Dark Souls 3: Ashes of Ariandel - Sister Friede, Father Ariandel and Blackflame Friede boss fight

To unlock this final Sister Friede, Father Ariandel and Blackflame Friede boss encounter, make sure you fully complete the Snowy Mountain Pass area then return to Ariandel Chapel.

As is tradition, this fight comes in three stages.

Sister Friede boss fight

This part of the fight is surprisingly simple - she's got a few ground based attacks as well as an aerial one, but they're all fairly heavily signposted.

• Her swirling ground attacks come in twos, occasionally followed by a brief pause and a third rotation, but if you stay just out of reach and then roll in after her second attack you'll have time for a couple of blows before retreating.
• If she performs a couple of wide sweeps this will be followed by a leaping attack, so roll towards her while she's airborne to evade her strike and the frost ground attack that follows it, and hit from behind.
• She'll occasionally turn invisible, and although it's possible to get close when she vanishes and force her to reappear it may be safer to take the defensive. There's an audio cue to help you predict her return - there'll be a sort of metallic swoosh, and as soon as that's stopped dodge roll a couple of times in a random direction to avoid being swept up in her scythe.

Let's play Ashes of Ariandel Dark Souls 3 DLC new PS4 gameplay

Father Ariandel and Friede boss fight

Things get tougher now as you have two threats to deal with, although they both share a health bar so it's a little easier than it could have been.

For the most part Friede has the same moveset, although she adds a long-range frost attack, and when she turns invisible she's no longer winding up for an attack, she's looking for a safe spot to heal, so if you lose sight of her then keep your eyes peeled for the telltale glow as she starts the healing process and interrupt her as quickly as possible to avoid dragging the fight out.

As long as you can keep out of Friede's way, Ariandel provides by far the easiest target. His attacks switch between holding his bowl above his head while he spits fire, and rushing towards you whilst hammering the bowl onto the ground, and between each cycle he'll pause for breath leaving him wide open to damage.

If you overdo it he may set himself on fire - this does no harm to him but can seriously cramp your style, so if he starts to swing the bowl to one side whilst you're hitting him then back off sharpish.

Blackflame Friede boss fight

Back to a single opponent, but this time she's not mucking about. She brings in a new range of attacks, switches up some of the old ones, has two scythes for the price of one, and has far fewer moments of vulnerability, so patience is essential.

• If she leaps into the air with her Blackflame scythe blazing, just before she hits the gorund dodge roll to one side to avoid the impact and the line of flame it creates.
• If she leaps into the air without the scythe blazing, dodge roll backwards a couple of times just before impact to avoid being hit by a frost AoE attack.
• She'll occasionally fire several narrow blasts of frost across the ground, and all you can really do here is keep well away - dodging them at close range is possible, but if you get caught by one then the others are liable to also connect.
• If she holds her scythes in front of her and starts to spin, run away! If she hits you she'll follow it up by grabbing hold and unleashing an unblockable and devastating blow to the neck.
• Her invisibility is a triple threat - the first two landings will deal frost damage, and the third will carry a Blackflame followup, so this time it's worth at least attempting to track her down before her first leap to interrupt the attack, but if you lose her then rolling away just before she lands each blow is the only option.
• Most of her heavy attacks won't leave her vulnerable as the elemental blasts that follow them make it impossible to get near her, so you'll likely do most of your damage after her regular attacks; as before she's temporarily open between sweeps, and if you're quick then there's a brief window of opportunity after her spin-and-grab attack.

Once the battle is over, head back upstairs and climb the ladder behind the bonfire to get a few parting words of wisdom, and your journey is at an end. Congratulations!

This is the end of the DLC, but if you seek help with other parts - including unlocking Depths of the Painting, taking on PvP Undead Matches and finding any remaining weapons, armor or spells - then see our complete Dark Souls 3: Ashes of Ariandel guide and walkthrough.