At one time, a mouse made a deal with humans: the mouse would rule the underground, while the humans would control everything that was illuminated by the sun's rays. The human race, however, broke their promise and declared war on the mice trying to drive them out of their kingdom. The Rat King, disheartened by this behavior, declared war on the human race and placed two champions in defense of the kingdom underground: one of these is theRoyal Vanguard of the Mice. Defeating him will allow us a 'audience with the King: let's see how to do it.
The Royal Vanguard of the Mice is one of the most bizarre bosses of Dark Souls II and is located in the depths of Majula, precisely in an area called Tomb of the Saints. As we anticipated in the guide dedicated to the Putrid, to get to the Tomb of the Saints without problems it will be necessary to buy the average scale of 1.200 souls from Gilligan and to be even more sure the silver ring of the cat at Shalquoir in Majula for the modest sum of 13.400 souls. Arm yourself with Estus flask and keep going down until you reach a cave with its respective bonfire.
In these catacombs the only life forms are rodents which, just like in the first chapter of Dark Souls, are a problem only if in a group. And guess what: the boss is basically a swarm of mice faithful to their sire.
The fog of the Royal Vanguard of the Mice is found just before another bonfire, but the boss is among the simplest in the entire game: the only things to bring with you are your weapons and a supply of poisonous moss, to be collected from the bodies of previously culled mice or from Gavlan, who is the bearded point of reference for everything that rhymes with poison. Also beware of the petrified status.
The peculiarity of this boss is that it will be necessary to disinfest the arena from a certain number of mice before it appears, and with him his life bar. The arena itself is dotted with rat-shaped statues that will serve both to block the progress of rodents and, at times, to put a spoke in the wheel for the player himself. It is vital, in fact, never to get stuck in one point to avoid being soon overwhelmed by the large number of enemies. The Royal Vanguard of the Mice will appear after about 10 mice eliminated and it is apparently the same as its fellows, with the only difference being that it has a fur crest on its back to signal its superior status. The real gimmick of the boss is precisely being able to find him among the dozens of other mice. It is important to have good management of the stamina bar and not to be too greedy to strike, once again to avoid being surrounded and quickly finished by the poison. A little trick to find the real boss? It is the only mouse that does not have a life bar on its head once aimed. Another item that might come in handy is the decoy skull, whose purpose is self-evident.
The Royal Vanguard of the Mice has practically the same moves as its fellow soldiers with a longer life bar and a more aggressive status build up. The only way to overcome this collective boss is to attack the Vanguard and only him, as the other rats have a nuisance function and are infinite. Because he shares his weakness against fire with others, a pyromancer has an even easier time than usual here.
Attacks:
- Bite: not much to say, it's the classic attack that all mice in the series have, a close bite.
- Jump (and bite): When the Vanguard or his fellows want to try a little harder, they'll resort to a jump to hit with a quicker bite, dodging by rolling to the sides. For the rest, the boss has no unique moves and the real danger lies in the number of mice and the possibility of being poisoned.
Once the Royal Vanguard of the Mice is downed all the other specimens will withdraw and the audience with the Rat King will be accepted.
Drop:
- Soul of the Royal Vanguard of the Mice (creation, from Straid: Toxic Mist)
- 11.000 anime
- Rat's Tail x1
Lore:
This time, FromSoftware simply created a higher ranking mouse than the others. He is a loyal servant about whom there are very few details: the Royal Vanguard of the Mice is the champion of the Tomb of the Saints, whose job is to check whether those who seek an encounter with his majesty the Rat King they deserve this honor.
Once in the presence of the King, perched on a mountain of bones, it becomes clear why he is a particular creature in his own way for his ability to speak. This monarch has been around for many springs and ironically despises mankind ever since their ancient agreement was not honored.
Still, eliminating his Vanguard puts the Curse Bearer in a new light, and he will be offered the chance to join his pact if you have a Rat Tail in your inventory. If accepted, you will automatically become the Rat King's servant and the rats of the Tomb of the Saints will become allies - complete with theSeal of the Rat ring, which adds poisoning damage. The particular ring was forged from a human who was once among the king's subjects, with whom there seems to have been a friendship rather than an unbalanced .
We will face this other part of the story when we meet the other champion, theRoyal Rat Authority.
► 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
