One of the highlights of the Dark Souls series is its boss fights. The enemies you battle during these encounters come in all different shapes and sizes, and the only thing that matches that variety are the methods players have come up with to defeat them.
Dark Souls 3 is no different, with players coming up with inventive ways to defeat bosses, such as doing so without rolling, or stacking so many different buffs that it becomes possible to defeat a boss using a riposte following a successful parry.
This latest method is quite special as it takes advantage of a combat mechanic that many players don't use too often: Weapon Arts. As you may recall, Weapon Arts is a brand new mechanic introduced in Dark Souls 3 where players can use up FP in order to use a special weapon that is unique to that weapon or weapon class. For example, many Straight Swords have the "Stance" weapon art, but exceptions like the Sunlight Straight Sword and Dark Sword have the "Oath of Sunlight" and "Stomp" weapon art, respectively. In a similar vein, all Sacred Chimes have the Gentle Prayer weapon art.
Well, a YouTuber named Phi6er made gratuitous use of weapon arts in order to take down the Abyss Watchers without getting touched. The focal point of this strategy was the Astora Greatsword, as well as its weapon skill, "Charge."
To understand what makes this possible, we need to understand what factors are involved. First off, there is Charge, a weapon skill typically seen on an assortment of Spear-type weapons that allows the player to charge an enemy to deal damage. The damage comes from multiple hits, with the most damaging of them being the final hits of the attack. However, what makes this attack special is that each attack can stagger an enemy, causing him or her to be stun-locked in the process.
Second are the Abyss Watchers themselves. The Abyss Watchers are a special breed of boss that is close to the player's size (compared with other bosses, at least), and as such, are susceptible to backstabs as well as parry and ripostes. Furthermore, they are also easily staggered, which makes them easy pickings for a weapon art designed to stun the target before knocking him or her over.
The Abyss Watchers boss fight is one of the earlier encounters in the game, but many players still have trouble with it. The fight comes in two phases, with the first having the player fight the main boss as well as up to a maximum of two other Watchers who might among themselves. The second phase is where things heat up, however, when the main boss lights his sword on fire and is capable of dealing more damage, while adding new moves to its repertoire.
With this method, all players need to do is get the Astora Greatsword from the Cathedral of the Deep's graveyard section. In order to reach that area, simply beat the Crystal Sage boss in the Road of Sacrifices ruins section, instead of heading past the area where you encounter the two hostile NPCs in the marsh.
At that point, it's simply a matter of having the necessary stats to equip the weapon and the necessary amount of Ashen Estus Flasks to fuel your Charge attacks (they can still be used without FP, but they will drain a ton of stamina and deal less damage). Of course, even with this setup, you still need to be aware of the boss' attack patterns as they can still deal quite a bit of damage if the boss ever lands an attack — especially during the second phase of the fight.
