Demons Souls Armor Spider is a True Test of Patience

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Demons Souls Armor Spider is a True Test of Patience

Highlights

  • Patience is key to beating the Armor Spider in Demon’s Souls, as the boss controls the pace of the fight with various obstacles.
  • This boss teaches players to wait for their turn to attack, setting the tone for other FromSoftware bosses like Dark Souls’ Artorias.
  • Agility and aggression are not always the best strategies in boss fights; patience is the key to overcoming challenges in Demon’s Souls.

As a long-time fan of FromSoftware’s intricate and challenging boss designs, I’ve always held a peculiar fondness for the Armor Spider from Demon’s Souls. It’s not because it’s the most visually striking or the hardest to beat, but rather because it taught me a valuable lesson that has carried over to every FromSoftware game I’ve played since – patience is indeed a virtue in the world of the Soulsborne series.

For enthusiasts of FromSoftware’s boss designs, the pivotal battles in Demon’s Souls have historically been seen as the outliers within the series because they don’t quite match up to the intense combat and the necessity to react swiftly to formidable move sets. Unlike other fights that demand quick dodge sequences and a mastery of combo rhythms, the Armor Spider distinguishes Demon’s Souls’ gimmick bosses by making patience a crucial factor for success.

Despite numerous strategies to quicken the battle against the Armor Spider in Demon’s Souls, like gaining levels or searching for potent weapons in other zones, this boss typically demands a lengthy endurance contest. This is true for many early bosses from FromSoftware, as players frequently find themselves pitted against an obstacle that restricts them from dishing out unlimited damage throughout their journey to victory.

Armor Spider is the Very Model of a Demon’s Souls Gimmick Boss

Red Light, Green Light with Deadly Stakes

The actual trick to defeating the Armor Spider is a series of running forward, briefly attacking the boss, then falling back to the entrance of the arena and waiting. It is a very simple task, but FromSoftware obscures the truth of it by forcing patience on players, giving them very little ability to deal massive amounts of damage, and making them wait between the slim opportunities to fight back. This is done with the flames that the Armor Spider periodically sprays over the floor and cannot be fully tanked through, no matter if the player has already gone and hunted Demon’s Souls‘ best armor, or pumped levels into health.

In the game Demon’s Souls, the Armor Spider dominates the rhythm of combat with tactics such as setting floors ablaze and firing webs to slow down opponents. As players adapt to its tempo, they find themselves engaged in a prolonged “stop and go” battle, where moments to advance and inflict damage alternate with periods of retreat. Overcoming the Armor Spider requires a significant amount of patience, but skilled players can defeat it without taking any damage by staying focused and understanding the boss’s patterns.

Patience is the Core of FromSoftware’s Best Boss Fights

The Armor Spider is well-known as a key introduction in Demon’s Souls, setting the stage for how players should tackle boss fights. While it’s most evident with the Armor Spider’s strategy of forcing players to retreat at times, this pattern can be less obvious in other battles. Nevertheless, many FromSoftware bosses, such as Artorias from Dark Souls and Consort Radahn in Elden Ring, require a similar approach – patience and waiting for the right moment to attack. As such, the Armor Spider serves as an effective teaching tool from FromSoftware, helping players understand how to strategize against the more challenging bosses they’ll encounter later on.

In FromSoftware’s most challenging battles, there’s a similar version of the red light, green light game, but instead of visible fire or obvious attacks that indicate when players should halt their assault, it requires more subtle cues. The Armor Spider, for instance, doesn’t make it clear when it’s time for players to pause their attack, making its test of patience a valuable lesson. This teaches players that while aggression can be effective in speeding up the fight, it shouldn’t be the only tactic they rely on. In the game Demon’s Souls, the Armor Spider and other bosses are so demanding that only patience can help players overcome the steep challenges they present.

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2024-08-04 20:13