IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are playing the updated version of the game (Scholar of the First Sin) then some enemy, item and NPC locations will have changed. I have done a new guide to cover a walkthrough of that version here. So use that if you aren't playing the original DS2.
I've moved all the other information, including info on starting classes, levelling, death, upgrading and souls etc to here.
If you need help finding specific Covenants or info on how to rank them up go here.
For a guide on finding ALL Spells, NPC's and Gestures go here.
This guide aims to spell out all of the items you can find, NPC's you can deal with, bosses and covenants. I'll highlight what to do in terms of getting achievements and where to go to find EVERYTHING you can, as far as possible.
In terms of this walkthrough I have written things in the order I did them myself, which may well make some areas far easier/harder than they would otherwise have been. THE BELOW LIST IS NOT IN THE SAME ORDER AS THE WALKTHROUGH IS WRITTEN!
The best order to do things, in terms of making the difficulty a gradual slope would be as follows (be aware that the info for the area in question may start halfway down a post and then continue onto other posts):
Things Betwixt
Majula
Forest of Fallen Giants
Heide's Tower of Flame
Cathedral of Blue
No-Mans Wharf
Lost Bastille
Belfry Luna
Sinners Rise
Huntsmans Copse
Undead Purgatory
Harvest Valley
Earthen Peak
Iron Keep
Belfry Sol
Shaded Woods
Shaded Ruins
Doors of Pharros
Brightstone Cove Tseldora
Grave of Saints
The Gutter
Black Gulch
Shrine of Winter
Drangleic Castle
Dark Chasm of Old
King's Passage
Shrine of Amana
Undead Crypt
Throne of Want (Part 1)
Aldia's Keep
Dragon Aerie
Dragon Shrine
Memories of the Ancients
Throne of Want (Part 2)
NG+/NG++
Things Betwixt
You start face down on a stone, in the middle of a field, just run straight ahead (you can go on a ledge to your right before the first clearing for a Rusted Coin) to the cottage but don't go in yet. There is a hidden path on the left, just before the bridge, that has some ominous footsteps after the entrance as it leads to a rather hefty Cyclops, that holds a Stone Ring (increases the damage you do to a foes poise = makes them easier to stagger), guarding a corpse that holds another item. Ignore that for now.
Instead go across the bridge and to the left and down a little hidden path to find a Smooth and Shiny pebble which will come in handy soon. Now head into the cottage. After a bit of pre-amble you can choose your class and starting gear. Note that, for the purpose of this walkthrough I chose a Knight and used a melee build to fight ALL enemies. If you are a magician then you will need to alter your tactics accordingly - but I will point out enemies attack patterns. Once done (you'll get your first achievement), head up the stairs in here to find a chest with another Human Effigy.
Now if you are feeling feisty you can head back to take on that Cyclops. Your best bet is to lure him back to the arch you go through to reach him. Hit him once and then roll away - don't get greedy as he has a grab move that will insta-kill you. I would generally recommend you leave him until you have a levelled up a bit or, better, found a nice ranged weapon and some ammo. If you do kill him then you'll get 1,000 souls and the ring I mentioned for your troubles and you can loot the nearby corpse.
Either way, head out of the back of the house and light the Things Betwixt bonfire. Smash the cart next to it and loot the corpse. Now follow the path to a tutorial section.
Enter the first tree via the mist on your left. The enemies here are fairly easy. If you choose the Knight then use the RB attack to kill them in two hits. Click the RS to lock onto foes and use B (while moving) roll out of the way or (while stood still) to hop backwards. You should be able to finish them without even getting hit and every enemy will give you souls which you can use to buy items, upgrade gear and level up. Follow the linear route around, killing all of the foes in your way and grabbing any items, until you come out above the path you started on.
Look to your left to spot a nest of some sort. Walk over to it and some voices should call out to you. Stand on the nest and then go into your inventory and select the Pebble you found earlier. DO NOT USE IT! Instead choose the Leave option and you will drop it in the nest. You'll get some more comments and then you can just pick the item back up, it will have been changed into another item (can be Titanite, a Raw Stone, Lifegem, Poison Stone etc). Handy. Remember this spot and bring any Shiny Pebbles you find back here. You can also use the Petrified Object here if you choose it as your starting item.
Now from this ledge you can also carefully drop onto another ledge with a corpse to loot. Then drop down to the main path. Head back towards where you came and into the next mist shrouded tree. Kill a couple more enemies and then follow the path to a small hole you can jump over to loot another corpse. Jump back and notice a ladder to the left of the door you came through (just before the jump). Climb up and learn about falling attacks before dropping down to use your new skill and kill the other goons. There is a door in here you can open to find another loot heavy corpse. Follow the path back out to the main route (through more mist) and drop down again before heading into the last mist covered door.
More bad guys in here, and you learn how to kick down trees. Use B to roll out of the way of arrows but be careful of the ledges. Kill the first guy and then look down the hole, lock onto the guy down there and use a falling attack to hit him and finish him off. Quickly hop up the nearby ladder and out of the pit before killing the archer. Head outside and kill the next guy to your left and kick down the tree to form a path back to the main route.
From here you can also see another Cyclops guarding a coffin on the beach. There is also a SECOND one of these creatures hidden behind the rocks on the right side at the foot of the ramp. If you want to kill them then be aware that the best way is to lure them up the ramp and back to the tree you just came out of. You can pin them in the door here and get in the odd hit after they do one of their lengthy attacks. Be aware that NONE of these creatures, or the earlier one, will respawn when dead. Again, it's probably not worth doing so just yet. The coffin holds nothing of interest and examining it at this point will just serve to respawn all local enemies and change your gender (that's all it does).
You've now done everything in this area so just follow the path up and head out into the sun of Majula, your first safe haven. Praise the sun!
Majula
Plenty to do here before we head onwards. Before heading to town, look to your left as you head down the path and see another corpse you can loot for a Divine Blessing. Before heading under the arch go back to the cliff that was on your right as you entered and look for a break in the rocks about halfway down - if you look down you should see a ledge right below that you can drop to. Do so and loot the corpse behind you after you fall and then the other one further along (the Binoculars are handy for long range spell sniping). Then head along the path and drop down next to the torch. Now go to the first building on your left, there is a shopkeeper here but he has nothing of interest yet (his stock will increase as you spend souls with him AND as you defeat certain bosses so check back often). Hop up the ladder in the back left corner though to loot a chest with some titanite (used for upgrading weapons). Go towards the big house and you'll spot a well with a rock balanced on it. Smack the rock and a corpse will turn up with your first Estus Shard. Great.
Enter the next house along to meet a talking cat, she has a few things to sell and also lets you keep track of the various covenants you can join. Head back outside and go left again and into the stone tunnel. Follow it all the way to the bottom, looting a chest on your way and pull the cord on the wall on the platform left of the metal door in the water. You can now head through and loot a corpse. Follow this path all the way to Heide's Tower of Flame. As soon as you emerge you will see a large knight but also a bonfire down to his right. Quickly run past him, activate the bonfire and warp back to Majula - as we are not tough enough to tackle this area yet.
Back in Majula head back to that stone tunnel but this time follow the path up the cliff to the right of it, you'll find another lootable corpse and a monument. Examine the monument to have the option of joining the Champions Covenant (achievement unlocked) but DO NOT join this Covenant yet. Doing so ramps up the difficulty to NG+ levels for as long as you are a member and makes life harder than it needs to be. Just get the option and head back into town. Go towards the only building you haven't examined yet and find a blacksmith sat outside. Speak to him and he'll ask you to find a key.
As a rule of thumb ALWAYS keep speaking to every character until they start repeating themselves, as you will get more information/items this way.
Next head up to the big stone memorial right next to his house and meet the worlds saddest man Saulden (you can also examine the monument to see the total number of worldwide deaths just for giggles). Speak to him for the option to join the Way of the Blue Covenant (achievement unlocked) and accept the ring he gives you. Keep talking to him to learn a gesture (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) and all you can about the world. When he starts to repeat himself turn around and head down to the woman on the cliff by the bonfire. Speak to her and get your Estus Flask. Yay! You can also upgrade it with the shard you found, double yay! Light the Far Fire bonfire here and rest if you need to.
Now at this point I'm going to follow the path I took but at any point you can diverge and go back to the Flaming Tower of Heide if you want and explore that route. Your call. Or you can save up souls to buy the ring that reduces falling damage (from the cat) and try and drop down the hole in Majula to head that way (not advisable as there is an easier way down later on). Both of these are pretty tough when starting out so I wouldn't recommend it.
Forest of Fallen Giants
Now that you have done everything here head towards the path on your right (if you are looking out to sea with the bonfire right behind you) and into a stone section. There is a chest you can loot behind the small wall to your right on entering, so do so. Then follow the path and pull the switch you come to and head through the door.
You will end up in a cave, where you can head down a narrow strip of wood to another chest and from here you can run and jump to a lootable corpse. If you prefer the safe option you can go outside cave via the normal route and then double back up the river until you reach the corpse. Once done, head down into the Forest of the Giants. On the right side of the river is another collectible and another bonfire you can activate - so cross over and get both. The enemies here are pretty much the same as the earlier ones. Try and lure then into an attack and then hop back, once they finish their flailing you can step in and put them down. Alternatively just lure them one at a time and get two attacks in straight away, which should be enough.
After killing the first two enemies (you can lure them one at a time) you will come around the bend and get shot at by an archer and have two more goons come at you. Run back around the bend where you came from so the archer isn't in your way, and deal with the two guys that chase you. Then move forward, dodging the arrows, and cross the tree over the river to activate another guy on your right. Lure him back the same way. Once he is dead, just make your way to the archer as fast as you can and kill him. Don't climb the ladder just yet. To the left of where the archer was is a corpse by the river. Attack it and you should be able to kill the axeman before he gets up. Then go into this little dead end for another lootable corpse.
Now head into the tree and climb to nearly at the top. Stop just out of the enemies line of sight and wait for the axeman to be fairly close. Quickly climb up when his back is turned and kill him before the others can get activated. Now stay on the right side of the big tree (if looking from the ladder you just climbed) to deal with the other two. This keeps the archer from shooting you. Once they are dead go through to arch on the right and look down. You should see a lootable corpse on a ledge just above the river you just came down. You can run and jump onto that ledge from here (make sure you have at least 50% health) to grab some throwing knives. Then climb back up and go through the same arch but this time head up the ladder on the wall.
There are two enemies on this narrow staircase so take it slow and try to kill the first one ASAP and then roll/dodge backwards to avoid the axeman. When he misses an attack, step in and kill him. Head up to the top but don't go onto the inner ledge just yet. Walk up the right side of the broken wall to find another corpse to plunder. Then go until the inner wall and work your way around to kill that pesky archer. Then jump over the gap up here and loot the corpse.
Head back down to the central area and head towards the other exit. There is another enemy laid on the ground here that you can probably kill before he has a chance to get up (he is just in front of the other exit). Now you have a choice.
You probably noticed the Knight sat in the middle of all the carnage you just administered, yes? Well he is actually not too tough to take down and you get a fairly decent sword for doing so. If you want to take him on then I suggest having full stamina and unloading 4-5 attacks before he can even stand up. After that he only has generally two moves - either a one hit swing or a two hit combo. Always assume he will do the two hit combo and, once he is done, land one quick hit then roll away. He will generally just charge towards you and keep trying the same two moves so, if you lock onto him, you can just roll away at the last second and hit him in the back. He doesn't take long to kill and you get the Heide Knight Sword which has lightning attributes.
Now you can head through the other exit. Ahead you will see a hole in the wall, in this room are two enemies (one slightly out of sight to the left of the hole) so hop in and kill them. Then loot the corpse in here and head out the other door. Look to your left straight away and see another foe. If you sneak up on him you should be able to use RB to get a critical attack and kill him.
Turn back around and see a skeleton swordsman down the corridor. These guys can be a pain if you aren't fast enough. Generally if you get in the first two hits you can kill them before they are an issue. Otherwise just lure them into an attack and hop out of reach - they can perform three hit combos so be wary. Dispatch him and head up the stairs to see an archer. Duck into the alcove halfway up to avoid his fire and then try and rush him as quickly as possible. DO NOT linger on the stairs as there is another swordsman above you that will drop firebombs on your head.
As you rush to kill the archer a knife wielding goon will also attack. Kill them both and run around to spot the swordsman stood over the stairs. Close the distance but be careful of him lobbing bombs. Smack him a couple of times to dislodge him and then finish him off. If he falls down the stairs you can use a falling attack to speed things up. From where he was look left and see a lootable corpse with an axeman stood watch over it. Head over and kill this guy and steal the loot. Now turn around and head up the ladder near the top of the stairs. Go in the doors in front of you and light the Cardinal Tower bonfire. You'll find Melentia here a merchant who sells the Blacksmiths Key and a Lockstone, buy both if you can, but the key is your priority for now. Important note: Once you have spent 10,000 souls with this merchant (either here or when she shifts to Majula) she will give you a Covetous Serpent Ring +1. Be sure to speak to her after the first boss so that she sifts to Majula (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT). You can also use the fire to head back to Majula and level up via the woman who gave you the Estus Flask. Your call. If you don't have a shield by now (assuming you're a melee fighter) a good buy is the Twin Dragon shield for 2,000 souls from the shop keeper in the building next to the locked mansion.
After that we can go get a pretty awesome sword. Go back outside the bonfire room and head right, attack the skeleton that is slumped down just around the corner and try and kill him ASAP. The spear wielders are tricky at first, but in general will do either one large sweeping attack or three quick thrusts forward. But are well telegraphed. As with all shield carrying enemies DO NOT attack when they are defending or you leave yourself open to a damaging counter. Grab the loot he was guarding when he's dead.
Now head to the crumbling wall opposite the bonfire room and look down. There is a wooden scaffold you can drop onto so do so. Move forward and look down again. There are two enemies on the next ledge, so lock onto one and use a falling attack to damage him. Quickly finish him off and deal with the other enemy that will rush in. Move along this ledge and use a running jump near the end to reach a lootable corpse. Then jump back and drop down to kill another enemy. From here follow the wooden ramp down and climb onto the tree branch that joins with it. Follow it down to an axeman at the bottom. Kill him quickly as two other weak enemies will rush to back him up.
Down here there are a number of weak enemies wandering around, so lure them and kill them one by one. Go in the first cave on your left (the one without flames) and head to the dead end to grab a helmet. Come back out and walk all the way to the opposite end from where you came to grab another item by the flaming barricade.
Now for the next bit you need to be fairly fast. Go into the cave that have flames on the floor, edge forward until something starts moving at the end and then run back the way you came. A big ball of fire should explode behind you and two more soldiers should jump down to fight you. Kill these guys and then go back to the cave. About halfway down the tunnel there is a door you can open (on the left) so run down and open it but run back the way you came as soon as the animation lets you. You should avoid the fire this way. Now once the fireballs stop run back down the tunnel and straight into the door you opened. Inside is a chest with a nice flamesword, so grab it, wait for the fireballs to stop (DO NOT stand near the door) and then run back out the way you came. The thing that lobs fireballs at you is trapped in a dead end, so no reason to kill it.
Outside head left and climb up the ladder to the scaffolding you came down. Go right and jump through the hole in the wall to be back in the corridors that led up to the last bonfire. WATCH OUT as that first skeleton swordsman will now be waiting on your left. Head back up to the bonfire, carefully killing all the enemies on your way, and rest up. At this point you have now got a nice loop that you can use to grind for souls (if you want, but it is not really required). Basically you can use this bonfire to warp to the one by the river again. Kill all the foes there, climb the ladder and then work your way back to this bonfire killing everyone on the way (dropping down to where you got the fire sword for more kills). You can then rest at the bonfire to repair your weapon/heal and repeat as much as you like. I'll point out other good grind spots when you come to them.
NOTE: You do not NEED to grind for souls at any point in the game, though it can help to make your life easier (by levelling or upgrading equipment) and clear out some areas of enemies so you don't have to fight through them to reach a certain boss or area. Your choice entirely.
Regardless of whether you spend some time here, your next step is to head down the ladder by the bonfire. At the bottom turn left and don't move forward just yet. A spear wielder will wander across the stone bridge to engage you. Deal with him first and then target the skeleton slumped against the wall on your left. You should be able to kill him before he stands up. Head over the small bridge and look right. A skeleton is on the floor here. So swing away at him and, again, you should kill him before he can stand. Then loot the corpse that is over here.
OPTIONAL: If you look down below you, you will spot a bunch of firedrakes and a lot of random treasure. This whole area is entirely optional, but you can take it on at any point if you have enough health, a good bow (with 200+ arrows), the Silvercat Ring (less falling damage, bought from cat in Majula) and a Homeward Bone. Alternatively you can wait until you get the Iron Keep key later on and open a door near the first boss. I'll run you through it here so you can decide if the loot is worth it. Essentially equip the ring that stops falling damage (or a similar item) and look down from the bridge to see a big pile of rubble that separates the drake area from the one outside (where you snagged the fire sword). Carefully drop onto this rubble. Immediately heal and then turn around to face into the room, there is a corpse you can loot right ahead of you if you are quick back the drakes while rapidly shoot three fireballs at you when they spot you. Move to your left to get behind the pillar. Look into the left corner to see a lootable corpse. You want to dash to this corpse and grab the Hawk Ring. Now quickly jump behind the pillar again before the drake incinerates you. Though if it does kill you, no big deal as long as you got the ring. If you avoided death, use a Homeward Bone to go back to the Cardinal Tower.
Now you can equip the Hawk Ring and take out the drakes from afar though you will need about 40+ arrows per drake (but them for 10 souls a pop from the blacksmith (if you are using a non upgraded longbow with about 20 Dexterity. If you upgrade the bow or have higher/lower stats this could take less/more hits). Climb back down the ladder, kill the local skeletons and target the drake. Fire away until he dies and then carefully drop down the same way you did the first time. This time turn around and move to your right. Another drake will spawn ahead of you (he doesn't appear while you are up top) but if you stay to the right of the pillar and edge forward you can use LB to make the target reticule appear and fire back at him while he does nothing. Easy.
Now you can loot this whole area, open the nearby chest for a Quartz Ring, regain your souls if you died first time, and then head down the hole he was guarding. At the bottom of the ramp, to your right is another drake with his back to you. Shoot at him and then lure him back up the ramp you came down. Watch out as he has a charge attack and a long tongue strike. He will follow you so far and then head back down. If you shoot at him at this point he will get caught in a loop of walking away and walking towards you and you should be able to kill him from afar with no risk. If he does go all the way back down, just follow him carefully and lure him back up again. Once he is dead walk forward slowly and look into the left cavern to see another drake that you can shoot/lure in the same way. Do so and finish him off. You've cleared the cave now so loot the corpse for a VERY good Rebel Shield (block high amounts of magic and other damage, but isn't great vs physical). The door in here is locked but you will find another exit back to where you got the flame sword. So go through here, fight off the foes and climb up the ladder on the left onto the platform.
Now if you do have the Silvercat Ring, you can get that item from the corpse on the platform opposite where you climb up. To do so you need to do a running jump from the wooden platform here, aiming for the base of the wooden tower opposite you. You should land, still take damage (so make sure you have full health) and be able to walk up to the corpse for some twinkling titanite. Again entirely optional (as you can reach that spot much later on in as more natural way) from where you were you can navigate back to the Cardinal Tower bonfire.
If you did/didn't do the above you can now head out of the room with the three skeletons and the small stone bridge (that looks down on the drakes) by going left right into a small room. Another skeleton is slumped on the floor here, so dispatch him. Next look outside and you'll see a tree heading up. Run all the way up to the top and onto the ramparts. Turn around and lure the skeleton swordsman back towards you and kill him. Do the same with the spearman ahead of him. DO NOT GO UP THE SMALL LADDER HERE YET.
Instead go back to near the top of the tree you ran up and an axeman should be on his way towards you (if he isn't there already). Kill him first and then head back down the tree (watch out for archers). About halfway down, on your right is a small wooden ledge you can drop onto. Do so and head into the building to quickly dispatch another skeleton swordsman. Loot the corpse in here. Turn back to the ledge you dropped onto and drop down to the floor (you'll take a bit of damage).
There is an archer down here on the left on a small bit of land, so move towards him with your shield up (if you have one) until he switches to a knife. Then lure him back to the larger area to kill him. Climb up the ladder here and there is another hollow at the top (this guy sometimes wanders into the room you came through to get here so be careful), run straight ahead until you reach the wall before fighting him as this stops the archers hitting you.
Once he is dead, move up the wooden ramp (shield up) and lure back the next spearman to kill in the same way. Now there is another skeleton up there with a bow, so wander up and kill him but sometimes he will fall down into the house. No problem. If he falls down into the house, carefully drop down after him (you will take some damage) and finish him off. When in the house you can see a corpse in a gated area by the wall (the one the other archer is on top of) so head towards it and grab the item. Then go back into the house and use the wooden ramps to drop back down to where you climbed the ladder.
For this next bit you are going to need a running jump. So make sure you have the timing down. Climb back onto the house that you dropped into and over the roof, there is an archer on a platform to your left. You need to run down the roof and leap onto here, then kill the archer. It's easier than it sounds. Then go right and drop onto the next wooden platform and enter the cave to your left.
You'll see a corpse with an item straight ahead DON'T RUSH TO GET IT. Edge forward and a giant boulder will hurtle down and crush an enemy. You shouldn't have to leave the little entryway for it to trigger. There was only one boulder for me, so after that go and snag the item on the corpse. Head up to where the boulder came from and find a chipper map maker Cale, agree that you just LOVE maps as much as he does and you will get the key to the mansion back in Majula and keep talking to him so he moves there too (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT). Go down the little passage to the left of him to loot another corpse. Then head back to where you entered the cave and climb the ladder outside. From here you can drop down and kill the last pesky archer. There is an item just where you dropped down too. From here you can drop down to where you came from and cross a small wooden platform back to the foot of the tree you climbed up. You are done here so can either head back to the bonfire to rest up or continue on your way.
Assuming you continue, go back up the tree again. Ahead you'll see a skeleton on the wall to your left. You can shoot/magic him down or head up the nearby ladder to knock him off.
CAUTION: If you head up the ladder to knock him down you are likely to see a giant eagle holding a knight swoop overhead. It then comes back and drops The Pursuer on the roof. This guy is deadly and I'm not actually sure if you can kill him here as he basically killed me in two hits and then never respawned. If he does kill you then merely head back up here to grab your souls again (killing the skeletons on the way but ignoring that whole area where you drop off the tree). Regardless, hustle over to the skeleton and swipe him so that he falls off the ramparts.
IMPORTANT: If you head up the ladder to activate the Pursuer spawn and then immediately go straight back down, he will land on the roof and then de-spawn after a while. Saving you a death if you don't fancy taking him on. Also if you DO kill him here, he will not appear behind the fog gate I list later on.
If you want to take The Pursuer on then be aware of his various attacks. If you have a lot of distance he will charge towards you and do a large sweep attack. You can quickly roll past this (usually to his left, your right) and get in a quick hit. He can also do two and three hit combos, so my advice would be to always roll past his first attack, then put your shield up straight away and either hit him (only if he doesn't combo, usually obvious as he has a large pause) or get ready to roll again if he goes into a combo. Don't have your shield up the whole time as you will not regain stamina fast enough. His other main attack features a large, and obvious, wind up before he does a massive lunge forward. This is easy to dodge by rolling to his side while locked on and then you can get in a couple of hits if you have the stamina. If this attack catches you BEWARE as it will instantly curse you and he goes into a berserk state and does even more damage.
Basically lock onto him and use dodge rolls, rather than shield blocks, to evade his initial attacks then get in one hit (don't get greedy) before backing away to recharge your stamina. Have your shield up when you have full stamina, and before your roll, as it will help to mitigate damage if you mistime your dodge. This whole fight is a careful case of hit and run. If you do get damaged then ONLY use health after getting out of the way of one of his attacks. Doing so when he is just floating around is basically inviting him to kill you WHICH HE WILL. Don't fret too much if he does kill you here, as we'll get our revenge later.
If you died, you will need to head back up here and kill the skeletons on the way. Climb up the ladder to where the Pursuer dropped down and knock the skeleton off the roof. Climb back down and finish him off. Wait at the top of the stone steps and a spear wielding enemy should rush up to greet you, give him the death he deserves. There is another spear attacker stood to the right at the foot of those steps, he has no shield though so you should be able to kill him fairly quickly. A note on the barrels here, and elsewhere, as some of them will explode if you (or an enemy) attack them so the safe bet is to roll into them to break them if you need to.
At the far end of this area is a ladder to climb down, with a lootable corpse at the bottom. So head down and grab the item. Now approach the entrance to your right (a big hole in the wall) carefully, step inside and then immediately turn around and run back where you came from. A bunch of ballista arrows will fly through that hole and likely kill an enemy as well. Climb back up the ladder you came down and watch as three more enemies rush out after you. They will mill around for a bit and then head back into the hole, go back down and you should be able to lure them out one at a time to deal with (much easier than taking on all three at once).
Once they are all dead, head into the room they came from and loot the corpses. There is a ladder behind the ballista so head down it. There is a chest in this room, so go ahead and open it for some swag (it has a poison trap so watch out). You'll also notice a weird face shaped formation on one of the walls. These are the points that require the Pharros Lockstone (that you can purchase from the vendor at the last bonfire or find around the world) so always be on the lookout for them. If you have the stone then choose to use it and another ghostly face will appear nearby, hit this with a weapon to reveal a secret room with more chests to loot (one of which has a Titanite Slab and the other a stamina recovery ring).
There is also a locked door down here. But if you stand nearby and try to attack it, then an enemy should open it from the inside. There are three spearmen in here, so be careful and try to lure them out one at a time. If you kill them all then you can head into that room for another item. Head back up the ladder you came down, out the hole and go to your immediate right. There is a gent here called Pate you can talk to so do so, run through everything you can think of until he repeats himself and then head through the arch next to him.
In this first courtyard you will have an archer and two weak foes to deal with. Kill the guy ahead of you, on the left, first at which point the other enemy should rush you. Finish him off and then deal with the archer at your leisure. This next area can be tricky so take it slow. There is one other door in the courtyard, so head through it slowly until you come to some steps with three more guards and an archer up above. Try and lure one or two of the guards back where you came from (out of sight of the archer) to kill them. Once all three are dealt with you should move up the stairs towards the archer slowly, as two more spearmen await you just behind him. Try and lure the first one down the stairs where you can finish him off, then deal with the archer and then go around the corner to get the last spearman. When all that is done don't leave yet. Go back to the bottom of those stairs and press A on the wall to the left at the bottom (as you come down) to open a hidden door, go in and open the chest. Now head back up and you will come out onto a wall, smash the cart etc and drop back down to where the guy you spoke to is sat. Speak to him again to get the White Soapstone - a vital item that you can use to be summoned to other peoples worlds. Talk to him until he repeats himself.
Now look right and see an open courtyard across from the ballista room. Don't rush in here just yet. You'll see a big armoured enemy at the opposite end and A LOT of explosive barrels scattered around, plus there are skeleton warriors above you waiting to lob explosives on your head. Nice.
Move so you can see the right side of that area, where you sill spot another unguarded archway. Run through it as quick as you can. There is a skeleton spearman slumped against the wall on your left, so kill him to prevent issues later. Then go into the next area for a lootable item behind the tree. Come back to where you killed the last skeleton and climb the ladder on your left. At the top go right for another item, and spot the enemies waiting in the windows. A ranged class could kill them from here, but if not go straight ahead and enter the building. Go around to your right and look down to see the two enemies you saw previously. There is also an enemy hidden underneath you on the right side. There is also a lootable item on the ledge in front of you (above the enemies) that you can jump to, or you can kill the enemies first and come back via the last ladder (just in case you fall). If you want to be safe, and have the equipment, you can kill them with spells/arrows/knives/firebombs from here. Then drop down to kill the last one.
Alternatively go to the left most opening and drop behind the chest. You should only activate the nearest enemy, kill him and then edge into his alcove which will (hopefully) activate the guy on the right that was stood under where you were. Kill him and then you can deal with the last one as you see fit. Turn around and grab the item from the chest. Then go to the right hand window and carefully drop onto the cart (if it didn't get destroyed by an errant bomb) which will damage you slightly.
Now to deal with that armoured guy. First of all, don't get too close and roll through as many of the explosive barrels as you can here to make room. In truth they are pretty simple, especially with a shield. They have three basic attacks. Either they will raise their mace over their heads and crash it down directly in front of them, swipe once or do a long four hit combo. All of them have a large window of opportunity at the end for you to get a hit in. The key is to stay as close as you can, as if you get distance they will rush at you which is more troublesome. Lock onto them and step in to lure him into an attack then immediately roll backwards. If he does the downward smash, step in and then get one hit on him. If it is the solitary swipe, do the same. If he starts the long combo then roll back again and wait for him to be done (he does four swings remember) then step in for a hit. After each hit, hold your shield up and lure him to attack again then roll back and repeat until he dies.
Go through the tunnel he was guarding and head right up some stairs to a lootable item. From here you can see two spearman a bit further down. Lure them one by one, possibly back to the area you just came from, and kill them. Ahead of where they were stood is a giant sword that you can go up, but first kill the skeleton laid on the floor to the left of that. Then look up the sword and see a spearman guarding an item. If you move too far forward a swordsman will drop down onto the sword behind you. So edge forward until you can lock onto the spearman then use a single ranged attack (magic/bow/knife etc) to damage him and make him rush you. Immediately go back down the sword into the hall and try and kill him ASAP as the swordsman will soon drop down after him. Once they are dealt with you can head up the sword to get the item.
Go back down to the door the two spearmen were guarding and head through. To your right is a doorway with a weird new creature in it. These little fellows drop varieties of titanite when you kill them but vanish after a while - so kill him quickly. There is also a skeleton slumped against the wall nearby to kill, so make sure you do so. Go down the stairs at the back of the room to loot another corpse. Nothing else to see here so go out of this room and head right and unlock the door ahead of you. Hurrah - we just did a big loop back to where we started at the Cardinal Tower bonfire. Time for a detour.
Climb back up to bonfire to rest up and then travel to Majula. Use the key you got to enter the large house and search the room with the large books for another Pharros Lockstone. There are also a couple of items upstairs too. Go into the map room and speak to the guy from earlier. Then head down the stairs in here to meet an angry skeleton. You should have no problems dispatching him. Use the same method as the armoured guys, and just lure him into an attacks and block/dodge it then strike back. Once he is dead you can go down into the cellar and grab a lootable item here (Estus Flask Shard - yay) and open the chest for a Soul Vessel. This item is handy one, as if you head back to the witches at the start of the game they can use it to allow you to respec all of the levels you have applied. Please note: you can ONLY reapply levels that you bought with souls yourself, any attributes that you had AFTER choosing your starting class will remain the same. So if your starting class had 12 Intelligence, you can't reassign those 12 points. You will come across some more of this item, but they are very rare so use them wisely. Or not at all.
While here you can spend your points to level up or buy items. You have also created another good loop for grinding souls that starts and ends at the same bonfire you opened a short cut back to.
Time for our first proper boss fight (if we don't count that pesky Pursuer). Exciting. So level up and buy any items you want, as well as making sure you have handed any Estus Shards over. If you have died a lot and your health has a low max level then feel free to use a Human Effigy, though I would only really recommend this is you have lost a third or more or your starting health (depends on how many levels you allocate to health). Now head back to the Cardinal Tower bonfire.
Back down the ladder and then go through the door you unlocked on your right as you get to the bottom. You'll see a lift on your left as you come through the door, so stand on the central button and head down. There is sometimes and enemy waiting at the bottom, but most of the time he will have been stood on the second platform and get sent up to the top, either way it's nothing you can't handle. A bit further along the corridor another enemy is guarding a locked door. Kill him and then make sure you are properly equipped before heading through the mist.
For this fight I would recommend you have gear that doesn't use up more than 50% of your equipment load (check your personal stats, bottom right corner) as that will give you freedom of movement. You also don't really need a shield, so feel free to use your weapon double handed if you like though a shield is always handy in a pinch. I personally used a levelled up Flame Sword (using the titanite I'd found/bought) and the Falconer armour my Knight started with. You can also summon Pate if you spoke to him thoroughly earlier.
