Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower

Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower

Information:
Lady Maria is the second boss in the Research Hall. Gain one Insight for finding her and three for killing her. Activates the Astral Clocktower Lamp when killed.

Special Notes: On your first try, you can not summon a Co-op.

Lore:
Lady Maria, a distant relative of Queen Annalise, grew up in Cainhurst, but unlike the other nobles Maria hated the use of the corrupted blood and even bore a weapon, the Rakuyo, that only required great skill to wield. She left Cainhurst and traveled to Byrgenwerth becoming a student to Gehrman, who became obsessed with her. She in turn was very admiring of him and remained at his side when he traveled to the Fishing Hamlet to investigate the rumors of a dead Great One and later to bring the Orphan of Kos back to Byrgenwerth. In order to bring the Orphan back, Gehrman and Maria had to cut open the sickly Kos; this act caused Maria such revulsion that she threw away her Rakuyo as she left the Fishing Hamlet. Many years later, she and Gehrman left Byrgenwerth to help found the Healing Church and became the first hunters employed with them. Unfortunately, Maria would become the leader of a group of hunters tasked to protect the Research Hall and this also gave her the opportunity to help keep the Fishing Hamlet a secret. She was known for her kindness at the Research Hall but when the Old Hunters were disavowed  her grief became too much for her and she slit her throat. In his grief, Gehrman built a replica doll of Maria, the doll in the Hunter's dream.

References and Dialogue:

-" A corpse...should be left well alone. Oh, I know very well. How the secrets beckon so sweetly. Only an honest death will cure you now. Liberate you, from your wild curiosity." Lady Maria

-"Hunter weapon wielded by Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower. A trick sword originated in the same country as the Cainhurst Chikage, only this sword feeds not off blood, but instead demands great dexterity. Lady Maria was fond of this aspect of the Rakuyo, as she frowned upon blood blades, despite being a distant relative of the queen.One day, she abandoned her beloved Rakuyo, casting it into a dark well, when she could stomach it no longer." Rakuyo

-"Among the first hunters, all students of Gehrman, was the lady hunter Maria. This was her hunter's garb crafted in Cainhurst. Maria was distantly related to the undead queen, but had great admiration for Gehrman, unaware of his curious mania." Maria's Hunter Set

-"Good hunter, this may sound strange, but...Have I somehow changed? Moments ago, from some place, perhaps deep within, I sensed a liberation from heavy shackles. Not that I would know...How passing strange..." Special dialogue by doll upon Maria's death.

-"Oh, hello. Not a pretty sight, is it? The true face of the blood-worshipping, beast-purging Healing Church. But that's not all. You seek the secrets held by the Nightmare, do you not? Then here's what you must do. Climb the Astral Clocktower, and kill Maria. She hides the real secret." Simon the Harrowed

-"The bone of an old hunter whose name is lost. It is  said that he was an apprentice to old Gehrman, and a practitioner of the art of Quickening, a technique particular to the first hunters. It is most appropriate that hunters, carriers of the torch who are sustained by the dream, would tease an old art from his remains." Old Hunter Bone found on Maria's grave in the Waking World. In the original Japanese the pronoun is gender neutral making it possible for it to be Maria's.

-The doll prays at Maria's grave (the grave used to access the Hunter's Nightmare) and calls her "Flora", most likely a reference to Maria giving Lumenflowers to the Research Hall Patients and leaving one on the grave by the seaside (most likely the Orphan of Kos'). 

-When Lady Maria dies, she dies in the same pose as Gehrman. When she releases your hand she is in the same pose as the doll.
-When she visceral attacks, it looks like she embraces you, and whispers in your ear.

-When the Clocktower opens it opens on the Moon rune, most likely a reference to the Moon Presence.

-Despite her distaste of blood blades, she will use them out of desperation to kill you.

Description:

A tall pale skinned woman with white-blond hair. She is garbed in something similar to the Knight's set and wields a sword and dagger that can be combined into twin blade.

Location:

From the Lumenwood Garden Lamp, walk up to the door and open it.

Combat:

Lady Maria's arena is a large room with cabinets lining the side. There is a chair and a small table at the end of the room. Not many nooks to get stuck on.

First Stage:

Maria can alternate between the different transformations of her weapon: the twin blade with a pistol and a sword dagger. Please note she uses quickening. For the sword and dagger mode, she has a charge attack (h), where she will run towards you with her sword arm straight out to the side. She has an overhead diagonal slash (m), that can be preceded by a regular one handed slash attack (m) or succeeded by another diagonal slash in the other direction as well as a pistol shot. There is a variant of this that is much slower as well where she will hesitate in order to track you better before striking (h). She can thrust (m) quickly up to two times with both blades. She can do a whirling attack (h) where she spins towards you and then can follow it up with the diagonal slash. She can also do a slashing x (m), where she will cross her blades and rush forwards.

For the twin blade mode, she will also employ her pistol (s). She can do a forward and backwards thrust attack (m) that can turn into a slash combo as well as an overhead swipe (m) that can be followed up by a horizontal swipe. She can also use a charge attack (h), where she will hold the Rakuyo to her side as if to sheath it and then run forward.

Second Stage:

At about 60%, she will stab herself in the stomach with her blades and pull them out. When she pulls them out there will be a blood A.O.E. (m). She will only use the two blades now and retain all her previous attacks except now she will use her blood as a way to extend her range and they will hit harder. She can now also do a charged attack (h) where she will sheath her Rakuyo and squat and pull it out in a diagonal slash. She has two more charge attacks or more accurately transform attacks (h). She will transform the Rakuyo back into the twin blade above her head where she will smash it down. When she transforms the Rakuyo to her side, she is doing a thrust attack with almost infinite reach. She can do a leap attack (h), where she will spiral into the air and then crash down with an A.O.E. blast.

Third Stage:

At about 30%, she will hold her swords out to the side and rise up into the air with blood flowing into her and do another blood A.O.E.(h). Her blood is now on fire and her range is greater. She does not gain any new attacks but they do hit harder.

Drops:

-39,000 Blood Echoes

-Celestial Dial

Tips and Tricks:

-Any weapon +9 or higher will do.

-The number one tip to beating Maria is to stay close to her as much as possible. Her long range attacks are devastating and she can close any distance gap between you very quickly so if you need to heal dodge into one of her melees and heal instead of attacking. 

-Dodge through her melee attacks to get off a few hits, if your weapon is heavy it will stunlock her for a few hits. 

-Almost all of her attacks can be parried so shooting her and then visceral attacking is a good way to go for her first stage, equip Clawmark Runes if this is the route you want to go. The only melee attack that can't be parried is the very slow overhead diagonal slash. Just dodge until it lands (not on you) and get off a few hits.

-In the second stage, be wary of the blood A.O.E. if you are going to attack while she's transforming. 

-Use the same strategy as before only be cautious of the transform attacks. The overhead smashing transform is substantially faster than the other two attacks so dodge immediately after the clicking sound. For the other two, wait a second before dodging as they are a little slower.

-She can still be parried in the last two stages but she is faster so the windows are much smaller.
-Be aware in stage two and three, her x-slash attack can put you into a viscerable state.

-The Executioner's Gloves and the Augur of Ebrietas can stagger her.
-If you are interested in cheesing, the most common way is to use Beast Roar and then stunlocking her when she gets up in a cycle.

Glitches:

-Can be glitched through the pillar next to the fog gate. Link

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

Stun (st)