100% Achievement Guide: Dark Souls - Remastered

This is a comprehensive 100% Achievement guide detailing a step-by-step walkthrough to take you from 0 all the way to 100%. If you are looking for a particular Achievement or Collectible, use Ctrl+F & type it into the search bar for more direct help.

I run support & debug help on all my guides. If you have any questions, problems, or find errors in the guide itself, do not hesitate to leave me a comment & I will get back to you as soon as I am able to. Happy Hunting!

Introduction:

Achievement Breakdown: (41)
Story Related: (16)
Covenants: (9)
Collectibles: (4)
Upgrades: (10)
Slay: (2)

To achieve 100% in Dark Souls we will have to complete two full playthroughs & a half playthrough of the game all on the same character (NG++). Certain Rare Weapons can only be made using multiple copies of the same Boss Soul, which we only get one of per playthrough. There are no missable Achievements in the game per say, however a lot of the Items or Covenants are tied to completing specific events at a specific time. If you miss a Covenant or Item during one of the playthroughs, be sure to remember it for the next one.

While Class & play style do not matter (build your Character however you like), we DO in fact need at least 10 Intelligence (then later 15 Intelligence) to speak to two Merchants that sell Sorceries we will need, so be sure to keep that in mind. As well, we need to have 25 Faith to be able to join the Warrior of Sunlight Covenant. 15 Intelligence & 25 Faith… good thing we have to go through so many playthroughs of the game. Focus on getting the 15 Intelligence first, then the 25 Faith. Note that if you play Online, being Summoned into another Player’s World & successfully defeating a Boss with them will reduce this Faith requirement by 5. If you have 10 Faith, you only need to defeat three Bosses in jolly cooperation to join the Warriors of Sunlight.

For certain Rare Weapons, Covenant Items, & Titanite; we will need to do A LOT of farming. Increasing your Item Discovery will greatly improve your odds of receiving the Items you are hoping for. The Covetous Gold Serpent Ring or the Symbol of Avarice are two Items we can equip to increase Item Discovery. Note that they do not stack in Dark Souls 1! The only other thing we can do to increase Item Discovery is having “Soft” Humanity in our possession. We have a base of 100 Item Discovery; the Gold Serpent Ring & Symbol of Avarice will individually increase it by 200. Then having “Soft” Humanity will increase Item Discovery by an odd metric. At 10 “Soft” Humanity (when its benefits plateau) we get an increase of 110 Item Discovery. Having one of the two Items equipped, plus 10 “Soft” Humanity will net us a max of 410 Item Discovery. Keep this in mind as we play. Being Human or Hollow does not alter Item Discovery.

Certain Spells can be bought from Merchants at our leisure so long as they remain alive. I usually farm Souls & buy them once they become available, but there is no reason why you have to. You can wait until the end of the game when we reach the best farming Areas for the fastest way to obtain them if you wish.

Unfortunately, some Rare Weapons & Spells are tied to Ranking Up in certain Covenants. We must offer specific Items to Rank Up in Covenants, typically, these are received by completing Online Summoning events associated with the Covenant. Alternatively, these Items can all be farmed off enemies Offline, but this can be a very time-consuming process. If you are Online inclined, this process may be a lot faster for you. Keep in mind though that Online play is Level dependant; you will have more success if your Character Level is low rather than being ludicrously high. If you are not Online inclined, do not worry, neither am I. I will explain how to accomplish both when it becomes relevant.

There is a great DLC for Darks Souls, but it does not influence any of the Achievements. Even with the addition of Dark Souls: Remastered, the DLC still does not contribute to Achievements. This means we do not need any of the Sorceries, Miracles, Pyromancies, or Rare Weapons to get their respective Achievements in the Base Game. While I will not cover it in the guide, I highly recommend playing through the DLC as it is absolutely amazing!

This is an Open World game; you may earn some Achievements/Items sooner or later in the guide then I did depending on how you approach Areas. Just be mindful if venturing ahead of Boss fights as completing these usually progresses NPC Questlines & could void them if you are not careful.

Unfortunately, this is not a 100% completion guide, only a 100% Achievements guide. There are a lot of Weapons, Armor, or Questlines that this guide does not cover if it is not specifically tied to an Achievement. While this we do explore the majority of the game, there are still many secrets left uncovered.

For those interested, here is an organized list of all the Achievements/Secret Achievements. This is how I derive my Achievement Breakdowns & the first reference I create before I begin my 100% journeys. The Checklist also includes details on Weapon Reinforcement, Boss Weapon Acensions, & Titanite Farming.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2672560105

*Guide contains major spoilers.

Sequence 1: Prepare to Die

1. NG – Northern Undead Asylum, Firelink Shrine, Undead Burg
2. Pyromancies: 0/19
3. Sorceries: 0/24
4. Miracles: 0/23
5. Rare Weapons: 0/50
6. Achievements: 4/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Create your Character however you like; your starting Class gives you minor bonuses but is ultimately irrelevant. It basically will just give you a plus or minus edge in early game. Note that we will eventually need to chip away at getting our Intelligence to 15 & our Faith to 25 over the course of the game so keep that in mind. The Wanderer & Pyromancer Classes are the best in my opinion having the best stat allocations while being the lowest Level.

As for the starting Gift, it is up to you. The Master Key is by far the most useful/game breaking early on. For natural progression & those who do not take it, I will not choose the Master Key (we can purchase it later on in game). If you do choose the Master Key, you will be able to access Areas sooner then I have listed in the guide. Which is fine, just keep in mind as some things might become out of order for you. I like choosing the Old Witch’s Ring for reasons of Lore…

Hoard all the Titanite & Boss Souls you come across throughout our first playthrough. We will focus on all of the Weapon Reinforcement Achievements as well as crafting all of the Boss Weapons (except Sif’s third Weapon) in NG+. Since Embers do not carry over into NG+, I will only be leaving their locations in those Sequences. If you want to Upgrade specific Weapons early, & need an Embers location, quickly skim down past Sequence 25: NG+ to find them. All Embers can be found at anytime & cannot be missed or voided if you progress too far.

Northern Undead Asylum 1-6:

Achievement #1 – Enkindle: Light Bonfire flame.
Story Related. Make your way through the Undead Asylum & we will find our first Bonfire in a small courtyard outside a church with is doors closed. Light the Bonfire to unlock the Achievement.


Achievement #2 – Estus Flask: Acquire Estus Flask.
Story Related. After our encounter with the Asylum Demon, continue through the Undead Asylum & make your way up to the upper level above the courtyard. After passing through a Fog Gate, we can see an Astoran Knight behind some rubble. Head up some stairs around the corner & an iron ball will fall down them, smashing through the wall behind you.

Pass through the hole in the wall & speak with the Knight to hear the plot of the first story arc of the game. When he finishes, he will give us his trusty Estus Flask, unlocking the Achievement.

Defeat the Asylum Demon & step outside the ruins. Make your way up to the knoll & a Crow of Velka will carry us away to begin our pilgrimage…

Firelink Shrine 1-6:

Achievement #3 – Reach Lordran: Arrive in Lordran.
Story Related. When the Crow takes away from the Asylum it will unceremoniously dump us in Firelink Shrine. When we regain control our Character, the Achievement will unlock.

There are plenty of places we can explore very early on (especially with the Master Key) such as the Catacombs or the New Londo Ruins. For simplicity’s sake, I will save those Areas as they become relevant. But if this isn’t your first tour of DS1, definitely feel free to start exploring around.

The Crestfallen Warrior can be found sitting across from the Firelink Bonfire. He is not associated with any of our Achievements & only provides mocking commentary for our journey.

NPC – Petrus of Thorolund #1: Head up the stairs from the Bonfire & enter the ruins above. Go through the second archway on our right & we can find the NPC Petrus of Thorolund. Petrus is a main Miracle Merchant; we need to eventually collect all 5 of his Miracles for the Prayer of a Maiden Achievement.

Note that we can actually purchase all of the Miracles he sells from a different Miracle Merchant later on in the game. Petrous sells his Miracles at a huge mark up asking for thousands of extra Souls. Unless you need a specific Miracle from him such as Heal or Homeward, I would hold off on buying any of these.


Achievement #4 – Covenant Way of White: Discover Way of White Covenant.
Speak with Petrous & exhaust all of his dialogue. After he gives us the Copper Coin, speak with him again & he will offer to let us join the Way of White Covenant. You do not technically have to join the Covenant, only get to the screen where we have to say “Yes” or No” to join. Getting to this screen will unlock the Achievement.

If you started out as the Cleric Class, you will already be in this Covenant. You still need to discover it from Petrous to unlock the Achievement, however.

That is all we can do for now in Firelink Shrine. I would recommend exploring around the Firelink ruins as there are many secret Items to be found. Dropping down the elevator shaft above where Petrous is will lead you to some Chests… Be very careful in the graveyard!

Undead Berg 1-10:

When you are tired of being killed by Skeletons, return to the Firelink Bonfire & this time head up the cliffside path up towards the aqueduct above to enter Undead Burg.

Undead Burg Bonfire: Progress through Undead Berg until we see the Hellkite Dragon land down momentarily in front of us. Fight off some Hollow Warriors & head up some stairs where a Hollow Soldier with a Crossbow is. From here, turn around & there will be a wooden plank bridge that will lead us to the Undead Burg Bonfire. This Area will mark our first farming location.

Sequence 2: Minotaurs & Dragons

1. NG – Undead Berg
2. Pyromancies: 0/19
3. Sorceries: 0/24
4. Miracles: 0/23
5. Rare Weapons: 1/50
6. Achievements: 4/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Undead Berg 1-10:

NPC – Male Undead Merchant: From the Bonfire, return to the lower square where the Hellkite landed & head across a bridge towards two Spearmen Hollow Soldiers. Roll through some boxes & head downstairs into a small room. From here, head outside onto a balcony where we can find the Merchant sitting beside his wares.

This Merchant sells some incredibly useful Items for us to purchase, these are the: Bottomless Box, Repairbox, Residence Key, Arrows or Bolts, & some new Weapons & Armor. The essential things you need are the Repairbox & Residence Key (even if you have the Master Key, we will still need this Key later on). “Nee hee hee hee hee…”

Key – Residence Key: Purchased from the Male Undead Merchant for 1000 Souls.

As we farm away for Souls for new equipment or Levels, you may notice a small number increasing beside your Health Bar (or it will just be at 00). This is called “Soft” Humanity & it is a currency that is very important in Dark Souls. We need “Soft” Humanity to return us to Human, Kindle Bonfires to increase our Estus Flask uses, & it even increases our Item Discovery. There is a rare chance that you can obtain “Soft” Humanity just by killing enemies, but this only occurs if the Area Boss is still alive. Kill the Area Boss, & we will stop being able to receive “Soft” Humanity & will only be able to obtain it through it by consuming a Humanity Item.

This is another good thing to try to farm for in Areas before killing the Area Boss due to how useful “Soft” Humanity is. Be careful though as it functions like our Souls do; if we die, our “Soft” Humanity will be dropped on our Bloodstain.

Black Knight Encounter #1: Close to the stairs leading up into a tower at the far end of Undead Berg, there will be a set of stairs leading down into a darkened passageway. At the end of the passage will be a Black Knight. This a non-respawnable Mini-Boss who has a rare chance of dropping a Black Knight Sword &/or a Black Knight Shield. These are both Rare Weapons we need for the Knight’s Honor Achievement. If they do not drop, do not worry, there is a respawnable Black Knight near the end of the game we can farm.

When you are done farming in the Berg, head up into the tower & through the Fog Gate to defeat the Taurus Demon. (We can find a hidden Titanite Lizard in some barrels just across from the Fog Gate in the tower).

NPC – Solaire of Astora #1: After defeating the Taurus Demon, enter the next tower & head down some stairs out onto a large bridge. Before going across the bridge, head right instead, down some stairs & we can see a knight staring directly into the sun. This is Solaire. Speak with him, & he will give us the White Soapstone Item.

This will allow us to participate in Online. While Online play can make advancing in certain Covenants quicker, it is not necessary for our 100%. Just user preference.

If you are Human, anytime you see Solaire’s Summon Sign in front of a Boss Room, Summon him. He will reward us with a rare Sunlight Medal which we need to accumulate 10 of for a Covenant. This will reduce the amount we have to farm for later on…

Rare Weapon #1 – Drake Sword: When we go to walk across the bridge, we will be assaulted by the Hellkite Dragon who will take up residence across the bridge. After he lands, quickly run to the center of the bridge & duck right, down some stairs. Here, we can find a passage under the bridge as well as a Ladder Shortcut we can kick down to the Undead Burg Bonfire.

From the Bonfire, return to the Male Undead Merchant & purchase the Short Bow for 1000 Souls & at least 50 Standard Arrows for 500 Souls (100 is a good amount to be safe). You will need at least 7 Strength & 12 Dexterity to use the Short Bow.

Return to that room underneath the bridge now & begin making your way along the underside. Along the right side under the bridge, you can see the tail of the Hellkite dangling off the wall a ways ahead of you. Equip your Short Bow, & begin shooting it in the tail. It takes a bit of practice to hone your eye in. After his tail gets hit, the Hellkite will fly up & land on the bridge above you. It cannot hit us, & will eventually fly back to its resting position… where we will shoot its tail again & again until we literally shoot its tail off & we get this Weapon. With a Dexterity of 15, it took me 16 Standard Arrows to cut the tail off (not counting missed shots).

If you are quick, you can get in an extra shot on its tail while it has landed on the bridge above us. If you are having issues figuring this out, here is a video guide by GameFront that will show you the gist of what to do.
https://youtu.be/Ek0sSVi8JqU

Though difficult, it is possible to sprint past Hellkite & get inside the gatehouse it guards. Inside, is the Sunlight Altar Bonfire which gives us an easier time exploring this next Area. Otherwise, we have to use the Undead Berg Bonfire which is a longer ways to travel. An easy way to get into the gatehouse is to shoot the Hellkite from the center portion of the bridge where the stairs leading down are. It will fly up & land on the bridge to fight us. As soon as it launches up, sprint as fast as you can for the gatehouse entrance; its easier than you think. Rest at the Bonfire to reset Hellkite. Hellkite will then fly off but is only gone for a few Bonfire rests; he does come back to roost on top of the guardhouse when you least want him too…

Regardless of what you do, head up the ladder from underneath the bridge, or pull the gatehouse Lever Shortcut & we will enter the Undead Parish.

Sequence 3: Knight Lautrec

1. NG – Undead Parish, Firelink Shrine
2. Pyromancies: 0/19
3. Sorceries: 0/24
4. Miracles: 0/23
5. Rare Weapons: 1/50
6. Achievements: 4/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Undead Parish 5-15:

Black Knight Encounter #2: From outside the gatehouse, will be stairs leading up where a Hollow Soldier is. To your right will be a tower with stairs leading up; its basement is where you would come up from underneath the bridge. Follow the stairs up, & we will see a Greatsword Black Knight. If you’re lucky, we have the chance of obtaining the Rare Weapons the Black Knight Greatsword or the Black Knight Shield. If you do not get them, don’t worry; we can farm Black Knights near the end of the game.

Key – Mystery Key: After defeating the Fang Boar Mini-Boss, head down the stairs into a dingy basement full of Hollows. Go up some stairs onto a floor with some benches & a rust ladder leading up. To the left of the ladder, are some stairs leading to a small landing where we can find a Corpse with this Key on it.

We will want this Key to free an NPC later on…

Key – Basement Key: Navigate your way through the Undead Parish until you are at the front entrance of a large church (not the side entrance). From the front entrance, turn around & walk down some stairs until you are on the other side of the gate where the Fang Boar used to guard. Behind the gate will be a Corpse holding this Key; this will lead us into lower Undead Berg & eventually to the Depths…

NPC – Andre of Astora #1: Before entering the church itself, leave the front entrance & navigate around the side of the church where three Hollow Soldiers will be. From the side church entrance, turn around to see a bridge leading off towards some distant ruins. Follow the rings of a beating hammer, down the stairs to find the Undead Parish Bonfire.

Head down the stairs from the Bonfire, & we will find a bare-chested blacksmith called Andre of Astora who sells many useful Items. Most notably are the Weapon Smithbox, Armor Smithbox, & the Crest of Artorias. The Smithboxes are very convenient to own; the Crest of Artorias will also make farming for Souls extremely convenient. The Smithboxes I would get as you can afford them; the Crest of Artorias we can collect later.

NPC – Siegmeyer of Catarina #1: If you are explorative, you may find a strange onion knight sitting outside of the closed gates of what will be Sen’s Fortress. This Siegmeyer, we will need to complete his Questline to obtain a rare Titanite Slab for our Weapon Reinforcements.

Useful Item – Firekeeper Soul: Inside the Undead Parish church, we can find a Firekeeper Soul on a Corpse upon an altar at the back guarded by a Tower Knight. There are no Achievements related to these however they are extremely helpful to find. We can bring these Souls to Anastacia of Astora below the Firelink Shrine Bonfire & she will Upgrade our Estus Flask so that it heals more Health.

We can reinforce our Estus Flask 7 times & it will carry over into subsequent playthroughs.

Channeler Encounter #1: In the Undead Parrish church, we can encounter a non-respawnable Channeler on its second floor. Channelers have a 1% chance to drop the Channeler’s Trident which is a Rare Weapon.

We can farm Channelers in the Duke’s Archives later on…

The Fog Gate up the rusty ladders close to the Channeler will take us to the Area Boss for Undead Parrish. For now, let’s leave it be so that we can still get some “Soft” Humanity from the enemies here. We have a few errands to run…

NPC – Lautrec of Carim #1: From the second floor where we fought the Channeler, head up the next set of stairs around the church to the third floor, it is guarded by a Balder Knight. Walk around the third floor until you are above where the church front entrance is. Here, we can see two wooden doors set into the stone walls; one is cracked & we can see light through it. Strike the broken door to destroy it & head up the following stairs to reach a cell with a golden knight inside it.

Speak with the knight, Lautrec, & free him from his cell with the Mystery Key. While Lautrec does have a Questline, it has no associated Achievements. What we want from him, is the Ring of Favour & Protection we get from killing him. Lautrec is a challenging foe, but the benefits of the Ring outweigh the difficulties. You can complete Lautrec’s Questline in NG+ if you want his Armor Set. For now, let him go, & we an find him later at Firelink Shrine.

Firelink Shrine:

NPC – Lautrec of Carim #2: Return to the Undead Parish church first floor & we can find an Elevator Shortcut that will lead us back down to Firelink Shrine. With Lautrec free from his cell, we can now find him sitting across from where Firekeeper Anastacia is. Speak with him, & he will give us a free Sunlight Medal as a reward which is a very important Covenant Item we will need for later... With that received, we can now take out Lautrec for his Ring. Either fight him fairly or repeatedly kick him off of the nearby ledge to kill him. If he dies by falling, immediately quit & reload your game & go back to where we found him sitting to find his loot. Be careful if you kill him this way as there is the potential for the his loot to get caught in an unreachable location below us if you are unlucky...

The Return to the Northern Undead Asylum: Head back to the elevator that leads to Undead Parish & pay attention as it goes up. Look behind us as it ascends & we can see the wall will give way to open air near the bottom of the shaft, where there will be a floor we can drop off onto out towards the ruins. Do so, & skirt your way onto a grassy cliff edge to your right. From here, leap across the gap towards the Firelink ruins onto the furthest stone archway to the right. This can be a challenging jump.

Optional Key – Undead Asylum F2 West Key: Walk along the arch in through an open window, & we will be inside a broken tower above the Firelink ruins. Follow some stairs up, & we can see a Corpse on top of the stone roof top where Petrous is below that holds the Key. Leap off the stairs onto the roof & loot the Corpse; this will let us collect a very useful Ring in the Undead Asylum.

Return to the stairs & continue up them until you come across the Crow of Velka’s nest. Approach the nest, & “Curl up like a ball”. Wait like this for a minute or so, & the Crow will take us back from whence we came.

Sequence 4: The Bell of Awakening

1. NG – Northern Undead Asylum, Undead Parish
2. Pyromancies: 0/19
3. Sorceries: 0/24
4. Miracles: 0/23
5. Rare Weapons: 3/50
6. Achievements: 5/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northern Undead Asylum:

When we return to the Asylum, we will notice things are a little different, & new enemies will have appeared. Stepping into the center of the Boss Room we fought the Undead Asylum in will drop us into a lower chamber where the optional Stray Demon Boss is. This is a very difficult Boss & should be left until later in the game; it has no associated Achievements though does drop a Titanite Slab which we will eventually come back here to collect…

Rare Weapon #2 – Crest Shield: From the Undead Asylum Bonfire, head up the stairs to where we found the Knight of Astora in Sequence 1. When we go to enter his room, he will come charging out; he has gone Hollow. Defeat him, & he will drop this Shield for us to pick up as a reward.

Useful Item – Rusted Iron Ring: Head up the stairs from where the iron ball rolls down into the wall & carry on past where we drop down into the Asylum Demon’s Boss Room. In the next room over will be two Hollow Soldiers & a locked door. Use the Undead Asylum F2 West Key to unlock the door & proceed into the small side room. We can find this Ring on a Corpse hanging from on top of some broken stairs.

Black Knight Encounter #3-4: Backtrack through the Asylum, & we can find two Sword Black Knights here as well. One will be in the corridor where we collected our Class Weapons, & the other will be standing in front of where our old cell is. Both have a rare chance of dropping the Black Knight Sword & the Black Knight Shield.

Key – Peculiar Doll: We can find this Doll on a Corpse inside our old cell. This Item is important to access a secret Area later on in the game…

That is all that there is here in the Undead Asylum. Save Stray Demon for when you are stronger, & return to Firelink Shrine.

Undead Parrish:

When you are ready, return to the Undead Parrish church & make your way up into the rafters using the rusty ladders. If you are Human, you can summon Solaire of Astora or Knight Lautrec of Carim (if you kept him alive).

Summoning Solaire of Astora for the Boss fight will reward us with a Sunlight Medal; a Covenant Item we need to accumulate 10 of for the Prayer of a Maiden Achievement.

Rare Weapon #3 – Gargoyle Tail Axe: Pass through the Fog Gate at the top of the Undead Parish church & walk onto the roof to trigger the Bell Gargoyle boss fight. As soon as it appears, make a point of going for its tail & focus all of your attacks on it. After enough hits are landed on it, the tail will bust off & we will receive this Rare Weapon.

There is a slim chance this Rare Weapon will drop after defeating the Bell Gargoyle, even if its tail is uncut. Since it is not guaranteed, make a point of cutting it off. We do fight two non-respawning Bell Gargoyle later on in a different Area, but since we can “reset” this Boss by dying, it is ideal trying to get the Tail Axe here. Though we will have to fight this Bell Gargoyle Boss every single playthrough…

The Gargoyle’s Halberd & the Gargoyle’s Shield do not count towards the Knight’s Honor Achievement.


Achievement #5 – Ring the Bell (Undead Church): Ring Bell of Awakening at Undead Church.
Story Related. After defeating the Bell Gargoyle, make your way up to the Bell Tower at the top of the Undead Parish church. Pull the Lever to ring the Bell of Awakening & unlock the Achievement.

NPC – Oswald of Carim #1: When we ring the Bell of Awakening, climb down the ladder to the bottom of the Bell Tower & we will find a strange man in black here. This is Oswald, another NPC with a very distinct laugh… He sells Miracle #3 – Karmic Justice for a whopping 40,000 Souls. While you could grind Souls for it, it is unadvisable right now. Just remember his location, & do not kill him. We will return here later on when we have better farming locations.

