The Gaping Dragon is one of the most terrifying bosses in all of Dark Souls Remastered. His sheer size and nightmare-inducing looks will crush your confidence and he will end up devouring you. Fortunately, there is a very easy way of sending this monstrosity back to the abyss.
Keep reading this guide, and you will surely be grateful as we break down the dragon’s moveset and elaborate on the best way to cut it down.
Fighting Gaping Dragon in Dark Souls Remastered
The Gaping Dragon initially rears his cute little head in a cutscene only to emerge as a gargantuan demonic dragon scaring the bejeezus out of you. This boss feels like an amalgamation of a dragon, sewer rat, bat, and a Venus Fly Trap.
With four bat-like wings, an elongated backside with a huge tail, a twisted body lined with a vertical mouth with huge fangs jutting out, and many arms and legs. It almost feels like an impossible feat to succumb to this boss.
Fortunately, the arena is huge to quickly outmaneuver the boss’s many wide attacks. Furthermore, the boss doesn’t have that many attacks, and the ones he has are highly telegraphed, so it is pretty straightforward to counter them.
The problematic attack is his acid vomit. It quickly starts spreading in a large area and destroys your weapon durability. If your weapon breaks, it will take a considerably longer time to chip away his health.
Other than that, he is surprisingly manageable given his offending appearance.
Here are some things to consider when facing the Gaping Dragon in Dark Souls Remastered:
- The boss is weak to Lightning damage. The Gold Pine Resin comes really handy during this boss fight.
- None of his attacks can be parried.
- Make sure to take out the Channeler enemy on top of the platforms leading up to the boss. This dude will not only send projectiles at you while you fight Gaping Dragon but can also buff the boss, upping his damage significantly.
- You can summon two NPCs to aid you in this fight; Solaire of Astora and Knight Lautrec of Carim.
- Staying on his sides near his legs is the safest place to fight the boss.
- His head is his weak point although the boss rarely lowers it for you to attack it.
- The corroding acid will eat away at your equipment’s durability, breaking them mid-fight. Make sure to not stand in it for extended periods or else your equipment is done for. Better to carry some Repair Powder to use in the worst case.
- If you are playing online, a second player can snipe the boss while standing in the safety of the entrance platforms.
- Cutting his tail not only rewards you with a weapon but also shortens the range of his tail swipe attacks.
- The water in the arena can slow you down. You can remove your armor to counter this.
Boss Strategy
There is a simple yet effective strategy to take out the Gaping Dragon in Dark Souls Remastered. It involves baiting his Belly Slam and Charge attack to deal consistent damage and never have to worry about anything else.
Right away, as the fight starts, he does the slam attack in front. You only have to run out of range of this attack and this gives you a big opening to attack his tiny little head. This is his weak point thus dealing extra damage.
You can only hit his head once or twice before he goes for the charge straight ahead. Get the hell out of the way. Stay clear of his whole body since the charge has a huge hitbox and might clip you with his feet.
Once he stops, quickly move behind him and start attacking his tail. Keep it up until he goes for the tail whip attack and that’s when you bail.
We would ideally want to remove the tail ASAP to shorten his Tail Whip attack and make it safer to stand behind him. Weapons with vertical strikes will easily reach the tail. Two hand the weapon if need be.
Now, it’s just a matter of baiting this exact attack and repeating the whole strategy. He uses this attack when you are at a medium distance, where the slam could reach you, so try to position yourself here.
You can reliably deal damage this way and be done with the fight without much intense fighting required.
Now and then, he will fly up and slam or go for the tail whip which throws this tactic out of kilter but you can quickly get your bearing and get back to baiting the attack.
When his health reaches, he will start vomiting a large pool of acid which you need to avoid at all costs. Standing in it will whittle away your health and ruin weapon durability.
Moveset
The Gaping Dragon in Dark Souls Remastered uses all these attacks and how you must react to each:
| Attack | Description | Reaction |
|---|---|---|
| Punch | Uses his right arm to punch | Run or dodge to the right side to avoid this attack |
| Tri-Stomp | Raises his foot and performs three consecutive stomps | Run out of range when you see him lift his leg. Move to his sides and attack. |
| Leg Swipe | Pulls his left leg and swipes it horizontally in front | Stick to his sides or move out of range |
| Tail Whip | Whips his tail in a quarter circle. The range is huge with the tail intact | Run to the front of the boss or if you can time it right roll into the whip |
| Flying Repostion | Flies in the air turn towards you and land on the spot. Usually done to face you when you are behind or are on his sides. The landing has a bit of AOE | Back off and let him land |
| Leaping Slam | When you are farther away from him, he will fly up and forwards towards you then try to land on top of you | When you are farther away from him, he will fly up and forward towards you then try to land on top of you |
| Corroding Acid (50% HP) | Rears his torso and squirms around before spewing acid on the ground. The acid slowly covers a huge radius. Eats away your HP and weapon durability too. | If you have space try to outrun the acid pool. If not, then get ready to use a Repair Powder and Estus Flask. |
| Grab | Swings his arm to the side and tries to grab you. If he is successful, he will put you in his mouth and chomp on you taking away a ton of HP. | Stay away from his sides or back off when you see him ready his arms. |
| Belly Slam and Charge | Opens his stomach mouth wide and points it upwards then slams it into the ground in front with mighty force. He gets stuck for a while then goes on to perform a long charge attack propelling him to the far ends of the arena. Both these attacks are always done in a combo. | Move away when you see him go for the slam. When he drops move in to attack his head three times for extra damage then quickly run/dodge to the side to avoid the charge. The recovery after this attack sequence is huge so use it to your advantage. |
Rewards for Defeating Gaping Dragon
For beating the Gaping Dragon in Dark Souls Remastered, you’ll receive:
- 25,000 Souls
- Blighttown Key
- 1x Twin Humanities
- 1x Homeward Bone
- If you cut the boss’s tail, you’ll get a Dragon King Greataxe
The first time I faced Gaping Dragon in Dark Souls Remastered, it was a blood bath. He crushed me left and right. But slowly I started realizing how predictable of a boss he is and used it against him. Skin this lizard!