Things Betwixt

When you start the game, walk straight ahead. Don't bother with the creatures here since they won't be hostile. Turn to the right as soon as you get past the two stones and go through the crevice. You should see a corpse near the edge of the cliff. Examine the body to get a Rusted Coin.

Backtrack to the main path and enter the hut ahead. You'll find some old hags here. This is also the point where you'll customize your character. Enter your name and you'll get a Human Effigy. These are used to  reverse the effects of Hollowing and are really scarce at the early parts of the game. Hold on to it and don't use it unless really necessary.

Next, you'll have to customize your character, select your class and your gift. Once done, go the second floor and open the chest to get another human effigy. Talk to the Fire Keepers and Millibeth several times if you want then leave the hut. Before  crossing the bridge, go to the small hidden path  beside a rock leading to a ledge right under the waterfall. Loot a Small Smooth and Silky Stone from the corpse there.

(Optional)

Cross the bridge and turn to the right where you'll find a small opening with some large footprints heading uphill. There's a large beast waiting ahead. It will be hard to take down at the start but characters with ranged weapons should be able to kite it and fall back to the crevice. Melee characters can do some hit and run attacks; just don't be aggressive in swinging your weapons since you won't have enough stamina to dodge. The cyclops is slow but be careful of its long reach. You have to watch out of its grab attack since it can instantly kill your character. Defeating it will earn you 1000 souls and a Stone Ring. Equip it and continue uphill. If you can't seem to defeat it, you can just leave it for now and come back later. There's a corpse in the grass where the monster was standing earlier. Loot it to get a Pine Gold Resin. The path past the wooden walkway will lead you back to the Fire Keepers' hut.

Open the door beside the fireplace to find the first bonfire. Bonfires are your resting place. They can restore your HP to full (but not 100% if you're Hollowed), restore the durability of your weapons and equipment, restore the use count of spells and miracles and they can used to fast-travel between various bonfires as well. Resting in a bonfire however, resets the enemies in area.

Destroy the wagon nearby to a Torch and Soul of a Lost Undead (when used this item gives +200 souls). Torches have a duration when they can remain alight. Torches are very helpful in lighting up dark places. Some enemies will also have a different reaction or even shy away from fire. Since they're consumable, you have to make sure that you'll light up sconces you encounter since they stay alight permanently. Light the bonfire and rest. Once done, head through the tunnel to find a winding path will several misted entrances.

Enter the first misted entrance to the left. You'll find several undead along the way. They're slow so just attack and dodge their attacks. Don't forget to light the other sconces to illuminate the corridors and to give you nearby fire sources where you can light your torch again. Don't forget to read the stone tablets along the way since they contain tutorial tips that may help you.

Continue along the main path as it goes uphill. You'll find a corpse hanging on the edge of the cliff. Loot a Dagger from it and continue forth. There's an undead archer ahead so roll to evade its slow arrows and take him out. Be careful since there's another undead in the same room with him. Continue forth and you'll find another large room with an undead archer and swordsman. Lure the swordsman back to the tunnel and defeat him there. Take out the archer then loot the Lifegem from the nearby corpse. Go through the misty exit.

There's a nest here where you can leave Small Smooth and Silky Stones on the nest in exchange for some items. You should have one in your possession right now so leave it there and wait for a few seconds before picking it up. I got a Divine Blessing item in this trade. If you selected a Petrified Something as your gift, you can leave it here as well and wait for a few seconds before picking it up to get a random item. Kick the ladder here but don't go down yet. Drop down the second ledge below to find another corpse. Loot it to get a Soul of a Nameless Soldier (this item gives you +800 souls). Drop down to the main path and you can enter the next misty entrance.

Be careful since there are two undead enemies inside. You can fall back outside to avoid getting flanked. You can also rest anytime in the bonfire outside the Fire Keepers' place. Once the enemies inside are defeated, head to the next exit where there's a gap that you must jump over. Since the sprint+jump using the L3 is a bit tricky. I suggest changing it to the X button in the game options. Now press and hold the X button and run towards the gap. Press X again to jump. This will allow you to reach the corpse containing an Amber Herb in the ledge across. Return back and climb up the ladder.

There are unwary enemies below. Read the tutorial stone blocks if you want then use a plunging attack from above to deal heavy damage to the enemy below. Take them out and open the door nearby to loot a Cracked Red Eye Orb from the corpse. Clear the mist and leave the area.

Jump down to the main path below and enter the next misty entrance. Approach the tree trunk and knock it down to create a bridge. Take out the undead archer and look at the hole below. Position yourself above the undead and do a plunging attack to take him out. Be careful since there's an archer in the upper ledge. When you hear the bowstring being pulled, prepare to dodge. Climb the ladder and take out the archer. Exit through the next mist.

Take out the undead there. You can also lure the two cyclops then fall back to the tree so you can defeat them safely. One of them is hiding right after you go down the ledge. The best way to deal with them is lure them back to the room where you came from and stay near the entrance just enough to aggro them. For characters with ranged weapons, you can kite them safely from here. For melee characters, you have to evade their attacks and hit them when they're down. They carry 1000 souls each so killing them can be rewarding early on. The coffin at the edge of the water can change your gender if you sleep in there; other than that, it doesn't seem to have anything else of interest. Sleeping in the coffin will reset the undead enemies but not the cyclops.

When done, follow the path and kick the withered tree ahead to create a pathway for you back to the main path. You can return to the bonfire to rest if you want or kill all enemies again to get more souls. If you managed to defeat all cyclopes, you can talk to Millibeth to receive a Handmaid's Ladle. Once done, head to the end of the main path to reach the next area.

 

 

Majula

Follow the trail until you see a lootable corpse sitting under a dead tree near the settlement's entrance. Get a Divine Blessing from it. Enter the settlement and light the bonfire. From there, talk to the Emerald Herald standing near the edge of the cliff. You'll receive an Estus Flask from her. This helpful item restores HP and can be refilled by visiting a bonfire. The Emerald Herald can also help you level up by trading souls you've gathered. Just keep talking to her until she opens up the other options.

If you head to the top of the hill where a broken statue stands, there's a lone knight there named Saulden. Talk to him several times and he'll offer you to join the Way of Blue covenant. You can also learn the "Welcome" gesture from him. Join this covenant for now since this is really for beginners. You'll also receive a Blue Seal ring which slightly increases your max HP.

Head down the hill and find a corpse beside a rock near the edge of the cliff. Loot it to get Soul of a Nameless Soldier and Lifegem x3. The smithy beside that corpse is closed because the door is locked. You have to find its key in order for the blacksmith to open his shop.

Head towards the other buildings and you should see another corpse inside a tent. Loot a Lifegem from it then follow the path uphill along the edge of the cliff. Loot the corpse there to get Homeward Bone x5. Be careful when kneeling in the Victor's Stone; entering this Covenant will make you a member of Company of Champions which increases the difficulty of the game by making enemy attacks more damaging and become more sturdier with increased HP.

The hole on the ground has some lootable corpses but you can't go down there yet without a ladder.

The house beside the hole has a talking cat named Shalquoir. You can talk to her to help you abandon your covenants and also buy items and accessories from her. If you have spare souls, it will be good to buy a Ring of the Evil Eye which enables you to absorb HP from each defeated foe. This is vital since the game is quite unforgiving when it comes to enemy damage and survival.

There are some annoying undead piglets beside the large building so don't get there to avoid startling them and follow you around. They don't give that much soul anyway upon defeat. You'll find Maughlin in the house across Shalquoir's. He sells armors. Be careful with what you purchase; the NPCs here doesn't buy items from you.

There's also a small well outside the large building in the middle. Knock the stone on the edge of the well to pull up a hanging corpse with an Estus Flask Shard. Bring it to the Emerald Herald to upgrade your Estus Flask capacity.

Your next destination is the Forest of Fallen Giants. To access this, you have to go through a tunnel which entrance is just a few steps away from the bonfire. Once inside, turn to the right to find a chest. Get a Rusted Coin from the chest then continue forth. Pull the switch on the wall to raise the large gate.

Cross the wooden bridge and access the chest under it. Loot a Human Effigy from the chest. Sprint and jump to reach the corpse containing a Homeward Bone and Soul of a Lost Undead. From there, follow the stream to reach the Forest of the Fallen Giants.

Forest of the Fallen Giants

The Crestfallen's Retreat

Be careful of the undead enemies here. They're fast and they unleash a series of quick slashes so make sure to take them out one by one and avoid getting surrounded. There's a corpse across the stream where you can get a Lifegem. Just as the stream turns, you'll find a bonfire up the small alcove to the right. Light the bonfire and continue forth.

Carefully cross the stream as there are two enemies here and an archer. Lure the enemies behind the rocks to prevent the arrows from reaching you. There's a lurking undead swordsman near the archer that you need to lure as well so be ready not to get flanked. At the end of the stream is a corpse that can be looted. However, be careful of the undead axeman that will stand up and ambush you. Loot it to get a Soul of a Lost Undead.

Continue uphill through the giant tree roots and climb the ladder. There are three enemies lurking around above so prepare for battle. You can lure them towards the other ladder leading to a tower ruins and dispatch them one by one. Loot the corpses here for a Lifegem and Human Effigy. There's an archer in the ledge above so be careful not to get sniped. The white knight sitting on the tree can be fought and defeated. Just make sure you dispatch the archer on the ledge above. We'll get to that so just ignore him for the meantime. Loot a Broken Straight Sword from the corpse beside him.

Leave the area for now and head to the other exit where you'll find a ladder attached to a ruined tower. Climb it and take out the two undead soldiers along the stairs. Follow the path and  carefully go through a narrow pathway near the edge. This will take you to a corpse containing a Soul of a Nameless Soldier. Follow the path and you'll reach the ledge where the undead archer is. Take him out and do a sprint-jump across the gap to loot the corpse in the end of the ledge. Obtain a Shortsword and Soul of a Lost Undead. Backtrack to the where the White Knight is sitting and fight him if you want.

His attacks are slow but has a broad range so make sure you have enough stamina to evade. You can always fall back to the ladder to reset his position and do some annoying hit-and-run on him. Be wary of his charge attack though as it can take you by surprise. Upon defeat, you'll get a huge amount of souls and a Heide Knight Sword.

Once he is defeated, head to the misty entrance. Be careful of the corpse near it since it will be reanimated and attack you. Go through the tunnel DO NOT enter through the crack on the wall. Carefully turn to the left. There's an undead axeman who will ambush you here so prepare to dodge away. There are two undead in the room to the right so get their attention and lure them. Enter the room they're in and destroy the bookcase to find a corpse behind it. Loot it to get x20 Wood Bolt.

At the end of the corridor is an undead knight wielding a two-handed sword. Defeat it and continue upstairs. There's an archer at the end of the path so unless you're using a ranged weapon, you don't have any choice but to rush to it. Be careful though since there are enemies waiting outside, including an undead that lobs fire bombs. Don't hesitate to fall back to the hallway as necessary. Once the archer is down, go up and get near the undead swordsman. If you're at a distance, he'll throw fire bombs at you so get near him so you can easily evade his melee attacks instead. Take out the undead axeman and loot a Buckler from the corpse nearby.

Climb up the ladder near the stairs and head towards the corpse at the end of the balcony. Be careful since there's an undead pikeman that will spring back to life as soon as you get near. Pick up x5 Witching Urn from the corpse and then open the door in the building to find a bonfire inside.

Cardinal Tower

Light it up and rest as necessary. There's also Merchant Hag Melentia nearby. Among other things, you can purchase Lenigrast's Key from her which can open up the smithy in Majula. You can fast-travel there after getting the key and loot the chest inside to get a Short Bow. The room above the bonfire is locked so ignore it for now. Aside from the common consumables, Melentia also sells x5 Human Effigies for 1500 souls each and a Pharro's Lockstone.

Before going down the ladder beside the bonfire, you can jump off from the ledge of the balcony to reach land on the wooden scaffolding below. Continue following the scaffolding along the wall to reach a hanging corpse containing a Human Effigy. Go down and you'll find another lootable corpse hanging on a fallen tree. Get a Torch and a Soul of the Lost Undead. Be careful not to fall down below since there are a lot of enemies waiting there. Lure them one by one and take them out.

Once clear, enter the smaller tunnel to reach a corpse containing a Hollow Soldier Helm. Next, walk all the way towards the rubble at the end of the courtyard to find a corpse containing Lifegem x3.

Backrack to the burning tunnel and enter it. Be careful since two undead swordsman will attack you from behind. After taking care of them, loot the Soul of a Proud Knight (Soul +2000) from the corpse along the way. There's a chest right behind the door nearby that contains a Fire Longsword. You must open it quickly enough so that when the salamander lobs a fire ball, your opening animation will render you temporarily invulnerable.

Return to the bonfire in the Cardinal Tower using a Homeward Bone so you don't have to walk all the way back. This item however, resets enemies so might as well rest in the bonfire to replenish your HP, spells, Estus Flask and repair your equipment. If you have opened  Lenigrast's shop the first time around, you can go back there now and spend some souls in strengthening your equipment.

Climb down the ladder and immediately attack the sitting undead. There's another undead pikeman that will come your way so evade and take it out as well. Cross the bridge and do not loot the corpse immediately. Hit the undead swordsman that's pretending to be dead then loot a Soul of a Lost Undead from the corpse. Both doors on this side and the side where you came from is locked so backtrack to the bridge and enter the only open doorway here.

Hit the undead at the base of the stairs and remove the mist to reach another area of the castle. This is an annoying stage but necessary nonetheless. First, be careful of the archers. There are two on the scaffolding in the middle and one along the walls. Start by dropping off the balcony to the right. Take out the axeman and the archer at ground level then climb the ladder. Head to the middle scaffolding and lure the undead pikeman out. Bring him to the rooftop where you came from and finish him there. Next, defeat the undead longbowman.

Run across the middle platform and make your way to the broken tower to the left. Defeat the undead guard there and loot a torch from the corpse. Drop off the other end of the tower and climb up the roof again to make your way back to the middle platform.

Now make your way to the rooftop in the middle and drop off from the opening on the roof to the floor below. Drop off once more and find the wooden pathway leading back to ground level. You should find a lootable corpse beside a gate containing a Titanite Shard. Follow the wooden walkway again to reach the ladder you used to climb back up the rooftop.

Head to the rooftop in the middle and do a sprint-jump to reach the other platform. Jump on the lower ledge near the tunnel. Enter the tunnel and carefully walkt towards the corpse. Don't run as a boulder will roll down from the slope to the left. Loot the corpse nearby to get a Human Effigy.

Go up the slope and talk to the traveler named Cale. Keep talking to him to retrieve the House Key. This is the very key needed to open the house in Majula. Continue to the end of the tunnel to get an Amber Herb from the corpse. Now leave the tunnel and climb up the ladder to your immediate left. This will take you back to the starting point of the area.

Since you have the House Key, you can return to the bonfire in the Cardinal Tower and travel back to Majula to loot the contents of the House. The corpse in the first floor has a Pharros' Lockstone while the chest on the second floor contains x3 Torches and x3 Titanite Shards. If you head down to the basement of the house, you'll find a fast, green skeleton. The best way to deal with this is to parry its attacks and do an immediate counterattack. It can also drop a Human Effigy. Reach the bottom of the mansion to get an Estus Flask Shard from the skeleton by the wall and a Soul Vessel from the chest. Soul Vessels can be shown to the Fire Keepers and allow you to re-allocate your level and skills.

Return to the Cardinal Tower and make your way to the same area where you accessed the tunnel. This time, follow the root until you reach the other side of the wall. There are enemies waiting ahead so take them out. There's an enemy standing on the edge of the next ledge that can throw fire bombs so climb the first ladder along the way and take it out.

Shortly after, a large knight called The Pursuer will drop from the sky. This is an optional encounter so I suggest don't fight him for now. After escaping him by leaving the platform, he will leave and you're free to continue exploring the area as necessary.

TIP: You can blow up the stack of gunpowder barrels beside the wall around the corner; this will destroy the wall and give you a very convenient shortcut to the Cardinal Tower bonfire.

Continue to the corner and climb down the ladder. Check the corpse beside the stairs to find a Green Blossom. There's also an opening on the wall to the right. Don't enter it yet since the ballistas will trigger and fire. Wait for the enemies to chase after you and destroy them outside. Be careful though since these undead guards are quite dangerous with their lunge attack. Once done, loot the corpses in front of the ballista to get a Great Soul Arrow, Blue Wooden Shield and Large Soul of a Lost Undead.

In the same room, climb down the ladder and defeat the undead inside. Open the chest and immediately roll out to avoid getting caught in the poison gas. Obtain a Titanite Shard from there. There's also a Pharros Contraption here that will require a Pharros Lockstone to activate it. If you have one, you can destroy the wall where the face appears and it will reveal two chests inside containing a Chloranthy Ring and a Titanite Slab.

Climb back up. There are several smaller areas you can explore here. There's a pikeman sitting near a gate ahead named Pate. If you enter the the gate next to him, it will shut behind you, trapping you inside. Take out the enemies in the small courtyard and more enemies inside the hallway. Before you go to loot the corpse, a couple of undead pikemen will attack you. Take them out and get the Aromatic Ooze x3 from the corpse.

More enemies are waiting upstairs. The dangerous of them are the shielded undead spearmen. They'll deflect your attacks and counterattack with their long spears. After clearing the hallway, you'll reach another section of the wall. You can now go around the locked gate and continue exploring.

The heavy, maul-wielding knight guarding the gate can be lured towards you. It's intimidating and can deal heavy damage but it can killed quite easily as well. Just don't fight it on the same area since there are enemies throwing fire-bombs at you.

After defeating the heavy knight, enter the small area to the right to find a giant's remains (creepy-looking tree). Before going there, make sure to hit and defeat the undead guard sitting on the wall. Behind the tree is a corpse that has a Large Soul of the Lost Undead.

Climb the ladder nearby and loot the Light Crossbow from the corpse along the way. Enter the room and sprint-jump on the ledge across to loot another corpse containing a Soul of a Nameless Soldier and a Torch.

Be careful when falling below as there are three undead guards below. If you have a ranged weapon or a thrown projectile you looted from enemies, this is a good time to use them. Kill all enemies below then open the chest to get a Mail Breaker and an Infrantry Helm.

Get past the heavy guard and take the stairs to the right to loot a Lifegem and a Homeward Bone from the corpse. There are a couple of shielded spearmen ahead so be careful when taking them out. Continue to the end of the corridor to find another corpse. The nearby undead will rise so attack it before it fully stands up. Loot a couple of Amber Herbs from the nearby corpse.

Carefully climb up the sword statue and lure the spearman there. There is also another undead swordsman that will attack you from behind so be careful. Once they're taken care of, loot the Halberd and a Soul of a Nameless Soldier from the corpse.

Go back down and enter the misty door. Head to the right first and kill the enemy sitting on the wall along the way. Search the room to find a corpse at the bottom of the stairs. Obtain a Lifegem and Large Leather Shield from it. Head to the left this time and loot the corpse to get Fire Arrow x10. Open the door that leads as a shortcut to the Cardinal Tower bonfire. Use it and do what you need llike reinforcing your equipment, leveling up or restocking healing items.

When ready, step on the lift. Once done, walk along the corridor and take out the undead guard standing in front of the door to the left. Go through the misty path and fight the boss.

 

Boss: The Last Giant

The Last Giant isn't a hard boss, as long as you know his attacks. His basic attack include swiping the ground using his arm. The best move to counter this is by rolling towards him and delivering at least two strikes on his legs. Make sure you have enough stamina to roll away when he starts to stomp. Sometimes, the boss will fall down. You have to clear out of the way otherwise you'll get instantly killed. If you managed to get out of the way in time, you should get free hits at the boss while it's down. Keep doing this until he goes down to 50% HP.