Head through the mist to be met by the Last Giant. His size is intimidating but he is actually a fairly gentle introduction as boss fights go. He generally does three attacks: a large swipe which can be one or two hits, a footstamp that sends out a small shockwave and slows you down and a jumping attack. The basic strategy is simple, lock on and rush towards him and roll straight through his legs. He will swipe behind you, giving you the chance to get one or two hits on his ankles. Then you should IMMEDIATELY roll or run away from him, as he will start to stamp at where you were standing. Repeat until he is dead. By rushing at him and rolling past him you prevent him from doing the jumping attack pretty much, but if he does leap in the air just double roll out of the way to avoid it (or block if you are using your shield and have plenty of stamina).
If you get hit DO NOT just stand there and heal. Dodge an attack or roll through his legs as normal and THEN heal, rather than attacking him. If you play it safe you should be able to come through this battle first time. You'll be rewarded with a ton of souls, the Last Giants soul and the Soldiers Key AND achievement unlocked. You CAN use the Last Giant's soul to get even more souls, but I recommend you save it. Head back to the bonfire to rest and maybe back to Majula to spend some of those souls.
The Soldiers Key lets us access a few items so let's grab those first. Go to the Cardinals Tower bonfire and head up the stairs in this room, as you can now unlock the door up here. Enter and roll through the barrels to find a few items. There is a slumped skeleton on the floor by the door to the next room, so kill him. Go through the door, open the chest for another Estus Shard and then look down to see an item on a branch above the bonfire, carefully drop down to grab it. Then head down the ladder in the bonfire room. At the bottom look right and wait for the skeleton to cross the bridge, kill him and then the guy against the wall on your left. Cross the bridge and kill the skeleton on the floor then open this door and run straight ahead to a chest. Go back the way you came and across the bridge.
Head right and into the small room, killing the skeleton slumped on the floor. Now open the door in here and head down the stairs (be aware that I had the games brightness a bit higher than recommended so could see fine down here without a torch). At the bottom roll through some barrels on your left and immediately kill the skeleton slumped here. Then turn around and run back up the stairs. An armoured enemy should pursue you, if you lure him to the top of the stairs you can trap him in an infinite loop of: lure him to attack, he does an overhead smash, you roll backwards, hit him once and repeat until dead. Go back down the stairs and move forward to kill the skeleton swordsman. Around the next corner is an armoured goon, so use what works to kill him. After that is a skeleton spearman who should not be much of a concern by now.
There are a few items in this area to collect so make sure you grab them all. Now open the door the skeleton was in front of and cross the small bridge (be careful) and open the door opposite you to come face to face with another armoured guy. Immediately turn around and run back into the room you came from and he should follow. Dispatch him with the usual technique. Then go back across the bridge and into the room he was in, hang a left and lure the waiting axeman to attack you kill him and a nearby knifeman (if he didn't try and join in already) so kill him too. Roll through the boxes and grab the item.
Next part needs a bit of speed, but not like the Flash or anything. Open the door these guys were near and head outside and immediately turn left to kill and axeman. By now you should have activated another armoured guy so head back into the building you came from and lure him in there to deal with him. Sometimes a second one will follow him so try and be quick, or you can lure them both back across the bridge. If the second one didn't follow then head out of the door you just opened and into the opening ahead and to your left. He'll be in here so dispatch him ASAP.
Now you can deal with the archer over here to clear out the area. Head into the first doorway to find the Soldiers Rest bonfire to activate (do NOT rest here yet) and then up the wooden steps nearby to open a chest. Go back through the ruined building at the bottom left of the wooden stairs and look left upon exiting to see a corpse you can loot. There is a ladder on the building, or in the building, that you first came through (with the armoured guy and two regular soldiers) that you can climb up to face two more armoured guys. The trick to fighting them together is to lure them so they both attack you at the same time, roll back and (if they both do a one off attack) you can dart back in and damage them both with one hit. It isn't too tough to take them down and grab any items on the rooftop.
Now you have pretty much cleared out every area you can access. Plus, you have made another great grinding spot. Rest at the bonfire here and warp to Cardinals Tower, then make your way back to this bonfire clearing out every skeleton and armoured guy on the way. Once you are tired of that we can take on another, more difficult boss. The Pursuer again.
From the Cardinal Tower bonfire go down the ladder and head right. Past the lift and, when you reach a torch stand you can light, slowly move forward. The two spearmen hidden here can be lured one at a time until you kill them. Move through the opening they were guarding and look right to spot another door you can now unlock. Head over and open it up. Move up the stairs slowly and lure a spearman back down to the bottom to kill him off. Go back up and you should able to kill the spearman on the next set of stairs pretty easily as he has no shield. Follow the stairs up and come to an area with grey mist blocking you.
Don't touch it yet. Instead go up the stairs to the right of it to find another item. Now you DON'T have to fight the boss at this point it is optional and gives you an alternate route to The Lost Bastille (and some great armour). You can go back to the Heide's Tower of Flame area and work through that, which is probably much easier at this point. I actually didn't do that (as I didn't realise how to open the door to that area as I'm an idiot). That area eventually leads to the Lost Bastille too so it's entirely your call. If you are having trouble with the Pursuer then take that route. Just go down to that area in my guide and work from there. I'm also not sure if The Pursuer turns up at other junctures in the game if you go that route as I'd already killed him.
If you choose to enter the mist here be sure to spend your souls on items or levelling as trying to kill The Pursuer first time is troublesome. Go through the mist and he will spawn ahead of you. As he rushes towards you, lock on and roll past him on the right (his left), hit him once and stay close. Every time he attacks roll past but give yourself a second before attacking as if he goes into his two/three hit combo you will want to roll again before getting clear. Have your shield up when waiting for his attacks (and you have max stamina) but make sure to put it down when you roll past, as you need all the stamina you can get and it recharges faster when you aren't blocking. A good idea is that if you dodge his attack but have no stamina left, use that time to replenish yourself. Same goes with healing, only heal when he has just missed an attack (and even then it's a risk).
There are ballista up here that you can fire and, if you hit him, he will be one-two strikes from death. It's tough to line up as he almost never stops in front of them and will likely kill you when you get stuck in the animation to fire them but it's an option if you get the timing down. So if you want to grind souls to make your life a bit easier then do the run from Cardinals Tower to Soldiers Rest a few times, or the loop from Cardinals Tower, up the tree branch and back through the fort to Cardinals Tower again.
bonfire here and then head back to Majula to tool up.
Be aware that after killing the Last Giant the trader that was sat by the bonfire will relocate to Majula if you speak to her again. Also, try and talk to all the people in Majula (not just buy from them) at regular intervals. As the trader, blacksmith and Blue Covenant guy will all give you various items and accessories at one point or another.
Another interesting factor is that you can actually access another area at this point, if you want to risk it. If you speak to the cat in the house to the right of the big hole you can buy a Silvercat Ring for 13,400 souls. This reduces fall damage and means you can (with enough health) carefully drop down the ledges in the large hole outside of said house. I would recommend you have at least 1,200 health and a good number of Estus/healing items. Though this is not required as there is a safer route down later on.
However, we'll come back to that area later so for now just head back to the Lost Bastille via the bonfire. Unless you want to go to Heide's Tower of Flame in which case skip down to that section.
The Lost Bastille
There is only one way out of the room you are in, so take it. Walk forward and onto the little ledge to your left, follow it to the left (carefully) and all the way to the end to grab an item. Then head back to the windows you passed and go into the second one (the one nearest to where the bonfire is) and attack the enemy here. He is a crossbow man, but will get a sword out if you are close enough. A couple of hits will be enough to knock him off the ledge usually. Be careful as the barrel on this ledge can explode.
Don't drop down straight away. Instead go behind the barrel up here and just walk into it (don't attack or roll) to shove it off the edge, step back a bit after you do so. It will drop down and blow up the enemies below, but double check to make sure. If one of the dogs survived then try and lock onto it and do a falling attack to finish it off. Then loot the corpse in here and go through the door (on your left as you fell) to find an area with a chest you can plunder for an Antiquated Key (opens a door later on). Head back to the previous room and up the ladder to the door on the left hand side.
Out of this door is a bulky new enemy. He has a few moves and can take a bit of punishment, depending on your level. He will generally move towards you when he sees you and perform either a slash attack (he can turn this into a combo so watch out) or a big lunge forward. He sometimes pulls one hand back and tries to grab you too, so make sure you dodge past that move. Easiest way to kill him is to keep your shield up, wait until he swings and then get in one hit. You can back away with your shield down to get some stamina back, but with a shield you should easily negate most of his attacks. Once he is down to about 1/3 health, dodge his attack as normal and then step in and use as many attacks as you can to finish him quickly.
Continue on into the tower to meet Lucatiel. Speak to her constantly (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) and she will grow fond of your random babbling and agree to help you out in future battles (so keep an eye out for her summon sign). Now head out the opposite door and immediately turn around to see a ladder on the left wall of that tower, carefully edge onto the stone outcrop and head up here to snag another item. Then go back down. There is another big guy straight ahead, but it's dangerous to fight him with all these holes around you. Wander down and give him a smack or two in the back then retreat back to the tower you were just in (don't lock on just yet as you can't see where you are going). He'll follow you back there and be easier to kill off.
Head back past where he was and spot a number of dogs in front of you. These guys are pretty easy to kill in a couple of hits, they will generally just charge at you and then leap straight towards you. You can block this easily with a shield and then kill them in one or two hits. Be aware that even if you block their attack they will inflict a small amount of poison on you - nothing too damaging but a few of them attacking can soon inflict the Toxic status which can be deadly.
Luckily, these particular fellows ALL have their back to you, so wander down the path killing the three that you see then take a left just before the next big guy to kill another one guarding an item bearing corpse. Now approach the next big guy and lure him back to the last tower you were at to kill him - trying to avoid him exploding the barrel in front of him.
Once he is dead, approach the barrel and push it straight down the steps (don't attack or roll - just walk into it) which will blow a whopping big hole in the wall nearby and revealing a bonfire you can light (if it doesn't explode you can smack it with full health to do the same). Head down and kill the dogs then go into McDuffs workshop and speak with the blacksmith as much as possible then open all the chests you can. Head back out to the bonfire and light a torch and use it to light the unlit torch in the forge. Now the next time you come back here (it was after I'd warped elsewhere via a bonfire first) the blacksmith will have moved from the chest he was sat on and you can snag what was in there.
Now go back to where you killed the first big guy (after the tower with the NPC lady) and look right. You can walk across a stone here to get to a small area with a bunch of barrels. Go straight ahead and open the door, then slowly edge forward while looking to your left. You should activate three knights. Run back outside to take them on.
A good method to use here is to look left when you get back to the area with the barrels and you'll see a break in the wall where you can drop back to the other walkway and run back to the tower (one that had the NPC woman, again). Do this and they should follow you. Only sometimes some of them will just drop to their deaths, and more often they will get more spread out meaning you can take them on one at a time.
These guys are fairly weak but be careful. They can do a big overhead swing, a single strike (that can sometimes become a combo) or a shield bash to break your guard. Use the same tactics as ever. Lock on, lure them until a strike and then step in to deal damage.
Once these three are dead head back to where they came from and step inside the door again to activate two more guys from the area just in front, and below, you. Lure them back to your killing zone.
Once these guys are dead go in the room and straight ahead (not the door to your left) and down the stairs all the way to the bottom. Down here you will find a big ladder and a corpse with an item you can grab. Ignore the ladder and head back up the stairs you came down. There is a door in the wall here but it just leads to a deadly drop, so ignore it. Instead go up the stairs to where you came in and take the door that is now on your left.
Be careful as you will activate two more guys in here. Lure them back outside to kill them or they will sometimes attack the explosive barrels in that room and kill themselves. Once dead go back into the room they came from and pull the switch on the wall to open the gate. Two more guys will come after you (again they MAY strike the explosives in here) so deal with them the same way.
Back into the corridor they came from and you will see a familiar mist up ahead. Check the cells here for items and then make sure you have levelled up appropriately. You have created another good soul grinding loop: from the first tower, in through the windows, along the path killing all dogs/big guys and then killing all the knights up to this area before saving/warping at the bonfire by McDuffs forge. So do what you feel comfortable with.
As I was a knight I found this battle was easier to rely on blocking and good armour than dodging, as the enemy attacks cover huge areas at times so just rolling is not always possible. So I saddled up with my Drangleic armour, the Twin Dragon shield and my levelled Flame sword. You are facing THREE Ruin Guardians, but you can take on the first one solo. If you are struggling then you can try grinding for souls or visiting the Heide's Tower of Flame area if you haven't already done so. You can also find an NPC summon sign in one of the cells leading up to the mist if you are human.
As soon as you enter the mist you will have a short fall and immediately be attacked from your left by the first Ruin Sentinel. As soon as you fall hold the button to block, and lock onto the enemy ASAP. DO NOT DROP OFF THIS PLATFORM.
He has a number of attacks. He will do a big sweeping strike in front of himself (this can turn into a combo), he will also do a big lunge straight forward which you can dodge by constantly moving sideways or a large overhead strike that you can easily block/dodge. Sometimes he will swing himself off the ledge - if this happens just back into the corner by the two walls and block facing the main room, he will soon jump back up and you can lock on again. The key here is stamina preservation.
As ever you want to block his attack and, if it is just a one off move, step in and strike him. The most important thing is to drop your guard when you don't need to block and then raise your shield when he starts ANY of his attacking motions (they are all well telegraphed). If you find your stamina getting low then move away from one of his attacks and then drop your shield to max it out. With patience you should get through this first guy without taking any real damage. At this point use healing if you need to as the other guys will be activated.
Now it gets trickier. Wait back in the corner and the first guy will soon jump up on the ledge after you. You should be able to hit him, between blocks, a couple of times before he is joined by his companion. Now you can either try and fight them up here (tricky) or get in as many hits as you can without being reckless and then drop to the floor. You'll take damage doing that (so watch out if you already got hit) so heal immediately before they follow.
Now they will use a number of other attacks in addition to the ones above. They will do a big spinning attack that you can easily block but could leave you low on stamina, they will also jump in the air and slam down were you where if you are too far away (DODGE ROLL this as soon as you see them jump) or (rarely) they will throw their shield at you which you can avoid by just moving sideways.
The attacks are fairly straightforward but the trick is to keep the two enemies as close together as you can. If they are separate then it is much more likely that one of them will get behind you and attack from where your block is useless. Keep BOTH of them in front of you at all times, regardless of which one you are locked onto. Only attack when they have both done an attack and you KNOW you have a clear window. Again, stamina is key as is constantly moving away from their attacks - only block if you have to but always keep your shield UP unless you are recovering stamina. Same goes for healing, do so only when they have both attacked rather than the second you take damage.
Once you kill one of them the fight becomes much easier. Just treat the last guy like one of the earlier armoured guys. Stay in close and lure him into his one or two hit combo then get a hit in. Repeat.
For the death of these annoying sods you will get a bunch of souls and the Ruin Guardian soul to boot. Yay us. Also, be sure to keep the Ruin Sentinel soul and give it to Straid in the Lost Bastille and swap it for a spell you can't get anywhere else (needed for an achievement). Before you go, run around the room and hit A on every wall to find 4-5 secret rooms with items in most (you can climb a ladder in one and find ANOTHER fake wall to get the item on a ledge in the main room). Now head through the door down here and up the stairs to the top level - there is another fake wall on the left with an item (watch out for the enemy). Now go through the door up here and grab an item in one of the cells. Then move into the Servants Quarters and hit up the bonfire on your left.
If you feel up to it (why wouldn't you?) we can take a short detour assuming you have a Pharros Lockstone in your inventory and are up for taking on another boss. If so, then go down the ladder opposite the bonfire and turn left at the bottom. Kill the dog skulking behind the crates ahead of you and then loot the items in the room. Now you can insert the Lockstone into the device on the wall and swipe open the highlighting area. This will lead you to Belfry Luna.
Belfry Luna
Go over the little bridge and open the door here. Speak to the little dude on your right and he will let you join the Bellkeeper Covenant (achievement unlocked) and give you a ring if you choose to do so. I'm not sure if joining the Covenant straight away stops you being attacked in here - I didn't and the souls are handy. On another visit I DID join and still got attacked so who knows.
Now follow the corridor around and upstairs to meet a new foe. These little dwarf fighters generally either do a one hit strike or a three hit combo, but are fairly easy to kill. Finish him off and then look for a hole in the floor that lets you drop into an area with a chest below you. Grab the loot and then head back up the stairs again. Go up the next flight of stairs and activate a nearby dwarf and lure him down the stairs to finish him off. Then you can move up into that room to take on the next dwarf behind the boxes (he sometimes shoots at you with arrows, sometimes not).
The next bit can be tricky. As you climbed the tower you will have been informed of an invader - this is not another player rather this is a scripted event. You'll see a ladder in this topmost room, if you carefully climb up it you can stop just short of the top and pan the camera around. You'll spot three blue dwarfs nearby and another red one (the invader). There is also another blue dwarf behind the column to the front left of where you come up. If you get swarmed here it can be trouble and you will likely die. Your best bet is to try and group all of your attackers together and also try and use the ladder exit as a neat funnel. Climb up and don't lock onto anyone straight away, instead move back past the red guy and lure all the attackers into a group. Then try and steer them around near the ladder and walk across the small gap between it and the wall. If you aren't rushing, and they are clumped they should follow. This helps thin them out and lets you get some hits in. The blue guys should only take about 3-4 hits at this stage so focus on killing them first. Then get the red guy into the central area and deal with him. After this kill the last blue guy, assuming you didn't activate him yet.
Did you have fun? Now they are all dead you can open the treasure chest up here, loot a corpse behind one of the pillars and (most importantly) pull the big lever here that will ring the bell. This in turn will open up the mist shrouded gate that was in the room below. The next boss (or bosses) are a pain if you don't prepare correctly but also will be fairly familiar to anyone that played the first game. So level up, or grind souls, if you want to and then save at the bonfire. You will only have to kill three of the blue dwarfs to get here, or you can run past them all and just click on the mist.
Behind the fog is a sloped roof full of Gargoyles. Remember them? What fun. Only this time there are SIX of the buggers to take on. At first only two will activate, but if you take too long to kill one of them then another will join the fray. I only ever face three at once but frankly even that is a situation you want to try and avoid. The most important thing to remember here is that these guys are made of stone, so your sword might not cut it (literally). Instead I went with a Craftsmans Hammer (I think either the blacksmith in Majula gave me this OR it was in one of the chests in McDuffs workshop - I'll double check). As this did plenty of damage for me and meant I could still use my shield. Each gargoyle, depending on your level, will take about 6-7 hits to kill as they have their own health bar as well as sharing the boss gauge shown on screen. They are also fairly vulnerable to Lightning if you have that available.
They have a number of attacks depending on where you are. If you are fairly distant they like to fly up into the air and then swoop at you (can be blocked or dodged) and if you are behind them they will try and swipe you with their tails. As ever they have a one hit swipe that covers a large area and a more annoying three hit combo that tracks you slightly. Lastly they will start to breathe fire when low on health, but this is well telegraphed. The problem here is not the enemies themselves, as they are fairly easy to counter, but rather the numbers. As with the Ruin Guardians TRY and keep all the enemies in front of you where you can see them, though this can be hard due to the fact the gargoyles can activate at different times depending on how you fare.
As soon as you come through the smoke, look left and target the gargoyle that awakens there. Move towards him and, after his start up animation, get an attack in. Block his next attack and try and get a couple more strikes in. With any luck you can kill this one BEFORE the other one comes into play. If not, then get them close together and chip away at them until one dies. By this time another one is likely to have activated. So lure the two close together before resuming your attack, remembering to recuperate stamina as and when you can rather than blocking all of the time.
Recovering health here can be tricky. My recommendation is to lure one/both/ALL the gargoyles to one side of the sloped roof to attack (making sure they all do so) and then rush as far as you can onto the other slope before healing. Lifegems can be handy here as they still offer you limited movement, so use them when you have lost 1/4 of your health or more but only as and when you can. Again, once you get down to the very last gargoyle things become a breeze and killing him will net you souls, the Gargoyle soul. Plus, you can grab some loot off the various bodies up here. Go through the door at the far end, down some stairs and drop off at the end to open a chest. Out of this door is another bonfire you can activate and rest at.
Next to the bonfire is a ladder. Looking down you can see a whole bunch of dogs roaming about. Enough to swarm you certainly and potentially poison you if they hit you enough. Though at this stage I could now kill them in one hit (even two hits is good enough here). The other issue is that when you get to the bottom you will also face another scripted red invader. Your best options are to go down the ladder and move behind the cart/barrels at the bottom to funnel the foes or run up the small stone steps down here and funnel them that way.
Once the dogs are dead the red invader is a fairly simple melee attacker that shouldn't take much killing. After that you can loot the various corpses down here for the Bastille Key and then you will need to head back up to the bonfire and either warp to Majula (to spend your souls) or to the Servants Quarters to proceed.
From the Servants Quarters head to the door to your far right and outside. Cross the little bridge and look left to see another big guy. Watch out as this one can cast spells, but other than that should be easy to dispatch. Break the post behind where he was to find another lootable corpse. Then close or break the door you came through to find another item hidden there. Head into the tower and go left to find another big guy to kill.
We'll take a bit of a detour now as this next area is semi-optional. From Where you just killed the big guy you can head down the stone path and then right onto a rooftop. Go right onto the roof to find a corpse to loot, then jump to the roof opposite to grab another item that you can spy from up here. Look down below to see a bunch of dogs. Try to thin their numbers with arrows/firebombs/magic if you have it, and drop down to kill the rest. Their are some items to snag in this area so do so. Then hit the rock on the well and a bunch of new enemies should appear in a lift. If you wait by the well you should be able to swing away and kill them before they can get out and trouble you. These guys are a pain in groups as they do a lunging attack that results in a big blast that can do severe damage. If you have a good shield/stamina you can block it, but it's not recommended with a group of them.
Now there are two doors in here. With your back to the well, take the one on your left (need the Antiquated Key from the chest near to the Lost Bastille bonfire reached via the Pursuer fight). There is a swordsman in here so kill him off. You will also find another little door that has two more of the annoying bandaged prisoners and some loot. After killing them there is a breakable wall in the far corner. Head through here to see two more dogs. Kill them and a big guys will drop down, if not you can break the platform he is on to encourage him and then kill him off. Break the other platform in here to drop another item. Then look opposite where you entered. There is a wall with routes left and right. The left path (behind some crates) leads to a chest you can loot while the right leads to another dog and a lever you can pull to create a route back to McDuffs bonfire. Rest if you need to.
Now go back to where you just killed the two dogs and big guy and there is a ladder in a room on the right hand wall. Climb up here to meet another Heide knight. If you decide to take him on (he is fairly easy) he will drop a decent spear. Go left if where he was and carefully drop off the end of the wall, head right along the small pathway to find a hidden area with an item in it. You can now drop down into the area you climbed the ladder and head up it again. Only this time go right and follow the corridor down to another bonfire in a cell - this is the Exile Cell bonfire and if you come to this location via No-Mans Wharf this is where you begin. Activate it and head down to passage again (grabbing any loot you see).
At the end is a lever, so pull it and a lift will emerge. The next bit requires a bit of speed. Walk into the lift and hit the button in the middle but IMMEDIATELY run back outside the lift before the door closes. Then drop onto it's roof as it goes down. When it stops you can walk into a hidden cave for an item, and then ride the lift back up. The area here with the boat is the alternate entrance to The Lost Bastille - found by working your way through Heide's Tower of Flame and beyond. So if you are coming from there THIS is where you will start.
Now you can head all the way back to where you fought the guys that came out of the well but don't go through the other door. Instead climb the ladder on the same building and attack the crossbow guy in the left window (as you face them). Once he is dead go into the other window and guy the crossbow guy in here - watch where you swing as the barrels will explode, though if they do so it will reveal a secret room on the right that has an item in it. So once you kill these guys try and blow open this wall.
Either way drop down and kill the third swordsman, or he sometimes climbs up to you. Now climb up the ladder in the area he was in and grab an item before dropping back down to where you killed the second crossbow guy. Go through the passage behind the barrels here and be ready for a swordsman on your left as soon as you emerge. There is also another at the far end. Once they are both dead, loot the chests and use a Lockstone (if you have one) to make two ghostly faces appear. Hit them both to find more chests to loot.
Now you can exit the large room in the opposite direction and follow the tunnels as the way back to the path near McDuff's Workshop. Use the bonfire here to warp to the Servants Quarters again.
From here go back outside, over the little bridge (kill the big guy on your left if you like) and into the tower to your right. This time go up the stairs on your right to the top and enter a room full of barrels. There is a guy sat behind the ones on the left, so rush over and kill him and then loot the room (the door in here leads nowhere). Now edge down the corridor, hugging the left wall. Until you see and activate another bandaged guy.
Lure him back where you came from and finish him off. Repeat this process twice more to lure the other two enemies stood around that corner, one at a time. Once they are dead I recommend you edge forward and look to your right. You'll see bunch of giant pots and a guy on a shelf above you waiting to pounce.
The best method here is to run into the room, behind the pots, and then start attacking them. As two more enemies will soon emerge from their midst. With luck you can kill them before they are fully able to do anything, at which point the third enemy will have dropped down and you can deal with him one on one. Sometimes he doesn't drop down, in which case you can wander onto the ledge behind him to activate him and then drop down to finish him off. Face the gated area and go into the room next to it and hit A on the back wall to open a secret room, press A again on the wall halfway down in the room that opened to get to an area with two lootable corpses (one you have to jump to).
Move up to the next floor slowly and spot an enemy slumped on the wall ahead of you. Rush up to him and kill him before he can stand, at which point you will want to turn around ready for the guy sat against the back wall (sometimes he will charge in and sometimes he will sit there until you get closer). Kill him too and open the door in here for an item, plus you can carefully drop down to the floor below for another item though this leads to a slight detour in order to work your way back up here.
You can now pull the lever that was in the last room to open a gate leading to a bridge. Don't cross this yet. Instead go slowly up the stone steps in here and try and lure one or two enemies at a time down to the room below (there are five of them to kill). A good method is to hit the guy you want to lure with arranged attack and he will then rush you while the rest just stand there waiting their turn.
Once they are all dead you will notice a statue in here. This is Straid, a powerful wizard. He will sell you very good spells, as well as converting boss souls into weapons/armour/spells (for a price) but we don't have any way to help him just yet. Use the Bastille Key on the other cell for an item then go back down to the bridge. Once out the door, immediately go right to find a hidden swordsman guarding an item you can swipe.
Sinner's Rise
Then leg it across the bridge to avoid the archers up above. Go through the mist (no boss yet) and wait a second. One of the archers will drop down in front of you, so finish him off. Then go through the door on your right and up the ladder to your right on the ledge. There should be one archer left up here, so kill him off and then activate the bonfire. BE WARNED: if you rest here, the three archers will immediately respawn up here when you stand up so get ready to kill them. You can also grab an item from just inside one of the doorways up here.
Now back down the ladder near the bonfire and follow the stone path around the outside of the tower to another archer. Kill him and go just around the corner to find an item. Inside the room he was guarding are three more bowmen (four if you didn't rest at the bonfire as one tends to drop down from above). You can either deal with them in the room using a shield, or get close enough to one so it changes to its sword and then lure it out of the room to deal with.
Once they are all dead take the lift down to the bottom, as it gets closer to the floor you will notice a wooden ledge that you can drop onto for an item, do that and then drop down onto the lift again (try to avoid hitting the button to send it back up). If you are human there will be a summon sign for Lucatiel, but you may want to hold off on using it just yet until you clear out the enemies.
Walk into the water and look left to see a malformed prisoner. These guys can pack a punch but are not too bad if you have a good shield. They will generally do either a single swipe with their hand, a jumping attack if you are far away or a tail swing (can turn into a double swing if you are still in range after the first one). Stay close and keep your shield up. Lure him into an attack then step away, then step back in for a quick hit. If they do a tail strike try to block the first one and then roll away to dodge the second. They give plenty of souls but are really not that tough. Then move into the right hand room and look left to see another one. Kill him and then move look across from the room he was in to spy a third. Try and lure him back to the area you came in from, as one of the annoying explodey guys will sometimes run in to spoil your fun.
If not, then once he is dead, move forward and look right to spot the evil bugger stood at the bottom of some steps. Try and kill him before he can do his thing and then move up the steps he was guarding. Another prisoner is sat on the floor at the end of here so rush and kill him before he stands. Then search the cells here. Go back to the water and up the opposite side to kill another lounging prisoner and search those rooms. You can also find some items in the areas near the lift (including a Sublime Bone Dust), but it made sense to kill the enemies first.
From here you can see two doors on each side in the water below. The prisoners like to hide underwater in there, so approach each door carefully to lure them out. Bear in mind that if you get spotted by one in the room behind you they will rush at you. So try and only investigate each set of rooms one at a time and lure the enemies back into the main corridor or up the stairs where it will be easier. Once you kill them all you can scour the rooms for items (there is a Lockstone to snag).
Go back to where you entered the water and stand with your back to the lift. Go into the watery room on your right and press A on the wall in front of you. It will open and you can edge out and grab an item on your left side (don't go too far out).
Open the big gates down here (and the little ones with the Bastille Key if you like) and head over the narrow bridge. At the end you can go along the walls, inside the stairs, to find some items. Then climb the stairs and use the Bastille Key to find some more items (including some Shiny Stones that you can take back to the nest in Things Betwixt). You can use a torch to light the liquid in both rooms to make the boss fight a bit easier. Once that is done make sure you are ready for another tough boss.
Use a Homeward Bone if you want to get back to a bonfire to rest up, but remember the nearest place you can spawn is the top of Sinner's Rise. To get back here with minimum fuss, run down to the lift, kill the guy outside and the three inside. Call the lift and head down. At the bottom, run straight ahead into the water (stay to the middle) and then left up the stairs to the cells. Run straight past the prisoner sat here and out the door at the end (assuming you unlocked it). Drop carefully off the edge and then run across the bridge. At which point any pursuing enemies will retreat.
When you are ready go back summon Lucatiel from the bottom of the elevator (NEEDED FOR ACHIEVEMENT) head into the mist and meet the Lost Sinner. This lady packs a hefty punch with a variety of attacks so let's run through them. To begin with she will charge at you and do a massive thrust attack straight forward so be ready to dodge or block ASAP. She then has large one hit swing, and more rapid two/three hit combos (the arch on these is very large so can hit you even when you are almost right behind him). At times she will do a large jumping attack that can be devastating so be ready to dodge rather than block. She has a moment after every attack where she momentarily pauses so this is when you strike. But only go for one hit at a time, or two if you are right on top of her.
The issue is that she is quite relentless, rather like the Pursuer. So only strike when you will leave yourself with enough stamina to still block/dodge afterwards. Again you sometimes need to forgo attacking her in around to get stamina back or heal, and healing is very risky to say the least. I found that lifegems were very handy here is they still let me move away from him slightly and then immediately block (while my health was still going up) once the animation was over. Whereas the Estus Flash generally left me stationary and very exposed. Be aware that Lucatiel HAS to survive the fight in order for you to get credit towards getting her gear.
Once he is dead you will get his soul and a bunch of other souls (save his for trading). Then go through the new door that opened to find a handy bit of tree root to cure petrification. Keep hold of this for now (though you can use it on Straid if you like, but I wouldn't recommend it just yet). Go ahead and light the Primal Bonfire here (achievement unlocked) and warp back to Majula. You're a big damn hero. Be aware that the shopkeeper that sells armour will now have some new (and expensive) Lost Sinner gear.
Now at this point you can go a few ways so EITHER head to Heide's Tower of Flame, buy the Silvercat Ring and drop down the tunnels (but if you wait until later there is a much safer way down) or head out of Majula towards Things Betwixt but take the RIGHT hand tunnel instead. Following that will lead you to Jugo (blue sword). Speak to him until he repeats himself (he will talk about a statue up ahead). Then go in the building in front of you. Open the door on your left and kill the guy inside (we'll call them testicle guys - for obvious reasons) and do the same on the other door opposite. This will stop them rushing you shortly. These guys are pretty easy to kill by now, they just have regular one hit or three hit combos, though they can start to cause poison even when you block so watch out.
