Pinwheel |
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| Location | The Catacombs |
| Health * | NG: 1,326 |
| NG+: 2,691 | |
| Souls * | NG: 15,000 |
| NG+: 25,000 | |
| * Recorded in PATCH 1.05 Weakness: fire,leeroy,everything |
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Pinwheel is a Boss in Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered.
Pinwheel Information
Pinwheel is the boss that lies in the depths of The Catacombs, and arguably the easiest boss in the entire game. You can find his chamber beyond a fog wall, across the valley floor containing blacksmith Vamos at the bottom of the Catacombs that is being patrolled by the Wheel Skeletons.
First seen in the official Preview, Pinwheel appears to be a necromancer body of sorts, being controlled by three magically-influenced masks. It awards one of its three masks when killed, and the others may be purchased from Patches in Firelink Shrine, after you've assured him you are no cleric in Tomb of Giants.
Once defeated, access to the Tomb of Giants will be granted by way of a ladder in the far corner of Pinwheel's lair.
Drops
- 15,000 souls
- Rite of Kindling
- 1 Humanity
- One of its three masks:
Attacks
Pinwheel Fireball
This fireball deals fire damage, obviously, and is his most common attack. After a short charge, he fires a quick fireball dealing decent enough damage to warrant a dodge. When trying to predict what move he's going to hit next, watch his hands. In this case, they glow and spin clockwise to charge the attack.
There's a variation on this, where he instead spins his hands counter-clockwise and charges a bigger, slower fireball. This one deals more damage and has a larger hitbox, but is easier to dodge. Either of these attacks can be dodged with a well-timed roll.
Pinwheel Flamethrower
While initially seeming similar to the previous, this is different as it is a continuous and remaining in its path will do continuous damage. This, coupled with the high damage, can make this attack dangerous if you don't roll out of the way, which is quite easy to do.
Pinwheel Servants
Pinwheel is able to to vanish, and create as many copies of himself as he pleases; usually occur one after the other. He vanishes when you attack him a few times, and doesn't reappear for a couple seconds. You can tell his disappearance is imminent when he floats in the air, joining all his arms before exploding into thin air. However, he is not completely inconsiderate as he will leave you in the company of a clone.
These clones are a carbon copy of him, and the only visual difference, even though slight, is that the copies have a little bit lighter cloth. Clones are limited to quick fireball attacks, and disappear when hit. When he summons a clone, he waves his arms around and summons one through a small purple portal.
Strategy
Pinwheel is generally considered the weakest area boss in the game, although weakness in Dark Souls is relative. Most players will take damage when dropping into his lair before triggering the cinematic, and may have a natural instinct to pause to heal themselves when the fight starts. The drop isn't too painful for a decent level player, and a single Estus should do the trick. With sufficient speed, pressure, and damage output, victory can be obtained very very quickly.
Pinwheel generally becomes more dangerous if left alone, as he'll begin cloning himself which makes taking him down harder with fireballs flying in from every direction. He will summon clones in groups of two, up to a maximum of 8 total. While they are pretty easy to block and/or dodge, don't let yourself get surrounded. While targeting the real Pinwheel is the main objective here, don't hesitate from eliminating a clone or two, to your convenience; killing the original will make the copies disappear, so maybe that's worth a shot too. Focusing him will result in an almost instantaneous death.
When Pinwheel drops below 30% HP any clones currently in the room will vanish. Immediately after, Pinwheel will summon all 8 clones simultaneously. However, this is the last time any clones will be summoned; If you destroy them Pinwheel will be alone for the remainder of the fight.
A good fire resistant shield, such as the Black Knight Shield or Dragon Crest Shield, can also be helpful to those who need protection from this disappointment of a boss.
Pyromancy
Pinwheel is a pyromaniac, he is vulnerable to pyromancy, which can be a good strategy choice for any player. Equip your pyromancy spells, and be patient. 8 fireballs from level one pyromancy should take him down to a 1/3 of his health. Combustion, Great Combustion, or an AoE Firestorm-type pyromancy, can also be extremely effective. Similarly, using a fire or a Chaos Weapon in both hands can take down Pinwheel's health very quickly.
