Dark Souls 2: How to Beat the Smelter Demon

Kill the Smelter Demon, light the bonfire and prepare for the Old Iron King.

Continue your journey with Prima’s Dark Souls 2 Guide and Walkthrough!

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Reward: Smelter Demon Soul

The best way to take down the Smelter Demon is to have a shield equipped that absorbs 100 percent damage, and light armor so you can strafe around the Demon quickly. The Demon doesn’t have a wide range of attacks, but you need to be able to either quickly strafe to avoid them, or dodge effectively more often than not. If you can do this, the fight is relatively easy.

When the battle begins, the Smelter Demon’s body is on fire, but the flames are fairly small. If you stand right next to its body, you may take minor fire damage, but it’s nothing to concern yourself with. Once you’ve inflicted enough damage on the Demon, it pauses to increase the flames on its body. At this point, you don’t have to be standing quite as close to get damaged, and you take a little more damage compared to the start of the fight. Inflict a bit more damage to get the Demon down to around 50 percent health, and it sticks the blade into its body to engulf the sword in flames. 

Throughout the entire fight, the Demon uses a small set of attacks. It has a three hit combo that consists of two horizontal attacks, followed by a vertical attack that can be grounded or follow a jump. The jumping variant is more difficult to avoid, and the Demon may sometimes create a burst of flame following the jumping attack. 

The jumping attack can also be used by itself and the flame burst doesn’t always follow the jumping attack in either situation, but you have to always assume it will occur in order to avoid taking damage. If you’re close to the Demon during the flame burst, you take considerable damage. Once the Demon’s body flame increases, so does the range of the flame burst. At that point, you need to be roughly halfway across the battlefield to avoid it. 

If you stand a moderate distance away from the Demon, it uses a linear attack that breaks your guard. However, the Demon doesn’t follow it with anything, so you have time to regain stamina and avoid taking damage. Once the sword is on fire, this attack shoots flames in a linear manner. It can still be avoided by sticking close to the Demon or dodging to the left or right with proper timing.

Your main attack pattern should be to stick close to the Demon, circling it as quickly as possible. If you’re light enough, you move fast to block the first horizontal attack of the three hit combo, then the second attack will completely miss, and sometimes the third attack won’t happen at all. As soon as you see the Demon pause, hit it with two or three attacks depending on the speed of your weapon.

More than likely you will not inflict significant damage with each attack, and you’ll constantly take damage from its flaming body. This is a battle of attrition. If your health gets low due to the Demon’s flaming body, take the next opening to use a healing item or ability. As long as you’re evading the Demon’s attacks, it will go down before you do.

Kill the Demon, then head through the opening and up the stairs to the bonfire. Light the bonfire, then head down the hall to take out the next enemy. Head back toward the bonfire and through the doorway to the left and across the bridge. Engage the enemy at the halfway point, then continue across. Jump over the gap, then take out the enemy just beyond. Be careful fighting in the narrow hallway, as some of your attacks may be deflected by the walls.

Take down the archer in the next room, then pull the lever and head up the stairs. Get on the platform and make your way down the path to the next archer on the platform ahead. Take down the archer, then do the same to the next archer on the remaining platform. Drop down to the path below and defeat yet another archer, then head to the left to find the Large Soul of a Proud Knight and a Radiant Lifegem

Continue up the stairs and across the next set of platforms to the left. Wait for the flame trap to die down, then move on to the platform ahead with the ladder. Climb up the ladder and attack the coffer on the right to find a Lightning Winged Spear and Dark Armor. Head up the stairs and down the path to the right to find a chest at the end. Open it to obtain 10 Destructive Greatarrows

Go up the ladder to the right of the chest, ignore the Pharros’ Lockstone face, then through the doorway and up the stairs. Take down the three archers in the next area, then pick up the item in the corner to obtain a Simpleton’s Spice. Open the coffer in the adjacent corner to find a Black Knight Greataxe.

Drop down to the platform below, then continue down to the bottom of the area, using the platforms like steps. On the third platform down, pick up the item to obtain a Cracked Red Eye Orb and a Torch. When you reach the fifth platform down, there’s an item next to the cauldron below. Carefully drop down onto the edge of the cauldron, then pick up the item to obtain a Covetous Gold Serpent Ring. Be careful not to fall into the cauldron!

Defeat the enemy at the right end of the platform, then drop down near the doorway below. Do not enter the mist door yet. Instead, head down the stairs to the left and into the next doorway. Continue down the hall, take out the enemy ahead (being cautious of combat in the narrow hallway), then pull the lever at the end to remove the object blocking your path. 

Take out the next enemy in the corner, then watch out for the flame trap ahead as you enter the next room. Make your way to the stairs on the far side of the room and take out the next enemy. Head down to the bottom, then take the stairs and follow the path across the lava to the mist door to battle against the Old Iron King.


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Author
Bryan Dawson
Bryan Dawson has an extensive background in the gaming industry, having worked as a journalist for various publications for nearly 20 years and participating in a multitude of competitive fighting game events. He has authored over a dozen strategy guides for Prima Games, worked as a consultant on numerous gaming-related TV and web shows and was the Operations Manager for the fighting game division of the IGN Pro League.