Looking Glass Knight

Looking glass, looking glass, on the...knight's shield. Who's the...knightliest of them all?

    This is another boss that has been shown off in lots of promotional materials before the game came out (similar to Executioner's Chariot), although I believe his early name was Mirror Knight. This name is much better in my opinion. After messing around in Drangleic Castle for a while (this place is no joke. It's tough), you'll eventually be able to fight the Looking Glass Knight. Yup, another knight boss. He's the best looking, and most interesting (except maybe Old Dragonslayer) knight out of them all though. To get to his fog gate, you run down a long hallway, complete with columns and (mostly) headless statues, and huge windows on either side. This is a great looking area (called The King's Passage), because off in the distance, you can see the fog gate, and you can see some crazy lightning beyond it. The whole hallway is in the middle of a lightning storm, and the rain and lightning effects themselves look awesome. Very ominous area. How did people complain about the graphics of this game? It's certainly no PS4 game, but it looks way better than Dark Souls (and way WAY better then Demon's Souls). I think it looks fabulous. That's neither here nor there.
    After you fight through reanimated horse-head (???) statues with crazy karate moves and sweet-looking twinblades, you'll get to the gate. You might notice way more red invasion summon signs here compared to any other spot in the game (I've only seen one besides here, on that PvP bridge after the bonfire in Iron Keep). Those will come into play later (...or maybe not. I'll explain briefly). Take a breather after the mini-gauntlet before the boss (made much easier when you realize you can destroy/kill three of the four statues before they can even get up; and that also the big knight doesn't follow you after a certain spot), then enter the arena. The battle takes place outside, in the aforementioned storm. It's raining and there's lightning, which makes a really cool atmosphere for a fight. That lightning plays a big part in the Knight's offensive as well. Flashes of lightning light up the surroundings briefly and it really just sets the mood. Okay, enough of the damn weather. When the battle starts, I think his first attack is always a jumping slash with his sword. Try as I might, I always mistimed my dodge and got smashed by it. It wasn't until my last attempt that I realized I could just run under him when he jumped at me...
    Upon first inspection, the Knight looks like an atypical knight, with silver armor, a sword, and a shield. He's more than boring though: his armor is a super-shiny, "looking glass" kind of armor, which looks great; his sword is big, and it can unleash some great lightning attacks; also his shield, which is his most glaring feature, is a big giant, dark purple mirror. It's very good at absorbing attacks, because if your weapon even touches his shield, you aren't damaging the Knight at all. You have to hit him from the side or the back. Don't even bother being on his shield side.

Hi!

    Okay, let's talk about his attacks. He has some normal sword swings, which are easy to dodge if you're close to him. Occasionally, Looking Glass Knight will lift his sword to the sky and call down lightning to hit you with. He has three lightning attacks: a beefed up lightning sword slash (easy to dodge); a move where he slams his sword down, and he shoots a line of lightning from the sword (also easy to dodge); and he swipes his sword and shoots out six-or-seven lightning orbs. The only way I know to dodge this is to just back up. The orbs dissipate, but they travel pretty far. This isn't tough to dodge if you have enough space behind you to run. Also of note, if you go right up next to him and strafe to his sword hand while he uses his lightning attacks, they can basically be dodged without a problem.

Gearing up for a lightning strike

    Now, onto the coolest (in theory) part of the battle. Taking notes from the Old Monk battle in Demon's Souls, Looking Glass Knight will summon either a computer-controlled NPC or an actual player to aid him in his battle against you. That's why you see so many red invasion signs on the way to the boss: apparently if you place one, you can be summoned to help the boss. The way the summoned enters the battle is great too: the knight will put his shield down, then a figure can be seen inside his shield, pounding on the glass, eventually breaking it and entering the battle. Now, as I've alluded to, this whole "summoning an actual player" idea is great in theory, but I fought him six times (and helped another person online), and I never fought a fellow player, but an NPC. It's still a cool mechanic, and it makes the battle more difficult regardless. I can't help but imagine this fight would be a NIGHTMARE if the Knight summoned a good PvPer. I'm awful at it, so I'd be sunk. Also, I didn't have a Red Sign Soapstone (musta missed it somewhere), so I couldn't try to get summoned. Definitely gonna try it either on NG+ or a new character.

NPC phantom that was summoned

    As far as strategy, I dual-handed my trusty longsword, dodged his attacks (he moves slowly and deliberately), and chipped away at his health. When he summoned a phantom, I focused on the phantom first to take him out. I acquired a Pyromancy Flame, so I've been using Flame Swathe occasionally (it only has two uses, so I can't use it much!), and I found this to work well against the phantoms. Each attempt at the boss was a long one because of the constant dancing around, WITH MY SHIELD UP (not confident enough to dual-hand against both the Knight and the phantom), trying to take out the phantom while dodging attacks from him and the Knight.

One final one. That looks like it's gonna hurt

    This was a fun battle. It again tests reflexes and timing. You fight him in a great arena (didn't describe it above, but it's an outside area of the castle with broken, crumbling columns all around), he's a bit tricky, and he has an amazing mechanic, if it actually pulls a real player. I didn't mind fighting another knight here, because he's so cool.

Times I died: 5
Difficulty: 6.5/10
Rating: 9/10

Up next, we fight a boss I would consider to be the coolest looking boss in ALL of the Souls games. Yup, you heard me right

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BOSS SOUL DESCRIPTION: "...who challenges visitors to the lordless castle; Long ago, the King's Passage was a route taken by the bravest warriors to prove themselves, but now it only prevents one from pursuing the runaway king."

 

King's Mirror

 King's Mirror: "The Looking Glass at the castle is said to have been a passage to another world."