If you have been diligently killing enemies then you should have quite an array of armour by now. Make sure you have a spare set of boots, gloves, armour and helmet - preferably ones you don't mind not getting back. Now use your tree root to un-petrify the lady blocking the door. Talk to her and she'll ask for some clothes, so move what you can spare from your inventory to hers when you get the chance and you get an achievement for your efforts. She also sells a number of handy spells and items if you have the souls to spare, and will then relocate to the bottom of the memorial (where the Blue Covenant guy sits) in Majula. She also lets you upgrade your Pyromancy flame and sells a bunch of seeds to do so. Handy for magicians. Now pull the lever she was blocking to be greeted by one of those rather annoying basilisks that petrify you. Kill him quick which should be easy as he either does a single swipe or a massive breath attack that you can avoid by being at his side or back.
Watch out as a bunch of testicle men will jump down to join in. Funnel them into the doorway and kill them all, then search their rooms for loot and activate the bonfire. Use it warp to Majula and then head back this way to speak to Jugo again (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT), he'll thank you and teach you a gesture (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) plus he'll be available for some bosses in future.
Heide's Tower of Flame
Now go back to Majula and use the bonfire to head to Heide's Tower of Flames. If you didn't go here earlier, then head down the stone tunnel in Majula (next to the cats house) and go down the stairs all the way to the bottom. There is a pulley to the left of the metal door. Follow this route all the way there. Either way, once you arrive you'll notice a big knight nearby. These guys pack a punch, so hopefully you have a decent shield that has 100% physical resist (or near enough) as they will help you block most of it. One on one you should have few problems.
They mainly stick to a long three hit combo, and you can usually dodge roll past the first strike and then land one or two hits as they pause at the end. With a good shield you can probably just block/tank the first hit or so while sidestepping around them to get in position. If you play it safe and go for a hit when you can then he should pose no problems. Be aware that sometimes they will pull out a jumping attack if you are far away, or just do one large hit.
Move forward to another knight, this time with an axe. This guy can do severe damage with each hit, so be sure to block/dodge appropriately. He is actually a rare foe and will drop Sublime Bone Dust - burn this item at the Far Fire in Majula and your Estus Flash will replenish more health each time. Once he is dead you can also loot the corpse hanging from the railing here. Move ahead to face another sword and shield Knight. Once he falls you will also notice that, after you kill certain groups of knights, a small control panel will emerge. Whenever this happens be sure to pull the lever - as this will make your life easier on an upcoming boss. There is also a corpse behind the door you came through.
There's a group of three knights up ahead. Taking on all three at once can be painful so try and lure them one at a time (use a ranged weapon to do so, if you have one. Or walk into the room and then back out the door at which point only the Greatsword Knight will follow) and dispatch them individually. The Greatsword Knight has no shield but packs a hefty punch, he generally does one massive overhead swing that you can dodge and counter, but it can sometimes turn into a two hit combo so be careful. You should get a lever pop up after they are dead. From here go out the door to your left to meet with two more knights, so again try and deal with them one at once.
There is a corpse to loot down some broken steps on the left of this area then head up the stairs, you should get to a platform with a single Knight. After he is dead you can pull a lever to lower the nearby drawbridge. Head up the drawbridge to find another corpse to loot and a chest to open. Plus, a mist door.
Blue Cathedral
The boss behind the mist is entirely optional, but will open up the route to a new Covenant (that you probably can't join yet) and a couple of chests. Plus, you get another boss soul and a bunch of souls for killing him. Plus, he's not THAT hard anyway (in my opinion). It's your call.
I'll assume you want to be a badass and went through the mist. You are face to face with the Old Dragonslayer (who may look familiar to people that played the first game). He uses spear attacks and has a wide range and some pretty damaging moves. Up close he will either thrust directly at you, or go into a two/three hit combo both or which can easily be blocked/dodged and then countered. He will also leap into the air and then land on you. Even with full stamina and while blocking this can do a LOT of damage, so avoid it by any means. He will get stuck in the floor after this so use the time wisely. After you have done enough damage he will add lightning elements to his strikes, which can be deadly, so heal when you need to and don't stand directly in front of his attacks as some of them will unleash a blast wave that will do damage even when blocking. By the time he gets to this point he should be almost dead thankfully, so finish him off to get your rewards.
Go through the other door and speak to Targray there to join the Blue Sentinels (achievement unlocked), you will need a Token of Fidelity to do so (found be either using the White Soapstone to help other players beat a boss OR in Huntsmans Copse on a corpse) and then loot the chests here. Note: you HAVE to join this Covenant at some point in order for Targray to teach you a gesture (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) so make sure to do so once you have a Token of Fidelity. Go down some stone steps to find another bonfire to light.
Heide's Tower of Flame
Go back out and down the drawbridge. Go through the room that had three knights in previously but this time take the other exit. This leads down to another knight, so kill him and you should be able to cross to a nearby platform for some loot. Now you have another mist door to deal with - at this point you SHOULD have killed all other knights and pulled the two levers (not including the one that drops the Cathedral drawbridge). Make sure you have levelled up etc and head on through.
This time you have the shiny NEW Dragonslayer. Who is less bothersome than the old version, the levers you pulled will have increased the area you have available to fight him in so you aren't at risk of falling in the water. As with the old slayer, he has a spear and does the usual one and three hit combos plus a large thrust attack - all of which can be easily tanked with a good shield. Then strike him back and repeat. Don't attack him when he is using his shield and, if you are close, watch out for his shield bash that can leave you vulnerable. Other than that, you should have little problem strafing around him for victory. Once he is dead head up the outside of the tower and activate another bonfire and rest up. Speak to the Licia up here and learn all you can. You can also buy various items and miracles from her which is pretty handy, make sure she starts to repeat herself as we need her back in Majula (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) - then you can cross the bridge up here to another tower.
Go down the spiral steps in here (grab the item at the bottom) to a corridor. You'll enter an open area with a Greatsword wielder off to your right. Deal with him first and then tackle the sword and shield Knight that was lurking further down that initial corridor. Behind him are a bunch of corpses for you to loot. Go back to where the Greatsword Knight was and through the door, then down the stairs. There is another knight down here so kill him and head right to a lift, head down it. You'll come to a watery corridor. Head along here until you get to an opening on your left. Kill the Knight in here and go up the stairs behind him. Head to your right up here to find a chest with a bunch of armour in it. Now back down to the watery corridor but this time head left and down into the rocky tunnel.
No-Mans Wharf
This leads to a bonfire and Lucatiel who you can chat to, make sure to do so (NEEDED FOR ACHIEVEMENT). Note: you need to speak to her at The Lost Bastille BEFORE she will be here, so make sure to do so (via the Crow's Nest after the Pursuer fight). Leave this room via the other exit to come to No-Mans Wharf. The enemies here are actually pretty weak by this point, so you should have few troubles.
Immediately go to your left (kill the enemy playing dead here) and over the bridge, the building ahead will have two weak enemies to your left as you enter and another will rush down the stairs. Kill them all and loot the room. Go up the stairs in here to find another foe (if he didn't rush down) and then out on the balcony to kill an archer. Go back outside and then left over the wooden walkway. An archer will fire at you and a swordsman will run towards you. These guys either have two weapons OR a sword and shield, plus they occasionally lob firebombs. The double sword guys can launch into a four hit combo that does a lot of damage without knocking you down, if a couple of them trap you this way it can be trouble so try and take them on individually. Careful blocking, strafing and striking should see you unharmed.
After killing the archer look left to see a corpse to loot in the water and two more buildings either side of some steps. As you move towards them a swordsman will rush down the steps and two weak enemies will come from either side. You can back off and try to thin them out or rush one of the weaker foes to kill them quickly and then group the other two together to deal with. Search each building for loot when they are dead. Then look to the right of the building on the right of the stone steps (as you face the steps) to see a stone building with a hole in the wall. There is a tricky enemy in here.
These long armed beasts do either an overhead smash, sometimes after leaping, or a two hit combo. Even if you block they can rapidly cause the Bleeding ailment which severely diminishes your stamina. Try and strafe around their swipes and get a hit in when you can. You can then search behind the barrels in this room for a corpse to loot.
Now head out of here and up the stairs. Go to your right first to come to an area with a swordsman and a dog, try and kill the dog first as it should only take one or two hits. There is a Pharros Lockstone point to the right here, using it will ignite the massive light and make the large ape creatures cower inside buildings. This is handy if you want to shoot them from afar (as they won't fight back) but not entirely required - you can drop off the edge where the device is to find a ledge with another item on it. Go in the building here to find three slumbering guards, you can backstab one with ease and then finish off the others. There is also a chest in the corner behind the wooden bar. Go back outside and then right to the building on the other side of the stairs. There is a swordsman in here and another up the stairs (also an item up here hidden behind the bookcase). You can then go outside and head left carefully.
Here you will spot the swordsman that was stood at the very top of the stone stairway. There is also a dog here and another swordsman in a little alcove on the left hand side. Try and kill the dog from afar and then lure the swordsman as best you can. From here you can head up another flight of steps and go right. There are three ape creatures patrolling this ridge (if you didn't use the Lockstone) so lure them one at a time. Moving forward you will see another room with two more of these creatures, plus another will drop down from above. Don't go into the room to engage them as you will get swamped. So dash back outside and make them follow. Head upstairs to kill one final ape creature (if he didn't also drop down) and then go into the room next door to open two chests (one has a trap).
There is also a merchant, Gavlan, that will buy your old equipment in exchange for souls. Be sure to ONLY sell your junk items that you will not need again, as if you sell a unique item there is no getting it back until a second playthrough. After you deal with him here he will vanish and then turn up at other points in the game.
Out of this building and head up the path ahead of you to reach a large bell, make sure to pull the lever directly under it before dropping down. It will summon a ship. You can then drop down to the stone roof for an item, turn around and drop down again. Open the door here and enter the room, grab the item on the steps and watch out for the two apes. Outsider you can go into a nearby door. Watch out for the jars full of poison but clear them away to reveal some loot (including an Estus Shard) and a wall you can smash with a heavy weapon for a good ring. Back outside you can move ahead to find a wooden door near a torch, open it and hit A on the wall ahead of you to find a hidden area and some items. Head up some stairs to meet another swordsman and to open a previously locked door back to the earlier area. If you are human you will also find a summon sign in this area for Lucatiel, don't summon her yet.
Back out the way you came and down the steps to the wharf and look right (in the building) to see two more ape monsters to kill, as well as another swordsman in the water here. Finish them off and search their room. Go onto the wooden wharf but don't head towards the ship just yet. Go along the other path (two enemies will jump up) to meet a sorcerer named Carhillion.
He will sell you magic and items, as well as teach you a gesture, but ONLY if you have at least 8 Intelligence. If you don't have the required level you can come back here at any time when you do. Once you have successfully spoken to him he will move to Majula (after you beat the boss here) and be sat under a tree looking out to sea (bottom left of the large memorial) so make sure to do so (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT).
Now head onto the ship and immediately go up the left hand steps to kill an archer (there is one on either side). At this point a swordsman will rush out from below and two more will run onto the ship. If you have your NPC helper they can help distract them while you deal with them one at a time. Otherwise try and funnel them up the stairs, you can then loop down the other stairs and off the ship to make life easier.
Once they are all dead, deal with the other archer and head inside the ship. Grab the loot in the first room and move onward to a mist door. Before entering go back and summon Lucatiel as you need her for this fight, (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) MAKE SURE SHE SURVIVES IN ORDER TO GET CREDIT TOWARDS GETTING HER GEAR. Step through the mist to meet a Flexile Swordsman. He is impossible to flank and will do large sweeping attacks with both sides, as well as leaping towards you. Luatiel can distract him and do serious damage while you come at it from the side. If you are on your own then use the pillar in here as a buffer when you need to heal or regain stamina. You should have no problem whittling its health away.
After it dies head up the ladder and look behind you to find chest with a Pyromancy Flame. If you interact with the large compass in here you will sail to the Exile Cells at the foot of the Lost Bastille. From there you can ride the lift up and go up the steps to find a bonfire in the cells. If you have already cleared out the Bastille then just warp from that point back to Majula. Otherwise follow the guide from the Exile Cell bonfire above.
Back in Majula you can level up/buy items as you need to. The lady you saved from being stone will be here, as will the sorcerer from No-Mans Wharf (if you had an Int of 8 or more when you spoke to him) so you can buy spells/items from either. Whatever you do try and hold back 2,000 souls. Now head into the tunnel that led to the Tower of Flame and you'll run into the cleric you met earlier, she sells items but you can also pay her 2,000 souls to open a new path. Do so and you will open up a path to Huntsmans Copse. Grab the item from the corpse nearby and either follow the path or head back to the bonfire you activated JUST after saving the woman from a life of being a stone. Either route is open to you at this point.
Shaded Woods
I personally went this way first, though you may choose Huntsmans Copse for an easier ride. Once back at the bonfire watch out for the testicle enemies that are in this room and head up the stairs and out of the door. The path here is linear but watch out for enemies on your way. Eventually two of them will rush you, while two more throw things at you from a ledge above and to the left. Kill the first two and then head up to finish off the stone throwers (they are pretty weak) and grab an item. Continue on this path to find more enemies and a few more objects, just take your time and kill them one by one. Eventually you will come to another bonfire so activate it and rest if you need to. This room has some steps going upwards and three exits. Go for the one on your left (if facing the bonfire from where you entered).
Immediately after exiting turn left and kill a testicle enemy that is sat there. At this point three more will rush you from the path ahead, try and group them together and attack cautiously. Fall back to the bonfire room if needs be. Once they are dead move forward under the big stone arch and then look left. You'll see another stone thrower you can kill here, and then another enemy behind him. Kill them both and loot the corpse up here.
Turn back to the path you were on and go left along this path. At the end you will meet another of the enemies that served as the boss in No-Mans Wharf. There is also a small path to the left, just before him, that has another testicle enemy who will rush to attack you as you move past him. You don't have any help this time but he shouldn't be too tricky. Try and kill the aforementioned testicle guy before activating the big fellow, then block his one/two hit combos and get in the odd strike when you can. He doesn't have as much health as the boss version but don't get overconfident. Once he is dead you can loot the corpse he was guarding for a decent weapon. Feel free to wander up that side path too - it leads to the Shrine of Winter which will only open when you have activated the four primal bonfires.
Now head back to the last bonfire and take the next door to your left, follow it to a white tree which has an item you can grab nearby. The Red Tearstone Ring is useful when used correctly, but does leave you vulnerable (as you need low health to benefit). Nothing else this way so head back to the last door, which leads to a misty forest.
This area can be frustrating. The enemies are invisible and CANNOT be locked onto. Depending on your screen settings you might be able to see them though (I could) and if you do damage them then their health bar will pop up on screen making them easier to deal with. The foes all have swords and crossbows and the first you know about them will usually be when they attack you. Keep your shield up as you move to get through quickly. I will guide you to the major items.
As soon as you enter move forward and follow the right hand wall, it will lead you to an item on a corpse. Keep following this wall until you come up a small incline to a chest - open it but watch out for enemies while you do so. There is a cliff edge on the other side of the chest so be careful. Now turn and keep the cliff on your right side, then more forward until you hit another wall. Put that on your right again and move forward up another small ledge to a second chest. Grab what is in ther and drop off, still following that same wall along and around until you come out of the mist and see some stone steps leading up to your left. Don't leave here just yet.
Turn away from the steps and follow the wall to your right again, it will eventually lead you up another incline to a ruined stone circle with some pillars. Look behind the circular wall, on the opposite side of where you came in for an item, then examine/speak to the pile of bones here. This is Vengarl and he has an interesting story. Keep speaking to him and he will give you his helmet (achievement unlocked) then you can learn a gesture, buy items and will be told of his headless body roaming around. Once he repeats himself, go back the way you came and follow the left hand wall back to the stone steps. AT this point you can turn around and head STRAIGHT into the mist to find a cursed pot and another item nearby if you like. After that, come back here and go up the steps into the Shaded Ruins and activate the bonfire behind the green ramp to your right. It might be helpful at this point, if you have enough souls, to head back to Majula and buy the Ring of Whispers from the cat as we will need it shortly.
Shaded Ruins
Head up the ramp here to find an item at the top. If you look to your left you will see a small stone bridge. You can do a running jump to this area from up here. Once you land you can go into the ruins to your left to face another pesky basilisk and find a corpse to loot. The way through here is blocked by a stone (you MAY be able to free him but don't bother just yet). Instead turn around and face the stone bridge you jumped onto, from here you can jump back onto the main bridge and into a room with a chest. Grab the item and then jump out the opposite window onto a small slope.
Move up it to your left and you will start to get cursed. Immediately smash the nearby evil pot - that's right EVIL POTS WANT TO CURSE YOU! There are a few of them in this area and you should try and smash them before they become a hassle. Facing where the pot was go left, past an opening you can't reach, to find a corpse you can loot at the end. Now go back the other way and spot another petrified lion guy. Kick down the rotten tree near him to form a bridge back to the bonfire. If you have some Tree Root (can be found in Harvest Valley/Earthen Peak) you can use it on this gentleman (though I recommend you use it on the similar guy in the area above that is blocking a chest FIRST - as it contains another branch too). He is NOT happy to see you. Your best bet is to go over the tree you just kicked down and lure him back to the much wider bridge.
His attacks can cause a build up of the curse ailment (which drops your max health of that bar goes from red/yellow to green/purple) even if you block. Plus he can do a LOT of damage with a successful hit. Luckily they are easy to lure into a loop of the same attack. Keep your shield up and step in, he should start a big solitary swipe. Immediately hop/roll back and then step in to hit him, then repeat until he dies. You shouldn't really get hit if you get the timing down, but a shield will prevent that being an issue. Just remember to manage your stamina if you do block. Sometimes they do a multiple hit combo but with this method it is VERY rare. Once he dies he will drop a Fang Key which will be handy shortly.
Now you can head down the bridge (there is a small ramp down to some loot about halfway across) but watch out for the gap in the middle. The next bit needs a bit of speed to make your life easier so follow closely. Before you reach the end of this bridge there is a cursed pot on the ledge above you, and once you step outside two lion men will rush you. Let's avoid all of that.
Go to the end of the bridge and out the door on the left (you should have started getting cursed) immediately go right and then right again to double back on yourself. There is an open stone door leading to the top level of the bridge. You want to RUN through this door and jump to the left hand platform where the pot is, breaking it as you land. This also stops the lion guys from following you. Grab the chest at the end of this top section and then turn around. Ahead you can see a GIANT Basilisk and the two lion guys should be running back where they came from.
With ranged weapons/magic you can fire away at all three from here with relative safety. I personally killed the nearest lion man with arrows, then lured the second one back to kill up close. You can also lure them back onto the bridge but be careful not to fall off. The basilisk will not attack if you don't go near or hit it.
Once those two guys are dead stand facing where the basilisk is and look right. You'll see another lion man ahead of you and a wooden covered pit next to him (this will collapse if you stand on it so watch out). Move towards him but dash to the right to smash the two cursed post by the wall near him. Then back off and take him out. Edge around the wood floor to grab the item. Now look past where the last enemy was stood to see another lion man, along with another cursed pot against a stone wall on the left. Go and smash this first and you will activate the enemy, so deal with him.
There is another cursed pot (and an item in a large barrel) in the ruins to the right of where he was stood. There is also another petrified guy you can heal (need Fragrant Branch of Yore - likely to get it in Harvest Valley/Earthen Peak - not required as you just get some treasure so you can come back later) to open up an area to another chest, which gives you another Fragrant Branch of Yore plus armour, so go for it. Now look at the stone arch and go in the right hand doorway and all the way up the stairs to find some items to snag. Go back down to the bottom and, with those steps at your back, go left. Hidden in the grass here is a wooden floor that you can fall down into an area with a chest and a certain Darkdiver Grandahl. Speak to him (needed for an achievement) and he refuses you. You need to find him twice more in other places to join his Covenant.
Look off the ledge here. Below you are a number of orange pools - DO NOT STAND IN THEM, as they will rapidly break your armour and rings which can only then be repaired at a blacksmith. Drop down carefully and go up the right hand passage, avoiding the liquid. There are five basilisks up here that run out from the left and right caves. Lure them back into the bigger cave below and you should be able to take them on one at a time. If you are struggling you can drop out of the hole in the wall and it leads back to the bonfire. Once they are all dead, grab the loot in their caves, and use the Fang Key to open the wooden door. Grab the item in here and speak to Ornifex. Keep talking until she tells you to meet her up ahead. She is a very handy addition.
Go back through the caves and up to the top of the bridge (facing the mega basilisk) again. This time go left. There are a couple of cursed pots and a lion man in the ruins to the right of here, so kill them first. Open the chest near where the lion man was. Turn around from where that was and you should see another lion man with his back to you and cursed pot under the tree to his left. Smash the pot first and then sneak up on him to get a critical hit.
Go to the other side of this building to find a corpse to loot and get ready to rush inside. There are three cursed post in here. One above the entrance (that you can only get by ranged attacks) one on the same floor you go in and one down the stairs beneath you. Run in and kill the first pot to your left then drop down the stairs. Turn around and you'll see a bunch of barrels, the next pot is behind them on the right so smash it. Destroy the barrels for an item too. Head outside here to find an open area and some ruins to your left, go into the ruins to smash another pot. Then drop down and speak to Manscorpion Tark - the only way to get him to talk to you is to have the Ring of Whispers equipped (which is purchased from the cat in Majula) he will then ask you to kill the nearby boss for him. Go up the stairs opposite him and into the other bit of those ruins to find an item. If you follow the stone passage next to those steps it leads to a gold lion man and the stone lion that blocked you earlier. Head all the way back to the basilisk instead. Time to kill this beast.
To be honest it doesn't present many more difficulties than the smaller versions. He will do a breath attack that can petrify you, but it has such a MASSIVE wind up that you should always be able to run to the side of him and avoid it. He also does a one/two hit swipe combo as well that can rapidly sap your stamina if you block it. Watch out if you go behind him as well, as he will do a nasty tail swipe that can knock you back. Sometimes he will also leap up in the air and try to land on you - don't block this, just double roll out of the way if you can. The simplest way to kill him is to try and stay at the side of him (up close) and he will generally only go for the swipe or breath attack. With the breath attack in particular you can often get a full stamina bars worth of attacks on him as he does it and STILL have time to step back and recover for his next attack. If you have enough spells/projectiles you could of course just retreat to the bridge where he cannot reach you and chip away at him.
There is a lion man stationed just behind him that may try and join the fun (though you may have killed him earlier as he likes to rush out at you when you first emerge into this area) plus a couple of cursed pots around. Smash them all and grab the loot in the ruins here. Now we are ready for yet another boss fight.
Go back to the stone arch near to where we fell down to speak with the Darkdiver and head up through it to a mist gate. Before going through you should be as ready as possible. The Scorpioness Najka boss behind the mist does a mixture of melee and magic attacks, so having appropriate equipment can help a lot. I personally used the Bell Keepers shield which I acquired from Belfry Luna while killing the grey phantoms there (not sure if it's a random drop or a reward for killing the red phantom that is scripted to spawn). This shield blocks 80% of magic damage so is ideal, though if you have anything with better stats than that then go with that instead. I tended to have two shields equipped - one that blocked 90%+ physical and one that blocked 80%+ magic. Go in with the magic one equipped at first.
Also, if you spoke to the nearby Scorpion man he will be available for you to summon outside of the mist gate (assuming you are human) so be sure to do so.
Once you enter the mist you will see Najka buried in the sand shooting magic at you. You will also notice a corpse (with an item) stuck on a tree in the back left corner - the ONLY way to get this down is if the boss attacks the tree during the fight so try and lure her over there. Block her spells and move towards her (or edge around behind her) so that she emerges from the sand fully.
She will now switch between magic and physical attacks, but the magic ones are well telegraphed by her summoning glowing blue balls around her or charging up a rapid fire magic blast. When she does either of these switch to your magic blocking shield (you can also dodge them with good timing) but at all other times use your physical resistant shield remember to switch with the d-pad depending on her attacks..
Her physical attacks come in a few forms. She will do a one hit slash in front of her, a thrust move and a three hit combo. She will also do a tail swipe if you are behind her, and has two other attacks with her tail that strike in front of her. One of them has a big wind up so be sure to get out of the way - otherwise she will impale you with her tail and then pump poison into you. The other is a two hit tail attack that leaves her exposed for a good time. Finally she will occasionally jump in the air and burrow underground, then try and burst out underneath you. When this happens keep as much distance as you can as this move cannot be blocked and does a ton of damage. You can see her progress by the dust she throws up while moving underground.
Stick close to her and block/dodge her regular attacks. When she over commits and you have a clear opening you can strike and you best bet (for 2/3 hits at a time) are after either of her tail attacks. Remember to block/dodge her magic (easier if locked on) and keep away from her when she goes underground and you should be fine. Once she dies it will be another batch of souls and another boss soul trophy. Hurrah! Also, be sure to take Scorpioness Najka's soul to Straid in the Lost Bastille and swap it for a spell you can't get anywhere else (needed for an achievement).
Grab the loot from the corpse (if she knocked it down) and be sure to head back to Manscorpion Tark to report your success (you WILL need to rest at a bonfire in order for him to reappear) he will give you a Fragrant Branch of Yore AND teach you a gesture (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT). Then head back here and out the newly opened doorway.
Doors of PharrosThis next area can either be incredibly quick or a slog towards an optional boss (and the first chance to join the Rat King Covenant) so it is up to you. I'll assume you want to kill EVERYTHING you can so we'll take on the boss.
After following a winding corridor into this area you will see a large elephant like creature ahead of you. These guards can pack quite a punch but are similar to the big knights from earlier. They have a one hit swipe or a thrust, plus a two hit swing and a big wind up where they attack you with their trunk. All of which can be easily stepped around/blocked while you strike back from the sides. Once he is dead look up the stairs on the left side of the room and you'll see a dwarf with a large shield. This guy generally does a one of hammer attack or a rapid three hit attack (watch out as it can do a lot of damage) but should be easy to dispatch. These guys can drop a GREAT shield which blocks 100% physical and 100% fire damage and can be very useful.
He was stood by a torch so look left of that to see another enemy with his back to you by a chest. Backstab him to death and open the chest for some loot. At this point you can continue up these stairs to the exit or drop back down into the water to explore further. We'll do the latter. Drop into the water and you'll see an opening to your left and a chest straight ahead. DO NOT OPEN THE CHEST. Instead attack it, as it's a mimic, and then finish it off to get some loot. Then go under the archway nearby to find a bonfire to activate and rest at.
Go through the other arch in this bonfire room to reach a new area, full of Pharros Lockstone doors. Some of these doors lead to treasure, some lead to enemies and some lead to absolutely nothing. I didn't have another stones to open EVERY lock so don't have a definitive list of which area leads to rewards or not. But once I get the guide hopefully it will shed some light onto the situation.
Interesting point to note: if you are a member of the Rat King Covenant NONE of the enemies in here will attack you or can BE attacked in turn.
For now head forward to meet another Elephant guard, there is also a rat that will rush in to attack and he can quickly poison you even if you block. Try and kill him first if possible and then finish off the Elephant. On the left side of this room (as you enter) you can find an alcove that will lead you up to a lootable body in this area.
Drop back down to the water and you will see a Lockstone door straight ahead - it's a big one that requires three stones to fully open. However, I just used one (on the middle device on the floor in the water) which opened the lowest part of the door and gave me access. There is another Elephant inside and then a chest with a handy weapon. But that is entirely optional.
If you did/didn't open that device go left (from the area where you dropped down from the lootable corpse) and three more rats will rush to attack you. Finish them off and climb the ladder here. There are two dwarf guards at the top, but you should be able to deal with them one at a time. From the top of the ladder (facing away from it) you can loop all the way around to the left for more enemies and plenty of lockstone devices or you can go right for one enemy and the way forward. Your call.
Along the left hand wall (if you went right from the ladder) will be an entrance leading to a bonfire and a mist door. The boss in here is entirely optional and pretty annoying, plus you only get the usual soul/boss soul rewards and the chance to join the Rat King Covenant afterwards so the choice is yours.
Enter the mist if you want to face the Royal Rat Authority and nothing will immediately happen. You'll see four of the small poison rats directly ahead of you and they will charge you when you attack/get close, and on the ledge high above them is the giant rat boss himself. He will hop down to face you about 10-20 seconds after you activate his minions. The trick here is to kill the minions AS FAST AS POSSIBLE without getting poisoned. Which can be a challenge on its own. Ideally they should all be dead before the boss engages you, but this is not always possible depending on how they group up. Remember that they can poison you even if you block so try and have some Common Fruit or Green Moss handy to heal it.
At some point the boss will probably come barrelling in towards you and, if you are locked onto the smaller rats, do a lot of damage. Once the smaller rats are dead you can focus on him. He does only a few attacks but they can be troublesome. When you are close he will generally do a two hit swipe attack, once with each front leg, or rarely a big bite. This is usually your best chance to attack as while he goes for this you can roll between his legs, like the Last Giant, and get under his body then swing away at either his back legs or the front leg he isn't swiping with. Be aware that sometimes he will try and stamp on you when you get under him, but he has a VERY obvious tell for this move so you can easily roll away.
After most attacks he will jump away from you and this is where the problem comes in. He will either then jump back and go for the usual attacks again or, more annoyingly, do a massive charge attack towards you which locks on slightly and is hard to dodge. You can block this to avoid all damage but it wipes out ALL of your stamina so if he follows it up with another attack straight after you may be in trouble.
Your best strategy is to stay as close as you possibly can (which can be hard due to his erratic hopping around) and reduce the number of charge attacks he does. When he goes for one of his swipes, then dodge under him and get some attacks in. He doesn't have a ton of energy if you are well equipped but it is tricky to heal thanks to him attacking in clusters. Try and heal up when you roll under him rather than attacking if needs be. Once dead you get the usual loot and can head out of the newly opened exit. Follow this path into a new room and look to your left to meet the Rat King, who will let you join his Rat King Covenant (achievement unlocked) if you want to in exchange for the tail you just got. Also, be sure to take the Royal Rat Authority soul to Straid in the Lost Bastille and swap it for a spell you can't get anywhere else (needed for an achievement).
After that just drop out of the opening to be back near the entrance to the Doors of Pharros, with the first dwarf on your right (if you have rested since killing him). Kill/ignore him and then go left from where you dropped down. This leads you into a room with a spiral, stone staircase so grab the item and head up it and along a corridor until you see an axe wielding dwarf at the end.
He will throw BOTH of those giant axes at you, one at a time, so be careful as they do mega damage if they connect. Luckily they move pretty slowly so should be easy to dodge and, once he is weaponless, you should have no problem killing him off. Another titanite creature is behind him but will probably fling itself off the edge before you can kill it (it's better to come back here from the other side after you've rested - as he will have respawned and be easier to kill). In the corridor to the right of that beastie is another dwarf with his back to you, so backstab him for critical damage. Back into the main corridor and go right to deal with the last dwarf, though try not to fight him on the narrow ledges if you can help it. After he dies you can follow the pathway straight ahead to a broken fountain and some pots you can smash for items. Do so and enter Brightstone Cove Tseldora.
Brightstone Cove Tseldora
You'll find yourself at the Royal Army Campsite, so look to your left and spot an enemy digging up the ground near a bunch of items. Go over and kill him quickly. He is a slightly tougher version of the earlier enemies, with more health and a weapon that can cause ailments even if you block. They generally do a big, and slow, swing or a flurry of attacks. Both of which are easily dodged/blocked. Another enemy may rush in while you are fighting so be careful. Once they are both dead loot the items and then smash the wooden platforms near to you. One will drop a corpse with an item and another has a further enemy on it.
Nearby you should spot a couple of large pigs that will try and attack you. They will rush forward and throw themselves at you, leaving them wide open for a counter, or do single attacks from the front and back. No real concern. But be aware that more peasants will rush out of some of the tents when you get close, so watch out. Once they are all dead go up the ramp in the corner, by the well, and jump off the top and into the well. Sometimes you might just break the roof, so try again. Down the bottom you can grab some Holy Water then follow the path to a ladder, this leads to a chest with 5 Human Effigies. Score. Now go to the big square tent in this area to activate a bonfire. There is an NPC summon point here IF you're human, but it may be bets to hold off using it for a while.
First of all follow the path out of the camp and spot some boulders above you and corpse on the edge of the cliff. DON'T LOOT IT YET. Instead run past it to the ladder and climb up. One of the idiots above you will kill himself with the boulder, then go and smack the other one (and the wooden thing holding the boulder) and it should kill him as well. Grab the item from up here. You can also use this vantage point to snipe the four enemies on the path ahead of you - or try and lure them one by one (they will NOT climb the ladder). Your choice but be careful of getting swarmed. Follow the path around and come to a cliff edge. To your right is a corpse with an item and to your left are three more goons - they will rush you as soon as they see you. Kill them and then grab the item and open the doors.
