Dancer of the Boreal Valley Dark Souls III Guide

The battle with the Dancer starts automatically after you defeat three Lords of Cinder and will be moved to the cathedral. Speak with Emma and collect the Basin of Vows from her. Then walk towards the figure behind the altar in order to trigger a cutscene.

The Dancer has low resistance to dark energy - spells with this effect will be very useful against her. You can also try dealing a negative bleeding effect with a proper weapon or spell. As for the defense, an armor with fire and dark energy (in the second phase) protection will be useful.

The enemy can move around the player and attack him suddenly.

The Dancer is an inconspicuous opponent which seems to be moving slowly but can very quickly perform sword attacks. Because of that, try walking around her so that in case of an attack you can perform dodge and land behind her back. This will allow you to attack her. This tactic is much easier during the first phase of the battle when the Dancer isn't very aggressive (mages can very easily keep her at distance by hiding and running among the columns).

Watch out especially for one attack which can cost you deeply - the capture. If you remain for too long in front of the Dancer, she might try catching you with her right hand and then pierce you with her sword. This attack deals great number of damage (it will probably be half of you health bar), so avoid it as much as you can (remain behind her and move away whenever the boss raises her hand).

Attack mostly from behind by walking around the Dancer.

In the second phase (about half of Dancer's health bar) she will summon a second sword and here attacks will become even faster and more deadly (a whirl with two swords). In this phase walking towards her might be much harder - use the columns, they will provide you with cover, and try attacking with not more than two hits after Dancer ends her attack. In addition to that, you must always run away when the opponent prepares one deadly attack - a series of hits that are an actual "dance" with two swords. Avoiding or blocking all attacks is impossible, so whenever you see that Dancer raises her weapons above her head, run to the opposite end of the room, hide and wait for her to end. As mage you must watch out while keeping your distance since in this phase the Dancer is able to jump from distance. When she lands, she deals area damage.

Sequence of attacks in the second phase of the battle is impossible to fully block or dodge it - you must run away and hide behind columns.

During most of the battle you must avoid boss' attacks and look for openings to perform your own hits. As wizard you can try dealing large damage to the Dancer with dark energy spells or bleeding effect. In case of melee combat you can also hide behind columns in order to avoid her worst attacks. If you don't want to risk, you can try remaining there during the whole combat and go out only when there is an opening between Dancer's attacks.

Note: The battle with this boss can be also activated much earlier than after killing three Lords of Cinder. In order to do it, speak with Emma during your first encounter with her and then kill her. Walk with the basin towards the altar and the cutscene will be activated. However, defeating the Dancer so early in the game will be much harder. Luckily, you can use NPCs summoned for the battle with Vordt (their summoning signs are before the entrance to the arena with Vordt, but you can summon them and go back to the Dancer. If you do it, they won't be available later for summoning them again).

Reward: Dancer's Soul, 45 000 soul

Location: High Wall of Lothric (appears after killing three Lords of Cinder, you will be moved here automatically).