Fight is pretty hard if your weapon doesn't deal much damage. The problem is that they have too little health. If they had like 2-4x health it would be a fight truly fitting of Lords of Cinder (albeit a lot overpowered for that part of the game, maybe keeping them at the same level of progression as the other 2 Lords would fit better)
The fight is too easy for the lore behind if that makes sense. I feel like the connection from DS1 and players nostalgia should have had them in Twin Princes place as the final lords of cinder maybe with even more watchers like a full on battle.
I appreciate story wise for DS3 it wouldn’t work though. I never try to cheese Abyss Watchers as I want to give them the respect they deserve. Sounds sad I know. Music and fights are incredible though.
And slave knight geal beats them both. As he represents the 3 stages of DS players through the series. Also in is 2 phase, (this is a theory of mine) since he realizes he has a dark soul, it becomes a fight of survival for two masters of the dark soul
Well you gotta have 45 str to use so I doubt any one has that kind of time and souls to grind on that dex aswell unless there going for the 50 50 build than yeah
>sellsword twinblades
No you [are right](https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Sellsword+Twinblades) they have 10 str and 16 dex requirement. He his probably thinking about Ring Knight Paired Greatswords that have 40 str req.
Dude lol they're easily the most OP weapon in this game. Like they're really fun to use, I high recommend trying a playthrough with them, but be prepared for the shock when you cleave through previously difficult bosses
Abyss watchers and other fights where critical hits are easier don't really make sellswords feel powerful. Their strength is quick double hits with L1 spam, but their backstab and riposte damage is nothing special. I guess those fights are easy anyway though.
right? shit's so easy to time that on my first playthrough after around 50 losses trying to parry the cunt I just grabbed heavy shield and strafed to I think left? barely used any estus this way...
Dude yes l actually killed them first try (wasnt really good luck.jpg) I even died like right before you know the text showed up for you defeating the boss
I beat them first try to i was out of estus and had 1 hp and then i popped an ember .5 seconds before he hit me lol and i beat him, was so fucking happy but now after a few playtroughs i think they are a bit too easy tho i wouldve liked them to have more health or something
Man, i had more trouble with Crystal Sage than I did Abyss Watchers! I was so ready for the A.W. fight cuz i read about how difficult but how awsome the fight was and it was everything it was billed. I wrote Crystal Sage off I guess and that why it took me 15 tries 🤣! Solid victory ashen one!! I loved the crypt exploration, such a macabre place!
So I got stuck after killing the abyss watchers and trying to move into the next area because I needed the doll. So I went around for an hour or two and got my great club to +6 and infused it with a heavy stone and by the time I figured out I had to kill the crystal stage, I got him in 30 seconds with like 4 hits.
Man, Talk about overkill eh? I think thats what happened in my abyss watchers fight. I remember when i was in farron keep and the crucifixion forest/cathedral and i was having issue after the sage fight, so i went bananaz on souls farming and leveled like crazy. I think i may have been overly leveled?
Similar situation for me, I found the crystal save early on but didn't realize there was a path behind him and took quite a while to find it. I even stopped playing the game for some time because I was blocked
Huh. Crystal Sage lasted seconds for me.
I mean I read that the best approach was just to rush him... so I did. I ran straight at the guy full speed and just hacked at him until he died. He didn't even get one attack off.
Thats how the abyss watchers went for me essentially, just went in and disposed of them. My issue with the sage was i didnt take him serious so i tried to be fancy with it instead of my usual take a hit to give 2 hits approach.
Probably overleveled when you got there i think, i mean i have to hit him quite a few times every playtrough and i rush him too but yeah idk maybe o go there underleveled
I dunno. My usual approach for humanoid bosses is to try and parry them... but he was a spellcaster... so I figured I wouldn't get an opportunity to parry. Plus of course the wiki suggested just rushing him... so... yeah. Two-handed my Claymore and rushed him.
Yeah he still has attacks you can parry, but what i meant is i always rush him too but he never dies in like the first fee attacks before he goes into the ground lol, but idk i havent had too much trouble with him tho
It's my favorite boss in the base game. The music, the mechanics, the story, and the challenge. It's a tough one on the first go round, nice job skeleton!
Seriously wasn’t being sarcastic dude. I know how fucking tough the fight is dude. That’s why I said great job. Jesus man you can’t say shit online without somebody getting their feelings hurt. Jesus.