Follow the path to an empty room, then another path to a room with a chest in it. As soon as you open the chest the spiders will drop out of the holes in here to attack. So open the chest and run back the way you came to funnel then into the corridors. The spiders only take one or two hits but doing let them swarm you and only strike when you have an opening. Once they are dead you can grab the item and go through the far door. Another mist portal greets you and this one leads to an odd boss fight. There is also an illusionary wall in this little room that leads to an Estus Shard. Don't go through the mist - instead head back to the Royal Army campsite and find the summon sign for Benhart (it's in a tent that had a suit of armour stood in it) for the upcoming battle (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) make sure he survives the boss fight in order for it to count.
Inside the mist are a Prowling Magus and his congregation - both of which have separate health bars. The key here is to keep moving. The congregation enemies only take a couple of hits but can easily swarm you, and the three magic users can zap you pretty easily. I tended to do laps of the room, sticking to the outside walls and swiping the magic users as I passed. Take down individual foes when you get the chance and only heal when ALL of the magic users have cast a spell. You can dodge most attacks by moving and just damage foes when the opportunity arises. It's a fairly easy fight but one that needs you to be on your toes. Once they die head through the door.
Look to your left immediately on exiting to find a ladder in the alcove. Head up it to meet an NPC (Cromwell) that will sell you spells and also take away your sin for invading other players, for a hefty fee. You can also grab all of the items up here. Now go back down the ladder and into the cave ahead to find a bonfire on your left.
From here go down the steps and look behind you to find a corpse with an item, then another in a breakable pot just ahead of you. From here you will come out onto a ledge with a zipwire. We need to go a few different routes in order to get everything here, so first of all lets open up the nearby bonfire. From this ledge you can snipe a wizard on a ledge down to your right, so try to do so. These guys shoot out magic homing arrows and also a more annoying rapid fire attack - both of which can be dodged or blocked with scenery. Then go down the zipwire and kill the spider. From the new ledge there will be another wizard firing at you from across another zipwire, either shoot him from here or quickly cross the wire to kill him up close but watch out for the spider nearby.
Go in the door on the ledge here and at the end of the corridor look left to spot two more wizards around a large hole, be careful not to fall. As a melee fighter I would get in close to one wizard and strafe him for a two/three hit kill - then move onto the other one. Or you can chip away at them using the corridor you can in for cover. There is also a spider on the roof here you can kill. Grab the item in here and then go through the opposite door to find a ladder. Head down it and look to your left as you enter to see two spiders (or have them drop down as you move forward) kill them both and then open the door in here (only opens from this side) then activate the bonfire. Go outside and watch out for another wizard on a ledge up to your left. Kill him from afar then go and loot the corpse on the far right. Watch out as three spiders will scurry down to meet you as you do so. Dispatch them and turn around.
Across the swirling sand pit (DO NOT FALL IN HERE) you will see a small red creature. This is another titanite beast but it will blow up if you stand too close to it for too long. Before that, to it's left, you will see a basilisk poking out of the sand. Shoot it from here or get up close to deal with it. The very next door on from the bonfire house Weaponsmith Ornifex (the creature you rescued with the Fang Key earlier) as well as a bunch of items hidden behind breakable objects (including a Lockstone). Grab everything and speak to her - she will convert some boss souls into weapons for a fee, but the first one is free. I suggest getting the Lost Sinner's sword if you can as it normally costs 5,000 souls which is her top charge. Go out of here and then left to the next door.
Open it and get ready to fight another wizard, move in and deal with him quickly as there is a spider to the right of the door but he tends to get stuck on scenery at first. Smash the bookcase to reveal an opening with another spider and a chest to loot. Now head back to the bonfire and warp back up to the Chapel Bonfire - we have a few more items to get (you ideally need a Homeward Bone for one).
From here go out onto the ledge where you first entered this area and look left. You'll see a stone ledge with another titanite creature you can kill. Drop onto here and kill him if you can then CRAEFULLY drop into the opening at the front of this ledge (might be easier if you kill the wizards first) and grab the item in here. Use a Homeward Bone to return to the last bonfire. Now back to the ledge again. This time cross the zipline and kill the spider to your right. Then drop onto the wooden ledge ahead of you (rather than crossing the second zipline) and from there onto the stone roof with a wizard on it. Kill him and grab the item. Then carefully drop onto the stone ledge surrounding the building you are on and go inside to grab another Estus Shard. From here drop down and head back to the nearby bonfire and again warp to the top.
Across the zipline again and this time go left and into the building here. You can open the door ahead of you but it just leads to a spider hidden behind some bookcases. Go into the lit area and grab the item and then left into the corridor. Follow it along and open the door at the end to meet a new half man half spider guy. These guys can do a lengthy five hit combo, or a big single swipe, but you should be fine blocking them. As soon as you step out onto this ledge ANOTHER titanite creature will run off to your right but ignore him for now. Go onto the little ledge on your left and around for another item. Then back onto the main ledge and move ahead to kill another spiderman. From him turn back on yourself and cross the wooden platform onto a lower stone ledge. The room on your right has two more spider guys so be careful. Kill them and pull the hidden lever to lower a chest you can loot. Follow this room outside to be on a ledge with a wizard, kill him and you should be able to jump to another item (that is next to where we had to use the Homeward Bone). If not you can go back to the initial bonfire, across the zipline and get to it that way.
All done? Good. Now assuming you are back up where the spider guys were then drop down into the sandy area. Ahead and to the left is a door you can open, so head in here and up the pile of sand to loot a corpse (you can also enter this area via the hole in the wall from the room next to Weaponsmith Ornifex). Back outside and there are a couple more spider guys to deal with and a couple of basilisks. Try and lure then back towards you and deal with them one at a time. The second basilisk in particular will hang back in the far corner. Watch out if you get close as a red scripted invader is hanging out just to the left of the arch you have to go through. Try and kill the rest before activating him.
He does quite damaging attacks and likes to use a shield bash/parry to wipe out your stamina and stun you. I found the best tactic was to attack him relentlessly, chip away a chunk of his health then retreat to regain stamina and repeat. If you have some good ranged spells he will probably be no problem. After he is dead you can smash open the heavy door here (watch out as the water will damage you) for an item. Now go through the arch.
You'll see two spidermen stood on the roof of the temple ahead of you. So either snipe them down or get near the door, at which point they will jump down. Deal with them on the bridge as the crystal shards can cause damage. Once they die open the door and look up. You'll see about 5/6 spiders on the roof who will descend as you get closer. Funnel them back towards the door/bridge and deal with them. There is a corpse behind a bench on the right of this room, go near it and then run back as a spider will drop down. Kill it and grab the item. The door here is locked and we need the Brightstone Key to open it, and you will have to trek here from the last bonfire. Ahead of you are two levers you can pull. Do the one on the right first for an item and then the one on the left to reveal another spiderman. Kill him and then climb the ladder.
You'll emerge in a large web filled room. Navigating this area to get all items can be tricky. To start drop down from the stone ledge you are on, left behind the pillar and then straight on to the end (by some pots). You can then walk across a narrow web bridge on your right, be careful as it slows you movement and a spider will climb up in front of you as you cross. Kill him and make it to the platform. There is a spider waiting to drop on you right above a corpse with an item, so dash under it to make it fall and then kill it and grab the item. Move all the way left (from where you first stood on this platform) to find another web bridge that crosses to a stone pillar. Cross it but before the stone pillar you should be able to safely drop down to another web. Careful when you do so as a bunch of spiders will move to attack you. It's best to dash past them so they all group together and then deal with them. You can follow this web up to another item, then down to the main floor with a further item right underneath it at this point. Search every corner for spiders and items then go to the mist door (spider to the right of it behind the pillar) but do NOT enter yet. Instead turn around and you'll see a pillar at the opposite side of the room (if your back is to the mist) behind here is a summon sign for a great NPC. I would recommend you summon him to make this fight much easier.
Summon him, and another player if you like, then head on through. You'll meet Duke's Dear Freja a rather large spider. As soon as you start there will also be five smaller spiders right in front of you, so try and kill them as quickly as possible so they aren't an issue. Your NPC buddy will help you out. Be aware that Freja can summon more spiders to help, but this is fairly rare.
Freja herself has two heads, one either side of her body and can ONLY be damaged by hitting them. Your NPC should tank her for a while so try and attack the opposite head if possible for maximum results. She has a range of possible attacks but you can dodge most of them by staying close to her body on either side. If you are in front of either of her heads she may try and attack you with a one or two hit mandible attack, or draw her head back and lunge forward at you. These can both be blocked/dodged easily. She also tends to draw back her head and spit three balls of acid out in front of herself so make sure to dodge these. At times she will also do a multiple leg stamp on all sides - but if you are hugging her body this will never hit you.
Do enough damage to one head and it will get chopped off, leaving you to focus on the other one. If you need healing (and have the NPC) then just run as far as you can and then heal. If you are solo then a perfect time to heal is when she does the spit attack as, if you are off to one side, you will have plenty of time. The fight should be fairly easy by now, just block her attacks and give back one or two hits when you have the chance.When she dies you will get her soul and then need to interact with the nearby glowing orb to get the Great Soul. From here go out of the newly opened door and down a corridor to meet the Duke himself. You can normally just backstab him for an inst-kill, otherwise he just takes two hits and does basic attacks. You will get the Brightstone Cove Key from him.
Go down the other corridor here carefully, as Vengarl's corpse waits to ambush you near the primal bonfire. He generally wades in with a two hit combo, that you can easily step around and do damage. He doesn't have much in the way of defences so this should be an easy fight. After he is dead you will get the rest of Vengarl's armour and you can report back to him in the Shaded Woods and he will be available to summon later on. Then light the Primal Bonfire (achievement unlocked) and go back to Majula.
Here you can level up, and have the option of going back to Brightstone Cove to unlock the door in the church just before climbing up the ladder to the web filled area. If you do so, be warned that there are 7/8 spiders that will ambush you once you go into that room and open the chest. The chest itself does have a very good weapon in it though, so it's worth the trek. I would also STRINGLY recommend you head back to the Shaded Ruins and speak to Manscorpion Tark again - as now the Duke/Freja are dead he will give you a pretty awesome ring - YOU WANT THIS RING. After you are ready to move on, head down into the tunnel that leads to Heide's Flaming Tower and speak to the cleric Licia by the contraption in the first room (if she is not here then warp to the bonfire on the Tower of Flame and speak to her until she moves). You need 2,000 souls for her to open a new path.
Huntsmans Copse
Once she has done so head through and loot the corpse. There is a hex merchant, Felkin, ahead and to your right (on a chair in a small nook) but you need at least 8 Faith to speak to him. Right across from him is a bonfire you can light. Continue up the path killing a couple of basic hollows and through a butterfly infested cave (they can poison you so move quickly) to a church and enter it, watch out for the nimble knifeman next to you and the archer across the way (note: you can smash the wood covering the windows to let some light in). Kill the knife man (he does rapid combos and then springs away, but should only take two hits) and then drop down below you (AVOIDING THE GIANT HOLE IN THE MIDDLE) to fight some weak ghouls. They only take a hit or so to drop and have very short range attacks. Kill all of them and go up the steps to deal with the archer as well, then grab the items in here. Up the steps, in the back corner is a ladder you can climb to reach the roof so take it.
On the roof another knifeman will dash in to fight you and, once you engage him, a second one will hop onto the roof to join him. Kill them both and drop onto the ledge on the left side (where the second guy came from) to find an item. Then drop back in front of the church. Go back inside and straight ahead to the door this time, which an enemy will smash in so be careful. Kill him and head outside. Carefully edge around the ledge to an area with a club wielding goon and an item. Then go back where you came out and down the ladder. At the bottom go right (if facing the ladder) and kick down the tree to form a shortcut and also light the bonfire under here. You can leap to the glowing item from here but there is a much safer way (especially if you have anything that reduces fall damage).
Go back outside and right into the copse, this is a wooded area that has plenty of loot and plenty of enemies. Of particular note are the butterflies that are perched around. They drop pollen on you that can rapidly cause poison, so if you see this happening retreat to a safe distance and use a bow/spell to quickly kill them. Ahead of you will be a torch carrying enemy and another knife wielding one, deal with them and look to the left before the bridge. There is an item you can grab here but watch out for the hidden enemy nearby and the second hollow that will climb up the cliff. Kill them both and THEN grab the loot. Now cross the bridge to meet a hefty Sickle wielding enemy. He only has a few moves, he will rush at you and do a horizontal swipe, he will do two swipes from one side to the other or he will do two overhead attacks where his sickles get stuck in the ground. Get too close and he will also bash you, leaving you open. In truth he is fairly easy to kill. Just dodge or block his attacks and get behind him for critical damage.
There is a large area to the left of the bridge that has two more of these goons, as well as two butterflies up in the trees and a couple more regular enemies. Clear them all out, one at a time, and loot all the items you can find. You should be able to enter a large cell at the bottom for some loot. Then go back to the first bridge, there is another cell here that you can drop into from above. So head up the path next to it, watch out for three more of the thieves at the top, and drop in to grab the item then follow the tunnel outside. Go back up where the thieves were to see a large iron bridge and another cell. Watch out: as when you enter this one a thief will drop in to attack (you can see him from outside) deal with him and pull the lever to lower the bridge. Don't cross it yet, instead head back down to the first stone bridge and loot to the left of it to see another bridge you can cross, do so.
Across the way are two more weak hallows, but they will swiftly be joined by a Purgatory Guardian. These guys hit hard and fast, so try and strafe around them and open then up for counters when they finish a combo. You should never have to deal with more than one at a time if you follow my advice. Once he is dead loot the nearby corpse for a Notched Whip. They move up the path slowly. Around this corner are four more Guardians on pillars, but if you edge forward you can easily activate them one at a time and then drag them away from the others to deal with. Two of them have whips with a wide reach, but don't offer much more challenge than that. Kill them and then head onto the bridge.
If you move forward carefully you will see two holes in the bridge, one of which drops you onto a platform right next to that item from earlier (that was across from the bonfire). Carefully drop onto this ledge and then aim at the ledge with the item - then run BUT DON'T JUMP and you should land right on it. Grab a Token of Fidelity (give it to Tarsay at the Blue Cathedral to be able to join his Covenant - achievement unlocked) and a Lockstone. From here you can drop down slightly and then jump to a ledge below the bonfire. Follow this path back into the butterfly cave (kill them from here if you can) and then grab the item at the end. You can now drop down using the mushrooms on the walls and deal with another guardian in the water. Open the nearby chest and then press A on the wall opposite to find a secret route back to the earlier church. From there head back up to the wooden bridge.
Undead Purgatory
In truth this area is completely optional and only consists of two fairly tough fights, with your reward being a bonfire and the chance of joining the Brotherhood of Blood. You can skip it if you want to. Cross the bridge carefully and you will spot a red phantom ahead. This guy can deal some SERIOUS damage and has enough poise to shrug off even the best ultra greatswords. So lets deal with him the cheap way. Get close enough to activate him and then run back over the bridge, just before you reach the bit with the holes turn around. He will have followed you to a point but then start to retreat. At this point you can use a ranged weapon and constantly snipe him so that he re-engages then dis-engages until he dies. Cheap but effective.
If you don't have spells and arrows, then you will need to avoid his attacks the best you can and try to get a backstab after one of his big swings. Don't be afraid of running back over the bridge to heal as he can easily down you in a couple of hits. Once he is dead you can jump to the ledge on the right of the bridge (as you cross it to meet him) to grab an Estus Shard. Then brace yourself for a rather odd boss fight.
The Executioners Chariot is fairly simple if you know what you are doing. Basically the chariot will go round and round in circles until you stop it. To your right on entering is a pit so always go left, use the alcoves in the walls to hide from the chariot as it approaches and it should do you the favour of killing the skeletons. DON'T WASTE TIME GRABBING THE ITEMS - you can get them later. The skeletons will keep getting revived until you kill each of the two wizards in this zone (they are both tucked into alcoves. So basically ignore the skeletons unless you HAVE to kill them and stick to the alcoves. When you find a wizard kill them immediately and then the chariot should finish off their skeletons. Keep going to the next wizard and kill him. Then further around there will be a lever on the left hand side that you need to pull to drop a gate - if you reach the other side of the pit you've gone too far.
Once the gate is dropped you end up fighting the horse. I know right? But he is fairly easy to deal with. He does a few breath attacks in a large cone in front of him - so get to his flanks and deal massive damage while he does. He will also charge at you if you distance, do a head swipe up close or kick you with his hind legs if you are behind him. Frankly he should be a joke by now so kill him off and then grab all the nearby loot you missed. Once that is done you can go up the stairs that have opened up, edge onto the ledge at the top to find an item, then activate the nearby bonfire. You can also talk to Tichy Gren here to join the Brotherhood of Blood covenant IF you have a Token of Spite (acquired by invading other players or found in a chest just before The Gutter). The bonfire makes it easy to warp back here and do that when you have the right item. You can now leave her and head back to that iron bridge we lowered.
Huntsmans Copse
Cross the bridge and spot another cell with an NPC and a bonfire, but we need the key. So let's go get it. Don't go in the cave just yet, instead head across the canyon and fight the nearby thief. Another one is nearby and then the path spilts. Head up the slope and you'll spot a corpse with an item in front of you. You will be ambushed by three thieves (one of them an archer) when you approach it, so be ready to deal with them. Then grab the item and go to the edge that the archer was next to and look down. You should be able to carefully drop to another ledge with an item here (and potentially snipe the nearby thief). Drop back down to the lower path and follow it to another cell, that has enemies inside and out. Kill them all and grab the Undead Lockaway Key which opens the locked cell from earlier. If you continue on this path you will meet another red phantom to deal with, she has a scythe that can cause bleed damage and shield but is easy to deal with if you drag her to a more open area. Dodge one of her big swings and you should be able to take most of her health in one counter, then repeat when your stamina comes back.
This path leads to a mist gate but ignore it for now and follow the path back around and into the caves. There is a wizard on a ledge here so quickly try and kill him with ranged attacks to stop him reviving the skeletons, then deal with the two or three skeletons. If you need breathing room then drag the skeletons back to kill them, finish off the wizard, and then deal with them again if they were revived. After he is dead go down the right path to a broken bridge with the Combustion spell. Then go back into the cave and take the other path, which leads to another skeleton, a corpse you can loot and a lever to pull to open the gate. Do so and then go through into another cave with more skeletons and a wizard. Make him your priority again and then finish off the skeletons - watch out for the cursed jars in this room and break them ASAP.
You can now grab the item on here and head into the next cave area to kill another skeleton and a dastardly cursed pot. Then exit the caves to be back at the locked cell. Open it and light the bonfire then speak to Creighton and do so until he teaches you a gesture (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) and starts to repeat himself. Once done you can head back to that mist gate for a boss fight.
Inside are the Skeleton Lords which is a pretty straightforward fight thanks to the piles of bones you can easily duck behind to heal. Each of the lords will use pyromancy spells to try and blast you, but you can use the mounds of bodies to block them or just roll out of the way. They have an individual life bar each, that also ties in with the overall boss health. CONCENTRATE ON ONE LORD AT A TIME - this is important, as when you kill one they spilt apart into a bunch of lesser enemies. So if you kill all of the Lord's in quick succession you are liable to get swarmed. The enemies that spawn are not so tough, but the worst are the wheeled skeletons that roll across the arena and can catch you unaware.
For this reason just focus on one Lord until he dies, then lure the lesser skeletons that he creates out of the other Lord's line of fire and kill them. Then move onto the next Lord. If you have summoned another player to help, then make sure you attack the same people as them - as they have a habit of just trying to beat down EVERY Lord at once which makes this fight harder than it needs to be. Once they are all defeated you get the usual rewards and can book it out of the new entrance. You'll go down a corridor and end up at a bridge, pull the lever to lower it and head across, and downa short ladder, to a new area.
Harvest Valley
Straight ahead of you is a woman sat on a rock, this is Chloanne who sells you rare stones and titanite. Talk to her repeatedly until she says she needs to move on (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) at which point she will then move to Majula when you next rest. Her wares increase as the game goes on so be sure to check back with her from time to time. You can also go through some poison into a cave on the right, just before where she is sat, to find a bonfire to light. If you rest here is will get rid of the poison effect but you will get it reapplied on the way out so be careful.
This area is fairly short but is full of poison clouds and PLENTY of items. My method was just to let myself get poisoned, grab as many items as possible and then retreat to a safe place to heal until the poison wore off. You can also use Monastery Charms or Poison Moss to cure yourself (or Common Fruit to make yourself harder to poison) your choice. It also makes your life easier if you have plenty of arrows or ranged magic. From the bonfire follow the path ahead and round the corner to see a large enemy stood in a pool of green mist. A skeleton will also attack from the left so deal with him first.
The big guys are supremely simple to kill from afar, and also up close but that means getting poisoned. There will either swipe at you or, more likely, shoot a giant ball of dark magic that can do immense damage. From the ledge you are on ALL of these dark attacks will just hit below you, so you are perfectly safe just to fire away from afar until he dies. You can now see multiple corpses in the mist which can be looted for a bevy of items. Again I just ran into the mist with full health, got them all and let myself be poisoned. The poison meter will tick down even while you are still in the mists so grab everything you can (heal at half health) and then head out of the mist so the poison runs out and you can heal again. Repeat as needed to get everything.
Now you will spot an opening in the mist, just behind where the giant was stood. Head in here and be ready for another skeleton (there is a Fragrant Branch of Yore on a corpse here), then go around the corner to meet Gavlan (the Gyrm from No-Mans Wharf who buys your items) sell him whatever you like and talk to him as much as possible. After this point he will move to the Doors of Pharros and stay there - so be sure to stop by if you feel like selling stuff. Now open the chest next to him and grab the item. Turn around and you can drop into the small poison area below for another chest in the alcove (has a Fire Seed and Divine Blessing so be sure to grab it). Then exit this cave and up the ramp on your right as you go out. Loot the corpse here and continue onwards.
This new area has two giants dead ahead and a ramp to your right to a ledge. Go up the ramp and deal with the three hollows that are prowling around on here, and up the ladder on the wall (also loot the corpse while you are up there). From this ledge you can kill both giants with ranged attacks to save you any risk and they can't hit you at all. Once everything is dead climb up the ladder nearest the gate and pull a lever to open it. Head through and to your right to find another bonfire to light. Sweet.
This next area has a bunch of optional items to grab, most of which are in the poison fog, so be sure to have plenty of healing. Always heal at half health if you get poisoned, and you can always clear out an area then head back to the bonfire to fill up your flask. Don't drop down any of the holes in here. Instead go left and up the path to a boarded off area ahead. A giant will smash through as you approach so watch out. There is another boarded area BEHIND where he is, so you need to lure him into smashing that before you kill him. If you manage it, and then kill him, you can loot four corpses back here for some decent items. Go out of where the giant came from and go right into small area with a chest, open it and then go down into the hole (grab the item on the corpse down here) and run to the opposite end to climb out of the mist.
Now go back to the same path that led to the last giant but look on the right for an opening. Be careful as there are four of the sickle wielding enemies through here, plus three regular hollows that are little more than a pain. Go into the area and try to make them all drop down near you. Then run up the ramp on the left and head around it to the right (watch out for hollows up here) you can loop these guys round this way, getting hits in when you can, to make it safer. You can also use an Alluring Skull to distract them if you like. The way out of here, if you fancy a quick retreat is through the board sin the top right corner as you entered (after you go up the ramp look right and then run straight ahead to smash them). The enemies will not follow you in here so you could use it as a nice choke point.
Once they are all dead smash all of the wooden boards in this area for a number of handy items. Then go to the exit tunnel and look left as you enter to see another titanite beast to kill but DO NOT CHASE IT INTO THE HOLE or you will die. After that go right to find another corpse with another Fragrant Branch of Yore and drop into the main area. From here look down the holes to find one with a lootable corpse, drop in and grab the item then run to the exit (passing another item) to emerge in a poison pit with two giants. Run up the nearby ramp and heal up. Now you have two Fragrant Branches of Yore you can use them on some statues you may have seen up to this point (recommended usage would be: Lion Man blocking access to a chest in Shaded Ruins (just before arch leading to Scorpioness Boss) as that gets you another branch, then use it on the solitary Lion Man near the Shaded Woods bonfire (on the same ledge that you land on after coming from the cave with the small basilisks) to get the Fang Key which you can then use on the door in the basilisk cave to free Weaponsmith Ornifex (she moves to a house next to the bonfire in Lower Brightstone Cove) and finally free Straid in the Lost Bastille (warp to Sinners Rise - down the ladder, across the bridge and then up the stairs on the left inside). If you haven't cleared those areas yet then just hold onto them.
From here you can snipe the two giants to death and also spot a new hammer wielding foe up ahead. These guys can seriously stagger your poise and do massive damage, they generally do either a one or two hit downwards smash or a single horizontal swing. The good news is that you can usually strafe behind then after a smash for an easy backstab, plus they move fairly slowly in general so can be shot from afar. Once they are all dead you will see a number of items in the mist below, including the Chameleon spell (needed for an achievement), so be sure to grab them all. Head back up onto the wooden bridge that the hammer guy was on and go down the small path on the left.
Watch out as there is another sickle guy lurking in the caves up ahead, but he is all alone so shouldn't cause you too much trouble. Kill him and then move on to find a broken down alter. Here you can join the Heirs of the Sun Covenant (achievement unlocked) and engage in jolly co-operation as well as learning a gesture (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT). I advise you to join this covenant ASAP and put down your summon sign at the entrance to 30 boss fights (and complete them successfully to get Sunlight Medals) as you need the max rank in this covenant to get a spell (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) plus when you hit max rank it will be achievement unlocked. A good spot is coming up and you need to bring all 30 medals back to this alter and offer them, one at a time, to rank up.
Head back out of here along the ledge but don't go left to where the pots are at the end. Instead go right and then left and follow the path around to a lower entrance. Don't go in just yet as a hammer guy will move towards you. Let him come outside and then deal with him there. Now head in and be prepared for another hammer guy directly on your left as you enter. ALL of these pots can cause poison so be careful. Kill him and then head up the ladder in the corner and look left. You should be behind another hammer guy that you can backstab, kill him but watch out for the pots.
Turn around and go through the door into Earthen Peak.
Earthen Peak
Walk forward and then right up the small path. There are small purple enemies here that can release a poison cloud that will infect you rapidly, so quickly kill them (should only take one/two hits). Up the next ramp you will see a hammer guy and ANOTHER is off to your right, he will likely be activated as you move forward so drop back to kill him and then kill the other one if he didn't follow. At the top a third hammer guy is in the room to your right (if you are facing the mist door) so head up and kill him too. Look in the room on the left of this area to see three of the poison creatures. Don't go in just yet - stand to the right of the door to activate them and lure them out. Once they are dead you can head in and spot another hammer guy in the right corner with his back to you. The chest in here is trapped and only holds a Torch, so it's up to you whether to grab it or not.
Go back outside and left (away from the mist) to the little patch of wood up here. Look down to see another poison enemy that you can drop down to kill, then there is an item right behind you. Carefully drop back on the path and then walk up to the next ledge. Turn around and you'll see a platform over the poisonous water pit. From here aim towards the opening above the platform and run towards it (no need to jump) and you should land on the platform. Kill the poison creature and smash the pots here for an item.
Watch out ahead as headless knifemen are hidden in the alcoves and there is a switch on the floor that activates a crossbow trap that can do a lot of damage. Move forward, avoiding the trap, and kill the enemies in each alcove before moving forward again. These guys throw poison knives and do rapid combos so be careful. At the end look right top find an item and then open the chest. You can then head back to the platform and do a running jump to the exit on the left. Then up the ladder out here and back to the mist door. Time for a rumble.
In truth the Covetous Demon is supremely easy, as his attacks have MASSIVE wind ups and can be easily avoided - if you have a co-op buddy then this should be a cinch. He does have a couple of attacks that may cause you problems though so always obey the first rule: never stand in front of him. If you do so then he may do a grab attack that will do decent damage AND has the annoying effect of removing ALL of your equipped items. They aren't gone for good, just sat in your inventory, but it is troublesome to re-equip them while avoiding him.
Other than that he does a regular swipe if you are in front of him, plus an attack where he rolls onto his tail and slams forward. If you are alongside him he will sometimes roll sideways to flatten you (he will always do this move twice in a row, so if the first one hits run back out of the way). After that attack he sometimes flails around to right himself which can cause damage. He will also sometimes leap in the air and try to crush you. Try and stay behind him if possible and only attack when he has just attacked himself. His tail can be hit from some distance away so always aim for that but other than his roll move, which can catch you out if you are too close, you should have no problem putting him down as his health isn't that great. Once he is dead you should consider putting down your summon sign in the doorway just before this fight, as you will get called open plenty and it's a great way to get medals for the Sun Covenant.
Regardless you need to go out the other exit to a bonfire, activate it and speak to Lucatiel (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT) assuming you already did so at No-Mans Wharf and the Lost Bastille. Once she repeats herself you can go out the other door, across the next room and then up the stairs to your left.
Watch out: a knifeman is waiting for you at the top. Kill him and you'll see another one up ahead, plus (if you pull the nearby lever) the crucible in this room will raise up and reveal a hammer guy. Kill them both and grab the item. Then look at the other doorway. You'll see a spear knight up ahead, but there are also two archers on platforms to your right. Shoot the knight to activate him and then deal with him in this room. These guys do a big lunge attack, or a rapid combo, plus they like to stagger you with a shield bash if you get too close - though this one can easily be strafed around for an easy backstab. Once he is dead edge forward and use ranged attacks to kill the archers from the safety of your doorway. They fire poison arrows so be careful. Once they are dead you can cross the path and then go left. Ignore the first door that leads to where the archers were (unless one dropped an item) and go in the next one.
Down the stairs is another knife guy on your right, so kill him. Then go forward and to the right and a follow a ledge to a chest with a Pike. Go back the way you came and towards the ladder in the far corner but WATCH OUT for a knifeman or two dropping down on you. Deal with them first and THEN head up the ladder. Turn around to see another pesky knife guy to dispatch, then go through the mist to his right to find a bonfire. Activate it and then light your torch. Turn around and head towards the windmill, you can go up a little ledge in front of you and to the right that lets you set it on fire. DO THIS AS A MATTER OF URGENCY!
Now time for a detour. Go all the way back to where you first entered Earthen Peak and the room full of poison water (before the Covetous Demon) go out of the door with all the pots, down the ladder and into the other door that is directly over the pool of liquid. Burning the windmill has cleared some of the poison to your right and made a little path, go down here and grab an Estus Shard. Then go into the side room down here and kill four of the poison creatures and use a Lockstone on the contraption to reveal an image on the wall, attack it to reveal a chest with a Poisonbite Ring. Now head back up to that last bonfire.
From the bonfire go up some stairs to your left and loot the corpse. Then out the door here, and kill the knifeman on your left once. He is dead you can break the small wooden railings here to get to a small ledge. If you go right (while facing the railing) you while snag an item from a corpse. Then you can go left to met with Gilligan. Speak to him and he will sell you a ladder for 2,000 souls that leads to a Lockstone (I suggest you take it) and make sure you talk to him to learn a gesture and until he repeats himself (NEEDED FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT). You can also buy one of his miniatures for 6,399 souls (price goes up after he moves) which you will need later but is not vital right now.
Back on the main platform go through the archway and pull the lever to raise the lift ride it up to grab a shield from the chest then head back down. Pull the lever again but don't get on the lift. this time go underneath it and grab the item before climbing the ladder opposite. Go down the hall to kill another spear knight and then head through the first door on the right (that was just before him). In here you will find Pate from earlier (if you spoke to him enough) so be sure to talk to him again. Out of here you can go left up the stairs to a spot with a spearman, two fire mages and an archer on the far side. Snipe the spearman first and draw him back down the stairs, then deal with the others from afar (as the fire spells only seem to have a certain range). There is a trapped chest up here with another Lockstone in it. Now go back to the stairs and into the door that has you facing another fire mage, snipe her from here. You can see a corpse where she was and, with a running jump, you can JUST make the leap if you aim to the left. Grab the item and then jump back, before breaking the fence here and dropping down to the ledge with the locked door.
