[Dark Souls] Artorias down. I continue to be among the rare number who find Artorias Not That Difficult.

Like. He’s tough for sure, he doesn’t leave many openings, he’s very aggressive.

But if you have a decent shield (even just a knight’s shield with a couple upgrades on it) and stamina, the shield will keep you safe from every attack but the lunging stab.

And then you can just wait until one of those rare openings comes. If you don’t feel ballsy enough, you can just wait until he starts charging up to buff himself.

Then two-hand your weapon and run in swinging. He staggers surprisingly easily.

he's definitely had a particularly dramatic drop in difficulty to me over the years but that's because I've cast off fear and become a hyperaggressive dodge-towards-er

the way DS1 trains you does not prepare you for his level of speed and aggression

you come back to it from Bloodborne and DS3 and it's a different matter

I actually play very defensive against him

Just circle constantly with shield up, dodge to the side when he does an overhead or a dashing stab, never even think about attacking unless he’s charging his buff or he’s just done a three-hit combo.