Depending on the player, some will consider Yhorm the Giant as Dark Souls 3’s easiest or hardest boss. This boss has the largest health pool and some of the deadliest attacks out of the main game, yet he has a massive weakness to a certain attack.

Similar to the Storm King boss in Demon’s Souls, the approach players take with this fight will make it trivial or insanely difficult. Some consider exploiting Yhorm’s weakness cheating or unfun, which is what makes this boss one of Dark Souls 3’s strangest fights. Regardless of stance, there are plenty of tips that can be used to make this giant Lord of Cinder a much easier fight. Here are 10 tips to make the fight against Yhorm the Giant easier in Dark Souls 3.

10 Use Storm Ruler

For players wondering why Yhorm has the largest health pool in Dark Souls 3, it’s because the boss was balanced around players defeating him with a specific weapon.

That weapon would be Storm Ruler, a blade that can be found on Yhorm’s throne at the start of the fight. Make sure to grab it and equip it as soon as possible. Once equipped, hold down the block button to begin charging a heavy wind slash. The sword will glow once ready. A heavy attack will then unleash a gust of wind of Yhorn, taking out a massive chunk of his health. Repeat until he’s dead.

9 Pre Charge Storm Ruler

Since the Storm Ruler’s charged heavy attack is what deals so much damage to Yhorm, it is best to charge the sword as soon as possible and wait for an opening to strike. Charging the sword takes a few seconds while the block button is held.

Once Storm Ruler is charged, it will remain charged until the player either uses the heavy attack or dies. Take advantage of this when there’s time to charge the sword, but not enough to retaliate.

8 Weak To Lightning

As for players determined to defeat Yhorm without using Storm Ruler, they should know that Yhorm is weak to lightning compared to all other elements.

Despite his massive health pool, he can be taken down quickly with a lightning infused Greatsword or any type of weapon with good scaling. Gold Pine Resin is also fantastic against Yhorm for players that do not wish to infuse their weapons with a particular element.

7 Complete Siegward’s Quest

Siegward of Catarina has a lengthy questline that players can embark on during the start of a Dark Souls 3 playthrough. As players complete it, they will eventually find Siegward locked in a cell inside of the Irithyll Dungeon.

Players can reach his cell from the Profaned Capital and release Siegward, allowing him to appear during the Yhorm fight through after a certain cutscene plays. Siegward can take massive amounts of punishment from Yhorm while the player can focus on defeating the giant using Storm Ruler or ranged attacks.

6 Summon For Co-op

If players missed out on Siegward’s questline, they can also choose to summon other players to help defeat Yhorm. Right before entering the hall to Yhorm’s chambers, players should become Embered and see if any players have left their summon sign on the ground.

The only NPC available to help against Yhorm is Siegward after the questline, although he isn’t summoned but appears through a cutscene instead. As long as there are multiple people in the arena, Yhorm is much easier to control and allows for the Storm Ruler wielder to easily down the boss.

5 Skip Enemies

Reaching Yhorm’s area involves fighting multiple gargoyles and jailer handmaidens. Instead of fighting every opponent before entering the arena, players can instead sprint and dodge past the opponents and make their way into the arena while reducing the risk of taking damage.

The gargoyles have easy attacks to dodge and the handmaidens are slow enough for the player to outrun.

4 Maintain Distance

Yhorm is a massive boss that is intimidating to fight. Beating Yhorm will require good mastery of distance in his massive arena. For casters and Storm Ruler users, this is especially important.

Running up to Yhorm to trigger an attack then immediately running away is one way to build distance quickly. Having a summoned phantom or Siegward is also helpful in drawing aggro away from the Storm Ruler user and to someone else. Healing or using the Storm Ruler right under Yhorm is generally a bad idea, so it’s best to run away from him and then either damage or heal. Ankle-slashing this boss is possible but is punished heavily if the player makes a mistake.

3 Attack After An Animation

The best time to attack Yhorm is right after he slashes the ground with his massive machete. His attacks have a long windup before Yhorm becomes Embered, so it is best to not risk it and wait for the giant to slam the ground.

Players can risk attacking mid-attack, but this strategy doesn’t work as well once Yhorm becomes enraged and attacks much faster. The recovery time between landing the hit and Yhorm getting up is enough time for Storm Ruler to use its heavy attack to stun Yhorm.

2 Time Dodges

It should come as no surprise that dodging Yhorm is the best strategy for avoiding damage. Blocking is a bad idea as Yhorm can destroy a player’s stamina pool with ease then follow up with another attack.

Dodging right before the attack lands will prevent the attack from damaging the player without ruining their stamina. Timing these dodges is especially key for anyone that wishes to beat Yhorm without using the Storm Ruler’s charged heavy attack.

1 Defeat Dancer Of The Boreal Valley First

While it doesn’t relate to the fight itself, most players will defeat Yhorm as their last Lord of Cinder. Once three Lords of Cinder are slain, the game will immediately teleport the player to Dancer of the Boreal Valley’s arena, risking all of the Souls the player just earned. Furthermore, it also prevents players from obtaining Siegward’s gear if they beat Yhorm alongside him.

To fix this issue, either defeat Yhorm before Aldrich or slay Dancer of the Boreal Valley first. The latter is possible as early as the start of the game right before the Vordt fight. When players enter the church and talk to Emma, they can kill her and immediately start the Dancer fight. This can be done at any time. Defeating Dancer this early will unlock most of Lothric Castle and prevent the two boss fights from occurring right next to each other.

NEXT: Dark Souls 3: 10 Things You Never Noticed In The Grand Archives