As soon as you land turn around and go into an alcove behind you to find a chest with a spell in it. Then go back and open the door. Step through and talk to Pate again - if you summoned him to the Last Giant fight (and he survived) then he will now give you his armour and a ring. Go back out of the door you came through and go right. Look off the edge to see a platform just below you that you can drop to. Do so and head under here to open a chest for yet another spell. Now turn around and from this platform you can see the item you passed early when crossing the narrow bridge just after the Covetous Demon fight. It is just below and to the left of this platform as you face into the main room. If you stand next to the wooden pillar and aim between the kind of boarded up door area (directly behind the item) then you can do a running jump to reach this item. You get a nice sword for your troubles and can either jump from here to another ledge nearby and work your way up or use a Homeward Bone to warp to the last bonfire.
Either way from the last bonfire head up the steps and turn around to see a ladder, watch out as there is a crossbow trap pressure plate just in front of it. There is also a knifeman on the other side with his back to you, if you want an easy kill and an item from the corpse here. Now climb the ladder. Go left at the top (the right path just loops back to where you've been) and look to your right as you go through the arch. There are three poison jars here guarding an illusionary wall, smash them carefully and press A to open the wall and go through to find an item. Now go up the stairs behind you to spy two fire mages. You can snipe the poison jars to kill them quickly, or snipe either of the mages and THEY will smash the jars like idiots and kill themselves. Head up this corridor slowly and look right, you should see another spearman up some steps slightly. There is also another mage around this corner so be careful. Your best bet is to snipe the spearman and lure him back down the corridor to finish him off. Then dash up the stairs he was on and kill the mage in close combat.
From this ledge you can see two more spearmen guarding a door opposite you, that's the path to the boss. You can snipe the guards one at a time to lure them towards you individually. Once they are dead, ignore the door they were guarding and go up the stairs here instead. Be careful as there is a tough Red Phantom NPC at the top waiting to ruin your day. He can do rapid sickle attacks but can be easily staggered and his minimal defence, so attack him as much as you can and then fall back to recover health before finishing him off. The ledge he was on seems to lead nowhere, but if you press A on the wall to the left and right side of the poison jars (facing back the way you came) you will open two illusionary walls. One has a handy bonfire you can use and the other has a Petrified Something (remember to take this back to the nest in Things Betwixt when you can).
Now go back down the steps to the poison jar filled room that was halfway up, and carefully smash a few to gain entry (a spear is handy for this or some good ranged weapons). There are some more of the poison creatures in here so kill them all but DO NOT OPEN THE CHEST. It is yet another mimic, so be sure to attack it and it should perish before it can cause you grief. Grab the item it drops and the one from the corpse. The Lockstone contraption in here can be ignored - if you burned the windmill it will release healing water that also cures poison but with a bonfire so close by, what's the point?
Now we can head down and go towards the boss room. There is a summon sign on one side if the stone steps leading to the fight (this guy uses pyromancy and is very helpful) and an item on the other. Grab both and then head through the mist - ONLY DO SO IF YOU HAVE BURNT THE WINDMILL NEAR THE SECOND BONFIRE, IF NOT GO AND DO THAT NOW.
Inside is Mytha the Baneful Queen and it's no surprise she is pissed off, as someone removed her head from her snaky body. Move forward straight away to get out of the ring of poison that surrounds the inner arena - if you didn't burn the windmill (YOU FOOL) then this whole area will be covered in poison that will quickly infect you and also heal her. If you did burn the windmill then this should be fairly easy.
Up close she will use her spear to launch a flurry of attacks or one big thrust, she also has a habit of casting soul arrow spells from her head when you are at range or even throwing her head at you (which causes a big explosion when it lands). She will then take a bit of time to go and pick her head up so feel free to get some free hits in. Melee fights should just stay close to her to lure her into spear attacks and then counter when they can, a good shield will block all her physical attacks with no problems. Just be careful when you get close - as sometimes she will pull back for a big grab attacks, which does a lot of damage AND poisons you. So if you see her winding up for this then roll back out of the way. If you brought the NPC summon in with you then he will likely do significant fire damage to her as well and this fight will be over before you know it.
Once she is dead you'll get the usual bunch of souls and a boss soul, plus you can head out of this room to an elevator leading to the Iron Keep.
Iron KeepThe Keep is a fairly linear area and as soon as you enter you can head down the steps on your left to reach a bonfire. You'll notice an item on the flaming rocks behind here (it's a Human Effigy) and a few more in the following areas. To get them you need a nigh fire resistance (equip items and rings to help) plus you can use the Flash Sweat spell and also douse yourself in water from pots and Lockstone devices. Even then you will take damage so use an Estus or Lifegem beforehand. I'll let you know when other items like this present themselves.
Go back up to the bridge and look right to spot another item across a bunch of flaming platforms in the distance. It's a Bonfire Ascetic and to get it you can drop of the bridge to a stone platform below then you need to time your leaps across (stopping at the non-flaming platforms to heal). It's probably not worth it but it's your call.
Across the bridge are two Katana Knights. This guys like to rush you with a forward thrust, then follow up with a rapid combo after a brief pause. If you go down the left side of the bridge you should just activate one of them, then lure him back and kill him before going forward to deal with the other one. Move into the next room to see two more knights, you can activate the one at the back of the room first by edging forward then move up to kill the other one on the right. You'll see an item under a head spitting flames but ignore it for now.
Instead go back to where you came in and go left (if you're facing the exit) down this corridor to the end. You meet Magerold who can burn the incenses you find to lower the requirements for spells, he also sells a Fragrant Branch of Yore and a few other handy items. If you spend a decent amount with him (10-15k) then he will give you a Covetous Serpent Ring +1 that makes it easier for foes to drop items. Leave his room and go right up the steps in the corridor to another Katana guy at the top. Kill him and grab the Lockstone from the corpse here - then press A in the alcove to the right of the steps to open an illusionary wall, go in here and grab the item from the corpse. Then press A on the wall opposite the ballista. This will reveal a knight so go behind the ballista and shoot him to death while laughing maniacally.
Going through the new opening will lead to two more knights (one on each side) so be careful when taking them on. You can always go back to the room with the fire spitting head and up the stairs next to it to lure them one by one.
Now you can go back and get that item (Note: you can turn the flames from that head off ENTIRELY much later on but it will mean a bit of a slog to get back here - your call), go up to the area just before you opened the walls and spy some pots. These have water in them so slow down flame damage. Equip your most flame resistant armour, use an orange burr, use a Flame Quartz Ring, use Flash Sweat etc. THEN smash the pots and get wet. Now you can run back to the flame spitting head, take a swing of Estus or a Lifegem and try and snag the item when the flames pause briefly. Its the Iron Keep Key. This key opens the door that was right next to the Last Giant boss fight, in the Forest of Fallen Giants, which in turn leads to four rather tough drakes and a bunch of decent treasure - so feel free to head back there at any time to check it out. (I also covered that area in the Forest of Fallen Giants section).
From the key head back up the stairs you just came down and then straight ahead to head outside. Falling off the edges of this area means an instant fire based death, so mind your step when fighting enemies. If you edge forward and look right you will see an Alonne Knight with a greatbow up above you. If you have arrows then now is a good time to kill him from afar to prevent him from being a pain as you proceed, as they fire great arrows that do a lot of poise damage and can easily stagger you while you try to fight other enemies. Once he is dead follow the path to the left to see another knight up ahead, he will rush towards you as you approach, so deal with him quickly and then go forward.
You'll reach some metal steps going down so head down there. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR HERE - UNLESS YOU'D LIKE A FIREY DEATH. Instead look right to spot another Alonne Knight who will rush at you, deal with him and then pull the lever here to partially lower the bridge. From this platform if you look left (after coming down the stairs) you will see another ledge you can drop onto to reach a ladder. Do so and then climb up the ladder, but be ready for an archer at the top. The archer will probably take his time shooting so close the distance and move to one side and get some hits in. These guys will switch to a damaging lightning sword when you get close, and generally will do one big attack (that you can block) and you will then have a chance to get 2-3 hits in before they attack again. If you are at distance they can do a very RAPID dashing attack that can do a lot of damage, so be warned.
You can now grab the loot up here and also snipe the enemy both across from you (as you came up the ladder) and up and to your left. Feel free to do so as they have no way of fighting back. Now you can drop from this ledge back to the main path you were on earlier (before lowering the bridge) and head back there. A knight is on the half lowered bridge so lure him back to you and kill him off. Then hustle across the bridge and drop off at the end. Look left straight away as another greatbow knight will have you in his sights. Close the gap quickly and deal with him up close. Ignore the fog gate for now. Do a 180 turn and you'll see a chest at the far end of this platform, so head towards it (jumping over the gap on your way). Before you reach it look right and the little stairway with a corpse on it (below where the very first greatbow guy was stood as you entered this area), you need to do a running jump to land on that platform. Aim for the doorway and you should be fine. Grab the item from the corpse, it's the Dull Ember.
(This item needs taking back to the Blacksmith McDuff in the Lost Bastille, you should be able to warp right to his doorway if you went there earlier. Do so when you have a chance and be sure to spend at least 14,000 souls on infusing weapons (can be any weapon but you will need specific stones to do so) and then use the regular Talk command afterwards. He will give you a Titanite Slab and (achievement unlocked). Again, you can do that at ANY time so no need to head back now.)
You can go inside this room and up the ladder in here to the rook. The Lockstone device here just releases water which can be handy if you need to reach items on hot areas but not really required, so you can leave it. Drop off the roof to where the chest is and open it up. Then head back to near the fog gate and spot a corpse on a ledge to the left, just before the gate. Carefully jump on here to snag it and then jump to the ledge opposite (that leads to the door with the large round handle) activate the handle to turn off the flames in the room, and then drop down to the other lever just below to fully lower the bridge. From here you can go down some steps towards the lava to open a chest (remember: armour with high flame resistance, Flash Sweat, Orange Burr, Healing items) if you go for it then you have to open the chest AND grab the item before death. If you open the chest and then die it will just close again. A ring of Life Protection is useful here too, but the shield in the chest is not required so don't go crazy.
Now you can open the door near to the bridge lowering lever and head inside, grab the items from the corpse and go up the ladder in here to find an enemy knight (if you didn't snipe him earlier) and another corpse with some loot. IGNORE THE LADDER ON THIS LEDGE FOR NOW. We'll fight a boss instead. Go back into the room that WAS on fire and out of the other door, you'll be back to where you first lowered the bridge. Head back across it and go left to the fog door. Lucatiel's summon sign is nearby so call her in (needed for an achievement) this is the hardest fight for here to survive so if she already lasted through the Flexile Sentry and Lost Sinner then don't restart if she falls, as an easier boss is coming. If you do want her to survive I recommend trying to summon a second player to aid you - that's what worked for me and the boss died before she took much damage. Either way head through the mist when you are ready though note you can avoid this boss COMPLETELY by going up the ladder I told you to ignore. But why would we do that? Fighting the boss opens up the chance to get his awesome sword and armour.
In here is the Smelter Demon. He is actually a fairly bog standard fight if you have the Gyrm Shield (dropped regularly in the Doors of Pharros) or any shield that blocks 100% physical and high percentages of fire. He uses a couple of combos, either two or three hits, that can be blocked and then countered. He will also thrust towards you which can do serious damage if not blocked/dodged but leaves him open straight after. After taking some damage he will then partially set himself on fire, he then starts to do a jump attack which leaves him stuck in the ground. DO NOT ATTACK HIM AT THIS POINT - back away as he likes to send out a fire blast that will damage you even if blocking. With even more damage he will set himself on fire to the max and you WILL take damage just by being close to him - this is generally what kills Lucatiel - so at this point you want to try and rush to finish him off before she dies. Don't stick too close though as it will gradually chip away at your health. If you need to heal the best time is after his thrust attack or his jump (attack after you have backed out of blast range). He is susceptible to lightning so feel free to his a weapon with that element (or Gold Pine Resin) or any Faith based spells of that nature. Once he dies you get his soul (mwa ha ha!) and can head up the stairs behind him. Open the chest up here and light the bonfire.
Note: After resting at this bonfire (or any other) if you go BACK into the Smelter Demon room the Pursuer will spawn again (even if you killed him earlier). This is not a boss fight in the traditional sense and is entirely optional. He has the same amount of health and follows the EXACT same pattern as before. If you kill him here you will get a lot of souls and the Ring of Blades +1 which boosts your attack. I'd recommend killing him as he is much easier when you know what you're doing. You can normally get a hit in while he spawns and his first move is pretty much ALWAYS the cursed sword thrust so be sure to dodge it. Otherwise just dodge past his charge attacks to the right, hit him once and repeat. By now you can even block most of his strikes (barring the curse attack) if you have a decent shield/stamina.
From the bonfire you can open the door and be face to face with another Knight, be sure to deal with him ASAP and watch out as he will happily follow you into the bonfire room. The ladder up here leads back to where you cam from so don't bother going down there unless you want to farm for souls. All of the knights in the preceding area give out a lot of souls, so feel free to kill them repeatedly if you like.
The next true port of call is the little arch up here that leads to two ironclad soldiers. Once you enter their area the back one will hammer a hole in the path and then retreat while the front one will move to engage you. If you snipe the back one with arrows/spells he won't smash the floor and will move towards you as well. Your choice. It is best to lure one/both back to where you came from as the platform there has more room, one casual mistake on the bridge they occupy and you are lava bound. They have the exact same attack patterns as their counterparts in the Forest of Fallen Giants. So get in close, bait them into a single swing or overhead, hop back and then step in for an attack. Repeat until they die.
Cross their bridge (watching out for the hole if there is one) and be ready for the second Ironclad through the arch on your left if you didn't kill him. There is also an archer above you so be careful. Lure the Ironclad back through the arch if you need to deal with him. Then snipe the archer above. Sometimes he will start to move, in which case quickly go through the arch and pull the lever on the right side of this platform. It will drop the middle section into the lava (killing two more Ironclads) and if the archer is crossing it while it does so, he will die as well. If not then use a bow or spells to deal with him. Time for an optional jaunt.
Go in the door on the left of this first platform to find a Lockstone device. Activate it (you should have plenty if you haven't been using them) and smack the wall it highlights to get to Belfry Sol.
Belfry Sol
Head up the ladder to find a bonfire you can activate and rest at. Then go up the next ladder to find the Bellkeeper (you can join his Covenant again here if you choose to - I would recommend doing so if you have finished up your 30 Sunlight Medals). Before you wander out of the fog door you MAY want to join a party (just set one up by yourself) which will drag you into offline mode and prevent you getting invaded - as that happens A LOT in the Bellkeeper zones.
Now go through the fog door but be ready for an attack, a black phantom Bellkeeper and another in the form of a witch will attack you. The Bellkeeper has pretty short range so try and deal with the witch first (if you have the Grym shield it will block most of her flame spells) but don't lure them into the tower as you may hit the Covenant guy and anger him.
Once they are dead you will see another phantom up ahead by the ballista, so snipe him from afar to lure him in and then kill him. Go to where he was stood and look left. Up ahead you will see another sword wielding black phantom and another Bellkeeper (he is on the right behind the pillar, depending on where you are stood). You MAY also see a Red Phantom wielding two swords stood by the wall straight ahead - this guy is a random spawn, and can spawn INFINITELY even if you farm the other enemies here to extinction. Also bear in mind that all the black phantoms that AREN'T the small Bellkeepers will only appear once also. Now the good thing about this Red Phantom is that killing him DOES count towards ranking up the Bellkeeper Covenant and you HAVE to get that one to level 2 in order to get the Hidden Weapon spell (needed for an achievement).
Regardless of if he is there or not, snipe the small Bellkeeper first and lure him towards you to finish him. Do the same with the Red Phantom if he is there, this guy has a lot of rapid combos but has a weird quirk. If you hit him during a combo, he will then start a combo going AWAY from you (happens 90% of the time) at which point you can run behind him and backstab him pretty much every time. Once they are dead you can deal with the sword phantom, who does have a hefty attack but can be quickly caught in a combo and finished off with relatively few issues.
Ring the bell in one tower and then head won the side of the other for an item you can grab, before going back inside and up the ladder. At the top is a crossbow wielding phantom, he is easy to dispatch at close range but can fire three bolts at a time so be aware of that if blocking. You may also get invaded by a scripted enemy while up here (he will appear in the same room that you can activate the bell) so feel free to go back down and kill him if you like, he is just a red version of the dwarf phantoms. Up here you can go down the right side of the roof (after coming up the ladder) for another item you can grab. You'll notice two more dwarf phantoms and a sword phantom in the courtyard below and, if you get close they will be activated. The dwarves will start firing arrows while the sword guy will climb a small ladder and chase you onto the roof. Let him come to you while you use the roof to keep out of range of the arrows. Once he is dead you can snipe the others from afar or go down to deal with them. Either way go into their area for an item and then through the door to find a chest you can loot for a unique spell (needed for an achievement).
Go down the stairs to find another corpse to loot and go along the narrow corridor to be back in iron Keep. Turn right at the end and then press A on the wall here to open it up (this is before you drop down) then head in to loot two chests. Now you can drop down near where you first climbed up to Belfry Sol and grab another chest straight ahead. I would then recommend going back to the Belfry Sol bonfire and farming the Red Phantom with two swords that I mentioned earlier. You need to kill him 30 times (or kill 30 Grey Phantoms while online - it's EITHER/OR the number is cumulative with both). He doesn't appear every time, sometimes he will appear four times in a row, sometime she won't appear 10 times in a row. To get him to spawn just rest at this bonfire, climb the ladder, run to the ballista and look left. If he is there - kill him, if not go and rest at the bonfire again then try again.
Before you drop down I would recommend equipping a Southern Ritual Band (only if you DON'T have attunement slots) and the Flash Sweat spell. You should still have the Pryomancy Flame you got from No Man's Wharf as well.
Iron Keep
Once you are done with Belfry Sol and, assuming you've rested, the central platform our here will have reset itself. You can also snipe all of the archers from the top of the ladder leading back to the Iron Keep if you so wish. Then go back down and pull the lever to drop those Ironclads in the magna again. Go up the stairs here and straight ahead is a Crystal Lizard that will run into the lava if you don't kill it fast. Be careful of the square platforms up here as each has a black button on the walkway nearby that will cause it to drop permanently (good for killing enemies, but bad for navigating around). Down to the left side, past the Crystal lizard is another archer in the far corner and a corpse to loot. Leading up to him are three more trap buttons that activate lava flows DO NOT PRESS THESE. Kill the archer and spot an item and a chest on the flaming platforms near him. Ignore those for now. Head back up the stairs to the main platforms and edge past the flaming heads that you lowered. On the left hand side is a corpse with an item and in the middle is a ladder you can climb.
Go up here and DO NOT SMASH THE WATER HOLDERS YET. Instead head towards the chest and give it a smack first as it is another Mimic, you should be able to kill it before it can bother you and then grab the items it drops. Now to go and get that chest on the flame path as it has a spell we cannot get anywhere else (needed for an achievement). Equip any gear you have with high flame defence, plus a Flame Quartz Ring if possible, and be sure to have Flash Sweat (a spell that can be bought from Rosabeth), if you don't have any attunement slots you can equip a Southern Ritual Band (one in Belfry Luna or Brightstone Cove) then attune the spell at a bonfire. Now roll through the water containers up this ladder and then head back down and drop onto the steps to your left (as you face the bottom of the ladder) just before the flame platform. Now use ALL of your Flash Sweat spells at once and you should be able to cross this platform and open the chest with no issues, heal as you head back and grab the other item near the steps for good measure. Once done you can head back up to the ladder but this time go across to the far side (with the row of fire spitting heads) and deal with the Ironclad over here (luring him into the flames is fun) and grab the item behind him. Now head up the ladder again to where you killed the mimic.
Go up the stairs here to find another chest and continue up into a room with a Lockstone contraption (don't bother activating it) if you go up the stairs in here you will end up outside with three archers. Try and pick them off from the stairwell before dropping down as it makes your life much easier. Now drop into their area and open the chest here and grab the item from the corpse for good measure. Now look into the central hole to see beams you can drop onto. Do so carefully and you'll find a corpse to loot as you go down. You will eventually be on a beam above a melting pot with an item bearing corpse, from here you can easily snipe a Knight on a beam close to an exit. Do so to make your life easier, then carefully drop onto the rim of the pot and grab the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring (you can get the +1 version of this by spending over 15k with Magerold in the Iron Keep). Then you can drop onto the beam the enemy was on and traverse it to the end to drop down near the door.
Feel free to go through the fog gate here if you like (it leads back to the other room) and then head down these stairs into a corridor with an Ironclad. It is easy to bait him into using his overhead attack in this narrow area so do so, then deal with him as normal. Then pull the switch he was near to open the gate and head under it go ahead to another Ironclad RIGHT AROUND THE NEXT CORNER. Run back the way you came and under the barrier you raised. If you bait him into an attack while he is under it, it will eventually drop and crush him. Or you can use it to block him off and snipe him from the other side. Once he is dead you can enter a room with fire breathing statues. Ignore the item in here for now and go past the flames and up the ladder in the back left corner (from where you enter). At the top cross to a second ladder and go up to find a bonfire you can activate and a switch you can pull. Do so to turn off all the fire breathing heads. You can now get the item in the room below AND head back to the first Iron Keep bonfire, then cross the bridge and get the Iron Keep key in that first room (if you didn't brave it earlier).
Once you have rested up go back down the ladders and out the exit near the bottom ladder to meet another Ironclad. Kill him and then get ready for a boss. Follow the path to the fog gate and be prepared. Again a good recommendation for this fight is the Gyrm Shield as it blocks 100% fire damage, though be warned that the bosses crushing downward attacks are unblockable and will do severe damage.
Summon an ally if you can and then head through the gate to meet the Old Iron King. This guy wades towards you and will stay in the same spot UNLESS you hide behind the walls of the house too long, at which point he will resurface near to where you are stood (you can use this to position him where you want). Ducking behind the edges of the stone walls is a good idea for healing but note that his flame breath and flame laser (for want of a better term) attacks CAN hit you through the walls and push you into the lava. Better to heal while he is recovering from a combo over big attack.
Anyway he is generally not that hard. Feel free to two hand your weapon and only pull a shield if you want to block his flame breath. He will do a single horizontal swing, that you can roll under, followed by an overhead one handed smash, that you can dodge. He will then be open for a couple of counter hits. He also like to do a flame breath attack that starts on one side of the area and sweeps across the arena and he will do this more often the further away you are. If you are stood far enough to one side it will stop before reaching you, but be warned that it can easily push you backwards into the lava even if blocked. If you do block it will nullify the damage but you will loss a LOT of stamina, though you will have plenty of time to regain it. He also does a massive double handed smash attack that cannot be blocked, so be sure to dodge this and then counter while he recovers. Once he has lost a bit of health this attack will gain a massive fire splash effect too, so don't try your luck.
His other attack sees him draw back one hand and then push it forward to fire a flame beam at you, this is easy to dodge BUT it can go through walls and if you walk into his hand while he is doing this it will mean an inst-death so watch out. Other than that, stick close to him and roll through his swings and away from his smashes then pick him off while he recovers. Use a shield to block his flame breathe and you'll be fine, most of the time he will not even do the beam attack if you are close by and his overhead smash can be dodged by running away as soon as he telegraphs it - then coming back to deal some damage once he recovers.
Once he dies you will get his soul, and a bunch of souls of course, then you can go into the small ruined building here and open the chest. Then down the stairs to light yet another Primal Bonfire (achievement unlocked) and warp back to Majula. If this is the first time you have returned to Majula since speaking to Gilligan in Earthen Peak (shame on you) then you will get (achievement unlocked) upon your return for upping the local population (if this didn't happen then you missed someone, check here to be sure). After that achievement pops you can also speak to Crestfallen Saulden to perk him up a bit and get a Soul Vessel for bringing him some buddies. Yay!
The Pit
Time to head down that big hole in the ground. Speak to Laddersmith Gilligan who will now be sat next to it. You can buy three ladders from him (500 souls, 3,500 souls and 11,000 souls) so I'd suggest getting ALL of them if you can. Then use the talk option with him again and he will give you his sword (achievement unlocked). I would also recommend buying one of his ladder miniatures as you will need it for later on if you didn't already (it costs 7,999 souls). If you want all of the items on your way then I'd also recommend buying the Silvercat Ring from the cat in the house opposite.
If you buy the longest ladder then you can pretty much skip ALL of the Grave of Saints, but where is the fun in that? Equip the ring, have full health and then go down the smallest ladder to drop to a beam with a corpse and item. From here drop to another beam with an item and then to another one (be sure to heal when you need to). From this beam you will see a ledge lower down, on the opposite wall that you can get to be running towards it. Do so and then from here you can drop into a stone ledge. Go in here to find a bonfire you can activate and save at. If you want you can warp to Majula, take the second longest ladder and grab the other items from dropping from the ledge that one brings you to. Once you get to the lower stone ledge you can continue onwards to skip most of this part or use a Homeward Bone to warp back to the bonfire here.
Grave of Saints
Regardless of whether you get all of the items in the Pit, your aim is the first stone ledge on your way down. In here is a bonfire you can activate and then you can head down the paths (killing a couple of inanimate ghouls on your way) to a large circular room.
Note: If you already completed the Doors of Pharros AND joined the Rat Covenant after the optional boss there, then none of the regular enemies here will attack you. It's a short area though so this is not really required.
Watch out as you enter, as a bunch of rats will emerge from various holes around the walls. These guys will generally rush towards you and then do a small jump and try to bite you. Up close they merely go for the bite. Both attacks can cause poison even if you block, but they only take a couple of hits to kill so shouldn't be too much trouble. Their only really advantage is when they have numbers. Kill them all and grab the item on the other side of the circular wall in the middle (the item in there is out of reach for now). Go out the other side and up some steps.
There are a lot of Lockstone contraptions in this area but pretty much ALL of them are useless unless you are trying to kill PvP invaders. The only one you want to activate (for a couple of items including a spell you can't get elsewhere) is one on the floor here, opposite a raised bridge on the far wall. This will lower the bridge so cross over and grab the item on the corpse downstairs, then head up the stairs to grab the item up here. A bunch of rats may emerge to fight you as you do so. Kill them and head out the same way you came. If you do this then DON'T bother with any other Pharros contraptions in this area.
From where you entered this area (from the circular room with rats) go left to find an easy ghoul to kill and an item to snag. Turn around and head down the corridor but watch out for rats dropping in to attack you from above. Go up the ladder at the end and get ready for an NPC invasion. This guy has pretty much no armour or poise, but he can do rapid combos and ranged attacks. Get in close with him and trap him in a combo for an easy kill, though watch our for rats joining in while you are distracted. If you go into the room all the way on the left up here you will find an item on one of the smaller corpses (and more rats) then go to the opposite end to find a bonfire and another fog gate.
Rest up and head through to one of the easiest boss fights in the game. The Royal Rat Vanguard will not appear at first but a ton of other rats will. You need to kill 10+ of these guys to make the boss show up, but don't just wade in as you will get surrounded. I found it easiest to run straight down to the opposite fog door, then turn around and pick off the stragglers near to you. As more head towards you, then run back to the first door and repeat. Eventually the Vanguard himself will show up but he is nothing more than a glorified rat with a Mohawk. He does pretty much the same attacks but hits a bit harder. You should be able to kill him with one decent combo or a good spell - he is that easy. Once he is dead the others will scarper but feel free to kill a few as they leave for some more souls. Also, be sure to take the Royal Rat Vanguard soul to Straid in the Lost Bastille and swap it for a spell you can't get anywhere else (needed for an achievement).
Exit out the other door to be in a room with the Rat King, once again you can join his Covenant here if you wish (achievement unlocked). Then head out the other door to a hole in the floor. Look down and drop to land within the circular section from earlier, grab the item from here and proceed down the hole, dropping from coffin to coffin. Eventually you drop to s tone bridge with an item on it, grab this and then look below. You should see a Crystal Lizard on the wooden bridge. If you target it from up here you can do a falling attack from the middle of this bridge (landing on the wooden one) to kill it easily, though it's item may drop through the bridge into the water - if so, don't follow it straight away.
Now do a running jump over the hole in the bridge to grab the item in the chest. From this side you can also carefully jump to the corpse on a ledge to one side (it only has a Cleric's Chime). Before attempting that though we can make our life easier. Jump back to the middle of the wooden bridge and you can see an enemy in each doorway below. These guys do the annoying exploding jump for a lot of damage.
With a good bow you can kill them from here, which in turn will lure their buddies out of the corridors for easy kills too. There are five of them in total, but if you manage to kill 3-4 you should be fine. The drop from up here can still do some damage so you may want to equip the Silvercat Ring to be safe. If any of the tunnel enemies are still alive they will rush you at this point so deal with them BEFORE they can explode.
Then go into the tunnel with water on the floor, as this leads to a dead end with a corpse you can loot. Head out of here and down the other tunnel to eventually reach some wooden scaffolding. Go down the first ladder then head down to the left to reach a corpse with an item on it. You can then jump to the other side and head down to find another corpse to loot. Keep taking the ladders until you drop off the last one at the bottom. Open the chest here for a Token of Spite (needed for an achievement) which you can then take back to Titchy Gren in Undead Purgatory at any point for an offer to join the Brotherhood of Blood (achievement unlocked). Feel free to go there and back from the next bonfire which is just up ahead.
The Gutter
The Gutter is as poison filled, dark and annoying as Blightown was in Dark Souls. As you enter you will see a bunch of statues (BE SURE TO BREAK THESE WHENEVER YOU SEE THEM! They spit poison when you walk in front of them and can fully afflict you in 2/3 hits. Use Poison Moss for an instant cure if you have it or heal until it wears off. Luckily the enemies down here are fairly weak.
From this ledge you can move forward onto a sloped roof. Head right and carefully drop down. If you walk up this slope it leads to a ledge with a ghoul (these guys have basic swipes and can be downed in a couple of hits) but these is nothing there and, if you do go down that way, you will have to drop off the front of that ledge onto a wooden platform (aim away from the left side if you do so, as it will break). Assuming you stay in the sloped section head downwards and the floor will break to deposit you on a platform with a bonfire.
You can rest up (and use it to warp to the Undead Covenant now you have a Token of Spite - for the chance to join the Covenant there). You will notice a bunch of white stumps around this whole area, this are actually torch sconces and can be lit to help you navigate around. I'd recommend you do so, to make it easier to see where you've been (Flame Butterflys can help here so you aren't constantly going back and forth if you need to use a shield rather than your torch). There is also a jar you can break on here for an item.
Now you will see a bridge leading away from here. Head over here but DO NOT walk in the middle of the next platform, as the floor will collapse. Stick to the right hand side as you cross. Head over the next bridge to meet a new enemy. These big dogs do a lunging bite attack that can strike multiple times, it's easy enough to block and counter though. They also do short ranged swipes when you are up close but, other than that, are easy to dispatch. Due to the confined nature of the platforms and MANY drops, it's best to block rather than dodge so be sure to have a good shield. Ignore the small drop here and go right instead to another platform with a ghoul.
Up another ramp will lead to an area you can drop down into below you, there are a bunch of hollows down here and an item you can grab. There is a wooden bridge leading away from here, but instead head to the small stone platform that enables you to make a short jump to the building ahead. Head up the ladder here and you can jump to another platform (with a chest) from the roof. Do so and grab the loot. Around now you will get invaded by Melinda the Butcher, so be careful. Face the building from the chest and you can jump to a small ledge below for another chest. Go back to the platform we dropped onto earlier (where we went to the stone platform) and go up the wooden bridge to grab an item from the pots, you can now head back up the ledge from here and follow this stone path back to the initial bonfire (grabbing an item on your way).
Now go towards the breakable floor we avoided earlier and fall through. There are a few ghouls down here so finish them off and snag the item. From here you have to jump towards the platform with the torch carrying ghoul in front of you. Do so and kill them both. There is a ladder in one corner of this ledge - don't go up it yet, but remember it for later. Cross from this platform to the one in front of you and drop through the floor, watch out for ghouls in here, then cross the small bridge. Just before the next building there are some jars on your right, smash them for a Dark Pyromancy Flame then head into the building to deal with another big dog. Head up the ladder in here for some more enemies and then up another ladder to find an item in a jar. You can drop down to a platform near the jars which leads to a long bridge.
