The Rotten

I would say that is an apt name

    This is the final of the four great souls you need to collect to get to Drangleic castle. This disgusting monstrosity (I mean that in the best way possible!) is at the bottom of the whole world, seemingly, at the end of Black Gulch, which is accessed through the Gutter. I'll quickly say the Gutter wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The torch helped tremendously. As far as dark, rotten levels built out of rickety wood is concerned though, Valley Of Defilement is by far the hardest still. Also, boy did I LOVE the look of Black Gulch. It's a small area, and it's covered with those poison-dart-shooting statues. This time, they are coated with poison, and it glows green. The green-glow, combined with the darkness of the cave, make this area look simply amazing.
    The battle starts with a cut-scene. An AWESOME cut-scene, I might add. This boss, the Rotten, is literally just a gigantic mass of writhing dead bodies, with one of his dead-body arms holding a huge, rusty cleaver. I'm probably super biased, and I know I always say, "I love this boss design," but this one seriously rules. It's gross, interesting, and big. Great combo, if you ask me. The cut-scene shows this massive dead-body-blob putting the head on one of those bastard poison statues. It falls off though, and this pissess the Rotten off, I guess? Kinda bizarre. He then turns towards you, and roars. The battle is on. 

From the cut-scene. That's his bottom

    The room he's in is kinda narrow, but still has plenty of space to move around. There are some fire pits that can kill you, apparently. I never had a problem with them. I did die three times to this boss, even though I'd still consider him easy. Twice I had him down to a tiny bit of health, then he hauled off and unexpectedly used some move he hadn't used all battle, and it got me. Yeah, that's pretty damn vague. Here's a little bit of information about me: my memory sucks. I do my best to document my battles as quickly as possible, so I can be as accurate as possible, but sometimes it doesn't matter. I often find myself referring to YouTube clips or stuff written online if I need a refresher. Point is, I'm sorry I'm so vague/bad at explaining the mechanics of some of these battles. Bear with me! 

Another from the cut-scene. In all his glory

    He killed me three times, but he's not exceptionally difficult (as previously mentioned). He can attack with his cleaver, which is easy enough to roll from, once you get the timing down. I'm having great fun rolling and dodging boss attacks instead of hiding behind my shield. I think I'm gonna start another character that dual wields. Maybe try the Company Of Champions with it too (eeeeeeeh, not sure about that combo yet). Besides all the cleaver attacks, he uses some dark magic as well, and this I feel he doesn't always pull out. The dark magic is what killed me at least twice. Stuff is powerful. I just dodged all his melee attacks, and ran from his dark magic ones. Simple enough really. Also, I managed to cut off one of his arms, which was a nice touch. Apparently they both can be cut off. We've reached the end of this entry, and with each entry we're getting closer and closer to the end. Once I do beat it, I'm going to start NG+, and make new notes (not sure if I'll start separate posts, probably not) for the differences between NG and NG+. 

Close up!

Times I died: 3
Difficulty: 3.5/10
Rating: 6/10

We're finally into the castle. Next up, we'll fight an early boss again (except x2 this time!)

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BOSS SOUL DESCRIPTION: "...who writhes deep within the Gutter; The Rotten embraces all, in the sanctuary for all things unwanted or tossed away." 

 

Butcher's Knife

 Butcher's Knife: "Who in their right mind would create such a thing? Perhaps it is best not to dwell on how it was likely used in the past."