Oswald also sells Purging Stones for 3000 Souls a piece. Though expensive, these are extremely useful Items to have on your person as they will absorb Curse from you. Curse, if you die by it, will permanently halve your Health until you can get it removed by Oswald or by consuming a Purging Stone. One of the upcoming Areas, The Depths, has enemies that can Curse us so it is best to be prepared.

Sequence 5: Shadows of Oolacile

1. NG – Darkroot Garden
2. Pyromancies: 0/19
3. Sorceries: 0/24
4. Miracles: 0/23
5. Boss Souls: 1/16
6. Rare Weapons: 5/50
7. Achievements: 6/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darkroot Garden 10-20:

Head to the Undead Parish Bonfire, & follow the stairs down into the basement of the ruins. Here will be a large Titanite Demon; these statues have a chance to drop the Titanite Catch Pole, but it is not required for the Knight’s Honor Achievement. Slay the Titanite Demon & step outside the ruins to enter fabled Darkroot Garden.

Darkroot Garden Bonfire: Make your way through Darkroot Garden & you will reach a junction when we come across a pool of water. Take the pathway along the cliffs to the left, & follow the trail along until it ends at a sealed gateway. This is what we need the Crest of Artorias to open. To the left of the gateway, will be a stone wall that has a doorframe filled in by bricks. Strike the doorframe to reveal an illusionary wall & the Darkroot Garden Bonfire.

Rare Weapon #4 – Stone Greatshield: From the Darkroot Garden Bonfire, return to the sealed gateway & this time head to its immediate right to see a side path leading down further into the forest. Pass through a Fog Gate & we will enter a small grove that will have five Great Stone Knights in it.

They have a 2% chance to drop the Stone Greatshield as well as the Stone Greatsword. We need both for the Knights Honor Achievement. Grind out these two Rare Weapons or remember their location for late when you have more Item Discovery or “Soft” Humanity.

Rare Weapon #5 – Stone Greatsword: Dropped by Great Stone Knights in Darkroot Garden. This Weapon can also be purchased from the NPC Shiva of the East when we meet him in Blighttown for 15,000 Souls if we are a member of the Forest Hunter Covenant.

If you look to the right of where we entered this grove, there will be a strange tree set into the cliff wall. Look closely & you will see that it moves. Kill the tree, & it will reveal a secret passage that will take us to some loot & an additional Great Stone Knight to add to our farming run.

Key – Crest of Artorias: Farming the 20,000 Souls off the Great Stone Knights is a good way to kill two birds with one stone. We will need this Key to progress further into Darkroot Garden.

Boss Soul #1 – Soul of the Moonlight Butterfly: After you are done farming, for one reason or another, carry on to the back of the grove & enter the small ruins at the far-right side. Take the stairs up & we will reach the Fog Gate for the Moonlight Butterfly Boss. Out last its magical bombardments & wait for it to land on the bridge when you can get your strikes in. We will receive this Boss Soul from it when it is defeated; do not consume this Soul!

If you are Human, we can find a Summon Sign for the NPC, Witch Beatrice, underneath the stairs leading up to the Fog Gate; she will destroy the boss… She is very handy to Summon & can almost solo the fight. If we do Summon her here, we can Summon her later on for the Four Kings Boss (who is the most difficult Boss in the Base Game in my opinion) & will make the battle a bit easier.

Key – Watchtower Basement Key: When the Moonlight Butterfly is defeated, carry on across the bridge into the tower at the far side. Head up the stairs & we can see a petrified blacksmith. Pillage his Corpse for the Watchtower Basement Key & the Divine Ember. Don’t ask me why he looks identical to Andre of Astora…

We can use this key in Darkroot Basin to acquire a very useful Ring.

Farming the Forest Hunters: With the Crest of Artorias, place it into the sealed gateway to unlock it, opening up the second half of Darkroot Garden. Shortly after entering this Area, we will be accosted by members of the Forest Hunter Covenant. There are a set four NPCs that will respawn with another three NPCs that do not, making seven in total we have to fight off. These NPCs are an amazing way to farm for Souls if you want Level ups, Petrous’s Miracles, or other Weapons/Armor. Joining the Forest Hunter Covenant will make them neutral, & they will not be hostile to us anymore.

If you are playing Online, this Area is extremely challenging as other Players can Invade your world here. It is recommended you switch to Offline play.

There is an easy way to bait the Forest Hunters off of the cliff where we enter this Area making farming them very easy. This video guide by Silent Gonzalez will show you how if you do not already know of this strategy.
https://youtu.be/Cp6IKCG1U8U


Achievement #6 – Covenant Forest Hunter: Discover Forest Hunter Covenant.
When you are tired of fighting these Forest Hunters, make your way through the forest close to the cliff edge to your left & there will be some ruins at the far side. Enter into the first building & you can see a bridge leading out to the third half of Darkroot Garden. Before crossing the bridge, look up to your left to see the monstrous grey cat Alvina. Speak with her & she will ask us if we want to join the Forest Hunters. Say “Yes” & we will receive the Joining Screen, unlocking the Achievement.

That is all we need in Darkroot Garden. In this third area across the bridge from Alvina we can find the Stone Knight Set, three Great Feline Mini-Bosses as well as a bridge leading to a large closed set of doors. That door takes us to the Area Boss of Darkroot Garden. Do not enter through the door! We will save that old wolf for much later in the game…

Sequence 6: Dragonslayer

1. NG – Darkroot Basin, Valley of Drakes
2. Pyromancies: 0/19
3. Sorceries: 5/24
4. Miracles: 0/23
5. Boss Souls: 1/16
6. Rare Weapons: 7/50
7. Achievements: 6/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darkroot Basin: 20-30

From the Undead Parish Bonfire, make your way back into Darkroot Garden & when you reach the junction at the pool of water, take the right pathway this time. As we walk down the cliff switchbacks, we can find a pesky Titanite Lizard along the way.

Black Knight Encounter #5: When we reach the bottom of the switchbacks we can go left over towards the lake, or right, backwards along the cliff edge. Follow the cliff edge backwards & there will be another set of switchbacks taking us lower down the basin. Immediately as we start down the switchbacks, we will be ambushed by a Halberd Black Knight. It has a 20% chance to drop its Black Knight Halberd & a 5% chance to drop its Black Knight Shield. Like all Black Knights, we can farm them at the end of the game.

Darkroot Basin Bonfire: We can find the Darkroot Basin Bonfire just behind where the Black Knight was, inside the cliff wall. Ignore the elevator at the back for now.

The Hydra: We must now defeat the hulking 7-headed Hydra in the Darkroot Basin. Quickly dispatch the Crystal Golems & get into the water so that it starts using melee attacks. The Rusted Iron Ring found in the Northern Undead Asylum with the F2 West Key can be very useful for this fight.

Bait the Hydra to use melee attacks & systematically lop its heads off to slay it. Once it is defeated, return to the Darkroot Basin Bonfire to reset the Area. The hardest part is just being able to reach the Hydra in the first place… The head on the far right can be difficult to sever; if all other heads are gone, switch to a ranged Weapon & try shooting it off. Even if it still has health left, if all heads are severed, the Hydra will instantly die.

Useful Item – Havel’s Ring: Note that if you have the Watchtower Basement Key, you can unlock the tower door in the top right corner close to the lake. Here will be an extremely challenging NPC who will reward you with the game breaking Havel’s Ring.

NPC – Dusk of Oolacile #1: After resetting the Area once the Hydra is slain, make your way into the lake & begin following the shallow edges left around it through the water. In the back-left corner of the lake, there will be a hidden tunnel leading into the cliff wall. At the very end of the tunnel, we can see a Golden Crystal Golem. Having the Rusted Iron Ring for this fight is very handy. The Golem will only appear if you have rested at a Bonfire or quit the game & reloaded to reset the Area after killing the Hydra.

Defeat the Golem, & the Princess Dusk of Oolacile will stand in its place. Speak with her & she will ask if we want her assistance by purchasing Sorceries; say “Yes”! Not only will saying no void us from purchasing her Sorceries on this playthrough but it will also lock us out of the DLC. After agreeing to her help, Dusk will vanish.

While Dusk is part of the Artorias of the Abyss DLC, she is still in the Base Game making her Sorceries she sells count towards the Wisdom of a Sage Achievement.

NPC – Dusk of Oolacile #2: If you agreed to Dusk’s assistance, make your way back to the far end of the lake. Close to where the Corpse with the Knight’s Set is; we can find Dusk’s obscured Summon Sign in the water. The Summon Sign is to the left of the Corpse & the only tree close to the water. We do not need to reset the Area or be Human for it to appear. Click the Summon Sign, & Dusk will appear allowing us to purchase her 5 Sorceries.

Sorcery #1 – Cast Light: Purchased from Dusk of Oolacile for 1000 Souls.

Sorcery #2 – Hidden Weapon: Purchased from Dusk of Oolacile for 2000 Souls.

Sorcery #3 – Hidden Body: Purchased from Dusk of Oolacile for 2000 Souls.

Sorcery #4 – Chameleon: Purchased from Dusk of Oolacile for 3000 Souls.

Sorcery #5 – Repair: Purchased from Dusk of Oolacile for 10,000 Souls.

Though you do not need to purchase all her Sorceries straight away, we DO need to collect them before we obtain the Lordvessel near the middle of the game. Once we do, Dusk will disappear into the DLC & her Sorceries will then become for sale by the NPC Elizabeth who is inside the DLC as well. This means you have to enter the DLC to collect the final Sorceries she sells; it is best buying them before then if you plan on skipping the DLC.

Valley of Drakes 50-60:

Return to the Darkroot Basin Bonfire & make your way to the elevator at the back of the cave. Follow it down & we will enter the Valley of Drakes. This is a high Level Area; I don’t recommend trying to fight the Drakes. Run past them where you can as you are probably no where near being even Level 40. Before entering this Area, be sure you have 100+ Arrows with you!

Rare Weapon #6 – Dragon Crest Shield: Run along the cliff ledge to the left & dodge the two Drakes on the way. As you skirt up to a plateau, you will see the top half of a large Undead Dragon. This is a Mini-Boss. There are three Corpses with loot near the Dragon; one near its left hand & two encircled by its right hand & face.

The Undead Dragon will awaken if we make a move on the two it encircles, not the one in its left hand. Unfortunately, both Rare Weapons are on the Corpses it encircles. There are two ways we can go about this: we can run in & try scooping up the Weapons & run, or we can awaken it & kill it using a ranged Weapon if you have the Arrows for it. It will probably take you around 100+ Standard Arrows to kill it, depending on your current Bow & Dexterity. Be warned that the Undead Dragon will stay awake after it is woken up until it is slain.

The Dragon Crest Shield will be on the Corpse that was close to the Undead Dragons right hand.

Rare Weapon #7 – Astora's Straight Sword: The Astora’s Straight Sword can be found on the other Corpse that is close to the Undead Dragon’s head.

That is all we can do here, while there is a secret entrance to Blighttown at the back of the Valley of Drakes… we do not want to go there right now. Use a Homeward Bone or walk out of here back to the Bonfire.

Sequence 7: Vereor Nox

1 NG – Lower Undead Berg, Firelink Shrine
2. Pyromancies: 0/19
3. Sorceries: 5/24
4. Miracles: 0/23
5. Boss Souls: 1/16
6. Rare Weapons: 7/50
7. Achievements: 6/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lower Undead Burg: 25-30

To access the Lower Undead Berg, we need to have collected the Basement Key from outside the Undead Parrish church steps on the other side of the Fang Boar’s gate. With the Key, go to the far end of the Hellkite’s bridge where Solaire is located. Directly across from the stairs we come down from where the Taurus Demon was, there will be a locked door. Open the door & slide down the rusty ladder to enter Lower Undead Berg. We can find a Door Shortcut back to upper Undead Berg immediately to our right up some stairs.

NPC – Griggs of Vinheim #1: If you have not already purchased it, buy the Residence Key from the Male Undead Merchant for 1000 Souls. Even if you have the Master Key, we need the Residence Key for this upcoming door. Fight off the Undead Attack Dogs at the bottom of the stairs & turn right, down the street. Walk along the building walls to our left & we will approach a locked door where a man will call out to us to unlock it. Use the Residence Key & we will find a young sorcerer standing beside some barrels. This is Griggs of Vinheim.

Exhaust his dialogue & he will relocate to Firelink Shrine. He will sell us important Sorceries there, but we need to have at least 10 Intelligence before he does.

Be careful looting the Corpse in the barrel to his right; do not accidentally attack Griggs!

Key – Key to Depths: The Area Boss for the Lower Undead Berg is the vicious Capra Demon. Focus on baiting its Undead Attack Dogs away & kill them first before trying to fend off this monster. It is overall not that challenging of an enemy; however, the dogs & the tight quarters really amplify the difficulty. He hits very hard & will take out most of your stamina if you block his blows.
We do not get a Boss Soul from the Capra Demon, but we do get the Key to Depths which will let us access the next Area.

NPC – Female Undead Merchant #1: Before we enter the Depths, there are some important preparations we need to make. We will be facing environments & enemies that can Poison, Toxic, & Curse us. We can purchase the majority of the Items we need from the Female Undead Merchant who we can find in the Aqueduct Shortcut just across from the entrance to the Depths.

For Poison, we need a good supply of Purple Moss Clumps. These can be purchased for 500 Souls from the Female Undead Merchant or farmed from the Ent enemies in Darkroot Garden. Poison is going to be the main debility we will endure; consider having around 10-20 Purple Moss Clumps.

For Toxic, we need Blooming Purple Moss Clumps. These can purchased from the Female Undead Merchant for 1000 Souls or farmed as a 5% rare drop from Ents. There is only one annoying enemy type that can inflict Toxic on us. They do not respawn when killed, but there enough of them down here that it is a real pain. Consider having at least 5-10 Blooming Purple Moss Clumps.

Lastly, we have Curse which we need those Purging Stones for. While we can purchase Purging Stones from the Female Undead Merchant, she charges 6000 Souls a piece for them. Instead, if you do not have any, travel up to the top of the Undead Parish church to see Oswald of Carim who will only charge us 3000 Souls a piece. You will want at least 2-3 Purging Stones.

At the moment, farming the Forest Hunters in Darkroot Garden is our best source of Souls. Just make sure you leave the Covenant before attacking the NPCs if you ever want to rejoin them later on…

Firelink Shrine:

NPC – Reah of Thorolund #1: (Skippable encounter) With the Aqueduct Shortcut unlocked, quickly run back to Firelink Shrine. When you head over to where Petrous usually stands, you will notice two other Clerics along with a maiden on her knees praying. These are the companions Petrous has been waiting for. Eventually Reah will become our primary Merchant for purchasing Miracles.

They will soon venture off into the Catacombs below Firelink Shrine & disappear where Reah’s Questline will begin.

We can also see that Griggs of Vinheim has relocated to Firelink Shrine; for now, do not worry about buying his Sorceries but make a point of trying to get to 10 Intelligence as we progress.

With all our preparations made, we will now proceed into the Depths. Be warned, we will be traveling very far underground & will not be returning to the surface for a while. Make sure you have wrapped up any unfinished business you still have to do beforehand.

Sequence 8: The Defiled Valley

1. NG – Depths, Blighttown
2. Pyromancies: 1/19
3. Sorceries: 5/24
4. Miracles: 0/23
5. Boss Souls: 1/16
6. Rare Weapons: 7/50
7. Achievements: 6/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Depths 30-35:

NPC – Laurentius of the Great Swamp #1: Make your way down into the Depths & we will enter a grungy food kitchen. Down in its lower level we can find an Undead Butcher massacring a slab of meat. Defeat the Butcher, & we can find the Large Ember inside a Chest to the left of its cutting table.

Carry on through the flooded first floor of the food kitchen & up into the proceeding corridor. We will be ambushed by a second Undead Butcher here. Close to where we were ambushed, there will be some stairs leading up into a storage room. In the far-right corner, we can find a Pyromancer who is trapped in a barrel. Free him by rolling into the barrel, not by swinging your Weapon into it. This is Laurentius of the Great Swamp, one of our main Pyromancy Merchants.

Exhaust his dialogue, & Laurentius will relocate to Firelink Shrine.

Key – Sewer Chamber Key: Carry on down the hallway into the Depths & we will eventually come to a large corridor full of Slimes that ends with a locked door. Behind this door is the Depths Bonfire. If you have the Master Key, you can open this up & gain access to the Bonfire straight away. If not, then you will need to find the Key.

Keep heading down the corridors past the large caged area with the Giant Rat & into the next corridor. Follow the hall to the left & down some stairs where we will be on the other side of the caged area where we can see a Corpse. Fight off the Rats & loot the Corpse through the cage bars to collect this Key.

Useful Item – Spider Shield: Return back up to the food kitchen a drop through the garbage chute behind where the Butcher was to end up above the caged area with the Giant Rat. Walk around to the other side of the walls & we can see a Corpse hanging off the ledge at the far end holding this Shield.

The Spider Shield is extremely useful for the next Area we will enter. It can nullify the Toxic effect of a certain enemies blow darts by blocking them.

Channeler Encounter #2: We have another shot of looting the Channeler’s Trident here in the Depths inside the sewer maze.

From the Sewer Chamber Key side, enter the maze & head straight, then right to find the Fog Gate leading to the Channeler.

Alternatively, from inside the Giant Rat’s cage, enter the maze & turn left, then right, & left again to find the Channeler.

To leave the sewer maze, look for the water drain that does not have water flowing into it; it will just be a square black hole close to a Corpse. Be careful, there are Basilisks at the bottom of this drain. These are the enemies that can inflict Curse upon us if we are caught in their Cursing Gas. Be cautious & be very sure you have Purging Stones just in case!

NPC – Domhnall of Zena #1: After the Basilisk corridors, we will enter a large flooded junction-room. Here, will be a large locked gate, the NPC Merchant Domhnall of Zena, & a Shortcut back to the Depths Bonfire. If you speak to Domhnall & exhaust his one line of dialogue, he will relocate to underneath the aqueduct near Firelink Shrine where the Ring of Sacrifice was after defeating the Gaping Dragon Boss in the Depths.

Domhnall is not needed for any Achievements, however he does sell Boss Armor Sets after they are defeated making him a really cool Merchant. He also sells the Master Key for 5000 Souls once he relocates.

Rare Weapon #8 – Dragon King Greataxe: When you are ready, proceed down the staircases & prepare to fight the Area Boss. If you are Human, we can find the Summon Signs of Solaire of Astora & Knight Lautrec (if you kept him alive). Always make a point of trying to Summon Solaire when he is available as we will receive a Sunlight Medal as a reward for defeating bosses with him.

We need to cut the tail off of the fearsome Gaping Dragon Boss to receive the Dragon King Greataxe. This is not too difficult due to how large the dragon is; stay behind it & keep striking the tail. Focus on the tail cut first so that you do not miss this Weapon. You need to attack the far end of the tail for it to break off; attacking the tail closer to the body count as body shots.
The Gaping Dragon does not give us a Boss Soul.

Key – Blighttown Key: After defeating the Gaping Dragon, we will receive this Key that will give us access to the putrid Blighttown.
Take the Blighttown Key to the closed doors beside Domhnall in the junction-room & enter Blighttown.

Blighttown 35-40:

Blighttown is an extremely difficult Area; this is where all of our Purples Mosses are going to come in handy. If you have the Spider Shield, definitely equip it. It will negate all Poison & Toxic attacks if we block them. The Blow Dart Snipers can instantly make us Toxic if they strike us with one of their darts if we cannot dodge or block them with the Spider Shield.

Pyromancy #1 – Power Within: When you eventually reach the Blighttown Bonfire, make your way along the bridge ahead & we will be attacked by two Flaming Attack Dogs. The bridge will then give way to scaffolding & we can see a monstrous Parasitic Wall Hugger. The Pyromancy we need is just underneath it. To get behind it, we need to climb down the ladder off our right, then down a second ladder to a landing on the scaffolding. We can then take a ramp down to continue on, or climb up a different ladder nearby up to where a Blow Dart Sniper is.

Climb up that ladder & carry on across a rickety bridge inside of the stone walls to our right. Follow the scaffolding inside past an Infested Ghoul, down a ladder, & we will be in behind the Parasitic Wall Hugger. It cannot attack us back here; cut it down. Drop down to the platform below where it was & we can loot a Corpse hanging off of the ledge that holds this Pyromancy.

Blighttown Swamp Bonfire: Continue on down through Blighttown, through the Fog Gate, & down the ladders until you reach the swamp. At the bottom platforms, drop into the poisonous swamp & make your way along the cliff wall to the right; the Rusted Iron Ring is very useful down here. After a short walk, there will be an open drainage pipe to our right where we can enter to find the Blighttown Swamp Bonfire.

Sequence 9: Daughters of Chaos

1. NG – Blighttown
2. Pyromancies: 3/19
3. Sorceries: 6/24
4. Miracles: 0/23
5. Boss Souls: 2/16
6. Rare Weapons: 7/50
7. Achievements: 8/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blighttown:

Pyromancy #2 – Poison Mist: From the Blighttown Swamp Bonfire, look out straight ahead into the swamp & you can see two Giant Mosquitos hovering over the water near some grass. Look past these Mosquitos & you can see a large stone bridge support at the very back of the swamp. Make your way into the swamp towards the bridge support & walk around its left side. Head around the corner, & we can see a Corpse pressed against the wall holding this Pyromancy as well as the Tattered Cloth Set.

This Pyromancy can also be purchased from the Merchant Eingyi for 10,000 Souls.

We are able to head left or right (from the Bonfire), through the Blighttown Swamp. Left will take us towards an Archtree that is actually a mini-dungeon called The Great Hollow. There are things we need to collect down there & an Achievement; however, we will be saving it for our return trip to Blighttown after we have unlocked the ability to Warp between Bonfires. This saves us having to hike all the way back up The Great Hollow to escape it; it is very grueling journey you will not want to do. If you are not convinced, feel free to explore it early, there is nothing voidable down there, so you won’t mess anything up.

Sorcery #6 – Remedy: Follow the swamp around to the right from the Bonfire, sticking close to the wall. A short way over, there will be a wooden ramp & ladder leading up to a turning wheel. Climb up the ladder & step off the ledge above onto one of the platforms attached to the turning wheel; step off at the top. Climb up another ladder & walk left, past a different ladder carrying on up. Head along this floor until we have to cross some roots off our right to get over the gap to the far side. Watch out for Blow Dart Snipers!

Carry on along the right side here & walk past a ladder, carrying on down the scaffolding to the right. At a dead end, we can see a Corpse leaning against the wall beside a Chest. Loot the Chest to collect this Sorcery.

Useful Item – Firekeeper Soul: Backtrack across the roots over to that ladder we walked past when we first got up to this location. Climb up the ladder & walk to the right of yet another ladder leading up (this goes to the Valley of Drakes & the New Londo Ruins Shortcut Key). Fight off a group of Blow Dart Snipers in a stone drainage system off our right. Climb down a ladder it the drainage systems lower level & deal with the Flaming Attack Dogs; we can find the Firekeeper Soul on a Corpse tucked behind a barred drain down a path to our right.