NPC phantom
If you've somehow managed to struggle against the easiest boss in the game, you can summon the help of Paladin Leeroy. While going through the catacombs, it is possible to drop down onto a platform with a summon sign on it, provided you are in Human form. If you drop down from to the same platform where you find the Cleric Set (visit The Catacombs page to find out more), you will find his summon sign.
This NPC summon is also quite helpful against the many Wheel Skeletons directly below. As for Pinwheel, just evade and block the attacks, and let the NPC do the job. Paladin Leeroy can beat Pinwheel with 3 hits.
Pinhead Pinwheels
A group of Pinwheels can be found with Skeleton Babies later on, before the boss gate of the Tomb of Giants. They have most of the same attacks but cannot summon clones, and have under half the health of the original, making them a relatively easy fight individually; the kicker is that they are all there, and along with the Babies, will attack you simultaneously. The trick here is not to stop moving. Attack one, and kill him, then move onto the next. Ignore the babies, and just target the Pinwheels.
You can also farm them for a chance to obtain the two other masks you didn't obtain in your fight against the original.
AnonymousThis was an apology from the devs for putting in the wheelie skeletons. Too bad they ran out of time to remove them, but at least we got Pinwheel too.
- Anonymous
Pinwheel is actually nice boss with cool design. But his low HP is the reason why most players don't have chance to se how he works. If he had hp and resistances compared to Quelaag we will end in small arena full of his clones shooting fireballs from all directions with real boss teleporting away all the time. Now we don't have to worry about his clones cause he dies before he have chance to spawn more than 1.
- Anonymous
I haven’t even beat the depths yet an decided to explore the combs an +10 claymore 1 handed an just ran up an wap wap wap , over . no damage (but the drop down)
- Anonymous
"Paladin Leeroy can beat Pinwheel with 3 hits."
I beat him with 2 no dmg taken
- Anonymous
Guys don't make fun of him he's trying his best ok. He only just graduated boss school at the bottom of his class and he's very insecure about it
- Anonymous
...i... i just destroyed him in like 5 swings of my moonlight greatsword +4... 30 int...
what the ****?
- Anonymous
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Only thing this guy has going for him is that his fireballs do way to much damage for the stage of the game you are expected to fight him at, other than that hes basically free if you're capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time
- Anonymous
i feel sorry for him, i was going to attack him with a normal sorcery but i accidently attacked him with dark bead
- Anonymous
I enjoy heading to Pinwheel straight away on a new character. At a low level with no weapon upgrades he's much more of a fight, and I can listen to his boss music for a longer time. If the Catacombs weren't as intimidating to new players I feel like this is the way a lot of people would fight him, he might be less of a meme.
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Not gonna lie, Pinwheel on NG+ is actually kinda scary, he now actually has a health bar, and his fire balls can completely melt your healthbar if he and his clones hit you all at around the same time
- Anonymous
F***ing bulls*** game for re***ds!!! This f***ing f***er kill me in one f***ing hit!!! F*** this game!!!
- Anonymous
“So easy”
I’ve died 4 times now
And this is my 3rd time playing this game and I’ve beaten the other 2 games a few times too
This is so sad
- Anonymous
The Wheel Skeletons are the true boss fight.
Imagine if he summoned a few of those instead during the fight, and you had to destroy them before Pinwheel could take damage again.
- Anonymous
I hate that one attack were he just stares at a wall without doing anything, easily the hardest boss in gaming history
- Anonymous
Here's how to beat him: Level int up to 99, equip your strongest spells, and go ham. You will beat his 1st-5th phases easily, before it becomes a matter of luck trying to beat his 50 other phases.
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Im so done with this game. In his 16th phase when pinwheel uses that attack that makes him becomes more powerful than wolf, the hunter, the tarnished, john dark soul, champion of ash, the slayer of demons, demon of hatred, shura, soldier of god, rick, mist noble, soul of cinder, bearer of the curse, chosen undead, owl father, saint isshin, soul of cinder, artorias in his prime, gwyn in his prime, vendrich in his prime, manus, veldstat and fume knight, gough and ornstein, gehrman and moon presence, fully grown kosm, white fatalis, Alatreon and dire miralis combined. Its honestly next to impossible.