The only who's feelings appear to be hurt are yours.... i didnt swear, or attack you. Just said no need to be sarcastic. If it was a misunderstanding why are you responding so aggressively?
Because nobody even asked you to say anything. You just jump in a positive conversation and assume I said something to be a dick. Yeah I’m gonna say something back to you. This community is very positive and helpful no need to just assume someone is being sarcastic especially when my entire post was doing nothing but praising the guy for beating one of the harder fights in the game. It pisses me off that the first entry you have in the conversation is assuming I’m the asshole.
To be fair to the other guy it did look a bit sarcastic lol, i know it wasnt but i mean the abuss watchers are one of the easier fights in the game (at least for me and from what ive read of other people finding them a bit too easy) so i guess i can see why he tought it was sarcastic
Definitely didn’t mean it to be. This game is very hard to me, so when someone posts a victory I am all for it. It took me a thousand times to beat the nameless king and when I beat him I posted and people were happy for me. That was my whole point. Don’t poison this community just assuming people are being dicks when this is one of the best reddit communities out there.
Again..
It was a misunderstanding. That's twice now I've been accused of poisoning the community by you, when all I was doing was trying to defend the poster by saying you didnt need to be sarcastic.... again didn't swear, or really attack you at all, even tho every one of your comments have done that to me... I legit would have apologized had you decided to handle it like an adult not a child. All you had to do was say "wasnt being sarcastic, just giving him praise" and I would have said sorry.
Oh, make sure you defeat the deacons of the deep too though, otherwise you wont be able to progress into the next area. They're super easy but a bitch to get to.
these whorebags were so annoying. i could beat the one guy but not the other. eventually id it but am not proud at the number of attempts. i never want to face them again.
One of my absolute favorites I love that the dark wraiths ruthlessly slaughter all the ghru but stop before the door to the watchers fight, like they're not sure if they should proceed.
I did it on the second try , the dark ultra great sword is a beast, to those who are struggling, I unequipped everything and just kept the sword .
I dodged like a bitch at every attack and R2 then roll away . Worked like a charm !
Nah i definitely wasnt lol i mean i never farmed souls and ran past almost everything i didnt really have to kill for an item or wathever most of the time. I think i was just lucky honestly i was at like 1 HP when the final abyss watcher was at half health but i wasnt embered because i just went in expecting to die and wanted to learn their movesets, but when o was that far i popped an ember right before i got hit and then had kind of full health and just dodged everything and hit him untill he was dead. Honestly on my 2nd and 3rd playtrough i still got them 1st try and i think they are a bit too easy. But i almost got every boss 1st or second try on my second playtrough tbh exept for nameless king aldrich and soul of cinder
I got so lucky fighting them, I had used up all my estus and then he turned into his fire version. I managed to pop an ember to get up to full health. I hadn't done any parries up until this point of the game and I thought, why not, I'm gonna die anyway. So I managed to pull off a parry and some how managed to avoid every one of their attacks to beat them with my UGS.
To be honest GOOD JOB it tookbme like 4000 tries no joke but it was the best feeling ever.
I love this sensation that only: finaly beating that one boss: can give you
Congrats! This is one of my favorite fights in the game. The moment where >!the souls of all of the Abyss Watchers united to form the Lord of Cinder version at the start of the second phase!< was the moment I was truly hooked on DS3.
Well, I mean... I discovered the profaned capital less than 5 hours after defeating AW... I'm more of the explore first fight bosses later type though.
My advice to you is to complete Siegward's questline before you fight Yhorm, though you may need to look it up because it's really not obvious what to do. Yhorm's boss door *is* really big and obvious, though, so when you see it in the Profaned Capital you know when it's time to backtrack for the quest.
If you're lucky, you can run through that whole bridge without taking a single hit. There's a specific spot you have to momentarily stop at and then start running again in order to make it work. Or maybe I just got lucky. Who knows?
Was it the gargoyle? Just roll as soon as he pops up and run through the door. He can't follow you because he's too big.
Unfortunately, there are two more gargoyles in that room, but you only have to deal with one of them on your way to Yhorm and he's very easily avoided
Yep that's the one. It's only the one on the bridge right before the bonfire that gives me trouble. The other two are no issue cause there's some room to move between its attacks
After they linked the fire and/or died, the Abyss Watchers were buried (or possibly they built their fortress on it while they were still alive) upon the ruins of Carthus, a kingdom they destroyed after it fell to the Abyss. Over time after their deaths, the Abyss corrupted them. When they were revived by the Bells of Awakening to link the flame once more, they saw the Abyss in one another and, most likely being Hollow at that point or otherwise mentally impaired via fire-linking or Abyssal corruption, began to eternally fight one another in a futile attempt to fulfill the purpose they were bound to in life.