At that level, he break off his left arm and use it as a club. His swiping attacks have much longer range now so just rull towards him and avoid his stomp. After the battle, you'll get the Soul of the Last Giant and Soldier Key. Melentia will also move to Maluja after the battle.

The Soldier Key

The Soldier Key allows you to open several previously locked doors in this location. The first one is located on the top of the Cardinal Tower bonfire. Loot the chest inside to get a Small Leather Shield and Repair Powder. Defeat the guard sitting on the wall then loot the corpse behind the wagon to get a Hand Axe and a Radiant Lifegem. Open the door to find the lone chest containing an Estus Flask Shard and a Small White Sign Soapstone. From there, peek through the hole to find a hanging corpse on the tree root. Loot it to get a Diving Blessing.

The locked door across the burning pit with the salamander, right under the bonfire. After opening the door, go straight and loot the chest there to get a Ring of Restoration and Torch x3. Equip this ring immediately since it will gradually recover your HP. If you head outside, there's a massive black door that will tell you to "produce the symbol of the King". Just take note of this place and leave for now.

Another locked door is found in the next room under the Cardinal Tower bonfire, right before you reach the flooded open area with a tunnel. Go downstairs and take out the undead sitting to your immediate left. This is a long corridor filled with various enemies. In the corridor to the left lies a corpse containing x3 Black Firebomb and a Homeward Bone. At the end of the corridor you'll find another corpse containing a Torch.

Open the door which leads to an area outside. Enter the next door and take out the mauler there. Climb the ladder to find a couple more maulers. Defeat them then loot the corpse of nearby to get a Soul of a Nameless Soldier and x3 Cracked Red Eye Orb.

Climb back down using the ladder where you came from and continue along the corridor. Take out the undead there and loot the corpse to get a Bastard Sword. Exit the room and defeat the mauler standing by the gate then loot the corpse behind him a Green Blossom and Amber Herb.

Continue through the ruins and head to the next building. Enter the large opening and you should be able to light up a new bonfire (Soldier's Rest). Go up the platform in the corner to find a chest containing several items: Large Soul of a Proud Knight, Hunter's Hat, Leather Armor, Leather Gloves, and Leather Boots. That's all there is in this area so fast-travel using the bonfire to leave the area.

The next locked door that can be opened by the Soldier Key is located in the same corridor where a giant stone blade was found. You can access it easily by fast-traveling to the Cardinal Tower bonfire and go to the left past the lift.

After opening the door, continue upstairs. Beware of the shielded spearman and pikeman. Continue upstairs and you'll find a misty door. Before entering it, take the stairs to the right and loot the corpse for a Soul of a Nameless Soldier and Lifegem x3. The enemy behind the misty door is The Pursuer himself. Before fighting him, make sure that you've used your souls already, especially if you stocked quite a bit after defeating the Last Giant. If you killed while fighting The Pursuer, you don't have any way of retrieving your dropped souls permanently until you defeat him.

Boss: The Pursuer

He is especially challenging because of his speed and his weapon's wide range so when fighting him, you have to keep on the defensive and attack him whenever there's an opening. This battle will be easier once you have enough stamina to evade several times and land some attacks. Don't bother blocking his attacks if your character is not efficient in handling shields since it will consume a lot of stamina. When you see him readying for a charge, move towards him and evade to his right side (to the left of your character). This will ensure that you'll evade his upward slash and attack him from behind.

There are ballistas here that can fatally wound him and allow you for a quick kill but lining it up and timing your fire can be challenging, not to mention that the ballistas can be destroyed. Your best hope is to evade and attack as soon as his combos stop. When you have a stronger weapon and higher stats, you should be able to defeat him and survive his attacks.

If you examine the nest in the area behind the Pursuer, you'll be taken by a bird to Lost Bastille. Fortunately, there's a bonfire from where you'll land that you can use to travel back if you selected it by mistake.

In the same area, carefully drop down the broken part of the wall to find a corpse. Loot it to find a Drangleic Sword, Drangleic Shield and a Drangleic armor set. The Drangleic Shield provides a 100% damage reduction rate, perfect for some upcoming boss battles. Its low STR requirement makes it a very good shield for almost any melee-based class early on. 

Heide's Tower of Flame

Go downstairs through the opening between Shalquoir's shop and the path leading to the Victory Stone. There's a contraption in the middle that you can't operate for now so leave it for the meantime.

There's a chest along the way. Open it for a Crimson Parma. To open the floodgate, keep walking to the right and you'll find the switch that you can pull there. Continue forth and you'll find a corpse. Loot it for a Soul of a Lost Undead and a Broken Thief Sword. Keep following the path until you reach the next area.

There are bulky, powerful yet slow Old Knights here that you must fight. They have the same, predictable 3-hit combo attack that can be easily evaded. These knights can also be farmed for their good amount of souls early on. There's also a bonfire (Heide's Ruin) to the right of the first Old Knight.

Defeat the second Old Knight to get a Sublime Bone Dust. This item permanently upgrades your Estus Flask when burned in the Far Fire in Majula. Behind the second Old Knight lies a corpse hanging by the balcony. Loot it for a Soul of a Nameless Soldier and a Human Effigy. Go upstairs and defeat the third Old Knight. After defeating it, a lever will raise behind him. Pull down the lever to raise the other platform in the tower ahead. This will be very helpful in a boss battle later. Loot the corpse behind the heavy door to get a Lloyd's Talisman.

Continue to the next tower where three more Old Knights are waiting. You can snipe and agrro them one by one or lure them yourself. The Old Knight in the middle is the most dangerous since his massive weapon can deal massive damage to you. Make sure you lure him away and fight him in an open space, like the area where the first and second Old Knight are located. Once you've defeated the three, a lever near the broken pillars facing the tower will be revealed. Pull it to raise another outer platform in the tower. Like the other lever, this one will help a lot in a boss battle.

From here you have to two paths; the path to the left leads to the Cathedral of Blue where you can fight the Old Dragonslayer boss while the path to the right leads to a derelict tower beyond a misty door leads to the Old Dragonrider boss. Defeating him will give you access to the Tower of Flame bonfire, the cleric Licia, and the pathway leading to No-Man's Wharf. Both of these bosses drop Boss Souls that can be used to purchase powerful weapons through specific NPCs later on. You can also obtain a large amount of souls after defeating them, making it easier for you to level up a few notches.

On the way to the Dragonrider tower, you'll find a chest on a precarious platform. Open it to get Green Blossom x3.

Boss: Old Dragonrider

He is slow but he has a long range of attack. The best moment to attack him is when he finishes his lunge attack. Be careful when attacking him when he's swinging his halberd. Also, keep circling him to his left. This will allow you to move past his shield and deal heavier damage to his back. Don't be greedy; its always safe to be sure. As long as you land hits and avoid his attacks, you should be able to defeat him.

Another strategy to defeat him involves NOT operating the levers that will raise the platforms in his area. Wait for him at the edge of the battle area and evade when he uses his thrust attack. When done correctly, he should fall down, instantly killing him.

After defeating the Dragonrider, go upstairs to find the second bonfire (Tower of Flame) and Licia. You can buy various Faith based miracles from her – very helpful if you're playing as a cleric. Talk to her and exhaust her dialogue as well. This will prompt her to move to Majula, beside the contraption you encountered earlier. You must pay 2000 souls for her to move that contraption in Majula and open up the path to Huntsman Copse. You can open up this area if you want; otherwise, skip the paragraph below.

After clearing that path leading to Huntsman Copse, you can continue for a bit and loot the corpse along the way to get a Rogue Water. Continue following the straightforward path and you'll find an NPC sitting on a chair. He doesn't seem have any significance for now so continue ahead and you'll find a bonfire. This is a new area called Huntsman's Copse. You don't need to explore it for now but lighting up the bonfire will allow you to easily fast-travel there later on.

Cathedral of Blue

For now, return to the Tower of Flame bonfire and backtrack to the central hall where there are three Old Knights waiting. Defeat them if you want then continue to the path to the left. Two more Old Knights will be waiting there so take them out then loot the corpse hanging by the broken staircase to the left. Obtain a Divine Blessing from it.

Continue upstairs and take out the Old Knight there. This will reveal a lever that you can operate to lower the drawbridge. Go up the drawbridge and loot the chest and corpse to the left to find an Old Radiant Lifegem and a Ring of Binding and Human Effigy x5 from the chest. The Ring of Binding is a very important item as it significantly reduces the HP reduction effects of Hollowing. Equip it immediately.  Beyond the misty door is another boss. Make sure to prepare before entering.

Boss: Old Dragonslayer

This boss uses a spear and lunge attacks that can quickly close the distance even if you try to stay away from him. One good strategy is to keep close and keep circling around him, evading and counterattacking when he swings his spear. He also has a projectile attack and an AoE (area-of-effect) attack which you should avoid by staying away.

Timing your evasion can be tricky since the boss is fast as well. However, as long as you learn his stance, you'll  be able to anticipate the following attack and how to react to it.  Running out of stamina to evade is always bad news so don't get cocky and hit more than 3 times in a row, unless your stamina can accommodate it.

Defeating the Dragonslayer will give you 20,000 souls, Old Dragonslayer Soul and Old Leo Ring. Go through the next door and you'll find two chests. Loot them for Cracked Blue Orb x3 and Heide Knight Iron Mask and Tower Shield in the next schest.

The NPC here is Targray of the Blue Sentinels. Bring him a Token of Fidelity and he'll allow you to join the covenant. This is obtained by helping another player defeat a boss as a phantom.

There's also a narrow staircase between the balcony where Targray is standing and the Old Dragonslayer rooms. Go downstairs to find the Cathedral of Blue bonfire. Light it up and use it to fast travel as necessary. Make your preperations to leave for No-man's Wharf.

Departure to No-Man's Wharf

Fast-travel to Tower of Flame bonfire, continue ahead and go down the spiral staircase. After reaching the base of the stairs, search the corpse behind it to find a Monastery Charm. Defeat the two Old Knights here and follow the path straight ahead to find three corpses containing Human Effigy, Dark Troches, Soul of a Proud Knight, and Old Knight Halberd.

Enter the doorway in the middle and go downstairs. Take out the Old Knight hanging right outside the next doorway and another one along the corridor if you turn right. There's nothing of interest in the corridor to the left so ignore it for now. Continue along the path until you find a lift. Ride it down and follow the flooded tunnel.

Along the way, you'll find a small doorway guarded by an Old Knight. Defeat it and continue upstairs. Turn to the right to find a chest in an alcove at the end. Open it to get a Knight Armor Set. (Helm, Armor, Gauntlets and Leggings)

Backtrack to the flooded tunnel and continue along the main path until you reach another tunnel leading to a cavern. Follow the path and you'll find a bonfire called No-Man's Wharf. There's also an NPC named Lucatiel. Exhaust her dialogue during this conversation and she'll offer you assistance by allowing you to summon her on specific areas of the game. (Sinner's Rise, Iron Keep, No-man's Wharf, Black Gulch)

Continue along the path and you'll reach No-man's Wharf. Before going in, make sure you have at least one Pharros Lockstone in your possession.

 

 

 

No-Man's Wharf

This area is crawling with undead. Start off by running to the left. Be careful not to fall to the water since the area is poorly lit. Take note of the gunpowder bombers. They won't do damage on their own but once you're hit by a fire arrow, you'll die instantly. If you get hit by gunpowder, make sure to wash it off by rolling in the water. Once you've reached the house, eliminate the undead on the first floor and head to the second floor. You'll find a chest there containing a Titanite Shard and a corpse in the balcony that has a Soul of a Proud Knight.

Continue to the walkway and beware of the heavy swordsman that will come at you. Defeat it and destroy the archer. Next, go down to the shallow water and loot the Large Soul of a Lost Undead and a Lifegem from the submerged corpse.

Carefully walk towards the destroyed houses to aggro the enemies and take care of them one by one. Enter the first house to the left to find Dark Pine Resin x3 from the corspe inside. Be careful when walking towards the stone house since there's a lurking beast there that can cause Bleeding damage. This enemy is afraid of the light so lighting up your torch when fighting these things will help a lot.

Head inside the house where the beast is lurking to find a corpse that has x10 Iron Arrow. Next, climb the stairs and turn to the first right. Get rid of the enemies here including an undead hound. There is a couple of  archers on the top of the building. Don't get inside the building yet since there are a lot of undead skirmishers to deal with. Pick them off one by one. Once clear, head inside the building and open the chest behind the counter to get a Bandit Axe and Brigand armor set (Brigand Hood, Armor, Gauntlets and Trousers)

Carefully go upstairs and take out the archers and another berserker. Loot the Titanite Shard and Repair Powder from the chest. Leave the building and operate the Pharros Contraption in front of it. This will light up a large chandelier that will illuminate the area. From there, move forward a bit and hop to the roof of the house earlier to find a corpse containing a Large Soul of a Proud Knight and x3 Small Smooth and Silky Stone.

Return to the stairs and continue to higher ground. Defeat the two enemies here and continue along the path. There's an undead hound and skirmisher inside the house to the left. After dealing with them, follow the path and take the next stairs again.

Lonesome Gavlan

Along the path you'll find another large building with several of those pesky mutated primate beasts. The Pharros Contraption you activated earlier will keep them at bay and will allow you to safely snipe them from a distance. Don't forget to loot the Emit Force and Large Soul of a Lost Undead from the corpse hanging by the edge of the cliff.

Take out the beasts and open the next room of the building. Quickly fall back since there are three more of those beasts inside and they can destroy the whole wall itself. After dealing with those three, enter the house again and you'll find another beast on the second floor. Take it out and open the next door. Here you'll find two chests. One of them is trapped so quickly leave the room to avoid getting killed. Loot the Greatsword from the safe chest and x2 Silver Talismans from the rigged chest.

The NPC here is named Gavlan and is the only NPC in the game that purchases items from you. Another thing to note is that he will move from this position after talking to him so make sure you have all your unnecessary equipment with you before talking to him. He also sells various poison and anti-poison items.

Summoning the Derelict Ship

After dealing with Gavlan, leave the building and continue forth to the next set of wooden houses. There's an enemy waiting in the first and second floors. Go upstairs and pull the lever there to make the ship move and dock. After that jump off the ledge nearby and collect Lifegem x2 and a Homeward Bone from the corpse.

Drop off another ledge and enter the house. Loot the Fire Arrow x10 from the corpse along the stairs quickly. There are two of those beasts in the lower floor so its up to you if you want to engage them or leave them. Continue to the lower ground and make sure to enter the house beside the tavern and go to the third floor. There's a switch here that you can pull to open the iron gate beside the tarvern. This will serve as a shortcut in case something unfortunate happens.

Boarding the Ghost Ship

There's also a house near near the ledge facing the docks that have two undead soldiers inside and lots of poison vials. Destroy them from a distance since poison in this game is a big deal. Open the chest to find an Estus Flask Shard. The corpse behind the large rurns contain a Flame Butterfly and Throwing Knives x7.

Take the stairs leading to the docks and you'll find a broken building with more of those long-limbed beasts. There's nothing there so you can just run past them. Loot a Human Effigy and Lifegem from the corpse near the shallow water and continue along the walkway.

The walkway is divided to two paths. One leads to the ship the other leads to an NPC, Carhillion. He is the merchant for sorcerers and he will only talk to those with high enough INT. Next, approach the boat carefully. Archers and swordsmen will appear and the best way to deal with them is lure the swordsmen away and get rid of them before taking care of the archers. Once done, go downstairs and go through the misty door to fight the boss.

Boss: Flexile Sentry

This boss as two sides; one side has clubs as weapons while the other has swords. The clubs are slower but can deal bleeding damage while the swords are faster and has wider range. Use the pole in the middle to separate yourself from the boss. Even with this limited space, you should be able to keep a safe distance from them, especially if you're using spells or miracles. Melee fighters can roll out towards the pole and it will stop the bosses combos most of the time. Just anticipate their movement and evade at the right time before their weapons connect.

You'll get the Flexible Sentry Soul after defeating it. Head to the next room and loot the chest to get a Pyromancy Flame and Fireball. Next, examine the compass to operate the ship and head to the next land.

Lost Bastille

There are two ways in reaching this place; one is by using the ship in No-man's Wharf. You can only use the ship after defeating the Flexible Sentry. The other method is by defeating The Pursuer in the Forest of the Fallen Giants which by then you'll have to examine the nest in the area behind where you fought him and you'll be carried by an eagle to this location.

Arrival via air

As soon as you land, you can light up the bonfire. Go to the main path and follow the narrow ledge to the left. Before going to the balcony, keep going left while carefully hugging the wall to find a corpse containing a Large Titanite Shard and Radiant Lifegem.

Enter the next room through the window and take out the crossbowman. There are a lot of hounds in the bottom floor and they do drop various Souls items. You can also drop a gunpowder barrel from the ledge to kill all enemies caught up with the explosion below. Make sure to fall back away from the edge so you won't get caught in the explosion. Open the door and loot the lone chest containing an Antiquated Key and Covetous Silver Serpent Ring. The latter increases the amount of souls you can collect from defeating enemies, enabling you to earn more souls when farming enemies.

Note:The Hounds drop various Souls and even Human Effigies when farmed.

Make your way first towards the tower with a black door. Blow up the gunpowder barrel and open it. This can only be opened from this side and will you connect you to the path leading back to the dock which you will access if you rode the ship from No-Man's Wharf. This door will remain open permanently no matter which path you came from.

Now climb back up and enter the tower from the door you opened. You'll find an NPC here named Lucatiel if you're able to talk to her and exhaust her dialogue in the No-Man's Wharf bonfire. (she's a summon NPC on your way to the boss in Sinner's Rise) You have to cross the broken pillar to the left and enter the door there. This will lead to the sentinels boss area. Refer to the "Making Way to the Sentinels" section below.

Note:If you have the Antiquated Key and Pharros Lockstone, you can SKIP the annoying and frustratingly hard Sentinel Boss Battle and come back for it later.

Ship Arrival

Leave the dock and enter the bastion. Ride the lift up and inspect the prison cell beside the lever to find a corpse containing a Soul of a Proud Knight and Radiant Lifegem. Continue along the stairs and enter the broken prison cell to your right. Loot the skeleton there to get Common Fruit x2. A few steps from that, you'll find the area's bonfire inside a prison cell to your left. Liht it up and continue forth.

Follow the walkway and you'll encounter a non-hostile white knight. You can defeat him and get his Heide Spear. Be careful when fighting him since the pathway's narrow and his spear has both range and wide reach.

Take the ladder down and prepare to encounter some hounds in the courtyard. Destroy the scaffolding nearby to make the corpse fall down. Loot an Alluring Skull from it. Break the wooden barricade to the right and destroy the enemy inside. The door inside this room is locked and can only be opened if you acquired the Antiquated Key outside the room near the Towers Apart bonfire. (See above) There is a lootable corpse inside the small room; beware of the two undead inside. Get x2 Flame Butterfly.

Leave the room and continue to the next path this time. There's a narrow path beside the wall that's blocked by a wooden scaffolding. Destroy it and follow the path to reach a chest containing a Estus Flask Shard and a Large Titanite Shard.

Backtrack to the main path and you'll encounter a large gate. Open it by pulling the contraption to the right. Kill the two hounds and carefully go to the stairs. There's an enemy waiting above which will kick an explosive barrel. Just go upstairs enough to make him react then fall back to avoid the explosion. Kill off that enemy and continue forth.