If you didn't get the best looking mask in the game from this guy you have to delete your save file and try again to get it
- Anonymous
Man, this bastard killed me with a fireball when he died so I didn't get a mask.... I had to run back through the Bone wheels to get my boss kill souls.
- Anonymous
Ive been trying to find a fromsoft game i can get into but they always have a BS boss dude. Mist noble, pinwheel, soldier of godrick, those 3 pigs in majula. I just cant do it
- Anonymous
Fun Fact : at 99 vitality you have more health than him, only at NG tho
- Anonymous
I like how Pinwheel is a boss necessary for progression and drops an item used for power progression and is just immediately demoted to fodder enemy before the end of the following zone.
- Anonymous
holy **** this boss is hard i can't i just can't do it that's why we need an easy mode it's inaccessible for me
- Anonymous
I don't know why some people think that Pinwheel's masks are ugly. I think that they're cool and creepy
This one guy died to pinwheel for 6 hours with full havel armour on. Then he beat ds3 on stream, crazy.
- Anonymous
Of note on the part about farming the ones before nito fog: patches will move to firelink after nito dies and sells all 3 masks.
- Anonymous
guys help i’ve been stuck on this boss for the past five years, any tips? i’ve already tried pretty much everything even hacking but pinwheel just beats my ass anyways. Devs really need to give pinwheel less health smh my head.
- Anonymous
Pinwheel unironically stresses me out more than any of the early bosses. He's super easy, but it's exactly his reputation of being "the big stinky loser boss" that makes me terrified of accidentally losing to him. Imagining the embarrassment... it'd be too much.
That being said, I don't think new players should be embarrassed for losing to him. The game teaches you to sit back and analyze bosses before engaging, but with Pinwheel, that can lead to him cloning a bunch and becoming overwhelming.
- Anonymous
2/10 difficulty, but 100/10 for the area! honestly the whole area IS the boss and pinwheel is just the vine you gotta cut down on your way to the big boi Nito
- Anonymous
Unbelievable broken boss, the hardest in the series by far. I absolutely cannot dodge his fireball attack and then after he knocks me down he vores me to death and looks skyward, which pisses me off and makes me blow hot air out of my ears. And don't even get me started on his mitosis ability, my god he splits into about 4.3 godecadillion versions of himself and if he doesn't vore me first, my pc will self destruct. I don't even know what they were thinking, they obviously weren't. This dude turns my dreams into nightmares, I haven't once beaten the game yet because of this mf, jesus.
- Anonymous
He was the easiest boss I fought, but the only one who’s cutscene gave me chills
- Anonymous
I'll be completely honest. As easy as this boss is, it isn't necessarily the easiest. Never died to him, but I have an easier time with Gaping Dragon than this guy, as Pinwheel at least damages me, while I usually kill Gaping without getting hit once, it takes more time, but I find the Dragon to be the easiest boss in the game.
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hey i had a wierd event happen to me, i was in the catacombs and i went through a fogwall to find a hollow that had a boss healthbar? so i came here to find out its a well documented glitch, fromsoft what you doing? fix pls.
- Anonymous
Died during his boss fight
Realized what happend
Uninstalled the game
Uninstalled myself
- Anonymous
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wonder if pinwheel pays nito rent for living in the catacombs like on a Tuesday nito goes to get the milk and on Friday pinwheel does it
- Anonymous
I went in expecting a medium difficulty boss, so I used my +5 Black Knight Sword... lyeah I 3 shotted this joke of a boss, late game weapons usually 1-5 shot him, so if you're going for Nito don't worry about dying, just rush him and spam attacks, no strategy required. Also I got Giant Dad mask first try so that's a plus lol
- Anonymous
Is he guaranteed to drop a mask when killed? I just killed him and he only dropped the rite of kindling, no mask.
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I have a challenge, try to make a build that has trouble fighting Pinwheel
- Anonymous
Fun fact: Pinwheel is actually the result of a father trying to save his family and in doing so unintentionally fused them together, now he is trying to reverse his mistake but you kill him and his family before he can, have fun you monster!
