Volcano Manor is Just as Pleasant as the Name Suggests

 So, my impression of Leyndell, the Royal Capital, was that the "dungeon" itself was difficult, while the bosses were fairly easy by comparison (I'll reiterate that I am playing a ranged caster). I hadn't even realized, upon arriving at Altus Plateau, that you could immediately head on up to Mt. Gelmir, and, it seems, might even be intended to go there after Liurnia.

The dungeon, which I got to with relative ease (though it involved fighting two world bosses, neither of which I think are strictly mandatory, though the star-beast at the top of a spire of rock felt like it, is Volcano Manor. To be perfectly honest, the dungeon itself hasn't been all that hard - there are a few of those wheeled iron maiden enemies that are quite nasty, but for the most part they're not too bad (I also stumbled upon a Magma Wyrm boss, which I think might be the third I've fought - one of which was also in Mt. Gelmir).

The mid-boss of Volcano Manor (and it does seem that all of the legacy dungeons have a midway boss, though Stormveil Castle's is right at the start) is the Godskin Apostle, which is quick and has some dangerous moves (including inflating and rolling over you) but I believe I downed him in one shot.

The final boss, though, is nasty. What begins as the God-devouring Serpent then reveals itself as Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy in the second phase. Like the Storm King in Demon's Souls and Yhorm the Giant in Dark Souls III, you can find a special weapon here that has powerful effects when you attack the boss, but unlike those, the weapon can only stun-lock the boss if you pour many flasks-worth of FP into the special L2 attack - instead, you're better off using R1 for a forward jab and R2 or a sweeping slash, both of which create big waves of light that do pretty significant damage to the boss.

The problem, though, is that the boss has moves that, at least on my Sorcerer, can just flat-out one-shot me. Getting through phase 1 takes some patience and luck, but then Rykard shows up swinging a horrific sword that, yes, one-shots me.

Now, I have barely explored Mt. Gelmir, so I think I might exit the dungeon and see what mini-dungeons and other things I can find to maybe level up (and get my vigor a little higher - it's like 23 at this point).