Boss Soul #2 – Soul of Quelaag: It is now time for the Area Boss fight. We can find the entrance to Quelaag’s Domain at the far-right end of the Blighttown Swamp; opposite side as The Great Hollow. If you are Human, when you walk towards Quelaag’s Domain, close to the turning wheel elevator, we will be Invaded by Maneater Mildred. If you defeat her, & are Human still, we can actually find her Summon Sign just outside Quelaag’s Fog Gate. She is worth Summoning for the fight. Defeat Quelaag to acquire her Soul; as always, do not consume this as we need it for Weapon Ascensions!


Achievement #7 – Ring the Bell (Quelaag’s Domain): Ring Bell of Awakening in Quelaag's domain.
Story Related. With Quelaag defeated, carry on through her Boss Room & up the stairs to the final Bell of Awakening. Pull the Lever to ring the Bell, unlocking the Achievement… & Sen’s Fortress.


Achievement #8 – Covenant Chaos Servant: Discover Chaos Servant Covenant.
We are not quite finished down here yet. With the Bell rung, carry on further into the Bell Tower, down the next set of stairs to the basement floor. In the basement will be a strange circular dais & a hole in the wall leading out into the Demon Ruins. When facing the hole in the wall, follow the room around to your right & there will be a wall that isn’t fully covered by Blightpus. Strike the wall & it will disappear, revealing a secret area.

Enter this room & there will be an Egg Carrier that will talk to us named Eingyi. He will ask if we are a new Servant; tell him “Yes” to be allowed to speak with The Fair Lady. The Fair Lady is mute & cannot speak; ask her to “Enter Covenant” & we will receive the Joining Screen, unlocking the Achievement.

If you chose the Old Witch’s Ring as a Starting Gift, we can actually speak with The Fair Lady… & it is very depressing; especially if you have played Dark Souls 3.

Pyromancy #3 – Great Chaos Fireball: We will receive this powerful Pyromancy as a Joining Gift as a Rank 0 Chaos Servant from The Fair Lady.

We eventually need to reach Rank 2 in the Chaos Servants to acquire another Pyromancy. To do this, we will need to offer 30 Humanity which is no small task. Keep this in mind as we play, & hoard as many Humanity & Twin Humanities as you can.

Sequence 10: The Primordial Serpant

1. NG – Blighttown, Firelink Shrine
2. Pyromancies: 6/19
3. Sorceries: 8/24
4. Miracles: 0/23
5. Boss Souls: 2/16
6. Rare Weapons: 7/50
7. Achievements: 8/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blighttown:

NPC – Eingyi of the Great Swamp #1: Now that we are a member of the Chaos Servants, Eingyi is now a Merchant for us. His Pyromancies however, are not available to us yet. We must first do something very disturbing… we need to become infected with the horrendous Blightpus

To do this, leave the Daughter of Chaos Bonfire & make your way out into the Demon Ruins, remove your Helmet, & engage one of the Egg Carriers. We can either attack (without killing) one of the neutral ones near the Bonfire or walk a little ways down the hill to find hostile ones. These enemies have a grab attack that will implant a parasite in your face; we need the Egg Carriers intact, the Parasites that come out of them will just kill you. Once you have received the Egg Carrier’s grab attack animation, reset the Area by resting at a Bonfire. The process of infection takes around 5 minutes. As the minutes go by, your Character will begin scratching at the back of their head. After 5 minutes have passed, the Blightpus will take over… & we will be Egg Head.

Return to Eingyi as an Egg Head to speak with him & he will be very happy. If you never farmed one in the Darkroot Garden, he will give us an Egg of Vermifuge to counteract the Blightpus. Before we do, we can purchase the Pyromancies that he has for sale. Note that he will only sell us Pyromancies while we are infected with Blightpus; if you cannot purchase what we need, you will have to get re-infected on your return.

Pyromancy #4 – Toxic Mist: Purchased from Eingyi while we have contracted the Blightpus for 25,000 Souls.

This is the only Pyromancy we need from him as we already collected Poison Mist in the Blighttown Swamp.

Eingyi also sells Egg of Vermifuge for 1000 Souls each & can also Reinforce our Pyromancy Flame as long as we speak to him while in the Chaos Servant Covenant. This makes him a good backup in case something happened to Laurentius...

Firelink Shrine:

Make the long trek out of Blighttown & back to Firelink Shrine. If you take the wheel elevator, & climb up all the ladders, we can collect the Key to New Londo Ruins & head through the Valley of Drakes back to Firelink Shrine. There is a locked door we can unlock into the New Londo Ruins where we can find an elevator that will take us all the way up to Firelink Shrine.

NPC – Kingseeker Frampt #1: When we return to Firelink Shrine, we can find a... monstrosity that has appeared in the Firelink ruins. Speak with him & respond “Yes” so that we may hear our next quest to fulfil.

Frampt will also “buy Items” from us; he eats them, but we get Souls in return. This is a handy way to get rid of any of your excess Items or Weapon/Armor doubles. Don’t sell any important Souls or Titanite!

NPC – Laurentius of the Great Swamp #2: If you rescued him from the Undead Butcher’s food kitchen in the Depths, Laurentius will relocate to Firelink Shrine after we kill Quelaag. We can find him outside the Firelink ruins above where the Crestfallen Warrior is. Speak with him, & he will ask if we want to learn Pyromancy from him. Be sure to reply “No” when he asks if we find Pyromancy unsavory.

He will grant us a Pyromancy Flame as well; do not sell this or Discard it! We need a Pyromancy Flame to unlock a different Pyromancy Merchant later on in the game…

Depending on how many times you talk to him, he will ask us about the Chaos Pyromancy we have collected from the Chaos Servant Covenant; tell him “No”. If we tell him where they are, he will leave Firelink Shrine & go Hollow down in Blighttown; there is no benefit to this as he does not drop anything but a few Souls upon death. It will also mean we will be unable to use him to Modify our Pyromancy Flame needed for our next Pyromancy Merchant; we do have Eingyi as an alternative, but Laurentius is a bit more convenient.

Pyromancy #5 – Iron Flesh: Purchased from Laurentius for 2000 Souls.

Pyromancy #6 – Flash Sweat: Purchase from Laurentius for 2000 Souls.

There are only two Pyromancies that have to be purchased from Laurentius, the other three can be purchased later on by our final Pyromancy Merchant. It is best to save those until then as we need to purchase all of her Pyromancies anyways to progress her Questline.

NPC – Griggs of Vinheim #2: While at Firelink Shrine, we can also go & speak with Griggs if you rescued him from the Lower Undead Burg. To purchase Sorceries from him, we need 10 Intelligence. If you have the required Intelligence, reply “Yes” to his proposal & he will now be a Merchant for us.

Note that while he does sell a lot of Sorceries, we only need two from him specifically. The other Sorceries are sold by a different Sorcery Merchant, Big Hat Logan, later on. We need to purchase all of Big Hat Logan’s Sorceries to progress his Questline; we do not need to purchase all of Griggs’.

Sorcery #7 – Aural Decoy: Purchased from Griggs of Vinheim for 1000 Souls.

Sorcery #8 – Fall Control: Purchased from Griggs of Vinheim for 1500 Souls.

If you are not a part of the Covenant, we can farm the Forest Hunter NPCs in Darkroot Garden for the necessary Souls. I do recommend getting these Pyromancies & Sorceries out of the way as we will only have more things to have to purchase & farm for later on in the game.

Useful Item – Master Key: If you do not already have/purchased this Key, make your way up the path from the Firelink Shrine Bonfire over to where the first set of Hollow Warriors is. Over where the lone Hollow Soldier Swordsman is will be the lower ledge of the aqueduct above. Leap over onto the ledge & skirt your way along to the far side where we can find Domhnall of Zena if we spoke with him in the Depths.

We can purchase the Master Key from him from him for 5000 Souls. While none of our Keys carry over into NG+ with us, the Master Key will! This will save us a lot of unnecessary searching in NG+ & will speed our playthrough up significantly.

Sequence 11: Where Good Men Hollow

1. NG – Sen’s Fortress
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 1/6
3. Pyromancies: 6/19
4. Sorceries: 9/24
5. Miracles: 0/23
6. Boss Souls: 3/16
7. Rare Weapons: 7/50
8. Achievements: 8/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sen’s Fortress 40-55:

When you are ready, make your way to the Undead Parish Bonfire & walk across the bridge into Sen’s Fortress. Sen’s Fortress will be the first brick wall/slap in the face you will really notice; the difficulty spikes sharply in this Area. You will want good Armor & an even better Weapon that is dealing at least 200 damage (which basically translates to 50ish damage when you’re actually hitting the enemies because of their damage reduction).

NPC – Siegmeyer of Catarina #2: As we progress through Sen’s Fortress, we will come to a chute that has massive stone boulders rolling down them (it will knock down a Manserpent when we first encounter it). Quickly run down the chute to the right, then round the corner left to find a narrow walkway with two Manserpent Soldiers & Siegmeyer. Speak with him, & he will explain to us… that he is stuck.

Sorcery #9 – Hush: Pass through the Fog Gate & head down the corridor until we hit the next boulder chute. When the boulder passes, quickly sprint up the stairs to our right then drop off the side to the left about halfway up to land on a wooden platform with a Manserpent Mage on it.
Take out the Manserpent & head through the passage leading underneath the stairs we ran up to drop here. Walk up some stairs, over an iron grate, & we can see a Corpse lying on the ground that has the Black Sorcerer Set & this Sorcery.

This Sorcery can also be collected from Griggs… if you kill him.

Useful Item – Covetous Golden Serpent Ring: After collecting Hush, back track to where we fought the Manserpent Mage on the wooden platform & drop down onto the stairs. Quickly sprint your way down to the bottom & get in cover from the boulders. Two things can happen when you get here: the first is there is a hole in the wall leading straight ahead or second, there is just a wall with a hole in the floor in front of it instead. If the wall is still intact, hide around the corner & wait for the hole in the floor to slowly fill up with boulders. After three boulders have filled the hole, the fourth will come smashing through the wall ahead. If boulders are no longer coming down the stairs to breach the wall, use a Homeward Bone (or die) to return to a Bonfire to reset the Area.

We can find this extremely useful farming Ring on a Corpse hanging off the railing to our right through the smashed wall.

Reinforcement Weapon #1 – Lightning Spear: Return back to the bottom of the boulder chute from the breached wall & enter through the passage off our right. Immediately you will see a Chest ahead of you; but be warned, do not open the Chest as this is our first Mimic encounter! Slay the Mimic & it will drop the Lightning Spear.

Using the Lightning Spear makes getting the Lightning Weapon Achievement much faster as this Weapon is already imbued with Lightning, savings us Titanite we have to farm. Do not sell this Weapon!

NPC – Big Hat Logan #1: If you happened to either purchase the Mas.ter Key or choose it as a Starting Gift, we can bypass a bit of backtracking in Sen's Fortress. At the boulder mechanism, adjust the Lever so that the boulders shoot down the pathway where that one Manserpent Soldier was sleeping against the wall. Look for the health bar appearing to show that the boulder has struck the Manserpent, & turn the Lever to fire the boulders a different way.

Head down the stairs now towards that Manserpent & you will see the wall behind him has been smashed apart. Three cages down the walkway off your right we can find a Sorcerer… with a big hat. Use the Master Key to set him free & he will relocate to Firelink Shrine; if you do not have the Master Key, we will need to locate & use the Cage Key which we can find shortly.

This is the NPC we need at least 15 Intelligence to buy Sorceries from…

Sen’s Fortress Bonfire: Carry on through Sen’s Fortress past the boulder mechanism until you walk through a Fog Gate into the second half of the Fortress outside. We can find the Sen’s Fortress Bonfire up two sets of stairs to our left then to our right, through a hole in the railing where a Giant starts lobbing explosive clay balls at us.

NCP – Crestfallen Merchant #1: Return back to where we were & continue up the stairs of the Fortress until we reach a long stone walkway. In the center of the walkway will be a T-junction; right leads further into the Fortress while left appears broken. Leap across the broken gap & enter the tower on the other side. Inside on the top floor we can find the Crestfallen Merchant. While not that important right now, he is a big alternative when it comes to farming for Titanite as he sells Green Titanite Shards.

Key – Cage Key: From the Crestfallen Merchant, head down the stairs of the tower to the bottom floor where we can find a Manserpent Mage. Slay it & it will drop the Cage Key.

NPC – Big Hat Logan #1.5: With the Cage Key (unless you had the Master Key) back track to the boulder mechanism room, use it to destroy the lower wall, & free Big Hat Logan so he relocates to Firelink Shrine.

Boss Soul #3 – Core of An Iron Core Golem: That is all we need to do here in Sen’s Fortress. Make your way to the top of the Fortress & prepare to fight the Area Boss. If you are Human, walk into the tower across the walkway to the Fog Gate’s right & we can find the Summon Sign of Iron Tarkus. He has been known to solo this Boss he is that good.

If you can get the Golem near a ledge & stagger it, it also has a chance of completely falling off the map.

After the Iron Golem is defeated, examine the ring of light in the center of the Boss Room to carry on. Once again, we will be leaving the surface Area for a little while; but don’t worry, we get the Bonfire Warp ability in this next Area.

Sequence 12: The City of Gods

1. NG – Anor Londo
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 3/6
3. Pyromancies: 6/19
4. Sorceries: 10/24
5. Miracles: 0/23
6. Boss Souls: 3/16
7. Rare Weapons: 11/50
8. Achievements: 9/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anor Londo 55-65:

Achievement #9 – Reach Anor Londo: Arrive in Anor Londo.
Story Related. This Achievement will unlock as soon as we regain control of our Character after the Batwing Demon’s rudely drop us in Anor Londo.

Anor Londo Bonfire: Make your way down the stairs & past the first Sentinel out into the large courtyard. From here, head left, down some stairs into a small room with the Anor Londo Bonfire & where the Lady of the Darkling is. She is tied to the Blades of the Darkmoon Covenant but is not really relevant… unless you betray them. She is in fact a Fire Keeper however & will drop a Soul if killed; save this for after we betray the Covenant though.

Reinforcement Weapon #2 – Crystal Halberd: Exit the Bonfire room, & head left out of the courtyard into another room with two Sentinels. There are two Chests in the room as well; our Weapon is in the Chest on the right, but be careful as it is another Mimic!

Using the Crystal Halberd makes getting the Crystal Weapon Achievement much faster as this Weapon is already imbued with Crystal, savings us Titanite we have to farm. Do not sell this Weapon!

Bell Gargoyle Encounter #1: If you accidentally missed the Rare Weapon the Bell Gargoyle’s Tail-Axe when we fought it in Undead Parish, then you are in luck. Take the circular elevator down into the lower area & we will be ambushed by a Bell Gargoyle as a Mini-Boss. We have another attempt at trying to get it tail-cut; this Gargoyle does not respawn when killed.

The Cathedral Chandelier: To progress onwards, we are going to have to do some platforming. Turn around & face the stairs that lead up to the elevator we came down. From here, drop off the ledge to our right & begin walking up the shingled archway up to a balcony of an adjacent cathedral. Inside, fight off some Painting Guardians & make your way over the rafters of the cathedral to the center where we can find a chain holding up a chandelier. Strike the chain, & the chandelier will fall to the ground below where we can find it later on…

Bell Gargoyle Encounter #2: Pass through the Fog Gate at the far end of the cathedral rafters & we will be able to access a Lever activated elevator. Approach the elevator & pull the Lever to drop the elevator down a floor. We can find another Bell Gargoyle on the far side of where we fought the last one.

Darkmoon Tomb Bonfire: Push the elevator Lever one more time to drop it to its lowest point. Follow the stairs down to the very bottom & we can find the Darkmoon Tomb Bonfire. We need this Bonfire lit so we can Warp back here later on.

Sorcery #10 – Great Magic Weapon: Head back up the elevator steps & now enter the lower floor of the cathedral. If you cut the chandelier chain in the rafters, we can loot this Sorcery off a Corpse near where it hit the floor.

Rare Weapon #9 – Black Iron Greatshield: In the very far left corner of the cathedral we can find a Corpse guarded by Painted Guardians. This Shield will be on it as well as the very useful Black Iron Set.

Entrance to the Painted World: Here at the back of the cathedral you will notice a large Painting. Stay away from it for now! Since we have the Peculiar Doll already, we will get transported & trapped in the secret area the Painted World of Ariamis if we examine the Painting. To exit, we will have to kill the Area Boss who is nice to keep alive while we farm for Covenant Items there so we can also get “Soft” Humanity at the same time. For now, just leave the Painting be.

Palace Bonfire: When you are ready, carry on up the palace steps & make your way through the most difficult section of the game: the Dragonslayer Silver Knight walkway. While a good Shield may be handy, you are better off going light & fast; dodging the Dragonslayer Arrows as they come. When you get up to where the Silver Knights are, quickly strafe left & dispatch the first knight in cover from the second knight. Riposting is very handy if you can pull it off. With the first knight dead, very carefully run along the roof towards the second knight.

NPC – Solaire of Astora #2: With both Dragonslayer Silver Knights dispatched, pass through the Fog Gate & enter the palace’s east wing. We can find Solaire resting at the Palace Bonfire in the first room off our left when we enter. Exhaust his dialogue, & we will be able to Summon him for the Area Boss for Anor Londo.

Covenant Item – Sunlight Medal x3: We can find 3 Sunlight Medals in a Chest over in the room directly across from where the Bonfire is here; it is guarded by a Spear Silver Knight.

Looting this Chest again in NG+ means we only need to get 4 extra Sunlight Medals from Solaire or by farming.

Reinforcement Weapon #3 – Occult Club: Carry on past the stairs in the center of this floor over to the far end where another two doors will be. Open the door on the left side & enter a small storage room. Approach the stone fireplace & strike its back wall to reveal a secret staircase going down into a dark basement. In the far top left corner from where we enter, we can find 5 Chests; 4 will be in clusters of two while 1 will be off on its own. This more isolated Chest is a Mimic. Defeat the Mimic & we can receive this Reinforcement Weapon.

Using the Occult Club makes getting the Occult Weapon Achievement much faster as this Weapon is already imbued with Occult, savings us Titanite we have to farm. Do not sell this Weapon!

Rare Weapon #10 – Dragon Tooth: From the Mimic Chest with the Occult Club, work your way along the wall of Chests & this Weapon will be in the first Chest.

Rare Weapon #11 – Havel's Greatshield: This Shield can be found in the next Chest right beside the Chest containing the Dragon Tooth.

NPC – Siegmeyer of Catarina #3: As we progress through the palace, we will eventually climb up to its rooftop where we can see a Sword Silver Knight off our left & a Dragonslayer Silver Knight straight ahead of us. Go towards the Silver Knight off our left & head down the stairs it was guarding. At the bottom, we can see Siegmeyer standing near a window; he has been repelled by three Silver Knights in the next room.

Enter the room & lure the Silver Knights away one by one to dispatch them safely. When they are defeated, return to Siegmeyer & he will reward us with the Tiny Being’s Ring. This encounter is not skippable & is required to progress his Questline.

Sequence 13: The Lordvessel

1. NG – Anor Londo, Firelink Shrine
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 3/6
3. Pyromancies: 6/19
4. Sorceries: 10/24
5. Miracles: 1/23
6. Boss Souls: 4/16
7. Rare Weapons: 16/50
8. Achievements: 11/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anor Londo:

Rare Weapon #12 – Dragonslayer Greatbow: When you eventually enter the massive front entrance to the palace there will be steps leading down towards Royal Sentinels (& the front Gates Shortcut) & steps leading up to an observation balcony. Quickly go & open the front Gates Shortcut & then make your way back up to the top of the observation balcony. From the balcony, look along the back wall with the stained-glass windows to see that one has been broken. Crawl through the broken window & carefully make your way down the outside of the palace entrance. Around the corner, drop off over a spined iron railing where we can find a Corpse holding this Bow hanging off of the ledge we drop onto.

NPC – Giant Blacksmith #1: From where we drop down off the ledge after collecting the Dragonslayer Greatbow, we can hear the sounds of hammering. Get past the Bat Wing Demons & enter a nearby tower where we can find the Giant Blacksmith.

Not only does he sell extremely useful Titanite, but this is also the Blacksmith we will be bringing our Boss Souls to when we are ready to craft our associated Rare Weapons in NG+.

Rare Weapon #13 – Giant's Halberd: Before we go to fight the Area Boss, there are a few Rare Weapons we can farm. These can be farmed at anytime, however this is a convenient way for us to also get some more Souls/Levels in as the Area Boss here… is very difficult to say the least.
We can get the Giant’s Halberd from Sentinels or the Royal Sentinels in the palace entrance; for both it is a 2% drop rate. We do not need the Giant’s Shield. For expedience, it is good to farm the 6 Sentinels that are up near the Anor Londo Bonfire at the beginning of the Area.

It can also be purchased from the Giant Blacksmith for 5000 Souls.

Rare Weapon #14 – Silver Knight Shield: The next set of Rare Weapons are dropped by the Silver Knights. Fortunately, there are many that are easily accessed near the Palace Bonfire.

All Silver Knights have a 1% chance to drop the Silver Knight Shield.

Rare Weapon #15 – Silver Knight Straight Sword: Sword Silver Knights have a 2% chance to drop their Silver Knight Straight Swords.

Rare Weapon #16 – Silver Knight Spear: Spear Silver Knights have a 2% chance to drop their Silver Knight Spears.

Boss Soul #4 – Soul of Orenstein/Soul of Smough: When you are ready, go through the Fog Gate in the palace entrance & prepare to fight the Area Boss…es. This pair is extremely defeat; Summoning Solaire is a good idea, but you may want to figure out their moves beforehand, so you do not burn through all of your Humanity. Solaire’s Summon Sign can be found on the stair landing just below where the Dragonslayer Silver Knight is in the palace entrance. It is unlikely he can be kept alive during the battle; but he still helps a lot being able to distract one of the two Bosses.

Depending on which of the two Bosses you kill first, the other will get super charged & you will have to defeat them a second time. After defeating the super charged version of either Orenstein or Smough, you will receive their associated Boss Soul. Which ever Boss you kill on this playthrough, we will receive the Boss Soul of the other Boss in NG+; fortunately, there is only one Rare Weapon per Boss we need their Boss Souls for.

In my opinion, super charged Smough is much harder than super charged Orenstein. I would make a point of defeating super charged Smough this playthrough & save Orenstein for on NG+. On NG+, the enemies & Bosses will receive a large increase to health & damage making super charged Smough insanely difficult.


Achievement #10 – Lordvessel: Acquire the Lordvessel.
Story Related. With Orenstein & Smough defeated, take the elevator up & light the Chamber of the Princess Bonfire. From there, head up the stairs to enter Gwynevere’s bed chamber where she will bequeath the Lordvessel to us.

The Lordvessel is game changing, allowing us to Warp between certain Bonfires.


Achievement #11 – Covenant Princess's Guard: Discover Princess's Guard Covenant.
After Gwynevere has given us the Lordvessel, speak with her again & we will have the option if joining her personal Covenant. The Achievement will unlock at the Covenant Joining Screen.

Warning! There is a secret twist to Gwynevere that completely alters the Anor Londo Area if you attack. Do not do this, do not attack her; it is all bad man! If you attack her, Gwynevere will disappear & with her, the Sun. The Darkmoon will take the sky in its place & Anor Londo will become dark. Silver Knights will de-spawn locking us out of their Weapons if we do not have them & Bonfires will become disabled making Anor Londo a dead zone. If you are curious, wait until the very end of the game before we go to fight the final Boss. Losing Gwynevere overall makes things way way more inconvenient & could ultimately kill your playthrough.

