Dark Souls - Bell Gargoyles boss strategy
How to beat the Bell Gargoyles in Dark Souls.
Bell Gargoyles is a boss encounter that you'll find within the Undead Parish.
If you're looking for more help, our Dark Souls walkthrough and guide can help with all other areas of the game, including the dreaded Taurus Demon, Capra Demon, Ornstein and Smough bosses.
Bell Gargoyles boss strategy
The Bell Gargoyles are the fight that you can summon someone in to help you. You can summon Solaire of Astora here as an NPC to help you in this fight.
Proceed forward after the fog gate to trigger a cutscene, then you will be greeted by the first Gargoyle. Their tails are cuttable, and will significantly nerf their attacks, so be sure to do so if you can.
There are a few basic attacks that the Gargoyle has at this stage in the fight. They're mostly all physical attacks which you should be able to block with any 100% Physical Shield. However, do be careful not to get blockstunned to oblivion.
Keep your distance where you need to, and focus your attacks on the tail. This fight is a little bit different to many of the others you will encounter in the game, in the sense that once you have the Gargoyle down to half health, another one will come swooping down.
Don't panic, but now these Gargoyles not have access to a fire AoE attack, which it will spam at you if you try to keep your distance. This second Gargoyle spawns with half health, but keep your focus on the first Gargoyle that you fought. The best thing to do here is to run, head on to the boss. This way, you will be able to get a close range advantage, and the Gargoyles can't use their firebreath attack against you.
If you have an NPC or Player summoned, this will help a lot with drawing the aggro from you onto someone else, meaning that you can reliably split the two Gargoyles apart. This quest is pretty easy if you summon Solaire of Astora, as his lightning attacks will be able to do some pretty significant damage against them. Additionally, if you are playing as a Pyromancer, you will have very easy access to the Gargoyle's Weakness - fire!
While the Gargoyles spew fire, they're actually weak to it too- be sure to use this advantage and use up all of your fire bombs or Fireballs. This is especially useful if you want to split both Gargoyles up, or do damage to them both at the same time, which is incredibly potent.
Either way, after lopping the first Gargoyle's tail off, it should weaken it a bit, too- be wary of the short range attacks, and try to not get stuck in between them, or else you'll be in for a world of hurt.
Never have you back facing them both at the same time, and ensure that you know where you're going. The Arena for this fight is pretty tight, so be sure to not get stunlocked and fall off of the roof- you'll need to try again. Stay central focusing your attack on the original Gargoyle.
If you're looking for more help, our Dark Souls walkthrough and guide can help with all other areas of the game, including the dreaded Taurus Demon, Capra Demon, Ornstein and Smough bosses. Meanwhile, we have explainers on how to access DLC Artorias of the Abyss, the best gift and best class in Dark Souls, Dark Souls' best weapons, Dark Souls Covenants, Dark Souls Estus Flasks locations, Dark Souls Titanite Slab locations and NPC quests including Lautrec of Carim.
Once you get rid of the first Gargoyle, this fight should be a pinch. The second Gargoyle likes to spew fire, so try to get up close and roll behind the Gargoyle, then the fire attack will manage to not hit you.
Keep up your attacks and follow the tips we gave you to get rid of this second Gargoyle. This is a pretty easy fight once you have learned their moves and patterns- you will have them taken out in no time. Just remember to keep your distance on the fire attacks and go in during the windup. Just ensure you kill the first Gargoyle as quickly as possible.
Once you've killed them, head up the tower and ring the first bell. On your way down, you will encounter Oswald of Carim, an NPC and merchant who sells some pretty interesting items. Head back to where we first met Solaire of Astora, and you will recall a locked door, which is where you will use the Basement Key we got earlier.
This then allows you to enter the Lower Undead Burg.