The Adjudicator is one of those bosses from the soulslike genre that looks tougher than it is. In fact, you’ll probably find that you’re having an issue with this boss when you start to fight it. That’s because there’s a gimmick to this enemy that makes it very easy, but also pretty difficult at the same time. In this guide, we’ll cover how to take it down without losing your head.
The Gimmick
The thing with this boss is that it’s actually two enemies. The colossal body isn’t the boss, it’s the base that the boss is sitting atop. When you deal enough damage to the body, it falls over. Then you can start to get some hits in on the head, which is where the boss is actually found. It’s the golden part that should be a head for this enormous beast.
When you enter the arena, you’ll be up high. These platforms can break, so moving is essential. You can attack from any level, but eventually you’ll be on ground level. Make sure you deal enough damage to the boss on these higher levels to avoid being too badly damaged later on.
Attacks and Strategies
There are limited attacks to put up with from the Adjudicator. The first attack it’ll throw at you is a big lash with its tongue. It’ll do this when at medium and long-range from you. It’s more of a cheap attempt at getting a few hits in.
To avoid these lashes, keep moving. You want to be leaping across the upper platforms so that the tongue lashes actually break them. This will cause lots of debris to fall down and injure the boss itself. It’s cheap, but you’ll get through its health a lot faster this way.
The only other attack you’ll have to put up with is if you’re on ground level. This attack is an execution cleaver attack that he’ll swing at you with in his left arm. If it hits you, it’ll certainly hurt. However, you won’t be too badly damaged by it.
Rolling to either side will help you dodge this attack. All you need to do is get out of the way. Then you can go back to dealing damage to the body in order to get the head.
Tips
You don’t need too many tips to take this boss down. All we would advise is that you should have a magic or ranged attack to deal some damage while on the higher levels. This will make your life easier later on in the battle, but it’s far from essential.
The only other tip we have is to keep on your toes and dodge when you need to. There’s no point in taking unnecessary damage, so try to avoid it like the plague. If you see an attack coming, dodge out of the way and live to fight another day.
Lore
The Adjudicator is very strange demon with a crown on its head. While it wields cleavers, it also has huge tongues that it lashes out with. The reason the demon is so fat is because he keeps eating all the slayers who try to get past him. There must have been a lot of slayers, because this thing is huge.
If you need help with other Demon’s Souls bosses, check out our guides for the Old Monk, Maneater, Fool’s Idol, Dragon God, Flamelurker, Old King Allant, Penetrator, Tower Knight, Armored Spider, and Phalanx.