Firelink Shrine:

NPC – Siegmeyer of Catarina #4: Warp back to Firelink Shrine, & if you helped him in Anor Londo, we can find him standing near the Bonfire. When he asks if we were the ones that opened Sen’s Fortress, tell him “yes” & he will reward us with a Miracle. Speak with Siegmeyer again, & he will tell us he will be going on an adventure "down below" where he can later be found in Blighttown. Be sure you exhaust Siegmeyer's dialogue so he leaves for Blighttown!

This is technically the only Achievement related thing we need from Siegmeyer; however, his Questline ends with a Titanite Slab which are very hard to come by. I will keep including the points in his Questline so that we can snag one.

Miracle #1 – Emit Force: We will receive this Miracle from Siegmeyer when we meet him at Firelink Shrine after helping him in Anor Londo.

NPC – Kingseeker Frampt #2: With the Lordvessel, return to Frampt in the Firelink ruins. He may be asleep; strike him once to wake him up… don’t go overboard. He will then “transport” us down to the Firelink Altar deep below the shrine.

Place the Lordvessel on the pedestal & it will activate, unlocking access to 4 new Areas where the next arc of the game takes place.

Warning! Be sure to purchase the 5 Sorceries from Dusk of Oolacile before placing the Lordvessel on the pedestal in the Firelink Altar. If you do, her Summon Sign in Darkroot Basin will disappear & we will have to enter the DLC to purchase them. We won’t be able to get into the DLC until we collect a certain Item in the Duke’s Archives Area…

Sequence 14: Undeath Begets Death

1. NG – Firelink Shrine, The Catacombs
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 3/6
3. Pyromancies: 6/19
4. Sorceries: 18/24
5. Miracles: 5/23
6. Boss Souls: 4/16
7. Rare Weapons: 17/50
8. Achievements: 12/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Firelink Shrine:

Before we continue on, we have some housekeeping to do so we don’t get bogged down in farming later on. The four Forest Hunter NPCs in Darkroot Garden are our best method for farming Souls at the moment netting us 7000 Souls a run. As well, if you have any duplicate Weapons or Armor or any random Items you never use, Feed them to Frampt for some good Souls.

NPC – Big Hat Logan #2: If you rescued him from Sen’s Fortress, we can find Big Hat Logan sitting near Griggs at Firelink Shrine. If you managed to get 15 Intelligence, we can now purchase Sorceries from him. We need to purchase all 8 Sorceries he sells to progress his Questline regardless if you already have that Sorcery or not.

Sorcery #11 – Soul Arrow: Purchased from Big Hat Logan for 1000 Souls. Also the starting Sorcery if you chose the Sorcerer Class.

Sorcery #12 – Heavy Soul Arrow: Purchased from Big Hat Logan for 2000 Souls.

Sorcery #13 – Magic Weapon: Purchased from Big Hat Logan for 3000 Souls.

Sorcery #14 – Magic Shield: Purchased from Big Hat Logan for 3000 Souls.

Sorcery #15 – Great Soul Arrow: Purchased from Big Hat Logan for 6000 Souls.

Sorcery #16 – Great Heavy Soul Arrow: Purchased from Big Hat Logan for 8000 Souls.

Sorcery #17 – Homing Soulmass: Purchased from Big Hat Logan for 20,000 Souls.

Sorcery #18 – Soul Spear: Purchased from Big Hat Logan for 40,000 Souls.

With all his Sorceries purchased, Big Hat Logan’s Questline is progressed. We need to have this stage completed when we go to the newly unlocked Duke’s Archives Area. It is possible Logan will leave for The Duke’s Archives before you have purchased what you need; getting him to leave is the event we need. We can purchase the remainder of his Sorceries from him in The Duke’s Archives. Do not buy any of his Sorceries from Griggs or else you will have to buy them twice!

Miracle #2 – Homeward: Purchased from Petrous of Thorolund for 8000 Souls.
While more expensive if bought from Petrous, the Homeward Miracle is exceptionally useful for farming & makes runs that take you far from a Bonfire much quicker. It is definitely worth buying early but only if you have the Faith to use it.

If you do not need Homeward, it can be purchased later on from Reah of Thorolund for a mere 1000 Souls. It is worth buying early, but only if you will use it…

Undead Parish:

Miracle #3 – Karmic Justice: Purchased from Oswald of Carim up in the Undead Parish Bell Tower for 40,000 Souls.

The Catacombs: 40-50

When your farming is complete (or you get tired), return to Firelink Shrine & make your way into the graveyard behind the Firelink ruins. Follow the pathway down & take the uneven stone steps left, down along the cliffside to enter The Catacombs.

You will shortly realize that the Skeletons here…respawn. To permanently defeat them you need to locate the Undead Necromancer linked to them & slay them, so the Skeletons stop respawning. An alternative method if you are a Faith build is to Imbue a Weapon with a Divine Blessing which will severe the Skeletons connection to the Undead Mages & kill them right off the bat. The Astora Straight Sword counts as a Divine Weapon.

Catacomb Falls Bonfire: As you navigate your way through The Catacombs, you will have to push in two Levers to turn spiked bridges over to make them accessible. When you approach the second Lever, you will need to climb an iron ladder inset into the wall. At the bottom of this ladder to the left, there is a trap statue that will eject spikes at you when approached. Strike the wall right beside this statue & it will reveal a secret cave where we can find the Catacomb Falls Bonfire.

Covenant Item – Darkmoon Séance Ring: Cross the bridge from the second Bonfire, & we will enter another room with a spiral staircase leading down. At the bottom of the stairs, we can see a Message in front of a crumbing brick wall reading “Treasure”. Strike the wall & drop down into a room full of Skeletons.

Walk up the stairs from the Skeleton room & a Giant Skeleton will burst through the ceiling & drop down at us. Defeat it, & we can find this Ring in an open sarcophagus at the back of the room.
This is the Ring we need to be able to access the Blades of the Darkmoon Covenant & the optional Boss Dark Sun Gwyndolin in Anor Londo…

Miracle #4 – Tranquil Walk of Peace: Carry on through a broken wall near where the Giant Skeleton dropped down from up the dirt slope. From where the Undead Necromancer is, we can find another Message in front of a ladder reading “Up”. Follow the ladder up & we can find this Corpse at the top around a corner past a statue trap.

Covenant Item – Eyes of Death x3: Return back to where we entered the “Treasure” section & make your way outside around the ledge where more Skeletons & exploding Wisps are waiting for us. Afterwards we will enter a large crypt; make your way to the very far end of the crypt & we can find a hidden Titanite Demon.

We can find 3 Eyes of Death on a Corpse behind where the Titanite Demon is.


Achievement #12 – Covenant Gravelord Servant: Discover Gravelord Servant Covenant.
After you have collected the Eyes of Death, turn around from the Corpse & face the way you came. Follow the wall along off your right, five sarcophaguses down, & we can find one that is pushed out from the wall & open. If you have an Eye of Death in your Inventory (which we do now) “Nestle in the coffin” & wait there for 30 seconds. We will then get transported by a neighborly Skeleton & taken to the Tomb of Giants… to Gravelord Nito’s Boss Room actually. But do not panic; he is sleeping.

Exit the sarcophagus & make your way around the corner where we can find the slumbering Gravelord. Approach his massive sarcophagus & pray to it; select Enter Covenant to receive the Covenant Joining Screen, unlocking the Achievement.

Rare Weapon #17 – Gravelord Sword: Join the Gravelord Servant Covenant & we will receive this Rare Weapon as a Rank 0 bonus.

Miracle #5 – Gravelord Sword Dance: We will receive this Miracle as a Rank 0 bonus as well when we join the Gravelord Servant Covenant.

We need to eventually collect/farm 10 Eyes of Death to reach Rank 1 in the Gravelord Servants to acquire one last Miracle from this Covenant.

Sequence 15: Three Corpses, One Grave

1. NG – The Catacombs, Painted World of Ariamis
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 3/6
3. Pyromancies: 8/19
4. Sorceries: 18/24
5. Miracles: 5/23
6. Boss Souls: 4/16
7. Rare Weapons: 17/50
8. Achievements: 14/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Catacombs:

Black Knight Encounter #6: Return to the crypt room that had the Titanite Demon & carry on through a hole in the wall, down a ladder into a small room with a sarcophagus in its center. We can find two unstable floor tiles on either side of this sarcophagus; fall through one, & we will land in a small room with a Greataxe Black Knight.

We of course need the Black Knight Greataxe as a Rare Weapon; they can be farmed later on in the Kiln of the First Flame.

Catacombs Bonfire: Return to the Catacomb Falls Bonfire & make your way into the structure to the right of the second bridge we turn over with a Lever. In the structure, we can find a spiralling staircase that leads down into a seemingly bottomless pit. If you look carefully, you can faintly see a Corpse lower down in the it on a ledge. Carefully sprint or roll off the stairs directly towards the Corpse & we will land on a ledge. If you stick the landing, make your way down a series of other ledges & drop through a hole in a ceiling where a cinematic will activate. Not only will we unlock a Warp-able Bonfire in the Catacombs, but we will unlock the Blacksmith Vamos as well. He is not all that useful for this playthrough, but remember how to get here as this is the Blacksmith who will Imbue our Weapons with Fire & Chaos for NG+.


Achievement #13 – Rite of Kindling: Acquire the Rite of Kindling.
Story Related. When you are finished with The Catacombs, make your way to the very bottom of the cavern where all the Wheel Skeletons are & enter the Fog Gate to fight Pinwheel. He is not a very challenging Boss, especially having previously defeated Orenstein & Smough.

When he is defeated, we will receive the Rite of Kindling which will now allow us to Kindle a Bonfire four times increasing our maximum Estus Flask uses to 20.

At the top of Pinwheel’s Boss Room, is the pitch-black entrance to Tomb of Giants. Exit back the way you came & leave The Catacombs; we will come back for a full run through of this Area later on…

Anor Londo:

Achievement #14 – Covenant Blade of the Darkmoon: Discover Blade of the Darkmoon Covenant.
Now that we have the Darkmoon Séance Ring, Warp to the Darkmoon Tomb Bonfire & equip the Ring. Approach the statue of Gwyn near the Bonfire & it will vanish revealing a staircase leading down. At the bottom of the steps, Dark Sun Gwyndolin will call out us through a Fog Gate & ask us to kneel. Stand in between the four candles on the floor & do just that. The Achievement will unlock upon receiving the Joining Screen after Gwyndolin’s speech.

Be sure to join the Covenant as we will be needing to reach Rank 1 in it for a Miracle. Do not enter the Fog Gate! Entering the Fog Gate will initiate the Dark Sun Gwyndolin Boss fight & will void the Darkmoon Covenant for us, locking us out of a Miracle. We will reach Rank 1 in the Covenant first before we do this…

Painted World of Ariamis 55-60:

If you have the Peculiar Doll that we found in our return trip to the Northern Undead Asylum, then make your way all the way upstairs into the large cathedral with all the Painting Guardians. Approach the Painting at the back of the cathedral & “Examine” it to enter the Painted World.

Warning! We will be trapped in the Painted World until we slay the Area Boss; if you have any unfinished business, do so before we leave. You will want a decent supply of Blooming Purple Moss as well as we will be facing enemies that can make us Toxic irritatingly fast; the Spider Shield won’t save us this time. You will also want a good supply of Arrows to fight another Undead Dragon like we found in Valley of Drakes.

Painted World Bonfire Shortcut: Make your way through the Painted World for a while until we come across a large broken tower in the center of the Area. To the tower’s left will be stairs leading down to a bridge that ends at a slumbering Undead Dragon. Ignore the dragon for now & follow the tower around left all the way down the stairs to the very bottom of the tower. Pass through the Fog Gate & sprint past the disturbing Phalanxes to the far side of the courtyard where we can push open some doors & see the Painted World Bonfire on the other side.

This Shortcut will be critical for our farming for the Blades of the Darkmoon Covenant & for Soul farming later on.

Pyromancy #7 – Acid Surge: With the Shortcut opened, turn around from the gates & head right, over onto a snowy outcrop full of impaled Hollows. Follow the outcrop right, past the trees, & around a small stone wall near the cliff edge where we can find a Corpse holding this Pyromancy.

Key – Annex Key: Return to the courtyard & head straight across from the snowy outcrop & left around the corner in the courtyard to see a well with a ladder inside it. Climb down the ladder & approach the first corner where a Wheel Skeleton will come barreling past us off our right. If you dodge it, it will wheel past down the passage, left, & break through an illusionary wall. If it does not, head left & strike the wall at the end yourself. From here, follow the passage down, take a left, & follow it straight to the end to find this Key on a Corpse.

Pyromancy #8 – Fire Surge: From the Corpse with the Annex Key, turn right, down the passage behind us, through another illusionary wall, & turn right again. Follow the passage along & we can find a Wheel Skeleton guarding a set of stairs going up. At the top of the stairs we can find an Engorged Zombie… just standing there. It will not attack us, which will not stop US from attacking IT.

Slay the Zombie & loot its corpse to collect this Pyromancy.

Tower Doors Shortcut: Backtrack to where our first crossroad in the passage is near where we came down the ladder & pass through another illusionary wall to enter a large cistern full of Wheel Skeletons. In its center will be a wheel we can spin to unlock the iron gates to the bridge that leads to the Area Boss; but we won’t be going over there for a bit.

Sequence 16: Descendants of Cinder

1. NG – Painted World of Ariamis, Anor Londo
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 3/6
3. Pyromancies: 8/19
4. Sorceries: 18/24
5. Miracles: 8/23
6. Boss Souls: 6/16
7. Rare Weapons: 20/50
8. Achievements: 16/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Painted World of Ariamis:

Rare Weapon #18 – Velka's Rapier: With the Annex Key, return to the large courtyard where the Phalanxes are & head over to the building to the right of where they gather. Climb up a small set of stairs to a door we can unlock with the Key. Up another set of stairs & we will have three different paths to take (straight ahead having an Engorged Zombie charging us). Look to your right & there will be a broken wooden door; break it down & follow a bridge across to a Corpse holding this Weapon.

Miracle #6 – Vow of Silence: From Velka’s Rapier, head back across the bridge & carry on straight then left up some stairs where another Engorged Zombie is standing. At the top of the stairs, we will be attacked by Crow Demon, with another standing up on landing. Lure down the second Crow Demon & kill it then make your way up to where it was to find a Corpse with this Miracle. Be careful as two more Crow Demons will come down to attack us once we grab the Miracle.

Make a note of this location, we will be farming these 4 Crow Demons for their Souvenir’s of Reprisal for the Blades of the Darkmoon Covenant… if you are playing Offline that is.

Rare Weapon #19 – Bloodshield: Remember that Undead Dragon we found near the beginning of this Area? Return to the Dragon & shoot it to death or very carefully use melee. When it is defeated, we can see two Corpses lying on the bridge it was resting on; the Rare Weapon is on the second Corpse in the back.

Souvenir of Reprisal Farming: We now have a few choices to make: the first being whether or not you farm now or later. If we farm now, we can get “Soft” Humanity from Hollows or the Crow Demons which can be handy for multiple reasons. If we farm later, we miss that opportunity, but it is not essential. If you farm later, remember this spot in the guide & come back to it when you are ready.

If you are farming, we will be doing runs up to where we found the Vow of Silence Miracle killing the 4 Crow Demons up there. Crow Demons have a 6% chance to drop Souvenirs of Reprisal which isn’t terrible compared to other enemies we will farm later. We only need 10 Souvenirs. If you have the Homeward Miracle, it will make farming much faster as you can branch out to the other Crow Demon locations.

Slaying all 13 Phalanxes in the courtyard as part of your farming run, though adding a little extra time, can net you a seriously hefty amount of Souls. At 500 Souls a piece, you will get an extra 6500 Souls a run; these can give you a jump on your Levels & can help you work towards the 15 Intelligence or 25 Faith we need.

If you play Online, then as a Blade of the Darkmoon we can Invade a Sinful Player using the Blue Orb or if you are wearing the Darkmoon Blade Covenant Ring. Using both will double your Invasion chance. When you Invade a Sinful Player, kill them, & we will receive a Souvenir of Reprisal as a reward; you only need to win 10 Invasions. If you are proficient in PvP, then this is a much quicker route.

Rare Weapon #20 – Priscilla's Dagger: When you are finished farming for Souvenirs of Reprisal (or postponing it until later), make your down the large bridge at the far end of the Painted World & pass through the Fog Gate to the Area Boss. Priscilla’s Dagger is a Tail-Cut Weapon, & as you will figure out… she has a tiny (Censored by Steam) tail! Fortunately, when we enter the Boss Room, Priscilla is not initially hostile until provoked. This gives us a clean shot or two at her tail. While we can leave without killing her… we need that Rare Weapon, her Soul, & the Achievement for killing her. Sorry ma’am.

When she turns hostile, she will turn invisible; while she is invisible, we need to stagger her out of it, this usually takes 3-4 strikes depending on damage dealt. This is a battle of patience & her own longevity. It is very “easy” to kill her before you can manage to get the Tail-Cut. If her health is too low, & you have not got the Tail-Cut, die or use a Homeward Bone to try again. If your current Weapon is not suited for this, such as an Ultra-Greatsword, consider returning to the Bonfire & grabbing a Straight Sword or Dagger. Once we have the Rare Weapon, all bets are off & we can defeat her however we like.

If she dies before you get the Tail-Cut, you will have to attempt this on NG+!


Achievement #15 – Defeat Crossbreed Priscilla: Defeat Crossbreed Priscilla, the Lifehunter.
The Achievement will unlock after we have successfully defeated her.

Boss Soul #5 – Soul of Priscilla: Unlike most Bosses, Priscilla only has one Rare Weapon to forge with her Soul.

To leave the Painted World, approach the small walkway at the back of the Boss Room & walk towards the edge to witness an exiting cinematic. Be warned, we will be shot out of the Painting back in the Anor Londo cathedral where Painted Guardians have respawned & will be awaiting us!

Anor Londo:

When you have acquired 10 Souvenirs of Reprisal either by farming Crow Demons or partaking in Online PvP as a Blade of the Darkmoon, make your way back to the Darkmoon Tomb Bonfire.

Miracle #7 – Darkmoon Blade: With 10 Souvenirs of Reprisal, kneel before Gwyndolin’s Fog Gate & offer them to him… her… it’s complicated.

When we achieve Rank 1 in the Blades of the Darkmoon, we will receive this Miracle as a reward. We will also receive the Darkmoon Talisman.

That is all we need from this Covenant; Ranks 2 & 3 will only increase the strength of Darkmoon Blade, which does make it crazy overpowered, but is not necessary.


Achievement #16 – Defeat the Dark Sun Gwyndolin: Defeat Dark Sun Gwyndolin, the Darkmoon God.

When we are finished with the Blades of the Darkmoon Covenant & have acquired the Darkmoon Blade Miracle, it is now time for our betrayal. Prepare yourself & enter the Fog Gate. Stay on your toes & weave between the hallway pillars to get close to Gwyndolin. The Achievement will unlock after we defeat him.

Boss Souls #6 – Soul of Gwyndolin: We will need to collect Dark Sun Gwyndolin’s Souls once again in NG+ for two copies…

Miracle #8 – Sunlight Blade: With Gwyndolin defeated, make your way to the far end of the Boss Room where Gwyn, Lord of Cinder’s tomb lies. This Miracle can be found in a Chest right in front of the massive tomb.

Sequence 17: Seath the Treacherous

1. NG – Anor Londo, The Duke’s Archives
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 4/6
3. Pyromancies: 8/19
4. Sorceries: 19/24
5. Miracles: 10/23
6. Boss Souls: 6/16
7. Rare Weapons: 20/50
8. Achievements: 16/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anor Londo:

Useful Item – Firekeeper Soul: With Dark Sun Gwyndolin dead, & the Covenant betrayed, Warp to the Anor Londo Bonfire. When we arrive, the Lady of the Darkling will become hostile & attack us. Watch out for her Ripostes! Defeat her, & we will receive her Firekeeper Soul.

Upon her death, the Anor Londo Bonfire will become inactive & we will not be able to rest at it. We can still Warp here though.

The Duke’s Archives 60-65:

From the Anor Londo Bonfire, head left in the large outer courtyard into the building with the Sentinels. From there, go outside & up the hill to reach the entrance to The Duke’s Archives.

DLC – Broken Pendant: From the Archive Entrance Bonfire, take the elevator up & carefully fend off the Undead Crystal Soldiers. In the right corner near the entrance to the next room, we can find a Crystal Golem. When we defeat it, we will receive the Broken Pendant.

If you take this Pendant to where we fought the Golden Crystal Golem in Darkroot Basin behind where the Hydra used to be, we can enter the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. Since there are no Achievements associated to the DLC, it will not be covered in this guide. I highly recommend you complete it though, Artorias is my ultimate man crush & one of the coolest bosses in Dark Souls history. It is best to save the DLC until just before we fight the Area Boss of Darkroot Garden…

Channeler Encounter #3: In the massive library from the Crystal Golem, we can find a Channeler. Unlike other Channelers, this one actually respawns making it one of the three in The Duke’s Archives we can farm for the Channeler’s Trident. The other Channelers here are more ideal however.

Seath the Scaleless: The lead up to Seath is probably the hardest part of Duke’s Archives honestly. After you get past the gauntlet of Undead Crystal Soldiers & that Channeler, take the elevator up to Seath’s study. Before you do, make sure you equip a Ring of Sacrifice if you have one handy or at the very least spend all your Souls/ditch all your Soft Humanity into Kindling Bonfires! Seath is a big fat phony & is invincible in his study. It is part of the story that he kills us here, & we will not be able to retrieve our Bloodstain along with the Souls & “Soft” Humanity it carries!

Key – Archive Tower Cell Key: After Seath kills us, we will awaken in a prison cell deep within The Duke’s Archives. Attack the Manserpent Soldier outside our cell & loot his Corpse to collect the Key to get us out of here!

Miracle #9 – Soothing Sunlight: Exit your cell & make your way down to the base of the tower fighting off the poor Pisacas as you go. In one of the cells on our way down we can find the Archive Prison Extra Key, though it is non-essential.

At the bottom of the tower, enter the room where the Pisacas came out of (or are in if you died & the music was not reinitiated by the Manserpents). In the back left corner of the room, we can find two Pisacas who are not hostile. Kill the one closest to the wall to collect this Miracle.

Miracle #10 – Bountiful Sunlight: Kill the non-hostile Pisaca that is further away from the wall than the first to collect this Miracle.

The Pisacas are actually a great enemy to farm the Humanity Item off of due to how many of them are here. They have a 4% chance to drop it.

NPC – Big Hat Logan #3: If you purchased the majority of his Sorceries back at Firelink Shrine, in the same room we found the Pisacas, we can find none other than Big Hat Logan. He is locked in a rather large cell & none of our Keys will open it. Remember this location as we will have to return here when we locate the Key.

If you did not have the 15 Intelligence at the time of this, still remember this location, when Logan finally leaves Firelink Shrine this is where he will end up whether Seath the Scaleless is alive or dead by that point.

Key – Archive Tower Giant Door Key: At the base of the tower, climb up the iron ladder up to where the music box is. At the top, we will have to fight off two Man Serpent Soldiers & a Manserpent Mage all at the same time. At the back of this floor, we can find the Key out of this Tower in a Chest.

