Third Colossus - Sleeping Giant

Follow the bridge you used to cross the canyon to reach the second colossus, but pass the ramp leading down to the beach. Your sword should orient you towards a darkened ravine nearby. When you reach the end, you'll discover a large (large!) stone structure suspended above the middle of a lake. Your horse can't go too far into the water, so you'll have to dismount and swim across until you reach the end of the submerged path, and climb from there. You should be in square E2 at this point.

The jump at the top of the ramp is difficult; you'll have to jump diagonally from the ramp to the nearby pillar and hold onto the ledge there. From there, you'll need to hop from the pillar to the structure. Regardless of where your camera's pointing, you need to hold down on the stick to jump directly away from the pillar you're on.

Attacks

The Sleeping Giant has two main attacks, both of which will come out when you're standing in front of it. If you're close to its feet, it'll take its sword/arm and stab it into the ground near where you're standing, doing severe damage if you're caught under it or nearby. If you stand further away, though, it'll bring the sword up over its head and smash it into the ground lengthwise, hurting you if you're under the sword, and knocking you off your feet if you're anywhere nearby. You can avoid both of these attacks by just staying behind the beast.

Killing It

If you can run away from this overhand blow at this location, you should be able to knock the armor off of the beast and climb up the sword arm.

If you're just looking for a hint on how to proceed, here it is: your path here will involve the metal plate at the center of the plateau. It'll also involve letting the beast unleash its overhead slam attack.

If you need more detail, then here's what you do: in order to climb the beast, you'll need to stand well away from it so that it pops out the slam attack, where the flat of the sword hits the ground. If you run away from the impact zone, you should be able to avoid getting knocked down; if you then quickly run back to the sword before it gets picked up again, you can climb onto the fur of the Sleeping Giant's right arm and start your ascent from there. It's difficult to reach the fur before the sword gets retracted from the ground, so if you're having trouble staying on the sword when it's lifted up, hold down the R1 button and walk off one of the edges of the sword while you're still on level ground. You'll be able to hang onto the edge and pop back up when things are stabilized.

Unfortunately, though, the fur will initially be blocked by a large piece of armor on the arm. In order to knock the armor off, you'll have to stand on the metal block in the center of the plateau and let the Giant take a swing at you. If you dodge the blow, the sword should hit the metal, and the resulting vibration will knock the armor off of the arm and let you complete your ascent.

Video Walk-through

The Sleeping Giant is a fearsome foe, but can be killed if you can weaken it a bit.

Watch It »

When you reach the elbow of the first arm, you'll need to get onto the platform there and jump across to the chest area, where the first weak spot is hidden away. The platform around the chest will enable you to recover your grip power when you run low, so feel free to drop down to it when you need to. The Giant will shake you pretty hard when it wants you off, so you'll just have to hang on for dear life and get your shots in when you can.

After half of the creature's life has been taken off, the first weak spot will disappear, and you'll have to return to one of the arms and start your ascent to the head to finish it off. If you can jump back to the sword arm, you should be able to climb up through the armpit area; otherwise, you can just drop off and climb up the sword again. When you reach the head, note that there's a standing area on the nape of the beast's neck. Use that to recharge your grip meter, then get up on the top of the head and start stabbing away. A few good shots, and the beast should topple over dead.