When you cross this bridge one of the annoying exploding enemies from the Lost Bastille will rush you (and a ghoul will drop down from above). So run halfway onto the bridge and then straight back to this platform to deal with him safely. Otherwise he is liable to blow you off the bridge to your doom. Once he is dead you can proceed across and meet another doggy. Kill it and go up the ladder he was next to. Another ghoul is at the top (he sometimes drops down to fight you) and there is a chest here you can loot. Now go down the ladder and face it. Head to the right (watching out for poison statues) and to small beam over here. From here you can carefully drop to a ledge below, then to a platform with another ghoul. Go around the building here to find a jar with an item in it then head back where you were and drop into the room through the hole in the wall.
There is another bunch of items in the jar in here, then go to the left corner to jump to the stone platform ahead. If you go left as you land you can light another sconce but three more enemies will also climb up to attack. Your call. Go right and spot a ladder and a chest. Attack the two ghouls slumped in front of the chest and then open it. Move back a bit and look up the ladder, as sometimes a ghoul will be heading down to get you. If the coast is clear then climb up and kill him and his buddy at the top. Smash the jars here for another item.
Now there is another exploding enemy up here, so try and spot him early and kill him ASAP. Once he is dead you can smash some more jars for an item. Go onto the small slanted area with the sconce and drop down to another ledge below, follow this around the corner then drop down to a ledge for an item. From here you can drop down to the chest we opened earlier. Head down the ladder and this time go across the little bridge here (into a lit room with some poison statues) and up this ladder.
On the roof will be a torch bearing enemy, so kill him and then approach the bridge. Another exploding goon will run across to meet you when you get partway, so be ready for him or run back here to deal with him. Another dog will then be waiting for you on the far side of the bridge. Watch out for holes in the floor over here, as they are big enough to fall through. Instead cross to the far side and the stone path. Follow this to a cave entrance and head inside. There are a bunch of enemies in here so deal with them first and then open the chest for some loot. Go back outside and then left to the end of the walkway. Look down to see a platform you can drop to (DO NOT DROP ONTO THE OUTER EDGE AS IT WILL BREAK) and another dog prowling around. Drop down and kill him, and the ghoul that joins in. Then break the nearby jars for some items. Ignore the fog for now and follow the path by the wall that leads to a large cave.
Inside is a large Ant and some poison ticks. Kill the little critters then make a choice. The Ant is harmless and the smoke it emits will cure you of poison (at the cost of degrading your gear). You can kill it for some souls and some Poison Moss - so the choice is yours. You can also snag some free items from the far wall. Now head back to the fog and go through.
As soon as you enter go straight forward towards to far wall. On the right side of this wall are some boards you can break, do so and then head through and left to light another bonfire. Now go back to where you broke through. Head inside to the far left corner (for where you face the broken wall when re-entering) and break the jars for an item. Head down the ladder just behind these jars and drop off to the right (onto some more jars) at the bottom, smash these for another item. Then drop off to the left for some more jars, before finally dropping off the right of this platform to a ledge with a chest to open.
Then go down the ladder on this chest and watch out for a bunch of ghouls at the bottom (there are five or so, some of which will attack ASAP and some are just sat around) kill them all and grab the x20 Lifegems from down here. Then break the normal jars here for a couple more items. You will also see some weird spiky jars blocking the exit. DO NOT ATTACK THESE UP CLOSE. They will rapidly destroy your gear. So either get naked (including rings) and roll into them, or use a bow and some Iron arrows/bolts to smash them from afar. Once the are all gone just run through that gap to drop to a ledge below (you may take damage so be careful). Then grab the Fragrant Branch of Yore that is on this ledge as soon as you land.
Now follow the path up ahead to enter the next area.
Black Gulch
This area is fairly short, but can be annoying due to the CRAP TON of poison statues that litter the area. TOP TIP: If you break the statues and then rest at the bonfire they will stay broken. If you break the statues and then DIE they will respawn. SO be sure to abuse this to your advantage. Your bets bet is to use a weapon you don't care about to break the statues as there are so many of them it will cause your best stuff to degrade and we have a boss fight up ahead.
From where you enter go forward and keep an eye on the left side to spot a tunnel leading to a bonfire. Rest up and light a torch while you are here. Now head back outside. Smash statues as you progress but look off the cliff edge on the right just before you get to the pools of liquid (near a cluster of three statues). You should see a ledge below you that you can drop down to, so do so. Follow the path down here to meet up with Lucatiel again (needed for an achievement) speak to her until she repeats and she will now be available for the upcoming fight. Follow this tunnel around to come out behind a bunch of statues. Smash them all and then drop down and head right.
The pools here can degrade your equipment and hide annoying hand like beasts. If you see the water start to bubble then move away quickly as their grab attack is very damaging. Once they are out of the water the either do a spin attack, that can do a lot of stamina damage, or a rapid thrust towards you. Both are easily blocked but try and take the fight away from other pools to prevent additional enemies. The pools themselves can be burnt if hit with a torch or flame weapon. Once you have cleared out this area can you go into a cave on the right for a chest.
Back out of there and head left again to where we dropped down after meeting Lucatiel. Up ahead are two big worms. These guys are easy to kill from afar as their only attacks are to shoot out of their hole and swing to attack either side. Even up close you can easily block and dish out massive damage. Once they are dead grab the items here and then go near the ledge between their holes and look down. With a torch you can see another ledge to drop to. Do so and you'll find a door you cannot open. Go right (while facing it) to drop to another ledge, then do a 180 to get to yet another ledge. From here you can enter a tunnel which has two giants at the end.
These guys hit hard, and can kill you in a couple of hits if you aren't careful. The easy way to kill them is with ranged attacks and you can always run back down the tunnel and take shelter in the nook on the right side (if you are looking OUT of the tunnel) just outside. If you do that they will reset their positions, so hit and run tactics are possible.
Once they are dead you will get the Forgotten Key and a Soul of a Giant (DO NOT USE THIS ITEM FOR SOULS - WE NEED IT TO DEFEAT VENDRICK LATER) both of which are key items. There are two doors in here. The first on is on the right and the other is straight ahead. Go in the latter first to snag some items, then the former to find another item (hug the back wall to get it) and an elevator up. Hop in and enjoy the ride.
You'll emerge above the main room (just after the worms) so drop down and clear out all of the statues and poison hand creatures in this room. Then head back to where you dropped down to get the key. Drop down to the first ledge and this time open the door. Inside is Darkdiver Grandahl (needed for an achievement) so speak to him for the second time until he repeats. Then go back to the elevator and head up. Go to where the worms were and face the fog gate in the distance. Hug the cliff edge on your right and follow it onto a narrow ledge that leads to a hidden bonfire. Rest up if you need to and be sure ALL poison statues between here and the fog gate are broken. You can also grab an item from the jars in this room.
Once all that is done you should find Lucatiel's summon sign on the floor in this room (needed for an achievement) so call her. I'd also recommend a second player if possible but there is also another NPC you can snag. Stand by the fog gate and face away from it, then follow the wall on your right and you'll find an NPC summon sign around the corner near an acid pit.
With your helpers in tow you can go through the fog gate to face The Rotten.
This guy is pretty straightforward as most of his attacks are very slow and easy to see coming. He wields a massive knife in one hand and will use this either for a horizontal combo, or a big vertical smash. Both leave big windows for a counter. If you are close he will also use his fist to smash the ground next to him OR try and grab you - BE WARNED THIS IS UNBLOCKABLE AND DOES MASSIVE DAMAGE. Once he has taken some damage he will use a few rarer attacks. He can spit sludge balls (usually two or three) in front of himself, blast out a huge cone of dark energy in front of himself OR do a large 360 degree dark blast (similar to the Smeltor Demons flame burst) that will do a lot of damage.
His regular knife and fist attacks can be blocked but sap stamina quickly, so it's easier just to doge then counter. Watch the ground as the flaming areas can quickly do a lot of damage (The Rotten and your NPC pals seem immune) so stick near to him, bait his attacks and then dodge and counter. Ranged players can easily rush to get a lot of distance and then unleash spells/arrows from afar. You can also chop off his arms if you do enough individual damage to them - making some of his moves completely redundant. BE SURE TO KEEP LUCATIEL ALIVE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY HAD HER SURVIVE THREE FIGHTS - this is her last chance barring using Ascetics to respawn bosses.
Once he dies you will get a bunch of souls, and his souls of course, and can carefully edge to a Fire Seed on a corpse in here. They go through the small door into a tunnel, hang a left to find a chest with some Sublime Bone Dust then go and activate the Primal Bonfire (achievement unlocked). We now have ALL four great souls, go us. Be sure to warp back to Majula from here.
Before we head onwards we can use the Forgotten Key to get some decent new equipment as well as doing some other bits and pieces. Don't forget to check back in with the NPC's in Majula from time to time as well for some decent stuff:
Chloanne the Stone Trader - will upgrade her wares as you progress and give you a free Twinkling Titanite if you select TALK after spending 15k+ (easier to get later when she starts selling better Titanite and Dragon Bone pieces).
Lenigrast the Blacksmith - will give you a Blacksmiths Hammer if you select TALK after spending 8k+.
Crestfallen Saulden - gives you a Ring of Steel Protection if you TALK to him after dying 100+ times. Also gives you a Soul Vessel when you have every available NPC in Majula.
Maughlin the Armourer - ups his stock at 1,000 and 16,000 souls spent. Also, after spending 16,000 souls TALK to him when you have 0 souls currently held to get a free set of armour.
Melentia the Merchant Hag - gives you Covetous Serpent Ring +1 if you TALK to her after spending 10k+.
Licia of Lindeldt - TALK to her with a Faith stat of 30+ to get her armour set and weapon for free (also acquired if you invade her with the Crushed Eye Orb).
Carhillion of the Fold - TALK to him with an Int stat of 30+ to get a Northern Ritual Band +1.
Plus a couple of NPC's elsewhere:
Felkin the Outcast (Huntsmans Copse) - TALK to him with 20+ Int AND Faith to get his equipment.
Magerold of Lanifir (Iron Keep) - TALK to him after spending 10k+ souls with him to get the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring +1.
Cromwell the Pardoner (Brightstone Cove) - TALK to him with 35+ Faith to get Ring of Resistance.
A good way to get all of the items that require certain stats is to head back to the witches in Things Betwixt and use a Soul Vessel to respec and give yourself high Faith and Intelligence. Then go and grab everything before heading back to them to use another Soul Vessel to correct the changes. You should have at least 3/4 Soul Vessels by now (I got 6 on my first run through NG) so feel free to use a couple for this purpose.
You can also head to the Ruined Fork Road in the Shaded Woods to find Creighton the Wanderer sat by the door leading into the misty forest. Speak to him to hear more about his grudge with Pate and until he repeats himself. Now, assuming you spoke to Pate in Earthen Peak repeatedlt (he will still be there if not) you can go to the Chapel bonfire in Brightstone Cove. Go down the steps here and out the door, cross the zipline and head into the door on the left. You will find BOTH of them fighting so help out whichever one you like (if you got Pate's gear from him earlier then help Creighton to get his stuff). Either way the one you help will give you a key. Go into the building up ahead (just to the left of the arch leading to the wooden bridge over the crystals) and open the chests (the one on the left is trapped) for some items. Then head back to Majula (use a Homeward Bone to make your life easier).
Now head down the SECOND longest ladder in The Pit, that you bought from Gilligan (or buy it now if not). It leads you to a platform with another ladder heading up. Go up this one and use the Forgotten Key to open the door and find a bunch of chests with items to snag. Again return to Majula and use the bonfire to go to the first bonfire in The Gutter. From here cross the wooden bridge and drop down into the first platform. Kill the enemies and jump to the platform ahead with the torch bearing ghoul. On the left hand side of this platform is a ladder you can climb. Head up to find another door you can open with the Forgotten Key. This leads to a room FULL of poison statues, so be careful as you break them. At the back you will find a jar to smash with an item in it - this is the full set of Havel's armour AND his awesome Greatshield too. Warp back to Majula once you have it. Now we can warp to the Ruined Fork Road bonfire in the Shaded Woods to continue.
Shrine of Winter
This is a fairly short area, and you may have done most of it if you followed my guide through the Shaded Woods earlier. But just in case I will cover the basics. From the Ruined Fork Road Bonfire you want to go up the stairs and take the left hand exit. Out here will be a testicle man on your left, sat on the floor, so rush up and kill him. This will cause three more to rush you from up ahead. Group them together and kill them quickly, at this stage they shouldn't put up much of a fight. Go under the stone arch they were near and hang a left to find two more testicle guys. Kill them and grab the item on this ledge (if you didn't already).
Then turn around and follow the path you were on. It leads to another Flexile Swordsman, but you can easily snipe him from the top of the hill as soon as you can see him. As he will never run up there to engage you. If you do go down to do it hand to hand, then remember that he can attack from both sides and does a lot of stamina damage if you block. His attacks are easy enough to dodge though. If you killed him earlier then he WON'T respawn. Grab the item that was behind him and watch out for another testicle man coming from a hidden path on the left (as you come down the hill). Kill him and then head up that path to reach the Shrine.
Now that you have all four souls this door will unlock (an easy one to miss is Freya at the end of Brightstone Cove which you have to MANUALLY collect in order for it to count). Head through and drop down the path and head right. You'll find a corpse with a unique spell and an item. Go back the other way to find another item you can grab followed by an optional Heide Knight to fight. If you get behind this guy you can probably do enough damage in one stamina bar of attacks to kill him outright. Grab the item he drops and continue on this path to find a corpse hanging on a wall that you can loot as well.
Go through the tunnel up ahead and onto the rainy path, up ahead you will come to a hill with three Royal Guards. Two of then will have crossbows to start but will draw swords if you get close. They are exactly the same as the guys in the Lost Bastille and you can always snipe a couple of them from the corner just in front. Once they are dead continue up the path to find another item, then a Crystal Lizard just before the giant bridge. Kill it and grab the items.
The Emerald Herald is waiting for you at the bottom so chat with her (you can't level up here) then head up the steps. At the top are two seemingly stone Mastadon statues. They aren't stone at all (obviously) so feel free to shoot them from afar to prevent the archers behind them from ruining your day. You can kite them back down the steps to deal with, but watch out as they are stronger and more damage resistant than their rusty versions from the Doors of Pharros. Though they do have pretty much the same attack patterns. Once the are dead head up to the top.
To open the door ahead you need to kill Royal Swordsmen while they are stood near to the statues on either side (the statues will absorb the souls and then turn a lock). So if you lure the enemies too far away you will get the souls instead and the door stays closed. Enemies will respawn infinitely from the left side until this is accomplished. If you snipe both of the archers that start up here then you may be able to activate one or both devices with ease. Otherwise wait for the next batch of swordsmen to appear and then lure at least one near to a statue before killing them. Once both have turned blue and opened the door you can head around the right hand side (before entering) to find a chest with a spell. Now you can head inside.
Drangleic Castle
This area is actually fairly linear but also has a few hidden secrets we can snag. In the entry hall you can head up the stairs to the ghost stood in the middle section, this is Chancellor Wellagar , speak to him repeatedly until you can access his menu and learn a gesture (needed for an achievement) and he will then sell you various items and spells if you like. The door behind him leads to the Throne Room but holds nothing of interest right now. Go back down the steps and then left (if facing them) and through a short tunnel into a new room. Two Royal Swordsmen and a larger knight will move to engage you. Head back where you came from as the swordsmen should reach you first and you can deal with them quickly. The larger knight tends to do a three hit combo, or a shield bash if you are close, and you can easily strafe around his attacks to line up a backstab.
Once he dies go into the room they were in. If you go down the other corridor leading back to the starting hall you will come up behind two other large knights that you can kill or ignore as you choose. Regardless the hall you are in has two large blue doors that cannot be opened and then a smaller door at each end, one leads to a dead end and the other leads to two more of the smaller swordsmen and a ladder down. Kill these guys and head on down.
At the bottom are a couple of doors to open. One of which leads to a bonfire, so head in here to activate it and rest up. Exiting that room, and looking left, will show us another King's Door that we will need to come back to later on. Head right instead.
Now this room can be a pain. Each door has two stone knights guarding it, who will activate when you get nearby. If you kill them near to the door they are in front of then it will also open. Each door (barring the one on your immediate right as you enter) hides a Ruin Sentinel (remember them?) plus maybe some items. The key is NOT to activate all of the enemies at once.
Start by going to the first door on your right and immediately target one of the stone guys with attacks, so that he hopefully dies before fully awakening. These guys have spears with amazing range and can dash towards you rapidly. Their attacks can be blocked, but they can do a lot of rapid combos if you are not careful. If you kill at least one of them near to the door it will open, then lure the other back to the place you came in to finish it off. This door reveals the path onwards, but there are a few more things we need here first.
Now go to the first door on the left and repeat the same thing. Once the first guy dies (and activates the door) immediately move back to where you entered the room to deal with the other. This stops the Ruin Sentinel from activating instantly. Once the second spearman is dead move forward until the Sentinel spots you. He has exactly the same attacks as the bosses from the Bastille and, one on one, should be easy to deal with. Keep him back near where you came in so you DON'T activate any other statues. He generally does a thrust forward into a combo, an overhead smash or a leaping attack if you get too far away. You can easily block everything with a good shield and then counter after the combo or smash until he dies.
In order to get everything in this room you need to open all of the doors in this way. Alternate from the right side to left and only activate one set of stone enemies and the Ruin Sentinel behind them at a time. WARNING: IF YOU REST AT THE BONFIRE OR DIE THEN ALL OF THE ENEMIES IN HERE WILL RESPAWN, MAKING IT HARDER TO SINGLE THEM OUT. Ignore the back left chamber for now and search all of the others for items once the enemies are all dead. Now head to that back left room and walk in, the floor will give way and you'll drop down. Grab the armour set from the corpse down here and then activate the nearby bonfire and rest up if you need to. Go into the only other room down here to meet Darkdiver Grandahl again. If you have spoken to him in the Shaded Woods and Black Gulch he will now let you join the Pilgrims of the Dark (achievement unlocked).
Dark Chasm of Old (Pilgrims of the Dark)
You need to get this Covenant to Rank 3 for a unique spell so feel free to do so now. When you first join he will open a portal next to you. NOTE: you can complete this Covenant at any point BEFORE starting a NG+ (at which point you have to find Grandahl all three times again) so feel free to come back after you level up some more if you are struggling.
You need to enter this portal, kill the super strong enemies in there, light the beacon and then drop into the fog at the end. You then need to do the same thing at the other two locations you found him (Shaded Woods and Black Gulch). Only the first portal will be opened for free, at the other locations (and if you die while inside a portal) you will need to speak to Grandahl and give him a Human Effigy for him to open the portal. Once you have lit all three beacons and fallen into the fog in the third portal (they can be done in any order) you will be taken to a boss fight against the Darklurker. Speak to Grandahl after completing your first Chasm to Rank up, then again after lighting all three beacons to rank up a second time and again after killing the Darklurker to reach max rank (the last two may happen at the same time). NOTE: all the enemies in the chasm areas are susceptible to poison, so use that to your advantage. Plus, makes sure you have some Flame Butterflys with you - MOST IMPORTANT.
Let's assume you enter the Chasm in Drangleic Castle first. You'll emerge as a Black Phantom in a room full of water. The rocks mark the path here, so watch your step to ensure you don't fall to your doom. You'll come to the main room with Dark Havel on your left. Your best bet is to aggro him near one of the numerous holes in here, then make him swing himself into it. His attacks do a ton of regular and stamina damage, so if you have decent spells (or a well levelled Pyromancy Flame and something like Flame Swathe) then they are recommended. Once he is dead look to the left past where he was to see a magic using shade. Snipe him from afar if you can, poison arrows work a treat.
Now you can go up to where he was (watch out for the holes) and along the small ledge on the right to reach the first beacon. Use a Flame Butterfly to light your torch and then light the beacon. Head back the way you came and down the small path of the left to meet a Rapier wielding foe. If you are lucky you can backstab him before he notices you, or after some of his combos. This guy attacks rapidly so be wary as he can quickly wear out your stamina. Once he falls you can move past where he was into another tunnel. One last phantom is up ahead, a rather nimble assassin (stood on the other side of a hole so watch out). Snipe her from afar with poison and she should take a lot of damage before she gets close. Her attacks are much weaker than the others, mercifully, so you should have few problems with regular blocking and counter attacks. Once she dies go past where she was and fall into the fog at the end to complete this area. That's the hardest one out of the way first, trust me. You'll spawn next to Darkdiver Grandahl, so chat to him to rank up and then use the nearby bonfire to warp to the Black Gulch.
Head to the spot between the two worms and drop down to the door here, head inside and use an Effigy to activate the portal. In here you can move forward and look to your left to see an ironclad phantom below. This guy has two hammers and hits hard, so try and snipe him to lure him up here - as if you go too far forward he will be joined by a spellcaster and that will ruin your day. Again try to poison him if possible, or use some strong pyromancy spells to end it quickly. Once he is down you can edge forward and look off the right hand edge of the ramp to spot another shade - you can snipe him with few risks from up here, so try to do so until it drops. You can then go down the ramp to face the pryomancy enemy. This guy has a LOT of strong spells to throw your way so the Gyrm shield with it's 100% fire resist is a must. Close the gap if you can and then trap him with physical attacks, which also interrupt his casts. You can also use your own spells on him to good effect too.
Again, use a Butterfly Flame in this area (once those three are dead) to light the beacon. Then you can head into the next section which has the same enemies once again. Yay. Lure the ironclad up first and deal with him, then pick off the other two from afar. The shade should stay far enough back that you can kill the pyromancy user with few interruptions then you can deal with him. Once they are all dead head past where the shade was and fall into the cloud of fog again. You'll be back at the Black Gulch so use a Homeward Bone to go to the bonfire, then warp to the Shaded Ruins.
This is the last area so make sure you are ready before heading in. I had a maxed out Pyromancy Flame, a Southern Ritual Band +1 equipped (found in Brightstone Cove) then two lots of Flame Swathe (one from Straid and one dropped by the phantoms in Belfry Sol) attuned. Plus, I equipped some Amber Herbs for easy access. Then I had my usual melee gear and whatnot.
From the Ruins bonfire go straight down the bridge and out the door on the left (watch out for Lion men up here). Head up the little ramp and right, towards the path that led to the Scorpioness. Go past the arch leading to her and fall through the floor near the trees to find Darkdiver Grandahl again. Once more you will need to give him an effigy to open the portal so do so and then head in.
This is actually the easiest portal to complete, but it is handy to do it last as if you die on the final boss you have to REDO one of the dungeons again to reach it a second time (I found that out the hard way). So if that happens this will be your easiest route back. Go through the door ahead of where you spawn and look right to see the beacon and a bunch of phantoms. Use a ranged attack to annoy the nearest spirit and draw it back to the door. If you are careful the others shouldn't follow.
The nearest guy tends to try and use shield break when up close and has speedy combos, but is nothing too difficult by now. Just back off slightly when they go for the break and then step in and deal some damage. Once he dies it will upset the other phantom who has a bow to attack you from afar. If you trade ranged attacks with him from the doorway you can kill him without a scratch, then you can edge out a bit further and see one of the magic using shades further down the path. Snipe them too, but watch out for their blast spells that explode in a burst even if they miss you. Once that enemy falls you can light the last beacon in here. Then go down to the elevator ahead and head down to meet the final enemy of this area. This guy is exactly the same as the first phantom you killed and has no back up in a fairly large area. So take your time and kill them.
Now make sure you have a decent shield that can resist a good chunk of dark damage (Havel's is a good choice if you can manage it or the Rebel greatshield) plus have your Pyromancy Flame equipped with Flame Swathe at the ready. Your only items should be your Estus Flask and Amber Herbs (or some other healing items if your flask is empty).
Drop into the fog to be transported to the boss, Darklurker. As soon as you can lock on and cast Flame Swathe to do massive damage (I only had 8 Int) but watch out for any of the enemies attacks. If you are close it will summon a dark greatsword to swing at you, or thrust one arm straight forward to blast you with a beam, more rarely it will pull back slightly and let out a massive 360 degree blast so be sure to roll away quickly. It's most annoying attacks are when it opens a small portal in front of itself and then sends either balls of darkness or fire through them to attack you. These have a habit of landing behind your defences - so find where the portal is and run away from it. Put your back to an opposite wall and then block with your shield.
The enemy has a rare habit of going invisible or teleporting away from you, then at 50% health it will split itself into two parts (both of which you can damage). Having said all of that we want this fight to be over in thirty seconds. Every attack they do has a big recovery. So your strategy should be to cast Flame Swathe ASAP, dodge/block the first attack and then cast Flame Swathe again. If you have two attuned then you get four casts and each Amber Herb will restore two more. At this point you will have nearly done 50% damage (if not use a Herb and then one more Swathe). The Darklurker will then stop and try and spilt, cast two more Flame Swathes ASAP and it should die before it gets the chance. Frankly any sorcery build with good spells should have no problems and this method means even melee builds have an easy time.
Once he is dead you will end up back with Darkdiver Grandahl - speak to him repeatedly to max out the Covenant and get the Climax spell (needed for an achievement) plus you can buy all of the spells you need from his store option now too as a few of them can only be gotten here. If you didn't already max out the Heirs of the Sun you will also get (achievement unlocked) for reaching max rank in a Covenant. Also note that you should take the Darklurker's soul to Straid in the Lost Bastille to trade for a spell you can't get anywhere else (needed for an achievement). Now go back to the Shaded Ruins bonfire and warp back to the King's Gate bonfire in Drangleic Castle.
Drangleic Castle
Back at the castle bonfire, head out of this room and go right into the Ruin Sentinel room. But this time go straight through the first door on your right (watch out for enemies chasing you here). If they follow you into this room then deal with them ASAP. Once they are dead you can loot the chest in here. Go up the stairs to come face to face with a large pool of orange liquid - this stuff will WRECK your gear, so if you want the couple of items that are hidden in it then it's time to get naked (watch out for archers shooting at you from above too). Once you are done skinny dipping, suit up again and head up the stairs here. There will be a Royal Soldier just dying for you to kill him, so feel free to do so. The next exit leads to a room full of masks that will quickly poison and hurt you, plus a tempting item to grab. Snag the item and quickly head out the next door.
Up the stairs here will lead to a room with three of the golden knights. Stay away from the large picture of the queen in here, as it will rapidly curse you. Try and lure them back down the steps and deal with them one at a time, but don't stray back into the mask room if you can avoid it. Once they are dead you can exit through the door they were guarding and hang a right to head up some stairs. As you near the top you will be invaded by an NPC, the Nameless Usurper, so head back down where you came from and a Red Phantom will be waiting just outside the cursed picture room. She only has a dagger and does light attacks, so deal with her quickly as you need to kill her for a spell later (needed for an achievement).
Then back up the stairs and deal with the Royal swordsmen along the way. You will see a ladder along the left side of this walkway leading down, so head down to find two more swordsmen and a corpse you can loot. Head down a second ladder here to find a chest with a pretty good bow in it (And another pesky enemy). Now climb back up the last ladder and press A on the wall just ahead and to the left of you - hey presto, we found a handy bonfire. There is a boss fight just ahead so be sure to rest if you need to revitalise your weapons and Estus Flask. Head back outside and up the ladder again, kill the enemies that will have re-emerged and then follow the path to meet with the Queen herself. Exchange some banter and then head out of the other door and around the corner to find a fog gate. Prepare to meet some familiar enemies.
Inside are TWO Dragonriders who will fight in exactly the same way as the one you fought in Heide's Tower of Flame earlier. The difference, at first, is that one will be camped on a ledge up to your left shooting greatarrows at you. The other will approach with a halberd and try to thrust, combo and shield bash you to death. Once to get EITHER of them down to half damage the bow man will jump down to attack, but may still use his bow if you get too far away.
The best method is to try and take down the bow wielder first, either with magic or arrows, as he has much less HP and shouldn't take much punishment. You can do this be just running from the slow moving red enemy to get distance and then taking pot shots at the one above you. If you have a decent spell (like Flame Swathe) then feel free to kill him with a few hits before he gets the chance to become a pain. After that you can just block, strafe and counter the second one to death at your own leisure. This is a fairly easy fight considering how far along you are. Should you need to heal while both enemies are still alive then only do so AFTER the archer has just fired an arrow and you have reasonable distance from his buddy.
Once they are both dead you can head through the door and follow the corridor to another bonfire. Be sure to light it and rest up and then speak to Benhart of Jugo (he will only be here if you spoke to him before/after freeing Rosabeth earlier) be sure to chat until he repeats himself (needed for an achievement). There are two exits from this room, so take the one that heads slightly downwards and ends up by a hole in the floor and a door you cannot open. Ignore those and climb up the ladder on the right hand wall.
At the top you will get to a doorway with a slight drop into a room with a stone golem in front of you. You will also notice a bunch of stone soldiers lining each wall, these guys will activate if you get close and you need to kill one NEAR the stone golem to have him activate the lift from earlier. On your immediate right as you drop down is a door you can open and run through if things get a bit much.
Personally I dropped in and went left straight away, which activated the two guys nearest me. I killed the closest one before he could fully stand, then lured the other back into that corner to finish him off. Then you can stick close to this wall to activate the remaining statues on this side individually, keep one close to the golem to get it moving. Don't stray too close to the other side or you'll activate them too. But feel free to kill them for gear and drops (these guys can drop Titanite Slabs now and then).
Once they are done, and the golem is activated, you can go out of the door into a room with two chests. Open both and grab the items then go out the next door. You will be in a room with a lot of mastodon statues (they don't activate so don't fret). At one end is a live mastodon and two of the golden knights guarding a door, opposite them is a large staircase. Head up the stairs first of all.
Up here there are two greatbow wielding knights on either walkway. Feel free to snipe them from afar, using the stairs and pillars up here for cover. Or you can rush in close and deal with them - they are the same guys from the Iron Keep so the same strategy applies. Once they are dead you can open the chests on either side, WATCH OUT the one on the right (as you face the enemies below) is booby trapped. Then use an arrow/spell to snipe the mastodon below and lure him away from the others. He will follow you up the stairs so be careful, but you should be able to kill him before he even reaches you with a decent bow/spell set.
The other two knights can't really be lured. So get in close and engage one of them. The other will just stand there and watch most of the time, meaning you can deal with them one at a time. They usually go for three strike combos or a shield bash, so be ready to block/dodge and counter when you can. Now head through the door and the one following to end up on a rooftop with a mastodon just to your left as you exit.
You want to try and lure him BACK where you came from as there are three archers up to your right that can make fighting him out here a hazardous proposition. Lure him into the last corridor to deal with him or just snipe him from afar. Then go outside and right up some steps to a blue door. You can go up a ladder on the left hand wall to get to the archers and kill them (ranged combat is preferable due to their numbers). Then go to the left side of the roof, from where you came up and look down to where you just killed the mastodon. Drop down there again and go down the short steps to a door you can open. Head in here and grab the loot, including another Estus Shard before pulling the lever to open the grate over the door. You can now head down the steps to the last bonfire again. Rest up if need be and then go back down the initial path you took (before climbing the long ladder) to find an elevator.
Ride it up to the top and note the woman locked in the cage here (we will free her later). Open all of the chests in here for the King's Passage Key, a handy Soul Vessel and some other bits. Then go back down the elevator to the bottom and use that new found key to open the door right next to you.
King's Passage
This area is short and sweet, though does contain an annoying boss. Let's get to it. Move into the corridor and look to your right, next to a small knight head statue to find an item you can grab. Now up ahead are a bunch of kneeling knights, and two on each side will come to life when you get close. The have glowing red eyes and move VERY fast and can quickly overwhelm you. Buy why bother playing fair?
DON'T go into the room the are in just yet. Stay at the top of the small steps leading down there and pull out a bow. Zoom in and aim at the statues that still have heads (two on each side) and you can snipe them with impunity while they don't even move. You can tell when you hit them as a health bar will appear. Once all four are dead you can snipe the golden knight stood in front of the fog gate too and lure him back to you. Deal with him and then move forward. Look behind the pillars and statues as you pass them as there are two items to snag (one on each side) before you reach the fog gate.
At the gate look to the left of it to see Benhart of Jugo's summon sign (needed for an achievement) so call him in and make sure he survives the fight ahead in order to get credit. Remember that you can make your life easier by using the Redeye Ring or summoning another player to help out too. Now head through the fog gate to meet the Looking Glass Knight.