Walk a bit and take out the hounds. There's also a lootable corpse in a deadend to your right. Obtain a Gold Pine Resin from it. Lure the hound towards you then kill the scythe-wielding enemy ahead. Continue to the tower and if you have talked to  Lucatiel in the bonfire leading to No-Man's Wharf, you'll find her inside the tower. Speak to her to get a free Human Effigy. Exhaust her dialogue too.

Outside the tower where Lucatiel is a broken part of the path which you can walk on and reach the ladder. Go up the ladder to find a corpse containing a Large Titanite Shard.

 

 

Making Way to the Sentinels

Note:There's a way to get past the sentinels and just come back for them later. If you defeated The Pursuer in the Forest of the Fallen Giants and arrived in Lost Bastille after getting carried by a giant eagle, you'll come across a room near the bonfire where several hounds and a hollow crossbowman on a ledge. The door behind them will lead outside to a lone chest containing an Antiquated Key. This key can be used to open a door past the boarded doorway in the first courtyard, right after the white knight's location. You'll traverse this area when you arrive via ship.

 

There's also a broken pillar outside the tower which will allow you to access the heavy black door ahead. Be warned though; there are aroung 5-6 royal guards inside. Fighting them up close is suicide. Characters with ranged attacks may be better of picking them off one by one. Melee fighters can run around by jumping around the ledge and crossing the pillar again to separate the enemies and engage them one at a time.

Go downstairs and take the ladder to the bottom floor and loot the corpse beside it to get a Soul of a Proud Knight and a Human Effigy. Don't bother opening the iron door at the base of the stairs since it leads to a free fall. Climb back up the ladder and check the second prison cill to your right. Loot x2 Radiant Lifegem from the skeleton there and you'll have to go through the misty door this time.

Like any other boss fights, if you're carrying a lot of souls at the moment, make sure to spend them; you don't want to keep getting distracted retrieving your lost souls in the heat of a boss battle or risking of losing it permanently. Just run through the enemies and do your best to preserve your HP until you reach the bosses. Once you're ready to battle, make your way to the misty door. The same prison cell that has a lootable skeleton has a Summon Sign where you can get the help of a phantom. Take note that you can only see this while you're human.

Boss: Sentinels of Ruin: Alessia, Ricce, and Yahim

You'll be fighting three sentinels in this room; all are fast, all are powerful and all of them have long and wide range. These are pretty bad news for melee characters. As soon as you enter the mist, Yahim will ambush you. Block it with your shield or roll away to avoid damage. Do not fall off the ledge; otherwise you'll have to take on the other two sentinels at the same time. Time your attacks and heal whenever he finishes his swings. If ever Yahim is thrown out of the ledge, watch him to see his position. He will be able to jump back to the ledge and attack you at the same time.

It wil be tough dealing with them alone. One good strategy is to summon mage NPC and tank the damage by using a shield. You should make sure that Yahim is dealt with in the upper ledge; the battle will become harder if you reach the ground and Yahim is still alive. Don't rush this battle; just block/evade then attack only when necessary. They don't have that much HP but their attacks make it a real problem.

If you're able to defeat Yahim, get the aggro of the remaining sentinels by attacking them yourself. As long as the enemies are focused on you, your summoned phantom should be able to hit them with their attacks. Remember to attack whenever you can as well; the faster one of them goes down, the better. This will also ensure that the aggro will remain on you.

If ever the phantom is vanquished before you can do some real damage, you'll have to rely on proper timing of evasion or blocks to survive. The spinning attack is probably the most dangerous as it leaves you with little space to evade and it hits multiple times. Another problem is that if all their attacks connect, your stamina will be depleted, leaving you vulnerable.

Another attack to watch out is when a sentinel leaps in the air and slams its halberd down. If hit, it deals tremendous damage and any following attack will surely kill you unless you've healed. Just remember to attack only after their attack land. Don't try to interrupt their attacks as it will be disadvantegous to you.

This battle is frustrating and you will die several times because of your miscalculations or the enemies are just plain unforgiving. Nevertheless, you can still do it without a phantom ally. It's doable but really, really frustrating, especially for other classes.

Accessing Pharros' Treasure Room

After defeating the sentinels, go through the exit and go upstairs. Jump to the next ledge to reach the hanging corpse with x3 Homeward Bone. You can reach this ledge by properly launching off the protruding debris along the edge of the ledge you came from.

Go back and take the stairs again, this time enter the narrow corridor to the right. As soon as you enter, pick up the Soul of a Nameless Soldier from the skeleton to your right. There's also a exploding undead on the last cell to the left so don't get caught unprepared. Finally, a much needed bonfire is found here.

Take the ladder down and kill the hound. There's a corpse in the corner containing a Large Club and a chest containing a Priest's Chime. There's also a Pharros Contraption here. Put a Lockstone on it then destroy the wall where the face appears to reveal the pathway leading to Belfry Luna. Don't go there yet since there are still some areas to explore.

Leave the room and take out the sentry roaming around the walkway. Enter the tower and take out another sentry waiting outside the next pathway to the left. Go to the rooftops and loot the body to get x3 Flame Butterfly. There are several hounds in the lower ground be careful when you fall down. If you're a ranged character, snipe them from the rooftop. If you're a melee character, make sure to fight them from a narrow corner so you won't get cornered. Having a shield will be handy in preventing their bites.

Do not hit the stone by the well since will pull up a cage containing three undead prisoners that can deal huge amounts of damage when they slam their bodies on the ground. They can be killed quickly but you still need to take caution in case you lifted their cage. If ever you die by their hands, it's a relief to know that they won't respawn like the hounds.

One of the doors is locked (if you arrived via ship and didn't get the Antiquated Key, this door is where you'll use it) and the other door near the well has three enemies inside, including two undead crossbowmen. Climb the ladder in the narrow alley instead and take out the crossbowman near the window and then the other. The remaining royal guard will go to your position using the ladder, enabling you to ambush it.

Climb the ladder to get a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier and Green Blossom from the corpse near the grate. Go through the narrow corridor and lure one of the royal guards to your left. There's also another Pharros Contraption here that you can operate if you have a Lockstone with you.

Defeat the royal guard and loot the chests to get a Bone Staff, Parrying Dagger and Twinblade. If you used a Pharros Lockstone to activate the contraption, destroying the walls with face symbols will reveal chests contaning a Wilted Dusk Herb and a Soul Vessel.

Go up the ladder and continue upstairs. This will lead you back to the main walkway leading back to the Sentinels' room. (Which you have traversed already several times, depending on how many retries you did to defeat the sentinels) Make your way back to the Servants' Quarters bonfire.

Back on track

Enter the tower again and go upstairs this time. Be careful of the undead prisoner here since it can deal huge amounts of damage when it slams the ground with its body. The door doesn't lead anywhere so ignore it. Pull the switch but be careful; expect three of those undead prisoners again to rush towards you. When you see them diving towards you, quickly roll out of the way to avoid getting damaged.

Continue along but make sure to roll when you enter the next room; an undead prisoner will leap to you from above. The concrete containers here contain more prisoners; they will break free as soon as you go upstairs. Going upstairs is a bad idea since there are more wainting there. The best way to handle this is to backtrack to the previous hallway where you came from so you can deal with them one or two at a time.

After clearing them all, continue to the second floor and pull the switch to lift the gate leading to a misty doorway. Open the door under the stairs to get a Skeptic's Spice. The corpse on the ledge below has a Bonfire Ascetic; however, you won't have any way of climbing back. The ledge below leads to the rooms that can be revealed by a Pharros Contraption, which we already covered earlier. It's a pretty long drop and even with the Silvercat Ring equipped, you won't survive it unless you have a lot of HP. If you don't want to risk it, use a Homeward Bone to return to the last bonfire, in exchange of enemy respawns.

In the same floor where you hit the switch leading to the pathway to Sinner's Rise, don't go up the third floor carelessly since there are a lot of those undead prisoners waiting. There's a bonfire there but a statue is blocking the way in. Ignore it for now  go through the gate.

Before moving on, check your immediate right to find a royal guard guarding a corpse. Defeat it and loot the corpse for x8 Lifegems. Run across the walkway and avoid the bolts from the crossbowmen. Enter the white mist to reach a new area.

Sinner's Rise

Exit through the doorway and take the ladder. Light up the bonfire and rest if you want. Take note that if you rest, three crossbowmen will appear since this is their default position. Don't forget to loot the corpse hanging on a ledge beside the ladder to get a Large Soul of a Lost Undead.

Climb down the ladder and go downstairs. Loot the corpse hanging in the broken staircase to get a Human Effigy. There are three crossbowmen inside the lift area so its up to you how to deal with them. Ride the lift down and look down. There's ledge you can jump onto to loot a corpse containing x5 Lacerating Knife.

If you're in human form, you'll see a summoning sign which you can use to summon Lucatiel. She's a very powerful ally at this point, able to deal with those beasts quite easily. Just make sure to assist her as well. The next area has waist-deep waters, making it hard to move around. There's also a new type of enemy here that can deal massive damage. It's slow but its swipe attack can easily throw you off. The best way to deal with them is to lure them back to the lift room, get close enough to trigger its attack animation then roll away. This will push them into the pit below. You can farm these monsters with her help since they drop 1600 souls upon defeat which is faster if you have Lucatiel's aid.

Go to the water and loot the corpse to the left to get a Sublime Bone Dust. There's two more monsters in the second alcoves to the left and right. Do the same method to take them out; just lure them one by one. Now go to the alcove to the right where the second beast is found to loot another corpse containing a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier.

Carefully continue ahead; there are those annoying agile undead prisoners. There are more inside the flooded prison cells and a couple more on the ledges above. Make sure you deal with them one by one to avoid problems as it will be hard to avoid their explosions.

Make your way to the main gate and loot the corpse on the last cell to the left to get a Pharros Lockstone and a Soul of a Proud Knight. Once you're sure that the room is clear, pull the contraption to open the main gate. The sound of the opening gate will get the attention of the nearby prisoners so if you didn't kill them all, they'll come rushing towards you.

Further ahead you'll find another misty door. There's a boss that lies ahead so be very careful. The stairs leading to the left and the right rooms need the Bastille Key to be opened. This key is dropped by the Belfry Gargoyle located in Belfry Luna. If you don't have it, check the gap to the left to find a corpse containing a Radiant Lifegem. If you're carrying a lot of souls at this point, it will be up to you to risk it or return to Majula to spend them.

Boss: Lost Sinner

This boss is fast and aggressive. He won't let you get any rest and you'll have a very small window to heal yourself if needed. He can close the distance very quickly and punish you with his fast combos if he catches you off guard. Be on the defensive and attack only after he finishes his strike(s). One annoying thing about this enemy is that he will immediately leap away, making you miss then counterattack. Be careful when using slow weapons like the mace since missing an attack will leave you open for an immediate counterattack.

For players that has at least 30 strength, you can use the Tower Shield from the chest after defeating the Old Dragonslayer boss. This shield has 100% physical damage reduction rate and 70 stability, enabling you to withstand the Sinner's attacks without getting damaged and consuming too much stamina. Melee fighters will have to rely on this since they're mostly STR-oriented.

Human players can also summon Lucatiel in the room with the lift. She's a valuable ally that can distract who can tank the Sinner for a while so you can pummel it with your own attacks. This is a good strategy for sorcerers and ranged fighters. By the time Lucatiel is vanquished, the Sinner should be well below 50% HP, provided that you're hitting him with all your attacks. After that, it will tough since the Sinner can easily close the distance with his speed and aggressiveness.

When fighting the Sinner, you have to keep circling around it by moving leftward with your shield up. As soon as it finishes its attack, use this chance to land a hit or two. Block only his wide-arc attacks; this will conserve your stamina. If you need to recover stamina, lower your guard just after you block his attack and raise it again to be on the defensive.

Keep an eye to your stamina; blocking his strong attacks will almost instantly drain your stamina, leaving your helpless. The area is also dark, unless you light up the torches. These torches are accessible from the locked doors outside. Lock-on is very important in this battle since it will keep you facing the Sinner and will enable you to see his next move. The lock-on will disappear from time to time, especially if you're fighting in the dark. Don't rush this battle; as long as you keep damaging him while blocking his attacks, you'll survive. In case you need healing, wait for him to finish his combo and as soon as the last attack lands, use an Estus Flask.

After defeating it, open the door and loot the Fragrant Branch of Yore and an Elizabeth Mushroom from the chest after the stairs. Light up the primal bonfire to be transported back to Majula.

The Fragrant Branch of Yore can be used to un-pretrify some NPCs. The first example is the wizard Straid, who is blocking a bonfire leading to Sinner's Rise or the petrified Rosabeth of Melfia in Majula's path to the Shaded Woods.

Straid sells a good selection of sorceries, miracles and hexes. He can also trade boss souls to unique weapons and spells. You can learn the Mock gesture from him and activate the bonfire as well. Melfia in the other hand, sells various resistance-boosting items, pyromancies and can strengthen your Pyromancy Flame through the use of Fire Seeds.

Belfry Luna

This area requires a Pharros Lockstone. You can find one in one of the prison cells in the lowest level of Sinner's Rise. The entrance is also conveniently located under the Servants' Quarters bonfire so you can travel there as necessary.

There's a non-hostile dwarf on the right which will offer you to join the Bell Keeper covenant if you exhaust his dialogue options. Continue upstairs and defeat the dark spirit Bell Keeper. Loot the Skeptic's Spice from the corpse as well.

Continue upstairs and find two more spirits. They hit hard so don't underestimate them. Climb up the ladder and you'll face more dark spirits, including a red one. Fortunately, there's a lot of room to run around. Don't let them hit you with their arrows since they're accurate and can fire quickly.

After dispatching them, loot the corper in the corner to get a Skeptic's Spice then loot the Radiant Lifegem x2 and x2 Twilight Herb. Pull the lever and this will raise the gate blocking the misty door below. The misty door leads to another boss fight.

Boss: Belfry Gargoyles

This is another fight where a reliable shield is a must. The gargoyles will come to life one by one; at most you'll be fighting four at the same time. Keep moving and avoid getting surrounded. These enemies are weak to lightning so Clerics with good shields will have an advantage since they can damage the gargoyles at a distance. Ranged characters won't have problems either since they can keep distance and land a hit or two before running away again. Lock-on must be turned on and off in the course of the battle; this will ensure that you'll see your target while maintaining awareness with your surroundings.

Melee characters can use long-range melee weapons to damage multiple gargoyles. Since they're sharing the same life bar, this will deal a great amount of damage. Take out the gargoyles one by one to make your job easier. The gargoyles' fire breath attacks can be evaded and they'll be vulnerable when using this. Sometimes, the other gargoyles will get stuck by the fire breather so this is a good chance to pummel it with your ranged attacks and spells or rush towards it away from its line of fire and attack.

After the battle, loot the corpse near the edge of the roof to get a Soul of a Proud Knight. Go to the next tower and go downstairs. Loot the Southern Ritual Band from the chest then light up the bonfire.

Be careful before taking the ladder down. There's an invader there and several hounds. If you have ranged attacks, you can snipe them from the top of the ladder. Loot the corpse from the ground to get a Bastille Key and the corpse on the top of the ledge to get an Enchanted Falchion.

The Bastille Key is required to open the locked door at the base of the stairs outside, along the path from the first bonfire (Exile Holding Cells) leading to the Sentinel Boss area. Opening this gate will lead you to a chests containing Large Titanite Shard x2, Titanite Shard x5, Iron Arrow x10, Heavy Bolt x10, McDuff himself and McDuff's Workshop bonfire. McDuff is a merchant; however, you need to give him a Dull Ember to open up his shop. This item is found in the Iron Keep.

The Bastille Key is also used to open some of the closed gates in Sinner's Rise. The flooded corridor leading to the boss area has a locked cell that can be opened with this key. Loot the Fire Seed from the skeleton. If you haven't defeated the Lost Sinner yet, you can open the two doors at the end of the two set of stairs from the boss area. Light the oil with your torch and it will illuminate the Lost Sinner's area. You can also get a Small Smooth and Silky Stone from the corpse in one of those rooms.

Your next destination is Huntsman Copse. To access this area, you have to have to make Licia to Majula so you can pay 2000 souls for her to move the contraption leading to this area. Licia is found in the bonfire after defeating the Old Dragonrider boss in Heide's Tower of Flame. Exhaust her dialogue to make her move to Majula.

Huntsman Copse

Kill the undead sitting near the opening of the cave before entering. Follow the path and avoid the green, poisonous mist scattered by the giant moths. If you have ranged weapons or can cast spells/miracles, you can kill these moths to get some free Poison Moss (poison recovery) items. Aside from these hazards, you also have to anticipate ambushes from agile rogues, especially in tight corners and blind spots. Make it a habit to look around before moving to avoid getting surrounded or worse, backstabbed.

Continue along the path and take out more enemies along the way. Continue to the ruins; be careful of the archers with poison arrows and the dual-wielding enemy to your immediate left. The door to the left has an enemy waiting behind it; opening it wil make the enemy destroy the door and damage you.

You can destroy the door with pyromancy or miracle and damage the enemy behind it. Otherwise, drop off the ledge in this dark room and deal with the two undead - one is in an alcove behind you and one near the stairs. Take out the two rogues upstairs and the last undead past the hole. Loot the two corpses here to get a Soul of a Nameless Soldier, Lifegem and Bandit's Knife.

Next climb upstairs and approach the club-wielding bandit. Another one will jump in from the ledge so you'll have to deal with them both. After taking them out, drop off the ledge and loot the corpse there for a Poison Moss and Lifegem. From there, carefully drop to the pathway below and continue inside the ruins once again. Destroy the door this time and follow the path.

Outside, be careful of the undead around the outer corner; just startle him and quickly get out of the way. After taking him out, loot the corpse hanging in the edge to get a Cracked Red Eye Orb. 

From there, you can run over the ledge facing the corpse below. Don't do a sprint-jump since this will make you land and roll over the ledge. It may require a few attempts since when your character lands, he'll roll out of the ledge, making you unable you reach it. (Before doing this though, I suggest lighting up the bonfire right under that broken bridge so you can easily retry nearby. Don't forget to knock down the dead tree outside the second bonfire to create a shortcut. ) Loot it to get a Pharros Lockstone and Token of Fidelity. (Required item to join the Blue Sentinels and unlock Targray's shop. This is the only way to get it if you're playing online and without using a Bonfire Ascetic in the Heide's Tower of Flame area)

Bridge Bonfire

Drop to the lower ledge and do another leap to reach the tunnel in the middle. Follow the path to reach a lone corpse containing a Monastery Charm and Soul of a Proud Knight. If you have a ranged weapon, take out the moths if you can lock-on to them. Use the mushrooms on the side to carefully drop down. Be careful since there's a fast, powerful enemy at the bottom. Snipe him if you can. Defeat him then loot Ricard's Rapier from the chest. Look around to find a doorway. This is a rock with the odd shape in one side of the cavern. Interact with it to reveal a hidden passage that leads to a room with a corpse containing a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier. To get out of this place, carefully step on the cage which will lift you up to the upper floor. Examine the last stone doorway there to reach the dark room with several enemies and a hole in the middle. (Thanks to Lokiare for the tip about the hidden door)

Make your way back to the bonfire. Continue towards the bridge but don't cross it yet. Carefully go to the left to find a corpse you can loot. Beware of the enemy hiding behind a tree nearby as well. Get a Small Orange Burr and Large Lost Soul of an Undead.

