The Duke's Dear Freja

HP 4,220 (Standard Game)
Weakness Fire, Torchlight
Resistance Dark Mist

The Duke's Dear Freja is an enemy in Dark Souls 2.


The Duke's Dear Freja Information 

Duke's Dear Freja is a boss in Dark Souls 2. Found in Brightstone Cove Tseldora, her shell proves to be highly resistant to damage, leaving the heads as the only vulnerable points for attack. It is possible to cut a head off during the fight, causing her to be staggered for a few seconds before she does a leg stomp.
There are smaller spiders that are constantly spawning in the room while the boss is alive. Each of these smaller spiders has ~200hp. These smaller spiders can be killed off at the beginning of battle and will not re spawn for a short time, allowing easier combat with the boss.
Some Notes

  • If a substantial amount of hits are done to one head during a short period of time, the head will fall off and will be untargetable for the rest of the fight.
  • You will need a weapon with a fairly high damage output for this fight. If your weapon is too weak, you might actually decapitate both of her heads and leave her alive/invincible at the same time, resulting in you having to restart the boss battle. However, if both heads are decapitated, an armor-piercing weapon can sometimes deal damage to the boss from the positions where the heads were prior to being chopped off.
  • Walking against Freja's legs will slow you down for a split second. Try to avoid this while moving underneath her, especially when you're being chased by small spiders
  • Some weapons can attack around/through Freja's blocks.
  • In an early encounter of a subsequent Cycle: If caused enough damage (33%) to it, its HP-bar will disappear, and any more damage attempted to cause to it, will not count, and it will retreat only after about 35s.
  • NG+ any damage you do to her outside the boss room will carry over to the encounter in the boss room


  • A monstrous two-headed spider which serves as the Keeper of the Writhing Ruin. Apparently Duke Tseldora's pet and more than likely the progenitor of the swarms of Parasite Spiders which overran and destroyed Brightstone Cove. But What could the Duke have wanted with such an abomination, and what madness could have possessed him to allow the destruction of his own domain...?







Locations Description
Brightstone Cove Tseldora Primary (end of level) boss fight
Brightstone Cove Tseldora
(first bonfire)
Early surprise boss fight on New Game Plus. She will attack the player after climbing over a cliff for a minute or so before fleeing.
She appears right before entering the spider doors that leads to the church containing the Prowling Magus. Once she appears a boss health bar will pop up at the bottom of the screen. She'll only stay at the cliff for 30-40 seconds, or until you run away, but it's still a chance to kill her early. Damage done during this encounter also carries over to the primary boss battle at the end of the level.
(does not occur if you burnt Bonfire Ascetic instead of actual NG+?) Note : I'm in NG and I encountered her (Possibly a rare encounter in NG??)





Counter Measures

Leg Stomp Stomps legs 2-4 times. This attack may be followed by web being shot out which greatly impairs movement speed if hit.  
Soul Bolt Shoots out a beam in a counterclockwise arc that deals a great deal of damage. Cannot be blocked. - Always running counterclockwise and staying closer to the outside of her legs will make outrunning the beam easy. This will also keep the baby spiders grouped up generally out of the way.
- Although it's hard to outrun, it is possible to roll under it.
Web Spit Shoots several web projectiles that cause the player to walk slowly and with difficulty.  
Bite When standing in front of one of the heads the spider will open its pincers and attempt to bite, doing a great deal of damage. - It is possible to evade the attack by running straight away, or dodging to the right or left.
Acid Spit Can shoot a large amount of acid towards the player.
Can also use both heads of boss to spit some acid in front of them while stomping around, corroding player equipment.
Lunge She will steady herself on the ground, raise her body and quickly thrust forward to attack the player. - Rolling could be a viable option.
- It is possible to avoid this attack by running towards her left or right set of legs.
Body Slam She will jump into the air, and attempt to crush the player upon landing.  
Piercing Legs She will use both front legs to stab the player into the ground for a large amount of damage  

Souls Awarded

Bonfire Intensity Souls Awarded
1 42,000
2 84,000
3 105,000
4 115,500
5 126,000
6 136,500
7 147,000
8 168,000
  • No changes to souls awarded beyond Bonfire Intensity 8.

