Bell Gargoyle |
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| Location | Undead Parish | |
| Health * | NG: 1,000 / 480 | |
| NG+: 2,500 / 1,200 | ||
| Souls * | NG: 10,000 | |
| NG+: 50,000 | ||
| * Recorded in PATCH 1.5 |
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| weakness: fire,lightning,solaire |
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Bell Gargoyle is a Boss in Dark Souls.
Bell Gargoyle Information
Located on the roof of the Undead Parish, guarding the path to one of the Bells of Awakening. Not just one, but two of these halberd-wielding, fire breathing demons must be killed for the player to proceed.
Drops
- 10,000 souls (boss only)
- 1 Twin Humanities (boss only)
- Gargoyle's Halberd, arguably better than the regular Halberd.
- Gargoyle Shield. Has a chance to drop.
- Gargoyle Helm. Small chance to drop.
- Gargoyle Tail Axe: focus all damage onto the first gargoyle’s tail until it's chopped off; pick it up and continue the fight, and there's no need to worry about dying after this as once you pick it up, it's yours.
A good way of farming these items are to kill just one gargoyle, and then use Homeward Bone or die. When you enter again, the fight restarts as normal. While most will suggest to only target the first Gargoyle, both probably drop the same items at the same rates, so have it your way. Except for the Gargoyle Tail Axe, all other Gargoyle drops are guaranteed to drop at the last slain Gargoyle in Anor Londo if not optained already.
Attacks
The first Gargoyle will primarily attack with its axe for physical damage, but breathes fire if the player tries to hide. It will whip its axe-tail when the player is behind the Bell Gargoyle and also while flying.
After its health is halved it will start breathing fire, and a second Gargoyle will also join the fray. The second Gargoyle spawns with half health, and mostly breathes fire.
Hints
- If you are human you may summon Solaire of Astora, both online and offline, to help with this boss fight. His summon sign is found right before the fog to the rooftop.
- Once rescued, Knight Lautrec of Carim can be summoned to assist in the Bell Gargoyle fight. His summon sign can be found on a ledge across from the ladder below the fog gate to the Bell Gargoyle.
- It is also a good idea to summon a player if you are not hollow. Common summon sign locations include at the bottom of the stairs inside the church next to the elevators, and outside the church at the end of the path leading down to the blacksmith (where three hollow soldiers are located).
- Player summons are useful here as well because unlike most bosses, here the cinematic will not trigger when the host enters the boss gate, but rather when the host is approximately one third of the way across the roof towards the bell tower. This allows player summons to also enter the area through the boss gate and then run ahead of the host and get in position on the roof before the boss appears. This will then give the summons a few moments to immediately cut off the first Gargoyle's tail before he begins flying around. If you have summons with you, give them a few moments to join you on the roof and run ahead of you before you trigger the Gargoyles.
- For summons running ahead of the host to get the Gargoyle Tail Axe, a good place to position yourself is just past the perpendicular roof that juts off the main roof roughly halfway towards the bell tower. If you run past the side roof and then turn perpendicular to the main roof (so that the gargoyle's bell tower is to your right), when the gargoyle first appears you will have a free swing at his tail right in front of you. The gargoyle's cutscene in which it jumps down on the roof also gives a good approximation of where it will actually be standing when the fight starts. Using a two handed weapon with an overhead swing can cut the tail off with one blow.
- Using a Gold Pine Resin will make this fight substantially easier, as the Gargoyles are extremely weak to lightning.
- If you can get your hands on it, and if you can use it, the Black Knight Sword can be really useful for this fight, as it can cut the tail in one or two swings and deals massive amounts of damage, killing the second gargoyle in two or three hits.
As Minibosses
There is a Miniboss variant of these "Bell Gargoyles" with the exception that they have lightning breath instead of fire breath.
This version can be found in Anor Londo; they are only two, and are separate from one another, so you can fight them one at a time. So if you missed the helmet drop from earlier, good luck!
Strategy
A good shield will block most of the Gargoyle's attacks, but the fire will still deal some damage even when blocked, so try to stay out of its range when the second one joins. Focus all attacks against the first Gargoyle, even after the second one appears. Run away if they start ganging up, to divide and conquer. When one is killed, get in close to the second Gargoyle, and its fire breath will be useless.