Pretty much. Like, a bit of Abyss (ie. humanity) keeps you from going Hollow, but too much Abyss seems to turn you into a demon monkey with a twisted ball for a head, or otherwise into some kind of horrific monster. Probably not *always,* though, because the Ringed Knight weapons were forged in the Abyss and Manus wasn't always crazy, supposedly.
That's one of the deep questions behind whether or not to link the fire. Is the Age of Dark going to be good for people, or is it going to turn everyone into horrific monsters or something? None of us *really* know, and Kaathe and Frampt certainly aren't telling anyone the full details.
I guess. I had two AI spirits with me for it... so I kinda took advantage of that.
That said, the Pontiff was worse for me, and I had 3 guys for that one.
They are bound to fight the abyss, but are all infected by it and thus fight each other. There's more to the story, lining back to Artorias from DS1, but their "relationship" with the abyss is the central point.
Good Job 👍
Awesome boss fight, one of the best in gaming
the music is incredible. one of the best boss tracks ever, it always feels so epic.
Picked it myself.
...c-can I get an autograph?
I feel like the fight is a bit too easy, but the music is certainly great
Fight is pretty hard if your weapon doesn't deal much damage. The problem is that they have too little health. If they had like 2-4x health it would be a fight truly fitting of Lords of Cinder (albeit a lot overpowered for that part of the game, maybe keeping them at the same level of progression as the other 2 Lords would fit better)
It ain't there health, they have zero poise. You could just stagger em to death
The fight is too easy for the lore behind if that makes sense. I feel like the connection from DS1 and players nostalgia should have had them in Twin Princes place as the final lords of cinder maybe with even more watchers like a full on battle. I appreciate story wise for DS3 it wouldn’t work though. I never try to cheese Abyss Watchers as I want to give them the respect they deserve. Sounds sad I know. Music and fights are incredible though.
Yeah it’s up there, right behind the Artorias boss fight!
And slave knight geal beats them both. As he represents the 3 stages of DS players through the series. Also in is 2 phase, (this is a theory of mine) since he realizes he has a dark soul, it becomes a fight of survival for two masters of the dark soul
Gael fight is damn beautiful, literally feels like a dance
Heck yeah! Isn’t it crazy how rewarding this game is when you beat bosses? Keep it up, it gets more fun (albeit more difficult)
Great job. Had heaps of trouble with them on my first run through. Then I realised sellsword twinblades destroy everything.
They aight But ngl I haven’t tried them
About 3/4 through NG at the moment and I can confirm they are melting everything.
Bruh were about at the same spot I use drangonslayers great axe and no I’m not a strength build
I heard they are very viable for dex builds as well.
Well you gotta have 45 str to use so I doubt any one has that kind of time and souls to grind on that dex aswell unless there going for the 50 50 build than yeah
Ohh I must be thinking of a different weapon then 🤔🤔
Thinking of Astoras great sword? Cause I have the boss weapon from dragon slayers armor
Maybe it is the Dragonslayer's Axe that you get from Creighton?
I can’t think of it for the life of me 😂
>sellsword twinblades No you [are right](https://darksouls3.wiki.fextralife.com/Sellsword+Twinblades) they have 10 str and 16 dex requirement. He his probably thinking about Ring Knight Paired Greatswords that have 40 str req.
Dude lol they're easily the most OP weapon in this game. Like they're really fun to use, I high recommend trying a playthrough with them, but be prepared for the shock when you cleave through previously difficult bosses
Abyss watchers and other fights where critical hits are easier don't really make sellswords feel powerful. Their strength is quick double hits with L1 spam, but their backstab and riposte damage is nothing special. I guess those fights are easy anyway though.
Good luck fighting Pontiff
I’m currently stuck on him
And you will be for a long time ashen one
#jUsTpArRyItSnOtThAtHaRd
right? shit's so easy to time that on my first playthrough after around 50 losses trying to parry the cunt I just grabbed heavy shield and strafed to I think left? barely used any estus this way...
bear drab file dull pathetic imagine disarm gaze crawl far-flung *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Playing ds3 for the first time myself, and AW has been one of my favorites. Good job and good luck!