As soon as you enter this guy will do a small dash and then jump towards you, so be ready to dodge or block ASAP. He has a massive mirror shield and if you attack him from the front/side that shield is on you will do ZERO damage to him and he can deflect some magic with it, but you CAN eventually break the shield (your call). So always aim to strafe around to his back or side if you can. At distance he will generally leap towards you and up close he has the usual combos and a big overhead attack. He will also use lightning imbued strikes (he noticeably has to charge these up) and a lightning blast ahead of him.
Once he has taken enough damage he will smash his shield down in front of him and release a black phantom (this can be another player if they left a red summon sign near the statue in the last area so watch out). If he does this then leave your partner to distract him and deal with this enemy ASAP. He can do this more than once if you aren't quick enough so you want to try and focus as much damage on him as possible, so that he is down to about 30-40% health before this even happens. Then you can hopefully finish him off before he kills Benhart. If you do notice Benhart getting low on health then try for an all out assault, as the black phantoms will vanish once the boss is down. His attacks in general are fairly slow and easy to dodge so it is just his decent defence that may hold you up.
Once he dies move through the opposite exit but DON'T go down the lift yet. Grab the chest on your left first and then step on the pad to go down the elevator. At the bottom follow the path to a torch in a root filled area, hack the wooden branches on the right for an item and then go the opposite way to head to a bonfire and the Shrine of Amana.
Shrine of Amana
After the bonfire there is a door on the right hand side, go through and look to your left to see a corpse hanging on a branch - give him a smack and the item will fall (we'll grab it shortly) carry along this path to reach an alcove with a solitary poison tick to kill and a chest to loot. Then head back the way you came and go down the stairs. Stop at the bottom and look ahead to see a strange golden glow over the water (like a bunch of fireflies). These are actually indicators of where an enemy is lurking beneath the water to attack.
With a bow or spells you can usually dispatch these lizards before they can emerge if you aim just below the golden clouds that give them away. Otherwise they do a standard big swipe or a two hit combo and are fairly weak by this point, just don't let a few of them swarm you. Anyway grab the item down here and kill the lizard. As you approach the exit a staff wielding priest will rush to attack you. These guys have some fairly rapid combos and can break your guard, but they can be blocked with minimal stamina loss and then countered when they leave an opening.
From the exit go right and hug the wall, carefully make your way past the broken rock/bone here and look right to see the item you knocked down earlier. Always keep an eye on the water here as it can often hide deadly drops. Grab the item and then navigate back to that cave entrance you emerged from. Now you can move forward over the marked path (watching out for enemies hidden in the water on either side) to the hut just ahead. Go in here and chat with the Milfanito woman here. DO NOT KILL THEM! Exhaust her dialogue to get an item, then head out the other door. Outside the hut go immediately right to find a chest near the side of the building (again watch out for enemies) and then head back to the path.
Up ahead you should see a group of priests waiting for you. You can snipe them to lure them to you and, if you head back into the building, they won't follow you all the way. Use this to thin them out and deal with them one by one. Now head towards the entrance they were guarding (grabbing the items on the way) but go just to the left of it for a chest first. Then go into the tunnel.
There will be a tick ahead of you, so kill him straight away. If you look to the left (just before the tick) you will see a cave FULL of the lizard creatures and a chest. If you stand outside the cave and just shoot them from afar then they literally will not move and it's a bunch of nice easy souls. Then you can go in and open that chest. Head back out and follow the path to an open area.
The enemies here are pretty annoying. As the mages can cast homing soul arrows from a great distance and they track you pretty well in the wide open spaces. A bow is a must really, or a bunch of good spells, as you can take them down from afar with 2-3 hits depending on your level. There is one of the casters straight ahead of you as soon as you enter this area so kill them ASAP. Then make your way into the ruins just to the right (watch out for the hidden lizard man by the steps) and head in there to activate a bonfire.
Go back out the way you came and then right to the corner of this building. Look straight forward to spy another spellcaster in the water up ahead (if you have the bonfire ruins on your right). Deal with him and then move onto the path. You can see a fallen stone that forms a ramp on the left, so head up it to grab the item and then look down into the water on the left hand side. You will see another lizard to kill AND a Lockstone device. Feel free to use this one as it opens up a way to a chest with a decent weapon. Then go back to the main path and follow it to the stone ruins with the torches.
If you look through the gap in the left hand side (while still on the path just before the ruins) you will spot another magician you can snipe so kill him ASAP. We'll come back to this path later on. Head into the ruins for an item to grab and then go right down the middle path in here. At the end look left to see an Ogre you can snipe - so kill him from here if you can. Now, from where you are, there is a small path you can follow (marked by the occasional stone pillar and ruin) that leads out into the water.
The path is fairly narrow and has a few spellcasters, and one melee priest, along it. Take your time and keep an eye on the floor so you don't drop into a watery grave. There is an Estus Flask Shard at the end and a spell in a chest you can grab. Once you have both then carefully make your way back to where you killed the ogre, and go back into those ruins.
This time go into the middle and then right onto the path/islands that lead to the next hut. Inside the hut is a summon sign for an NPC character if you need the help, and when you go out the next door you will be attacked by another priest so feel free to lure him back inside. From the doorway you should also be able to snipe another spellcaster off to your left as well so kill him too. Then look right as there is ANOTHER well hidden path that leads to a chest with a spell in it. So again take your time and make your way along it to get the item, then head back the way you came.
From the hut move towards the submerged stone path/bridge in the centre. From here you can snipe more spellcasters off to the left (there is always one, but sometimes two if one moves from their initial position). You may also get attacked by a lizard from the water just in front of you while you do this, but he has to take the long way around to get up onto this slightly raised area.
Look to the left side of the ruins you are in (if the exit is in front of you) to see some breakable branches. Head over there through the water and smash your way through. An ogre is in here so deal with him however you like, though he will NOT follow you all the way back out so use that to your advantage if needs be. Once he is dead you can move past where he was to find a corpse you can loot. Then head back to the main path and look to the left, as there may be another spellcaster still alive back there - kill them if so. If not you will see three more enemies near the exit. Two of them are the melee types and the other is a healer. If you shoot them then the melee characters will rush you while the healer follows. Try and kill the healer from afar and then deal with the others up close. Or lure the melee guys back to the last building if you need to.
Once they are all dead you can approach the exit but don't go through yet. To the left side are some more sloping ruins with an item you can grab and to the right is a corpse at the end of a thin ledge (just grab the items from the FIRST corpse you see, the second one is attained from the other side). Once you have these then head through the fog.
Once through you'll be met be a bunch of the poison ticks. Try and kill them from afar if you can. Then just past them is another bonfire on the left. Activate it and rest up if you need to. Further down the corridor you will see a few more smaller ticks and one GIANT one. This guy can degrade your equipment pretty quickly if you get too close, so stick to shooting them all full of holes from afar.
Head out of the exit behind them and hug the wall on your right, along a narrow ledge, to find an item. Then go back to that entrance. Up ahead is a circular bunch of ruins with a spellcaster hidden on the right side (just edge forward to spot and snipe them) and another on the left on the path you have to take. There are also 5/6 lizards hidden in the water here too, as shown by the golden glows. More troublesome still is the NPC invader that will attack you when you EITHER move into the centre of the stone circle or kill both spellcasters.
The invader uses strong pyro spells and can be tricky to manage in the water. Drag him back to the bonfire cave you came from and hide in the bonfire nook. He will come after you and you will be able to get in melee range with no fear of being blown apart. If you have spells/ranged attacks then feel free to duel him outside and use the pillars for cover. But watch out for the various lizards joining in.
Once he is dead, face the stone circle from the bonfire cave and you will see a corpse hanging over a fallen bit of the ruin straight ahead. You can only grab the item from the other side, so edge around one of the pillars on either side of the corpse to get the unique spell here (needed for an achievement). Then you can follow the path on the left (if looking at the circle from the cave) to continue onwards. You'll come to another hut with a second Milfanito who will vanish when you speak to her (make sure to speak to her). Then go through the other door and down the path to the next fog gate and a boss battle.
The Demon of Song is fairly similar to the Covetous Demon boss from Earthen Peak, as he mainly does physical attacks and crushing attacks that can bash straight through your blocks. He can ONLY be damaged on his face (when it is revealed) and arms, so there is little point in strafing around him as his back/sides cannot be hurt though you do want to be just off to one side of him to dodge his charge attacks easily.
Instead you best bet is to bait him into his sweeping combos, then counter while he recovers. If you have summoned a helper who can distract him then ranged battle works a treat here too - as you can lock on and then fire arrows/spells from afar for decent damage and no risk.
Up close he will either charge straight ahead, rear backwards on his legs and then slam forwards (don't try and block this), try and grab you (very damaging), do a water spit attack up to three times (fairly rare and generally only if you are at a distance) or go for a general slap attack (1-3 hits). If you stay just in front of him (not too close to grab) and off to one side then you can pretty much bait the generic slap attacks until he is dead. He may occasionally rear back for the belly slam, but this has a massive telegraphed movement and can be easily dodged. Once he is dead you get his soul and the Key to the Embedded which we'll use shortly.
Head out of the new exit and follow the path to a door up ahead but don't go through. Instead look off to the right to see a ruined tower you can reach. Again navigate the water here carefully to prevent a sudden drop, before you go up the small steps into the tower you can go around the right side for a chest. Then head inside to activate a bonfire. From here warp to the Central Drangleic Castle bonfire. Go down the path that leads to King's Passage and then up the circular elevator you come to. At the top go into the room with the trapped woman and interact with the Embedded - you can then use the key to open the door here. Do so and speak to the trapped Milfanito that was in there until she vanishes. Then go back down the elevator, back to the bonfire and warp back to the last bonfire in the Shrine of Amana.
Now you need to die or, to be more accurate, be hollow. If you aren't already then just jump into the water next to the tower you are in (take off any Life Protection rings if you have them) then respawn at the bonfire and grab your souls. Now head up the stairs and open the Door of the Dead. There will be some undead supplicants on the other side, so kill them quickly. Then further down the path is another evil magus. He will try and shoot you with dark magic from afar, so feel free to trade arrows/spells with him. Or you can rush up close and finish him off with melee (he is pretty easy to kill either way).
Now follow the path to the large fire and speak to the last Milfanito there. If you rescued the others then keep taking to her for a few items (including a Fire Seed). Interestingly if you helped them out, and don't have a large amount of sin, then you can pray in front of this fire while hollowed to become human again. THIS ONLY WORKS IF YOU HAVE NO EFFIGIES IN YOUR POSSESSION OR ITEM BOX.
Head down the stairs to find another Fire Seed at the bottom, then you can go out of the door here and drop to your left to find a chest. Then navigate the ledge back to the middle and go out the opposite side for another item. Once you have both go all the way back to the last bonfire and into the door leading to the Undead Crypt. Stand on the elevator to make your way down.
Undead Crypt
The first rule of Fight Club......I mean, the Undead Crypt is DON'T LIGHT A TORCH! It will only make your life harder and it is really not required. As soon as you enter go under the large set of stairs (on the left hand side) to find a bonfire you can activate and rest up at. There is a corpse with an item on the other side. Then head up the stairs and straight ahead into the room ahead. You'll see a ghoul foolishly carrying a torch (he obviously doesn't know about the first rule) so just get behind him for an easy backstab.
The door out of this room leads to a darker room that has three dark spellcasters at the far end (one on the left, one on the right and one in the middle) and a few ghouls in front of them. One ghoul is right next to the door, so watch out as you enter. Step inside to activate him and drag him back to the last room to finish him off. Now you can use arrows/spells to snipe the magicians from the doorway if you like. They generally use a few of the Hex spells, all of which have some homing ability but they can just be blocked by stepping out of the line of sight. If you do want to get up close then the are supremely weak against melee and can be easily knocked out of their casting animation.
You may also notice black jars dotted around this room and the upcoming rooms - DO NOT BREAK THESE. They can quickly break your equipment and poison you to boot, none of them hold any valuables so just try to avoid them. Once you make your way through the last room a voice will call out to you (again DO NOT LIGHT A TORCH). Follow the path past a doorway and up some stairs to a room with some Grave Wardens just chilling out. If you light a torch they WILL become hostile, so don't bother. Instead speak to the guy leaning in the alcove at the back, this is Grave Warden Agdayne.
Go through all of his dialogue and he will then teach you the penultimate gesture you need to have them all. You can also buy a number of items and spells from him and grab the loot from the corpse nearby.
Now head back down to the door and go through it. Up the stairs on your right are two more golden knights, so let's deal with them. You can usually activate them individually for an easier fight and they have the exact same attack patterns as in Drangleic Castle. Once they are dead look off the edge directly opposite the top of the stairs to see a ladder. You can't grab it from here, but put on a Silvercat Ring (if you have it) and carefully drop down to the ledge it starts at. Quickly do a 180 turn and kill the ghoul down here and then grab the item from the corpse. Now go up the ladder all the way to the top to find another enemy to kill, then a chest to loot. Be sure to grab this - it has the Crushed Eye Orb which you need for a unique spell (needed for an achievement). Once you have it drop back down to the bridge the knights were on and head across.
The mist door here leads to an interesting room. Inside you will see small stone graves you can break, but also larger stone statues (with a knight on them) that take a few hits to destroy. These larger statues will keep spawning magic users if you don't break them AND ghouls will constantly dig up from the graves around you. So you can quickly get overwhelmed unless you smash stuff quickly. Each time you attack one of the larger stone statues an enemy WILL spawn, but you can usually trap them in the same swings that are destroying the statue and finish them before they can react. If you die then ALL the large statues you have broken will remain so, so don't fret too much about getting them all at once. The phantoms spawned by the large statues can use sword strikes, but are more likely to cast annoying sorceries too.
Knowing that, head through the mist. This first room has a statue to break on your right as you enter, so smash that and the another in the left corner opposite a door. Break both of those and then head into that room to activate a bonfire. Head back outside and grab the items from the two corpses in this area (watching out for ghouls spawning) and then go back outside to where you entered the mist and go right to the edge, you can carefully drop to a chest from up here and then climb the ladder near it to be back in the last bonfire room.
Go out of the bonfire room and then right, and you can see a ladder going up in the right hand corner (rather than going through the doorway) so head up here to find another hex user and a chest. Kill the enemy and grab the loot. From up here you can see two more statues in the room below, so you can either drop down and deal with them or climb back down the ladder and deal with them from that side. Either way, once you smash both then grab the two lots of items in this room before going up the stairs into a new room.
Be careful in here. As ghostly enemies will LITERALLY pop out of the walls. Their only real strength is that element of surprise as they are stuck in place, have obvious attacks and can be killed in a couple of hits. Stay away from the walls for now and just move to the centre of the room to trigger a second NPC invasion from the Nameless Usurper (the same one you killed in Drangleic Castle). Again she is super weak with only basic knife attacks so you should be able to take her down in no time at all, you need to kill her to get a spell later (needed for an achievement) so be sure to do so.
Once she is dead I would suggest going around the edges of this room to clear out all of the ghosts on the walls (to make an upcoming fight easier). Then stand by the door you came in and face into the room. Go to the wall on the right side of the room and hit A to reveal an illusionary wall. There is another ghost guarding the chest in here so watch out, once he is dead you can grab the loot and head down the tunnel opposite.
Once in the tunnel you will see two large shield wielding enemies up ahead, but there are also three more of the ghosts hidden in the walls leading to them. The shield guys will not activate until you get really close or attack them. So lure out the ghosts first of all and kill them. Now you can use ranged attacks to annoy the shield guys (they won't do much damage) or get in close to strike them. Watch out as they do a lot of damage with their shields, so be ready to dodge back as soon as they start to move. You can lure them all the way back to the last room to make them easier to deal with.
Generally they will do a two hit combo, or a single strike, plus they will pull back one shield and then smash it into the ground. This last one leaves them open for a while so is the ideal time to strike. All their other attacks can sap stamina quickly, even with a good shield. So bait them into the combo or smash and then get out of the way, then step back in to deal damage. They don't actually have a ton of health and one of them usually gets stuck in the corridor if you lure the other back to the first room so you should be ok to take them our with a bit of patience.
Once they die you can move past them to a hole in the floor. Down here there are more of the statues that need to be broken to stop the spellcasters from spawning, plus the spawning ghouls will try and ring a bell to instantly summon enemies from every statue. So you need to stop them without hitting the bell yourself. Drop down and run to the wall straight ahead and hit A to reveal an illusionary wall. Ignore it for now. Turn around and locate the bell and clear out any ghouls that are near it. Then you need to systematically destroy the statues in here (Some are at the end of small alcoves) while also making sure no ghouls hit the bell. Kill a statue, then kill any ghouls, then kill another statue and so on.
Once all of the statues are broken you can grab the item on a corpse in one of the dead end halls, then you can go into the illusionary wall area and use a Lockstone on the contraption. This will reveal a face on the opposite wall, so head over to strike it and reveal a room with a chest. Grab the items and go back into the main room. On the far left hand wall (from where you dropped down) is the exit. So go down there and then up the stairs on your left as you exit. Pull the lever here to create a shortcut back to the area with the last bonfire. Then you can go back down the stairs to that lever and left at the end to find a chest. There is also another Lockstone contraption in this area that will light up a bunch of large torches (this DOES NOT impact on the first rule) but it is not required if you don't feel like it.
Now go through the massive doors and drop down to the left and go under the stairs. Quickly kill the ghoul here WITHOUT HITTING THE BELL to stop him ringing it. If he does ring it, or you smack the bell, then four of the magic using phantoms will appear further down the hallway. They are all static at this point and can be lured towards you one at a time with a ranged attack. If you want the souls then be all means hit the bell yourself.
Once they are dead (or if you killed the ghoul quietly) then you will also notice seven of the golden knights guarding the fog gate up ahead. The boss is behind there so if you do fail to kill him then you have to slog through these guys each time to get back here which is a pain. You don't have to face them all at once, as you can normally just lure one or two with ranged attacks and deal with them back where you came in. The only exceptions are the two right in front of the fog gate (both spear wielders) as they will not leave their post to chase you, so you will have to engage them up close.
Should you kill them all go up to the fog gate and turn around. Behind one of the pillars on your right (As you face back into the room) is Grave Warden Agdayne's summon sign. So feel free to call him now if you are human as he is quite handy. If you can summon another player from in front of the fog gate too that will make your life much easier as the boss can be handful on your own.
Go through the gate to meet the Royal Aegis, Velstadt. This guy is pretty slow moving, rather like the Smelter Demon from earlier, and has a fairly long reach with his weapon. His attacks are slow, but can be damaging if they connect, so be sure to dodge appropriately. You can also block most of his physical strikes but be mindful of stamina management if you do so. If you bring in the NPC summon he should take most of the heat and let you get behind Velstadt for some easy hits, but be careful as he can do a two hit combo that strikes directly in front of him and THEN directly behind. So be ready to dodge and don't get greedy.
Once you have him down to half health he will kneel down and chime his weapon. This will infuse his attacks with darkness, so you may take damage even when blocking (depending on how your shield fares against dark attacks). He will also cast dark spells if you are in front of him (or at your summon pals), and emit a dark blast on rare occasions. These attacks are sporadic though and you should be able to hit and run to good effect. If you do need to heal just run as far from him as you can and swig Estus (make sure he is not casting a spell first) as his slow movement is easy to exploit.
Once he dies you will get his soul and can go in the door opposite. Wait at the top for a moment and look down. You'll see King Vendrick moping around but DON'T ATTACK HIM YET (or go too close to him). He currently has ludicrous levels of defence and can kill you in one or two hits - so why make the battle harder than it needs to be? Steer clear of him and we'll come back to him later. Instead you will spot the familiar glow of an item at the back of the room, so navigate past the King and grab his ring (achievement unlocked). Then go back up the stairs and speak to the Emerald Herald who will have appeared here to further the story and give you a clue on where to go next. You can now either use a Homeward Bone to warp to a bonfire or lug it back to the last one on foot. Head back to Majula to level up, upgrade items, grab arrows etc. Now time for a slight detour.
Throne of Want (Part 1)
This part is purely optional but will make your life easier right at the end of the game, as we will kill off a boss now so you DON'T have to fight two of them back to back in the finale. Plus, you can use the boss souls you get to snag some decent equipment from Ornifex in Brightstone Cove if you like.
From any bonfire, warp to the King's Gate bonfire in Drangleic Castle. Head out of this room and go left to the big black door ahead of you. These doors can only be opened if you equip the King's Ring (secret tip: it also slightly boost your fire damage). So wear that bad boy (you can take it off once you go through) and head down the super long path to the fog gate at the end.
If you spoke to Vengarl (Shaded Woods) after killing his body by the Primal Bonfire in Brightstone Cove then his summon sign will be to the right of the gate. Likewise if you have been keeping up with Benhart of Jugo (and you SHOULD have been) then his summon sign is on the left. NOTE: Summoning Benhart for this fight does NOT count towards getting his gear. You need to summon him for the FINAL boss fight (also in this room) and have him survive that if you want credit. But he sure is helpful for THIS fight so feel free to summon one or both of them to help out.
Before you head through here is the most important detail: YOU HAVE TO KILL BOTH ENEMIES WITHIN 30 SECONDS OF EACH OTHER OR THEY WILL FULLY REVIVE EACH OTHER. So don't just focus on one enemy, try and get them both down to about 50% health (to take into account the NPC's damage) and then chip away at them equally. Only kill one when the other has less than 25% health - as you should easily be able to finish them off.
Head through the gate to meet the Throne Watcher and Throne Defender. These guys are the typical little and large act, with one being nimble and using quick thrusting attacks, while the other is much slower and does heavier double handed swings. Frankly, with two NPC allies, these guys should be a pushover by now. All of their attacks can easily be blocked or dodged and the NPC's will take a lot of the heat leaving you free to counter or even backstab. Watch out for the smaller enemy though, as they like to quickly somersault away after attacking making countering hard. The smaller foe also has less HP in total, so you might want to kill them last.
Either way chip away at them until 50% health then watch out as they then like to charge up their attacks with lightning. Make sure you switch between them and be mindful of the damage done by the NPC helpers. Once one of them falls you MUST go all out to kill the other one and prevent them from doing the revive move - you probably have 30 seconds, but that should be enough to do 50%+ damage to either assuming you have a decent weapon/spell set up, Let the NPC's distract them and move in for the kill. Once they are both down you get their souls and can then head back to the last bonfire (Homeward Bone is recommended to save you the long slog) and warp to the Ruined Fork Road in the Shaded Woods.
Aldia's Keep
This area is actually fairly small, but has plenty of decent items so let's grab them all. From the bonfire go up the small stairs and into the middle path (the left goes to the Shrine of Winter and the right to the Shaded Ruins). Follow this past a white tree (grab the item here if you didn't earlier) and up to another King's Gate. Equip his ring once again and head on through to Aldia's Keep.
Off to your left is a corpse with some items, and there is another in the long grass by the trees. Watch out for the dogs in that area too as they CAN petrify you if you aren't quick, but they only take a couple of hits to kill. So snipe a couple from afar then deal with the rest up close. Just behind them, in the corner is a chest. DO NOT OPEN IT. It's another mimic, so go ahead and smack it to death before it can retaliate. It will drop the Sunset Staff (KEEP THIS ITEM - we need it for a quest later). Next to here is a small hut with a bonfire, so go ahead and light it.
Now if you have been keeping up with Lucatiel (and you really should have done) then this is the LAST place she will appear. ONLY speak to her if you have summoned her for at least three boss fights (Flexile Sentry, Lost Sinner, Smelter Demon, The Rotten) that she SURVIVED. If you killed more than one of those bosses without her surviving them you will not get her gear or the achievement. In that case you have two choices before talking to her here:
1) Use a Bonfire Ascetic at either No-Mans Wharf, Sinners Rise or Black Gulch (Hidden Bonfire) to reset one of those bosses and try to beat it again WITH Lucatiel. It CAN be a boss you have already beaten with her - it will still count. But be aware that doing so will make that are at NG++ level when you go through it again on NG+. Probably ONLY do this if she only needs to survive one more fight.
2) Just speak to her anyway and start her whole quest again on NG+. As two of her bosses HAVE to be beaten there anyway and the Flexile Sentry is quite easy as well. This means you aren't making areas even harder than they need to be next time around.
If you have had her survive three fights then go through all of her dialogue here. She will finish off her story and give you her gear (achievement unlocked) and we all feel a bit sad that we can't see her again. Let's be fair, Lucatiel was awesome. The next time you rest at a bonfire she will vanish from this spot and never be seen again.
Leave the hut and go down the opposite side of the stairs to find a Fire Seed. Then head up the stairs twice and drop back down in to the central water filled area for another item. Now you can head into the Keep. The first corridor will see you get invaded by none other than Lucatiel's errant brother (that scamp). If he swings at you near the locked carriage it will break and reveal a Basilisk. So keep away from that to make it easier on yourself. He has a long reach and will alternate between using a shield or going two handed. His attacks can be blocked so just chip away at him until he dies.
Go past him into the next room and the dragon skeleton ahead will start to move. Run back into the corridor you came from until he does a large roaring attack. It's a one off attack and he will never respawn. He may also hit the carriage in the room and release another Basilisk so be careful, as it could be on your right when you go back in.
Head back into the room and grab the item on the floor, then go to the back of the room (not up the stairs) and head right. Follow this path round to an energy barrier and meet Navlaan who reacts depending on your current state. If you are human he will be fairly normal but tell you to leave him alone, whereas if you are hollow he will be evil and eventually ask you to kill a bunch of people. Accept his offer (you don't actually have to kill anyone if you don't want to) and you will get a bunch of items and spells from him, then he will also open up his shop to you once you are done.
If you follow this path to the opposite side you will find a lever that will release him. DO NOT PULL THIS - as he then starts to invade you at annoying times and you miss out on his quest and items.
The people he wants you to kill (and the way around them - unless you want to KILL them for the items but it is not recommended) are as follows, and you only need to show him the item in your possession (he doesn't take it):
1) Laddersmith Gilligan - just buy one of his ladder miniatures and show it to Navlaan. Reward: Dispelling Ring.
2) Cartographer Cale - he will give you his helmet AFTER you beat the final boss and light all of the flames on the map in Majula, so we can't complete this quest until then. Reward: Simpletons Spice.
3) Felkin the Outcast - we just found the Sunset Staff in the mimic right outside the keep. Reward: Forbidden Sun (spell).
4) Emerald Herald - she will give you the Ancient Feather shortly (plus killing her makes it annoying to level up). Reward: Unleash Magic (spell).
Once you have done all four you can buy items/spells from him without having to release him. I'll remind you to come back here later. For now go back out to the main room and up the stairs. At the top go right and double back on yourself to find a chest. Grab the item and then head back the way you came into a room with a bunch of mirrors. There are three mirrors that will release black phantoms (one straight ahead as you enter this area, one from the only mirror on the wall opposite that and the last one in the far left corner). Activate them one at a time to save yourself a troublesome fight. When they emerge they take a moment to get oriented so rush behind them and swing away. You'll either kill them or do enough damage that they are almost dead. All three are slightly different in terms of weapons, but you can block and dodge their attacks as normal so it's nothing too troublesome. Once they are all dead you can grab the item from the corpse on the left hand side. Then head back the way you came.
You now have two choices. You can head up the central stairs and use a Fragrant Branch of Yore to depetrify the ogre there (step back once you do so, as he falls forwards). If you do that then you can easily snipe him from the stairs until he dies as he will rarely follow you down there unless you get really close. Once he dies you will get a unique helmet. Otherwise you can go past his stairs into an alcove on the left and up the staircase in there. Either way, head up to the top level where there is a basilisk in a cage.
If you stand in the doorway by the alcove staircase (the one that didn't have the stone ogre) you can just snipe away at the basilisk with impunity. He will break his cage once you attack, but won't get close enough to trouble you. If you want to go the melee route, then bait him into a breath attack and then get around his flanks and strike from there. His physical strikes can be easily blocked or dodged.
There is a corpse in front of it with an item you can snag, plus a chest down the side of the main stairs that you can loot. Once you have those items head through the door behind where the basilisk was and pull the cord hanging from the dragons mouth. This opens the door up ahead. Head through and spot a Lockstone contraption (it just lights up the area, so ignore it) and a corpse with an item.
As you move forward you will notice large paintings on the walls on either side (plus an ogre in a cage above you - ignore him for now). Give the paintings a smack to reveal the Acolyte's behind them, then wait for them to drop down before finishing them off. These guys have fairly slow combos and are easily blocked and taken down. There is one on the left before the ogre, then another on the right and finally a third on the left again.
Past the caged ogre is a large undead in a cage. Kill him from distance (he cannot break the cage) so you don't have to worry about him later on. Now look to the left of where he was to see a dead end corridor that is securely locked. You need to shoot the ogre in the cage from behind, which will cause him to break free, then lure him back here and make him hit THAT wall. Once he has done that you can kill him and open the chest that was hidden in there.
Now go back to the door on the left hand wall (from where you entered this area) near to where the ogre was and head in here. Smack the shelves on your right as you enter to find an item. Go halfway down the stairs in the right corner and then press A on the left hand wall to reveal a room with a bonfire. Rest up if you need to and then go down the stairs. AT the bottom is a cage with two of the large dogs (from the Gutter). DON'T GO IN JUST YET! If you have arrows you can actually snipe them both to death through the bars which is a good idea. Otherwise open the cage door and lure them out - again DO NOT GO IN THERE.
Once they are dead you should remove all armour/rings and THEN go in the room to grab the items from the various corpses. The orange liquid here will make short work of your equipment so don't risk it. You will find the one and only Soul Geyser spell (needed for an achievement) so be sure to grab it as well as the Aldia Key. Then head back up the stairs and out of the door. As you exit you should see another door in the wall opposite, slightly to your left, so head in there.
Backstab the Acolyte ahead of you and then another will rush to engage you as well. Once they are dealt with you can grab the item from the corpse on the table in front of you. Look left to see a giant tick in a cage, so snipe him from afar to prevent his fumes from breaking your gear. Smash the jars to the right of his cage for another item and then go out of the door. You will end up behind an ogre. Let's lure him away.
Go back into the last room and out of the door you initially entered. Head right to the end of the hall and that troll will smash through the door. You can now snipe him while retreating down this hall for an easy kill. If you go back to where he smashed through you will see a door on the left (just before where the ogre burst through) you can head through here to find another Acolyte (but nothing else). Then head into the ogre room. Move forward through the arch and be ready for ANOTHER ogre to burst through the wall up ahead. Lure him back the same way and kill him (or take cover in one of the side rooms).
Once he is dead you can move past him and straight ahead to the next fog gate and a, fairly easy, boss fight. Head through the gate to meet your first Guardian Dragon. This guy only has a few attacks and they are all easily dodged. It also helps if you have the Gyrm Shield for its 100% Fire resistance but it's not mandatory.
He will breathe fire in a cone in front of him, you can block this but it is easier just to strafe to the side of him and then you can get some attacks in. If you are close to him he will do a one or two hit horizontal bite attack. If you get near to his feet then he will try and raise the leg and stamp on you. If you get behind him he will try and smash you with his tail (you can cut his tail off). Finally, he has a habit of flying up onto the walls and shooting fireballs at you. Just run close to where he is hanging, or off to the side he is not facing, to dodge this easily - but watch out that you don't get underneath him when he lands again.
In truth this is supremely easy, especially for melee fighters. Run in close to his feet and bait him into the stomp move. Get out of range when he raises a leg, then dash in for some strikes once he is recovering. You can pretty much trap him in a cycle of this one attack until he dies. He may rarely go for a bite attack so keep your shield handy. Plus, he will hop onto the walls to breathe fire once or twice, but just move away and wait for him to come back down before repeating. He should die in no time. Once he is dead you get his soul and can hustle out of the opposite door. Look right when you exit to find a corpse you can loot then head into the lift and go up to the next area.
Dragon Aerie
This area is actually pretty light on enemies, but there is plenty of loot to be had and a LOT of Crystal Lizards. It is in your interests to hunt down as many of these as you can if you are interested in upgrading your gear - as at this point most of them will drop Petrified Dragon Bones and Twinkling Titanite amongst other things.
