A Long Suspension Bridge Leading to a Place of Retribution: Beyond the fog lies one of Dark Souls II's most intriguing and evil creatures: a Executioner who endlessly punishes the undead as if they were in Dante's Hell using a chariot of pain: the Chariot of the Executioner.
The Executioner's Cart is a battle with many peculiarities. Optional boss of the FromSoftware title, it's first and foremost divided into two distinct phases: the first in which the Chariot turns in circles around the arena, characterized by having niches on the sides, an oasis of safety against the barbed wheels, and the second in which we stop its incessant charge by facing it seriously.
The arena, with a great scenic impact given the darkness that pervades it, broken from time to time by the arrival of the Chariot and by the flame as a source of light so as not to lose sight of any victims, is a play of shadows that sometimes leaves you spellbound. The shadow of the Executioner's Chariot, which together with the sound of the horse's hooves is the only signal of green light or, on the contrary, obstructed path, makes this dark boss full of personality.
Dark creature like and more than the Old Dragon Slayer, the secret to defeating the Executioner's Wagon lies in its presentation cut-scene: a skeleton lowers a lever, the gate opens and one hears neighing. The faithful servant is destroyed, mangled by the spiked wheels of the chariot, pulled by a two-headed horse with a dark coat and the undead who controls them charges yet another fool to cross the Purgatory of the Undead.
It is possible to take down (very slowly) the Executioner's Cart with many arrows from afar (we'll see it), safely in any niche. The real problem is that The Chariot is not the only threat in the arena, which is filled with skeletons and necromancers creating new ones. The first thing to do is stay calm: our goal is to raise the lever again and crash the Executioner's Wagon into a pointed iron gate.
To do this, entered the arena we must proceed cautiously to the left, take out the skeletons (helped by the Executioner's Chariot, which will not distinguish between friends and enemies), enter a niche when the Executioner's Chariot is passing but above all eliminate the various necromancers scattered around the arena, hidden in the niches. Having killed them, we will free ourselves from the annoying skeletons and it will become a one-on-one fight - or rather, one on three, the executioner and the two horses.
Paying maximum attention to the cacophonic noises of the boss (whose wheels can be dodged at the right time, actually), we continue by taking numerous breaks and gradually knocking down all the enemies while keeping our eyes wide open for the necromancers dressed in blue. There are only two of them and one is towards the end of the path, near the lever.
We pull the lever, lower the gate and, depending on the tour of the Chariot, we will see it jump like every time from a precipice, land and crash into the gate, destroying the wagon ... and the Executioner.
The real boss wasn't the black-clad undead who drove the Chariot, a mere puppet, but the two-headed horse puffing darkness from its nostrils. It will rise again, recovering from the fall. At that point the real fight can begin: the horse, having lost the gift of speed, is not a great threat and, also thanks to the narrow arena, does not have many aces up his sleeve. It is advisable to stand in front or to the sides, but not behind, as he will react frequently. Weak to fire and electricity, susceptible to poisoning.
So let's recap the various steps:
- Kill the two necromancers
- Pull the lever
- Take care of the real executioner's chariot
Attacks:
- Stomp: the horse will stand up on its hind legs and try to hit you with the front legs. The attack is not lightning fast and gives you time to roll to the side to dodge and hit it.
- Dark breath: the two heads will lower and start to release a dark cloud that is actually easily dodged even just by walking sideways. While they are intent on completing the attack, you can hit it several times.
- Charge: the horse will jump backwards, lower its heads and make a short charge. This attack can take you off guard, but is avoided by dodging sideways.
- Football: The boss will use his hard hind legs to kick us if we find ourselves behind him. It is a move he uses often, even here just avoid sideways or not being in the trajectory.
- head: the horse will use one of the two heads (his left) as an offensive, easily parable with a shield or, even this, dodge.
Drop:
- 19.000 souls;
- Soul of the Executioner's Chariot (creations, from Straid: Chariot Lance or Protective Crossbow);
- Ring of Chlorancy +2 (New Game + only).
And now a alternative method of killing the executioner's chariotAfter killing the first necromancer, through arrows or spells safe in the alcove and from the aggro of the second necromancer, weaken the Executioner's Chariot a little with each passage. When it is weakened enough it will not be able to make the jump of the precipice: the horses will cling desperately to the edge bearing the weight of the chariot and the executioner, ready to fall down when we decide that their time has come.
Lore:
Crazy controller of the Purgatory of the Undead, the Chariot of the Executioner is a cruel construct that tortured eternally, created and pinned for this purpose by a nearby king, the Old Iron King, who delighted in the woods of his property to hunt down the undead as if they were foxes, stripped of all dignity, in an absurd sport. The executioner, who has killed thousands of his undead companions, will never realize that he was really just a puppet, controlled by a dark heartless stallion. The Hunter's Grove has become a theater built on mountains of bones and so in a spiral of madness the persecuted, the hunted and the imprisoned over time have been the unfortunate protagonists of a Dante rewriting, so that what is dead may never die.
► Dark Souls II is an RPG-Adventure game developed by FromSoftware and published by FromSoftware Bandai Namco for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the video game was released on 11/03/2014 The version for PC came out on 25/04/2014
