The Looking Glass Knight is another hulking knight boss in Dark Souls 2, found on top of Drangleic Castle. Although he seems like another generic boss, he has a few shenanigans up his sleeve that change the way you approach this shiny knight.
Want to know what you are getting yourself into? Let’s dive into the boss guide for Looking Glass Knight and leave nothing to surprise.
Fighting Looking Glass Knight in Dark Souls 2
As you enter the arena, you’ll witness a lustrous knight with a massive sword and a great shield. This is the Looking Glass Knight. Contrary to his name, his shield is a mirror instead of a glass.
He has all the makings of a typical knight boss in Dark Souls 2: the slow movement, weighty sword strikes, and a shield to block occasionally. However, two additions add some spice to the fight.
Firstly, he has a few lightning-based attacks that are hard to predict and will literally shock you. The lighting attack is determined depending on where you are in the arena and your distance from the boss. Not to mention, the rain enhances the damage from these attacks.
The second more troublesome bit is that he periodically summons NPC from his mirror shield. Surprisingly, it can be either an AI summons or an actual player as a Mirror Squire—more on the player summoning in the section below.
If it’s an AI NPC, it will be either a halberd-shield fast-moving variant or a colossal sword and shield-wielding variant. In any case, this new addition to the fight really shakes things up. It is tough to manage the NPC and the boss simultaneously since their attacks will overlap and give you few windows to deal damage.
Here are some tips to consider when going up against the Looking Glass Knight in Darks Souls 2:
- He has lower defenses against Strike physical damage. Blunt weapons will work better.
- He is weak to Magic, Fire, and Dark-based attacks.
- He can be poisoned.
- You can’t parry his attacks, and neither can backstab him.
- He is entirely immune to bleed.
- It is hard to predict which lightning-based attack he’s going to perform. Keep some distance when he is charging his sword and react to the choice of attack accordingly.
- The rain in the arena makes everyone inside (you, boss, NPC summons, boss summons) more susceptible to Lightning damage and increases resistance to Fire damage.
- Your attacks (melee/ranged/spells) will bounce off if they hit his shield. He doesn’t have to actively block with it for that to happen; it will occur even when the shield is not in use. Thus, you need to aim your ranged attacks and avoid using swiping melee attacks that move from right to left.
- He can have up to two NPC summons at the same time and can continue to spawn if one of them dies.
- We recommend prioritizing the NPC, or the fight will get too cumbersome.
- You can break his glass shield by dealing enough damage and stopping him from completing the summoning.
- Burning a Human Effigy at the Bonfire before the fight will stop him from summoning other players but won’t prevent AI NPC summoning.
- You have the option to call upon three NPCs of your own: Benhart of Jugo, Ashen Knight Boyd, and Sellsword Luet.
Boss Strategy
To handle the Looking Glass Knight, keep calm and stay strategic. His attacks are slow and predictable, so dodging is a breeze.
Be ready at the start, he may open with a leaping lunge attack. Like the rest of his moves, the timing is odd, so dodging into the attacks and leveraging I-frames is a more preferred defensive strategy. Roll behind him, land one or two hits, and move on. His weakness is flanking, so sprint to his back when possible. Don’t get greedy, though; he strikes often, so stick to a few hits at a time.
Alternatively, stick close behind his weapon-arm shoulder. You can dodge most of his moves this way without even needing a shield or roll, as long as you stay sharp and watch his patterns. If you place yourself just right, you’ll be right behind him, perfectly set up to attack as soon as he finishes his swing.
When he goes for a lightning attack, move right behind him. This is your chance of getting in a few hits while he’s exposed. If he charges a lightning attack, shift to the back of his shield-arm shoulder. When he unleashes it, chances are it won’t even touch you.
The main danger isn’t the Looking Glass Knight himself but the NPCs he summons. NPC phantoms are annoyingly durable, while human players can be formidable and far deadlier than the Knight. If you’re quick, you can stagger him as he tries to summon another NPC, which stops the summoning altogether.
