Mastering The Knights Of The Great Jar: Easy Cheesing Strategies

how to cheese knights of the great jar

Cheesing the Knights of the Great Jar in *Elden Ring* involves exploiting mechanics or strategies to bypass the intended challenge of the fight. Players often seek these methods to overcome the boss’s difficulty or farm resources efficiently. Common techniques include using ranged attacks to lure and pick off individual knights, exploiting the arena’s terrain to separate enemies, or using specific builds or items to trivialize the encounter. While these methods may lack the satisfaction of a fair fight, they offer a practical solution for players struggling with the boss’s aggressive and overwhelming combat style. Understanding these strategies requires knowledge of the boss’s behavior, the arena layout, and creative use of in-game tools.

Characteristics Values
Boss Knights of the Great Jar
Location Crumbling Farrum Azula
Cheese Strategy Lure & AOE Spam
Recommended Level 50+
Recommended Weapons AoE weapons (e.g., Rivers of Blood, Sword of Night and Flame, Comet Azur)
Recommended Spells High damage AoE spells (e.g., Comet Azur, Carian Slicer, Golden Vow)
Recommended Talismans Talisman of Beast Claw, Assassin's Cerulean Dagger, Great-Jar's Arsenal
Key Steps 1. Lure knights out of the jar one by one using ranged attacks or spells.
2. Position yourself near the jar entrance.
3. Use high damage AoE attacks to quickly defeat each knight as they emerge.
4. Repeat until all knights are defeated.
Tips - Focus on one knight at a time to avoid being overwhelmed.
- Use the environment to your advantage (e.g., narrow corridors to limit their movement).
- Be patient and wait for the right moment to strike.
Rewards Great-Jar's Arsenal, Runes, and other loot

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Exploit Jar Weaknesses: Identify and target specific vulnerabilities in the Jar's defenses for easy wins

The Knights of the Great Jar may seem formidable, but their defenses are not impenetrable. Every fortress has its cracks, and the Jars are no exception. By studying their patterns and identifying weaknesses, you can turn the tide of battle in your favor.

Observe their movement: Do they cluster in certain areas? Are there blind spots in their patrol routes? A single Jar's field of vision is limited, and exploiting these gaps can grant you precious moments to strike or escape.

One glaring vulnerability lies in their reliance on proximity-based detection. Jars are triggered by your presence within a certain radius. This means you can lure them away from strategic points, creating openings for your allies to exploit. Imagine a well-timed feint, drawing a group of Jars towards you while your teammates capture a crucial objective.

Think of it as a game of cat and mouse, where you control the playing field.

Another weakness to exploit is their predictable attack patterns. Each Jar type has a distinct set of moves. The towering Brute Jars, for instance, have a slow wind-up before their devastating slam. Learn these tells, and you can dodge their attacks with relative ease, leaving them vulnerable to counterattacks. Remember, knowledge is power, and understanding your enemy is half the battle.

Practicing against weaker Jars in controlled environments can hone your reflexes and timing, making you a formidable opponent against their stronger brethren.

Don't underestimate the power of environmental hazards. The battlefield itself can be your greatest ally. Are there flammable objects nearby? A well-placed firebomb can decimate a cluster of Jars. Can you lure them into a chokepoint and trigger a trap? Creativity and adaptability are key. Think outside the box, and you'll find that the environment can be just as deadly as your weapons.

Exploiting Jar weaknesses requires patience, observation, and a strategic mind. By understanding their limitations and using the environment to your advantage, you can turn the seemingly insurmountable Knights of the Great Jar into a manageable, even exploitable, foe. Remember, victory often lies not in brute force, but in clever manipulation of your enemy's vulnerabilities.

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Optimal Gear Setup: Equip items that maximize damage and survivability against the Jar's mechanics

To effectively cheese the Knights of the Great Jar, your gear setup must synergize with the fight’s mechanics, prioritizing both damage output and survivability. The Jars’ primary threat lies in their relentless, high-damage combos and area-of-effect (AoE) attacks, which punish poor positioning and low health pools. Thus, your equipment should mitigate these risks while amplifying your ability to exploit the arena’s safe zones and the enemies’ predictable patterns.

