Unlike any other boss battle in this game, the only way to defeat the High Lord is to be good and fast. The outcome will usually be either a near perfect fight or a total mess. With no middle ground to aim for.
Preparing for the battle ahead.
- Blessed weapons are highly effective.
- Although the High Lord has a few physical attacks, your main worry is his Dark damage attacks. Especially the Dark Cloud from either his breath attack and a localized version near his ribcage. Both of them deal heavy damage and can potentially insta-kill.
- He has a large health pool and simply chipping it away, although possible, is not recommended. Aim for the golden bracelets on his hands. Breaking them will each deal about 1/3 of his hit points in damage. They are easier to break while the boss is still asleep.
- If the battle takes too long, he will start spawning skeletons with their powers and numbers increasing depending on how many bracelets you have destroyed. Best you can do is avoid them long enough for the High Lord to pick them out with his physical attacks.
- May summon a sword. A little random on when he does that and the number of bracelets plays no role.
Scratch him with your blade
If you like to get up close and personal in your fights then you have two distinctly different options here.
The first one is to start by attacking the bracelet on the High Lord’s right (your left) hand. It is the one most difficult to break since it will be usually being used. Once that one is broken go to the other hand and keep attacking when you have a window of opportunity. Be ready to deal with additional spawns and when they appear, switch to defense.
Dance around a bit while focusing on the bracelet and attack the spawns only if you think they are going to damage you. The High Lord usually is helpful enough to get them out of your way.
The difficult part of this strategy is avoiding the breath attack and dealing with the sword. If you took this approach, chances are the High Lord will summon a sword. Prefer to rolling under each swiping attack and you will be fine. Once you see him going to stab the ground, use a shield to block. Ideally, you should have one with a 100% damage reduction.
On the other hand, you can change your approach and start with the left hand (your right). Once the battle starts, charge as fast as you can and be aggressive with your attacks. The High Lord will try to squash you with arm attacks. Avoid or endure them and break both bracelets. Do it fast enough and you will make sure the skeletons won’t spawn at all.
This approach is faster but a little trickier since you will not be always able to see the attacks before they land.
Sniping with magic
If you are a caster then there is one common mistake you need to look out for. If the player is out of the boss’s reach, he will start crawling towards you. Make him do more than a few times and you will be stuck right between him and a wall. Note however that the boss retreats back to his starting location whenever you break a bracelet.
As far as fighting the boss with magic is concerned, all you will have to do is aim for the bracelets and avoid as many of the attacks as you can. Get back only when you see the High Lord raising his head and preparing a breath attack and get close once again once it dissipates.
You will probably have to face with spawned skeletons but if you bait them you can use the High Lord’s attacks to take them out.
In addition, if you have a blessed weapon, it would be advisable to land a few hits with that one if you have the opportunity.