While the Dancer of the Boreal Valley doesn’t have to be challenged right at the start of the game, this opportunity can completely change a playthrough of Dark Souls 3 by making several rewards available right from the start. Beyond the ability to encounter the boss early, the Dancer is also a solid boss that acts as a proper gate to one of the FromSoftware’s best dungeons even when challenged at the intended time.

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Challenging the Dancer Before Vordt

For those who never challenged the Dancer of the Boreal Valley during the early game, this is a hidden fight that can only be done by killing the NPC Emma who sits at the end of the boss arena. This character normally dies after the player has defeating three of Dark Souls 3’s Lords of Cinder, the main bosses that must be killed in order to progress to the end of the game. However, killing Emma early will still net the same reward that eventually leads to the fight against the Dancer, potentially pitting a player who has only beaten a single boss against one of the hardest fights in the later parts of the game.

The damage potential of the Dancer is already deadly at higher levels, even against characters who have thrown dozens of points into vigor. This naturally means that a low-level character will easily be one-shot, especially if the boss manages to catch the player in her powerful grab attack. So, beating the Dancer this early could essentially mean needing to be able to face off against one of the toughest Dark Souls 3 bosses without getting hit.

Beyond the difficulty of the encounter, the rewards are what makes going up against the Dancer actually worth facing such a difficult challenge. While this won’t let players reach the end of the game any earlier, it will let them explore through the early parts of Lothric Castle well before they were ever supposed to get their. This can then give access to some of Dark Souls 3’s strongest equipment before even defeating the much easier Vordt of the Boreal Valley and moving on to the intended second level of the game.

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Dancer of the Boreal Valley Resets the Pace of Dark Souls 3

Of course, not every player is going to immediately beat their head against the wall that is Dancer of the Boreal Valley, or immediately kill Emma without much provocation. So, for most players on a first playthrough, the surprise fight against the Dancer will likely come after beating either Aldrich, Devourer of Gods, or Yhorm the Giant. Regardless of which boss precedes the Dancer encounter, it comes as a sudden surprise after an already intense fight, without even placing the player in front of one of Dark Souls 3’s fog walls as a warning of what’s to come.

As mentioned before, this surprise comes with a boss that is able to dish out a huge amount of damage, likely when the player has already run through their supply of Estus Flask uses. The result is that the first attempt at the Dancer will most likely be at a heavy disadvantage, with the added punishment of possibly causing the player to lose the souls gained from a different boss. It’s a complete change of pace for the more predictable way that Dark Souls 3 had otherwise prepared observant players for upcoming challenges up until this point.

To tilt matters even further out of the player’s advantage, the Dancer of the Boreal Valley seems to fight differently than many of the other bosses in Dark Souls 3. While there are some popular deep-dives into the boss online, some of which point out the off-beat rhythm of the Dancer, the major difference can be better seen now in the boss design of Elden Ring. The Dancer acts as an initial test for the boss design of FromSoftware’s latest title, with combos that continue for longer than players might otherwise expect, and a pace that holds for just long enough to punish over-eager dodging.

Dark Souls 3 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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