Step 1: Armor and Talismans for Survivability

Equip the Bull-Goat Armor set for its high poise and damage reduction, allowing you to tank occasional hits without staggering. Pair this with the Erdtree’s Favor +2 talisman to boost your HP by 15%, and the Flask of Crimson Tears to ensure rapid healing during openings. Avoid heavy, slow-rolling armor sets; the Jars’ speed demands agility, so prioritize medium armor with poise over pure defense.

Step 2: Weapons and Damage Optimization

Choose a weapon with bleed buildup or strike damage, as the Knights are vulnerable to both. The Rivers of Blood katana or Glaive are ideal for their rapid bleed procs, while the Great Stars hammer exploits their strike weakness. Infuse your weapon with Blood or Heavy gems to maximize damage. For ranged options, the Erdsteel Dagger throws can chip away at their health from afar, though melee remains more efficient.

Step 3: Exploiting Mechanics with Tools

Carry Throwing Daggers or Fire Pots to stagger the Knights during their wind-up animations, creating windows for damage. The Mimic’s Veil talisman is invaluable here—it grants temporary invisibility, allowing you to reposition or backstab when the Knights are separated. Use the arena’s pillars to block their AoE attacks, but avoid corner traps; the Knights will flank you if you’re pinned.

Cautions and Trade-offs

While damage is critical, overcommitting to offense risks a one-shot kill. Avoid the Radagon’s Soreseal talisman, as its HP reduction negates survivability gains. Similarly, resist the urge to use Golden Vow or Flame, Grant Me Strength; their buffs are outweighed by the Jars’ aggression. Focus on consistent, controlled damage rather than burst DPS.

The optimal gear setup for cheesing the Knights of the Great Jar balances offense and defense, leveraging bleed/strike damage, poise, and arena control. By equipping Bull-Goat Armor, bleed weapons, and utility talismans like Mimic’s Veil, you can exploit the Knights’ mechanics while minimizing risk. This approach transforms a brutal fight into a manageable, even trivial, encounter.

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Summon Overload Strategy: Use multiple summons to overwhelm the Jar, drawing aggro away from you

The Knights of the Great Jar are a formidable foe, but their AI has a fatal flaw: they prioritize threats based on proximity and damage output. This opens the door for the Summon Overload strategy, a cheese tactic that leverages the game's mechanics to turn the tide in your favor. By flooding the battlefield with summons, you create a decoy army that draws the Knights' attention away from you, allowing you to chip away at their health from a safe distance.

To execute this strategy effectively, you'll need a diverse arsenal of summons. Start by equipping a mix of long-duration, tanky summons like the Lone Wolf Ashes or the Black Knife Tiche. These will act as your front line, absorbing damage and keeping the Knights occupied. Supplement them with high-damage, short-duration summons like the River of Blood Mages or the Ancient Death Rancor. These will deal significant damage before expiring, further distracting the Knights and whittling down their health.

Timing is crucial when employing the Summon Overload strategy. Wait until the Knights are grouped together, then unleash your summons in rapid succession. This will create a chaotic melee that confuses the Knights' targeting system, causing them to switch aggro between your summons. As they're preoccupied, position yourself at a safe distance and use a high-damage, low-risk weapon like the Carian Slich or the Golden Vow-buffed Greatsword to strike from afar.

One cautionary note: be mindful of your summon limit and the Knights' ability to target multiple enemies simultaneously. If you exceed the maximum number of summons, your oldest ones will disappear, potentially leaving you vulnerable. Additionally, the Knights may occasionally break away from the melee to target you directly. To mitigate this risk, keep a few healing flasks handy and be prepared to dodge or block their attacks. With practice and patience, the Summon Overload strategy can become a reliable tool in your cheese arsenal, allowing you to overcome the Knights of the Great Jar with minimal risk.

