Great Grey Wolf Sif | Dark Souls Wiki


Great Grey Wolf Sif
Boss 0025 Great Greywolf Sif
Location Darkroot Garden
Health * NG: 3,432
NG+: 5,800
Souls * NG: 40,000
NG+: 120,000

* Recorded in PATCH 1.05

weakness: fire

Great Grey Wolf Sif is a Boss in Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered.

 

Great Grey Wolf Sif Information

A very large wolf who resides in a serene graveyard, across the river from Darkroot Garden. It can also be reached by climbing up the ladder close to the Hydra in Darkroot Basin.

According to lore, Sif was Artorias the Abysswalker's partner. When Artorias was swallowed by the Abyss, he threw up his Greatshield to protect Sif, as he could no longer bear it with his arm broken. Now, Sif guards their fallen comrade's grave and his ring, to ensure that what happened to Artorias, doesn't happen to anyone else.

The name Sif itself is a female name of Norse origin. However, all translations into European languages with grammatical gender use male gendered language for Sif, though many of them can be interpreted as the most neutral phrasing of the name. This includes French, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese and Russian.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Drops

 

Rumors

It was originally believed that Sif could be spared and allowed to limp away during the last segment of the fight. This is not true and the only way to progress in the game is to kill Sif; it is not an optional boss. Your dealings with Sif have no impact on the Forest Hunter covenant.

 

Attacks

Horizontal Swing

Sif swings her sword, usually followed up by a second in the other direction. This attack is easily telegraphed, and countered by rolling out of the way, but if caught in it, can knock you down. This is the main attack she uses throughout the fight. 

 

360 Sword Spin

Sif will swing her sword in a full circle, sometimes twice in a single attack. It has a quite slow wind up and has a very telling animation, as she moves her sword to the opposite direction, then takes a big swing. When the player sees this, they should try to either get as far back as possible, or under her. This attack knocks you down, and hurts as well. If you try to block this, it will most likely stagger you, so stick to rolling.

 

Overhead Swing

Sif gets on her back paws momentarily, and swings her sword into the ground, dealing high damage in the process. The attack can be dodged by well-timed rolling in the direction the sword is coming from. 

 

Backflip

As all these attacks can be essentially avoided by sticking under her body and legs, Sif recognizes this from time-to-time and backflips away to a create some distance again. She swings her sword while she does this, but you will rarely get caught in it. She can also do this attack when you are facing her head to head, so watch out for it then, as well.

 

Charge Attack

Sif's final attack is a charged one, which she rarely uses but is still noteworthy. 

 

Alternate Cutscene

  • Opening cut-scene is slightly different if you had freed Sif in the Chasm of the Abyss before approaching her at the end of Darkroot Garden. (AotA / PTDE)
    • Confirmed (at least for freed and summoned). Sif will approach menacingly, knock the player down, and then recognize the player's scent. Her expression will change, she will howl at the moon, and reluctantly pick up her greatsword. The cinematic is noticeably longer than normal. (AotA/PTDE)
    • The special cutscene appears even without summoning Sif.
    • Sif can be summoned to help with Manus if you locate and free her from the magic barrier provided by the Cleansing Greatshield situated behind an illusionary wall.
    • The Hornet Ring can be obtained without triggering the initial boss encounter. Only the immediate area in front of Sif's greatsword will begin the cutscene, so it is safe to simply walk around the gravestone, grab the ring, and leave.

Strategy 1 - Melee

Stay close to the wolf! The danger lies in the lengthy attack range, but by sitting under Sif, she will miss completely. Get in as many hits as you can before Sif eventually flips away, timing yourself to get under the belly of the beast once again.

The easiest way to to get underneath Sif is by waiting for a swing, then roll under her front legs. Just lock on to Sif and back up while waiting for her to swing, after the first swing get your shield up and run underneath her. This is also a simpler way to avoid the 360 attack, which will always come from the left swinging to the right. Make sure you stay in the middle and back up in a circle to avoid getting pinned down. Attacking her legs will make them limp, disabling her mobility (Jumping/Running). 

Also, unless you have an uber shield with amazing stability and/or godly stamina, Sif's two loop spin will most likely break your guard/stamina. Another way is to block the first hit then roll toward the next attack direction. The Eagle Shield found just past the upper bonfire in Blighttown is excellent in this fight and for this spin attack, for your first playthrough.

Sif will also begin to limp at the brink of death. Her attacks will become slower, and the slash combo will cause it to fall over and struggle for a bit before getting back up. Despite rumors that attacking her sword at this point, will cause it to break and her to flee, there is no such forgiving option. 

As you try to figure out how on lordran you can spare her life, you realize the true evil of the creators in making you kill a limping, almost defenseless doggo.

 

Strategy 2 - Ranged Cheese

If you wish to cheese, after spawning the initial cutscene, quit and reload. It is possible to jump to the top of the rocks to the left of the boss fog and snipe Sif with a bow. Any combination of Red Tearstone Ring, Feather Arrows, Black Bow of Pharis, and Hawk Ring is recommended.

 

Strategy 3 - Mage

Honestly, this fight is either extremely hard or extremely easy depending on how much you think about it. The easiest way to beat is to follow these 5 steps (if you main magic) 

  1. IF YOU AREN'T CASTING KEEP YOUR SHIELD UP.
  2. Stay as far back as you can without losing your lock on. Despite the length of Sif's sword, if you keep backing up, most of her normal attacks will miss. 
  3. Great Heavy Soul Arrows are a HUGE NO NO (unless you have excellent timing). The casting time is too great for you to just muck around. Stick to using your Soul Spears and Great Soul Arrows.
  4. Time your regen, randomly drinking Estus Flasks is an easy way to get killed; this is an endurance match, don't rush it.
  5. Guard and use your spells when Sif whiffs.

Instead of staying under Sif, try kiting her around and whenever attacked, make sure you've rolled away from her (backwards/sideways) then fire off a few spells. Repeat the process and Sif should go down pretty easily. Or if you have combustion, sit under Sif and combust. 

 

Online Co-Op Issues

There seems to be an issue (possibly a bug), when trying to summon the same phantom after losing in a fight with Sif. I'm not sure if this is related to the Darkroot Garden in general, or possibly due to the forest and the covenant/hunter PVP.

I was summoned as a phantom by 3 separate hosts and lost the fight 3 times. Unlike other boss fights like Gaping Dragon and Chaos Witch Quelaag, the host was not able to find my soul sign after returning to the steps leading into the forest and the doors leading to Sif. New hosts were able to summon me with no issue.

I talked to the 3rd host and we both exited and re-entered the game, set my soul sign down and we were then able to match up and fight Sif again with no issues. I was Covenant of the White and the host was Forest Hunter Covenant.

Gallery

great grey wolf sif moonlit encounter front1 great grey wolf sif combat ready front1 great grey wolf sif snarl front1

Area Bosses
Asylum Demon  ♦  Bell Gargoyle  ♦  Capra Demon  ♦  Centipede Demon  ♦  Crossbreed Priscilla  ♦  Dark Sun Gwyndolin  ♦  Demon Firesage  ♦  Four Kings  ♦  Gaping Dragon  ♦  Gwyn Lord of Cinder  ♦  Iron Golem  ♦  Moonlight Butterfly  ♦  Nito  ♦  Ornstein and Smough  ♦  Pinwheel  ♦  Seath the Scaleless  ♦  Stray Demon  ♦  Taurus Demon  ♦  The Bed of Chaos

 




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