- Anonymous
Created a (non-mage) twink build to up the difficulty of Giant Dad / Havel Mom / Boulder Child wannabees that make the run right after the Asylum.
I'm having a lot of fun and getting a surprising amount of invasions. They are more of a race than a duel; if they can make it to Pinwheel before I get them they win a mask!
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guys help i actually lost to pinwheel, i nearly oneshot with my fist and couldnt see through tears of laughter at how much of a joke this boss was!
- Anonymous
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Back when I was still a fresh, virgin Casul, I actually died fighting him when the battery on my controller gave up and I couldn't plug in the cable fast enough ... Even Oswald cannot undo this shame and sin.
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Had to summon two players to help me with this boss. His health and damage output is insane. I thought this guy was supposed to be easy, but he tanked every hit
- Anonymous
Wow, comically easy later on. I waited till late game, fought him with 50 int/Logan’s staff and one shotted him with homing crystal soulmass. Cool looking boss though, just wish he wasn’t so squishy considering the Catacombs is a difficult area in comparison!
- Anonymous
Does anyone know what this boss is called in the German version?
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I have never had trouble against this boss, but even so, I like summoning Paladin Leeroy against him, just to watch him obliterate Pinwheel in 3 easy steps
- Anonymous
The only thing dangerous about this boss are the Bonewheels outside.
To make this boss more difficult they should add two Bonewheels to the fight like those dogs with Capra Demon, AND make them revive if you're sadistic.
The lights can also be toned down once the fight begins so you only see Pinwheel clearly when they fire at you or you have something like the Skull Lantern.
Health should be kept the same, newer players need some mercy.
- Anonymous
I died to pinwheel and have been been crying in my closet ever since.
- Anonymous
I wish they gave him a bigger health bar. If they did he would be one of my favorite bosses. But they just had to make him such a push-over.
- Anonymous
Me:hey guys pinwheel has a second phase
Pinwheel:see?nobody cares
POOR PINWHEEL
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i just rushed through catacombs with my +5 black knight sword,elite knight armor,crest shield an 4 shotted this guy lol
- Anonymous
I honestly don't know how to fight this boss. I fought it with full havel armour, a +15 black knight halberd, leveled all stats to 99, summoned 3 phantoms. But his whopping 1 damage destroyed my character instantly and whenever I go back, he kills me instantly. If anyone knows how to hack and kill it, please come in my world and reduce it's 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 health to zero. It's too OP, please nerf.
- Anonymous
Zweihander smashy smashy! You’d think people would appreciate an easy boss leading into one of the most miserable areas of the game! Tomb of Giants sucks!!
- Anonymous
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A decade later, and I only just realized a potential bit of lore involving Pinwheel, of all things, and the Four Kings.
So, off the bat, their boss fights are actually the same concept: one appears, then overwhelms you with clones. Even if they're not particularly dangerous on their own, being ganked by a boss is never optimal. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, really.
We know that a certain "cult" was trying to make their way to Nito in order to steal his power of death in hopes of slaying the gods, as posited by the Effigy Shield. It would seem this cult was some sort of offshoot of the Way of White, hence Rhea's company descending into the tomb, and why Paladin Leeroy, the first of Allfather Lloyd's own Undead army used to hunt down those afflicted with the Darksign, blocks the way to Nito's lair and also assists in fighting him. (There's also seemingly a connection to Nashandra and Aldrich, but that's less important here.) Pinwheel drops the Rite of Kindling, which imitates a rite used by devout clerics to strengthen the bonfire, except Pinwheel's version is seemingly born of a darker magic related to humanity.
As for the Four Kings, they were beckoned by Kaathe to usher the Age of Dark, so became Darkwraiths hunting the Undead. It's not difficult to see the connection between them and this enigmatic cult seeking Nito's power of death. Furthermore, the Dark Hand used by the Darkwraiths is depicted with a red aura similarly to the Rite of Kindling. It even states in its description that, by drawing on the power of the Dark Soul, it allows one to drain humanity even from the most "replete saint," much like the Rite of Kindling's clerical roots.