Despite breathing it, the Gargoyles are vulnerable to fire, so a few Firebombs will help during this fight.
If you have summoned a helper, it can be useful to split attack duties between the two Gargoyles, as it is far easier to keep from getting ganged up on when each Gargoyle is focusing on a separate target. For example, if an NPC is attacking the first gargoyle (and you have already chopped off its tail), go after the second one and let the NPC keep the first one's attention. Since the second gargoyle is exceptionally fond of using fire breath, you should have plenty of opportunity to assault its flank and take it down quickly - and you won't get a surprise blast of fire on your backside.
At the opposite end of where you start the fight, at the each side of the bell tower there are narrow paths that seemingly make for a good hiding place. Do not go there! The gargoyles can't reach you with their weapons, but their fire breathing will. Additionally, they block you inside making it exceedingly difficult to break out.
A very easy way to beat the Gargoyles is by summoning Lautrec and Solaire. After talking to Solaire and getting the White Soapstone, find the mystery key and free Lautrec in the church. Quit the game, talk to him in Firelink Shrine, and go to the Gargoyles' fog gate. Solaire's sign is right before the door while Lautrec's is on the opposite side of the room, one ladder down. They're both pretty hard to miss and if you use these two phantoms the Gargoyles become very easy to defeat. Lautrec is nearly invincible against them with his heavy armor, and Solaire can dish out a fair amount of damage with his Lightning Spears.
Notes/Trivia
As you will notice, the second gargoyle has only half the health of the first one. It is also physically smaller, lacking a helmet (I think) and has had it's tail removed. There are three likely culprits to have inflicted the injury:
- Knight Lautrec the Embraced is initially found locked in a cell in the undead church. Who put him there - and why a church has a cell in the first place - is a mystery, but it is possible that he attempted the reach the bell tower and engaged one of the gargoyles. After being injured, the gargoyle called for his fellow to assist him. Even the zealously devoted have some consideration for their own hides.
- Knight Solaire of Astora reaches several parts of Lordran before you, so it wouldn't be a surprise to find that he had fought his way through the undead in the church while you were shooting the breeze with Andre. Although his prowess in battle is legendary - and rightly so - a 2v1 match with stone skinned demons is enough to sway the bravest heart.
- Oswald the Pardoner is nowhere to be found after you kill the gargoyles, only appearing after you ring the bell of awakening. One explanation was that he was the one to injure the gargoyle, in an attempt to get to the bell tower for his own reasons.
However, the most likely explanation is as thus: the second gargoyle was a juvenile. Gargoyles are a rare type of sentient draconian descendants, like drakes or serpents, that kept imperfect versions of the scales of immortality but were hunted to near extinction. Therefore, the second gargoyle you fight isn't actually wounded at all: it's a baby, and therefore uses more cowardly tactics like spraying you with fire while its mother protects it.
AnonymousIdk about ya’ll but I think whoever locked up lautrec was the one who cut off the second gargoyle’s tail
- Anonymous
Ha HA ha ha ha ha ha *some music* HA HA HA HA *some more music* HA HA HA HA
- Anonymous
I like how this boss is a pretty easy 1v1 once you get down some of the wonkier timings on it's attacks but becomes extremely difficult the moment the other gargoyle enters the arena before slingshotting all the way back and even further to becoming ludicrously easy the moment you summon Solaire/Lautrec or anyone else.
It is quite funny
- Anonymous
If there was a "The true Dark Souls starts here" message, this is probably were it should be placed. Sure there's some challenging traps and enemy setups on the way here but the 2 bosses on the way are pretty pathetic. Not the gargoyles, however. For the early game, they do quite a bit of damage to you. It's also not the easiest arena to battle in, in terms of the slopes and ledges. Once you get down the dodge timing though, the first gargoyle can be handled pretty well, but things get a lot more complicated once the second one drops in. My advice for these types of gank fights is always pretty similar. Move around a lot to get nice attack windows, and if at all possible, kill the first when the second one comes in. No matter what though, there's no doubt in my mind that many first time players hit their first true wall at this boss.