When he’s in the process of summoning, use this moment to strike his back, but pace yourself to keep your stamina up. If he does manage to summon an NPC, it won’t be overly aggressive, allowing you to wait for an opening. Try standing in front of his shield as he summons since you can kill the enemy the moment it appears, sometimes before the Knight even reacts.
Stay patient, pick your moments, and you’ll soon shatter this boss.
Moveset
Below, we listed down all the attacks you expect Looking Glass Knight to perform and how you should avoid them:
| Attack | Description | Reaction |
|---|---|---|
| Leaping Attack | He goes airborne and tries to land a forward leaping downward slam on top of you. He might slightly adjust his trajectory depending on your location. This is usually his first attack when you enter the arena. | It can be blocked if you have an adequate shield. You can quickly move forward towards the leap and dodge in front and he will zoom pass over your head. |
| Rush Attack | When you are at a distance, he might run towards you, ending with a poking sword strike. | This can be easily dodged as he gets near. |
| Sword Attacks | He has a few basic sword attacks, like an overhead strike and a horizontal swipe. He can use them individually or chain them together time to time. | Can be blocked with ease. Dodge to the side for the overhead slam and dodge into the swipe. |
| Lightning Swipe (Close Range) | He raises his sword, lightning strikes his weapon, and performs a nearly 180-degree horizontal swipe. This occurs when you are near him. | Roll into the incoming swipe or back off. |
| Lightning Wave (Medium Range) | It is the same start as the Lightning Swipe attacks; however, this attack sends out five giant lightning balls on the ground that fan out as they travel further. The only travel medium range. | Dodge to the side to get out of the lightning cone. As the lightning balls fan out, you can stand between them to ignore them. They won’t even reach you if you are standing farther. |
| Line of Lightning (Long Range) | It has the same electrifying animation, but he uses a vertical overhead sword slam this time. The slam sends a straight trail of lightning over the ground with minor tracking. The lightning lingers for a bit. It is usually used when you are very far away. | Dodge to the side as the lightning is about to reach you, and don’t step over the lingering electricity. |
| Shield Summon | He kneels with his shield pointing forward. After some delay, an NPC or an online player will step out of the shield’s mirror. | He gets stuck in a long animation, so move behind him and give him everything you’ve got. If you have a high-poise damaging weapon, you can stagger him out of summoning. |
Rewards for Defeating Looking Glass Knight
For putting an end to the Looking Glass Knight, you’ll receive the following rewards:
- 34,000 Souls
- Looking Glass Knight Soul – You can give this to Weaponsmith Ornifex to exchange it for one of two items: Thorned Greatsword or the King’s Mirror Greatshield.
- When defeated in New Game+, he drops the Ring of Steel Protection +2.
How to Get Summoned by the Looking Glass Knight?
To get summoned by the Looking Glass Knight in some other player’s world, you’ll need to use a Red Sign Soapstone anywhere in Drangleic Castle. While you can also be summoned with a Cracked Red Eye Orb, the Soapstone tends to work best for this purpose.
To increase your chances of being the knight’s summon rather than a player’s summon, try placing your Soapstone every 10 seconds. This way you constantly cycle through different servers, increasing your chances of landing in a Looking Glass Knight battle that’s ready for a phantom summon.
When you’re summoned, you’ll see the prompt: “The Looking Glass Knight summons you! Become a mirror squire, and vanquish the world master.”
Be ready, there’s often a slight delay between getting summoned and the loading screen leading up to it, leaving you briefly vulnerable before you can fully see yourself. In most cases, you’ll hear the sounds from the boss arena but be blinded by the loading screen.
If you are out of luck and the knight dies before you reach the arena, you may get a “Summoning canceled. Area boss has been vanquished” message and sent back to your world.
As a Mirror Squire, you can even support the Looking Glass Knight by healing him with spells like Warmth or Great Heal.
The Looking Glass Knight does not only stand out from the myriad of knight bosses in Dark Souls 2 owing to his glossy look, but the inclusion of lightning attacks and summoning help to gang up on you sets him apart. Although player summoning might be a rare occurrence so late in the game’s life cycle, you never know if you will get punished by the best veterans still roaming the halls of the Drangleic Castle.