- "Brave Undead, you have proven yourself to me. Now, be one, with the Dark..."
- — Nashandra
Nashandra is the final boss and main antagonist of Dark Souls II.
Location[]
Drangleic Castle, before the acquisition of the Giant's Kinship, Nashandra can be found in the throne room right before the Dragonrider duo boss.
Throne of Want, after defeating the Throne Watcher and Defender, and having the Giant's Kinship in the player's possession. The King's Ring is also required to open the King's Gate that leads to Nashandra.
Description[]
A tall humanoid creature wielding a long scythe in her right hand. Her left hand emanates a purple light that can become an energy beam or cause an explosion when she puts it near her chest. Her legs are covered by a skirt made of a black goo filled with bones. She can also summon four black fountains that curse those who stand near them. She can speak and can change into a more human, yet still gigantic, form.
Lore[]
Nashandra began her life as a small fragment of Manus, Father of the Abyss. When Manus was defeated, he was reborn as many fragments varying in sizes. Nashandra was the incarnation of her "father's" want, and thus began desiring what she did not have: power.
Nashandra traveled to the land of Drangleic, and set her sights on its powerful ruler, King Vendrick. Deciding to seduce Vendrick, Nashandra assumed a human form of unparalleled beauty and warned him of a supposed looming threat beyond the sea: the Giants. She convinced him to invade the land of the giants to claim their power, which Vendrick did successfully. Vendrick then made Nashandra his queen, and under their leadership, Drangleic entered into a Dark-like peace. The rulership of Drangleic however, was not enough to quell Nashandra’s want, and she desired an even greater power: the First Flame, which she intended to claim for herself by using Vendrick and the Throne of Want.
When Drangleic was ravaged by the second war with the giants and the spread of the Undead Curse, Vendrick came to realize the true nature and identity of Nashandra, and what she had coveted all along. Knowing that his time was short and that his queen had to be stopped, Vendrick created several impasses that would prevent Nashandra from seizing the throne, and sealed himself away in the Undead Crypt. This left Nashandra the sole ruler of Drangleic, albeit without much left to rule at all, as the kingdom had been all but destroyed.
Left without a king and with no means to claim the Throne of Want, Nashandra’s plans were stalled until the arrival of the Bearer of the Curse, an undead powerful enough to defeat the Four Old Ones and gain access to Drangleic Castle. Nashandra manipulated the Bearer of the Curse into opening the way to the Throne of Want by aiding them in seizing the Throne of Want. She directs the Bearer of the Curse toward the Undead Crypt, suggesting that they put an end to the now-hollowed King Vendrick and claim his ring. She then directs the Bearer of the Curse to journey to Aldia's Keep to acquire the Ashen Mist Heart, and warns them that the Ancient Dragon there is no more than a prop and a false deity. At last, she directs the Bearer of the Curse toward the Forest of Fallen Giants to visit the memories of the Giants and obtain the last key to the Throne: the Giant's Kinship.
Once the Bearer of the Curse has finally cleared the way to the Throne and acquired the means to access it, Nashandra will intercept them and reveal her true form. She then declares the Bearer of the Curse worthy to assume her intended role for Vendrick, to have their power usurped by her so she can claim the throne for herself.
The Bearer of the Curse has grown too strong however, and Nashandra falls at their hand.
Strategy[]
Nashandra specializes in dark magic and will immediately summon four Curse-inducing "fountains" once the battle starts. She has two methods of attack in addition to inflicting Curse on your character and eating away at their health:
Scythe: She will swing her scythe sideways one, two, or three times (the third having a slightly longer windup and dealing heavy stamina damage on block), or do an overhead swing with a long recovery time. Her scythe swings can easily stagger characters with low adaptability and poise. Rolling diagonally backwards is the most effective way at dodging both of these attacks when close to her.