- Anonymous
Its kinda cute when the first one jumps to the roof and stomps
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
zweihander + 5 with gold pine resin will kill them in 3 hits.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Summon Solaire and Lautrec and go get yourself a cup of coffee while waiting for them to finish
- Anonymous
Toss Firebomb to kill one of them when they stop to breathe fire if you refuse to summon for help
- Anonymous
I just beat these guys last night. I was taking a break from another boss fight and went exploring in areas I already visited but hadn't explored in earnest. When I stumbled on the Gargoyles, I wasn't too intimidated by the first gargoyle when I saw how much damage I was doing to him. However, I realized I was going to have an issue when the second one showed up. I did some experimenting and farmed up some souls to upgrade my weapons. What I ended up going was using my shield to block attacks and get a couple of hits and made sure I was one the OPPOSITE SIDE of the arena to where the second gargoyle would spawn in. I made sure my stamina was charged up enough by the time the first gargoyle was around half health. I then when all in and attacks and didn't stop until the first gargoyle was down. As for the second one, he was pretty easy to take take care up. I just attacked him from behind as he breathed fire. On his own, he is nothing in comparison to the first one.
Side note: Be sure to send the elevator down so you can use it after respawn from the Firelink shrine. That way, you will be going in with more Estus flasks.
- Anonymous
holy hell i just beat the game and i can confidently say, that this was the hardest boss for me.
- Anonymous
i literally never saw the stairs by the elevator until I was level 30 and had a +5 Great Axe; needless to say it took a couple of hits to kill them LMAO
- Anonymous
These guys were pretty hard on my first playthrough, but ever since then I've steamrolled them with strong weapons or left them till later (thank you Sen's Skip) in order to one-shot them in hilarious ways.
That is, until today. I just randomly decided to do a Bandit's Knife only run, and got to the Gargs with a +2 weapon. And holy hell, what a pain in the butt!
The first garg has such a well designed moveset: it's got long halberd slams and pokes that punish lazy spacing and heal attempts. Try circle strafing and you got the halberd spin and the tail slams. I love how you can cut off the tail, not just for a cool weapon, but for completely neutralizing tail attacks. I wonder why Fromsoft use breakable enemy parts so rarely - it's always fun, no wonder why it's a mainstay in games like Nioh. Getting back to the garg, I like how it tries to disorient you by flying up and coming down occasionally. I love how you can completely avoid some of the halberd attacks just by using the elevation of the roof.
The second garg makes it clear that this is a 2-phase fight in all but reputation (people seem to think that the only 2-phase fight in DS1 is OnS & Manus). The fire breath has a really, really good punish window, but of course you'll have to deal with the the other gargoyle that's pressuring you. This leads to a very dynamic encounter that's not just poke, run away, poke again: you can bait certain attacks, lead one gargoyle away from another, and cleverly play with space to give you better windows for punishes, heals, and evasion. Which is what Souls-style combat should be all about, in my opinion. And this boss just nails the fundamentals of Souls combat.
What I also want to note is that the Gargs are proof that you can have a great duo boss fight without any fancy intertwining enemy AI patterns or whatever. Just two very well-designed enemies against you in a room, with good movesets that create ways for you to play around them dynamically. I think DS2 gets too much flak for some of its boss fights for this very reason: apparently reused or duo bosses are bad because they're 'cheap', which I've never understood. Twin Dragonriders, for example, I think is a very fun fight.
Elden Ring on the other hand...
- Anonymous
Theory: lautrec slapped the second gargoyle and cut the tail therfore they throwed him in horny jail
- Anonymous
Gotta love how the whole strat for this boss is "summon Solaire"
These guys were a pain on my first run, but fun to smush on NG+, hehe.
- Anonymous
I remember when I had hard times fighting them on my very first playthrough(which was my first time playing from software game as well). So today I was a bit shocked when I killed them in few swings of black knight sword
- Anonymous
Worst f***ing boss in the series!!! Total bulls***!!! The f***ers f***ing gang up on you and f*** you on the wall!!! F*** this game!!!
- Anonymous
Bro I just got all their drops except for the shield NG on my first fight with them. Oddly enough Solaire was there. Coincidence? I THINK NOT. Praise the sun brothers and sisters.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
These guys are total douchebags. I thought they'd let ne sit at their table because we're all just hunks of rock, but they proceeded to growl at me, and then got up and started smashing the lunchbox Priscilla gifted me. Do NOT reccomend trying to talk to them.
