Pontiff Sulyvahn
Maximum souls: 312,303
This boss is weak against parry and lightning. His very first attack can always be parried and after that most of his attacks during the fight can also be parried. If you are not comfortable with parrying Pontiff Sulyvahn, at least learn to parry the very first attack for an easy riposte. Refer to the video guide below for how to parry Pontiff Sulyvahn:
Dark Souls 3 - Ultimate Parry Guide - Pontiff Sulyvahn
Here are some strategies to fight Pontiff Sulyvahn, assuming that you first cast Sacred Oath or use the weapon art of the Sunlight Straight Sword, and cast Deep Protection:
Equip the Lothric Knight Greatsword+10 in the right hand. The left hand should be equipped with a Blessed infused Caestus+10 and the Sunless Talisman+5. Equip these rings to boost your damage output: Lightning Clutch Ring, Lloyd's Sword Ring. Equip Havel's Ring+3 to maintain your weight ratio below 30%. The fourth ring slot is recommended to be the Chloranthy Ring+3. Buff the Lothric Knight Greatsword+10 with Lightning Blade and switch the left hand to the Caestus. Run and/or walk to the boss and parry his very first attack follow by a riposte. Two-hand your main weapon and look for opportunities to R1 the boss. See the following video for the strategy.
Pontiff Sulyvahn NG+40 Lothric Knight Greatsword, Dark Souls III
Similar to the previous strategy. Equip the Lothric Knight Greatsword+10 in the right hand. The left hand should be equipped with a Blessed infused Caestus+10. Use Yorshka's Chime+10 to buff the sword with Lightning Blade. Equip these rings for extra damage output: Lightning Clutch Ring, Lloyd's Sword Ring. The remaining 2 rings can be any you want. The Chloranthy Ring+3 is recommended if you want a boost to your stamina regeneration. Ring of Steel Protection+3 is recommended to help you tank one or two hits. Consume a Red Bug Pellet for some extra fire defense. Use the Caestus to parry the boss' very first attack, followed by a riposte. Now 2-hand your weapon for a fully charged R2. As the boss sits down to charge an AOE, quickly back away, wait for the AOE to finish, and run in for an R1. While the boss is summoning a clone of himself, perform a fully charged R2, followed by another fully charged R2 to kill the clone. Ensure you time the first fully charged R2 to hit the clone. Now wait for opportunities to finish off the boss. The above strategy is demonstrated in the following video.
Pontiff Sulyvahn NG+32 Lothric Knight Greatsword version 2, Dark Souls III
Attune Chaos Bed Vestiges and equip these rings to boost your pyromancy: Witch's Ring, Great Swamp Ring, Lloyd's Sword Ring. The fourth ring slot is up to you to decide. Equip a Caestus in the left hand and a Chaos infused Lothric Knight Sword+10 in the right hand. Enter the fog wall and sprint to the small flight of stairs in front of Pontiff Sulyvahn. Parry the very first attack of the boss and follow up with a riposte. Now switch to Chaos Bed Vestiges to finish off the boss.
Use the above strategy together with summoning an NPC phantom to distract the boss while you're spamming Vestiges in the boss' face. There are at least 2 signs in front of the fog wall for summoning NPC phantoms to help you distract the boss. One is Black Hand Gotthard, the other Londor Pale Shade. Depending on whether you have been following Anri's quest line, you can use the Dried Finger to also summon Anri as your third phantom. However, note that 1 or 2 NPC phantoms are enough to distract the boss.