Cross the bridge and be careful of the heavy, dual scythe-wielding enemies. There are some moths on the trees that will scatter poison mist as well. If you have a ranged weapon, you can target them and shoot them for extra souls.

From the bridge, continue straight ahead to find a corpse inside a dome that has a Morning Star and Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier. There's another corpse near the side of the mountain that has an Aromatic Ooze. Finally, loot the last corpse to get a Lifegem. Just be careful of the moth above spraying poison mist and the two undead nearby. Since the bonfire's nearby, you can farm the enemies for extra souls and the moths for extra Poison Mosses.

Continue to the next bridge but prepare for a couple of rogues hiding in the trees and an archer ahead. Don't hesitate to fall back and take them on one by one. You need to pull a lever to lower the bridge and it is found inside a room to the left. Be careful since a rogue will drop from from above and ambush you.

Before crossing the bridge, peek over to the ledge facing the first bridge. You should see an opening on top of a closed room. Go inside and loot the Soul Spear, Poison Moss x2 and Green Blossom from the bodies inside. Follow the tunnel leading outside and backtrack. There's a stone bridge nearby that will lead you to the Undead Purgatory. Let's explore it for now.

The Treacherous Path to Purgatory

Carefully cross the bridge and wait for the enemies to notice. You have to watch out for the big and fast enemy that can cause extensive bleeding damage with its weapon. If possible, lure the undead and take them out before dealing with him. Continue uphill and loot the corpse hanging by the cliff to get a Notched Whip.

Backtrack a bit then continue uphill along the narrow path. There more of those fast enemies on top of the pillars so don't carelessly run towards them and aggro them all. Cross the hanging bridge while carefully minding the holes along the way. You'll find a dark spirit invader right before the misty door; defeat it then loot the corpse sitting by the wall beside the bridge to get a Sublime Bone Dust and Fire Seed. You can immediately return Majula and burn it there to upgrade the healing effectiveness of your Estus Flask. There's a boss past that misty entrance as well. Refer to the Undead Purgatory section for more details.

Valley of Rogues and Skeletons

Backtrack to the large iron bridge you lowered earlier and head to the third bridge. There's a bonfire inside a locked room there. Before crossing the bridge, enter the tunnel to the right. There are skeletons that will be revived over and over again. Loot the first corpse to get a Magic Mace and Titanite Shard. Head inside and find the necromancer to stop the skeletons from getting revived.

Light up the torches inside if you want but you won't be able to open the gate from that side. Find the other path leading outside; just be careful of the rogues and archers along the narrow pathway along the cliff. From there, follow the path to the left (which leads back to the third bridge with the third bonfire) and take out any rogues. There should be an uphill path to the right. Follow it and you'll find a corpse in the middle. Don't pick it up yet; there are hiding rogues to the rightside; deal with them first. Loot the Poison Throwing Knife x10 from the corpse then carefully peek over the edge to find a small ledge you can drop on with a lootable corpse. Get Poison Moss x3 from it then drop to the main path below.

There are two enemies waiting inside the room to the side so make sure you don't get taken by surprise. Loot the Undead Lockaway Key. This is the key needed to unlock the door of the third bonfire. Backtrack and light it up. It's up to you if you need to rest and refresh. You can also talk to Creighton inside and exhaust his dialogue options. You can learn the Fist Pump gesture from him as well.

Backtrack to the cliffside and follow the path again leading to the waterfall. On your way there, a dark spirit invader will appear. It has really damaging attacks and can easily break your guard so push it off the cliff to easily defeat it.

Once you've reached the ruins, take the path by the waterfall and you'll find a misty door. Don't enter it yet; inside, follow the other path that leads to the skeleton cave. The necromancer is located on a separate ledge to the left but before dealing with it, lure the other skeletons and take them out. They won't resurrect immediately so use this chance to deal with the necromancer.

Once clear, take the path to the right that leads to a broken hanging bridge with a corpse on it. Loot the Combustion spell and Titanite x3 from it. Continue forth and take out one last skeleton. Loot the corpse behind it to get Flame Butterfly x3. Pull the lever there to open the gate and create a shortcut for you leading to the third bonfire. Now get ready and enter the misty door.

Boss: Skeleton Lords

There are three skeleton lords and they all share the same HP bar. As soon as you enter, run to the right and take out the skeleton mage while they're still not ready. After defeating it, wait a bit and defeat the skeleton warriors that will spawn. The other two skeleton warriors have wide range and can use fireballs as ranged attacks but they're slow so its possible for you to outrun them. Run around and use the pillars as cover whenever you need to heal.

Once the spawns are defeated, take out the next skeleton lord and the warriors it will spawn upon defeat. Take out the last skeleton lord and make sure to defeat the skeleton wheel spawns before they get to move. They're fast and can be problematic if they hit you all at once.

Now continue along the path and pull the lever to lower the bridge. Continue along the path to reach the next area. From here, you can go ahead and explore Harvest Valley or return to Huntsman Copse to clear Undead Purgatory.

Undead Purgatory

This is a dedicated boss area with almost no exploration required. This is accessed by crossing the second stone bridge in Huntsman Copse and following the path until you cross the long, wooden bridge leading to this area.

 

Boss: Executioner's Chariot

The boss will be encircling around the area, destroying everything along its path. You have to keep your ears and eyes open to know when the chariot will arrive. The only way to avoid getting damaged is by hiding in the alcoves. However, the skeletons will pose a problem. Destroy the ones that pose immediate threat to you and find the necromancer. Kill it to stop the skeletons from respawning. There are two necromancers here; one is found in one alcove to the left from your starting position while the other is located to the right, near the lever. Take your time; the skeletons doesn't regenerate immediately. After taking out the second necromancer, make sure that no skeletons are roaming around.

Once clear, approach the lever and pull it to lower the gate. When the chariot crashes to the gate, the executioner will be killed and you'll have to fight the two-headed horse. It will charge and stomp, which you can easily anticipate. It also leaves itself open when its spewing dark mist. Ranged characters will be able to use this chance to pummel it with attacks. Melee characters can land a hit or two right after evading its attacks since it also has a bit slow recovery time.

After defeating the boss, you can now explore the area and loot the bodies. You can get Fading Soul x4 from the corpses littered along the path and a Soul of a Brave Warrior from the corpse hanging on the edge of the hole past the gate.

Enter the doorway and continue upstairs to find a bonfire and an NPC that will allow you to join the Covenant of Blood if you have a Token of Spite. This is acquired by killing another player when you invade their world. You can also find one from a chest at the bottom of the Grave of Saints. If you join the covenant, you'll get a Crest of Blood. He will also sell a Great Scythe, Priest Chime, Bone King armor set, Delicate String, Hexing Urn, Silver Talisman, Red Sign Soapstone and pyromancies like Firestorm, Great Combustion, and Fire Whip.

 

 

Harvest Valley

You'll find the first bonfire to the right, past the poisonous pond. You can run across it just don't stay long to avoid getting poisoned. Up the hill you'll find Chloanne. Exhaust her dialogue options to make her move to Majula. You'll know this when she mentions that she'll move shop after talking to her. She also sells Bonfire Ascetic, Titanite Shards, Soul Appease and Dead Again.

The Poison Moss you've gathered earlier from the moths in Huntsman Copse will prove their use here. If you're a cleric, having Caressing Prayer miracle will also save you some trouble in removing the poison. Start by luring or killing the large beast then head to the left to loot the corpse to get a Lifegem.

Next, loot the skeleton in the poisoned mist below to get a Titanite Shard and Fading Soul near the ramp. You can also find the following items in the area.

wysiwyg

Fading Soul x4

Smooth and Silky Stone x2

Common Fruit

Poison Throwing Knife x10

Titanite Chunk

If you enter the hole, there's a part there that's not reached by poison. Take out the skeleton to the right and loot a Fragrant Branch of Yore and Torch from the corpse there. If you enter the room, you'll find Gavlan there. Buy some poison-related items from him and loot the Raw Stone from the chest beside him.  In the poison pool there's also a chest in the alcove. Open it to get a Fire Seed and Divine Blessing.

Once done, continue up the next ramp and loot the torch from the body along the way. You'll find more enemies blockading the closed tunnel entrance. You have to operate the lever on the ledge above to open it. First, climb the first ladder to the right to get Hexing Urn x10. Defeat or run past the enemies then climb the second ladder. Take out the undead there and operate the lever.

Head inside the tunnel and turn to the right to find the area's second bonfire. Light it up and rest if you want.

The Toxic Mines

After the bonfire, beware of the holes in the ground in the following area since you can fall down to the poisoned tunnels below. The tunnels have a good number of treasures so if you're not carrying a lot of souls, you might as well do a suicide run just to collect the items.

• Soul of a Nameless Soldier - found at the end of the poisoned tunnel accessible through the ladder
• Fading Soul - Falling down the hole near the second tunnel entrance aboveground
• Simpleton's Spice - Found in the exit tunnel leading to the ramp.

There are two paths you can take here: the one to the left has a large beast waiting from behind the wooden barricade uphill. There's also an enclosed area to the right which will trap you with four butchers so don't carelessly wander there unless you're ready. Fortunately, there's a ramp and a ledge that you can use to run around and funnel them so you can deal with them one by one. Be careful since there are also some exploding mummies behind the barricades. Loot the corpses here to find Lifegem x5, Green Blossom x3, Simpleton's Spice, Large Titanite Shard, Radiant Lifegem, Large Soul of a Brave Warrior, Skeptic's Spice and Titanite Shard. After you reach the tunnel that leads outside and the poisoned pit, head to the right first to grab a Fragrant Branch of Yore from the corpse near the ledge.

Continue uphill and lure the beast in destroying the barricade. After defeating it, drop down from the ledge to the left to find a chest containing a Poison Stone and Rotten Pine Resin x3. To leave this place, you have climb the ladder down and rush through the thick poison mist to reach the other ladder. If you want to play it safe, use a Homeward Bone instead.

From the second bonfire, continue to the next area to the right and take out the large enemies if you can deal good damage using ranged attacks, pyromancy or miracles. After crossing the wooden walkway in the middle, turn to the left and follow the path. Beware of the butcher hiding in the second corner. You'll find the Altar of Sunlight at the end of the path which you can enter the covenant and learn the Praise the Sun gesture.

The following items are found from the corpses in this poisoned area:

• Human Effigy
• Large Titanite Shard
• Chameleon
• Soul of a Brave Warrior

If you join the covenant, you'll also receive a Sun Seal which boosts miracle attack power. This is a good addition to clerics and other faith-build characters relying on miracles to deal ranged damage. Other characters can just ignore this. Continue forth to reach Earthen Peak.

Earthen Peak

If you take the path to the right, you'll find a couple of hammer-wielding maulers inside the room. Avoid destroying the urns here since they're laced with poison. You can climb up the ladder and just ignore the mauler there and continue towards the next misty entrance where you have to fight another boss.

Boss: Covetous Demon

This demon is really slow but hits hard. Ranged characters can easily pummel it; just keep circling around it and roll away once it moves in for an attack. Melee characters need to keep circling it as well and after evading, land some hits. Just be careful when it is not turn around; it will most likely roll over you. Other than that, this battle shouldn't be that hard to win.

After winning the battle, you can check the room right before the entrance of the boss room. There's a chest inside with a mauler and some poisonous mushroom insects. The chest only contains a torch and it is rigged with poison gas so don't bother.

You can also sprint-jump to the ledge over the swamp below but you have to make sure that you consider your character will roll upon landing. The next room has some fast and powerful headless, two-bladed enemies. Make sure to block their attacks and quickly move in to counter attack. After taking care of them, avoid stepping on the pressure plate in the middle of the path; otherwise, you'll be hit by an arrow trap. The chest may be visible but don't be fooled; there another enemy in the alcove to the left. Take it out first then loot the corpse in the other alcove to get Titanite Shard x3 and Soul of a Nameless Soldier. Open the chest to get a Heavy Crossbow +3 and x15 Heavy Bolt. You can now leave the area by jumping towards he stairs or simply using a Homeward Bone to be safe.

Continue past the boss room and go upstairs to find the Lower Earthen Peak bonfire. You'll also find Lucatiel here if you've been talking to her whenever you encountered her, she'll give you a Ring of Steel Protection +1. Like before, exhaust her conversation options.

Lower Earthen Peak

Move forth and go upstairs. There are more of those fast, arm-bladed enemies so lure them one by one. Take out the mauler behind a cauldron then loot the corpse in the corner containing a Radiant Lifegem. Continue to the narrow pathway. Beware of the archers on the right side and the lance-wielding enemy ahead.

Go outside and turn to the right. You can reach one of the archers by enter the doorway to the immediate right if you haven't killed it yet. Continue through the doorway and go downstairs. A bladed enemy waits below so anticipate its attack and continue along the ledge to reach the chest containing a Pike.

Backtrack and approach the ladder. Don't climb it yet; two enemies will fall down so take them out first. After getting rid of them, climb up and take out another enemy. Enter the misty door to find the Central Earthen Peak bonfire.

Central Earthen Peak

Light up your torch and backtrack a bit. You have set the large windmill blades' shaft on fire. You can reach it by walking on the broken part of the wall, near the edge. This will make the blades to stop which will be useful in an upcoming battle.

Rest if you want and continue up the ramp and loot the nearby body to get x3 Black Firebomb. Be careful since there's a pressure plate near it that shoots bolts. Take out the enemy in the corner and loot another corpse nearby to get a Manikin Mask.

Ignore the ladder for now and go outside. There's another enemy to the your left; take it out and destroy the wooden railing. Continue along the ledge to the right to find a corpse that contains a Simpleton's Spice. Backtrack behind you along the ledge to find an NPC named Laddersmith Gilligan. Pay 2000 souls and he'll move the ladder to allow you to access another ledge below. Exhaust his dialogue options to make him move to Maluja. You can also buy the Prostration gesture. Go down the ladder and loot the corpse there containing a Pharros' Lockstone and Twinkling Titanite.

Continue along the corridor. At the end of the corridor is a switch; pull it then ride the lift before it rises. There are enemies behind the urns so quickly loot the chest to get a Mirrah Shield. You should still be able to jump down back to the lift as it goes down to avoid fall damage.

Go back to the switch again and pull it once more to raise the lift. Quickly loot the corpse to get Large Soul of a Proud Knight and Divine Blessing. Quickly take the stairs to avoid getting crushed by the lift as it descends.

There's an enemy behind the three large urns; you can destroy them deliberately and hit it with a ranged attack. Continue forth along the corridor and take out the grave warden. If you go upstairs to the left, you'll find a group of enemies, including a group of sorceresses. Use ranged attacks to lure them then carefully open the crossbow-rigged chest to the left that has a Pharros Lockstone.

There's nothing else to do here so go downstairs again and follow the othe corridor this time. Kill the sorceress using a ranged attack but don't sprint-jump to cross the gap yet. Destroy the wooden railing and drop down the ledge below. You can open the door ahead to give you access to backtrack. Continue forth and open the chest in the dead end to get a Greater Soul Arrow.

Backtrack a bit to the door you opened earlier and drop down to another platform below. You'll find another chest inside the low alcove to the left to get a Lightning Spear. If you drop down the ledge again below, you should be able to walk back to the lower Earthen Peak bonfire or make your way up again to the central bonfire.

Backtrack to the broken balcony again and kill the sorceress if you've rested and reset the enemies. When jumping, make sure to keep to the left since the other ledge has a broken floor. Loot the corpse to get a Radiant Lifegem and Soul of a Brave Warrior, and Crimson Water from the chest. Now equip the Silvercat Ring (you should have one by now) and carefully hug the wall while walking along the broken part of the floor. To reach the item below and to survive, you have to carefully drop to the shaft below and keep hugging the wall so after the shaft breaks your initial fall, the doorway below will help break it even further. Take out the enemies and loot the corpse there to get a Poison Broadsword and Human Effigy.  From there, travel back to the central bonfire.

Path to the Queen

From there, climb the ramp again and take the ladder this time without exiting to the balcony. Ignore the path to the right since it only leads to a deadend with an enemy. Go the left instead and follow the path. There are a couple of sorceresses guarding the path. You can destroy the poison urns beside them poison them and just stay out of their line of fire if you want to avoid damage.

The stairs to the left leads to the boss area; but before going there, it will be a good idea to explore first. Be careful of the sorceress and warden on the ledge to your right; take them out and continue along the stairs. The room to the right has a lot of poison urns.

This room has a chest, a corpse and Pharros contraption. Loot the Small Smooth and Silky Stone from the corpse but do not open the chest immediately. The chest is a mimic so don't open it but quickly attack it instead. Make sure to defeat it before it opens. Loot the Dark Gauntlets and Work Hook from it.

The pharros contraption will only spew poison so ignore it. Leave the room and go upstairs where you'll find an invader. Defeat him (he has the chance to drop Brigand Gauntlets +5) and go upstairs. Turn to the left and keep interacting with the wall until a secret door opens with a chest inside. Open it to get a Petrified Something. There's also a secret door to the right that has a very convenient bonfire. (Thanks to Sylph_Blade for this tip!)

Go downstairs this time and defeat the two wardens guarding the boss area. Loot the skeleton beside the stairs to get a Poison Stone. Now you're carrying a lot of souls here, you can go back to Majula and spend it to level up or just purchase some new consumables.

If you're also human, you can summon Jester Thomas from a summon sign right beside the stairs. The next boss is weak against fire so make the necessary preparations.

Boss: Mytha, the Baneful Queen

Since you've set fire to the windmill blades found outside the central bonfire, the boss area is now free of poison. If you have summoned Jester, you'll immediately notice that he is a potent sorcerer. His fire attacks can deal heavy damage against Mytha, as long as you tank her. You can also go on an offensive if you have a fire-enchanted weapon or can use pyromancy spells as well.

A shield with 100% damage reduction and high stability can help in tanking Mytha and letting your phantom ally do the job. If you're ranged attacker, Mytha has a lot of openings after her attacks and you have to use those openings to either attack or heal. Beware when she throws her decapitated head; it will release an explosive energy shortly. Don't stay anywhere near it after that as her body will lunge towards it to retrieve it. She can also cast magic attacks if you're always keeping your distance. Staying close to her while circling around her will prompt her to continue using her melee attacks.

Avoid using slow weapons unless you're timing is impeccable. Mytha's spear can close the distance quickly and can even hit you even when you're rolling. Mytha's attack patterns are fixed and can be easily anticipated. The main challenge however is how quickly and perfectly you'll react.

After defeating her, ride the elevator and you should be able to reach the next area.

 

 

Iron Keep

The knight enemies here are weak against lightning so Clerics or characters with access to Miracles can one-shot the ordinary knights and two-shot knight captains with Lightning Spear for easy farming.

As soon as you enter the area, go downstairs to the left to find the Threshold Bridge bonfire. You may notice an item nearby but you can only get it with the help of several items that can increase your fire defense. There are several items all throughout this level that will require you to do suicide runs to get to those items so I'll just list those items so you'll know if they're worth getting or not. The first one is found under the stairs leading to the first bonfire.

• Lava Rock Item: Human Effigy

Credits to Gamefaqs user Macroman for the list of items. You can visit the thread to learn the specific method of reaching each item. I deemed them most of them unnecessary so I didn't bother getting them, except for the Human Effigy.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/693331-dark-souls-ii/68880195

Next, cross the bridge and you'll find another item across the broken rocky path with a couple of burning lava rocks in between.

