Y'know, this one wasn't as bad as the Sunken King. It had some shitty moments like the boss run to Sir Allone, but that was manageable after grinding down some of those annoying knights. Blue Smelter Demon was one of my favorite boss fights in a weird way. Incredibly difficult for me, yet so engaging despite it's clockwork nature. It might be the hardest Dark Souls II boss fight for me if I'm being honest. It doesn't help that the runback for that one is a special kinda of hellish that I didn't grind down. And finally, Fume Knight was pretty fun! I actually found it to be the easiest boss fight in this DLC, but still a great time. I also loved how easy the boss runback was for this fight.
The DLC focuses on what DS2 does best, knight boss fights. It doesn't reach the heights of Artorias of the Abyss and the level design is still frustrating at times, but not nearly as bad as The Sunken King DLC. It's better than most DS2 levels or bosses, but still not enough to really kick it up a notch for me. Worth playing in some sense, but it's still DS2 at its crappy, contrarian core.