Elden Ring: Bloodhound Knight Darriwil [Boss Guide]

While exploring your first area in Elden Ring, Limgrave, you’ll come across many challenges and face off against all types of enemies. The Elden Ring Darriwil is one of the various optional bosses in Elden Ring that can be fought quite early on in the game and can prove to be quite challenging.

However, if you manage to kill the boss early on in Elden Ring, you’ll be rewarded with a useful weapon that can help you against many of the earlier story-related bosses. Therefore, learning the location of and knowing certain tactics for beating the Bloodhound Knight Darriwil can be quite useful.

Bloodhound Knight Darriwil Location

The Bloodhound Knight Darriwil in Elden Ring is a boss that can be encountered while exploring the open world. It is also a mandatory boss if you’re trying to complete the Howling in Mistwood questline, which introduces you to Blaidd, a trusted companion of Ranni the Witch.

The fight with Darriwil takes place in the Forlorn Hound Evergaol. Without delving too deep into the lore, Evergaols can be considered mini-battle arenas that encapsulate different optional bosses. Once you enter an Evergaol, you cannot leave it unless you defeat the boss or die.

• The Forlorn Hound Evergaol can be found at the location shown in the image above.
• It is in the southern region of Limgrave and can be found along the path that leads from The Stormgate to The Bridge of Sacrifice.
• While navigating the path, you’ll come across a Spirit Spring. Take the wide path right of the spring.
• You’ll know you’re at the right place if you spot stacks of stones and moving stone clusters.
• There will also be a Stake of Marika in the area.
• The Evergaol will be a large circular stone floor with a circular activating switch in the middle. Interact with it to initiate the fight.

How To Defeat The Bloodhound Knight Darriwil

If you’re facing off against the Bloodhound Knight Darriwil early on, then you might find it quite difficult to keep up with its fast slashes and the bleed effect that it inflicts upon you. Furthermore, it has quite a wide array of movesets that you possibly can’t keep up with every single attack pattern. However, there are certain tactics that you can use to get a better chance against it.

Moveset

Here is a general overview of the moveset for Bloodhound Knight Darriwil. Many of its attacks are triggered when you’re within a melee range, but even if you’re a ranged user and maintaining your range, it has many moves that it can use to close the distance. Regardless, here are all possible attacks and their counters.

1. Bloodhound’s Step
   • Bloodhound’s Step is actually a skill that you can learn later on, which can be quite useful for maneuvering, and unfortunately, Darriwil can use it too.
   • The move consists of Darriwil disappearing and dashing forward to close distance. The attack itself does not hurt you, but it can set Darriwil up for a quick follow-up.
   • You can counter the attack by preparing yourself for a dodge as soon as you see the boss disappear.
2. Bloodhound’s Finese
   • Yet another skill that you can acquire later. It allows Darriwil to swing its sword as its backflips away.
   • Roll forward to avoid the attack and follow up with your own attack, or use your shield to block the attack.
3. Dragging Vertical Slice
   • The boss will charge at you, with its sword grinding across the ground and producing sparks. Once close, it will perform a vertical slicing attack.
   • You can counter the attack by rolling to the right as soon as the slicing movement begins, then follow up with multiple attacks.
4. Dragging Horizontal Slice
   • Similar to the previous attack, but instead of its sword, Darriwil will drag its claw across the ground and then perform a slash followed by a horizontal slice.
   • Roll to either side and follow up with your attacks. You might need to perform two rolls to be in the clear from both attacks.
5. Backward Dash
   • The move is not something that can damage you but can be used to create an opening.
   • Darriwil will spin and jump backward, away from you.
6. Diagonal Sword Slash
   • A clockwise and diagonally upward slice with its sword.
   • Darriwil will hold the sword behind its body before the slash and roll out of the way after the sword is completely behind it.
7. Claw Swipe
   • A rather simple attack where the boss swipes its claw while running toward you.
   • It can be countered by rolling as soon you see the claw held up to its sides.
8. Running Slice
   • Darriwil will begin to run on all fours and perform a circular slice.
   • The best counter is to roll to your right (Darriwil’s left), as that will set you up for an immediate counterattack while the boss recovers from its missed attack.
9. Counterclockwise Sword Slash
   • A wide counterclockwise slice with its sword.
   • It can be countered by rolling backward or even blocking using a strong enough shield.
10. Slam Combo
    • Darriwil will perform a clockwise slice and then immediately use its sword to perform a slamming attack in front of it.
    • An ideal counter would be to roll backward, as, during the recovery period of the slam, you can land many attacks.
11. Jump Attack
    • After leaping in the air, Darriwil will come down with a sword slam.
    • Yet another attack with high recovery time; can be exploited by rolling left or right just before Darriwil is about to descend and then landing your own attacks.
12. Overhead Strike
    • The boss will slam its sword in front of it after charging it up behind itself.
    • The attack has a lot of recovery time, so rolling left or right will allow you to follow up with an attack.
    • Roll forward once and try to land a light attack to punish the move.
13. Three-hit Combo
    • Two horizontal slashes followed by a downward slice.
    • It can be countered by rolling to the sides and following up with a light attack.