Channeler Encounter #4-5: After opening the doors with the Archive Tower Giant Door Key, make your way up the stairs into the second massive library. We can find a Channeler immediately to our left when we enter with another on the floor above us. These Channelers also will respawn & will be who we farm for the Channeler’s Trident.

Sorcery #19 – Strong Magic Shield: In the large library with the two Channelers, this Sorcery can be found on the upper level where the second Channeler is firing Soul Arrows at us. Walk left into the upper level of first library & rotate the stairwell so we can get up into the adjacent upper floor. From here, walk back into the second library & drop down onto the other rotating stairwell where we can ward off the second Channeler. Before we chase him down, carry on to the right on his top floor & we can find this Sorcery in a Chest.

The Duke’s Archives Bonfire: We can find this Bonfire at the very bottom of the second library. Navigate your way down through the irritating Undead Crystal Soldiers & we can find this Bonfire on an outside balcony.

This is a Bonfire that we can Warp to.

Shortcut to the Crystal Caves: From The Duke’s Archives Bonfire, make your way back up the stairs to the rotating stairwell in the second library. Turn the stairs so that we are able to access the third floor of the second library. On the third floor, enter into a room that has ladder leading down off our right & an Undead Crystal Archer straight ahead of us on a ledge. Climb down the ladder & pull the Lever at the bottom to move a bookshelf allowing us quick access here from the Bonfire.

Key – Archive Tower Giant Cell Key: In this new wing of the second library, we just opened up, we can go left or right. Enter the room on the right (room on the left has a Chest with a Blue Titanite Chunk in it) & we can find 4 Chests & another Lever. We can find this Key in the last Chest in the back left corner of the room.

This will open Big Hat Logan’s cell door.

Reinforcement Weapon #4 – Enchanted Falchion: Across from the Chest we found the Key in, we can find a Mimic. Defeat the Mimic & we can collect this Reinforcement Weapon.

Using the Enchanted Falchion makes getting the Enchanted Weapon Achievement much faster as this Weapon is already imbued with Enchantment, savings us Titanite we have to farm. Do not sell this Weapon!

Sequence 18: The Death of Sorcery

1. NG – The Duke’s Archives, Blighttown, Crystal Caves
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 4/6
3. Pyromancies: 8/19
4. Sorceries: 23/24
5. Miracles: 10/23
6. Boss Souls: 6/16
7. Rare Weapons: 22/50
8. Achievements: 17/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Dukes Archives:

NPC – Big Hat Logan #4: Now that we have the Archive Tower Giant Key, navigate your way back to the tower full of Pisacas & free Big Hat Logan from his cell. The entrance back to the tower is on the third floor of the second library across from where we entered the side wing. Free Logan & exhaust his dialogue.

Useful Item – Firekeeper Soul: We can find a Firekeeper Soul on the Corpse at the back of Big Hat Logan’s cell.

NPC – Big Hat Logan #5: After Logan has been freed, rest at The Duke’s Archives Bonfire & head into the side wing we opened up previously. Enter the dark room on the left & we can find Big Hat Logan sitting in the back near a Chest.

Logan will now have 3 new Sorceries for us to purchase; we must completely buy out his Inventory to progress his Questline.

Sorcery #20 – Crystal Magic Weapon: Purchased from Big Hat Logan after he has moved to The Duke's Archives for 20,000 Souls.

Sorcery #21 – Homing Crystal Soulmass: Purchased from Big Hat Logan after he has moved to The Duke's Archives for 30,000 Souls.

Sorcery #22 – Crystal Soul Spear: Purchased from Big Hat Logan after he has moved to The Duke's Archives for 50,000 Souls.

Logan’s new Crystal Sorceries are very expensive. First, farm the Channelers here in the Archives to get the Channelers Trident. Then you can either farm the Crystal Golems outside the Crystal Caves for Blue Titanite Chunks (not a good Soul return) or just farm the Phalanxes back in the Painted World of Ariamis.

Rare Weapon #21 – Channeler's Trident: The Channeler’s Trident is dropped, of course, by the Channelers. If you were really lucky, you may have already got this Weapon earlier. If not, farm the two Channelers in the upper level of The Duke’s Archives in the second library… over & over again. The Trident only has a 1% drop chance making it one of the most irritating Rare Weapons to get.

Blighttown:

NPC – Siegmeyer of Catarina #5: Before we continue on towards the Crystal Caves, we need to go speak with Siegmeyer down in Blighttown to spawn an important NPC to his Questline. Warp from the Duke's Archives to the Daughter's of Chaos Bonfire & make your way over to teh Blighttown Swamp Bonfire.

From the Blighttown Swamp Bonfire, make your way left through the swamp towards the large Arch Tree at the opposite end from Quelaag’s Domain. Head to the right of the tree & we can see a familiar onion standing on a small bank near a stone bridge support against the walls. Speak with him, & he reveals he has run out of Purple Moss Clump. Hand him 4 pieces of the Moss & he will give us his Pierce Shield, but more importantly, his Questline will be progressed.

The Duke's Archives:

NPC – Sieglinde of Catarina #1: When you are finished with Siegmeyer, return The Duke’s Archives, pull the Lever in the second library’s side wing & pass through the Fog Gate to enter the Crystal Forest. Head down the Ladder into the forest below & we can now find another jailing Golden Crystal Golem in the center of the forest. Defeat it, & an onion knight will appear… but it is not the onion we know.

Speak with Sieglinde & tell her that we have seen her father to progress her Questline.

Before we carry on into the Crystal Caves, be sure you have ample supply of Prism Stones. The majority of the walkways in this Area… are completely invisible & unless you know where they are, you will be going in blind. We can buy Prism Stones for 10 Souls a piece from the Female Undead Merchant.

Crystal Cave 65-70:

The Crystal Caves is one of the worst Areas in Dark Souls due to the invisible walkways. Trying to explain how to navigate through it is borderline impossible without a video, so here is a quick rundown by 100% Guides that will get us all the Items we need, mainly the Blue Titanite Slab. If you look carefully, you can see crystal dust falling & landing on the invisible walkways which essential for navigation. Take your time; unless you use a Prism Stone or are certain a crystal dust speck has fallen on solid ground ahead of you, don’t progress further.
https://youtu.be/UAU2KceMxYY

Blue Titanite Slab #1: After we fight the first Golden Crystal Golem in the Caves, drop down onto an invisible walkway with a Message on it. Immediately spin around & we can see 3 Crystal Lizards in a small cave behind us. At the backside of this cave, we can see large gap & a Corpse across from it on an outstretched crystal. Either with the Prism Stones or the falling crystal dust, carefully navigate your way over to the Corpse (straight, right, then slightly diagonal to the left) & we can loot our first Blue Titanite Slab. This took me around 15 tries to get right… playing Online can help as some Players may leave Messages for us to see.

We will need to come back here in NG+ so we have 2/2 Slabs for the Magic & Enchanted Reinforcement Achievements.

Rare Weapon #22 – Moonlight Greatsword: With the Blue Titanite Slab collected, navigate to Seath the Scaless’s Boss Room & prepare to fight. When the battle begins, sprint to the very back of the cave & destroy the Primordial Crystal which removes Seath’s invincibility. The Moonlight Greatsword is another Tail-Cut Weapon.

With the Crystal gone, you need to constantly get behind Seath & strike the tip of his rear most tail. You need to attack it closer to the end, otherwise your attacks will only count as body shots. Due to Seath’s size, it can be very tricky getting around him after his attacks before he resets again. Don’t be greedy with your strikes, if Seath goes in for his Cursed Crystal Breath attack you need to get away! Be sure to bring some Purging Stones into the battle with you as Seath also can deal Curse to us if we are not careful.

If you kill Seath before getting the Moonlight Greatsword, you will have to try again on NG+!


Achievement #17 – Defeat Seath the Scaleless: Defeat Seath the Scaleless, inheritors of souls.
Story Related. Seath is the first of four Lords we will need to defeat; we will unlock this Achievement upon his death.

He does not have a Boss Soul but instead drops a Bequeathed Lord Soul Shard.

The Duke’s Archives:

NPC – Big Hat Logan #6: Warp back to The Duke’s Archives Bonfire after defeating Seath & speak with Big Hat Logan. If you have purchased all of his Sorceries, Big Hat will not remember us at all & seems very confused. We can still buy his Sorceries if you have not already, do so, & speak with him afterwards to get this new dialogue.

Warp to a different Bonfire then back to The Duke’s Archives Bonfire to reset. Now make your way up the set of stairs on the first floor of the second library, head left onto the second floor then take a right to enter the second floor of the first library (if that makes sense). From here, take the elevator up back to the study where we fought Seath for the first time. In the center of the study, we can find Logan… in nothing but a loincloth & his hat of course. He has gone Hollow. Put him to rest & we will finish his Questline. Be careful, this man is the definition of a glass cannon on so many levels…

Sorcery #23 – White Dragon Breath: This powerful Sorcery is dropped by Big Hat Logan at the end of his Questline once he has gone Hollow in The Duke’s Archives.

Sequence 19: Arch Trees

1. NG – Firelink Shrine, Northern Undead Asylum, Blighttown, The Great Hollow
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 4/6
3. Pyromancies: 16/19
4. Sorceries: 23/24
5. Miracles: 10/23
6. Boss Souls: 6/16
7. Rare Weapons: 22/50
8. Achievements: 17/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Firelink Shrine:

NPC – Sieglinde of Catarina #2: After freeing her from the Crystal Forests, return to Firelink Shrine & we can find Sieglinde standing near the Bonfire. Speak with her & when she asks if we have seen her father, tell her “Yes”. With that, she will leave Firelink Shrine to continue her search; answering “No” will end her Questline here & void us the Titanite Slab.

NPC – Laurentius of the Great Swamp #3: Before we carry on tracking down our next Lord Soul, we need Laurentius’s help first. If he has not already, he will ask us about the Chaos Pyromancies we have collected from the Chaos Servant Covenant.

Tell Laurentius “No” & bring him a Pyromancy Flame & Modify it to +10; this will cost a total of 53,500 Souls to get to +10. He can Modify it further, but +10 is the minimum we need to spawn the Merchant. Farm the Phalanxes if you need the Souls.

Alternatively, if Laurentius already left, head down to see Eingyi at the Daughter of Chaos Bonfire; you will need to enter into the Chaos Servant Covenant for this service.

Northern Undead Asylum:

Titanite Slab #1: Before we carry on, we might as well also slay the Stray Demon in the Northern Undead Asylum. Navigate back to the Asylum Demon’s Boss Room & walk into the center of the room to fall through the floor where the Stray Demon will be waiting.

The Stray Demon does not have a Boss Soul but instead drops a Titanite Slab upon its death. We need 3 regular Titanite Slabs total to complete all the Weapon Reinforcement Achievements. We will get one more for completing Siegmeyer’s Questline, & our third from killing the Stray Demon again in NG+. There is an enemy we can farm for Slabs, but it is a very low drop rate. Try your best to hold onto 3 Slabs for the least amount of grief later on…

Blighttown:

NPC – Quelana of Izalith #1: With a Pyromancy Flame of +10 or higher, return to Blighttown. From the top of Quelaag’s Domain staring out into the Blighttown Swamps we can see two large stone columns ahead of us a ways into the swamp. Head over to the column to our left & we can find a woman garbed in black sitting on a small beach. This is Quelana, our final Pyromancy Merchant. She will only appear if we have a +10 Pyromancy Flame or have Summoned an Online Player into our world who has one.

When she asks if we are interested in her Pyromancies, of course say “Yes”.

Pyromancy #9 – Combustion: Purchased from Quelana of Izalith for 500 Souls. It can also be purchased from the Laurentius back at Firelink Shrine.

Pyromancy #10 – Fireball: Purchased from Quelana of Izalith for 800 Souls. If you chose the Pyromancer as your Starting Class, you will already have this Pyromancy. It can also be purchased from the Laurentius back at Firelink Shrine.

Pyromancy #11 – Great Combustion: Purchased from Quelana of Izalith for 5000 Souls.

Pyromancy #12 – Fire Orb: Purchased from Quelana of Izalith for 8000 Souls. It can also be purchased from the Laurentius back at Firelink Shrine.

Pyromancy #13 – Undead Rapport: Purchased from Quelana of Izalith for 10,000 Souls.

Pyromancy #14 – Fire Whip: Purchased from Quelana of Izalith for 10,000 Souls.

Pyromancy #15 – Great Fireball: Purchased from Quelana of Izalith for 20,000 Souls.

Pyromancy #16 – Firestorm: Purchased from Quelana of Izalith for 30,000 Souls.

To progress Quelana’s Questline, we need to purchase all of her Pyromancies; this may include Pyromancies previously purchased from Laurentius. Farm the Phalanxes for any Souls you need.

NPC – Quelana of Izalith #2: After all of Quelana’s Pyromancies are purchased, reload the Area & return to her. Speak with her, & she will request that we slay her mother… the Bed of Chaos. We were already going to do that… but now we can net ourselves another Pyromancy.

Alternatively, we can receive that Pyromancy just from killing her. It won’t save us killing the Bed of Chaos so there is not much point in doing this. Be sure you have all the Pyromancies we need from her first if you choose this option.

The Great Hollow 35-40:

Make your way up the root ramp up into the Arch Tree in the Blighttown Swamp & we can find a Corpse holding the Plank Shield. From the Corpse, approach the left wall inside the trunk & strike it to reveal a secret chamber with a Chest. Walk around the Chest, & strike the wall behind it now to reveal yet another secret room. Navigate down the passage & we will eventually come to The Great Hollow Bonfire.

The Great Hollow… is awful; probably the worst Area in the game baring maybe the Crystal Cave. There are no Weapons or Spells we need here for Achievements although there are more than a few Titanite Lizards & Corpses with Titanite on them if you are brave enough to collect them. What we need most, is simply getting to the bottom of the tree so we can just get to the next Area afterwards. Be sure you are carrying Purging Stones with you in case you are Cursed by the Basilisks here! On that note, the Basilisks are a great way of obtaining Eyes of Death for the Gravelord Servant Covenant; make a point of killing them if you can.

Sequence 20: Everlasting Dragons

1. NG – Ash Lake, Demon Ruins
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 4/6
3. Pyromancies: 16/19
4. Sorceries: 23/24
5. Miracles: 11/23
6. Boss Souls: 6/16
7. Rare Weapons: 24/50
8. Achievements: 18/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ash Lake 40-50:

Ash Lake Bonfire: After we pass through the Fog Gate at the bottom of The Great Hollow, we will enter Ash Lake; we can find the Ash Lake Bonfire on the beach to the right of the half pipe trunk we exit.

The Black Hydra: In the waters of Ash Lake, we can find the Black Hydra Mini-Boss. Though not needed for any Weapons, this Hydra will harass us as we make our way through the Area. It can be avoided, but we may as well kill it for some extra Souls.

Miracle #11 – Great Magic Barrier: Make your way along the massive beach in Ash Lake until the beach goes underneath an Arch Tree in the distance. Make your way around this tree & turn left to walk up a twisted root just before the beach becomes a windy pathway. Right before we encounter a Basilisk on this root, look over the edge to your right & you can see a massive hollow branch we can drop into. Do so, & head up inside the tree where we can find this Miracle on a Corpse on top of some large mushrooms.


Achievement #18 – Covenant Path of the Dragon: Discover Path of the Dragon Covenant.
Return outside the Arch Tree & continue down the windy beach path onwards. The path will end with the Stone Dragon Bonfire & a massive Everlasting Dragon. Fortunately for us, it is an ally. Approach the Stone Dragon & pray to it; enter the Covenant to see the Joining Screen where we will unlock the Achievement. There are no Weapons or Spells we need from this Covenant.

Rare Weapon #23 – Dragon Greatsword: While we do not need anything more from the Covenant, we are not in fact finished with the Stone Dragon itself. Walk around behind the Dragon & we can see his massive tail dangling down… we need to chop it off for this Rare Weapon. Do not worry, this does nothing to the Dragon & he will not go hostile… what a stand-up dude.

That is all for this Area now, thanks to the Lordvessel, we can Warp out of here without having to backtrack our way through The Great Hollow.

Demon Ruins 65-70:

With our side business settled, Warp to the Daughter of Chaos Bonfire & exit the Bell Tower into the Demon Ruins.

Ceaseless Discharge: From the Demon Ruins Bonfire, make your way down the hill & turn right along a narrow path halfway down. Walk along a narrow stone bridge over to the far side of the molten river, & pass through the Fog Gate. When we pass through the Fog Gate, no health bar or boss music kicks in… but the Fog Gate does not disappear either. When we round the corner, we can spot the grotesque Son of Chaos. He will not attack until provoked, so take this time to scan the Boss Room.

Ceaseless Discharge fulfils his name by blasting us with very powerful fire attacks; you will want good Fire Defense for this fight. Dodge his attacks left or right as best you can & strike his appendages to deal damage to him. When you are ready, loot the Corpse on the stone altar at the back of the Boss Room.

He does not drop a Boss Soul however his death will cool some of the molten lava below opening up the next half of the Demon Ruins.

Capra Garrison Bonfire: With the lava somewhat cleared, make your way across the charred ground to the right over towards a Capra Demon. After it is dispatched, carry on down the path & round the corner to see… many Capra Demons. As you slowly inch your way down the path towards them, look off the cliff edge to your right to see a Corpse on a lower down not far below you. Quickly drop down to it, & we can find this Bonfire hidden underneath where the Capras are. Be careful as a Burrowing Rockworm guards this Bonfire!

Rare Weapon #24 – Demon's Catalyst: When you are ready for yet another Boss fight, pass through the Fog Gate below the Capra Garrison Bonfire & we will face the Demon Firesage. It is almost identical to the Stray Demon except instead of Magic Damage it will do Fire Damage. Upon its death it will drop this Catalyst; though be sure you walk over & pick it up. Once again, this Boss does not have a Boss Soul either.

Some sources claim that this Weapon is not in fact needed for the Knight's Honor Achievement; most do however so it is safest collecting it.

Saving Solaire of Astora: Make your way up the stairs past the Firesage’s Boss Room & we can find an Elevator Shortcut that will take you up to the Daughter of Chaos Bonfire. Rest at the Bonfire, & equip your Pyromancy Flame & the Poison Mist Pyromancy. Head back down the elevator & backtrack your way near the entrance of the Boss Room. Just outside the room to your left, will be a hole in the wall with roots leading down to a secret room.

This root will lead you to four Chaos Bugs & a strange door we cannot open. The way we open this is by reaching Rank 2 in the Chaos Servant Covenant. Doing this will allow us to kill the Sunlight Maggot early & in turn save Solaire of Astora as he subsequently goes Hollow if we do not kill the Sunlight Maggot before reaching the Bed of Chaos. It is still way too early to give up 30 Humanity however, so normally, Solaire would die this playthrough… unless we cheat.

Equip your Poison Mist Pyromancy & press yourself against the center of the strange door & cast the Pyromancy (if you have 0 Attunement Slots then just equip the Darkmoon Séance Ring). When we do this, you should see a health bar slowly tick down as we have infected the Sunlight Maggot with Poison. This may take a few seconds, but eventually it will die. You will know it is the Sunlight Maggot & not a Chaos Bug because it will give you 100 Souls not 30. With this done, we have now saved Solaire which means we can Summon him for the battle with the Final Boss at the end of the game. The Sunlight Maggot does not respawn; the actual Sunlight Maggot head piece we need for the Tomb of Giants that it drops will be there when we walk around the long way…

Useful Item - Orange Charred Ring: Return to the Firesage’s Boss Room & we can find The Centipede’s Bonfire at the bottom of the stairs leading down at the back of the room. Believe it or not, that Fog Gate at the bottom of the next room leads to yet another Boss! If we are Human, we can find the Summon Sign of Knight Solaire at the bottom of the root ramp we walk down. The Centipede Demon is tough, & we will be taking a lot of Fire Damage. Consider putting on Havel’s Ring & wearing the Black Iron Armor Set.

When the Boss is defeated, we will receive this essential Ring.

Sequence 21: The Witch of Izalith

1. NG – Lost Izalith
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 4/6
3. Pyromancies: 17/19
4. Sorceries: 23/24
5. Miracles: 11/23
6. Boss Souls: 6/16
7. Rare Weapons: 25/50
8. Achievements: 19/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lost Izalith 70-75:

From the Respite Bonfire where we can find jolly Solaire, put on the Orange Charred Ring & make the arduous journey across the lava fields of Lost Izalith. You ever wonder why we only fight the upper bodies of Undead Dragons? Well, this is where their lower halves go… to hell.

Lava Field Bonfire: As we dash across the lava, we will come to a stone tower in the middle of the lava field. From here, carry on a little ways further & we will see another stone tower. Head underneath the large root to the lower level & make your way left around the tower. As we round the corner, we will duck under another root snaking underneath the over hang above us. Turn to the tower & strike the wall to our right here to reveal an illusionary wall & our Bonfire.

This Bonfire will be our major waypoint as we raid the city of Lost Izalith. To enter the city, strike out into the lava directly across from the Bonfire entrance in the tower to where a broken stone causeway is. We can then climb some roots up into the city from here.

Rare Weapon #25 – Izalith Catalyst: Navigate through the city until we come across a Daughter of Chaos… who is somehow still human though Hollowed. Slay this challenging Pyromancer & she will drop this Catalyst for us.

This is another Weapon that is speculated to not be necessary for the Knight's Honor Achievement; since most sources say it does, I would collect it anyways to be safe.

Pyromancy #17 – Chaos Fire Whip: After the Daughter of Chaos is killed, continue along past the Fog Gate (don’t go in there!) over to where another tentacley Chaos Eater is. Kill it & we can find this Pyromancy in a Chest behind where it was.

Before this next bullet in the guide, be sure you stock up on both Purple Moss Clumps & many Arrows.

NPC – Siegmeyer of Catarina #6: With the aforementioned Items collected, backtrack up past the Fog Gate & down the stairs we originally came up. From here, take a left down a large root into an area full of Stone Demons. Near the end of the area we can go right across a causeway leading to a Titanite Demon, or left into a dark tunnel that looks like a dead end.

Walk into the dark tunnel & the floor will give way, dumping us into a putrid Chaos Eater hive. Across from where we land, we can see the silhouette of an Onion Knight. Before we approach him though, we need to do something about the Chaos Eaters below us. As part of his Questline, he will aid us by jumping into the pit to kill them… except it’s highly likely he dies if he does. To help him, we need to kill all but one Chaos Eater; killing all five of them before having him help us will actual make him commit suicide because he feels so useless, so definitely leave one alive.

After we have killed 3/5 of the Chaos Eaters with our Bow, walk around the pit to speak with Siegmeyer. Equipping the Rusted Iron Ring is very helpful for the upcoming fight… Exhaust his dialogue & he will leap into the pit to repay his debt; be warned that only the first four Chaos Eaters are visible with the fifth being around the corner in another room close by that may catch you by surprise. After you are sure only one Chaos Eater is alive (but weakened), let Siegmeyer kill the final one & speak with him. After the battle he will take a nap… seemingly immune to the Poison water. Siegmeyer must survive this fight with over half health. If he does not, then when we go to speak with him, he will die during the dialogue sequence which will rob us of the Titanite Slab reward we will get in our final encounter with him.

