Manus, a primal man whom some still identify as the Stealth Dwarf. The Knight of the Wolf went down in history as a hero, and the Chosen Undead, forced to travel into the past, to act as a ghost in history.
The Falco, on the other hand, Gough, left to carve wood on a tower in Oolacile, warns us of alast threat, perhaps the one that shattered the already fragile civilization, beset by the darkness of the Abyss: Black Dragon Kalameet.
Black as pitch, Kalameet is a real dragon. Like any self-respecting dragon in Dark Souls - and you can count them with one hand - Kalameet anticipates the clash with its presence during the expansion: you meet it in the clearing, barring a bridge for a moment in all its majesty , before flying away.
If we were to go in the opposite direction to Artorias before entering its arena, in a narrow path leading to a very long staircase, we would arrive in a valley. We would also meet Kalameet, flying to flood the area with black flames. If you want you can take it down in this instance, but it is a difficult task that takes hours of your time: Kalameet has no real life bar, and arrows tickle him. A true dragon like Kalameet in flight is too much even for the Chosen Undead. Gough knows this, to the point that he reveals that Kalameet was feared even by Anor Londo. Even the gods preferred not to turn against him! What hope can we have against Kalameet in flight?
Gough then takes up his huge bow and strikes (despite being blind) the flying dragon. Perforated in the wing, Kalameet loses the aerial advantage. He will be vengefully waiting for us in the same area as before, this time with two small changes: the fog and a life bar. The last, probably, we will see before Gwyn herself.
As one might imagine Kalameet, a dragon who survived the great war, is perhaps the most difficult boss of this first chapter. Artorias of the Abyss notoriously has aggressive and resilient bosses, but Kalameet has something more. Being an optional boss doesn't scratch his raven scales - it does resistant to fire, magic and electricity.
Tips before the fight:
- An elemental weapon is not the best ally to bring into battle and is an incredible test bed for mages or pyromancers. Upgrade a non-elemental weapon as much as you can, which is easy to handle to cut the tail;
- Light armor: disengage from all weights, speed and dodging are the key to taking down this creature;
- Fully upgrade Oolacile's first bonfire. 20 flasks will give you a lot of breath (if your limit is still 10, go and find Girandola);
- Its fire does physical and magical damage;
- Kalameet's tail can be cut: it is difficult, but better know in advance. It is recommended to focus only on that if you want to add the Obsidian Greatsword to your inventory;
- Don't be afraid to lose / get hit to learn the black dragon moveset.
Attacks:
- Paw: the boss will try to hit you with his paw, usually his right. To dodge in the opposite direction;
- Charge: The dragon will fly up briefly and push against the player. It's an annoying attack, which can be absorbed at the cost of a good portion of stamina with a shield if you can't help it or it takes you by surprise. Dodge left or right. Kalameet's charge may be accompanied by another attack soon after: a tail or a blaze;
- Tail in flight: the dragon will fly up, charge and if you are aligned with its tail (more or less) it will lift it to crush you. Try to avoid it by dodging to the sides, it will be your main chance to hit the tail, because Kalameet will hold it still for a few seconds;
- Codata: Kalameet can try to chase you away with a sweep of the tail. There is also a variant when Kalameet is not in flight, with the same effects and the same openings as the post-charge tail;
Stomp: the boss will try to hit the character close to him with his paws. Two rolls should be enough to be out of harm's way. Now let's move on to the creature's most devastating attacks: its flames; - Flame in flight: Long range. Kalameet will take off and try to do away with a wide, long-range but gradual blaze. Roll back over and over again .;
- Horizontal blaze: Medium range. the boss will crouch down and spit flames at an angle of about 120 ° in front of him, usually from right to left. This is to be dodged either by rolling several times towards the direction of the jet of flames (therefore to the left), or if you are close enough to the dragon and telegraphing the attack, quickly roll towards him and hit him in the neck or head.
- Front blaze: Short range. the dragon will stand up on its hind legs and spew flames in front of / below it. Here there is no room for maneuver of the horizontal blaze and it is to be dodged as quickly as possible with a few rolls to the sides.
- Charge + wide blaze: Combo with which Kalameet will launch at you first, then turn around and make a wide blast that is shorter than usual.
- Eye of Calamity: Kalameet's special attack that sees him stand up on his hind legs, in which he will lift the character if in (short) range and drop him to the ground after a screech. It is quite early and must be avoided, because once you take your character he will take double the normal damage over a period of time. Have you noticed the iridescent orange eye? Kalameet is endowed with telekinetic powers, we could say, and the "status" that afflicts you is called calamity, which is also the word from which the name of the black dragon derives.
Drop:
- 60.000 souls;
- Ring of Calamity (has the same effect as Kalameet's telekinetic attack, but is a ring and its effect is double damage from any offensive source. A ring to make the game even more difficult);
- Obsidian Greatsword (tail docking: wait for the tail and be very patient: it is among the most difficult to cut);
- Titanite stone (not a drop but located in the arena).
Congratulations, you have defeated Kalameet, the black dragon! After the necessary ceremonies, you will have noticed one thing: Kalameet does not release a soul. Being the only Dark Souls dragon besides Seath (which we remember, upon his death he releases a fragment of Gywn's soul and not a soul of his own), this led to the belief that the dragons did not have one. This has been denied (or retconnata, if you prefer) in later chapters.
What a cruel fate that of Oolacile. Abyssal epicenter, it has also become the territory of a huge cyclopean dragon, defined as "last of the ancient dragons", bringer of calamity. maybe it was the reason that led the inhabitants of Oolacile to awaken Manus from his sleep and start the advance of the Abyss that not even we, as the Chosen Undead, are able to stop, but only to stop. There Kalameet's loneliness was exploited by an imperfect relative, a primeval snake named Kaathe, to set in motion a series of events that frames the Age of Fire and the aforementioned He was of the Darkness, so strongly desired by Kaathe.
► Dark Souls: Remastered is an Action-RPG type game developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 25/05/2018 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 19/10/2018
Dark Souls: Remastered is a great game that cannot be missing from your collection: we have decided to evaluate it with a 80%, if you are interested in learning more you can read the Dark Souls: Remastered review