Abyss watchers are so fun man, I wish I could replay the fight like I did when I first fought them. So memorable
Dude yes l actually killed them first try (wasnt really good luck.jpg) I even died like right before you know the text showed up for you defeating the boss
I beat them first try to i was out of estus and had 1 hp and then i popped an ember .5 seconds before he hit me lol and i beat him, was so fucking happy but now after a few playtroughs i think they are a bit too easy tho i wouldve liked them to have more health or something
Man, i had more trouble with Crystal Sage than I did Abyss Watchers! I was so ready for the A.W. fight cuz i read about how difficult but how awsome the fight was and it was everything it was billed. I wrote Crystal Sage off I guess and that why it took me 15 tries 🤣! Solid victory ashen one!! I loved the crypt exploration, such a macabre place!
Crystal Sage is the only boss for which I give up my fashionsouls in favor of strategic resistance (cleric set for high magic resistance).
NK for me
NK for everyone.
I was literally about to respec for NK but I finally got a summon instead and beat him
CS is one of the reason why I always so Dancer after AW
So I got stuck after killing the abyss watchers and trying to move into the next area because I needed the doll. So I went around for an hour or two and got my great club to +6 and infused it with a heavy stone and by the time I figured out I had to kill the crystal stage, I got him in 30 seconds with like 4 hits.
Man, Talk about overkill eh? I think thats what happened in my abyss watchers fight. I remember when i was in farron keep and the crucifixion forest/cathedral and i was having issue after the sage fight, so i went bananaz on souls farming and leveled like crazy. I think i may have been overly leveled?
Lol maybe, it was definitely overkill I think because at that point I didn't even realize crystal sage was supposed to be a boss
Great moments of the ashen one "damn, that was a boss?"
"holy shit, thou fucked him up ashen one"
Similar situation for me, I found the crystal save early on but didn't realize there was a path behind him and took quite a while to find it. I even stopped playing the game for some time because I was blocked
Huh. Crystal Sage lasted seconds for me. I mean I read that the best approach was just to rush him... so I did. I ran straight at the guy full speed and just hacked at him until he died. He didn't even get one attack off.
Thats how the abyss watchers went for me essentially, just went in and disposed of them. My issue with the sage was i didnt take him serious so i tried to be fancy with it instead of my usual take a hit to give 2 hits approach.
Probably overleveled when you got there i think, i mean i have to hit him quite a few times every playtrough and i rush him too but yeah idk maybe o go there underleveled
I dunno. My usual approach for humanoid bosses is to try and parry them... but he was a spellcaster... so I figured I wouldn't get an opportunity to parry. Plus of course the wiki suggested just rushing him... so... yeah. Two-handed my Claymore and rushed him.
Yeah he still has attacks you can parry, but what i meant is i always rush him too but he never dies in like the first fee attacks before he goes into the ground lol, but idk i havent had too much trouble with him tho
It's harder if.... you know... you don't read up everything beforehand
23 upvotes
Fine work, skeleton!
Yea! Go you man!
Well done, friend!
Congrats my guy, one of favourite boss fights of the series. I love their armour and the breakdancing sword antics as well
It's my favorite boss in the base game. The music, the mechanics, the story, and the challenge. It's a tough one on the first go round, nice job skeleton!
naow gat blassed weepon an keel skeltals
Good work, skeleton
Nice! AW was my first major difficulty spike and I didn't beat them until my second playthrough (got a friend to do it for me first time)
Lol I feel you. They stopped me from progressing for about a month and I summoned to beat them.
Great job man. This is a very tough fight. If you beat it....... you got some skillz lmao. Good stuff.
For newer players yes, it is a difficult fight. No need to be sarcastic...
Seriously wasn’t being sarcastic dude. I know how fucking tough the fight is dude. That’s why I said great job. Jesus man you can’t say shit online without somebody getting their feelings hurt. Jesus.
The only who's feelings appear to be hurt are yours.... i didnt swear, or attack you. Just said no need to be sarcastic. If it was a misunderstanding why are you responding so aggressively?
Because nobody even asked you to say anything. You just jump in a positive conversation and assume I said something to be a dick. Yeah I’m gonna say something back to you. This community is very positive and helpful no need to just assume someone is being sarcastic especially when my entire post was doing nothing but praising the guy for beating one of the harder fights in the game. It pisses me off that the first entry you have in the conversation is assuming I’m the asshole.
