Next on the list of bosses in Demon’s Souls is Fool’s Idol. This is most likely going to be your fourth boss. Fighting her will require more brains than brawn so it is time to get those mental juices flowing. There are a few things you need to do before you want to fight her, and we will cover them in this article.
This is one of those gimmick bosses as with most of the bosses in Demon’s Souls, so be prepared to use your head in this fight.
If you are looking for a strategy to exorcise this demonic priestess, then we have got you covered.
Fighting Fool’s Idol
The boss herself does not possess the most powerful of attacks, but what she does possess is the art of deception. Throughout the fight, she is going to clone herself multiple times.
The clones will have a health bar of their own, so taking them down will only prolong your battle and will have no real benefit. They possess a similar moveset to the real Fool’s Idol though everything is toned down a bit to level the playing field.
You can not visually tell the clones apart, but here are a few tips that will give you an idea of who to attack:
- There are worshippers in the Church. They do not attack you, but what they do is worship only the real boss. They are the biggest hint as to which is the real one.
- Another way of differentiating is by using an aim lock. If you have any ranged weapon, let’s say a bow and arrow, when you lock aim onto any one of them, if you see a smaller health bar appear, that is not the real one.
- If you attack the clone, the main health bar at the bottom of the screen will not be affected.
- The real Fool’s Idol uses Soul Ray as her main attack, while the clones use Soul Arrow. The difference might be subtle, but it is definitely noticeable if you look close enough.
Once you have identified the real one, you should also know what kind of attacks hurt her the most. Fool’s Idol is weak against Fire, so any kind of throwable, such as Fire Bombs or a Fireball, will work really well. If you are running a melee build, then you also use Pine Resin.
Dealing with NPC (Before the Fight)
Before you approach the real battle, you need to deal with an NPC who resides in one of two towers that are on either side of the church. He does not attack you or anything but he constantly is chanting a spell that will keep healing and reviving Fool’s Idol.
If you don’t deal with him prior to your battle, you are going to have a really hard time ending the fight. If you go back from the door where you are supposed to fight the boss, there are two doors, one on each side. Take the left door and up the stairs, into the tower.
It is a linear path so you need to keep following it until the end. At the very end of the path, you will find an NPC sitting on a chair, chanting a spell. You can kill him with a weapon of your choice.
Moveset
Fool’s Idol moveset has a minimal moveset so you won’t have a lot of attacks to deal with. Here are the details:
- Souls Ray: A concentrated beam of Soul Energy aimed at you. The clones will use Soul Arrow instead of Soul Ray.
- Reaction: Hide behind a pillar or dodge to either side.
- Magic Circle: She will spawn magic circles at certain spots throughout the arena. If you get caught in one while it is activated, you will get stunned for a few seconds.
- Reaction: The location of the magic circles is fixed so you can avoid them easily once you have remembered the location. They also don’t appear in the left or right extremes of the church.
Strategy
After the cutscene where Fool’s Idol appears, she will not attack you until you get close to her. What you can do before doing that is a bit of cleanup. It is a church so there are benches. They can become a hindrance while you are trying to move around avoiding the attacks.
Destroy the benches using either a melee attack or rolling into them. You can also kill a couple of worshippers. Make sure to leave at least two of them so you can use them as indicators to find the real one.
Now you can approach her and start attacking. Regardless of the type of build, land as many attacks initially before she starts attacking and cloning herself. Once she has spawned clones of herself that’s when you need to kick things down a notch move tactically.
Hide behind pillars and look for signs that give the location of the real Fool’s Idol. Once you have identified her, attack as fast as you can before she changes location once again.
If you have ranged attacks in your arsenal, things will become a bit easier because you can attack from the safety of the pillars. You might get stunned here and there because of the magic circles and she lands a hit on you.
If you want, you can kill the clones but it will not do anything meaningful. Keep your focus on the main body and you will come out on top.
How to Cheese Fool’s Idol in Demon’s Souls
You can easily speedrun the Fool’s Idol fight. This might take a bit of getting used to but once you understand the trick, you can take her down without even giving her a chance to land a hit. We are going to use a Stun lock.
You will need Pine Resin and a decent melee weapon. Run towards her and use Pine Resin to ignite your weapon. Now attack her once and before she has a chance to hit back, attack her again.
This might take a couple of tries but you have to time each of your hits in such a way that your stamina recovers before your next hit. If you get the timing and everything right, she will not be able to attack and you will take her down.
Rewards for Defeating Fool’s Idol
Defeating Fool’s Idol in Demon’s Souls will net you the following rewards:
- x1 Doll Demon’s Soul
- x8430 Souls
- +45% White World Tendency
Exorcising a priestess might seem like an unusual thing to do, but nothing is usual when it comes to Demon’s Souls. If you followed all of the steps, you should be done with the fight pretty quick and move on to the next battle.