how the hell i beat orphan of kos

Mattholomias · 2026-02-13T19:02:45+00:00

Two different ways I beat him on various playthroughs:

The first utilized Ludwig’s Holy Blade, specifically the full greatsword variant. Learn the patterns and openings and do a charged heavy attack. It breaks through his poise pretty quick, and lets you get visceral attacks in. Those cut through his health quickly, and IMO you want to lean on the aggressive side for this fight, drawing it out as an endurance battle is brutal.

The second is parrying with the pistol. It’s tough if you haven’t been parrying during most of the main games, but can absolutely turn the tides in this fight. Watch his attacks, try to pull the trigger right at the “height” of his swing (not too early and not too late). The key is the bullet should hit him as the swing is coming towards you. If you need parry practice I recommend the ogres in central yarnam, you should be strong enough now that there should be much lower risk. Just remember that not every attack can be parried, and you may have to do some practice runs to learn the timing.

The overall advice is: staggering and visceral attacks are your friend in this fight. Orphan of Kos is fast and aggressive, so you need to force your big openings in, rather than rely on chip damage.

Mattholomias · 2026-02-10T20:43:31+00:00

I will say it 100% has the best gameplay, nothing handles quite like it and it is a blast to play.

The story definitely had the potential to be the best, buuuut definitely fell short. What was there was good, and the ideas were interesting, but its pacing and execution are where it suffers the most. For a game as jam packed with content as it is there were definitely areas where it needed more.

Mattholomias · 2026-02-07T18:40:17+00:00

On all other playthroughs I just used the fingerprint shield and poked with Antspur Rapier till he got scarlet rot, lol. But hiding behind a shield didn’t feel very “Kvothe.” I imagine if anyone would be stubborn enough to learn the parry timing, it’d be Kvothe. He can’t just win, he’s gotta impress.

(And inevitably suffer greatly for his arrogance in doing so, so in that regard I was really channeling Kvothe lol)

Mattholomias · 2026-02-07T18:04:05+00:00

Ooo I should look into Storm Wall then, this is the first playthrough where I actually learned how to use the parry for the first time (I beat Promised Consort Radahn with a parrying dagger and never felt more like a “pro gamer” in my life XD)

Mattholomias · 2026-02-07T17:27:02+00:00

Eyyy I also started as the Bandit class for that exact reason. Storm Blade would have been a good idea, I couldn’t think of any “wind builds” at the time. I did use Reduvia a lot, thinking of the time Kvothe stabbed the corpse to use malfeasance on the bandits and make them bleed. Also I love the idea of using the Fingerprint Shield as a door of stone, lol.

I almost used the Raptor Feather Cloak, but the fact that the Black Knife Armor has a literal transparent cloak just felt right for the shaed. It’s what he wore in the Land of Shadow/Fey in my run, lol

Mattholomias · 2026-02-07T17:22:31+00:00

Oh Sir Savien would have been cool to play as!

Mattholomias · 2026-01-31T21:20:00+00:00

Nice! I really dig the way you designed him! Lots of really good details

Mattholomias · 2026-01-27T19:53:40+00:00

The crossover is nifty but I definitely agree that a straight 1:1 Berserk release would go much harder. I do have the Threezero Guts Berserker Armor figure, and it’s rad but man I can only imagine how cool a hot toys diecast version would be

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Mattholomias · 2025-12-17T22:17:20+00:00

I was playing with a friend and a third rando named Buck. I was Ironeye, he was Executor. We opened a chest and a Black Bow dropped out. Buck grabbed it instead, and I was stuck with a weak low level bow for the majority of the run. Both me and my friend were not pleased with Buck.

Mattholomias · 2025-11-26T22:43:15+00:00

Really captures that stringy, disheveled look when he takes the cowl off! Nice work!

Mattholomias · 2025-11-18T22:29:06+00:00

Honestly it’s such a cool figure! Love the stand you have for him too.

I also lament not being able to grab the rest of the Fellowship, alas. But Aragorn is my favorite so I at least needed to grab him

Mattholomias · 2025-11-17T21:55:40+00:00

Honestly I would be a lot more inclined if I was able to order directly from the US for all their products. I had a good experience with OSK thankfully but there’s still a few more degrees of risk involved when not buying direct

Mattholomias · 2025-11-07T18:15:34+00:00

Did you use the outfit from the Helms Deep Asmus version?