Red Titanite Slab #1: Down in the stagnant waters of the Chaos Eater hive, head down the only path available to us then turn left at the T-junction. Skirt around a square pit & then take another left down the corridor. As we head down it, we can see a short passage off our right that ends in a Chest. This Chest contains a Red Titanite Slab; remember this location as we will be returning here in NG+ for 2/2 Red Titanite Slabs for the Fire & Chaos Weapon Reinforcements.

Useful Item – Sunlight Maggot: Either use a Homeward Bone or navigate your way out manually up the roots out of the Chaos Eater hive back to where we are. Once we are back at the top, head out across a bridge across from where the hive is located & either dodge past or kill the Titanite Demon. This is the hardest Titanite Demon in the game.

However, you get past it, carry on down the stairs at the far side & we can find more Chaos Bugs… & Solaire. If you followed the steps to save him, we can find Solaire just sitting on the ground; sane, with the Sunlight Maggot head piece on the ground a little ways behind him. Speak with him, & though he sounds a bit forlorn, this is what we do to make him a Summon for the Final Boss.

If you did not save Solaire or correctly do it, Solaire will be insane & he will have the Sunlight Maggot on his head. You will have to kill Solaire to get the head piece. The Sunlight Maggot is what will allow us to safely explore the Tomb of Giants.


Achievement #19 – Defeat Bed of Chaos: Defeat the Soul Lord Bed of Chaos.
Story Related. When all is done in Lost Izalith, pass through the Fog Gate & prepare for one of the strangest Boss battles in the Dark Souls series. To kill the Bed of Chaos we have to destroy both Nodes on either side of the Boss Room. Getting to these is such a pain as you will find out; trying to snipe them with a Bow can be a much easier strategy. When these are destroyed, we now have to charge straight at the Bed of Chaos & she will destroy the floor in front of herself. This in itself is usually certain death; she will destroy the floor & we have to somehow land on some roots below. This is the most infuriating part of the fight. After some trial & error (or a video guide) line up your fall to land on the roots below & quickly follow them to the remnants of the Witch of Izalith herself. One strike is all it will take to kill her.

Note that between our deaths, make a habit of killing the two Chaos Eaters on either side of the Bed of Chaos’s Fog Gate with the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring equipped as they have a 10% chance of dropping a Red Titanite Chunk & a 0.3% chance of actually dropping a Red Titanite Slab!

Sequence 22: Pride Before A Fall

1. NG – Blighttown, Firelink Shrine, Ash Lake, Tomb of Giants, The Catacombs
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 4/6
3. Pyromancies: 18/19
4. Sorceries: 23/24
5. Miracles: 13/23
6. Boss Souls: 6/16
7. Rare Weapons: 25/50
8. Achievements: 19/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blighttown:

NPC – Quelana of Izalith #3: After we have defeated the Bed of Chaos, return to Quelana & we can complete her Questline to receive her final Pyromancy.

Pyromancy #18 – Fire Tempest: Obtained after defeating the Bed of Chaos & completing Quelana’s Questline. Can also be obtained just by outright killing her; be sure you have purchased all her Pyromancies first if you do this…

Firelink Shrine:

NPC – Sieglinde of Catarina #3: Warp back to Firelink Shrine, & if we helped Siegmeyer down in Lost Izalith, we can once again find Sieglinde near the Bonfire. Speak with her, & she will tell us that her father has gone on his final journey & thank us for the part we played…

Ash Lake:

NPC – Sieglinde of Catarina #4: After meeting Sieglinde at Firelink Shrine, Warp to the Stone Dragon Bonfire in Ash Lake. Make your way to the very far end of the beach to where the Ash Lake Bonfire is, & if you followed Siegmeyer’s Questline in Lost Izalith, you will find Sieglinde standing over her father’s corpse. He had gone Hollow after finally achieving success… & she came to put him to sleep forever.

Titanite Slab #2: Speak with Sieglinde as she stands over her father’s corpse in Ash Lake & we will be rewarded with a Titanite Slab for completing their Questlines.

We only need to kill the Stray Demon in NG+ to have 3/3 Titanite Slabs for the Weapon Reinforcement Achievements. Any extra Slabs we may get past 3 are yours to use as you choose.

Tomb of Giants 70-75:

With the Sunlight Maggot from Lost Izalith, it is now safe for us to traverse the Tomb of Giants. Warp to the Catacombs Bonfire (or Firelink Shrine) & navigate to the top of Pinwheel’s Boss Room to enter the Tomb of Giants.

Tomb of Giants Bonfire: From the top of Pinwheel’s Boss Room, slowly make your way through the darkness with the help of the Sunlight Maggot, Cast Light, or the Undead Lantern. Follow the Prism Stones set by Reah & her Clerics through the Area & down the sarcophagus slides until we are plopped directly in front of an NPC. Ignore him for now, & walk to the cliff edge to the left of where we drop off the slide & we can find a ladder going down to a lower landing. This will take us to the Warp-able Tomb of Giants Bonfire.

Covenant Item – Eyes of Death x3: From the Bonfire, climb up the nearby ladder (still ignoring the NPC) & follow a pathway under the sarcophagus we slid down. Keep following path left up the cliff past a square crypt roof & fight off a Giant Skeleton Swordsman & Archer. Climb up a ladder & fight off two more Giant Skeleton Swordsmen in a small stone room. Climb up two iron inset ladders & drop off the top onto the other side of the room where we can loot a Corpse holding three Eyes of Death.

NPC – Patches the Hyena #1: Approach the strange NPC in Tomb of Giants & speak with them. Answer his question however you like though it is best if you say you are not a Cleric & approach the Prism Stone on the ledge to his right where we will receive a helpful nudge.

NPC – Reah of Thorolund #2: After regaining control of our Character, begin following the wall along past three Corpses to the right. We can find Reah kneeling on the ground just past the first pillar of the pit. Speak with her… & she is in big trouble. Locate her now Hollowed escorts a little ways further in this pit & slay them. Return to Reah & she will thank us with a Miracle; she will later flee the Tomb of Giants & we can find her in Undead Parish…

Miracle #12 – Replenishment: We will receive this Miracle from Reah as a reward from saving her in the Tomb of Giants.

NPC – Patches the Hyena #2: Navigate your way out of the trap pit back to Patches & he will be rather surprised. While we can kill him, he becomes a Merchant in Firelink Shrine if we do not. When he asks to be “jolly undead outcasts” just say “Yes”. If you said you were a Cleric before however, tell him “No” or he will become hostile & attack us.

He has a Rare Weapon we need for the Knights Honor Achievement; you can kill him & he will drop it, or we leave him alive & can buy it from him amongst other Items in Firelink Shrine. The Weapon is all we really need from Patches; he will head to Firelink Shrine after we defeat Nito.

The Catacombs:

Eye of Death Farming: Now that we collected those 3 Eyes of Death in the Tomb of Giants, we should now have at least 6 Eyes of Death. Before we carry on in Tomb of Giants, let us quickly complete the Gravelord Servant Covenant & get to Rank 1. Killing Gravelord Nito will disable the Covenant, voiding us of its final Miracle until NG+.

There are a few ways we can collect the last 4 Eyes of Death if you still need some. The fastest way is to farm Basilisks. Basilisks have a 6% chance to drop them & can be found in the Depths or The Great Hollow. The Great Hollow, though an awful Area, has the most Basilisks.

Lastly is PvP. If you are a member of the Gravelord Servants you can consume an Eye of Death to Invade another Player’s World. Upon slaying the Host, you will receive an 2 Eyes of Death in return. This is risky though is if you lose, you just lost an Eye of Death.

Miracle #13 – Gravelord Greatsword Dance: With 10 Eyes of Death, return to the Titanite Demon’s crypt in the Catacombs & hop into that sarcophagus to be transported to Nito’s Boss Room. Offer the Eyes of Death & we will receive this Miracle completing this Covenant.
Ranks 2 & 3 only increase the strength of this Miracle.

Sequence 23: First of the Dead

1. NG – Tomb of Giants, Undead Parish, Firelink Shrine
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 4/6
3. Pyromancies: 18/19
4. Sorceries: 23/24
5. Miracles: 20/23
6. Boss Souls: 6/16
7. Rare Weapons: 29/50
8. Achievements: 20/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tomb of Giants:

Black Knight Encounter #7: Return to Tomb of Giants & carry on past where Patches is. After the first horrible Skeleton Beast, pass through the Fog Gate & we will be shortly ambushed by a Halberd Black Knight.

Rare Weapon #26 – Effigy Shield: Defeat the Black Knight & begin following this new area down to the left underneath the floor into a small cave. As soon as we enter the cave, take the exit to our right & follow a narrow path along the cliffs over to an isolated Corpse holding this Shield.

Barrow Bonfire: Drop down to the next level of the small cave & fight off the Giant Skeleton Swordsman & Skeleton Beast that await us. Turn around & walk underneath the floor we dropped down from & go straight to the cliff edge on the other side. Follow another narrow path to the left of the cliff edge & we can find a Bonfire tucked away in an alcove.

Useful Item – Covetous Silver Serpent Ring: Return back to the top of this room where there is that Giant Skeleton Archer. It will have a Corpse near it that holds a Soul of a Brave Warrior. From where the Corpse is, take a run & leap off the ledge directly ahead of the Corpse & we will land on a slightly narrow ledge below. Follow this ledge along to collect this Ring off a Corpse. Be warned as we will be ambushed by many Bone Towers (a good source of White Titanite Chunks). This Ring will be essential for Soul farming, especially in NG+.

Rare Weapon #27 – Grant: Return to the Barrow Bonfire & Reverse Hollowing to gain your Human form. The next two Weapons we need are drops from an Invading Phantom that only appears if Nito is still alive. You may want to familiarize yourself with the way to the Phantom beforehand as there are more then a few Skeleton Beasts along the way.

Kill or run past the 3 Skeleton Beasts to the right, down a winding path to a ladder leading further down. At the bottom of the ladder we can find a long pathway along the cliffs with an unsettling view of the Ash Lake Area. If we are Human, walk along the pathway, past a tunnel into the cliff wall, & we will be promptly Invaded by the Red Phantom Paladin Leeroy. Fight defensively & Backstab him whenever he tries using the Heal Miracle. He will drop Grant upon his death.

Do not let Leeroy roll or fall off the edge of the area or we will not be able to collect his Weapons! Try luring him further up the pathway or into the cave close to where he spawns.

Rare Weapon #28 – Sanctus: Along with Grant, Red Phantom Paladin Leeroy will also drop his Shield, Sanctus, when killed.

White Titanite Slab #1: Enter through the tunnel into the cliff wall now & navigate to the chamber just outside of Nito’s Boss Room; this Chamber will be full of Pinwheel Servants. Fight your way through the Pinwheels & strange Skeleton Babies until you reach the ramp just before Nito’s Fog Gate. At the foot of the ramp leading up, there will be a small tunnel off our right. Drop into it & follow it to the dead end where we can find this Slab on a Corpse.

We will need to return here in NG+ to get the 2/2 White Titanite Slabs we need.


Achievement #20 – Defeat Gravelord Nito: Defeat the Soul Lord Gravelord Nito.
Story Related. When you are ready, & have achieved Rank 1 in the Gravelord Servant Covenant, enter the Fog Gate & prepare for battle. Unless you have a Divine Weapon or use the Astora Straight Sword or Grant, the Skeletons Nito has for minions will keep respawning. This isn’t damning, just makes it a harder fight; fortunately, by this point they are easy to kill quickly.

Regardless if you can or cannot permanently kill the Skeletons, stay near the beginning of the Boss Room; at the far back are three Giant Skeletons Swordsmen that will make things very very difficult for you. Defeat Nito to unlock the Achievement.

Firelink Shrine:

Rare Weapon #29 – Crescent Axe: With Nito dead, return to Firelink Shrine & make your way to the Firelink ruins where Kingseeker Frampt is. From here, start making your way towards the graveyard & we can find Patches crouching just outside the ruins. Not only does he sell… the gear of dead Clerics, but he will also sell his Crescent Axe for 10,000 Souls.

If you can’t be bothered to buy it, & need nothing from his shop, then you can kill him instead & he will drop the Weapon for us.

Undead Parrish:

NPC – Reah of Thorolund #3: With Reah saved from the Tomb of Giants, make your way to the Undead Parish church up the elevator from Firelink Shrine. Reah can be found kneeling in front of the altar with the dead Firekeeper on it. Speak with her, & we will be able to purchase a bunch of Miracles from her (the Covenant we can join is just The Way of White). Reah sells all of the same Miracles as Petrus but at a drastically reduced price.

Miracle #14 – Seek Guidance: Purchased from Reah of Thorolund for 500 Souls. Alternatively sold by Petrus of Thorolund for 2000 Souls.

Miracle #15 – Heal: Purchased from Reah of Thorolund for 1000 Souls. This is also the starting Miracle if you chose the Cleric Class. Alternatively sold by Petrus of Thorolund for 4000 Souls.

Miracle #16 – Force: Purchased from Reah of Thorolund for 1000 Souls. Alternatively sold by Petrus of Thorolund for 4000 Souls.

Miracle #17 – Great Heal Excerpt: Purchased from Reah of Thorolund for 2000 Souls. Alternatively sold by Petrus of Thorolund for 10,000 Souls.

Miracle #18 – Magic Barrier: Purchased from Reah of Thorolund for 6000 Souls.

Miracle #19 – Great Heal: Purchased from Reah of Thorolund for 10,000 Souls.

Miracle #20 – Wrath of the Gods: Purchased from Reah of Thorolund for 10,000 Souls.

(Miracle #2 – Homeward:) Purchased from Reah of Thorolund for 1000 Souls. Alternatively sold by Petrus of Thorolund for 8000 Souls.

This is listed as Miracle #2 due to being purchased prior in the guide for farming. If you never bought it from Petrus, be sure to buy it now from Reah.

Firelink Shrine:

NPC – Petrus of Thorolund #2: If you do not have the Souls to purchase all of the Miracles you need from Reah, immediately go to Petrus in Firelink Shrine… & kill him. If we do not, Petrus will take it upon himself & kill Reah after we defeat any upcoming Boss. If he does, we will be voided of Reah’s Miracles until NG+; if you got the hints from Lautrec or Oswald… then you already know Petrus is a bad man.

Sequence 24: The Legend of Artorias

1. NG – Artorias of the Abyss DLC, Darkroot Garden, New Londo Ruins
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 4/6
3. Pyromancies: 18/19
4. Sorceries: 24/24
5. Miracles: 20/23
6. Boss Souls: 7/16
7. Rare Weapons: 29/50
8. Achievements: 24/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Artorias of the Abyss DLC:

The Artorias of the Abyss DLC is not needed for any Achievements, however if we beat it, it will impact the opening cinematic for the upcoming Area Boss of Darkroot Garden. To access it, if you have the Broken Pendant from the Crystal Golem in the beginning of The Duke’s Archives then make your way to the back of Darkroot Basin. Walk into the cave where we fought the Golden Crystal Golem & saved Dusk of Oolacile & there will be a black portal that will take us into the DLC. It is a very challenging DLC, but I highly recommend playing through it for extra Souls, Titanite, Weapons, Armor, & Lore!

AoA DLC - Royal Wood:

Blue Titanite Slab: If you do enter the DLC, we can collect three Titanite Slabs throughout it that will assist us in our Weapon Reinforcement Achievements & reduce farming. After defeating the initial Sanctuary Garden Boss & we enter the Royal Wood shortly after, head up the first slope across the bridge. Make your way into the center of this forest just up ahead & we can find a Chest in a murky pool guarded by Stone Guardians (it is the same Chest we originally found the Enchanting Ember in). This Chest, will contain a Blue Titanite Slab.

Titanite Slab: This Titanite Slab will be found in a Chest hidden behind the waterfall found within Black Dragon Kalameet's boss room. You can enter this boss room early or after you have shot down Kalameet (entering in early may mean certain death). Before entering Artorias's boss room in the large coliseum, we can find a short pathway close to the elevators that will lead us down to a small creek. Follow the creek down past all the Wild Dogs to find Kalameet's Fog Gate.

AoA DLC - Chasm of the Abyss:

White Titanite Slab: Near the end of the DLC when we are right above the final boss's Fog Gate, we can find a White Titanite Slab on a Corpse just to the left before we begin walking down the slope to the boss room.

For reasons unknown, there is no Red Titanite Slab to be found in the DLC...

Darkroot Garden:

Achievement #21 – Art of Abysswalking: Acquire the Art of Abysswalking.
Story Related. Whether you completed the Artorias of the Abyss DLC or not, Warp to the Undead Parish Bonfire & begin making your way into Darkroot Garden. Head across the bridge into the third half of the Garden past where Alvina of the Forest Hunters is, & make your way to the far end where the massive set of doors is. Enter the Boss Room… & prepare to cry.

Killing Sif will reward us with the Covenant of Artorias, the mandatory Ring we need to enter the Abyss to fight the Four Kings in New Londo.

Boss Soul #7 – Soul of Sif: Defeat Sif in the Darkroot Garden to acquire his Soul. Unlike most Bosses in Dark Souls 1, we actually need three copies of Sif’s Boss Soul. This will require us to kill him on NG+ as well as the only mandatory Boss we need to kill on NG++ (apart from the ones along the way to Anor Londo).

New Londo Ruins 70-80:

With the Covenant of Artorias, Warp back to Firelink Shrine & make your way down below where the Bonfire is past the Firekeeper Anastacia. Take the elevator down, & we will entire New Londo. The Ghosts & Banshees here cannot be harmed unless you are Cursed. Alternatively, you can use the Transient Curse Item which will temporarily Curse you with none of the draw backs; the effect lasts for 5 minutes. We can find Transient Curse in New Londo, as a 5% drop from Ghosts, or sold by the Female Undead Merchant for 4000 Souls. Two can be found right away just before the wooden walkways across the water into the ruins.

If you are very lucky, the Ghosts can drop the Jagged Ghost Blade which is a dagger that has an indefinite Curse imbuement.

Useful Item – Firekeeper Soul: Across the wooden walkways we will enter the New Londo ruins. Dispatch the two Ghosts that meet us & head to the far-right side of this first area over to where an open doorway is with what was once a long stone tunnel. Walk through another open doorway at the end & carefully walk along a narrow stone bridge out across the water towards a Corpse. Close to the end of the bridge we will be ambushed by three Ghosts so watch out! The Firekeeper Soul will be on the Corpse at the end.

NPC – Ingward #1: Make your way through New Londo, through a Fog Gate, & eventually into a large maze of a church. In the church, head straight through a doorway then left into a large room with bones scattering the floor with a Banshee at the far end. Kill the Banshee & Ghosts & climb up an iron ladder inside the fireplace at the back of the room. When we get to the church roof, we can find a crimson Sorcerer named Ingward. Speak with him, & since we have the Lordvessel, he will give us the Key to the Seal allowing us to drain New Londo of water.

Sorcery #24 – Resist Curse: Speak with Ingward again & go to his shop. On top of selling Transient Curse for only 1000 Souls, he also sells this Sorcery for 5000 Souls.


Achievement #22 – Wisdom of a Sage: Acquire all 24 Sorceries.
If you have been following along with the guide, we will unlock this Achievement after purchasing this last Sorcery from Inward.

If the Achievement did not unlock, consult my Achievement Checklist: Dark Souls – Remastered in the Introduction of this guide to see which Sorceries you are still missing. We can collect them in NG+…

Draining New Londo: Navigate into the elevator room & use the Key to the Seal to unlock the door to the water gate Lever. Pull the lever to drain the water & allow us access to the lower levels of New Londo.

We can use the Darkroot Basin Bonfire & use the shortcut through Valley of Drakes now to access New Londo; just sprint past the Drakes every time you pass through.


Achievement #23 – Defeat the Four Kings: Defeat the Four Kings, inheritors of souls.
Story Related. The Four Kings are arguably the hardest Boss in Dark Souls 1. We need to have the Covenant of Artorias equipped when we enter the Abyss where they are located or else we will fall through the “floor”. Pass through the Fog Gate & head down the stairs; drop down into the Abyss at the bottom of them. This is not a battle of finesse but a battle of out damaging your opponent faster. Equip your strongest Weapon you can wield & the tankiest Armor you can comfortably use… & slug it out. The closer you are to a King, the safer you are as it limits the attacks they can use & the damage you will take.

If you Summoned her for the Moonlight Butterfly Boss Battle in Darkroot Garden, & are Human, we can Summon Witch Beatrice for the fight. We can find her Summon Sign to the right of the walkway where the Four King’s Fog Gate is close to a Darkwraith hidden around a corner. If you do Summon her, you have to be sure you kill the Ghost floating above the Abyss as soon as we pass through the Fog Gate. Beatrice is not Cursed so she will stand there blasting the Ghost & never drop down into the Abyss with us unless we kill it. Beatrice is a huge help on NG!

If you need help defeating the Four Kings, here is the info page by Fxtralife that may show you some helpful tips & tricks.
https://darksouls.wiki.fextralife.com/Four+Kings

Sequence 25: Linking the Flame

1. NG – Kiln of the First Flame, Firelink Shrine, Blighttown
2. Reinforcement Weapons: 4/6
3. Pyromancies: 19/19
4. Miracles: 20/23
5. Boss Souls: 8/16
6. Rare Weapons: 34/50
7. Achievements: 25/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kiln of the First Flame 80-90:

With all four Lord Souls in our possession, return to Kingseeker Frampt & the Firelink Altar & burn them. With the Lord Souls kindled in the Altar, the doors to the Kiln of the First Flame will open & we will have access to the final Area of the game. Do not pass through the Fog Gate at the end of the Area or it will initiate the Final Boss battle! We will want to do a few things before we complete NG…

Rare Weapon #30 – Black Knight Shield: The five Black Knights here in the Kiln will respawn & are the best source to farm all of the Black Knight gear. If you do not already have them, spend the time to farm whichever Weapons you still need. The Black Knight Shield has a 5% chance to drop from any Black Knight.

Rare Weapon #31 – Black Knight Sword: The Black Knight Sword has a 20% chance to drop from any Sword Black Knight. There are two we can farm in the Kiln of the First Flame.

Rare Weapon #32 – Black Knight Greatsword: The Black Knight Greatsword has a 20% chance to drop from any Greatsword Black Knight. There is one we can farm in the Kiln of the First Flame.

Rare Weapon #33 – Black Knight Halberd: The Black Knight Halberd has a 20% chance to drop from any Halberd Black Knight. There is one we can farm in the Kiln of the First Flame.

Rare Weapon #34 – Black Knight Greataxe: The Black Knight Greataxe has a 20% chance to drop from any Greataxe Black Knight. There is one we can farm in the Kiln of the First Flame.

Firelink Shrine:

Kindling Bonfires: While we mop up our last errands, you may want to consider Kindling some Bonfires if you have the Humanity reserves to spare. I recommend to Kindle Bonfires we can Warp to with the Lord Vessel as well as any others you'd like to at least 15. On NG+, we lose our Lord Vessel & the Rite of Kindling, so it is good doing the ground work beforehand to give you an easier time on the next playthrough...

Blighttown:

Pyromancy #19 – Chaos Storm: Our last errand of NG will be collecting our final Pyromancy of the game from the Chaos Servants Covenant. We need to reach Rank +2 in the Covenant which will require us to offer 30 “Soft” Humanity to The Fair Lady. At this point, we do not have much use for Humanity; we will just be getting more in NG+. Run around & Kindle whichever Bonfires you want while we have the Rite of Kindling & absorb the rest. We will receive this Pyromancy at Rank +2.

