The Adjudicator in Demon’s Souls is absolutely terrifying. Whether it be its towering presence, its nasty ranged tongue attacks, or its dual cleavers, this boss gives us the creeps. Fortunately, the Adjudicator isn’t shy about its weakness — depicted by its bleeding stomach on its left side. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the easiest method of eliminating one of the most horrifying bosses in the game.
Attack Its Bleeding Wound
It can be tempting to stay on the upper level — as far away from the boss as possible, but the easiest way to defeat the Adjudicator is to knock it on its face and attack its head. Do that by striking it in the wound on the left side of its gut. It appears to have been stabbed and the weapon is still protruding from its belly. Keep slashing at its wound and eventually, it’ll fall down much like the Tower Knight boss fight.
From our experience, we highly recommend avoiding locking-on to the boss, since the close-quarters arena can mess with the camera. The hit box also seems to be quite finicky when detecting any strikes. You have to hit it exactly in the right spot to get it to count. If you hit it directly on its belly, or too close to its side, it won’t register. You’ll know you’re hitting the right spot by the animation of your character. If the slash goes through, it probably counted. If your weapon “bounces off,” then it means you didn’t hit the right spot.
Try to circle around while staying on the boss’ left side. Get right up next to it and you’ll be able to avoid any of its attacks. If you think you’re going to get hit with its cleaver, roll to the right while continuing to stay focused on its wound.
Once it falls on its face, attack its head and make sure to two-hand your melee weapon while doing so. Depending on your gear, it’s possible to take out the Adjudicator before it stands up after being knocked down once. Though, it’ll likely take a couple rounds before you can defeat it if you’re using a weaker weapon. As always, we highly advise using either the Crescent Falchion+1 or the Dragon Longsword+1. Their locations can be found in our Demon’s Souls tips and tricks guide here.
Long Range Attacks Are Ill-Advised
It seems the developers at Bluepoint were aware of the cheese techniques some players liked to use to take down the Adjudicator in the original Demon’s Souls. One method involved staying at the top of the arena while firing arrows or magic at the creature. If positioned correctly, you were able to avoid getting hit whatsoever.
In the PS5 remake, it’s much harder to pull this off, as the boss uses its long range tongue attack on you, which can go through the floor. There is probably some sweet spot at the top where you can’t get hit, but it’s just as simple to run down and stick to the boss’ left side while attacking its wound.