- Anonymous
Used black knight halberd+2 and a few hits enough for DEATH!
- Anonymous
Was having some trouble with them, first time playing. Got annoyed and summoned Solare. He made the fight an insta-win and now I feel like I cheated. <:/
- Anonymous
I had an unusually tricky time with them on my recent run. I'm not sure why, but they were dodging a lot more than usual, everytime I got close they'd hop away. Had to summon as a distraction because I literally couldn't touch them.
Don't know if I bugged the AI or what. Sure did make me feel like a fool.
- Anonymous
basically a damage test. easy af if you have a +5 and gg if you haven't bothered refining any.
- Anonymous
idea for darksouls mod gargoyle travel
after we beat the bell gargoyles after we ring the bell a Npc called the foreign stone knight appears and attacks us
and after he dies he drops a item called the gargoyle horn which when we use it a stone gargoyle fly's in and lands and we can now fast travel to 3 locations
1 anor londo
2 oolicile
3 darkrootgarden
- Anonymous
I farm this boss for its drops, upgrade the helms, halberds and shields to +5 and drop it for new players in undead burg. I like being charitable.
- Anonymous
Sorcerers can stunlock them with heavy soul arrow. You can grab it from rickert right at the start of the game
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
welp these guys are a great source of ten k souls and acess to homeward bones from mr creepazoid laugh perfectly easy on a str build tho
- Anonymous
First playthrough, dexterity built...I summoned the two NPC phantoms and they destroyed the boss before I could even really get a hit in...I’m terrible at this game, but I still feel like I cheated myself here.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This boss is pretty easy if you happen to be doing a STR build... no need for exotic weapons and rings, just some STR points and any upgraded STR weapon will do the trick.
DEX is a bit harder unless you have a DEX weapon that can dish out high enough damage-per-second this early in the game.
- Anonymous
I almost got it on the first try; I ran into the narrow walkway on the opposite end and hid in the corner close to the wall. The fire reached me first few times, but then I was safe. I started raining arrows on it till the, second one appeared and got a few shots in on him too. Then I noticed I am out of arrows. I only had twentysomething; I should have checked before the fight. Trapped in the corner, I threw knives at it but I was back in fire breathing range and died quickly. Next time I went to the roof, the cutscene didn't play, the gargoyle was ready to attacked as soon as I walked out. And hiding in the corner doesn't seem to work anymore, tried many times.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
DS2 gargoyles are far more difficult than these pathetic weaklings.
- Anonymous
Summoning both solaire and lautrec makes the fight very easy ,you can just sit behind and enjoy the show... but one of them might get killed ,and none of us would like to see sunbro get killed
- Anonymous
"Therefore, the second gargoyle you fight isn't actually wounded at all: it's a baby, and therefore uses more cowardly tactics like spraying you with fire while its mother protects it."
Goddamnit Dark Souls, you make me feel bad for killing even the most annoying bosses
- Anonymous
shoot, killed these guys earlier (got solaire to distract 'em and whaled on them with the black knight greatsword), i take it i can get drops off 'em either as a summon or via the later minibosses? all i got from the fight was the helm.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Just killed them in three hits with the giant bonk +5 and lightning buff.
- Anonymous
In one of the comics, the protagonist Andred of Ithvale was captured and forced to fight a bell gargoyle, and a Titanite Demon. I would assume this is the same one, and same with Titanite Demon in the darkroot garden / undead parish because its also crippled (missing its leg). Page 18 of "Dark souls Winter's Spite"
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The second gargoyle appears with missing health and a cut off tail. It's not younger or just weaker, it's damaged from a previous fight
- Anonymous
"" "(I think) "" " is there no level of validation to post in this wiki at all?
- Anonymous
I have literally never had to fight both bell gargoyles at once. Between me, solaire, and lautrec, the first one is dead by the time the second one actually gets to the roof. I'm hoping I can replicate this again, as my black knight's greatsword is capable of two-shotting these things it looks like. I don't think I'll even need solaire.
