Old Knight Istvan is an NPC in Elden Ring. He can be used as an NPC Summon. His sign is just outside the Demi-Human Chief boss arena of the Coastal Cave as long as he is not killed. He is also one of the assassination targets assigned to you by the Volcano Manor. You can find the summon sign to invade his world in Stormhill.

See Old Knight Istvan Lore

 

 Istvan is one of a few wizened Tarnished who survive to this day.

 

Elden Ring Old Knight Istvan Locations

Where to Find Old Knight Istvan:

istvan invasion

 

Elden Ring Old Knight Istvan Drops

 

Elden RingOld Knight Istvan Notes & Tips

  • His Gravitas skill leaves him open to ranged spells and items like the Kukri.
  • Like all Tarnished NPCs, he is vulnerable to Madness and possibly Death Blight.

 

Old Knight Istvan Lore

 

Lore Items Related to Old Knight Istvan

Scaled Armor

Armor worn by Old Knight Istvan.
The corroded metal is reinforced with rock-hard scales, making it high effective against non-physical attacks.

Istvan is one of a few wizened Tarnished who survived to this day.

 

 

 

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    • Anonymous

      If I killed the Vulcanic Manor Endboss before I started this questline, can I fight these invaders / minibosses anyway?

      • Anonymous

        If you are struggling to kill him at low level, try parrying. Bait his running attack by staying away from him - it's very predictable and easy to parry. Quick and easy way to kill the dude

        • Anonymous

          This man has dodged every kukri I've ever thrown at him with ease, even astoundingly soon after Gravitas. I don't know why that is a recommended tactic.

          • Anonymous

            gotta give props to this guy for trying to make a curved gs work with gravitas as best he can

            it never works out for him but i can recognize the effort made

            • Anonymous

              I hate that you are tasked with killing him. He's such a good fellow who helps new tarnished out and such. After my first two playthroughs and realizing who the target is, I just never could bring it over my heart to kill him and do the Volcano Manor quest

              • Anonymous

                I'm thinking Istvan might be the armorer who wrote the Armorer's Cookbooks. Their description says the armorer used to serve General Radahn, and Istvan uses Gravitas, a gravitational technique, which are usually associated with Radahn. The first cookbook is also found in an encampment of Kaiden Sellswords, who use a Dismounter like Istvan. Not to mention Istvan's armor looks self-made while being extremely effective. As for the timeline, his set describes him as "one of the wizened Tarnished" left, so who knows how long ago he died.

                • Anonymous

                  Doesn't work for me... I can invade him repeatedly... marker is still on the map... quest is still open...

                  • Anonymous

                    the only reason this guy is hard is because his hp is ridiculously high, like higher than you can get in the game, which is probably why fighting him early game is so difficult lol

                    • Anonymous

                      if yall got the min required stats for rot breath (15 faith, 12 arc) procc rot, parry and crit him into oblivion. easy dub

                      • Anonymous

                        npc invaders were super easy in DS3 that they were actually just jokes. their answer wasnt to improve ai or make them better, instead they cheat for them. gg From

                        • Anonymous

                          This knight helps other tarnished in the Land (including you in your fight against the Demi Human bosses).

                          Basically, the Volcano 'hunting' quests has you killing off the heroes of the Land!

                          • Anonymous

                            For non-strength builds, I was able to take him out with a Blood Cross Naginata +3 using Repeating Thrust. That ash is key. I had very low vigor and damage stats for the fight.

                            • Anonymous

                              Why can he recover from swinging a Dismounter faster than I can recover from swinging a Gods-forsaken dagger?

                              • Anonymous

                                If you want to clown on him you can parry every one of his attacks, including the ash of war if close enough

                                • Anonymous

                                  If he's Tarnished, like us, won't he just respawn? So we don't have to feel bad about it? Or does the game imply they're dead-dead?

                                  • Anonymous

                                    Use a rapier (I used Roger's), and shield, or any weapon where you can attack with shield raised. He doesn't really have any counter for poking him like that.

                                    • Anonymous

                                      Update 1.09 makes him impossible!!!! 60+level have used every type of weapon to try and beat him and spells. He just walks right through it or even when using the same weapon as him he swings faster than you can(how does that even work unless it’s set up as a cheat against the player)….this game isn’t even fun anymore!!

