Dark Souls' madafakin' Capra Demon

[SlaveNumber23]

He took me a few tries on my first playthrough until I managed to kill him and every playthrough since then I've been able to take him down first try. I think the difficulty with the Capra Demon comes from the sheer element of surprise he has, and you are given very little room and time to try and develop strategies to fight him.

The strategy that seems to work very well for me is as soon as the fight starts, sprint for the top of the stairs, rolling to avoid attacks on the way, then when at the top of the stairs kill both dogs as fast as possible. If you successfully managed to kill the dogs then the fight is a breeze as long as you are quick at dodging the demons attacks. Some of his attacks can break right through your shields so if you aren't familiar with his moveset then you are better off just dodging every attack he makes.

The hardest aspect of the fight is the lack of room in the arena you have to fight the demon in, you can solve this problem by kiting him quite easily by leading him up to the top of the stairs and then jumping off the stairs, he will do the same and you can lead him back up the stairs in a never ending cycle.[footnote]Well you take a tiny amount of fall damage but you can kite him for a very long time. [/footnote] Any ranged attacks make the fight even easier.

EDIT: Oh yeah, since you started as a thief, you will have a master key, with the master key the capra demon, the entire depths area as well as the annoying part of Blighttown are all completely optional so if you're really having a lot of trouble with him you could just skip the fight entirely and maybe complete it later on when you are stronger. You will need to kill the Capra Demon to get the large ember though. I highly recommend skipping the annoying Blighttown section though.

 

[sanquin]

Took me like...7~8 tries. The 'trick' is to use the stairs properly. (after all, why would they put a pair of stairs there?) How I beat him was to dodge/dash for the stairs right away, turn around and kill a dog. Then jump down as the demon came up. Then go back to the stairs again once the demon jumped down. Finally kill the second dog as well, and after that it wasn't that hard any more. I was using a +3 hallbert at the time I believe. Either that or the dragon's tail you can get early on.

 

[I Stomp on Kittens]

If you can quickly dispose of his dogs he isn't much of a threat. His moves are pretty easy to roll out of the way of. That being said he was a pain in the first play through but after you have him figured out he's no real trouble. I feel that you are going to have a blast in the Demon Ruins!

 

[chadachada123]

Just want to jump in; how much of a time sink is this game?
Been really looking into it because it looks brilliant to be honest, but I'm curious about how much bang I'll get for my buck?

And also is it the sort of game that's best in marathon stretches or little and often?

Massive time sink if you get into it. I think out of my eight or so characters, I have more than a weeks worth of time spent on the game. You are free to go at your own pace, and depending on how thorough you are a play through could last several days.

Beautiful, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Ordered a copy for £20.
I'm the sort of player that explores every nook and cranny on the first couple play throughs.

Wish me luck!

You didn't mention which platform, so I feel it important to add:

If you're on PC, definitely get the DSFix, because it helps with a large number of issues, and even allows texture mods.

http://blog.metaclassofnil.com/?tag=dsfix

I'd also recommend getting a wired USB controller, since the Mouse+Keyboard controls are a lot more difficult to get used to (unplayable for me, but some people have apparently gotten used to it).

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

Also, it becomes a gauntlet enemy later, wherein you have to kill several in a row.

Those versions of the demon are a bit vamped though 'cause they have less HP than the actual boss. Same goes for the mob version of the Taurus Demon.

OT: I think i was stuck for a couple of hours as well, but then i said "fuck it" and went and killed the Bell Gargoyles, came back and had Capra killed in about 1 or 2 more tries. Can't say for sure what level i was at the time though.

But yeah, running up the stairs and killing the dogs is the best tactic for it, as i found out when i asked one of my friends for advice. The dogs are just gonna tear you apart otherwise, or at least knock your stamina far enough down for the demon to smack down your defenses.

 

[thethird0611]

It took me hoursssssss to get him dead'ed.

I eventually went to the wiki to try to find the best way to get him, and I used the stair trick.

Now that I know how the game actually works, he is no problem at all.

All you need to do is upgrade a weapon to +5 or more and pop on some gold pine resin. Then just go in the fog wall, kill the dogs in 1-2 hits, then its you and capra, and guess who has the advantage?