- Anonymous
Always struggle a little with this fight but I'm currently playing on the switch and cant even get to the fog door. The ladder leading to it is gone. Physically, it's there. I can run into it and hit it. But cant see it or use it.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I just killed the gargoyles in only 3 or 4 hits each with the Drake Sword. What's going on here? I don't remember this sword being this overpowered.
- Anonymous
The page recommends using a Homeward bone or dying to leave the fight for farming the various equipment, but you don't need to do either. Simply quitting out and reloading the game will place you outside the boss fog, saving you the backtracking and the valuable homeward bones. And it is worthwhile to get all of the equipment; the helm (fully upgraded) is one of the better helmets of the early/mid game, especially as Blighttown is upcoming, its poison resist is helpful. The Gargoyle Halberd is an excellent weapon to ascend to Fire or Chaos later. The Shield is weight 4, (which is lighter than Silver Knight) has pretty good reduction for all types, and can be ascended to Fire or Lightning to become one of the better shields for either type in the game
I would disagree with the second Gargoyle being an adolescent. It might be smaller (couldnt notice during several playthroughs), but as the flow of time is convoluted, having its Tail cut is far more likely a nod to another player/NPC getting to Phase 2 and then dieing there, leaving the "summoned" second Gargoyle in a banged up state for your world. Its size could have also something to do with its gender. Also, it could just be a hint for the player being able to cut the Tail
- Anonymous
I managed to win against this freaking boss 15th time I tried, I guess. You shouldn't wear so many heavy things on you not to be clunky in this fight. Being clunky against Gargoyles will result a huge real pain against their unique attack, you have to fast roll to dodge them. Once you dodge 2 or 3 attack one and one, you can easily riposte afterwards.
- Anonymous
Pretty easy fight overall, did on on my first try. One hit to the tail with the drake sword got me the axe, and then I just focused on the first one until it was down - which took maybe 6 hits. My terrible dodging skills left me at 1/2 health after downing #1, so I just used a flask while #2 was pointlessly breathing fire in the wrong direction, ran up to it, and 3-shotted it. Don't let yourself get intimidated; they're not really all that much to deal with if you take them on one at a time.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Super weak to Dark Bead. Literally only cast it three times (twice for first gargoyle, once for the second).
Second, where the hell does this info about gargoyles being descendants of dragons come from? I just assumed they were crafted by the gods to act as sentinels (they don't drop a boss soul!), or for the sake of providing a test for a Chosen Undead, just like the Iron Golem.
I imagine the "juvenile" gargoyle is actually just jacked up after a previous fight, and there are even more live gargoyles around the arena, which remain idle even after the defeat of the first two in case this Chosen Undead fails later and they have to test yet another unfortunate soul. Notice there are a few pedestals around the arena that mysteriously lack gargoyles.
And if they were dragons, why then would there be two of them guarding Anor Londo as well? Perhaps they were crafted using the bones of dragons, just like Iron Golem, but I doubt Gwyn or Gwyndolin would allow rampant drakes in their city.
- Anonymous
Could not beat these fuckers for the life of me, so I just had to use a summon, something I never did for any other boss neither in Dark Souls or Bloodborne, had to start a new game after finishing just to get a rematch with these assholes
And so I regained my pride
- Anonymous
If the second Gargoyle weren't wounded and is just a baby, why would its tail be missing and start out at half health?
- Anonymous
Solaire did the tail cut for me with a lightning spear. Praise the sun!
I have fought then, and defeated them very easily, but when they dye, they don't droped the itens, 10000 Souls/twin humanity...
Somebody know why?
Maybe because it was the summons Who give the final blow? (Solaire and Lautrec)
Yeah just save one resin and pop it right before the cutscene, then give his tail a little bit of smacking and kill it. The increased damage and their lightning weakness should make it quiete easy to kill the first one before the second one can even launch an attack. But i consider to pick up the Claymore on the Bridge with Hellkite since it does manifique damage.
- Anonymous
What a derivative boss fight.. why not just remaster demon souls?
- Anonymous
Fought them with both Solaire and Lautrec, I barely saw what happened
- Anonymous
the person who put his sign at the bottom of the ladder to the boss, ***** you.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
solaire made the fight so easy jolly cooperation is this game's solace
i dont f*cking know how, but i stopped at this boss for five hours at my first playtrough, still memorable.
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