• Lava Rock Item: Bonfire Ascetic

Continue along the bridge and you'll find some hollowed knights near the entrance. Lure them one by one if you want then enter the door. Take out two more enemies inside. You can't do anything with the lootable corpse immediately so head to the right instead. Continue to the deadend to find a merchant named  Magerold. He offers the Incense option which can lower the required attribute to use a spell, Jester and Bandit armor sets, Cursebite Ring, some consumables like a Human Effigy and Fragrant Branch of Yore as well as sorcery and hexes.

Note: The Jester Set has some good effects, like the Jester's Gloves that increases the number of souls acquired. This stacks with the effects of Covetous Silver Serpent Ring you can get from Lost Bastille. You can take advantage of their effects even if you didn't meet the minimum requirements to fully enjoy their stat bonuses.

Once you're done dealing with him, climb the stairs nearby and defeat the lone knight. Loot the corpse to find a Pharros Lockstone. There are also five urns nearby that contains water; if you soak yourself with them, it will give you a little fire protection. The corpse below has an Iron Key so if you have an Small Orange Burr (dropped by the undead in Huntsman Copse), you can use it to boost your fire DEF temporarily. Use it in combination of water then quickly grab the key.

Continue upstairs and lure the knight from the left side. Defeat it and take care of the archer with the fire bow to the right. Interact with the wall behind him to reveal a secret room with a ballista and a corpse containing x20 Fire Arrows. If you interact with another wall inside the small room nearby, you'll reveal another door that will provide a shortcut near Magerold's shop and the exit.

Head outside and take out the archer on the ledge to your right if you have the means to. Continue forth and take out another knight and another knight captain ahead. Go downstairs and defeat the knight  under the walkway. Pull the lever to lower the pathway for you. Do not open the door! Continue to that pathway and defeat the knight. You can also jump to the lower ledge to find a corpse containing Soul of a Proud Knight and Repair Powder.

From that ledge, climb the ladder to reach the upper platform with a chest. Get a Twinkling Titanite and Life Ring +1 from it.

Cross the walkway and jump on the pillar to loot the corpse that has a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier and Red Leech Troches. After jumping there, you can drop down to the next ledge below and pull the lever. This will evenly level the hanging walkway so you can have an easier time traversing it later on. Keep in mind that the archer from the distance can still snipe you and the knight captain nearby can follow you and attack you. There's a chest below on the lava rocks. Like the others, making an effort to loot it or not is up to you.

• Lava Rock Item: Phoenix Parma

After activating the lever, you can return to the bonfire if you want then backtrack again. If you're human, there's a summon sign right before you enter the misty door where you can call upon Lucatiel of Mirrah. In the same ledge leading to the misty door, you can turn around and cross the gap to get the Zweinhander sword.

Getting the Dull Ember

From there, you can do a sprint-jump to reach the metal platform. You must aim for the corner of the platform to successfully land on it. This is a risky jump so don't carelessly attempt this if you're carrying a lot of souls you can't afford to lose. After reaching the platform, loot the skeleton by the broken staircase to get a Dull Ember. Go upstairs and climb up the ladder. You'll find a Pharros Contraption there. The only thing it does is fill the small pool with water, which you can use to drench yourself and attempt to loot the chest on the lava rock beside the furnace. A Lockstone and several deaths is not worth it though so you might as well ignore it.

The Dull Ember is an important key item though since handing this over to McDuff the Blacksmith in Lost Bastille will enable him to enchant your weapons with various elemental and status effects.

The boss behind the misty door is called the Smelter Demon and is entirely optional. You can always come back and fight it later. The main path is through the giant furnace in the middle of the area, right after turning the large valve in the middle of the furnace.

Boss: Smelter Demon

It will start with the basic attacks that you can easily block or evade. For its vertical slash, keep your shield up. For its downward slash, evade to the left. A few seconds into the fight, the demon will charge itself up. Use this chance to land a few hits on it. It will also upgrade its damage and defense after charging up, making it more harder to kill. Keep circling around it with your shield up. Attack or heal only after it finishes its attack. Finally, it will charge up one more time, this time its flames more potent and can cause fire damage when hit. Make sure to pop a lifegem when you're on a defensive to keep your HP up. Having a Ring of Restoration will also help offset the gradual HP decrease due to the flames.

If you have summoned Lucatiel, you can have her tank the Smelter Demon and keep pummeling it with continuous ranged attacks. Hopefully once Lucatiel is vanquished, you have dealt critical damage to the demon that you should be able to bring it with the final two or three shots. It will also depend on how well Lucatiel blocks the demon's attacks.

Be careful when the boss jumps and its sword gets stuck on the floor. It will release a very damaging AoE (area-of-effect) blast so keep your distance while maintaining your lock-on. If you find yourself struggling against this demon, you can always come back for it later once you got better gear or spells.

After defeating the Smelter Demon, go upstairs and loot the chest there to get a Porcine Shield and Flame Butterfly x5. You should be able to light up the Ironhearth Hall bonfire as well.

Trapped Hallways

To continue with the main path, enter the furnace and loot the corpse in the corner to get a Large Titanite Shard x2 and a Petrified Dragon Bone. Climb up the ladder and defeat the knight captain and loot the corpse beside the ladder to get an Old Radiant Lifegem and Green Blossom.

Climb the ladder and defeat the knight captain in the next platform. Next, engage the two shelled knights. (These enemies can be farmed for their Large Titanite Shard drops) One of them will destroy a portion of the bridge which you need to jump across. Cross the bridge and defeat the heavy knight. Another knight will run towards you so take it out as well.

The two heavy, shelled enemies can be killed by pulling the lever. This will lower the platform they're on and kill them easily. The heavy door to the left has a Pharros Contraption behind it. Insert a lockstone to reveal a door. Destroy it and go up the ladder.

You'll find a bonfire but don't drop down there yet; loot the chest on the far side first to get a Thunder Quartz Ring +1. Now drop down and activate the bonfire. Rest if you need to then climb the ladder. You'll find another dwarf here that can make you join the Bell Keeper covenant. Entering the mist will take you to Belfry Sol.

Back in the lava room with the hanging platforms, go upstairs and take the stairs down. This will lead you to a ledge with a corpse and a knight. Further on are treasures on lava rock. Like before, it will be up to you whether to risk your life and limb to loot these.

• Lava Rock Item: Fire Seed, Chaos Storm

Be careful not to step on the pressure plates as it will cause a continuous flow of lava on the canals. Loot the corpse to get a Large Soul of a Proud Knight and Radiant Lifegem. Backtrack and step on the suspended platforms. Loot the Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier from corpse hanging on the edge.

Proceed towards the ledge with fire traps. They have intervals so wait for them to briefly stop then quickly get past them. Since enemies can be damaged by those fires as well, you can lure the nearby heavy knight to have the flame kill him instantly. At the end of the path is another corpse carrying a Monastery Charm and Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier.

Go through the safe mist and continue forth. A knight will drop down from behind as you take the stairs down so be careful. Enter the corridor and kill the shelled knight. Pull the switch and get past the blade. There's a shelled knight just around the corner so lure him back so you don't get cornered. The blade will fall down after a few seconds so don't get killed by chance.

Carefully time your movements to avoid the fire traps. Go to the left and loot the corpse nearby to get a Lightning Short Bow +1.

Note: This corpse is a bit risky to loot; since there's a bonfire nearby, you can light up the bonfire first then come back for the treasure.

Go up two ladders to reach the bonfire. Upstairs is a lever that will deactivate all fire traps in the area. Go back down the ladder and defeat the last shelled knight. Continue outside and enter the misty doorway for a boss battle.

Boss: Old Iron King

This boss is easy for ranged characters, especially miracle users. There's a safe spot in the side of the building where the boss' fire balls can't reach. Beware of his fire beam as it can penetrate the wall and kill you while you're still recovering back to your feet. All of the boss' attacks can knock you back to the lava, resulting in instant death. Sorcerers who rely on pyromancy will also have to adjust since the boss is obviously resistant against fire attacks.

When you see the boss dive into the lava, quickly change position and run to the other side since he will appear on the same spot where you're standing a few seconds after. When done correctly, he will resurface in the far end of the stage, allowing you to snipe him and protect yourself from his slow but powerful fire projectiles.

Melee characters need to get close to the boss to prompt it to use melee attacks. It will usually be vulnerable after it slams its fist to the ground so use this chance to get up close and land heavy damage to the boss. If the boss uses its fire projectiles and beam, just stay behind cover or evade. If it dives, lure it to the middle of the battleground; that way, you can easily run for cover and attack.  Just repeat this pattern to ensure victory.

After defeating the boss, enter the ruined building and loot the chest to get a Sublime Bone Dust. Go downstairs and light up the primal bonfire. You can also use it to return to Majula.

 

 

 

Belfry Sol

This is accessible in the Iron Keep area where there are suspended platforms. You have to use a Pharros Lockstone in contraption behind the heavy iron door, beside the control lever. There's no boss behind the mist however, there are dark dwarven spirits and invader spirits you have to fight. If you're playing online, you'll be pulled to another player's game; if you're playing offline then you'll just have to deal with bots generated by the game. These phantoms don't respawn when defeated.

There are two towers in the corner; one has a lever that will lower the gates to the exit, while the other has a ladder going to the rooftop. There are two phantoms in the initial ground, one in the rooftop and one near the exit. The Dark Spirit Bellkeeper will also invade you after a while.

Find the corpse in the base of the roof leading to the exit. Loot it to get a Simpleton's Spice. Defeat the last two dwarves and loot the last corpse near the exit that also has a Simpleton's Spice. Finally, loot the chest in the exit to get Immolation.

Go downstairs and loot the corpse there to get a Human Effigy and Triclops Snake Troches. Follow the path outside and you'll be back in the Iron Keep, near the bonfire.

Shaded Woods

Leave Majula through the front gate and enter the pathway with large, dead vines. Follow the straightforward path and you'll find an NPC who wil tell you about the statue blocking the path. Loot the corpse nearby to get Lifegem x3 and Homeward Bone x3.

Enter the building and take out the undead inside a small room to your immediate left. Loot the corpse afterward to get Lloyd's Talisman x3. Continue to the main gate and you'll find the statue. Use a Fragrant Branch of Yore (you should have several at this point) to turn it back to human.

Talk to Rosabeth and exhaust her dialogue options. She'll give you a Prism Stone during the conversation. She'll open a Pyromancy Store which sells various pyromancy spells and resistance-boosting accessories and consumables. She'll also ask if you can give her some equipment. The equipment given to her cannot be retrieved so just give her anything that you don't need. Giving her equipment will prompt her to relocate to Majula for your convenience and she'll wear it as well. Also, she can strengthen Pyromancy Flame, the catalyst needed to cast pyromancies. 

After that, you can talk to Benhart to learn the Joy gesture. He will also be able to help you in battle as a phantom like Lucatiel. Before pulling the switch, take note that all doors will open, releasing the toxic undead inside. Two of them are in ground level so you can deliberately open these doors and deal with them first. While fighting the bloated toxic undead, a giant frog will come in from the door. Be careful not to get caught in its petrifying mist. Take it out and continue to the next room.

Open the room to the left of the stairs to find a bonfire (Old Akelarre). The room on the other side has a chest containing an Estus Flask Shard. Jump to the upper ledge to the left and open the second room. Kill the undead inside and loot the corpse to get a Soul of a Proud Knight and Human Effigy.

Leave the building and continue following the trail. Take out the two enemies along the way and loot the Falchion from the corpse. Continue until you reach the ruins entrance. There are a couple of undead on the ledge to the left which will throw rocks at you. Take them out and loot the corpse in the far corner to get a Pharros Lockstone.

Continue moving along to the next clearing and take out enemies along the way. The path will eventually lead you to the second bonfire (Ruined Fork Road). The bonfire's name fits its description. Go upstairs and you'll find three different paths.

Crossroads

First, let's take the path in the middle. Continue along the road and you'll find a corpse that has a Red Tearstone Ring in the (safe) swamp. That's the only item of interest in this path and if you continue, you'll find another giant, black door that requires the symbol of the king.

Return to the Fork Road bonfire and take the left path this time. There's a bloated undead to your immediate left so kill it first to avoid getting attacked from behind. Take out the three bloated enemies along the way then circle around the tower bridge. Defeat two more enemies and loot the corpse in the edge of the cliff to get a Ring of Life Protection and Large Soul of a Proud Knight.

Continue down the road and you'll encounter the Flexile Sentry once more. You can easily kite this enemy if you're a ranged fighter or sorcery/miracle/pyromancy user since it won't chase you further uphill. For melee fighters, you have to block/evade its attacks and counterattack. It is not as hard to defeat at this point but be careful still nonetheless. The flexile sentry may drop a Twinkling Titanite. Take out the bloated enemy to the left so you won't get caught off guard then loot the corpse nearby to get a Dragonslayer's Crescent Axe and Golden Falchion Shield. There's a small path leading uphill that will lead you to a large iron door. Open it to reach the Shrine of Winter. You can open this if you have at least two Great Souls. (I have the Lost Sinner and Old Iron King at this point) You don't need to carry them though. If you can't open it, don't fret; it's not your current objective for now so just come back for it later. If you can open it though, you can freely loot the items since the initial area is safe and is void of enemies.

Deadly Fog

From the Ruined Forked Road bonfire, you'll have to go through the dense fog. If you were able to release Creighton from being trapped in the third bonfire in Huntsman Copse, you'll find him here. The fog is really dense and don't expect to navigate it safely. Your torch won't help that much here.

Since it will be hard to specify the locations of the items, sadly, I'll leave the complete exploration to your own decision. The fog also has a number of tricky and dangerous enemies that blend in the fog. They can be defeated but expect to be shot at or backstabbed when they're around. Once good practice is to keep your shield up while walking. To prevent yourself from being lost, keep hugging the path to your left. You'll eventually reach a clearing that has a talking decapitated head of Vengral and a Fire Seed behind the wall. Keep talking to him and exhaust his conversation options and he'll open shop where you can buy some really neat items and learn the Decapitate gesture.

If you keep talking to him after he opens his shop, he'll give you his helm. This will also unlock the Reflections on Disembodiment trophy/ achievement. As you leave Vengarl's resting area, turn to the left to find a corpse that contains a Soul of a Proud Knight and Human Effigy. Continue along the left side and sprint once in a while to avoid getting backstabbed. If you head straight, you may find a chest. The ramp leading to it is found to your left. Just go up the ramp and loot the chest to get Chloranthy Ring +1.

From that chest, go down the ramp and walk straight until you reach the edge of the cliff. Follow that edge and you'll find another chest containing an Old Sun Ring. Before looting or opening the chest, it will a good idea to stop and look around so you can distinguish the camouflaged enemies that may backstab you. They should be faintly visible since their movements will separate them from the usual fog. If possible, fight them with your back on a wall or somewhere they can't encircle you. If they hit you when your shield is up, expect them to sidestep so swing your weapon to the side (usually to the right) to damage the enemies. Their life bars will appear for a few seconds when hit, enabling you to follow their movements. 

From there, backtrack to where you got the  Chloranthy Ring +1 turn right a bit then continue moving towards the left until you see some stairs leading to a moss-covered ruins which is cleared of the fog.

Shaded Ruins

Continue up the ramp and you'll find the area's bonfire. Continue up the ramp and get the Radiant Lifegem from the corpse.

Drop down to the floor below and go down the ramp to the right, near some rubble. You'll find a chest in the room below containing Magic Bolt x10. Go back up and sprint-jump to the right to land on the ledge. Go to the left and loot the corpse to get Soul of a Brave Warrior and Firebomb x3. Continue along the ledge and use a Fragrant  Branch of Yore to unpetrify the enemy. Defeat it to get a Fang Key. Cross the fallen trunk to return to the bonfire.

Go up the ramp beside the bonfire to reach the upper floor. From there, you can peek over the ledge to find a broken bridge below. You can do a running leap over the ledge to land on the bridge. From there, you can enter the ruins of the building to find a frog inside. Kill it and loot the Soul of a Brave Warrior, Twilight Herb from the corpse inside. Jump across the gap of the bridge to find a Black Knight Halberd from the chest. You'll need to use a Homeward Bone to return to the bonfire. (Tip by: Nevets2022)

From the bonfire, continue along the path until you reach the ramp leading outside. The urns scattered around the area can curse you but breaking them will stop their effects. Outside, you'll find a huge toxic toad. There are also beast warriors around the area. These enemies here hit really hard and have impressive defense so you may want to do hit and evade since facing them head-on won't be a good idea.

Lure the beast warriors first and deal with them one by one, preferably inside the ruins. Once theyr'e taken care of, you can now fight the toad. If you're a ranged character, you just need to get close enough to get a lock-on then snipe it from a distance. The amphibian won't seem to react or chase you anywa. Just be prepared to run back to the ruins in case it chases after you. Melee characters should wait until the enemy attacks. Be watchful of the nearby beast warriors as well to avoid getting surrounded. Loot the Petrified Dragon Bone the toad drops.

Go uphill and enter the other side of the ruins where you came from, where the toad is initially facing. Destroy the curse urn then jump across the gap to reach the chest containing a Titanite Chunk and  Petrified Dragon Bone. Exit then turn to the left to find another chest behind some destroyed wall and surrounded by curse and poison urns. Loot Human Effigy x3 and Bleeding Serum x3 from it.

Now turn around and find the corpse by the wall past the building to the right. Loot it to get a Flame Butterfly and Torch x3. Enter the building and go downstairs. Loot the corpse behind the giant barrels to get a Soul of a Brave Warrior and Pharros' Lockstone.

If you head outside, you'll find a large scorpion man. He is not hostile but to talk to him, you should have the Ring of Whispers. You can buy one from  Shalquoir, the cat merchant in Majula. Before going there, destroy the curse urn nearby and loot the chest to get a Dark Scythe.

Manscorpion Tark

If you have a Ring of Whispers, you can talk to Tark. After learning his request,  find the path going downstairs and kill the beast-warrior there. Loot the corpse to get a Torch. If you head outside, you'll find a petrified beast warrior. (The most valuable item here is the Black Knight Halberd though personally speaking, I don't think it is worth a Branch to be used on. Proceed at your discretion.) Use a Fragrant Branch of Yore if you have extra then kill him. Now take the stairs and enter the building to find a frog inside. Kill it and loot the Soul of a Brave Warrior, Twilight Herb from the corpse inside. Jump across the gap to find a Black Knight Halberd from the chest.

Return to where you defeated the giant frog and go to the ledge in the second floor of the ruined buildings to loot a corpse containing a Pharros' Lockstone and Soul of a Brave Warrior. Approach the next enemy in the open space. Be careful of the ground where the curse urn is in the middle; it is a fake ground that will crash down if something steps on it. After defeating the beast-warrior, loot the corpse nearby to get a Lifegem.

There's another petrified lion warrior that blocks the path towards a chest. This chest contains a Lion Mage armor set and another Fragrant Branch of Yore so might as well loot it, especially if you're a caster since the set improves spells' casting speed.

The tower ruins nearby have treasures as well. Take the stairs in the ruins to the right and you'll find a corpse hanging from a broken staircase after the barrels. Loot it to get Soul of a Brave Warrior and Skeptic's Spice. From there, if you continue uphill, you'll find the large misty doorway leading to the boss area. Don't go there for now.

Explore the ground near the ledge in front of the ruins until you find a fake ground that will make you fall to the ground below. Here you'll find a chest containing a Homing Soulmass and an NPC in a wheelchair.  He is called Darkdiver Grandahl. He will allow you to join the Pilgrims of the Dark covenant.

After that, drop down below. Be careful of the corrosive liquid as it will degenerate your equipment and accessories quickly enough to destroy them. You can unequip them and fight the enemies with your weapon and shield only. Continue forth and be careful when approaching the iron door; there are several toads inside that will attack you all at the same time if you're not careful.

