How to Beat the Black Knife Assassin (Deathtouched Catacombs)

Found in the Deathtouched Catacombs dungeon in Limgrave, this boss looks scary and moves fast. With the proper technique, however, it’ll go down in no time.

Rewards:
- Assassin’s Crimson Dagger
- Deathroot
Spirit Summons Available: Yes

General Tips

If you hold block, you’ll be attacked constantly, so counterattack or roll.
If you make the first move, the boss will simply dash away, so wait for it to start attacking before you bother doing anything
The room is dark, but a Lantern can make it easier to read the boss’ movements.

Melee Strategy

Two-hand your weapon, and try to catch the boss right as it begins its combo with a light attack. Most weapons should interrupt the boss, but if your weapon doesn’t you’ll need to instead rely purely on rolls. Rolling past the boss instead of away can allow you to light attack (press the button during the roll) and get a hit in while the boss’ followup misses.

If you have a shield, you can block most of its attacks, but it’s fairly relentless, and guard counters are too slow. Feel free to use the shield in order to learn this boss’ moveset, but you’ll want to end up two-handing your weapon for this fight. You can also parry all of the boss’ attacks, so this is a great fight to learn to parry in (since the runback from the site of grace is brief).

Ranged Strategy

Move towards the boss while locked on — once it begins an attack, roll past it to the right, then roll again — backwards — bringing you further away from the boss. You should then be able to safely begin casting a spell. Repeat until dead!

Moveset

The Assassin’s moves are frequently chained together — often via a side-ways leap — and rarely offer recovery windows you can attack in (with the exception of the dragging slash, which always lets you attack afterwards).

Dragging Slash – The Assassin drags its weapon on the ground (it will spark), then swings it upwards at you. Roll through this one as blocking will drain your stamina.
Dash ‘n Stab/Slash – After leaping sideways, the boss will dash forwards and either thrust with its dagger, or slash horizontally.
Overhand Slash – A slashing attack that begins from over the boss’ left or right shoulder. This is the move that begins most combos, and is often done twice ina row (left to right, or right to left).
Underhand Slash – Similar to the previous attack, but goes low to high rather than high to low. Usually follows an Overhand Slash.