In the original Demon’s Souls for PS3, the Flamelurker could be cheesed in multiple ways — making the otherwise challenging boss a cakewalk. In the remake for PS5, however, you have to go toe-to-toe with the creature legitimately and taking it down is no easy feat. There are a couple strategies you can use to get past this boss and in this guide, we’ll highlight some of the most effective ones we’ve come across.
Spam Magic
Depending on when you choose to fight the Flamelurker you may be well-equipped with powerful spells to take it down. That’s why we advise to pour your stats into Intelligence and Magic to ensure you’re prepared for the fight. In fact, it’s recommended to attempt this boss a little later on in your playthrough when you’re leveled up appropriately. Grind if you have to.
The Soul Ray and Homing Soul Arrow do wonders — allowing you to keep away from the boss as much as possible. Staying up close is much harder to manage, as it opens you up for flame attacks. Keep your distance and do your best to hit the beast with your attacks. Keep in mind, if you’re too far away from the Flamelurker, it’ll dodge your magic, so stay at medium range for best results.
We highly advise to utilize the Cloud Save trick here — which can be done by disabling auto uploads to the cloud from the PS5’s main menu. In essence, you can keep reverting to an old save by downloading the most recent save file from the cloud, which allows you to preserve your precious items. During our attempts, we went through a lot of healing items and MP restoration items, so don’t waste them! Revert back to an old save if you die.
In terms of Rings, we recommend to use the Cling Ring and the Ring of Longevity, both of which will increase your health. (Cling Ring gives you more health in Soul form). It can be tempting to use the Fragrant Ring, which gradually increases your MP, but this is extremely slow and you’re better off gaining more health. Since you should be staying far back when using Magic, you shouldn’t wear the Flame Resistance Ring, as enticing as that may be. After all, you shouldn’t come into contact with flames if you’re staying far back enough.
Keep whittling away and if the boss comes towards you, do your best to roll through its attacks. You can also use a lot of the geometry around the arena as cover. In some cases, the boss will remain still for a short period of time, allowing you to heal up or replenish MP.
Remember, there are things you can do to boost your magic, like using the Ring of Magical Sharpness or the Kris Blade. Just hold the Kris Blade in the other hand as your Catalyst to deal higher Magic damage.
Melee Strategies
While using melee is much more practical — and in some cases, more effective — it’s simply much more difficult to pull off. However, if your character is not spec’d for Magic or Spellcasting, you’ll have to take down the Flamelurker the old fashioned way.
To start, we advise to use a powerful weapon like the Crescent Falchion+1 or something else with high damage output. Also, bring a shield with you that has high fire resistance like the Tower Shield. Unlike the Magic strategy, we do recommend wearing the Ring of Flame Resistance when using melee, as you’ll be close enough to get burned.
The strategy is probably what you’d expect: Stick behind the Flamelurker and get in a few hits before putting up your guard. You should be aggressive, but not greedy; the Flamelurker can take you out in just a few hits. In most cases, we advise to wear light armor, but when facing off against the Flamelurker, heavy, flame resistant armor will help you out a great deal.
When you need to heal, try to hide behind some of the geometry around the arena, or do so right after the boss attacks. Whatever you do, don’t heal right in front of the boss, as you’ll likely get taken out quickly.