Enter the hole to the left to find a corpse. Get a Twinkling Titanite from it. The door ahead requires the Fang Key which you can get by unpretrifying the lone enemy beside the fallen trunk leading to the area's bonfire. After opening the Fang Key, talk to Ornifex and she'll be able to trade your Boss Souls to powerful weapons. She'll relocated in Brighstone Cove Tseldora after freeing her. Loot the corpse nearby as well to get an Estus Flask Shard.

Now backtrack to the bonfire and it's time to face the boss of this area.

 

 

Boss: Scorpioness Najka

When you enter the battlefield, you'll find a half-buried woman that will attack you with powerful magic. Damage her and she'll reveal her whole body. At close range, she'll attack you with her two venomous tails, her pincers or her spear. These are slow attacks that you can easily anticipate and evade. She's open after attacking with her tails so use this chance to damage her.

When she distances herself from you, anticipate that she's going to use a fast, homing soul spear. Wait until the projectiles arches towards you before you roll to the side to successfully evade them. Once below half of her HP, she will then burrow on the ground. Look closely at the moving dust on the ground, indicating her position and direction. You can't attack her during this move and you have to evade just in time when she unborrows under you.

When critically injured, she'll conjure five orbs over her. These orbs will fire delayed soul arrows which makes it hard to evade. Hopefully, the other arrows fire when you're still recovering from being knocked down or when you're behind cover. From hereon, she'll be more aggressive with her attacks, usually doing 2-3 hit combos with her weapons and limbs. Fight defensively and attack only after she finishes her combo to achieve victory.

The door behind the boss leads to the Doors of Pharros. For you convenience, find and activate the bonfire in the area first. It is located straight ahead, under the hole. Just kill the two enemies here to reach it safely. For now, head back to Tark and talk to him to get a Fragrant Branch of Yore. Talk to him again to learn the Warmup gesture.

 

 

 

Doors of Pharros

This is accessible only from the Scorpioness Najka's lair. After arriving in the area, kill the two large enemies and loot the submerged corpse beside the stairs to get Prism Stone x10. The chest is a mimic so attack it and destroy it before it transforms. Loot the Black Scorpion Stinger and Dark Leggings after defeating it. Enter the small hole beside the chest to find a bonfire. Activate it.

When playing the game while connected online, you have to be careful since you can be pulled to someone else's game who is a member of the Rat King covenant and has the Crest of the Rat equipped. You don't have to worry if you're playing offline.

If you enter the large, open area, you'll be invaded Bowman Guthry if you're a member of another covenant. Ignore the Pharros contraptions here since they're all traps. If you're a member of the Rat King Covenant however, all enemies in the area won't be hostile to you so you'll have all the time in the world to explore. However, once you left this PVP arena, the normal enemies outside will still attack you so don't let your guard down afterward. In the large area past the bonfire, there's a mastodon warrior and a toxic rat. Enter the doorway to the left and it will lead you to a ledge where you can find a corpse. Loot the Gyrm Axe and Torch from it.

Continue to the other door in the far corner of the area and you'll find yet another corpse there. Loot x2 Amber Herb from it. Enter the doorway and continue to the next area. Climb up the ladder to get a Twisted Barricade and Soul of a Proud Knight. Circle around the path to find a chest containing Titanite Chunk and Petrified Dragon Bone. Jump away after opening it since it is rigged with a poison gas trap.

Continue along the path and you'll find another corpse beside the stairs. Get a Pharros' Lockstone and Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier from it.  Get past the stairs to return to the previous area and find the lone corpse in the far side. Loot it for a Large Soul of a Brave Warrior. These are all the treasures in this specific section of this area. Now find the door way in the other side of this area and light up the bonfire there. There's an optional boss battle ahead so prepare as necessary.

Boss: Royal Rat Authority

At the start of the battle, prioritize taking out the smaller toxic rats. They die easily but one hit from them will inflict toxic status on you, which is worst than poison. Once you have this status, it will almost impossible to recover. If possible, try to use ranged attacks to kill at least 2-3 rats, depending on your attack speed. Switch your melee weapon afterward and take out the fourth.

Once all the small rats are gone, you'll have to face the giant rat itself. It only has two main attacks; one is the unstoppable, almost unavoidable lunge and a very wide swipe using its two arms. The lunge is pretty tricky to avoid. It seems the most effective way of preventing damage is by blocking it with a 100% damage reduction shield - at the expense of your stamina.

Your best chance however, is when the boss starts its swipe attack animation. Roll towards him so you'll be under. If you've done this during the first swipe, you'll have more than enough time to heal yourself or land an attack or two. It seems that the boss will be forced to use its swipe attacks if you keep yourself near him. Since this is the only attack you can exploit, have your shield up and keep yourself close to him to force him to use the swipes.

When the boss is near death, it will pause briefly and begin to vomit toxic sludge. Stay away from its mouth and near upper body since that's the area the sludge covers. Make sure to use this chance to deliver the finishing blow and secure victory.

Head back to the first bonfire and go upstairs to the left. You'll find a dwarf who's doing something on the chest ahead. Kill him then loot the Dragon Charm from the chest then go to the right this time. Here, you'll find Gavlan. Loot the corpse near him to get a Lifegem. He will be staying on this spot from hereon, giving you easy access to sell your junk items. His shop inventory will also become unlimited, allowing you to replenish your supply of poison-based items. Continue along the path and you'll finally reach Brightstone Cove Tseldora.

Brightstone Cove Tseldora

Upon reaching the fountain from Doors of Pharros, you'll find several urns. Destroy the ones to the left to find a corpse containing a Radiant Lifegem. Start by heading to the left. There's enemies hiding inside the tents so don't let your guard down. After getting rid of the enemies from the nearby tent, take out the enemy surrounded by lootable corpses. Get Soul of a Nameless Soldier x3, and a Large Soul of a Proud Knight from them.

From there, destroy the wooden scaffolding to make the corpse on the top fall down. Loot x15 Lacerating Arrows from it. Take out the enemy watching over from the scaffolding then get rid of the undead boars. The bonfire is located inside the tent beside the pile of burning corpses. Get a Titanite Shard from the corpse by the well.

Destroy the well cover and follow the elevated trail. You have to jump inside the well. Don't worry since it's not a long way down. Once inside, pick up the Holy Water Urn x3 from the corpse below. Follow the tunnel and climb the ladder to get inside the destroyed house with a chest. Loot the chest to get Human Effigy x5.

Climb out of the house and follow the trail going downhill. Be careful of the enemies up the ledge; they will drop the boulders. It will be a good idea to provoke them to release the boulder then quickly step out of the way. Loot the body near the cliff to get a Soul of a Nameless Soldier. Climb the ladder and take out the enemy and make the boulder roll down. Loot the corpse in the corner to get a Soul of a Brave Warrior.

Climb down the ladder and lure the group of enemies ahead. You can kite them safely or just deal with them one by one. Continue forth and you'll find three more enemies by the door. Loot the corpse by the edge of the cliff to get a Large Titanite Shard. After defeating the enemies, go through the tunnel.

Continue to the next room. There are spiders hiding in the holes; they won't attack you on sight but if you have the means to damage them pre-emptively, do so. This will prompt them to respond to your attack and chase after you. Fall back to the tunnel where you came from while kiting them with ranged attacks. When you're clear, go back to the previous room and open the chest. The red orb was supposed to be the trigger for the spiders to attack so if you've taken care of them, just ignore it. Loot the Heavy Bolt x20 from the chest. The door ahead leads to a misty doorway and a boss fight.

(Mini-) Boss: Prowling Magus, Congregation

This isn't a really hard battle, especially if you're a melee fighter that can use AoE attacks. The main magus, the two priests and the hollows can be easily taken out with powerful melees. Just be careful of the crawling undead as they might be hard to hit. Take out the priests first since they can use beam attacks. You can use the benches to fall back give yourself distance from the enemies in case you need to heal. Overall, this shouldn't be a hard battle.

Leave the chapel and find a ladder on an alcove to the side, leading to the chapel's rooftop. Here you'll find an NPC named Cromwell the Pardoner. Talk to him to get a Ring of Resistance. You can also buy various miracles from him, resistance-boosting rings and the White Priest armor set. Loot the corpses around him to get Fading Soul x3, Cleric's Small Shield, Bonfire Ascetic, and Skeptic's Spice.

Enter the tunnel. There's a bonfire to the immediate left so light that up first then go downstairs. Loot the corpse under the stairs to get a Soul of a Proud Knight then exit the door. In the next room, destroy the jars to get a Wilted Dusk Herb x2.

Continue outside and take out the spider if you have a ranged weapon. If you want to get more items, you can jump to the ledge to the left. There are several annoying mages that cast homing projectiles so find a cover to protect yourself as evading may not be enough. Some items are also in one-way-reach areas, meaning you have to use a Homeward Bone or Homeward miracle if you want to get back up.

Zipline using the first rope then zipline using the second. Take out the mage in that ledge since it can follow you inside. Just be careful since these pesky mages can cast a rapid-fire spell up close, dealing massive damage. Once done, enter the doorway and find a couple of mages inside. Lure the nearest one and take it out before dealing with the other. There's also a spider on the ceiling; use a ranged weapon to kill it.

Loot the Lightning Urn x4 from the corpse along the way. Go down the ladder and you'll find another bonfire. There's a spider that will drop down to the left so kill it then light up the bonfire.

 

Lower Brightstone Cove Bonfire

Open the door and head to the right. Loot the corpse to get a Petrified Dragon Bone. Be careful since multiple spiders will appear from the hill if you get too near. You can fall back to the Lower Brighstone Cove bonfire so you can concentrate taking out the spiders without worrying about the mages' annoying projectiles.

If you saved Ornifex in the Shaded Woods, you'll find her in her workshop. The door is located near the sinkhole. There's a basilisk hiding under the sand. Kill it and enter the door nearby. Like Straid, she can craft unique weapons from boss souls. She also functions as a blacksmith. After dealing with her, destroy the jars and the shelves to get a Pharros Lockstone and Flame Butterfly.

Go around the sinkhole to find a door. Open it and kill the mage inside and the spider. Destroy the cabinet to reveal a hidden room; kill the spider inside as well then loot the chest to get a Crescent Axe and Soul Vortex. Exit through the hole on the wall and loot the Titanite Chunk from the skeleton in the next room. Open the door to reach the next area. Now you can travel back to the chapel bonfire to find the other treasures.  

 

Spiders and Treasures

From the jump off location after the chapel bonfire, there's a lootable corpse inside the house to your left. To access it, roll/jump to the ledge and quickly yet carefully drop to the doorway below. Timing is essential since the mage projectiles can knock you back a bit, sometimes may even lead to your fall to the sinkhole below. Loot the corpse to get a Large Titanite Shard. Since you can't jump off from here, you have to use a Homeward Bone or miracle to get out safely.

From the chapel bonfire again, jump over the ledge again but this time, jump on a rock outcropping beside the house. Loot the corpse there to get Titanite Chunk and Twinkling Titanite. From there, you can safely drop in front of Ornifex's workshop.

Travel back to the chapel bonfire then head outside again. Kill the spider again then slide down the first rope and go to the right. Drop down the metal ledge and kill the mage below. Be prepared to evade or take damage. Loot the corpse from the edge of the ledge to get a Large Titanite Shard then drop down in the middle of the ledge to land on the doorway below. Loot the Estus Flask Shard from the skeleton inside then go down the ground level.

 

Unlocking the Gate to the Palace

Travel back to the chapel bonfire then head outside again. Slide down the rope and enter the house to the left. The small room has a hole where a spider will emerge. Behind that are two urns. Destroy them to loot Charcoal Pine Resin x3. Destroy the bookshelves nearby to reveal a hidden path. Open the door and loot the corpse to the right to get a Torch.

Open the next door and kill the spider-human hybrid and loot the corpse at the edge to get a Titanite Chunk. Carefully fall down to the ledge below and head to the right to find another house. There are three hybrids inside so be careful. The mage outside can also fire from the window so be careful not to get in its line of sight. Destroy the cabinets to find a switch. Pull it to open the gate outside.

Drop down to the house in the corner and enter it. Kill the two spiders and continue upstairs. You'll eventually reach a balcony with a corpse. Loot a Large Titanite Shard from it. This is the same area that leads to the palace. There are two basilisks ont the right side so be careful not to get ambushed. Right outside the gate is an invader. Make sure to clear the area before you engage it so you can have a wide, safe area to fight.

Follow the walkway leading to another building past the gate. There are a couple of those spider-human enemies so kill them before opening the door. After getting rid of them, open the door. Before proceeding, take out the hanging spiders on the ceiling if you have a ranged weapon so they won't drop on you.

Check the corpse behidn the bench to get a Soul of a Hero and Gold Pine Resin x4. There are also two switches you can pull here; the one to the right will reveal a corpse containing Homeward Bone x3. Pull the switch to the left and kill the spider-human undead here and climb the ladder.

You'll be in a large room with giant spider webs. You can walk on these but you won't be able to run fast. Drop down from the ledge and walk down the web connected to your current floor. Follow it to reach the lower floor across you. Loot the corpse behind the support pillar to get a Torch. There's a spider above that corpse so be careful. You'll find a group of urns here; destroy them so you can loot a corpse containing a Pharros' Lockstone.

From there, follow the nearby web and drop down below. There will be three spiders that will ambush you. Kill them then loot the Radiant Lifegem from the corpse. From there, find the connecting web that will allow you to access the corpse behind another support pillar in the other ledge. Loot it to get a Twilight Herb. There are more spiders in the ground floor so be careful not to get surrounded.

There's another corpse behind a support pillar in the lowest ground so loot it to get Corrosive Urn x5. If you're human, you can summon Ashen Knight Boyd to help you in battle. The summon sign is found behind the support pillar across the corpse with the Corrosive Urn. There's another corpse under the web in the middle of the room. Loot it to get a Simpleton's Spice. Head to the misty door when you're ready.

 

Boss: Duke's Dear Freja

At the start of the battle, deal with the multiple spiders since they can still deal a great amount of damage to you, even with full health. AoE (area of effect) attacks works well against them since they can be easily killed. You can only damage the boss by attacking any of its two heads. The heads can alternately fire a straight but sweeping beam, corrosive acid balls or spider web balls that will restrict your movement. Fortunately, only one head can be active at a time. When you see it moving its head upward, anticipate that it will start firing its beam. Run towards it and attack the other head while its doing this attack. The boss also has a jump attack and will attempt to pin you down under its weight; you see it jump, evade at the last instant before it lands to make sure you evade safely. Be careful of the basic attacks using its limbs as well.

The acid projectiles are very easy to evade as well as the spider web balls. The latter doesn't deal that much damage but will prevent you from moving efficiently. During the battle, the boss will summon 3-4 more spiders to harrass you; deal with them as soon as you can. Ranged characters just need to keep circling; the boss isn't that fast to cloes the distance. Melee characters need to exploit the chance when the boss uses its beam attack; it's vulnerable for a few seconds, allowing you to land heavy, powerful strikes on its dormant head.

After defeating the boss, kill the remaining spiders and get the Great Soul near the edge of the arena. Follow the tunnel leading to the library and kill the undead facing the table. Loot the Brightstone Key, Fragrant Branch of Yore and Dark Quartz Ring +1 from it. There's a primal bonfire in the other room; however, you need to deal with the enemy first. This is Vengarl's body. Vengarl is the decapitated head that you can talk to and buy items in the foggy forest area of the Shaded Woods. Defeat it to get Vengarl's Armor Set. This enemy is powerful and hits hard with bleeding effect but you can just keep circling around it and attack it from behind to deal heavy damage. Use the primal bonfire to return to Majula afterward.

Brightstone Key

You can use this key to unlock the door inside the building above the boss' lair. Take note that several spiders will attack you after opening the second door so deal with them first before opening the chest. Get a Black Knight Ultra Greatsword, Great Fireball and Fire Seed from the chest.

Majula Pit

The deep pit in Majula has a lot of loot that you can access by finding the laddersmith Gilligan in Earthen Peak and making him set up shop in Majula. You can then buy the 3,500 ladder from him that will enable you to reach the nearest ledge below.

Other than that, you can actually go down the pit earlier before even meeting the laddersmith. To do this, you have to meet the following requirements:

• HP must be around 990 (not hollowed)
• Must have Silvercat Ring equipped
• Must be at full health when attempting long drops

Drop from ledge to ledge and heal up as necessary. You'll get a Radiant Lifegem, Pharros Lockstone and Poison Moss x3 from the corpses here. Jump on the first rocky ledge along the way to find the Harval's Resting Place bonfire. Continue forth to reach the Grave of Saints.

 

Grave of the Saints

Beware of rats since they can petrify you. Find a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier in the circular area. You can’t reach the corpse inside the circle so ignore it for now. Head to the next corridor and get Small Smooth and Silky Stones x3 from a corpse to the left.

Backtrack a bit. The corridors here have several Pharros Contraptions. Don't waste any of your Lockstones here except for the one near the ladder you used earlier. Using a lockstone on this specific contraption will allow you to cross a bridge leading to a room with some items. In that room, head to the right to find Poison Moss x2. Continue upstairs to find a Whisper of Despair and Torch. Backtrack again to the bridge and climb up the next ladder.

Once you’ve reached the top of the stairs, an invader will appear along with some giant rats. Take out the rats first before dealing with the invader. Kill him and loot the Homeward Bone x3 from the coffins inside the broken wall on other side of the corridor. Finally, go to the opposite end of the corridor and light up the Grave Entrance bonfire.

 

 

Boss: Royal Rat Vanguard

When fighting the boss, keep killing the rats. The indestructible statues may cause your attacks to bounce so be careful. Fortunately, the rats are slow but their numbers can be a problem. After killing a few rats, the vanguard will appear. This doesn't look different from any rats so unless you have AoE attacks, concentrate on that vanguard rat and focus your attacks on him. He's not that tough anyway. After defeating the vanguard, all the other rats will retreat.

Further ahead is the Rat King himself. Talk to him and he will ask you to join his covenant. This covenant is only effective in this territory and within the Doors of Pharros. You'll also unlock the Gnawing Covenant trophy/achievement.

Carefully drop to the hole where the hanging skeleton is to get a Pharros Lockstone from the corpse. You now need to carefully drop using the coffins as platforms. Drop to the central pathway and loot the skeleton in the other end to get a Bleed Stone.

From there, you have to choose; do a sprint-jump to reach the Disc Chime on the broken ledge or drop to the hanging bridge to loot the chest in the other end to get a Ash Knuckle Ring. The former is a necessity for clerics and builds relying on miracles and hexes. Be careful not to fall to the bottom pit as it has exploding undead. The water won't help much with your movement as well. To get the other item, you have to use a Homeward Bone to return to the bonfire outside the Rat King's throne room.

One end of the tunnel exploding undead has a Great Heal miracle while the other end leads to some wooden scaffoldings leading further down. There's a corpse in the lower platform that has a Human Effigy. There's another corpse further in the lower platforms that has a Radiant Lifegem. Continue to the bottom to loot a Token of Spite from the chest. Continue forth and you'll reach the Gutter.

The Gutter

This area is oppressively dark and having a lot of torches to extend your time is almost a necessity. Don’t worry though, there are sconces you can light up to illuminate key areas and allow you to save your torches by having a point where you can light them up again when you need to use your left hand in combat. Beware of the statues as well since they spit poison. Destroy them whenever you have the chance. You'll also need to jump from platform to platform so having Silvercat Ring (buy it from Shalquoir the cat merchant in Majula) will minimize the damage you get from falls. From the starting ledge, drop down to the wooden platform below and drop down again the second time. Look below to find the faint glow of the bonfire. Drop down there and light it up.