 

[In Search of Username]

I don't remember exactly, but it took me a lot of times I think. These days I can do it in one attempt, you just need to dodge his first attack and get upstairs and you've done the hard part.

On the topic of hard parts of the game, how did everyone do with those ridiculous archers on the ledge in Anor Londo. I just lost 72000 souls to them today because I'm a moron and was trying to save up to buy loads of shit from the Giant Blacksmith, instead of just levelling up like I should. Still haven't actually made it past them this playthrough because I just rage-quit after a while.

Oh, and the Four Kings, now THEY were what gave me most trouble. Must have tried that fight about a hundred times, and when I finally won it was more luck than having actually gained any skill at it.

 

[Laser Priest]

Took me probably a good twenty times my first playthrough, but that's what I get for playing a heavy knight.

Dodging the first attack is always half the battle. Then I use the stairs to separate him from his dogs. Kill the dogs while watching out if he does a jumping swing towards you. Once the dogs are gone, then it just becomes a matter of being ready to dodge his attacks. He is pretty slow, so with the dogs gone, he is pretty easy to beat without taking a hit. Separating and taking out the dogs actually seems to be the harder part, especially with how bloody small the battle area is.

 

[JochemHippie]

Beat him on the first try.

Enemies that did give me an incredibly hard time where, Havel the Rock, Bed of Chaos and Manus.

The fight that was without a doubt the most fun was the one against Knight Artorias, that was so much fun.

 

[thethird0611]

I don't remember exactly, but it took me a lot of times I think. These days I can do it in one attempt, you just need to dodge his first attack and get upstairs and you've done the hard part.

On the topic of hard parts of the game, how did everyone do with those ridiculous archers on the ledge in Anor Londo. I just lost 72000 souls to them today because I'm a moron and was trying to save up to buy loads of shit from the Giant Blacksmith, instead of just levelling up like I should. Still haven't actually made it past them this playthrough because I just rage-quit after a while.

Oh, and the Four Kings, now THEY were what gave me most trouble. Must have tried that fight about a hundred times, and when I finally won it was more luck than having actually gained any skill at it.

The archers are actually kinda easy, after you figure out how they work.

What you want to do is first run up the first stretch to the tower that blocks you from both of them. Honestly, I would probably try to get below 50% weight with a shield and sword. Wait on the back right side of the tower, and once an arrow hits the building, just run your ass off to the guy on the right. Once you get to the top ledge, run with your shield up toward him (You will most likely take an arrow to the shield, so make sure to hug the wall) and wait for him to pull out his sword and shield. In this position, the other archer cant hit you, so you just have to take the one in front of you out.

The other guy is up to you if you want to take it. Its just a soul on the corpse, nothing special.

But the four kings... yeah... the four kings can go and jump into the lava in lost izalith.

 

[kommando367]

I killed him on my 2nd try.

He doesn't even do that much damage except during his heavy attack.

 

[Innegativeion]

Ah... the director of the "WELCOME TO DARK SOULS ************" committee. *gets cleaved in face*

memories...

Anyway, I think it took me 3 or 4 times. 2nd or third time I discovered how to use the archway to kite him, then the next time I was able to kill the dogs fast and fully utilize it.

 

[Kururu999]

Capra destroys squishy characters like thieves. You have to suit up and get a weapon with some decent reach to help take down the stupid dogs quickly. Go grab a longsword, Havel's ring, and the elite knight set from the forest and level all that stuff up.

On the topic of hard parts of the game, how did everyone do with those ridiculous archers on the ledge in Anor Londo. I just lost 72000 souls to them today because I'm a moron and was trying to save up to buy loads of shit from the Giant Blacksmith, instead of just levelling up like I should. Still haven't actually made it past them this playthrough because I just rage-quit after a while.

Poison arrows. Get the aim right with standard arrows, then poison them. Even if you end up doing no damage at all due to range I'm fairly certain the poison still applies.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Why are you soul level 27 on the capra demon? Level grinding isn't as good as it sounds. You should only level up to suit the character build, with the rest going to upgrading your equipment.

Well grinding levels certainly doesn't hurt at all, unless you were aiming for particular arena SL brackets or something.

Also, it becomes a gauntlet enemy later, wherein you have to kill several in a row.

Actually when you come across them later on you can easily run past the first one, outrun him and then drop down to the bonfire, without even alerting the 6 others or however many there are.