Melee Strategy

Now that we’ve gone over the moveset for the Bloodhound Knight Darriwil in Elden Ring, we can begin to formulate strategies for both melee and ranged users, starting with melee users. Darriwil can be quite challenging for melee users due to its unpredictable movement, speed, and aggressiveness. But with patience and well-timed attacks, you can overcome all these.

Your main goal while trying to fight Darriwil through melee is to find openings and strike in between those. The first major opening that you’ll get is at the start of the fight.

• Once you enter the Evergaol, there will be a small window where Darriwil is materializing.
• You can use this moment to land either a heavy attack, a jumping attack, or a bunch of light attacks.
• If you’re quick enough, you can land a charged heavy attack or multiple heavy attacks.
• Don’t get greedy and roll back after landing your attack to avoid getting hit.

Although we’ve highlighted the general moveset of the boss above, it’s quite unlikely that you’ll adjust to them without experiencing the attacks yourself. But rather than getting hit by the attacks, you can try keeping your guard up.

• Using a Greatshield can be quite effective against Darriwil while learning its moves and can give you a chance to perform guard counter.
• However, even if you block using your shield, you’ll need to be wary of bleed build-up (Hemorrhage).
• Ideally, you should try to block a few attacks, land a bunch of guard counters, step back to clear up your status bar, and then go back in for more.
• But, once you’ve gotten used to Darriwil’s attack patterns, try not to rely on guarding too often, as the constant retreat to reset the status effect will become too tedious and just another source of pressure from the enemy.

After you’ve adjusted to Darriwil’s timings, you need to identify a few attacks that it performs often and punish them as much as you can by dodging just in time.

• The best attacks that you can punish are the ones that create sparks as Darriwil approaches you. These are usually the vertical sword slice or the double claw slice.
• As these attacks have a long recovery time, you can land multiple hits on the boss.
• You can bait these by creating sufficient distance between you and Darriwil.
• If you’re comfortable with parrying, you can parry both the spark-related attacks, which will stagger the boss and open it up for a big attack.
• Another great punishable attack is the three-hit-combo, as the timing for each attack is constant, and Darriwil tends to use it often.
• Just ensure that you’re not spamming the roll button and properly timing each roll with each attack.

The only other thing that you’ll need to worry about is healing. While trying to heal, your best option is to roll back multiple times and heal quickly as you can, as Darriwil will try to close the distance. If you’re struggling with health, you can acquire Golden Seeds to increase your Sacred Flask’s uses, allowing you to heal more often.

Ranged Strategy

Ranged users might have an easier time against Darriwil as they can keep their distance from all of the crazy-fast melee attacks. But it’s not quite straightforward, as Darriwil will dodge all of your attacks if you throw ranged attacks at it randomly.

• To counter Darriwil’s dodging abilities, aim only to attack it once it is in the middle of landing an attack.
• Your best options will be when Darriwil is using build-up attacks, such as the ones that emit sparks.
• You can bait Darriwil in by remaining in between melee and ranged distance, and once it starts an attack, you can use one of your moves.

Because the main aim is to attack while Darriwil is also in the middle of an attack, you’ll need to choose your moveset carefully. If you choose an attack that takes too long, the boss might land its attack before you.

• Glinstone Phalanx is a great option to attack as Darriwil approaches you.
• If you’re comfortable dodging a few attacks to create openings, then you can use close-range spells such as Carian Slicer or Catch Flame to punish the different slashes and sword attacks.
• While using a bow and arrow, ideally, you want to jump backward while shooting to retain your distance and avoid being hit.

General Tips

There are a few general tips and tricks in Elden Ring that you can consider while trying to defeat the Bloodhound Knight Darriwil, which can help you out.

• Stanching Boluses can help reduce the bleeding effect.
• Preserving Boluses can be used to recover HP in case you run out of Flasks.
• Although you cannot summon any Spirit Ashes, you can summon Blaidd the Half-Wolf during the fight if you’ve progressed through his quest line.
• Being aggressive can be quite rewarding as Darriwil has low poise, meaning enough heavy attacks or a combination of attacks with the help of Blaidd can stagger it.
• A weapon with +2 or +3 in Endurance can be quite helpful in the fight.
• Although not directly related to the fight, if you’re worried about losing your Runes, then fret not, as each time you die, the Runes will spawn outside the Evergaol such that you can pick them up before starting the fight again.

Rewards

Luckily, your struggle against the Bloodhound Knight Darriwil in Elden Ring will be worth it after you’ve defeated it, especially if you defeat it early game. These are the rewards that you can expect to receive after besting it in battle:

• 1,900 Runes
• Bloodhound’s Fang: A curved Greatsword that scales with Strength and Dexterity. Its skill, Bloodhound’s Finesse, is quite useful against many enemies. The weapon is also capable of causing Bleed Build, making it useful for typical blood builds.

Summing It Up

With that, you know all about the Bloodhound Knight Darriwil in Elden Ring and the best strategies on how to beat it. If you’re struggling with any other boss, such as Malenia or Mohg, then you can check out our guides. We also have cheese guides against the annoying Godskin Duo boss as well where we break down in-depth how to overcome the fight.

Up Next:

• Elden Ring: Celestial Dew Locations
• Elden Ring: Morning Star
• BEST Axe In Elden Ring
• Elden Ring: Poison Mist