Destroy the jar nearby to find a corpse containing Dung Pie x2. Light up your torch if you want, then continue to the next platform. Step on the spot near the bridge to make it collapse, bringing you to a room full of the undead. Kill them all and you can jump to the next platform where there are a couple of enemies, one of them is carrying a torch. The ladder leads to a locked stone door which you can get the key later on. From there, head to the adjacent platform and drop down to the room below. Head to the next room and defeat the beast and a few undead. Destroy the jar along the ledge to get a Dark Pyromancy Flame and Rotten Pine Resin x3. Climb the ladder and light up the sconce there to light up the area. Continue up the next ladder to get a Soul of a Nameless Soldier. From there, you can return to the bonfire again.

Off-path Loot

From the bonfire, cross the two wooden bridges and defeat the beast in the next platform. Follow the straight path and defeat the undead along the way. You'll find another enemy that has a torch after a series of bridges; drop down to the ledge below and take care of the enemy ambush. Loot the Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier from the corpse.

Look at the edge of that ledge to find a separated scaffolding. Drop down below and light up the sconce climb up the ladder and light the sconce around the shed. Sprint-jump to the next ledge and loot the Ring of Soul Protection from the chest.

From that ledge, a sprint-jump to reach the platform's second floor where another chest is found. Loot it to get Twinkling Titanite and Small and Smooth Silky Stone x3. From there, jump back to the previous rocky area and find the wooden ledge nearby. Follow it to reach some jars. Destroy them to get a Lifegem from the corpse. Drop down from that ledge to return to the bonfire.

On the way to the second bonfire

Now cross the bridge again and go to where you fought the first monster then drop off from the ledge ahead. Be careful since there are poison statues where you land. Carefully cross the bridge and anticipate a pesky shockwave mummy. Take them out and continue along the bridge.

Defeat the beast in that platform then climb up the ladder. You'll find a chest there containing Black Firebomb x3. From that ledge, peek at the edge to find a platform you can drop down below. You'll survive the fall with minimum damage if you have the Silvercat Ring. Light up the sconce there and destroy the jar to get a Titanite Chunk from the corpse.

Backtrack a bit and drop down to the next room. Kill the undead beside the sconce and light it up as well. Destroy the jars nearby to get Tattered Cloth Hood, Tattered Cloth Robe, Tattered Cloth Machettes and Heavy Boots from the corpse.

You can drop off to the next rocky ledge just anticipate the ambush by the undead hanging at the edge. After defeating them, light up another sconce near the edge of the ledge and continue forth to find a chest with two undead nearby. Take them out and loot the chest. You'll get a Ring of the Evil Eye from there.

Climb up to the top of the ladder and defeat all undead. There's also an exploding undead hanging out in the shed; take it out as well. Destroy the jars to get a Soul of a Proud Knight and a Bandit Greataxe. From there, you can climb up and zipline to the next platform (you can drop off to the bridge below as a shortcut) or you can drop down and destroy the jar between the roofs, to get Flame Butterfly x2. If you chose to drop down, you'll be back where you got the Black Firebombs from the chest. Continue forth and you'll encounter a lot of those poison statues again so destroy them if you can then climb up the ladder.

Defeat the torch-carrying undead here and carefully cross the next bridge. Another shockwave mummy is found at the end of this bridge so be careful not to get caught in its shockwave or you'll get thrown out of the bridge. Continue to the next platform and light up the two sconces by the bridge and the corner. You'll find another bridge here; cross it and defeat the undead. You'll find a chest in a cave with some jars. Loot it to get a Wicked Eye Greatshield.

Return to the previous platform and drop down below. Defeat the beast here and destroy the jar to get Black Firebomb x2. From that platform, go to the outer ledge and find a short gap you can jump across. There are some poison statues on the other side so if you can destroy them using a ranged attack, the better. After crossing to that platform, continue ahead and you'll find another bonfire. Light it up and rest if you want.

Central Gutter

From that bonfire, backtrack a bit and destroy the wooden planks blocking the entrance to the next room. Defeat the undead here and you'll also find a lot of ladders. Don't go down any of them yet; find a couple of jars in the corner and destroy them to get Dung Pie x3.

Head to the misty entrance (not a boss, don't worry) and kill the monster. Destroy the jars to get Poison Arrow x20. Continue along the ledge towards the cave with some mists and destroy the mushroom insects. You now have to defeat the large, gas-spewing insect inside. If you have ranged attacks, take out it out safely from a distance; otherwise, attack only with melee when it is not spewing gas. Loot the Poison Moss from it and you'll also get Poison Moss x3 from the corpse inside the jar behind that giant insect.

Now you have to go down. There are several ladders here; for easier reference, I suggest going back to the entrance of this platform, right before the bonfire. From the entrance, go to the left and find a couple of jars in the corner. Go down that ladder and drop down to the next platform below to get Rotten Pine Resin x3 from the jar.

Look at the edge of the wooden platform and jump down to another ledge with a jar. From that, look again below to find a ledge with a chest. Loot the chest to get a Great Club. Carefully go down to the bottom and kill all the undead. Destroy the jar beside a ladder to get Lifegem x20.

Find a couple more jars in the far side of the room to get Dark Fog and Torch. The cocoon-like things ahead contain some very corrosive acid that will destroy your equipment. Destroy them using a ranged attack then enter the hole.

After dropping off the ledge, loot the body there to get a Fragrant Branch of Yore. Enter the misty doorway (safe) to reach The Black Gulch.

The Black Gulch

As soon as you enter the area, enter the hole to the immediate left to find the bonfire. Light it up then destroy the nearby statues before you move one. You'll see some black spots nearby; these contain hiding enemies. These black spots seems to be oil; you can set them on fire using Firebombs.

From there, head to the left to find a chest containing Shotel and Great Magic Weapon. Continue along the main path and be careful of the holes on the left side since there are hiding giant worms there. You can kill them from a distance or just block their attack and kill them up close. Loot the bodies from the jars to get a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier, Scraps of Life and Torch.

There's another giant worm to the left. Take it out and you'll encounter more black patches. Destroy the jars in the middle and get a Radiant Lifegem from the corpse. Carefully check the small cavern to the left to find a chest containing a Divine Blessing. From that spot, find a narrow ledge along the edge to the right which will lead you to a bonfire. Destroy the jars near the bonfire to get a Pharros Lockstone. Carefully thread the last few steps leading to the boss area.

Optional: Forgotten Key

There's an almost invisible ledge between the holes with the two worms where you can drop off. Make sure have lit the nearby bonfire so you can respawn nearby if needed. After dropping off the first ledge, peek to the other edge on the side of the cliff to find a very narrow ledge with a corpse. Fall down there then drop to the last ledge below that leads a cavern.

There are two giants in the area. If you're a ranged character, you can run past them and find a cavern with a chest. They can't fit in so you can just snipe them and fall back to that position if needed. The chest contains Ring of Giants +1 and Petrified Dragon Bone. Upon killing the two giants, you'll receive the Forgotten Key and Soul of a Giant. There's another room in this area where you can destroy the jar and loot Silver Talisman x4 from the corpse.

The Forgotten Key is used to open a locked treasure room in the pit of Majula. To access it, purchase the most expensive ladder Gilligan can offer and climb down until you reach the wooden platform inside the pit where the ladder ends. Next, climb the other ladder beside it to reach a room that has a Great Lightning Spear, Witchree Branch and Witchtree Bellvine, and Soul Vortex.

The key can also be used to open the large stone doors. There's one in the first ledge where you dropped off to get the Forgotten Key. You'll find Darkdiver Grandahl inside if you encountered him the first time in the Shaded Woods.

There's also another one in The Gutter. Return to the first bonfire in the area, then head to the first platform after the bridge. Drop down below and jump towards the other platform. Climb the ladder and you'll find another door inside a cave. There will be a lot of poison statues inside so destroy them all to get Havel's Greathshield and Havel's armor set.

Boss: The Rotten

This is a rather easy boss, especially for ranged attackers. The only thing you have to avoid is stepping on the burning oil in the battlefield. Its attacks are very slow and easily avoidable. Melee attackers can immediately counter attack after rolling towards or to the side of the boss. As long as you evade right before its attack hits, you'll get a free counterattack since this boss has a slow recovery time as well.

After the battle, find the lootable corpse past the burning oil. Quickly cross the burning patch of oil and loot the Fire Seed from it; heal up before attempting to cross the fire again. Find the other tunnel and when the path splits, go to the right to find a chest. Open it to get a Sublime Bone Dust. Head to the next room and light up the primal bonfire. Use that to return to Majula.

Shrine of Winter

To reach this area, you have to travel to the Ruined Fork Road bonfire in Shaded Woods. Take the western path where there are toxic undead waiting along the road. Continue straight and you'll find a Flexile Sentry. There's a narrow path to the left that leads to the Shrine. You need at least two Great Souls to open passage.

After climbing down, follow the road to the right to find a corpse in the rubble. Loot it to get a Repair Powder and Large Soul of a Lost Undead. Move along the road and you'll find another corpse containing a Divine Blessing.

There's a non-hostile Heide Knight that drops a Heide Lance if you attack and defeat him. Loot another corpse along the way to get a Human Effigy and Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier.

Continue to the tunnel. Follow the stairs and kill the two crossbowmen and a royal lancer. Continue upstairs and loot the corpse behind the large boulder to get Holy Water Urn x2. Kill the crystal lizard along the way to get a Titanite Chunk x3 and Titanite Slab. Continue forth until you reach the Drangleic Castle.

Drangleic Castle

Continue upstairs and the two giant mastodon warriors will come to life. Defeat them and take out the crossbowmen. More enemies will appear. Kill them near one of the golem statues so their souls will activate the statues and make them to hold the stone cup in front of them and turn it. You should do the same to the other statue. Activating both golem statues will make them open the massive door leading inside the castle. Head to the right side of the castle to find a chest containing Great Combustion and Fire Seed.

Enter the castle and go upstairs. Talk to the spectre named Chancellor Wellager. Exhaust his dialogue options and you should be able to buy items from him. You can also learn the This One's Me gesture. The large door behind him leads to the empty throne room so ignore it for now. Go downstairs and head to the right. There are more enemies waiting in that hallway. You funnel them by falling back or if you need to keep distance, you can always fall back to the main door where they'll stop following you.

Once clear, open the door to the right side and take out two more royal guards inside. Climb down the ladder then open the next light-blue door. Open another light-blue door ahead to find the King's Gate bonfire.

King's Gate Bonfire

Head to the next room and fight off the enemies that will come to life. You have to kill them near the blocked doorways so their souls can open the doors. Fortunately, these passages will remain open once you've offered souls to open them before. The one on the middle-right passage will release a sentinel like you fought in Lost Bastille. Open the chest from its room to get a Mastodon Greatsword. The last door near the statue to the right has another sentinel and a Royal Soldier's Ring +1.

The lower-left passage has a sentinel but no treasure, the middle one has a sentinel and skeleton containing a Pharros' Lockstone. The last one near the statue has another sentinel a floor that will cave in if you step on it. This will bring you to an underground cavern. Loot the skeleton nearby to get a Faraam armor set.

Head to the right and you'll find a bonfire. Light it up to find Darkdiver Grandahl if you have met him two time before in Shaded Woods and Black Gulch. He should offer you to join the Pilgrims of the Dark. He also sells some high-powered hexes, some Human Effigies and Bonfire Ascetics. You can travel back to the castle's first bonfire to return back to track.

The one in the lower-right is the correct passage you should open and go through to proceed. You can run back to the bonfire and it will not follow you. You can use this chance to snipe it from a distance or just simply heal up and prepare.

Enter that room to find a chest containing Dark Arrow x15. Loot the skeleton under the stairs to get a Soul of a Hero, Old Radiant Lifegem x3 and Monastery Charm. Continue upstairs and there's an Elizabeth Mushroom that can be looted from the floor with corrosive liquid. There's also a chest in the corner that has Corrosive Urn x3. You can unequip your equipment to prevent them from being broken.

Continue along the path and open the door to the next floor. Be careful of the stone masks on the walls; they shoot poisoned arrows. Loot the body to receive a Large Soul of a Brave Warrior and Twinkling Titanite. There are heavy shielded enemies in the room upstairs and a crossbowman that will snipe you on the far side. You can run past them and exit the room. Run towards the stairs and an invader called Nameless Usurper will also appear from the previous room.

Before engaging them, you can drop by the ledge where the crossbowman is and take him out. Loot the skeleton by the ledge to get a Soul of a Brave Warrior. Climb downstairs and loot the chest to get a Hunter's Blackbow and Iron Arrow x20. Now climb back up the two stairs to reach the ledge after the stairs.

Continue upstairs and you'll have to talk to Queen Nashandra. Follow the path from there to reach the misty door that leads to a fight against two Dragonrider Bosses.

Boss: Dragonrider x2

If you're a ranged character or sorcery/miracle user, you can land a free hit on any of the dragonriders as soon as you enter. The dragonrider on the top of the ledge shoots arrows but has a much lower HP. You can fight defensively and wait for him to drop to the lower ground so you can prioritize attacking him.

Their attack patterns are basically the same; if you have a good shield that can block their attacks without taking damage or losing that much stamina, its quite easy to circle around them and counterattack. They're most vulnerable when they're using their shield bash and when they're swaying their weapons. Concentrate on taking out one target since the battle will become much more easier once one of them is down.

Central Bonfire

Continue to the next room and light up the bonfire. There are now two paths here; the stairs going up leads to blocked gate, with several Alonne Knight archers sniping you at a distance and a heavy knight waiting upstairs. Take the stairs going down instead.

You'll reach an inoperable lift so ignore that and take the long ladder up instead. Once you've reached the top, you'll be in a room where several stone statues come to life. You can open the door immediately and head there to filter out the enemies and to avoid accidentally triggering the other statues to revive. This room also has two chests that contain an Old Knight Hammer and Caitha's Chime and Soul Greatsword. You can kill at least spearman enemy near the golem to use its soul and make the golem come alive, lowering the lift outside the Central Bonfire.

Head to the next hallway where you'll find more enemies. Be careful of the Alonne archer knights on the balcony. You can run upstairs and kill the Alonne Knight archers. If you can deal powerful ranged attacks, it will be better to stand beside the columns to avoid getting sniped by the archers in the balcony across. Kill the two Alonne knights to the left and you'll get a Firestorm spell from the chest. The chest in the other balcony just contains rubbish so you can just ignore it. The two knights guarding the doorway will stand by their position and cannot be lured. You can however, lure the Mastodon warrior and deal with it using ranged attacks.

Open the door ahead and kill the Mastodon Warrior. Go downstairs and open the door to reach the armory. Loot the corpse beside the stairs to get Repair Powder x5 and Flame Butterfly x10. Open the chest to get an Estus Flask Shard. Now pull the lever to open the iron gate blocking the door, leading back to the central bonfire. Backtrack and rest then step on the lift. (In case you stepped on it accidentally and it ascended without you, you can use the lever now to call it back down)

There are a lot of chests here where you can loot Strong Magic Shield, Soul Vessel and Fire Seed, and Key to King's Passage. Ignore the Embedded since you'll need to stab it using the Key to the Embedded item that is dropped by the Demon of Song. Ignore it for now and take the lift down. Use the key to open the heavy iron gate leading to the King's Passage.

King's Passage

This area is a accessible from Drangleic Castle's Central Castle bonfire. You need to get the Key to King's Passage which is found on the top of the castle, accessible via lift.

Continue along the passage and loot the Alluring Skull x3 to the right. Take note of the statues with the head; these will come to life so don't get caught off guard. You can fall back to the corridor where you came from so you can pick them off one by one. Loot the skeletons along the way to get a Lifegem and Soul of a Proud Knight and Twinkling Titanite. At the end of the passage, right before the misty door lies a summon sign. You can summon Benhart of Jugo to help you in the upcoming boss battle.

Boss: Looking Glass Knight

This boss is slow and can be easily sniped from a distance. It can jump-and-slash or run-and-lunge to quickly close the distance between the two of you. The boss attacks slowly, which gives you enough time to recover or counterattack. It is vulnerable when summoning lightning which it will use to execute a wide slash in front of it. Melee characters can circle around him and attack him from behind to get some free hits. His shield reflects any magic attack so attack only with spells when he's summoning lightning or right after he finishes his attack.

Later in the battle, the boss will stop with its shield on the ground. You can attack it at this point, right before he summons a dark spirit from his mirror. When this happens, take out his minion first then proceed in taking him out.

After the battle, loot the chest beside the lift to get Soul Bolt, Spell Quartz Ring +2, and Bonfire Ascetic x3. After getting the treasures, step on the lift and ride it down.

Continue along the tunnel until you reach a torch. Turn to the right and destroy the roots to loot a Green Blossom from the corpse. Follow the path until you reach a bonfire and the new area.

Shrine of Amana

Go downstairs and open the door. Destroy the branch holding the corpse so it will fall down the swamp below. Follow the path and you'll find an alcove with a mushroom bug and a chest. Open it to get Wilted Dusk Herb x2 and a Skeptic's Spice.

Backtrack and continue going downstairs until you reach the bottom. Loot the corpse under the stairs to get a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier. Carefully exit the building; there's an enemy who will rush towards you from the right side. Take him out and follow the pointy rocks around. If you're able to destroy the branch holding the corpse above, you'll find it here. Loot it to get Flame Butterfly and Twinkling Titanite.

Beware of the underwater creatures; fortunately, you'll know their location by finding the yellow mist they're emitting. They can also be locked-on so you can kill them before they even attack you. Continue towards the house in the middle. There's a chest behind it so go around to the right, kill the swamp creature and destroy the cursed urn to reach it. Loot Crimson Water x3 from it.

Enter the house and talk to the NPC inside. Keep talking to her to receive a Smooth and Silky Stone. Leave the house and continue forth. The next path is filled with several swamp creatures and armed clerics. Loot the corpses nearby to get Soul of a Lost Undead and Skeptic's Spice, Soul of a Lost Undead and Torch x3, and Large Soul of a Proud Knight. Continue forth and look to the left. There's a submerged chest there; make sure to defeat the swamp creature lurking near the chest before looting it. Open it to get a Dragon Charm.

Continue along the tunnel. There are several swamp creatures inside a cavern to the left. Kill them all and loot a Twinkling Titanite, and Smooth and Silky Stone x3. Continue through the misty door (safe) to reach the next area.

There's a bonfire inside the ruins to the right. Be careful of the enemies that are capable of firing long-ranged projectiles. There's a swamp creature lurking along the bonfire's doorway so don't get caught off guard. Next, make your way to the mage and kill him. Be careful of the swamp creature nearby and the other mage that may have released a homing projectile on you. You can use the pillars and walls for cover.

Continue along the path to the left and kill the lurking swamp creature beside the ramp and find the Pharros Contraption near the pillars. Use a Lockstone to reveal a breakable wall. Destroy it and loot the Helix Halberd from the chest inside.

Follow the path until you reach the ruins in the middle. Kill the mage there then turn to the right. Loot the corpse in between the ruins near the torch to get a Fire Seed. If you head to the left, you'll find a submerged pathway. If you follow it, it will lead to locked door; just take note of its location for now and continue along the main path.