If you need more Humanity, farming the Pisacas in The Duke’s Archives is the fastest method. It is still a good idea to have a decent stockpile of the Humanity Item when we enter NG+ for Summoning NPCs for Boss battles. Bosses are much stronger in NG+ & we will definitely want all the help we can get!


Achievement #24 – Bond of a Pyromancer: Acquire all 19 Pyromancies.
If you have been following along with the guide, we will unlock this Achievement after collecting this final Pyromancy from the Chaos Servant Covenant.

If the Achievement did not unlock, consult my Achievement Checklist: Dark Souls – Remastered in the Introduction of this guide to see which Pyromancies you are still missing. We can collect them in NG+.

Useful Item – Firekeeper Soul: Now that we are finished with the Chaos Servant Covenant, we can acquire our last Firekeeper Soul… from The Fair Lady. Strike her down to collect it; note that this will disable the Bonfire in this Area. Prepare to cry…

Kiln of the First Flame:

Boss Soul #8 – Soul of Gwyn: When all of your Weapon farming & collecting is finished, make your way to the Fog Gate at the end of the Kiln of the First Flame & prepare for the final battle. If you saved him in Lost Izalith, we can find Solaire of Astora’s Summon Sign at the top of the spiralling stairs leading to the Fog Gate.

Defeat the Lord of Cinder to collect his Soul. We only need the Soul of Gwyn for one Rare Weapon however, we also need his Soul for the final Miracle from the Warriors of Sunlight Covenant later on. This, on top of Sif’s third Soul, are the only reasons why we have to enter into NG++.


Achievement #25 – To Link the Fire: Reach "To Link the Fire" Ending.
Story Related. After defeating Gwyn, approach the Bonfire in the center of the Kiln & Link it to complete NG & unlock the Achievement.

Alternatively, you can walk out of the Boss Room & unlock the Dark Lord Achievement which we will be getting on our NG+ playthrough.

60% Complete

Sequence 26: NG+

1. NG+ – Undead Parish, Darkroot Garden, Northern Undead Asylum, Depths, Blighttown
2. Embers: 3/10
3. Reinforcement Weapons: 4/6
4. Miracles: 20/23
5. Boss Souls: 10/16
6. Rare Weapons: 34/50
7. Achievements: 25/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When NG+ begins, carry on as you would; I recommend re-beating everything 100% again if nothing else than for more Levels & Titanite drops. We need to collect the next batch of Boss Souls, final Reinforcement Weapons, as well as locating all 10 Embers we need for Reinforcement. Once we beat up to the Kiln of the First Flame, we will be farming for Titanite & unlocking all of the Weapon Reinforcement Achievements as well as collecting all but the last Rare Weapon (Sif’s final Boss Weapon). If you missed any Rare Weapons or Spells in NG, make sure you collect them in NG+.

As well, we need to make a point of getting 25 Faith if you have not already done so. We will be covering the Warriors of Sunlight Covenant in NG++ but we need the 25 Faith to join them. We are using NG+ as our grinding playthrough so we can complete NG++ as fast as possible. You also want to make a point of collecting 10 Sunlight Medals as well; Summon Solaire whenever you can help it. He can be Summoned for the Bell Gargoyles, Gaping Dragon, Orenstein & Smough, Centipede Demon, & Gwyn Boss fights.

Note that if you play Online, being Summoned into another Player’s World & successfully defeating a Boss with them will reduce this requirement by 5. If you have a Faith of 10, you only need to defeat three Bosses in jolly cooperation to be able to join the Covenant.

Undead Parish:

Key – Basement Key: After defeating the Taurus Demon, navigate your way through to the Undead Parish until you are at the front entrance of the large church (not the side entrance) that is past the Fang Boar. From the front entrance, turn around & walk down some stairs until you are on the other side of the gate where the Fang Boar guards. Behind the gate will be a Corpse holding this Key; this will lead us into lower Undead Berg & eventually to the Depths…

Useful Item – Ring of Favour & Protection #2: While you may already have the Ring of Favour & Protection collected & equipped, it can be useful owning a second copy. During our NG+ Four Kings fight I highly recommend freeing up one of your Ring Slots, which if you have this Ring equipped, will break it. This way with our second copy, you can re-equip the Ring after the Boss Fight is over with.

Either kill Lautrec in his cell or progress his Questline to Anor Londo & kill him there; either way will reward us with the Ring. You will need to collect the Mystery Key from the room full of Hollows close to the Fang Boar in Undead Parish to free him.

Darkroot Garden:

Boss Soul #9 – Soul of the Moonlight Butterfly: When you reach Darkroot Garden, make your way through the Area to the Moonlight Butterfly Boss Room.

Summon Witch Beatrice if you want her help again for the Four Kings later on; unfortunately for us, we will be fighting them waaaay earlier in this playthrough, as I will explain why later… I highly recommend having her for that fight.

Slay the Moonlight Butterfly for its second Boss Soul.

Ember #1 – Divine Ember: When the Moonlight Butterfly is defeated, carry on across the bridge into the tower at the far side. Head up the stairs & we can see a petrified blacksmith. Pillage his Corpse for the Watchtower Basement Key & the Divine Ember.

We can take this Ember to Andre & he will be able to imbue Divine Weapons for us.

Key – Crest of Artorias: Farm the 20,000 Souls needed for the Crest of Artorias so we can access the second & third sections of Darkroot Garden.

Ember #2 – Enchanted Ember: Using the Crest of Artorias, make your way across the bridge past Alvina of the Forest Hunters into the third section of Darkroot Garden. At the bottom of the stairs on the other side, leave the ruins & make your way into the middle of this new forest, slightly off your right. Here there will be a pool of water with a Chest containing this Ember in it. Be careful though, there are two Large Mushroom-Men guarding it. They punch VERY hard. Its easiest luring them away & stealing the Ember.

We can take this Ember to Rickert of Vinheim in the New Londo Ruins to imbue Enchanted Weapons for us.

Northern Undead Asylum:

Titanite Slab #3: If you are still needing the third Titanite Slab, return to the Undead Asylum & take out the Stray Demon for one as a reward.

If you still need more you can re-complete Siegmeyer’s Questline again or farm them off Darkwraith Knights once we reach the end of the playthrough.

Key – Peculiar Doll: We will need to enter the Painted World of Ariamis once again to collect an Ember we need. Make a pit stop at your old cell in the Asylum to pick up the Doll to allow us passage inside the Painting.

Depths:

Ember #3 – Large Ember: Make your way down into the Lower Undead Burg using the Basement Key & go slay the Capra Demon Boss. Enter into the Depths & head inside the grungy food kitchen. Down in its lower level we can find the Undead Butcher still going ham on a slab of meat. Defeat the Butcher, & we can find this Ember inside a Chest to the left of its cutting table.

We can take this Ember to Andre in the Undead Parish to advance Standard Weapon Reinforcement to +10 for us.

Blighttown:

Boss Soul #10 – Soul of Quelaag: There are two ways we can get to Quelaag, the natural way down through the Depths/Blighttown, or we can take the back entrance to Blighttown Swamp through the Valley of Drakes. I recommend going the Valley of Drakes route, but only if you are confident with your pathfinding/survivability. Are only Bonfire on this route is at the very bottom in the Blighttown Swamp, so if you die you have to re-navigate the whole way from the Darkroot Basin Bonfire through Valley of Drakes again. If you don’t want to risk it, just take the longer/“safer” route through the Depths.

Slay Quelaag to receive her second Boss Soul.

Sequence 27: The Chosen Undead

1. NG+ – Firelink Shrine, Sen’s Fortress, Anor Londo, Painted World of Ariamis, Darkroot Garden, New Londo Ruins
2. Embers: 5/10
3. Reinforcement Weapons: 5/6
4. Miracles: 20/23
5. Boss Souls: 14/16
6. Rare Weapons: 34/50
7. Achievements: 25/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Firelink Shrine:

NPC – Kingseeker Frampt #1: After ringing both Bells of Awakening, we can find Kingseeker Frampt in his usually spot in the Firelink Shrine ruins. Frampt is essential in this playthrough… essential to avoid! We cannot talk to him at all or it will void joining the Darkwraith Covenant! Some sources claim you are able to speak & sell things to him before you obtain the Lordvessel. Other sources claim that doing this DOES void the Darkwraith Covenant. It is safest in my opinion to not risk your playthrough at all & just avoid Frampt entirely for this playthrough.

*If someone is willing to risk a playthrough & test if you can speak/sell stuff to Frampt before obtaining the Lordvessel, they are more than welcome to. Scroll down to Sequence 28: The Darkwraiths & look at the walkthrough for New Londo Ruins there for more details about the Darkwraith Covenant & its associated NPC.

Before going to Sen’s Fortress, you may want to consider blasting through The Catacombs & taking out Pinwheel to obtain the Rite of Kindling first.

Sen’s Fortress:

Boss Soul #11 – Core of An Iron Core Golem: Slog your way through Sen’s Fortress & get to the Iron Golem. Summon good ol’ Iron Tarkus for the battle if you need him.

Slay the Iron Golem to receive its second Boss Soul.

Anor Londo:

Boss Souls #12 – Soul of Gwyndolin: If you never sold the Darkmoon Séance Ring, head to the Darkmoon Tomb Bonfire & pass through the Gwyn statue to get to Gwyndolin’s Fog Gate. Since we already dealt with the Blades of the Darkmoon Covenant, pass through the Fog Gate & take out Gwyndolin right off the bat.

Slay him to receive his second Boss Soul.

Covenant Item – Sunlight Medal x3: Navigate all the way through Anor Londo until you reach the Palace Bonfire, past the gauntlet of Dragonslayer Silver Knights. From the Bonfire, we can find 3 Sunlight Medals in a Chest over in the room directly across from where the Bonfire is here.

Reinforcement Weapon #5 – Occult Club: From the Bonfire, enter the room at the far end past the spiral stair case, through the door to the left. Strike the wall at the back of the fireplace to enter the secret room below. Take out the Mimic to receive our second copy of the Occult Club.

We need this second copy to simplify getting the Divine Weapon Reinforcement Achievements.

Boss Soul #13 – Soul of Orenstein/Soul of Smough: In the massive palace entrance, reach the Fog Gate for this deadly duo. Summoning Solaire can be useful for distractions but you’ll notice his survivability is greatly reduced.

Be sure you kill the Boss whose Soul you already have first so that the super charged Boss you fight will give you your needed Soul. If you have Smough’s Boss Soul, kill him first so we will get Orenstein’s Boss Soul after the fight or vice versa. Double check to make sure your killing the right Boss last!

The Lordvessel: Speak with Gwynevere, & we will be awarded with the Lordvessel. Now that it is in our possession, we cannot speak with King Seeker Frampt at all or we will void the Darkwraith Covenant on this playthrough!

If for some reason you accidentally do speak with him & are transported down to the Firelink Altar; do not place the Lordvessel on the Altar & just use a Homeward Bone or die to escape. I cannot guarantee that this still won’t void the Covenant, but in theory, so long as the Lordvessel is not placed on the Altar it should be alright. But even with extensive research online, I cannot confirm this!

Painted World of Ariamis:

Ember #4 – Dark Ember: While we do not need a second copy of Priscilla’s Boss Soul, we do need to re-enter the Painted World of Ariamis to collect an Ember unfortunately. Navigate to the courtyard well & locate the Annex Key down inside it. Use it to unlock the door, which is also found in the courtyard, & make your way up to the top of the stairs. From here, head straight down a corridor towards an Engorged Zombie. Follow it along to find two more down on a small patio where we can find another petrified blacksmith. Loot it to collect this Ember; be careful, two Crow Demons will ambush us when we grab it!

We can take this Ember to Andre in the Undead Parish to imbue Occult Weapons for us.

If you already got Priscilla’s Dagger from her Tail-Cut, feel free to leave her alive & take her up on her offer to exit the Painted World peacefully. Walk on past & take the leap out of the Painting… unless of course, you want more Souls.

Darkroot Garden:

Now for the divergent part of our playthrough, because we cannot speak to Frampt to place the Lordvessel to unlock the next arc of the game we are forced to fight the Four Kings early. This is the latest point in the playthrough we can delay this fight as all other Areas are locked until we place the Lordvessel on the Firelink Altar. The Darkwraith Covenant leader will be the new recipient of the Lordvessel but he will only appear in the Four Kings Boss Room… after they are defeated.

Boss Soul #14 – Soul of Sif: Head to the massive doors at the far end of Darkroot Garden & dispatch man’s best friend to receive Sif’s second Boss Soul & the Covenant of Artorias.

New Londo Ruins:

NPC – Ingward #1: Make your way through New Londo as you would & speak with Ingward to receive the Key to the Seal.

Ember #5 – Very Large Ember: Drain the water to access the lower levels of New Londo & make your way to the first stone structure with three Darkwraith Knights & a Mass of Souls in it. To the far-right side of the room we can find stairs leading up to the second floor. Follow the second floor along to another set of stairs going up to the third floor where we can find this Ember in a Chest.

We can take this Ember to Andre in the Undead Parish to advance Standard Weapon Reinforcement to +15 for us.

Sequence 28: The Darkwraiths

1. NG+ – New Londo Ruins, The Abyss, The Duke’s Archives, Crystal Cave, Tomb of Giants
2. Embers: 8/10
3. Reinforcement Weapons: 6/6
4. Miracles: 20/23
5. Boss Souls: 14/16
6. Rare Weapons: 35/50
7. Achievements: 26/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Londo Ruins:

The Four Kings: If you thought they were hard in NG they are even more difficult in NG+, especially since we are just barely halfway through this playthrough. If you used her in the Moonlight Butterfly Boss fight, we can once again use Witch Beatrice though. She is less effective but I found she was still essential for getting through this. It took me MANY tries to succeed & a lot of Humanity…

This is definitely the hardest moment of our 100%; many of the Four King’s moves will be able to one shot us. Knowing we have a second copy of the Ring of Favour & Protection, I took the original Ring off in place of Havel’s Ring to don more heavy/magic resistant Armor. As a Faith build, I also took advantage of Sunlight Blade; with Beatrice’s help I was able to eventually take the Four Kings down…

For strategies for NG+ & just fighting the Four Kings in general, here is the info guide by Fxtralife.
https://darksouls.wiki.fextralife.com/Four+Kings

The Abyss:

NPC – Darkstalker Kaathe #1: If you never spoke to Kingseeker Frampt at all after receiving the Lordvessel then after defeating the Four Kings we can now find a new Primordial Serpant, Darkstalker Kaathe near The Abyss Bonfire.

Speak with Kaathe, & when he asks us to usher in a new Age of Dark as the Fourth Lord, answer “Yes”. If you say “No” on purpose or by accident, then he will become frustrated & leave the game forever, voiding the Achievement for this playthrough! Do not screw up our hard work; you DO NOT want to have to attempt Four Kings early on NG++!

If you said “Yes”, then we will be transported to the Firelink Altar in the presence of Darkstalker Kaathe. Place the Lordvessel on the Altar to unlock the location of the remaining Lord Souls & speak with Kaathe afterwards to be taken back to The Abyss.


Achievement #26 – Covenant Darkwraith: Discover Darkwraith Covenant.
This is an extremely missable Achievement that requires a lot of set up (which we have done if you have been following along). After we have placed the Lordvessel in the Firelink Altar with Darkstalker Kaathe, speak with him again after returning to The Abyss. We will now have a new dialogue option of joining the Darkwraith Covenant; the Achievement will unlock on the Joining Screen.

Rare Weapon #35 – Dark Hand: Join the Darkwraith Covenant & we can receive this Rare Weapon as a Rank 0 bonus. It also has a 1% chance to drop from Darkwraith Knights in the Lower New Londo Ruins.

That is all we need from this Covenant, however if you can somehow cobble together 30 Humanity, you can reach Rank 2 in the Covenant & acquire the super cool Darkwraith Armor Set & Darksword. Afterall this hard work getting to the Covenant, might as well?... good thing I wasted around 15 Humanity trying to defeat the Four Kings…

With the Darkwraith Covenant taken care of, the rest of this playthrough is pretty linear until we get to The Kiln of the First Flame.

The Dukes Archives:

Reinforcement Weapon #6 – Enchanted Falchion: Blast through The Duke’s Archives, die to Seath in his study, & get to The Duke’s Archives Bonfire in the second library. From The Duke’s Archives Bonfire, make your way back up the stairs to the rotating stairwell in the second library. Turn the stairs so that we are able to access the third floor of the second library. Climb down into the side room & open the Lever Shortcut back to the Bonfire. From here, enter into the room full of Chests & another Lever that opens the way down to the Crystal Forest. The Reinforcement Weapon will be inside the Mimic on the right side of the room.

This is the second copy of this Weapon we need to simplify getting the Magic Reinforcement Achievement.

Ember #6 – Crystal Ember: In the same room where we found the Enchanted Falchion, look behind the bookshelves on the right side of this room to find this Ember inside a Chest.

We can take this Ember to the Giant Blacksmith in Anor Londo to imbue Crystal Weapons for us.

Crystal Cave:

Blue Titanite Slab #2: Enter the Crystal Caves & after we fight the first Golden Crystal Golem in the Caves, drop down onto an invisible walkway with a Message on it. Immediately spin around & we can see 3 Crystal Lizards in a small cave behind us. At the backside of this cave, we can see large gap & a Corpse across from it on an outstretched crystal. Either with the Prism Stones or the falling crystal dust, carefully navigate your way over to the Corpse & we can loot our first Blue Titanite Slab. If you look carefully, you can see crystal dust falling & landing on the invisible walkways which essential for navigation.

I once again referenced the video guide by 100% Guides to get to the Slab; I still ended up dying around 5 times in the process. Fortunately, this is the last Blue Titanite Slab we need.
https://youtu.be/UAU2KceMxYY

The Duke’s Archives:

Ember #7 – Large Magic Ember: After defeating Seath the Scaleless, Warp to The Duke’s Archives Bonfire & navigate back to his study in the first section of The Duke’s Archives. In the study, we can find this Ember in a Chest in the center of the room.

We can take this Ember to Rickert of Vinheim in the New Londo Ruins to advance Magic Weapon Reinforcement to +10 for us.

Tomb of Giants:

Ember #8 – Large Divine Ember: First off, navigate the darkness & reach the Tomb of Giants Bonfire that is close to Patches the Hyena. From the Bonfire climb up the ladder & take a right along a narrow path until we reach a large stone crypt roof. We can enter this crypt by climbing down a short ladder into a small square opening.

Inside the crypt, will unfortunately be… six Giant Skeleton Swordsmen. We must try our best to lure them away one at a time though we have to fight the first two to three at once since though aggro immediately. If you have a good Bow, definitely consider trying to whittle them down to give yourself an easier time. With the Skeletons dead, we can now loot this Ember off of a petrified blacksmith.
We can take this Ember to Andre in the Undead Parish to advance Divine Weapon Reinforcement to +10 for us.

White Titanite Slab #2: Make your way through Tomb of Giants until you are just outside Nito’s Fog Gate. At the foot of the ramp leading up to the Fog Gate, there will be a small tunnel off our right. Drop into it & follow it to the dead end where we can find the Slab on a Corpse. This is the final White Titanite Slab we need to collect.

Move on to defeat Nito.

Sequence 29: Beginning of the End

1. NG+ – Demon Ruins, Lost Izalith, Kiln of the First Flame, Undead Parish
2. Embers: 10/10
3. Miracles: 20/23
4. Boss Souls: 14/16
5. Rare Weapons: 35/50
6. Achievements: 30/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Demon Ruins:

Ember #9 – Large Flame Ember: Dispatch Ceaseless Discharge & make your way to the Capra Garrison Bonfire outside of the Demon Firesage’s Fog Gate. From the Bonfire, head down the stairs towards the Fog Gate & take a left along a path that will take your through two Taurus Demons. Dispatch the Demons & we will enter a long corridor with a Chest at the end of it that will contain this Ember. As we proceed towards the Chest, four Burrowing Rockworms will come out of the ceiling. We can sprint past them & get to the Chest, but it is difficult getting out of here without using a Homeward Bone… or dying in our on-foot escape.

We can take this Ember to Blacksmith Vamos in The Catacombs to advance Fire Weapon Reinforcement to +10 for us.

Useful Item – Orange Charred Ring: Carry on to slay the Centipede Demon once again to receive this very helpful Ring. We need this Ring to comfortably collect our final Ember of the game.

You may also want to use the Poison Mist/Pyromancy Flame exploit to kill the Sunlight Maggot through the wall once again to save Solaire of Astora for the Gwyn Boss fight as well. Just make sure you track him down on the other side in Lost Izalith to Summon him later.

Ember #10 – Chaos Flame Ember: Now that we have the Orange Charred Ring, take the Elevator Shortcut back up the Daughter of Chaos Bonfire & head back out into the first large room of the Demon Ruins. Walk all the way down to the bottom of the hill & look out across the wastes to see a throng of Taurus Demons… waiting. Lure them away one by one to dispatch them & head to the far end of the wastes where they were guarding. In the middle of a lava pool we can see a floating Corpse; equip the Orange Charred Ring & walk over to loot it, collecting our final Ember.

We can take this Ember to Blacksmith Vamos in The Catacombs to imbue Chaos Weapons for us.

Lost Izalith:

Red Titanite Slab #2: Our last important Item of note down here will be our Red Titanite Slab. Navigate your way close to the Bed of Chaos’s Boss Room, whether or not you or following Siegmeyer’s Questline, drop down into the Chaos Eater hive. Down in the stagnant waters after defeating the Chaos Eaters, head down the only path available to us then turn left at the T-junction. Skirt around the square pit & then take another left down the corridor. As we head down it, we can see a short passage off our right that ends in a Chest. This is the final Red Titanite Slab that we need for Reinforcements.

Carry on to defeat the Bed of Chaos.

Kiln of the First Flame:

As of this point, there are no more Weapons, Souls, Spells, or Embers that we need to collect for NG+. Complete all the way up to the Kiln of the First Flame but do not enter into Gwyn’s Boss Room yet & beat the playthrough. If you have not already done so, be sure to fully loot around the Areas to collect any remaining Titanite found in Chests or on Corpses; we will need every piece for what’s to come.

The meat & potatoes of NG+ has just arrived… lucky us.

Undead Parish:

It is now time for the long grind of Weapon Reinforcements & Boss Weapon Ascensions. For a reference sheet of where the best farming locations are for all Titanite, check out my Achievement Checklist: Dark Souls – Remastered in the Introduction at the top of this guide. If you have been following along up until now, we should already have all the Slabs we need; it will only be Shards, Chunks, & of course Souls we will have to farm for.

NPC – Andre of Astora #1: Take the Large Ember, Very Large Ember, Dark Ember, Divine Ember, & Large Divine Ember to Blacksmith Andre in Undead Parish to start our first four Weapon Reinforcements.

The Titanite totals for all of Andre’s Reinforcements differ depending on if you have two copies of the Occult Club.

With the Occult Clubs, we will need: Titanite Shards x18, Large Titanite Shards x19, Titanite Chunks x8, Titanite Slabs x1, White Titanite Chunks x14, & White Titanite Slabs x2.

Without the Occult Clubs we will need an additional: Titanite Shards x18, & Green Titanite Shards x20.