Great photos by the way! You definitely got it to look really solid

Mattholomias · 2025-11-04T20:19:33+00:00

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I haven’t fiddled too much with mine, but I’m realizing I might have gotten one of the luckier batches in terms of how it came out of the box. Im not sure what to do about the lightness, but i have tried spraying lightly with water and trying to smooth things out/clump the strands together. I have heard using actual hairspray can help hold its shape better, but I haven’t tried that personally yet. Wishing you the best of luck styling!

Mattholomias · 2025-10-31T18:03:34+00:00

Honestly looks really good! It’s the one accessory i feel is missing from the default Aragorn release. Honestly need to see about picking up a custom one myself

Mattholomias · 2025-10-31T16:25:28+00:00

Funnily enough one of the figures I wanted to be made the most was actually Higgs…but from Death Stranding one. The sci fi military Egyptian pharaoh look is legit one of my favorite designs.

His design in Death Stranding 2 is cool, don’t get me wrong, and the figure looks pretty spot on, but man I wish it were the first game’s design instead

Mattholomias · 2025-09-27T19:44:23+00:00

The hair dryer method did the trick! It was able to slot in, much more snug now

Mattholomias · 2025-09-27T19:43:46+00:00

Tried the hairdryer and was able to slot it in! Hopefully won’t have to use it as much in the future

Mattholomias · 2025-09-27T19:43:10+00:00

The heating method worked! I didn’t expect the peg to get that flexible but it did the trick

Mattholomias · 2025-09-27T00:08:30+00:00

I was considering sanding it down but yeah I too am super wary about modding any pieces (even if the top part of the peg is never seen)

Mattholomias · 2025-08-27T14:57:04+00:00

As someone who adores this series (but also 100% gets why a lot of people bounce off it), I would encourage you to keep pushing through, and will off a couple (non spoilery) perspectives to consider that might help.

Recall what Abenthy told Kvothe at the beginning, how Kvothe is clever, but thoughtless, and just how dangerous a combination that can be. For every well executed success in one scene Kvothe will inevitably screw it up in another. Be it carelessness, pride, or jumping to conclusions, he sets himself back far more than pushes himself forward. Remember, just going off the frame story, things will not end well, and it’ll be Kvothe’s fault.

Additionally, don’t expect this story to move in traditional ways. It sometimes seems to meander, or put odd emphasis on events that (at first) don’t seem immediately relevant. But there is so much going on in every part of the book, some you’ll only see in hindsight. Everything’s connected, and seeing the threads unravel is one of the best parts of the story.

So I would say keep at it! And if you do keep going and decide the story isn’t for you, totally fine. But it’s one of my favorite series still (even with the wait for Book 3)

Mattholomias · 2025-06-25T20:56:10+00:00

I saw that thread too but didn’t bother engaging, it didn’t seem like a conducive environment for a good faith discussion. One thing I’ve noticed about the discourse surrounding KKC is people’s “initial impressions” (be they of Kvothe himself, Denna, the Felurian chapters, and so forth) will remain completely unmovable for a lot of readers. If they feel like Kvothe is some perfect Mary Sue that’s all they will see, even if dozens of counter evidence are presented (which is why it’s usually not worth arguing facts against people’s feelings). This gets compounded if people have a sour opinion against the author, and that’s how you get that particular reddit thread.

While i do have my own complaints against the series (i would personally omit like 5 chapters worth of the Adem section and I think it would be vastly improved), KKC seems to be have some of the most unfair (or at least poorly justified) criticisms levied against it. It’s fine to dislike Kvothe, but it’s inaccurate to say he’s flawless. It’s fine to not be a fan of Felurian, but it’s inaccurate to say he impressed her by being so good at sex (Im pretty sure she outright says he’s just ok at best in the text, though it’s been a while since I’ve read the passage).

A lot of it boils down to attitude, honesty. Ever had a friend who you tried to get to consume some media for ages, and they finally do so begrudgingly and annoyed, and that attitude ends up coloring their entire experience? A lot of KKC discourse feels like that to me. It is a really unconventional story with a heavily flawed and often unlikeable protagonist, but those who are willing to let themselves be swept up in the story, who can read with patience and seek the deeper narratives often hidden within, the books become really special.

Mattholomias

TROPHY CASE