There's another long-range mage along the path with so little cover so your best bet is to run towards it and evade its projectiles. Be careful of the swamp creatures along the way as well. Alternatively, you can also go around the ruins in the middle (be careful not to stray too far in the water; there's a sudden drop nearby) and run towards a pillar near the mage. This way you can get rid of him.

There's a long pathway behind the cyclops leading to two lootable corpses. You have to move carefully while looking down to avoid falling to the deep waters. The path narrows down as you get near the pillars with the corpses. There's also a swamp creature and two mages along the way so be careful when dealing with them. Once clear, loot the corpses to get an Estus Flask Shard and Radiant Lifegem.

Backtrack to the main path and enter the next house. Loot the corpse inside to get Large Soul of a Proud Knight and Old Radiant Lifegem. If you're also human, you can find a summon sign inside to summon Felicia the Brave to help you clear the next area.

Leave the house and anticipate an attack from an armed cleric to the left. There are more of those pesky mages along the way so quickly close the distance and take them out. Right before reaching the misty door, there are a couple of those armed clerics; fall back if necessary and take them out using ranged attacks. Once the area is clear, climb the ramp to the left to loot a skeleton containing Alluring Skull x3. Before entering the misty door, check the corpse at the edge of the sudden drop to get a Soul of a Hero and Divine Blessing.

Rhoy's Resting Place

Enter the misty door (safe) and kill the mushroom insects. There's a bonfire to the left so light it up and rest if necessary. To continue, kill the large mushroom insect blocking the path. There are more of those annoying mages along the way as well as lurking swamp creatures. You can always fall back to a pillar for cover, especially if you need a breather or time to heal.

After getting rid of the two mages, turn around and follow the narrow path along the rock wall to find a corpse containing a Large Soul of a Proud Knight and a Green Blossom. Loot the corpses here to get Skeptic's Spice, Soul of a Brave Warrior and Petrified Dragon Bone, Red Iron Twinblade and Soul of a Proud Knight, and Homing Crystal Soulmass.

Just take note of the yellow glitters the submerged swamp creatures are emitting to avoid getting ambushed. A dark invader, Peculiar Kindalur will also appear in this area. He's casts fast, poweful soul spears so it will be better to fall back to a pillar and circle around so you can have somewhere to block his magic attacks and allow you to easily deal damage to him. Be careful as well since there's another mage along the ruined path that can snipe you if you get within its line of fire.

Continue along the bridge ruins and loot the Large Soul of a Proud Knight and Green Blossom from the corpse in the end. Continue to the next building. If you talk to the NPC there, she will disappear. Downstairs lies the misty door leading to another boss.

Boss: Demon of Song

This is a large frog enemy and the only vulnerable part of it is its face. If you're a ranged character, you just need to approach it to force it to reveal its face and arms then quickly move back to avoid its flailing arms. If you attack it from a distance, it will dash towards you which is really hard to avoid and will cause tremendous damage. Aside from its normal flail attack, it will stand up and will attempt to crush you. For melee characters, you need to time your attack right after the boss misses its melee attack. This boss is slow and its attack patterns are quite predictable so this battle isn't that hard overall.

After defeating the Demon, continue along the next path. Continue past the passage and head to the tower. You'll find another bonfire inside so light it up and rest as necessary. The door at the top of the tower is locked so ignore it for now. Leave the tower and go through the next path. Open the door and ride the large lift inside. Once you reached the bottom, continue forth to reach the next area.

Key to the Embedded Since you have the Key to the Embedded, you can travel to Central Drangleic bonfire and use the lift. On the top, use the key to open the cage. Talk to the woman inside to get a Ring of the Undead.

Undead Crypt

Before going upstairs, go to the left to find a bonfire inside the alcove there. Activate it and check the corner on the other side of the stairs to find a skeleton containing a Radiant Lifegem. Continue upstairs and kill the undead inside. Go to the second area where there's three sorceresses who will lob projectiles towards you. As you approach them, be careful of the undead lurking around the pillars. They can cast spells quickly and successively so the best way to deal with them is up close and personal.

After taking out the sorceresses, follow the path to the next room. As soon as you enter, you'll hear a voice telling you not to produce ligh. If you look to your right, there's an elevated ledge with several gravekeepers. Attack one and you'll aggro all of them. Fall back to the corridor where you came from so you can easily pick them off one by one. Go to the ledge and loot the corpse to get a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier. Talk to Agdayne and exhaust his dialogue options and you'll be able to buy from him. You'll also learn the Have Mercy gesture from him.

Undead Ditch

Continue along the path and you'll find a misty doorway ahead. Go upstairs and defeat / run away from the two heavy knights and enter the mist (safe). The next area is filled with stones and tombstones. Some of them will continously spawn undead and the tombstone will spawn spectres so make sure to destroy them quickly. As soon as you enter the room, turn to the right to find a wooden statue. Destroy it to prevent spectres from appearing and to clear the path. Loot the skeleton in the corner to get a Titanite Chunk and Petrified Dragon Bone.

Now climb the ladder nearby and kill the sorceress. Loot the chest to get Dried Fingers, Bonfire Ascetic and Twinkling Titanite. Climb down the ladder then make your way to the left side of the room. Loot the skeleton in the corner to get a Simpleton's Spice and Black Firebomb x2. There's also a bonfire nearby.

Make your way to the other side of the room and enter the next one. Use wide attacks to destroy the obstacles and the tombstone at once. Loot the Soul of a Lost Undead from the skeleton beside the stairs then move to the left corner to find another tomsbtone. Destroy it and defeat the spectre. Loot the skeleton a Bracing Knuckle Ring +1.

Continue to the next room and you'll be attacked by an invader, Nameless Usurper. After defeating it, loot the skeleton in the room to get a Divine Blessing and Soul of a Hero. Continue to the next room and beware of the ghosts that will attack you from the sides. Shortly you'll encounter a heavy steel wall. These are actually shields of enemies behind them so keep your distance or lure them back so you can attack them when they turn their backs on you.

The Roundabout

After that, drop to the hole were you'll find more stones. There are four doorways here, three leads to a dead-end. For your convenience, I suggest not exploring this area for now; instead, after landing, turn your camera to the left and enter the first corridor (with the gap in the middle) which will take you outside. Turn to the left and pull the lever; this will lift a pathway for you where leads back to the room with the bonfire.

From there, you can safely attack the spectres and fall back to that corridor where they won't follow you. After destroying all tombstones, you only need to worry about the spawning undead. Like before, prioritize taking out the tombstones. AoE attacks are best to clear the path here. There's also a bell in this area that will keep ringing when hit and will wake up the spectres all the same time. Loot Large Soul of a Proud Knight and Dragon Charm from the corridor past the bell and Radiant Lifegem and Homeward Bone from the skeleton. The other corridors doesn't contain anything so you can just ignore them.

Back outside, find a chest across the room in the corner containing a Magic Stone and Darknight Stone. The massive hall ahead has a lot of heavy knights and tombstones that will spawn spectres. There's a bell under the stairs where you came from. If you want to skip the enemies, you can hug the walls on their side then just rush to the stairs. Take note that the two spearmen ahead can't be lured and won't leave their posts.

If you're human, there's a summon sign by the statue base near the stairs. You can use it to summon Agdayne to help you with the next boss battle.

Boss: Velstadt, the Royal Aegis

Velstadt's attack range is wide, making it a challenge for melee characters to safely land hits without the risk of getting hit by his massive weapon. Having a good shield with 100% damage reduction and high stability is a plus here, since you'll be able to protect yourself as you circle around him. Like the other bosses, Velstadt will tend to jump away when you're about to hit him so using slow but powerful weapons will require proper timing to connect. Staying close to him then evading at the last moment his attack lands is a good way to counterattack.

Ranged characters can take advantage of Agdayne's assistance. He's a great tank and will be able to withstand a lot of Velstadt's attack before getting vanquished. While Agdayne's keeping the heat from you, you should use your most powerful ranged attacks.

Otherwise, ranged characters with fast attack speed can land hits in between the boss' combos. If you don't have Agdayne with you, you'll need to time your attacks since he can easily catch you off guard when you're in the middle of casting. Once the boss is down to 50% HP, he will start using hexes. Ranged characters can take advantage of this while he's casting while melee characters must take care not to get too damaged by the boss' AoE.

Continue downstairs and ignore the prowling giant with the sword. Loot the King's Ring from the corpse. You can equip this ring and use it to open the large black doors that require the Symbol of the King to be opened. The Herald will appear from the stairs. Talk to her then return to the next bonfire.

Aldia's Keep

Travel to Shaded Woods' Ruined Fork Road and follow the path in the middle. Once you've reached the gate, wait for it to open as long as you have the King's Ring equipped. There are toxic critters in the area; before exploring, head straight to find the area's bonfire inside a broken house. Be careful when attacking these; they're fast and will gang up on you. Keep your distance or use powerful AoE attacks to take them out.

Find all the corpses in this immediate area to get the following items:

• Soul of a Nameless Soldier, and Petrified Dragon Bone
• Poison Throwing Knife x10
• Alluring Skull x3

There's also a chest in the corner of the wall, far in the grassland. Don't open it since it's a Mimic. Kill it and loot the Sunset Staff and Dark Mask it drops. Now head to the stairs and find another corpse in the right side. Get a Fire Seed from it. Continue upstairs and loot the body in the small pond to get a Radiant Lifegem. Check the left balcony to find another corpse containing Twilight Herb.

Continue inside and you'll be invaded by Aslatiel of Mirrah. Defeat him and open the next door. The corpse nearby only has a Fading Soul. As you get near the dragon skeleton, it will slowly come back to life. If you head straight at the ground floor, you can find a trapped man inside a magical barricade to the right. He will promptly tell you to leave him alone. The other corridor has several messages sprawled on the floor. At the end of a path is a lever. There's even a stern warning that says Don't You Dare!

Pulling the lever will free Navlaan. He will attack you if you're hollow so speak to him only when you're human. You'll be able to purchase the Astrologist or Black Witch Robe armor sets from him, elemental greatarrows to name a few. Take note that freeing Navlaan will also make him appear as an invader in different areas so weigh your decision before pulling that lever.

Now go upstairs and check out the corridor to the right. There's a chest at the end that contains a Great Magic Barrier. There are mirrors behind the stairs where an enemy may break free. Make sure to deal with them one by one. Loot the corpse to get a Northern Ritual Band +2 and Petrified Dragon Bone.

There's a petrified cyclops waiting on top of the main stairs; it's up to you if you want to use a Fragrant Branch of Yore or not to clear the path. Alternatively, there's a set of stairs to the left. Go upstairs to find a basilisk. You can attack it from a distance and kill it. Loot the Magic Stone it drops and the Crimson Water from the skeleton nearby. Head to the long corridor to the right to find a chest at the end. Loot the Bonfire Ascetic x2 from it.

Backtrack and head to the next room. Pull the string dangling from the dragon statue's mouth to open the path ahead. The path behind will close. Go to the next corridor where you'll find a Pharros Contraption to your immediate right. If you use a Lockstone on it, the whole corridor will be lit up.

Take out the Cyclops ahead and loot the corpse under the table to get a Radiant Lifegem. Continue a bit and you'll find a door to the left. Open it to find some sort of laboratory inside. Destroy shelves near the stairs to get a Radiant Lifegem from a corpse.

If you go downstairs, you'll find two beasts lurking in a corrosive pool. Remove your equipment before going to the pool to loot the items. Get the Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier and Corrosive Urn x4, Aldia Key, and Soul Geyser and Petrified Dragon Bone from the skeletons inside. Go back upstairs and leave the room.

Back in the corridor, continue forth a bit and you'll find yet another door beside a wiggling carriage. With the Aldia Key, you should be able to open it. Kill the enemy standing in front of the table then loot the corpse to get a Soul of a Proud Knight.

Up ahead is another enclosed enemy. Kill it if you want then find a corpse in the corner of the room. Loot it to get a Large Soul of a Brave Warrior. If you open the door nearby, you'll find a cyclops waiting behind the closed door. He's supposed to ambush you if you took the main corridor without taking the sidetrips so far. Kill it and take out the enclosed abomination along the main corridor if you want. The door nearby doesn't have any loot so you can just ignore it.

Continue forth and open the large door. Loot the nearby corpse to get a Simpleton's Spice and Twilight Herb. The door will burst open shortly, revealing yet another cyclops ready to take you down. If you freed Navlaan, he'll also invade you as a dark spirit in this area. After defeating the last cyclops and Navlaan, you'll find the misty door leading to the boss area.

Boss: Guardian Dragon

The guardian dragon's main attack is its fire breath, which will leave it vulnerable for several seconds. It will also occassionally fly away and attack with a fireball, capable of dealing splash damage so make suire to time your evasion. The best way to exploit it is to keep the right distance to make it use its fire breath attack then close in and attack. Getting too close will prompt it to swing its head twice, dealing heavy melee damage. Ranged characters will have an easier time dealing with this boss as well.

Leave the boss area and head towards the elevator. You'll find a corpse to your immediate right that has a Dragon Scale. Ride the elevator up and continue forth to reach a new area.

Dragon Aerie

You'll find the Herald standing near the edge of the cliff. Talk to her to receive an Aged Feather. Take the path down and continue along the hanging bridge to reach the area's first bonfire. Follow the path until you reach another hanging bridge. Kill the enemy waiting in the end and head to the next cavern. Destroy the eggs in the tunnel to the left to find a crystal lizard and a lootable corpse. Kill the lizard to get a Large Titanite Shard, Twinkling Titanite and a Palestone. Loot the corpse to get a Radiant Lifegem.

If you took the other tunnel leading outside, you'll find a hanging bridge you can cross. This is actually a shortcut which will take you to the same path. This however, will allow you to bypass the dragon that's lurking above the cavern where you came from. Fighting the dragon is optional; bypassing the dragon will just make you miss some good loot and good souls.

Above that cavern is guardian dragon that you can fight and defeat. Be careful of its fireball since its splash damage can reach you even when you're behind cover. After defeating the dragon, you can now loot the corpses and kill the crystal lizards to get their loot. These dragons won't respawn upon defeat as well. The items you can get in this area are the following:

• Titanite Shard
• Large Titanite Shard x3
• Titanite Slab
• Titanite Chunk x3
• Petrified Dragon Bone x2
• Twinkling Titanite
• Darknight Stone
• Old Mundane Stone
• Darknight Stone
• Dragon Tooth
• Boltstone
• Soul of a Brave Warrior

If you look around, you'll find another uphill path with another lizard crystal waiting on top. Kill it to get Large Titanite Shard x2, Petrified Dragon Bone and a Raw Stone.

Cross the bridge and beware of the detonating mummy waiting around the corner. Loot the corpse to get an Old Radiant Lifegem then continue along the bridge and path. There's another detonating mummy waiting after the bridge so don't get caught off guard.

Continue uphill to find yet another wide open area with another dragon. If you're a ranged character, you can circle around to the right (don't forget to loot the corpse behind the eggs to get a Petrified Dragon Bone) and use the ledge there to snipe the dragon safely from a distance. Take note however, that the dragon's fire breath will still reach you behind cover. Melee characters won't have any choice but to get up close and circle around until they get the chance to attack while the dragon is using its fire breath. Fighting this dragon again is optional. You can circle around it using the ledge to the right and enter the nearest cave immediately. (Where an exploding mummy is waiting too)

Once the dragon's taken care of, loot the corpses and the crystal lizards here to get the following:

• Titanite Shard x3
• Twinkling Titanite
• Magic Stone
• Large Titanite Shard
• Petrified Dragon Bone
• Titanite Chunk
• Large Soul of a Brave Warrior
• Soul of a Great Hero

Kill the detonating mummy inside the small cavern. If you enter it, you'll find another dragon waiting below. That dragon should be well within sniping range so you can damage it as much as you can or kill it from that distance without the risk of getting hit by its attacks. Otherwise, you'll have to follow the only path leading to it and face it up close. Like the other dragon areas, there is a crystal lizard and several lootable corpses for the picking. Like the others, you can bypass this dragon by carefully jumping off the ledges and running towards the bridge. Make sure you have full HP and the Silvercat Ring equipped to avoid dying from the fall.

• Soul of a Great Hero
• Ring of the Evil Eye +1
• Firedrake Stone
• Dragon Charm

If you freed Navlaan earlier, he will also make an appearance right before you cross the next bridge. Right after the bridge is a zipline you can use. Zip back and upon landing on the other side, look over the cliff to find a ledge that has a lootable corpse. It only contains a Twinkling Titanite so its up to you if its worth getting since you'll be forced to use a Homeward Bone to get back up.

Follow the path uphill after ziplining to find a hole with a ladder. Kick the ladder down and you'll now have a convenient shortcut to the bonfire below. Now prepare to use the other zipline. There's an isolated ledge you can drop off along the way. The corpse contains a Soul of a Great Hero so its still up to you whether you want to bother getting it or not.

Once done, cross the swaying hanging bridge and enter the building to the left to find the next area's bonfire.

Dragon Shrine

Continue upstairs and defeat the ancient knight. There's a Pharros Contraption behind the crates and barrels under the stairs. Use a Lockstone to reveal a secret room that has a Staff of Wisdown and the Judgment armor set. There's also a doorway to the right beside the first flight of stairs that has a chest containing Bonfire Ascetic x3.

Continue to the second flight of stairs and defeat another ancient knight. Enter the building to the left and go upstairs. There's a heavy knight guarding a chest here; be careful of the undead cleric in the gondola in a short distance; he can fire fast, homing projectiles that can knock you back with small damage. It will be a good idea to ignore the knight first and kill that cleric first.

Loot the wooden chest then loot the hanging corpse to get a Faintstone. Jump to the lower ledge to reach the chest there containing Drakekeeper's Greataxe and Drakekeeper's Greatshield. Go back to the main path and continue upstairs to face two ancient knights. Kill them but don't go up the red door yet. Cross the small bridge and drop down the ledge past the wooden crates to reach the two chests below. Loot the Titanite Slab from the chest to the left. The one beside the ledge is a mimic; kill it to loot the Washing Pole and Petrified Dragon Bone.

Follow the path and you'll run across a shielded Drakekeeper. Defeat it and loot the corpse in the alcove near the door to get a Skeptic's Spice and Twilight Herb. Open the next door and head inside. Dark Spirit Dragonfang Villard will invade you as soon as you enter as well. Loot the Third Dragon Ring from the chest.

Continue upstairs and take out Villard. Loot the Petrified Egg from the pedestal and loot the nearby chest to get a Watchdragon Parma. Drop to the lower ledge to find another chest containing a Crystal Magic Weapon, then drop down to the lower ledge again to return to the red door earlier.

Open the next door two doors and continue forth. Past the two Drakekeepers are fast Dragonfang warriors. These guys are nimble and will be able to evade your attacks then counterattack so treat them like you're fighting another player.

Continue forth and talk to the ancient dragon. You'll receive the Ashen Mist Heart from it. This is an optional battle. You can attack it deliberately to stir it to battle.

Boss: Ancient Dragon

This boss has only two types of attacks; the fire breath while on land and the fire breath while airborne. Both are very easy to dodge; you just need to keep your eye on the dragon, while regularly switching between lockon and regular camera view. Take note that getting hit by its fire attack will instantly kill you so when you see it fly, run as far as you can. It is vulnerable while breathing fire on land. Melee characters should exploit this vulnerability while maintaining enough stamina for them to run just in case the dragon uses its airborne attack.

Ranged characters should stay at medium range so they can run towards the dragon, past its head to avoid getting killed by the fire. Don't be greedy with your attacks; keep an eye on the dragon's movements and your character's stamina then attack only when needed. You should be able to defeat the ancient dragon and take home a huge amount of souls.