Achievement #27 – Strongest Weapon: Acquire best weapon through Standard Reinforcement.
Choose any standard Weapon & Reinforce it to +15.

Standard Weapon 0 – +5: Titanite Shards x9
(Large Ember + Standard Ascension)
Standard Weapon +5 – +10: Large Titanite Shards x9
(Very Large Ember + Standard Ascension)
Standard Weapon +10 – +14: Titanite Chunks x8
Standard Weapon +14 – +15: Titanite Slab x1


Achievement #28 – Raw Weapon: Acquire best weapon through Raw Reinforcement.
Choose any standard Weapon & create a +5 Raw Weapon.

Standard Weapon 0 – +5: Titanite Shards x9
(Large Ember + Raw Ascension)
Raw Weapon 0 – +5: Large Titanite Shards x10


Achievement #29 – Occult Weapon: Acquire best weapon through Occult Reinforcement.
Take one of our two Occult Clubs & Reinforce it to +5 or take any standard Weapon & Ascend/Reinforce it into a +5 Occult Weapon. If you have the Occult Club, skip past the first three steps up to Occult Weapon.

Standard Weapon 0 – +5: Titanite Shards x9
(Divine Ember + Divine Ascension)
Divine Weapon +0 – +5: Green Titanite Shards x10
(Dark Ember + Occult Ascension)
Occult Weapon +0 – +4: White Titanite Chunks x7
Occult Weapon +4 – +5: White Titanite Slab x1


Achievement #30 – Divine Weapon: Acquire best weapon through Divine Reinforcement.
Modify our second Occult Club into a +5 Divine Club & Reinforce it to +10 or take any standard Weapon & Ascend/Reinforce it into a +10 Divine Weapon. If you Modified the Occult Club, skip past the first four steps up to Divine Weapon +5.

Standard Weapon 0 – +5: Titanite Shards x9
(Divine Ember + Divine Ascension)
Divine Weapon +0 – +5: Green Titanite Shards x10
(Large Divine Ember + Divine Ascension)
Divine Weapon +5 – +9: White Titanite Chunks x7
Divine Weapon +9 – +10: White Titanite Slab x1

Sequence 30: Weapon Reinforcement

1. NG+ – Anor Londo, New Londo Ruins, The Catacombs
2. Miracles: 20/23
3. Boss Souls: 14/16
4. Rare Weapons: 35/50
5. Achievements: 36/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anor Londo:

NPC – Giant Blacksmith #1: From the Chamber of the Princess Bonfire, make your way over to the Giant Blacksmith & give it the Crystal Ember.

The Titanite totals for all of the Giant’s Reinforcements differ depending on if you have the copies of the Lightning Spear & the Crystal Halberd.

With the Spear/Halberd, we will only need: Titanite Chunks x18 & Titanite Slabs x2.

Without the Spear/Halberd we will need an additional: Titanite Shards x18 & Large Titanite Shards x18 to create two +10 Standard Weapons from Andre of Astora to then Ascend into Lightning & Crystal Weapons.


Achievement #31 – Lightning Weapon: Acquire best weapon through Lightning Reinforcement.
Take the Lightning Spear & Reinforce it to +5 or take any standard Weapon & Ascend/Reinforce it into a +5 Lightning Weapon. If you have the Lightning Spear, skip past the first four steps up to Lightning Weapon.

Standard Weapon 0 – +5: Titanite Shards x9
(Andre of Astora + Large Ember + Standard Ascension)
Standard Weapon +5 – +10: Large Titanite Shards x9
(+10 Standard Weapon + Lightning Ascension)
Lightning Weapon +0 – +4: Titanite Chunks x9
Lightning Weapon +4 – +5: Titanite Slab x1


Achievement #32 – Crystal Weapon: Acquire best weapon through Crystal Reinforcement.
Take the Crystal Halberd & Reinforce it to +5 or take any standard Weapon & Ascend/Reinforce it into a +5 Crystal Weapon. If you have the Crystal Halberd, skip past the first four steps up to Crystal Weapon.

Standard Weapon 0 – +5: Titanite Shards x9
(Andre of Astora + Large Ember + Standard Ascension)
Standard Weapon +5 – +10: Large Titanite Shards x9
(Crystal Ember + Crystal Ascension)
Crystal Weapon +0 – +4: Titanite Chunks x9
Crystal Weapon +4 – +5: Titanite Slab x1

New Londo Ruins:

NPC – Rickert of Vinheim #1: Take the elevator down into the New Londo Ruins from Firelink Shrine. At the bottom of the elevator, exit out into the large open area & head over to the cliff edge to the far right. From here, we can see some stairs leading down to a cell with a Sorcerer inside; this is Rickert. Speak to him & give him the Enchanted Ember & the Large Magic Ember.

The Titanite totals for all of Rickert’s Reinforcements differ depending on if you have two copies of the Enchanted Falchion.

With the Enchanted Falchions, we will need: Titanite Shards x18, Large Titanite Shards x19, Titanite Chunks x8, Blue Titanite Chunks x14, & Blue Titanite Slabs x2.

Without the Enchanted Falchions, we will need an additional: Titanite Shards x18, & Green Titanite Shards x20.


Achievement #33 – Enchanted Weapon: Acquire best weapon through Enchanted Reinforcement.
Take the Enchanted Falchion & Reinforce it to +5 or take any standard Weapon & Ascend/Reinforce it into a +5 Enchanted Weapon. If you have the Enchanted Falchion, skip past the first four steps up to Enchanted Weapon.

Standard Weapon 0 – +5: Titanite Shards x9
(Magic Ascension)
Magic Weapon +0 – +5: Green Titanite Shards x10
(Enchanted Ember + Enchanted Ascension)
Enchanted Weapon +0 – +4: Blue Titanite Chunks x10
Enchanted Weapon +4 – +5: Blue Titanite Slab x1


Achievement #34 – Magic Weapon: Acquire best weapon through Magic Reinforcement.
Modify our second Enchanted Falchion into a +5 Magic Falchion & Reinforce it to +10 or take any standard Weapon & Ascend/Reinforce it into a +10 Magic Weapon. If you Modified the Enchanted Falchion, skip past the first four steps up to Magic Weapon +5.

Standard Weapon 0 – +5: Titanite Shards x9
(Magic Ascension)
Magic Weapon +0 – +5: Green Titanite Shards x10
(Large Magic Ember + Magic Ascension)
Magic Weapon +5 – +9: Blue Titanite Chunks x10
Magic Weapon +9 – +10: Blue Titanite Slab x1

The Catacombs:

NPC – Blacksmith Vamos #1: To avoid re-describing a tedious location, reference the description for the Catacombs Bonfire near the top of Sequence 15: Three Corpses, One Grave to see how to get to Blacksmith Vamos. Speak to Vamos & give him the Chaos Ember & the Large Flame Ember.

These final two Weapon Reinforcements are the worst as there are no in game instances of the Weapon types. This means we will be making both completely from scratch.

We will need: Titanite Shards x18, Green Titanite Shards x22, Red Titanite Chunks x14, & Red Titanite Slabs x2.


Achievement #35 – Fire Weapon: Acquire best weapon through Fire Reinforcement.
Choose any Standard Weapon & Reinforce/Ascend it into a +10 Fire Weapon.

Standard Weapon 0 – +5: Titanite Shards x9
(Fire Ascension)
Fire Weapon +0 – +5: 11 Green Titanite Shards
(Large Flame Ember + Fire Ascension)
Flame Weapon +5 – +9: Red Titanite Chunks x7
Flame Weapon +9 – +10: Red Titanite Slab x1


Achievement #36 – Chaos Weapon: Acquire best weapon through Chaos Reinforcement.
Choose any Standard Weapon & Reinforce/Ascend it into a +5 Chaos Weapon.

Standard Weapon 0 – +5: Titanite Shards x9
(Fire Ascension)
Fire Weapon +0 – +5: Green Titanite Shards x11
(Chaos Flame Ember + Chaos Ascension)
Chaos Weapon +0 – +4: Red Titanite Chunks x7
Chaos Weapon +4 – +5: Red Titanite Slab x1

With that, we are finally done the grueling Weapon Reinforcement smithing & farming… & onto Boss Weapon Ascension. This is easier to do but no less tedious.

Sequence 31: The Age of Man

1. NG+ – Anor Londo, Kiln of the First Flame
2. Miracles: 20/23
3. Boss Souls: 15/16
4. Rare Weapons: 49/50
5. Achievements: 37/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anor Londo:

NPC – Giant Blacksmith #2: The Giant Blacksmith will Ascend any applicable +10 Standard Weapon with its corresponding Boss Soul to create the Boss Weapon. There are 15 Boss Weapons we need to create but we can only make 14/15 as we will need to collect a third copy of Sif’s Boss Soul on NG++.

To create 15 +10 Standard Weapons, we need a massive total of: Titanite Shards x126 & Large Titanite Shards x126. It is actually faster farming Souls & buying the Shards you need as opposed to farming them one by one. Both are best purchased from the Giant Blacksmith. 126 Titanite Shards at 800 Souls a piece will require 100,800 Souls. 126 Large Titanite Shards at 3800 Souls a piece will require 478,800 Souls. This makes a cumulative total of 579,600 Souls! This is a disgusting amount of Souls which is why we saved this for NG+.

The best way to farm Souls is from the Phalanxes in the Painted World of Ariamis. If you have the Covetous Silver Serpent Ring & were lucky enough to get the Symbol of Avarice (a rare drop from killing Mimics) we can increase or Soul Drop by 44%. On NG+, we can net 18,720 Souls a run from killing the Phalanxes. With how easy they are to defeat & short of a run it is, this won’t be AS tedious as we first thought.

Alternatively, you can also farm the two Royal Sentinels found in the Anor Londo Cathedral outside Orenstein & Smough's boss room (& the two Sentinels outside the Cathedral as well if you wanted) for a much higher Souls yield (by an extra 6000 Souls per run). The yield is better, but the enemy is trickier to kill for some builds with a longer distance to run to; I found killing the Phalanxes provided a better yield in the long run with how quickly you can complete a run.

Note that we need Andre of Astora to Ascend our Weapons with the Large Ember to get them to +10; the Giant Blacksmith cannot do this.

Rare Weapon #36 – Moonlight Butterfly Horn:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of the Moonlight Butterfly x1
Best Compatible +10 Rapiers: Mail Breaker, Rapier, Estoc
Best Compatible +10 Spears: Spear, Winged Spear, Pike

Rare Weapon #37 – Crystal Ring Shield:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of the Moonlight Butterfly x1
Best Compatible +10 Shields: Plank Shield, Small Leather Shield, Large Leather Shield, Target Shield, Buckler, Cracked Round Shield, Red & White Shield, Warrior’s Round Shield, Heater Shield, Hollow Soldier Shield, Balder Shield, Spider Shield, etc.

Rare Weapon #38 – Quelaag's Furysword:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of Quelaag x1
Best Compatible +10 Curved Swords: Scimitar, Falchion, Shotel, Painting Guardian Sword

Rare Weapon #39 – Chaos Blade:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of Quelaag x1
Best Compatible +10 Katanas: Iaito, Washing Pole, Uchigatana

Rare Weapon #40 – Golem Axe:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Core of an Iron Golem x1
Best Compatible +10 Axe: Hand Axe, Battle Axe, Great Axe

Rare Weapon #41 – Dragonbone Fist:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Core of an Iron Golem x1
Best Compatible +10 Gauntlet: Cestus

Rare Weapon #42 – Smough's Hammer:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of Smough x1
Best Compatible +10 Hammers: Club, Mace, Morning Star, War Pickaxe, Reinforced Club, Great Club, Large Club

Rare Weapon #43 – Dragonslayer Spear:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of Orenstein x1
Best Compatible +10 Rapiers: Mail Breaker, Rapier, Estoc
Best Compatible +10 Spears: Spear, Winged Spear, Pike

Rare Weapon #44 – Lifehunt Scythe:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of Priscilla x1
Best Compatible +10 Scythe: Scythe, Great Scythe
Best Compatible +10 Halberd: Halberd, Lucerne

Rare Weapon #45 – Tin Darkmoon Catalyst:
Materials: (No Titanite required), Soul of Gwyndolin x1,
Best Compatible Catalysts: Sorcerer’s Catalyst, Oolicile Ivory Catalyst, Tin Banishment Catalyst

Rare Weapon #46 – Darkmoon Bow:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of Gwyndolin x1
Best Compatible +10 Bows: Short Bow, Composite Bow, Longbow

Rare Weapon #47 – Greatshield of Artorias:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of Sif x1
Best Compatible +10 Shields: Plank Shield, Small Leather Shield, Large Leather Shield, Target Shield, Buckler, Cracked Round Shield, Red & White Shield, Warrior’s Round Shield, Heater Shield, Hollow Soldier Shield, Balder Shield, Spider Shield, etc.

Rare Weapon #48 – Greatsword of Artorias (True):
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of Sif x1
Only Compatible +10 Swords: Broken Straight Sword, Straight Sword Hilt

Rare Weapon #49 – Great Lord Greatsword:
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of Gwyn x1
Best Compatible +10 Swords: Dagger, Bandit’s Knife, Short Sword, Longsword, Broad Sword, Balder Side Sword, Bastard Sword, Zweihander

If you were a keener & got to the Warrior’s of Sunlight Covenant ahead of time, you may have already given the Soul of Gwyn to the Sunlight Altar for the Sunlight Spear Miracle & will not be able to smith the Great Lord Greatsword. This is fine as we need to go to the Giant Blacksmith again anyways for Sif’s third Boss Weapon on NG++.

After we have built all the necessary Weapons, make an extra +10 Standard Weapon (or two if you didn’t get Gwyn’s Boss Weapon) out of a Dagger, Bandit’s Knife, Short Sword, Longsword, Broad Sword, Balder Side Sword, Bastard Sword, or Zweihander. This way on NG++ all we need to do is grab our third Soul of Sif & take it to the Giant Blacksmith for an immediate Ascension without having to waste time farming again.

As of this point, we should only need the Greatsword of Artorias (Cursed) for the Knight’s Honor Achievement. Consult my Achievement Checklist: Dark Souls – Remastered in the Introduction of this guide to see which Rare Weapons you are still missing.

Kiln of the First Flame:

Before we beat NG+ & wrap up our playthrough, make sure you have acquired 25 Faith; if need be, farm the Phalanxes for the extra Souls. While you can count on collecting Souls in NG++ as we do need to get all the way to Anor Londo, this is risky if you cannot get enough & may add on extra time. This is of course you have not been playing Online & killed Bosses cooperatively in other Player’s Worlds.

Boss Soul #15 – Soul of Gwyn: Defeat Gwyn for the second time to collect his Boss Soul. We need this either for his Boss Weapon or for our final Miracle from the Warrior’s of Sunlight Covenant.


Achievement #37 – Dark Lord: Reach "The Dark Lord" Ending.
Story Related. After we defeat Gwyn, do not Link the Flame at the Bonfire. Instead, turn around… & walk out of the Boss Room to initiate The Dark Lord Ending & usher in the next Age of Dark.

90% Complete

Sequence 32: NG++

1. NG+ – Northern Undead Asylum to Anor Londo
2. Miracles: 23/23
3. Boss Souls: 14/16
4. Rare Weapons: 50/50
5. Achievements: 41/41
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This will be a “short” playthrough of the game. Once we have dealt with the Warrior’s of Sunlight & defeated Sif, we will just be speed running our way to the Giant Blacksmith in Anor Londo.

Undead Parish:

Achievement #38 – Covenant Warrior of Sunlight: Discover Warrior of Sunlight Covenant.
After defeating the Taurus Demon, we will reach Hellkite’s bridge. The Sunlight Altar Bonfire & the Altar itself, can be found in the gatehouse that Hellkite guards. Get to the middle of the bridge & shoot Hellkite from cover so he launches up & lands on the bridge. As soon as he flies up, & isn’t going to breath fire, sprint as fast as you can & get to the Bonfire so that he disappears. From the Bonfire, exit out onto the balcony to your right & we can find the Altar of Sunlight; Solaire himself may be standing there.

If you have 25 Faith or lowered the requirement with Online play, we will be able to interact with the Altar & get to the Joining Screen, unlocking the Achievement.

Miracle #21 – Lightning Spear: We will receive this Miracle as a Joining Bonus when we enter the Covenant.

Miracle #22 – Great Lightning Spear: Use our well earned 10 Sunlight Medals to get to Rank 1 in the Warrior’s of Sunlight & we will receive this Miracle.

Sunlight Medal Farming: If you are still lacking Sunlight Medals, there are a few more we can collect that are not out of our way in NG++.

We can receive 1 Sunlight Medal by freeing Lautrec from his cell in Undead Parish & meeting up with him at Firelink Shrine.

We can receive 1 Sunlight Medal for defeating the Bell Gargoyles & Gaping Dragon Bosses with Solaire. (There are other battles but these are both out of our & very difficult to keep Solaire alive for.)

We can receive 1 Sunlight Medal by Summoning or being Summoned by a Warrior of Sunlight & defeating a Boss together.

Lastly, we can loot the 3 Sunlight Medals in a Chest across from the first Bonfire inside the Anor Londo palace.

Finally, & this is completely unrecommended, if you have exhausted all options you can navigate to Lost Izalith & farm Chaos Bugs. They have a 3% chance to drop Sunlight Medals. For the drop rate & the awful run to get to them; this is a bad way to get the last of your Medals…

Miracle #23 – Sunlight Spear: Upon reaching Rank 1 in the Warrior’s of Sunlight, we will now have the option of offering the Soul of Gwyn to the Sunlight Altar. Do so, & we will receive our final Miracle.


Achievement #39 – Prayer of a Maiden: Acquire all 23 Miracles.
If you have been following along with the guide, we will unlock this Achievement after receiving Sunlight Spear.

If the Achievement did not unlock, consult my Achievement Checklist: Dark Souls – Remastered in the Introduction of this guide to see which Miracles you are still missing. Be sure to make a point of getting them in NG++...

Key – Crest of Artorias: Get to Andre of Astora & purchase the Crest of Artorias for the third time for 20,000 Souls.

Darkroot Garden:

Boss Soul #16 – Soul of Sif: With the Crest of Artorias, make your way through Darkroot Garden & defeat Sif for the third & last time to collect our final Boss Soul for 100%.

If you planned it out in NG+, we will already have a +10 sword-type Weapon (not the Straight Sword Hilt or Broken Straight Sword) to Ascend for the final Boss Weapon. If you do not, you will want to do that asap before heading to Anor Londo. We can get the Large Ember from the Chest behind the Undead Butcher in the Depths. Definitely do this ahead of time; if you go to Anor Londo unprepared, we will not be able to leave cleanly until we kill Orenstein & Smough. We do not want to do that if we do not have to on NG++…

Anor Londo:

NPC – Giant Blacksmith #1: Speed run through the Bells of Awakening, Sen’s Fortress, & Anor Londo to get over to the Giant Blacksmith. We do not need to defeat Orenstein & Smough; just sprint through the palace over to the blacksmith’s tower.

Rare Weapon #50 – Greatsword of Artorias (Cursed):
Materials: Titanite Shards x9, Large Titanite Shards x9, Soul of Sif x1
Best Compatible +10 Swords: Dagger, Bandit’s Knife, Short Sword, Longsword, Broad Sword, Balder Side Sword, Bastard Sword, Zweihander


Achievement #40 – Knight’s Honor: Acquire all 50 Rare Weapons.
If you have been following along with the guide, after we smith the final Boss Weapon with Sif’s Soul, we will unlock the Achievement.

There are so many different “Knight’s Honor Lists” out there of what constitutes as a Rare Weapon. Most are the same & include all 50 Weapons I have listed. The only site that differs is the Dark Souls Wiki that claims that we do not actually need the Gargoyle Tail Axe, Izalith Catalyst, or the Demon’s Catalyst.


Achievement #41 – The Dark Soul: All 41 Achievements completed. Congratulations!
Story Related. After we unlock Knight’s Honor, we will simultaneously unlock this Achievement as well. As this Achievement states; congratulations, you have done it!

Conclusion:

Dark Souls 1 is my favourite game of all time. Dark Souls 3 is far more epic & arguably better… but this was my first introduction to Dark Souls & the nostalgia is just incredible. Alas, this is also the hardest of the Dark Souls series to 100% due to how much farming is required. Achieving 100% took me around 60 hours to complete but can definitely take you much longer depending on how much Titanite you have to farm & your luck with drops.

If this guide helped you achieve 100%, rate the guide or let me know in the comments. Helps me know if I am doing things right!



100% Complete!
Thank you for choosing Cynical Guides, & I will see you in the next one!

If you are interested in a little bit of patronage, support my projects & consider buying me a coffee. If not, no worries; my guides are, & will always be free content. Achievement Hunting is my passion, & writing these guides is a way for me to give meaning to a life long hobby!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cynic0055

Other Cynical Guides:

If you enjoy this game & my style of writing guides, be sure to check out my:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2232541594
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2422780990
Check out my profile for a full list of my works.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2992727030

[oddeverything]

I recommend including the first channeler you see in the dukes archives when farming for the trident. he was actually the one that dropped the trident for me. After the 2 channelers in the bonfire library go downstairs and through the little hallway a crystal soldier is/was occupying. It should lead you into the first room with the first channeler. Take out the archers, take out the channeler and then run to a spot with tons of pillars (that will mess with the AI pathfinding) and homeward back to the bonfire.

Of course its more risky but better having a third guy to drop something that has a 1% chance of showing up, even with 10 humanity + gold ring

[LCyphah]

This is an amazing guide, thank you so much for making it! I had already beat the game once, but with this guide, it felt pretty great to make a new playthrough and get to 100% on NG++. Very detailed and thorough. Thanks!

[Cheekibone]

Damn... insane, so much writing and thoughts put into this. I followed it till the end, it was very helpfull. Thanks!

[Cynic 0055]

Hey Der Kleine Gobblin, thanks for mentioning this. That is actually good to know since it is very easy to have Laurentius accidentally leave if you are not paying attention to his dialogue. I added in a bunch of notes in the guide saying that Eingyi is an alternative.

[Der Kleine Gobblin]

hey dude good guide but there is something wrong you say if you get laurentius go you cant get quelana its wrong you can still modify your flame at engi if laurentius leaves

[Johanides]

many thanks for this great guide

[girthmaxxer]

ur the goat bro thanks!

[Cynic 0055]

Hey bryce , NGs are all compounding. You will never miss out on previous NG content, only gain more chances of obtaining it. Not using your Boss Souls is a very safe thing to do as it just gives you more time to farm Titanite to make the associated Weapons (so long as you still have their Souls (which stack)).

In terms of a NG cycle, literally nothing is missable. If you truly (censored by Steam) up, you just go to the next NG+ cycle, & then the next. A 100% of DS1 takes a minimum of 2.5 playthroughs; a lot of the heavy lifting is done in NG1, but you still have to do another full NG2 playthrough for the second set of Boss Souls, with a final 0.5 run for a third Sif Soul.

[girthmaxxer]

thanks for the guide before hand but one question if anyone can answer, if i already went into ng+ am i able to still do all of the first ng cycle stuff while just in ng+? (i havent used any boss souls so i still have those)

[Nuclear Mosquito]

Thank you so much for this guide Cynic. I really enjoyed the extra replay value it added on to the game for me. Not only did I get my 100%, but I was able to explore the lore a little bit more as well. Keep up the good work.