                                      • Anonymous

                                        I have a friend named Istvan and having the Manor give me this mission threw me off hard. I thought the game checked my friends list lol

                                        • Anonymous

                                          Bro I'm down bad right now, I might as well get the frenzy ending then go do NG+ so I can do the right things this time around.

                                          • Anonymous

                                            Volcano Manor can go stuff it. He helped me big time with the demi-human chief when I was a low level scrub

                                            • Anonymous

                                              If you want to kill him at low level, just run around in circles with a halberd and keep hitting him with running R1 pokes. It will stagger him out of everything besides Gravitas, which is fairly easy to escape.

                                              • Anonymous

                                                If you want to defeat him earlier than intended (rush to Volcano Manor) for his armor but are drastically under-levelled, blocking and guard-countering is a very low-risk strategy against him. Just takes a bit longer than usual.

                                                • Man. I thought that maybe, just *maybe*, this guy could be the one thing in PvE that Fia's Mist could affect.

                                                  Nope. Immune to Death, despite being a non-phantom, player-model Tarnished. I am sad.

                                                  • Anonymous

                                                    I beat him with my level 99 prophet, but the quest line is not advancing! I love the scaled armor, but Taneth isn’t moving to the next target! What am I missing?

                                                    • Anonymous

                                                      Sure you murdered a random tarnished who has done no wrong and helped you at one point, but on the other hand he dropped some really nice armor!

                                                      • Anonymous

                                                        i am doing a challenge run just using warrior’s base set with golden parry and attack buff talismans and incants, with a two hit limit on damage taken allowed. i can almost parry the crucible knight every time this way. but this npc is absurd. he’s so quick that you have to parry the moment you see him prepare, but it’s tough sh and fy because sometimes he decides to charge, because he emulates the player, which means you’re left exposed after the wasted parry. his cragblade skill is literally unpunishable due to input reading. forget chip damage on his tanky af ass otherwise. otherwise just generally as fast as mythra with the attack power of ganondorf and the defence of king k rool in smash.

                                                        • Anonymous

                                                          Why is there not a parallel questline in opposition to the manor? You literally have to buy into a pyramid scheme and kill the head or ignore the entire thing. Wasted potential.

                                                          • I wish he and the other Tarnished targeted in the assassination questline had their own questlines. Makes it far easier to swallow that we're murdering people just trying to get by when they're just faceless strangers.

                                                            • Anonymous

                                                              He was a strong summon when I challenged the goblin chief pair at level 8. Now at level 83 I butcher him for loot… feels bad. I’m glad I kill behrnal early for his loot. A life for a life. I thought he was the bell bearing hunter and he was killing me every night, so I just murdered him. Only to realize that some how the bell bearing man is still alive. And some how they were not in cahoots. Though every evening he would conveniently disappear while the hunter attack me. Which until now is still sus.

                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                Uhm, im in new game+ and am able to summon this guy for the fight in the cave in Limgrave where you fight the double Demi Human boss

                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                  Note: If you kill him before reading the note in Volcano Manor (the red sign on the map shows up even if you do not read the note) he will NOT drop his armor set. No idea if that is intentional or a bug.

                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                    i feel sorry from him because on my second playthrough godrick is being a no good rotten egg as usual, and istvan's the only thing i can take my anger out on.

                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                      Man helps you in a 2v1 in the coastal caves and you murder him later. Same case for the other guy but Istvan REALLY carries you hard when his co-op sign shows up.

                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                        He put a red summon sign down. Technically he was looking for a challenge. No need to feel bad mercing him.

                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                          one of the nicer armor sets drops from him. Wore it all trhough midgame until I got some nicer (Beast Champion) Armor.

                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                            Personal **** but... My now deceased father was also called István, so finding his summon sign and then seeing him subsequently kick ass in the next boss fight made me feel very nostalgic. Made me cry happy tears.

                                                                            Needless to say, I'm not doing Volcano Manor.

                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                              So, is there any possible interaction besides the coastal summon and the volcano assassination? I'm looking for reasons not to be friendly w Volcano but this page argues the opposite

                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                i got a summon sign for this guy in the coastal cave in limgrave. i had just been to the volcano manor and gotten the mission to kill him, but i decided to get to the dragon church island first, and then i found him in the cave. worth noting that i did have the little beast guy that had turned into a tree in the cave too, so that might or might not also matter.

                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                  I dont know what triggers this but I was able to summon this npc VERY early on for the demi human chief boss fight in limgrave

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