Progress route as intended

[Wikingking]

So I'm (technically I'm coop, so we are) in Shrine of Amana right now. I'm not saying that the game is coming to an end, but it seems like there was a paradigm shift around Iron Keep and enemies and areas seem to be "late game" now. That's why I'm curious about when should I play the DLC's (in what order) and how do I progress for optimal ending. Please don't spoil any late game storyline because this is my first playthrough. What I want is to get the optimal ultimate ending (if there's such thing, I don't know if there are multiple endings or not) with "bonfire guy" as final boss. I know that you can do the DLC's after defeating Nashandra but it seems more fitting for me to do them before though I'm not sure when should I do them and I don't want to end up being in a final boss sequence with point of no return. But any advice for an order of playthrough will be much appriciated!

[Shironagi]

Well in general you can do them as soon as you've unlocked them in terms of difficulty i'd say shrine of amana is round the time to do them but. In the story mode you'd do Gulch - Shulva, Iron Keep - Brume Tower and then Shrine of Winter - Eleum.

Actually it'd be midway through Drangleic Castle - Eleum Loyce.

It depends on when you get the DLC Keys, Majula Pit (which requires a key from the Gulch) The fire Salamander pit in FOTFG (you can actually get this key first and on your first visit) and then the Key in Drangleic found via i believe natural progression through the room with 6 doors and 5 Ruin sentinels.

[Wikingking]

Originally posted by Shironagi:

Well in general you can do them as soon as you've unlocked them in terms of difficulty i'd say shrine of amana is round the time to do them but. In the story mode you'd do Gulch - Shulva, Iron Keep - Brume Tower and then Shrine of Winter - Eleum.

Actually it'd be midway through Drangleic Castle - Eleum Loyce.

It depends on when you get the DLC Keys, Majula Pit (which requires a key from the Gulch) The fire Salamander pit in FOTFG (you can actually get this key first and on your first visit) and then the Key in Drangleic found via i believe natural progression through the room with 6 doors and 5 Ruin sentinels.

Thank you for your answer! Should I do the DLC's in order of naturally finding the "gates" of each of them or any random order would do?

[Shironagi]

I'd say natural order as the difficulty ramps exponetially with each. Brume Tower has the Toughest boss in the entire series in my opinion.

Start with Shulva which is accessed from the room behind Rotten.

[Wikingking]

Originally posted by Shironagi:

I'd say natural order as the difficulty ramps exponetially with each. Brume Tower has the Toughest boss in the entire series in my opinion.

Start with Shulva which is accessed from the room behind Rotten.

Ok, thanks! Yes, I'm looking forward to meet Fume Knight. Or on second thought, no...I'm not :)

[TrueArchery]

Yes, there are indeed 2 endings. 1 of them is always available, but the second one requires a short questline to be unlocked.
You've to kill a certain someone in the next area after the Shrine of Amana in order to trigger Aldia (= the bonfire guy) as the endboss before fighting the "normal" endboss. He'll tell you what to do, just listen to Aldia!

For your sanity's sake, collect 4 Souls of a Giant before attempting to kill said certain someone. You can get them later, after getting a key-item that lets you enter the giant-statues in the Forest of Fallen Giants. 2 of these souls are located elsewhere.

[thisPineapple]

Just complete the normal game, and then do the DLCs, feels way better that way. Shulva first (The Beggining), then Brume Tower (The Challenge), and for last Eleum (The Epic Ending). In this order you're also doing from

worst to best (IMO)
and from
easiest to hardest

Eleum is kinda of the level of difficulty of Brume Tower, maybe a bit harder, but has you do Brume Tower before Eleum it's like Brume was harder.
All the DLC are harder than any part of the normal game, it also has the best boss fights.

Hope you enjoy.

[Juno Brier]

Originally posted by TrueArchery:

For your sanity's sake, collect 4 Souls of a Giant before attempting to kill said certain someone. You can get them later, after getting a key-item that lets you enter the giant-statues in the Forest of Fallen Giants. 2 of these souls are located elsewhere.

To be more specific, there's 5 Souls of a Giant obtainable in a single playthrough. Three are located within the giant trees (one of which contains an item needed to fight the regular final boss), one is obtained from defeating two hidden enemies in Black Gulch, and one is obtained from beating what is probably the hardest boss in the game so don't bother with that fifth one.

Each Soul of a Giant you have, up to the fifth one, reduces the defense of the boss that you need to beat to fight the extra final boss. These souls carry over between playthroughs.

[Wikingking]

You guys are so kind for not spoiling Vendrick's name :D I may have been a little more cautious with my original question than I intended to be :) I know quite some thing about this game, my ingame:wikia ratio is around 2:1 ;) I just wanted to know if I miss anything or is there a secret ending unlocked by grinding or some other action, and of course also the time those DLC's should be played.
But thanks for every answer, I praise the Sun for such comrades every day :)