LEONINE MISBEGOTTEN

Phase Strategy

The Leonine Misbegotten is Castle Morne's master of arms — a lion-headed warrior wielding a greatsword almost as tall as he is. This fight is deceptively simple: a single-phase endurance test that rewards patience and punishes hesitation. Unlike most early-game bosses, the Misbegotten has no gimmick phase transition or elemental surprise. What you see in the first ten seconds is what you fight for the entire encounter.

The arena is narrow — a stone platform atop the castle ramparts with limited escape routes. This works in your favor. The Misbegotten's leaping attacks are his most dangerous tools at range, but they become liabilities at close quarters. Your goal is to stay inside his weapon's arc and bait his overhead slams, which leave him vulnerable for two to three hits before he recovers.

The Core Loop

The Misbegotten cycles through three attack types:

• Leaping slams — He launches into the air and crashes down with his greatsword. Massive damage, massive recovery.
• Horizontal sweeps — Two-hit combos that cover his front 180 degrees. Fast but predictable.
• Thrust lunges — Single-target pokes that close distance instantly. Rare but lethal if you're healing.

The critical insight: his leaping attacks become slower the closer you stand. At long range, he leaps frequently and unpredictably. At close range, he defaults to sweeps and thrusts, both of which have exploitable recovery windows. The safest position is directly beneath him during the leap's apex — roll forward through the landing, turn 180 degrees, and punish his back.

Critical: Do not back away to heal unless you have already baited a leap. Healing at mid-range invites his thrust lunge, which tracks through rolls and deals 60%+ of your HP. If you need to heal, either stay close and wait for a sweep, or sprint to the arena's edge and chug during his leap startup.

Attacks & Counters

| Attack | Counter | |--------|---------| | Leaping overhead slam | Roll forward through him at the last moment. Turn and punish 2-3 R1s on his back. | | Double horizontal sweep | Roll into the first swing. The second swing whiffs over your head if you're close. Punish after. | | Thrust lunge | Strafe-walk right. He commits fully; sidestep, do not roll. Free backstab. | | Aerial spin slash | Telegraphed by double-jumping. Roll backward twice. Long recovery — safe for charged R2. | | Pounce grab | Rare. He crouches low, then lunges. Roll to either side, not backward. |

The aerial spin slash deserves special mention. It only appears below 40% HP and is his most damaging attack — a double-jump into a spinning slash that covers the entire arena width. The tell is unmistakable: he crouches, roars, and launches vertically. Do not panic-roll. Wait for the apex of the jump, then roll backward twice in succession. The second roll clears the slash's lingering hitbox. If you time it correctly, you have a four-second window to land a fully charged heavy attack or apply a weapon buff.

Recommended Loadout

The Leonine Misbegotten is vulnerable to bleed and frost, making this one of the few early-game fights where status effects dramatically shorten the encounter. If you have access to any bleed weapon, equip it. A single bleed proc removes ~15% of his HP — roughly 300 damage — on top of your regular hits.

• Weapon: Uchigatana (Deathtouched Catacombs) or Reduvia (Bloody Finger Nerijus invasion). Both proc bleed in 4-5 hits. If you lack a bleed weapon, any +3 or higher standard weapon works fine — the fight is more about positioning than DPS.
• Spirit Ash: Lone Wolf Ashes or Wandering Noble Ashes. Summon them immediately upon entering the fog gate. They distract him long enough for you to apply bleed twice before he kills them. This alone removes ~600 HP before you engage directly.
• Talismans: Crimson Amber Medallion (Weeping Evergaol treasure) for extra HP. Green Turtle Talisman (Summonwater Village merchant) for stamina regeneration if you're dodge-rolling frequently.
• Items: Throwing Knives ×10. If he's at critical HP and you're out of flasks, knives finish the job safely from range.

If you are under-leveled (below 25), the fight becomes significantly harder. The recommended detour is clearing the Demi-Human Forest Ruins south of the castle and leveling Vigor to 20. The rune gain from the ruins and the flask upgrade from the Sacred Tear there will carry you through the fight comfortably.

Lore Pause

The Leonine Misbegotten is not unique — Misbegotten warriors appear throughout the Lands Between, enslaved by noble houses as laborers and enforcers. Castle Morne's garrison kept them chained in the lower barracks until the Shattering. After the castle fell, this one claimed the armory as his domain. The greatsword he wields is a trophy, not a birthright — a symbol of rebellion against the Grafted legacy.

Defeating him grants Edgar's questline progression and access to the Grafted Blade Greatsword, a colossal weapon that requires 40 Strength to wield. If you are not a Strength build, sell it to the Twin Maiden Husks for 1000 runes. If you are a Strength build, congratulations — you just found your mid-game carry weapon.

The Misbegotten does not deserve pity, but he deserves respect. He fights with the fury of someone who has nothing left to lose.

Related Bosses

After the Leonine Misbegotten, Edgar's quest continues at the Revenger's Shack in Liurnia — though his fate is grim. For another Misbegotten encounter of similar difficulty, seek the Misbegotten Warrior in the Redmane Castle plaza before the Radahn festival. The moveset is nearly identical, but the arena is wider and co-op summons are available.

If you are clearing Weeping Peninsula systematically, your next target is the Erdtree Burial Watchdog in the Impaler's Catacombs. The runes from Castle Morne and the catacombs combined will fund your first major weapon upgrade to +6 or higher — enough to trivialize Margit if you haven't faced him yet.