NPC Summons

Ashen Knight Boyd is available as a summon for this fight. His summon sign is located on the ground floor of the spider-infested area, behind a few columns against the opposite wall from the fog gate.
Manhunter O'Harrah (SotFS only) Can be summoned in the room with all the poisonous spiders hanging from the ceiling, on the left, and is very effective. (When I had him and Boyd I got to about 2 hits off, but was killed)
Bashful Ray can also be summoned earlier in the level, in the room with double doors next to Weaponsmith Ornifex's workshop. Unlike other times, Ray is summoned as a Phantom rather than a Shade, and so can be brought all the way to the boss room to help form a team of four. His attacks are quick and lethal, very handy for all the minion spiders as well as getting through the boss itself. He has a number of pyromancies including Firestorm (does very little to the boss) and Fireball (very effective if hits the head).


The best way to fight the spider solo is to bait out the beam attack then sprint to its other head and attack it. Make sure not to get hit by the web it shoots out because this is a death sentence. When she starts to use her Leg Stomp, it's best to stay right up on her legs so that you can immediately run up on her head when she finishes.

Easy Mode with Torch (sotfs only)

If you equip a torch in the fight, all the small spiders will NOT attack you, just like all other spiders in this level. This allows you to just focus on the boss, see below for details.


Entering the fight, immediately run right towards the back, circling the arena to avoid Freja's legs. This should group up the spiders, making it easier to take them out. Guiding the spiders away from Freja, take them all out as quickly as possible. Once the spiders are finished, run over to Freja and whack her face. Whenever it looks like she's about to attack, roll to the left/right but keep close by the side of her face. Ensuring you keep next to her face at all times and kill any respawning spiders she's a pretty easy boss. If she does her beam attack, sprint in the direction of the beam to avoid getting hit. Without the spiders, Freja is easy to kill, taking only a bit of patience and overcoming arachnaphobia to defeat her.

Solo/Melee alternative

Stay to the side of the boss in medium range (far enough so the legs wont hit you) picking up the spiders 1 by 1 strafing as you do,when the spiders are gone go as close as you can to the boss head when it starts to attack quickly run to the other head and hit it,repeat till the boss is dead.I did this with a 69% weight and a halberd, worked flawlessly.

Sorcery/Lightning Spears/Pyromancy

Enter the fight, and sprint straight around her (you can go under her legs and still avoid getting hit), and put a bit of distance between the second head and the spiders. You can cast 1 or 2 spells (depending on cast speed) safely before she recovers from her initial attack. The rest of the battle consists of keeping your distance and baiting attacks. When she uses her stomp or acid attacks, dodge back once or twice and you will be safe (depends on encumbrance). When she uses the lunge attack, dodge a couple of times to the side, and attack her other head after she has finished the attack (otherwise you might miss). When she uses the beam attack, run in the direction of her attack, but run towards the side of her head, this should give pyro's enough time for a fire storm, depending on how quickly you get there, her head should push you to safety if you cast next to her. If you keep moving in one direction (counter-clockwise works best for evading the beam attacks) not even the spiders will give you much trouble. (I defeated Freja on NG+ in 4 mins using this strategy and Soul Spears, the spider's didn't even get close enough to attack me).
If you have the ability to summon a phantom, the boss battle becomes much easier allowing the two to three players to beat on each head.
Despite the best way normally being eliminating the small spiders, the area is quite large and they move rather slowly, making avoiding them an easy task, so it is not necessary to take them out to focus on the big spider.
After entering through the fog gate as a Magic User, IMMEDIATELY use AOE spells like heavenly thunder or chaos storm to take out the small spiders in one go. Making the remainder of the fight much easier.

Video Strategies

NightHawk: Duke's Dear Freja: Ranged, Sword & Board and Power Stance
Melee(dual wield/power stance)
Magic Co-op (miracles/spells)
Melee Co-op (Drangleic Sword+2, no buffs)


  • When decapitating one of the heads, the head that has been decapitated can still be targeted, causing spawned NPC to target this while causing no damage (Xbox 360)



  • It's possible to glitch the fog gate when you get hit/grabbed by the little spiders before the gate. Make sure to clean the room before you take on the boss.
  • the beam attack is unblockable by both your shield and environment and will do large damage, however it will never pass through the bosses own legs, so you can use that as a guide for where the safe zone starts.
  • Avoid using the pyromancy "Warmth". If the boss gets close, it will be healed, and after the heads are destroyed, it will still have hp remaining, meaning you can't kill it.
  • Using the Black Knight Halberd can be a good tip, using the one handed light/ fast (RB/R1) attack is perfect. (i've used this one for my NG+).
  • Melee Weapons with a good amount of reach are a necessity if you don't want to stand immediately in front of her face and punch with a Caestus.
  • Using a Lit Torch during the encounter renders the other spiders useless and you can focus solely on the boss. Just don't let it go out.(SOFTS ONLY!)