Nito has an evident affiliation with the dark. Although his death power isn't exactly the same, and even if he's relatively benign compared to the Bed of Chaos or the Four Kings, his existence is a draw for servants of the dark. Not exactly his fault, being the embodiment of death and pestilence, but he symbolizes the inevitability of the end. In death, all manner of beings are but one and the same, devoid of their individual souls. This is a similar concept to the Age of Dark, in which any individual identity is lost as the world is unified under a blanket of hibernation. (Again, this concept is reiterated in DS3 with the Deep.) After all, what do we find in New Londo but a mass grave and the vengeful ghosts of those poor souls damned by the gods?
It may mean nothing at all, but this makes me think that maybe both Pinwheel and the Four Kings represent this concept of unification. Pinwheel is regarded as a single entity apparently comprised of three separate identities—Mother, Father, and Child; the Four Kings share one bequeathed soul, as if their wills were merged in the Abyss. It might not be a stretch then to think that Pinwheel has some relation to New Londo, and subsequently that New Londo may have originated under the Way of White. I always wondered why the ghosts could use lightning miracles, after all...
It's really nothing but a supplemental bit of lore, if it's even remotely accurate, but I guess after having played these games so many times, it was inevitable that I'd start to question Pinwheel's background lol.
- Anonymous
Ok, I did some research and it turns out the mask drops do indeed have a pattern. RNG in video games is never truly 'random', but determined by chaotic, yet determinate, equations - where small changes in the inputs produces large changes in the outputs. I have good reasons to believe that these 'inputs' for RNG are based off of key events, or scripted events, in the game as the player progresses. I started a bandit character, then rushed Pinwheel as my first act once I got to Lordran. I consumed a humanity to become human, skip Catacombs and summon Leeroy and then beat the boss. I then quit, deleted my character and repeated these steps exactly. These were the drops that occurred: Mask of the Mother x4 (4 times in a row), Mask of the Child x4, Mask of the Father x4. I didn't test any further, but this should be a repeating drop cycle. I would also like to note that the repeating pattern may also be owing to the character slot in the save menu being reused, similar to the bottomless box glitch. Might need further testing.
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It makes sense. The wheel skeleton pit is nightmare fuel and the area directly after pinwheel is one of the toughest in the game. If there was a super difficult boss sandwiched in between it would be overkill. As if that wasn’t enough reason it also drops the rite of kindling that many players would want from the beginning of subsequent playthroughs so they made him manageable at lower levels. Good balancing choices on Froms part but they probably didn’t expect it to become the biggest DS meme of them all
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TO BE FAIR, if you decide to fight him before your damage output or health are semi-decent, he can be a challenge. Basically, if you're underleveled, have fun getting two-shot.
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35 strenght, one-handed zweihander+13, and it only took three heavy attacks
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It was a two hit fight: I hit him, he hit the floor. He was a two-hitter quitter.
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I was trying to get WotG ASAP and had 11 in all stats except faith (28) dex (14) and strength (14). I used a non-upgraded Astora’s sword and it was semi-challenging. Still didn’t die though what am I a noob?
- Anonymous
I killed the pinwheel and i didnt get mask and rite of kindling.
Has a sad story,
father, mother, child imprisoned in a body..
I guess I'm the only one who gets upset when killing this boss (google tanslate)
- Anonymous
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Ah yes, i can find him behind a fog gate, unlike every other boss in the game. Also, better guide to finding?
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Unfunny “pinwheel is easy” jokes all over the shop ... you’ll make one of them, sooner or later
- Anonymous
Bro i cant defeat this guy i defeated ornstein and smough in first try but every time i go fight this dude on other playthroughs i die to him at least 5 times what should i do
- Anonymous
The monster who bested Nito, so intimidating. Nito must’ve been hammered to let this man pass him
- Anonymous
Pinwheel was the hardest boss of all the time it was really threatening and devastating when he made weak add clones while he sat and stared at the wall eating Doritos
- Anonymous
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Who here want's some free soul? oops sorry didn't notice pinwheel was there I thought he was a barrel... He has about the same hp.
Fought this guy as a lvl 6 warrior with a +0 longsword and was surprisingly difficult. 30 damage per hit while constantly cloning and spamming fireball. Definitely stronger than Taurus demon. The downside of this boss is that he doesn't have any other attacks outside his fireballs.
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