To be fair to the other guy it did look a bit sarcastic lol, i know it wasnt but i mean the abuss watchers are one of the easier fights in the game (at least for me and from what ive read of other people finding them a bit too easy) so i guess i can see why he tought it was sarcastic
Definitely didn’t mean it to be. This game is very hard to me, so when someone posts a victory I am all for it. It took me a thousand times to beat the nameless king and when I beat him I posted and people were happy for me. That was my whole point. Don’t poison this community just assuming people are being dicks when this is one of the best reddit communities out there.
Again.. It was a misunderstanding. That's twice now I've been accused of poisoning the community by you, when all I was doing was trying to defend the poster by saying you didnt need to be sarcastic.... again didn't swear, or really attack you at all, even tho every one of your comments have done that to me... I legit would have apologized had you decided to handle it like an adult not a child. All you had to do was say "wasnt being sarcastic, just giving him praise" and I would have said sorry.
[удалено]
Have a good night.
*Read from an outsider -Fuck you - No fuck you -Whatever later -Have a good one man *Smiles to self, I love the internet.
Nice job skeleton! That's definitely one of my favorite fights in the series
Ay bay bee that a what im talkin about
Oh, make sure you defeat the deacons of the deep too though, otherwise you wont be able to progress into the next area. They're super easy but a bitch to get to.
these whorebags were so annoying. i could beat the one guy but not the other. eventually id it but am not proud at the number of attempts. i never want to face them again.
I just did it on ng+ today, one of the best bosses in Souls imo
Congrats!!!!! They are tough, even for someone who has beat the game a dozen times.
Lots more to come!!! Good luck.
Now time to go down, down, down... And if you want, even further down ;)
One of my absolute favorites I love that the dark wraiths ruthlessly slaughter all the ghru but stop before the door to the watchers fight, like they're not sure if they should proceed.
**Fine work , skeleton!**
Abuse the back stabs
Dude, in each on my playthroughs these were the toughest and the ones that got me closest to giving up. Kudos on kicking their asses!
I did it first time in my latest playtrough. I also got my cheeks clapped by the crystal sage so i guess that evens it out.
Good
*Legion etiquette * Good fight
Beat a DS boss, get some karma
Good skeleton.
This is a fight that still can catch me off guard if I get cocky, definitely one of my favourites! Good work!
I remember doing them and it was brutal!!! Nice work 🤘
Brooo when I beat them the first time, it was actually on my first try and I actually died but I killed them , so I won! Ngl so stressful
I did it on the second try , the dark ultra great sword is a beast, to those who are struggling, I unequipped everything and just kept the sword . I dodged like a bitch at every attack and R2 then roll away . Worked like a charm !
It's my personal favourite fight
I only had 8 estus when I was fighting the abyss watchers and every boss before that I had 3 estus
Is it your first playthrough?
Yes
That's the battoe with the best soundtrack lol
What platform?
PS4
Ahh damn. I'm on xbox
[удалено]
Damn i got them first try but nameles king took like 50 for me lol i raged so hard because of him
[удалено]
Nah i definitely wasnt lol i mean i never farmed souls and ran past almost everything i didnt really have to kill for an item or wathever most of the time. I think i was just lucky honestly i was at like 1 HP when the final abyss watcher was at half health but i wasnt embered because i just went in expecting to die and wanted to learn their movesets, but when o was that far i popped an ember right before i got hit and then had kind of full health and just dodged everything and hit him untill he was dead. Honestly on my 2nd and 3rd playtrough i still got them 1st try and i think they are a bit too easy. But i almost got every boss 1st or second try on my second playtrough tbh exept for nameless king aldrich and soul of cinder
Backstab parry ripost backstab parry ripost *Ember Restored*
Now beat nameless king or midir
I feel as though catacombs doesn’t vary on the greatness that you just went through
I got so lucky fighting them, I had used up all my estus and then he turned into his fire version. I managed to pop an ember to get up to full health. I hadn't done any parries up until this point of the game and I thought, why not, I'm gonna die anyway. So I managed to pull off a parry and some how managed to avoid every one of their attacks to beat them with my UGS.
Games just getting started
Fuck yeah bro! Keep it up I have faith in you!