  • If you decapitate one of her heads, You can kick it around like a football. This is somewhat advised, as the spider minions will not go near the head, but it also means that Freja only has 1 weakpoint instead of 2.
  • You can kick the head into the stairwell where Vengarl's body is and use it to block him from hitting you.
  • This boss is modeled after both Armored Spider from Demon's Souls and Seath The Scaleless from Dark Souls.
  • Interestingly, unlike the other Old Ones, the "Great Soul Embraced" message does not appear after killing Freja. Instead it appears when interacting with the Dragon caught in her web, suggesting the great soul may actually belong to it.
  • Oddly, this isn't the case if you burned Bonfire Ascetic, the message appears if you killed Freja in the same playthrough but with Bonfire Ascetic.
  • All Great Souls - including Freja's - are optional to open the Shrine of Winter, provided the soul memory requirement for that playthrough is reached. [Edited]
  • The icon of her soul is different than that of the other great souls. It is the icon of a typical boss souls.

*If you use a torch while fighting her the small spiders will not attack you making to fight much easier. (SOFTS ONLY)



Join the page discussion Tired of anon posting? Register!

    • 28 Jul 2021 19:17  

      "if you don't want to stand immediately in front of her face and punch with a Caestus." I literally beat this thing on my first try with my unarmed character using caestuses,granted i was massivley overleveled for the area and had a ridiculous damage output thanks to the vanquishers seal lol

      • Anonymous

        01 Jun 2021 02:16  

        For some reason in NG+ when I was walking towards the group of peasants near that cliff face Freyja jumped up from the pit, and just sat there spitting acid and stomping, there was even a health bar, after a little while she dropped back into the pit and everything proceeded as normal. Is this random or is it a scripted event in NG+ and beyond?

        • Anonymous

          07 May 2021 11:48  

          i am doing a run in which i must take all the NPC phantoms with me and make them survive for the entire bossfight
          The drop after the spider chapel to freja killed my phantom way more than the boss itself (i did it 1st try). Enemies almost started despawning

          • Anonymous

            20 Apr 2021 11:22  

            does duke's dear freja has some secret encounter???... i just encounter him/her before the door leading to prowling magus and concregation, i was really really shocked...

            • Anonymous

              04 Dec 2020 16:24  

              I'm on my first run, i killed Freja. Now i use bonfire ascetic to kill her again on NG+ but she hasn't respawn. Is that a glitch, does someone have an answer ?

              • Anonymous

                04 Oct 2020 17:50  

                All my playthrough, my Fire Longsword has been waiting for this triumphant moment in spider boss killing.

                • Anonymous

                  20 Sep 2020 23:50  

                  can confirm it appears weak to fire, resistant to lighting and a lesser resistance to dark damage. physical damage may also be effective but its easy to cast it to death

                  • Anonymous

                    26 Jul 2020 12:59  

                    I love spiders. And this one has two heads, even better! (You probably think I'm crazy) That NG+ Surprise was extremely fun and interesting and made me like DS2 even more.

                    • Anonymous

                      19 Apr 2020 12:39  

                      Damn that ng+ ambush scared me although ds2 gets a lot of hate because it’s not as good as dark souls one at least ng+ feels like a new adventure unlike the other two souls games

                      • Anonymous

                        10 Mar 2020 18:25  

                        Absolutely braindead boss in Scholar with a Torch, even on NG+ cycles. You just hit one head a couple times, move aside before she attacks, and repeat on the opposite head. You don't even need to try very hard to avoid her attacks; they're all so slow and predictable. Just don't be in front of the head you just hit. Roll if you can't see her legs. I've had a harder time breaking inanimate pots.

                        • Anonymous

                          20 Feb 2020 22:18  

                          Annoying boss, got one shot right as I killed it. I was being a greedy *****er I will admit, but still annoying.

                          • Anonymous

                            18 May 2019 00:22  

                            Fexelea- thanks for the info about what she is weak to and nearly immune to. This is why we pay you the big bucks. /s

                            • Anonymous

                              18 Apr 2019 13:48  

                              "What could the Duke have wanted with her and why would he allow his kingdoms destruction" description makes me wonder if this was one of the abyss-given-form wives referenced who saught out powerful monarchs, turned into a giant spider

                            Load more
                            ⇈ ⇈