Shadows of Yharnam

Shadows of Yharnam:

Information:
The Shadows of Yharnam is the only boss located in the Forbidden Woods. They are the only multi-enemy boss fight in the game. Gain two insight from killing them. Their death activates the Forbidden Grave Lamp.

Description:
The Shadows are a group of three men all outfitted with long black robes. The first wields a Katana like sword, the second wields a scimitar and a candle, and the last a flaming ball in his hand. All three sprout snakes from their head in the second stage of the fight.

Location:
From the Forbidden Woods lamp, turn right and enter the elevator just past Valtr. Go down the shaft and go across the bridge with Snake Parasite (man with snakes for a head) into the house. Once in the house, go straight across the room into another room with an elevator. Go down the elevator and continue down that passage until you reach a pool. Make a left and continue down that trail past the two Man Eater Boars until you reach a fork in the road. Turn left and you will enter the boss arena.

Summons:
-You can summon the Old Hunter Henryk if you killed him as per Eileen the Crow's instructions, who wields a Saw Cleaver and a Hunter's Pistol. You can reach his summoning bell by approaching the boss arena only instead of going left at the final fork turn right.
-You can also summon the Younger Madaras Twin after equipping the Impurity Rune given by Valtr, who wields a Hunter's Ax with the occasional use of Fire Paper and a Hunter's Blunderbuss. His summoning bell is located to the right of the fork past Henryk's bell.

Combat:
-Weak against Bolt
-Strong against Arcane

The arena for the Shadow fight is a large graveyard with a massive pillar in the middle. There are also large pools of water and the walls surrounding the arena are noticeably pitted allowing the Shadow to pin the hunter in several places.

Stage one:
To make this easier the Shadow will be referred to by their weapons. The Katana Shadow will aggressively rush you in this stage performing several slashes (m) and a leap attack (h). The Candle Shadow will try to catch you in the arc of the flame (h) while following closely behind the Katana Shadow. If you get too close to the Candle Shadow he will swing at you with his scimitar (m). The last shadow, the Pyromancy Shadow will stay to the back and release three fireballs (s) that will track your movement slightly.

Stage two:
This occurs when one of the Shadows is below about 60 to 70% of his health or the fight continues for a fair chunk of time. They will all stop and sprout snakes from their heads before continuing their assault. At this point, they will all gain increased range for their attacks. The Candle Shadow can now use a variant of the Augur of Ebrietas as well as a flaming scimitar (m); the Katana Shadow can now move much quicker and his sword is a bit longer(m); and the Pyromancy Shadow's fireballs now track much better (s).

Stage three:
This occurs when two Shadows are dead. The last Shadow gains the ability to summon giant snakes, indicative by it bending over and a red circle appearing on the ground. The snakes come out of the ground and have infinite reach as well as being able to one shot you (h).

Drops:
-20,460 Blood Echoes
-Blood Rapture Rune

Tips and Tricks:
-The best weapon to use is a Tonitrus +5 or higher as it is cheaper than constantly using more and more Bolt Paper.
-If not the Tonitrus, any weapon that isn't Arcane and is +5 of higher equipped with Bolt Paper should do fairly well.
- A Hunter's Blunderbuss is useful to parry so you can use visceral attacks to take out a large chunk of their health (mainly Katana Shadow).
- Try to take off chunks of their HP in equal portions to prolong the first stage as much as possible.
-You can isolate them by moving around the pillar in the middle of the arena in order to get off a few hits or to visceral attack them without getting attacked by the others.
-Kill the Katana Shadow and Candle Shadow first because the Pyromancy Shadow is the least deadly at close range.
-Whichever Shadow is the last one, kill them ASAP.
-A summon is helpful as long as you are mindful of how much damage they are doing to the Shadow of their choice or else they may start stage two much sooner than hoped for.

Glitches:
-You can render the Shadows passive by entering the arena around the Nightmare Fog and then exiting and re-entering the game. Link
- You can render them passive in co-op by keeping the host near the Nightmare Fog and allowing the other player to attack. Link

Damage Indicator:
Slight damage (s)
Moderate Damage (m)
Heavy Damage (h)
Stun (st)