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Phase Skip Techniques: Skip phases by triggering specific conditions, reducing overall fight duration

In the Knights of the Great Jar encounter, phase skip techniques can dramatically reduce the fight's duration by bypassing entire stages through precise condition triggers. One effective method involves exploiting the AI’s pathing and aggression thresholds. For instance, during the initial phase, positioning your party near the edge of the arena while focusing damage on the knight’s shield can force it into a defensive stance prematurely. This triggers the transition to the next phase without fully engaging the first, saving valuable time and resources.

Analyzing the mechanics reveals that phase skips often hinge on interrupting the knight’s attack sequences. By staggering the boss with well-timed abilities (e.g., a mage’s Frost Nova or a rogue’s Kidney Shot), you can disrupt its phase-specific actions. For example, interrupting the knight’s "Great Slam" animation during Phase 2 prevents it from summoning additional adds, effectively skipping the add management phase. This requires coordination and a clear understanding of the boss’s attack patterns but yields significant time savings.

A more advanced technique involves manipulating the environment to force phase transitions. In Phase 3, the knight gains a damage reduction buff when it reaches 50% health. However, by positioning it near the jar’s unstable energy orbs and triggering an explosion, you can bypass this buff entirely. The damage from the orbs, combined with focused DPS, can push the knight directly into its final phase, skipping the prolonged tank-and-spank segment. This method demands precise timing and awareness of environmental mechanics.

While phase skip techniques are powerful, they come with risks. Overcommitting to skips can lead to wipes if executed poorly, such as failing to interrupt key attacks or mismanaging environmental hazards. Additionally, some skips require specific class compositions or gear thresholds (e.g., a minimum of 200 item level for consistent damage output). Players should practice these strategies in controlled environments before attempting them in live encounters. When executed correctly, phase skips transform the Knights of the Great Jar fight from a grueling marathon into a streamlined, efficient victory.

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Environmental Cheese Tactics: Use terrain or objects to gain unfair advantages during the battle

The Knights of the Great Jar are formidable foes, but their strength can be turned against them with clever use of the environment. By exploiting terrain features and objects, you can create unfair advantages that tilt the battle in your favor. This strategy, known as "environmental cheese," relies on creativity, observation, and a willingness to think outside the box.

One effective tactic is to lure the Knights into narrow corridors or tight spaces. Their large size and slow movement make them vulnerable in confined areas. Position yourself at the end of a hallway or behind a bottleneck, forcing them to approach single-file. This negates their strength in numbers and allows you to pick them off one by one. For example, in the Forest of Whispers, use the dense tree cover to funnel the Knights into a narrow path, then rain down arrows or spells from a safe distance.

Another approach is to exploit elevation advantages. The Knights' heavy armor makes them slow and cumbersome on uneven terrain. Position yourself on a hilltop, cliff edge, or elevated platform, forcing them to climb or expose themselves to ranged attacks. In the Caverns of Echoing Stone, use the stalagmites and uneven ground to your advantage. Lure the Knights into areas where they must navigate difficult terrain, slowing their advance and giving you time to strike.

Objects in the environment can also be turned into weapons. Push large boulders, crates, or debris down slopes to crush the Knights or block their path. In the Ruins of Eldertide, use the crumbling walls and unstable structures to your advantage. Time your attacks to coincide with the collapse of a tower or the fall of a heavy statue, dealing massive damage to multiple enemies at once.

However, environmental cheese tactics require careful planning and execution. Overuse or misuse of these strategies can lead to predictable patterns that the Knights may adapt to. Always scout the area beforehand, identifying potential choke points, elevation advantages, and exploitable objects. Practice timing and positioning to maximize the impact of your environmental traps. Remember, the goal is not just to win, but to do so with style and efficiency, turning the battlefield itself into your greatest ally.

Frequently asked questions

The most common method involves using the Rotten Stray’s Summon Ash to tank damage while you attack from a safe distance with ranged weapons or spells.

Yes, using a bleed build with weapons like Rivers of Blood or Ash of War skills like Seppuku can quickly stack bleed damage, making the fight much easier.

Yes, you can use the environment to your advantage by luring the knights into tight spaces or using poison or scarlet rot to whittle down their health over time.

Using the Mimic Tear Ash and a high-damage weapon like the Moonveil Katana allows you to overwhelm the knights quickly while your summon distracts them.

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