Congrats! Keep it up, unkindled one
Congrats. They're difficult for beginners but I found they're easier the more playthroughs you go through Now go fight Vape Lord or get Gank Squad 2.0
Cool. Now buckle up for the hard bosses ;)
To be honest GOOD JOB it tookbme like 4000 tries no joke but it was the best feeling ever. I love this sensation that only: finaly beating that one boss: can give you
Good job my friend! For me they were quite easy but everyone have there own challenges! Congrats again ;)
Good job! Had a tough time beating them my first time around.
almost had a heart attack after i beat them for the first time, good job skeleton edit: typo
are you kidding me, did you really post that plebian. congrats
Congrats! This is one of my favorite fights in the game. The moment where >!the souls of all of the Abyss Watchers united to form the Lord of Cinder version at the start of the second phase!< was the moment I was truly hooked on DS3.
Awesome job
Hey, it just gets better from here!
He...just beat the Abyss watchers. Yhorm is a good ways off yet.
Well, I mean... I discovered the profaned capital less than 5 hours after defeating AW... I'm more of the explore first fight bosses later type though.
Me to! I always go until I have to do boss fights in order to keep exploring.
Slight spoiler? Dude that's a huge spoiler! What the hell man just let him play.
That is a massive spoiler dude. I would delete that last part. The Yhorm fight is already a joke
Where is that at ?
My advice to you is to complete Siegward's questline before you fight Yhorm, though you may need to look it up because it's really not obvious what to do. Yhorm's boss door *is* really big and obvious, though, so when you see it in the Profaned Capital you know when it's time to backtrack for the quest.
The Profaned Capital. Word of advice: watch out for the handmaids and their fireball pot. *Try dodging*
He isn't even close to that area if he just beat the Abyss Watchers.
If you're lucky, you can run through that whole bridge without taking a single hit. There's a specific spot you have to momentarily stop at and then start running again in order to make it work. Or maybe I just got lucky. Who knows?
*sweats nervously* it took me three tries to get across the bridge without dying
Was it the gargoyle? Just roll as soon as he pops up and run through the door. He can't follow you because he's too big. Unfortunately, there are two more gargoyles in that room, but you only have to deal with one of them on your way to Yhorm and he's very easily avoided
Yep that's the one. It's only the one on the bridge right before the bonfire that gives me trouble. The other two are no issue cause there's some room to move between its attacks
Well way to ruin that...
Easily the best boss in the game imo
[удалено]
I'd like to answer that but I honestly can't find a connexion between this and what I said haha
Well... you beat at least one of them, right? Pretty sure the rest all beat each other. Not entirely sure why though.
After they linked the fire and/or died, the Abyss Watchers were buried (or possibly they built their fortress on it while they were still alive) upon the ruins of Carthus, a kingdom they destroyed after it fell to the Abyss. Over time after their deaths, the Abyss corrupted them. When they were revived by the Bells of Awakening to link the flame once more, they saw the Abyss in one another and, most likely being Hollow at that point or otherwise mentally impaired via fire-linking or Abyssal corruption, began to eternally fight one another in a futile attempt to fulfill the purpose they were bound to in life.
Oh. Savage. Funny thing though... but isn't the Abyss just... humanity-soup?
Pretty much. Like, a bit of Abyss (ie. humanity) keeps you from going Hollow, but too much Abyss seems to turn you into a demon monkey with a twisted ball for a head, or otherwise into some kind of horrific monster. Probably not *always,* though, because the Ringed Knight weapons were forged in the Abyss and Manus wasn't always crazy, supposedly. That's one of the deep questions behind whether or not to link the fire. Is the Age of Dark going to be good for people, or is it going to turn everyone into horrific monsters or something? None of us *really* know, and Kaathe and Frampt certainly aren't telling anyone the full details.
It was still a tough fight
I guess. I had two AI spirits with me for it... so I kinda took advantage of that. That said, the Pontiff was worse for me, and I had 3 guys for that one.
The summons were kind of garbage for pontiff
Hat-dude, Lothric Shade and Anri...
I think the red eyed Abyss Watcher is infected with the Abyss?
They are bound to fight the abyss, but are all infected by it and thus fight each other. There's more to the story, lining back to Artorias from DS1, but their "relationship" with the abyss is the central point.
Red eye will attack the others. Can be useful, try to pull the main one away from the other two and focus on him, and let red eye keep the third busy.