Dark Magic: She will either fire a beam that starts on the floor close to her and emits outward from the floor vertically, which can easily be avoided by strafing, or execute a small area of effect attack similar to Wrath of the Gods. If she begins casting and her body is not being covered in dark energy, then she will use the beam; otherwise, it is the area-of-effect attack and you must back away. If you look closely, you will also notice that her hand movement is different for each attack (she draws her hand close to her chest when using Wrath of the Gods). She also has another type of beam which sweeps horizontally, so be aware of the direction of the beams as these beams are usually fatal when combined with the health drain.
All of her attacks inflict Curse Build-up.
For melee characters it is also possible to equip light armor and dodge her attacks, ignoring the Curse buildup and only healing when your health starts draining. Also a good method for melee users is to wait at a distance for her to come towards the player, baiting her away from the four curse fountains. The curse fountains can be broken, stopping the curse buildup and health drain.
Summoning help will make the fight easier, even if it's only the two characters Vengarl of Forossa and Benhart of Jugo, as they will draw attention, leaving you with a good amount of room to deal damage and heal as needed.
An effective strategy if one has pyromancies is to stay far away until she fires her vertical "laser", then simply lobbing flame attacks at her.
Attacks[]
- Curse Fountains: Summons several white fountains that build up your curse meter. They can be destroyed by a single strike or by a roll.
- Laser Beam: Her hand fills with darkness and fires a beam at the player. Can be either an easily dodged vertical, or a sweeping shot much like the Duke's Dear Freja. (Can be dodged by rolling backwards; Just be wary of the holes in the arena.)
- Dark Explosion: Her hand fills with darkness and she brings it closer to her chest. Once her whole body begins to emanate darkness, she releases an area of effect dark attack, similar to Wrath of the Gods.
- Overhead Strike: Performs an overhead attack with her scythe. Easily dodged.
- Swings: Swings her scythe twice in a row.
Defenses[]
| Physical Defenses | |||
|
|
|
|
| 633 | -10% | 0% | 0% |
| Elemental Defenses | |||
|
|
|
|
| 30% | 30% | 15% | 50% |
| Resistances | |||
|
|
Can be Backstabbed | Can be Parried |
| 70% | 100% | No | No |
(Stats are from Param Studio and are not estimated)
Strike/Slash/Thrust defense are applied on top of Physical Defense. -10% strike means taking 110% damage.
Drops[]
| Item |  Soul of Nashandra |
| Drop Rate | Guaranteed |
Notes[]
- Throwing a Holy Water Urn at the right positioning, angle and time, will freeze Nashandra completely due to a glitch, making the fight very easy.
- If the player has obtained the Giant's Kinship before defeating the Throne Watcher and Defender, then Nashandra's cutscene will trigger as soon as they are defeated and the fight with her will begin immediately.
- This cutscene will be slightly different from obtaining the Kinship after defeating the Throne Watcher and Defender. Obtaining the Kinship beforehand will cause Nashandra to enter the arena through the fog gate. Obtaining the Kinship after the first boss fight will cause Nashandra to already be waiting inside the arena. The cutscene will also play in this manner if the player dies while fighting her, when reentering the arena after respawning.
- Any summoned characters or players who survived the fight between the Throne Watcher and Defender will stay with the host to defeat Nashandra; however, they will not receive two rewards (Token of Fidelity or Sunlight Medal).
- By burning a Bonfire Ascetic on the King's Gate bonfire in Drangleic Castle, Nashandra can be respawned.
- Wearing the Black Witch Veil, Hollow Skin, or any of the four crowns already infused with Vendrick's blessing will grant immunity to Curse; however, the player will still take continual damage whenever near the curse fountains.
Trivia[]
- According to the Dark Souls II: Design Works interview, Nashandra's design was inspired by Gravelord Nito's, and in the early versions of the story she was not meant to be the Final Boss, instead she had a role closer to Nito's from the first game. However, it is clarified that the two characters aren't directly linked.
- Her design also serves to link well with Dark Souls II's theme of "deep curse" - the world's curse of Undeath and the grim fate of the Undead to be chosen to perform an impossible task - that director Yu Tanimura wanted to draw out in the game.
Gallery[]
