How to defeat the Asylum Demon in Dark Souls: Remastered

The Asylum Demon is the first boss you’ll have to face in Dark Souls: Remastered. Serving as a tutorial into the brutal combat of the game, the boss can be challenging for new players due to your low level, limited weapons, and attack power. If you’re struggling, check out our guide below on how to defeat the Asylum Demon in Dark Souls: Remastered.

How To Beat The Asylum Demon

You’ll first trigger the Asylum Demon in the Northern Undead Asylum, the game’s tutorial. After reaching your first bonfire and proceeding through the nearby giant doors into a large courtyard lined with vases, the Asylum Demon will jump from the floor above.

You can either fight against the Asylum Demon to receive the Demon’s Great Hammer weapon or you can escape. We suggest the latter if this is your first time, so run across the courtyard to its left-hand side, where you should spot an open door and a bonfire ahead. Head through it, and the door will close behind you, allowing you to explore the upper levels of the Asylum.

On these upper levels, you’ll speak with NPC Oscar Of Astora, collect an Estus Flask for health refills, and more powerful weapons and shields that correspond to your starting class. Eventually, you’ll reach the top of the Asylum and the ledge from which the demon first jumped from.

The demon should be below you in the courtyard, signalling the time to fight the demon.

To start the fight against the Asylum Demon, you’ll want to step off the ledge towards the demon and then hit the attack button as you fall to perform a plunging attack, damaging the Asylum Demon heavily. Don’t wait too long to do this, as the demon can jump up and slam you with his club.

Once you reach the ground, you’ll need to stay on your toes and attack diligently while avoiding his attacks, as a few simple hits are enough to kill you and send you back to your last bonfire. The Asylum Demon’s attacks include:

• Club slashes: The demon slashes his club from side to side, attacks that cannot be blocked but are slow
• Club slams: The demon slams his club, an attack that can stagger you if you stand too close to where the club strikes
• Body slam: The demon jumps and slams his backside into the ground, creating an attack that can inflict lots of damage.

You’ll need to keep an eye on his attacks and dodge the Asylum Demon’s slashes by rolling forwards or backwards, while his slams can be avoided simply by retreating when the demon raises his club upright or jumps into the air for a body slam.

Thankfully, the Asylum Demon is a very slow enemy, so you can easily bait attacks and then dodge or circle around him to land a few hits. If you’re using ranged attacks like magic or pyromancy, you can keep your distance and attack, giving you an advantage over Strength and Dex-based players.

Once you’ve defeated the Asylum Demon, you’ll receive 2,000 Souls plus one Humanity and the Big Pilgrim’s Key (If you defeated the Asylum Demon before proceeding through the door in the courtyard, you’ll instead obtain the key via Oscar Of Astora).

With the Asylum Demon defeated, you pat yourself on the back for a job well done, and unlock the doors at the north of the courtyard to proceed to Lordran and continue the game.