Remember if they disappear BEFORE you kill them then they will respawn once you rest at a bonfire. It's easy to clear out the major enemies here and then just run through to kill all of the lizards for their stuff.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The long wobbly bridge at the end of this section will get broken by a dragon if you spend too long crossing. The amount of time you get to cross depends on how many dragon eggs you break beforehand. In order to get all items we will break a lot of eggs - but you can then reset the egg counter by resting at a bonfire so feel free to break ALL the eggs you need as you go through here to get items, lizards etc. I'll tell you when to rest to reset them. If you break NO eggs you have infinite time to cross that bridge.
As soon as you enter this area follow the path to the right and speak to the Emerald Herald up ahead. She tells you a bit more of the story AND will give you the Ancient Feather. Do not sell or give away this item as it is basically an infinite version of the Homeward Bone, plus you can use it to complete Navlaan's quest (he doesn't take it from you either).
Now turn 180 degrees and go down the small path that is now on your right. This leads to a bonfire you can rest at, so do so. Then go outside and follow the path up to a bridge. Cross this and then look across the next bridge. You'll see one of those annoying exploding zombies from earlier. Snipe him from here so he can't explode you off the bridge as you cross. Then cross over to where he was.
Ahead of you is an alcove with an item and a Crystal Lizard behind some dragon eggs. Go ahead and smash them to get both. Then go up the left hand path (from where you initially entered) to meet your second Guardian Dragon. This guy has the exact same patterns as the earlier one, except he obviously has no walls to attach to. Take him out in the same way OR shoot him with arrows from where you came up and duck back down when he uses flame attacks.
Once he is dead you can come up and kill the Crystal Lizards up here. Sometimes they will scatter while you fight the dragon but he will not respawn so you can come back here at your leisure. There is one to the right of where you enter, one on the left side, one straight ahead that runs towards some eggs and one up the ramp on the right near an alcove with more eggs.
Also search the eggs opposite of where you enter for an item and grab the one from the corpse hanging into one of the holes. There is also a corpse in the alcove with the lizard so loot that too. Now head over the wooden bridge up here (on the left as you entered to face the dragon) but watch out for another exploding zombie just around the corner as you reach the opposite side. Kill him and head up to a second bridge to cross.
Go up the ramp here and then double back on yourself down the path to your right (in front of the bones) to find an item in the alcove behind some dragon eggs. Then go back where you came from and head in the entrance to meet a third dragon. Same rules apply, though it is harder to snipe this one as his flames go through the bone walls so don't use them for cover.
Once he is dead this area also has a couple of Crystal Lizards to kill (if they didn't run off) plus a couple of corpses to loot. There are two paths exiting this area but you should take the right hand one. This leads up to a ledge overlooking your final dragon fight. If you stand up here you can use arrows and spells with no chance of damage in return. Once he dies drop down to a ledge on your left for an item. Then drop from there to your right for a ledge with a Crystal Lizard. Once you drop to the floor there will be another Crystal Lizard on your right (it may have already started to run) and another to your left.
Grab the items from the various corpses in here and then take the path to the left (as your dropped down) and smash through some eggs to get through. As you go up this path to the last area you will so a ledge you can drop to from the right hand edge (if you look down). Do so carefully and grab the two items, then use the Ancient Feather to return to the last bonfire. Then you need to make your way to where you killed the last dragon (remembering the explosive guys and mopping up any Lizards you missed).
Now take the other exit and cross the bridge. At the other side there is a zipline on your left. Go across it to land back near the bonfire. Head up the path on your right to reach a ladder, kick it down to make a shortcut. Then go back to where you landed off the zipline and look off the edge to see a ledge you can drop to. Do so and grab the Twinkling Titanite down here, then use the Ancient Feather to go back to the bonfire. Climb up the ladder that has now been knocked down to get back up to the top.
Face the other zipline up here (that leads back to near where the fist one started) and look down. You should see a corpse on a ledge ahead of you (below the path of the zipline). To get it you should equip the Silvercat Ring and then press B to drop off the wire just after you cross the wooden bridge just before the ledge itself. Time it right and you will land on the ledge and be able to grab the item (a Soul of a Great Hero in case you were wondering if it was worth it). Then use the Ancient Feather again and this time be sure to REST at the bonfire to reset any broken eggs. Then climb the ladder again and take the zipline back across. Now approach the large and ominous wooden bridge and head across it (it should never break if you reset the eggs).
Dragon Shrine
After the bridge go into the building ahead to find a bonfire you can activate and rest at then head back outside and go left. Go up the stairs and into the building to your right to find a chest in the back corner. Then go back outside to deal with the dragon knight. These guys are similar to the knights in Heide's Tower but their combos and recovery are faster AND they can use lightning blasts that strike in front of them. Watch out as you fight this guy as a magician above likes to throw spells at you. Once he is dead smash the crates near the stairs to reveal a Lockstone device. Use a Pharros stone here to reveal the usual face in the alcove under the stairs and give it a whack to reveal a chest. Grab the loot and then head up the stairs.
At the top is another knight with a mace, plus the same pesky wizard above him. Run straight in front of the knight and under the arches on the left. He will not follow you under here so arrow or spell him to death without fear. Then go up the stairs in this little alcove. At the top turn around and see some more steps loading out into the open. Run up these and go right, across the stone bridge, to some more steps leading to a circular tower and that blasted cleric. Up close he is no problem so kill him off quickly and grab the item off the corpse up here. Look back to where you came from to see another dragon knight by a chest (he may have partially followed you across the bridge and be heading back). You can snipe him from here with ease or head back and deal with him personally, then grab the item in the chest next to him. Then head back into the circular tower and do a running jump to the ledge opposite.
Grab the item in the chest up here and then look up to see another mace wielding knight you can snipe from absolute safety. Kill him and then go right on this ledge and drop to the stairs below, follow then up to meet another sword and shield knight on the same ledge as the mace knight you just killed. Finish him off and then look to the right of the stairs you just came up to see a pile of crates.
Smash them and look off the broken edge they were in front of. You can drop down to a stone ledge from here, and then down again to two chests. WATCH OUT. The chest on the right (as you face them) is a mimic so deal with him accordingly to get his loot and then open the other chest as well. Go through the door in this room and look right to see another dragon knight. You can snipe him from the door but watch out if he gets close. Once he is dead you can go into his room and look in the little alcove on the left for an item. Then head through the door that knight was guarding to find a chest with a SUPERB ring in it (Third Dragon Ring). As soon as you open this chest you will be invaded by an NPC. Don't be alarmed - he is in the room at the top of the spiral staircase.
Let's head up there to deal with him. Be warned the he has some rapid and damaging attacks but if you catch him in a combo you can do significant damage, then just back off and recover stamina before either blocking his attacks and waiting for an opening or catching him in a combo before he can start an attack. Personally I found that a fairly constant offence would quickly wear him down and enable me to kill him. Once he is dead go up to the altar in here and grab the Petrified Egg (needed for an achievement) as well as the item to the right side of the altar. Then from here you can drop down to another ledge with a wooden chest which contains the Great Magic Weapon spell (needed for an achievement) before finally dropping back to the courtyard you were in BEFORE dropping down to that mimic chest earlier. Go right when you drop down and open the door.
This little corridor is a handy nook and pretty much every enemy up ahead will NOT follow you in here, so feel free to use it as a safe haven for sniping or healing (if sniping be aware that the enemies will gradually retreat out of your line of sight).
Head up through the next door to a large staircase. At the top of the first lot of stairs are two of the large knights, then halfway up the next set are two smaller dragon knights (these guys have VERY rapid combos so be careful and they like to shield bash when you are close), then at the top of the steps are two MORE large knights with one final smaller knight behind them. Phew. You can usually lure the big knights one at a time by sniping them with arrows, then retreat back to the last corridor when they get too close - repeat until they are dead. Same works for the smaller knights, though they will attack you individually unless you get too close. The knights at the top can be lured away from the smaller one, leaving just him to deal with once they are dead. With enough arrows/spells and a decent shield (for if they get too close) you should be fine.
Once they are all dead proceed to the top of the stairs and through the door ahead to meet the Ancient Dragon. Most important: DO NOT ATTACK HIM YET! Instead move towards him until he starts to speak to you, go through his dialogue until you get the Ashen Mist Heart (achievement unlocked) which is needed for story progression. Now once that is out of the way we need to kill this guy in order to get his soul so that we can easily kill King Vendrick.
He will not become hostile until you do about 2k worth of damage, but then he gets mad. He actually only has a few attacks. He will jump in the air and blast fire down in a large area, he will lean back and then forward shooting fire in a cone in front of him, he will shoot fire UNDERNEATH his own body (if you get underneath/behind him) or he will use physical attacks in the form of bites or tail attacks depending on where you are. The key to defeating him is to bait the same couple of attacks and then counter.
The only equipment you really need is the Gyrm Shield (enemy drop in Doors of Pharros) due to it's 100% Fire resist. Plus, having at least 30 Endurance is advisable (especially for melee users). If you are a magic user then Soul Geyser and Soul Vortex are great to use.
Now your ideal position wants to be in front of him (just off to one side) about a metre in front of his head and be sure to lock on. Too close and he will use physical attacks, so it should be easy to tell. Now from the correct position he will ONLY use two attacks.
1) He will jump in the air and breathe fire in front of himself - at which point you want to duel wield the Gyrm Shield (HOLD Y to duel wield if the shield is in your left hand) and slowly walk away from him. You should take two hits but your shield/endurance will absorb it all. Once you have taken that second hit lower the shield to get your stamina back and get back in position. Magic users or people without the shield/endurance should locate the tip of his tail when he leaps in the air and position themselves next to it to avoid damage (just don't let him squash you when he lands.
2) He will lean back and shoot fire in front of himself. Strafe to his side to avoid it and then run to his front foot to get 1/2 attacks in. Magic users should duck to the side and then cast a spell ASAP. Once you have hit him then get ready to pull the shield out and go back in position.
After both you then want to get back to the sweet spot in front of him and get your stamina back, then get your shield ready again. Just keep repeating this process and you will chip away at him with minimal risk - be aware that he may do the same move two/three times so there is no guarantee he will alternate between them one at a time. Once he dies you will get a Soul of a Giant. DO NOT USE THIS ITEM - YOU NEED ALL FIVE IN YOUR INVENTORY TO LOWER VENDRICK'S DEFENCE. You should now have TWO of this item in your inventory if you hung onto the one from the giants that gave you the Forgotten Key in the Black Gulch. You can now use the Ancient Feather to warp to the last bonfire. Then you can go to Majula and level up, buy items etc. You should also warp to the first bonfire in the Iron Keep, cross the bridge and hang a right in the first room then follow the corridor to the end to speak to Magerold. He will ask you for the Petrified Egg you found, give it to him and you can then join the Dragon Covenant (achievement unlocked).
Memories of the Ancients
You can also take a minor detour if you like for another item. Warp to the Lower Brightstone Cove bonfire and head back to the room you defeated Freja in (over the wooden bridge surrounded by crystals, into the chapel, up the ladder and then down through the web filled room). You can now use the Ashen Mist Heart to interact with the weird stone sculpture in this room. It will warp you to a memory, which you usually have limited time in but this one is fairly straightforward. Just head forward towards the dying dragon in front of you and interact with it to get the Ancient Dragon Soul (you can trade this with Ornifex for a great sword). Then interact again to leave this place. Then head down to the Primal Bonfire near here to warp back to Majula.
Our next progression destination is the Cardinal Tower bonfire in the Forest of Fallen Giants. Remember that place? Nostalgia. Head there when you are ready. It is worth noting that whenever you enter any of the memory segments you only have a limited amount of time to do everything. The only items you NEED to get are the Souls of a Giant, plus defeating the boss. Everything else is optional but you are free to repeat the memories as many times as you like to get everything. I'll guide you towards all the bits and pieces but don't get too frustrated if you run out of time. Just pick up where you left off.
From the Cardinal Tower bonfire head down the ladder and then go right, past the elevators that led down to the Last Giant and through the arch up ahead (there may be two spear wielding guards here if you didn't farm them earlier, so watch out). Go right and then right again to end up in a tunnel behind an Ironclad soldier. Kill him and then run through the arch on the left side of the courtyard he was stood in (to stop the enemies above lobbing firebombs on you). Kill the spear wielder in the next courtyard if you like and then head into the courtyard just ahead where a dead giant stands. Interact with him to be pulled into the Memory of Vammar.
Run straight ahead until you reach an area with two doors (one ahead and one to your left) and speak to Captain Drummond who is laid on the ground to your right. Go through the full range of options until he starts to repeat himself and he will teach you the last gesture you require (achievement unlocked). He also makes it so that the Royal Soldiers in the memories will not attack you but BE WARNED: if you accidentally attack them while trying to take down the giants (likely to happen) they will all turn hostile.
If the achievement doesn't pop upon learning the Hurrah gesture here, then you have missed one. Check the list here to see what you might have overlooked. To see what gestures you have just hit the BACK button and then select the option to swap one of the current gestures.
Once you have done with him go through the left hand door (directly opposite Drummond) to grab a chest with a bunch of Smooth and Silky Stones (remember to take them back to the nest in Things Betwixt when you can). Then go back and open the other door and head through.
Be careful in this corridor as a giant will smash through the left hand wall about halfway down. These guys hit HARD even if you are SL 150 or more, so be ready to dodge their attacks and try for a backstab if you can. They are also vulnerable to poison but have a ton of HP so it may take a while (and you are on a time limit). Watch out for their three hit combo and their combo that hits directly in front AND behind. Otherwise treat them like any other large enemy and dodge their attacks and counter when you can.
Once he is dead do not go through the hole he made, instead follow the corridor around for a Fire Seed. Then head back to that hole and look through. Out here are two more giants, one with a large club and the other one with poison attacks. If you snipe the club enemy he will move towards you (and usually fall over near the door for some reason, giving you a free hit). Deal with him first and then move up to take on the poison guy. He has less health and doesn't hit as hard but, obviously, can poison you. Once they are both dead you can grab an item on the scaffold in the far left corner. Then head out of the door in the right corner.
Look left out here to see a bunch of soldiers fighting two giants. With two fireball casting giants on the lefthand roof above them AND an even bigger club wielding giant further down the street. It's a pain to kill them all in the allotted time UNLESS you have some amazing spells or get some handy backstabs.
You can usually kill the two on the ground while they are distracted by the soldiers (be quick) then retreat to get out of range of the mages. You can then snipe them from back near the entrance, though they often jump off the roof after you. At some point the bigger giant will also wander over to try and pummel you. You can roll past his swings fairly easily but watch out as he can do a lot of damage if you botch the timing and his attacks will damage you if you block (SO DON'T).
Assuming everyone is dead (or you run past them all) there is a building with an open door at the end of this street. Go left from in front of it to find a chest. Go right from that door to find an item in the right corner (Giant Club). Then go through that door to find a ladder you can climb to reach the roof with the fire users (and another Soul of a Great Hero). Now go back into the last tower and out of the back door head left to spot another corpse you can loot in an alcove and then you'll see another large giant waiting for you at the top of the stairs. Either kill him or snipe him and lure him down to the bottom, then just run past him. At the top is another item you can grab and then you need to examine the Giant slumped in the doorway to get another Soul of a Giant (that should be your third. Again: DO NOT USE THEM). Examine him a second time to leave the memory.
Now you probably can't do ALL of that in one run. So feel free to chip away at the various items on as many trips as you need. Note that on subsequent visits the giant that burst through the wall at the start will instead try and smash though the door near Drummond - so be ready. Plus, you can kill him and then run past the next two giants, before legging it past the street of giants to the tower, so you only have to fight (or lure) the final giant to reach the soul. Your choice.
Once you are done here we need to go back to the tunnel where we killed the Ironclad on our way to the last memory. Head through it and then go right and through the door that led to the Pursuer fog gate. Go up these stairs (killing the two spear enemies if they are around) and onto the battlements. Follow the path straight ahead and you will see Benhart of Jugo sat in front of the next giant. Be sure to speak to him until he repeats himself (needed for an achievement) and then you can approach the giant and enter the Memory of Orro.
This area is also timed and has a ton of items. So I'll map out where everything is and you can approach it how you like. As soon as you spawn go straight ahead to meet our pal Benhart of Jugo again. So speak to him until he repeats himself. Then go up the steps to his left.
The next room will have some Royal Soldiers in it, who will be hostile if you attacked some of them in the last memory OR if you didn't speak to Drummond. They are tougher than their hollowed versions but still easy to block and counter. So kill them if you have to. Grab the item from the corpse in here and then use a Pharros Lockstone on the contraption on the wall. As ever smack the ghostly face that appears to find a secret room with a chest you can loot.
There is also ANOTHER Lockstone contraption in here but DO NOT USE IT! It will activate an annoying trap. Instead press A on the wall just to the right of it to open an illusionary wall, head inside to find two more chests to loot. Now go back into the room that had the soldiers and continue up the stairs at the far end.
At the top you will see two giants fighting soldiers on ballistas. The closest one is a fire user so try and kill him ASAP but watch out, as sometimes he can seem to be targeting the soldiers and will actually launch a spell behind himself to hit you. Use the Gyrm shield to block his spells and keep out of the line of sight of the ballistas. You should be able to kill the spell user while his friend is distracted with the soldiers. Then you can sneak up on the other giant and get some free hits in. If the ballista guy survived (and is hostile) then feel free to kill him too.
Now destroy the wooden blocks in front of the cranes up here to lower some platforms. Then edge to the gap near the right hand one (if you are looking down to the courtyard below). You should be able to see the small wooden platform the crane lowered below and to your right. Equip the Silvercat Ring and carefully drop onto this. Then do a 180 to see a hole in the wall. You need to JUMP into here (tricky with the small platform). When you do so there will be a giant to fight and a couple of chests with a nice weapon to loot. Then drop through the wall behind where the giant was and back down to the courtyard, you should be able to grab a Soul Vessel and Soul of Great Hero from a corpse here too.
Head back inside to where Benhart of Jugo was and go all the way up the stairs again. Once at the top you can drop onto a stone ledge (further left of where you jumped down previously) to snag another Soul of a Great Hero. The cross the ledge to drop to a small roof on the far side. From here you can snipe the large giant and the two guys on ballistas below (it's easier to drop down and backstab them both once the giant is dead). You can now run into the central courtyard and climb the ladder on your right (it will be on your left if you come out of the right hand passage by Benhart of Jugo). Kill the archers at the top and grab the item up here, and follow it around to drop onto a roof with another item (if you didn't get it earlier). Now you can head back to the main courtyard, past where the two ballistas are at the end and up the stairs on the left to reach a slumped giant and your fourth Soul of a Giant (I will KEEP reminding you NOT to use these). Examine him again to leave the memory.
If you just want the soul then here is the quick route. Spawn and talk to Benhart (if this is your first trip here) and then go all the way to the top of the stairs. Kill the fire user and then drop onto the stone ledge just past him, then go to the end and drop onto the roof on your right. Then from here drop behind the ballista guys and go and grab the Soul of a Giant. Easy.
Ok time for the final memory. Head back to the ladder that leads up to the Cardinal Tower bonfire and move past it watching out for the enemy coming over the bridge and the other slumped by the wall. Kill them both and head over the bridge the spearman was crossing, then right at the end (watch out for the enemy laid on the floor here) and through the door. Immediately go left and up the stairs here to another King's Door. Equip the King's Ring to open it and head through to find another bonfire to activate and rest at.
Head past the bonfire and look ahead to see the next giant. Note: that you can drop down to the left here to find a corpse with some Twinkling Titanite. Then you have to drop down to the valley floor (it's where we got the Fire Longsword way back when) and head up the ladder on the left and follow the scaffold to a hole in the wall and then the steps back up to the Cardinal Tower. I'll wait a minute while you do all that and head back here. Ready? Good. Make sure you are human before heading in (IMPORTANT).
Examine the giant to access the Memory of Jeigh, this section is pretty short so the time limit shouldn't be an issue. As soon as you enter you will see Captain Drummonds summon sign on the floor IGNORE IT. Instead head down the small steps near the fog gate to find the summon sign for Benhart of Jugo (needed for an achievement). It is tough to get him to survive the upcoming fight so follow the next few steps accordingly.
Press to summon him and then IMMEDIATELY run up and activate the fog gate (don't wait for him to spawn). Take a step forward and wait for a large fireball to land in front of you. Once it does RUN straight away down the right hand side (ignoring the enemies) until the head of a large statue falls down on the left side. Once it does stand next to the right hand wall, facing out to sea, with the Gyrm shield held up. This prevents fireball damage. If you do get hit you are stood too far forward.
What SHOULD happen is this. The head will roll past you and crush the giants and soldiers, but Benhart will have been delayed enough by your quick movement (and the fact he wasn't fully summoned when you entered) that he should have taken no damage. If he dies then you need to get yourself killed and make another attempt (Ring of Life Protection is handy so you don't lose souls or waste effigies). Assuming you can see his health bar with full health then you are fine. Wait for a fireball to land just ahead of you and then move forward to face the Giant Lord.
As you approach he is likely to do a sword lunge in your direction (that also emits a forward blast) so be ready to dodge to the side to avoid it. Close the distance ASAP so the fireballs aren't an issue and you can bait his attacks. As with the Last Giant you can stay close to his legs and he will only do one of two things.
1) A slash with his sword, which can be up to 2 or 3 hits. Be careful as this can reach slightly to the side and behind him, so be ready to roll when he does this.
2) A stomp attack. He will raise his leg upwards BUT it will actually come down just in front of where he raises it so try and stay behind him.
Stick close to his legs and when he swipes just dodge or block (it drains a lot of stamina though) and if he stomps strafe behind him and attack his other leg. No need to lock on as it can make dodging in the small area a bit of a pain. If you duel wield a decent weapon you can quickly do a lot of damage. Once Benhart arrives he will also take some heat but MAKE SURE HE SURVIVES. If Benhart is taking too much damage then go for all out offence as, by this point, you should have the weapons and abilities to take him down in about 10/15 hits max - probably fewer if you are a magician with the best spells. If you do use magic then feel free to let Benhart distract the boss while you go up on the ledge to the left of him for a better view.
Once he dies you will get the Giant Lord's soul and the Giants Kinship item. DO NOT USE THE GIANT LORD SOUL - you need to trade it with Straid for a unique spell (needed for an achievement). You can go up the ledge near the boss for a corpse with an item plus you can dodge the fireballs and head back to a similar ledge (just to the left of where you entered through the fog gate) for a bunch of Bonfire Ascetics. Once you have those go through the door behind where the Giant Lord was and down to find another fallen giant you can examine for your fifth Soul of a Giant (FINAL WARNING - do not use any of these yet).
Before we do anything else we need to head back to a couple of the memories for achievements. Go back to the Memory of Vamaar first (in the courtyard near the ballista room) and go down the initial corridor and speak to Captain Drummond again. Now the Giant Lord is dead he will give you his helmet (achievement unlocked). You can just use the Ancient Feather to exit the memory.
Next up head to the Memory of Orro (the giant by the crows nest after the Pursuer fight) and speak to Benhart of Jugo in this first room. If he has survived THREE boss fights up to this point (Prowling Magus, Mirror Knight, Giant Lord) then he will give you his equipment (achievement unlocked). If he has only survived two fights then you have ONE more chance to get the required victory on the final boss. Unlike Lucatiel he will not vanish from this spot once you talk to him. If he has only survived one fight then it's up to you whether to use Bonfire Ascetics to make the bosses respawn (Royal Army Campsite, Central Castle Drangleic, Place Unbeknownst) or just try again on NG+. As ALL of his required fights are mandatory, you may as well go for NG+ rather than making life harder on yourself. Again once you are done here you can use the Ancient Feather to exit the memory.
Once you have spoken to them both you can now FINALLY deal with King Vendrick. Be sure to do this BEFORE the final boss fight or you won't get the chance. With all five Souls of a Giant in hand (you DIDN'T use any of them right?) you can use a bonfire to warp to the second bonfire in the Undead Crypt. Go out of this room and then right, then right again out of that door. Head over the shortcut bridge you raised (on your right - again) and through the big door ahead. Drop down from the top of the stairs and kill the ghoul underneath to stop him ringing the bell and then deal with all of the knights up ahead however you like.
Once they are dead you can move past them, through the next room and into Vendricks room. (Note: If he kills you a fog gate will spawn in front of his area when you come back). He will only become hostile when you deal enough damage but the fight itself is quite easy.
Vendrick only has a few attacks. At range he will either do a leaping attack towards you which you can dodge by rolling to the side, or release a ball of cursed energy form his ring (this is quite rare). Up close he will either do a single vertical slash or a combo of horizontal slashes. The only real danger is that, depending on your health and armour, he can kill you in one hit. But his attacks are so slow and easy to dodge this shouldn't be a problem. Plus, by having all five giant souls you will do a normal amount of damage to him rather than practically nothing if you didn't have any.
Simply stick close to HIS left leg and strafe around to the back of him. If he does a vertical slash it will miss and you can counter, if he does a horizontal slash then roll past him and be ready to roll again if he starts a combo. If he doesn't combo then counter, if he does roll again and then counter when he stops. Repeat until he dies - it's that simple. Only go for one hit at a time to be safe and you should have no problems. If you do have a lot of endurance and a good shield then you can block his strikes but it saps that much stamina that you will be unable to strike back. So just duel wield a weapon and dodge instead. Occasionally he will jump backwards when you stay close to him for a while, so just follow him to prevent his ranged moves and repeat the same formula. If he does hit you (and you don't die) then only heal when he does a vertical strike or you double roll past his combo.
Once he dies (achievement unlocked) you will get a bunch of souls but not HIS soul. But we can soon solve that. Head to the Crumbled Ruin bonfire in the Shrine of Amana (it's the second one). From here head to the main path (watch out for the two magicians) and then follow it to the ruins ahead with torches. To the left of those ruins is another magician on a water covered platform. Kill him and follow the path to the left side of this platform to a door. Now the King is dead (and IF you are human) you can open this door and go inside to get the Soul of the King, then there is a little side passage that will take you to a chest with his armour too. You can also take a detour to see the ghostly Chancellor Wellagar (in the entrance to Drangleic Castle) and he will give you his weapons for defeating the Giant Lord.
Throne of Want (Part 2)
Once you have done that it is time for the final boss. Head back to the King's Gate bonfire in Drangleic and hang a left out of that room. Open the King's Door and speak to the Emerald Herald (she is just inside to the left) for a last snippet of story progression. Make the trek back to the fog gate up ahead (assuming you came here earlier).
NOTE: If you didn't fight the Throne Watcher and Defender earlier then you will have to fight them now AND then fight the last boss straight away afterwards. That's not ideal so hopefully you did everything in order.
Once again if you spoke to Vengarl after killing his body his summon sign will be on the right and if you have been keeping up with Benhart of Jugo his sign will be on the left - feel free to summon them both. If you still haven't gotten Benhart's gear then this fight WILL count if you just need one more so try and make sure he survives if that is the case. A solid tip is to equip curse reducing items and have some Effigies on your item belt for quick use in the battle ahead.
Head through the fog gate to meet Nashandra, who looks a bit different this time around. Her primary attack is to deposit a bunch of cursed balls around herself, these will curse you rapidly if you go near them (but can be destroyed with an attack) so try and wait for her to move away from them. Your NPC buddies seem immune to this effect so feel free to let them get close and then you can use spells/arrows from afar. Her other attacks see her summon a dark blade to combo you with if you get close, she will also do large dark blast attack all around herself when you are close too. At mid range see likes to do a curse beam: either down into the ground in front of herself and then straight up OR going from left to right horizontally (you can roll through this with good timing).
She moves VERY slowly though and you can heal or cure your cursed status just after you bait her into doing a vertical beam attack or when she is replenishing the cursed balls. If time isn't an issue then feel free to just chip away at her with ranged attacks and then run away to maintain distance. You should kill her without a hitch. If you want to speed things up (especially it you need Benhart to survive) then feel free to get in close, dodge her dark sword attacks and do good damage. Just watch for when she crosses her arms to do the dark blast as you want to roll away quickly.
Once she dies you will get her soul as ever but are now confined in this room so HAVE to end the game. Walk towards the dome to get the final cutscene (achievement unlocked). DO NOT GO TO NG+ STRAIGHT AWAY. Instead let the credits end and you will be warped back to Majula - now we can finish up a few things.
First go into the mansion in Majula and speak to Cale the Cartographer. Killing the last boss will have lit up all of the fires on his map, so keep speaking to him to get his gear (achievement unlocked). Now warp back to the first bonfire in Aldia's Keep and head inside. Go straight ahead and under the large stairs and around to your right to speak to Navlaan. With Cale's helmet you should now have ALL the items you need to complete his assassination quests and get all the items and spells he has (remember you need to be hollow for him to give you the quests) two of which are unique to him (needed for achievement). Once all four are done (see earlier for the items you need) you can access his shop and buy any spells you may not have already.
Now you want to do anything you can at this point: max out a weapon to +10 (if you haven't already) for an achievement, invade Licia with the Crushed Eye Orb (if you haven't already) for her unique spell, max out the Heirs of the Sun Covenant (if you haven't already) for their unique spell, get the Bellkeeper Covenant to Rank 2 (if you haven't already) for their unique spell and finish the Pilgrims of the Dark Covenant (if you haven't already) for their spell. Then check this list for all the spells you should have in your possession by now. The only ones you should need going into NG+ and beyond are as follows:
Great Chaos Fireball - Chancellor Wellager (New Game ++) – 17,400 souls
Flame Weapon - Trade Old Witch Soul with Straid of Olaphis (New Game +) – 5,000 souls
Numbness - Trade Old Dead One Soul with Straid of Olaphis (New Game +) – 5,000 souls
Blinding Bolt - Trade Old King Soul with Straid of Olaphis (New Game +) – 10,000 souls
Crystal Soul Spear - Trade Old Paledrake Soul with Straid of Olaphis (New Game +) – 10,000 souls
Bountiful Sunlight - Chancellor Wellager (New Game ++) – 11,000 souls
Wrath of the Gods - Chancellor Wellager (New Game ++) – 8,200 souls
Once you have all of the spells and achievements you can get (should JUST be missing the four spell achievements and the Dark Soul achievement) then feel free to grab all of the souls and items you think you will need. Many of the smiths and merchants will sell unlimited amounts of certain items (and Chloanne has a good supply of a number of rare crafting materials) so buy what you need. Be warned that if you think now is the ideal time to kill NPC's for their stuff you are right AND wrong. As even if you purge your sins via Cromwell (Brightstone Cove) you will still be more likely to get invaded by Blue Sentinels and the like on NG+ so it probably isn't worth it. You SHOULD have gotten a copy of all their gear legit by now anyway and duplicates aren't really worth it.
With all that done you can finally rest at the Majula bonfire and select the option to start the journey again. Congrats, for now.
NG+/NG++
You will carry the following over to a New Game+:
- Your soul level
- All souls currently carried
- Most items and equipment (including boss souls and Souls of a Giant)
- Any Bonfire Ascetics used will retain their effect (making areas on NG+ even harder)
- All Pyromancy, Sorcery, Hexes and Miracles
- Estus flask and its upgrade level
- Current covenant and all covenant levels
You will lose all keys you had, any Fragrant Branches of Yore, the Dull Ember will need to be reacquired (if you want to imbue weapons with McDuff) and the Crushed Eye Orb will vanish if you didn't use it to invade Licia (which you SHOULD have).
Your only goal in your next two playthroughs is to find the last few spells you need. Note that enemies will do substantially more damage to you while taking less damage in return, however, their attacks and weaknesses remain the same otherwise.
You will also note that at some areas NEW enemies (especially red phantoms will appear):
Things Betwixt - the opening field will now have numerous Falconer enemies. These guys are basic swordsmen/archers BUT they also have hawks that they like to fling towards you. As you exit the next field (with the small kobolds) two red testicle men will invade as well.
Forest of Fallen Giants - two red invaders are by the King's Door (opposite the ladder down from Cardinal Tower) plus there is a red phantom Ironclad in the courtyard near the ballista room, and a further red phantom on the stairway in the room after Pate.
Heide's Tower of Flame - has numerous extra knights in addition to the normal ones. Plus, you will find four red invaders (that look like Blue Sentinels) scattered around.
No Man's Wharf - an extra red phantom on the ship at the end, plus the Flexile Sentry has two nimble Suspicious Shadow sidekicks.
Lost Bastille - most obvious addition is that the Lost Sinner will get TWO pyromancer sidekicks when you get her down to about 50% health. Plus red phantom versions of the large jailers at various points.
The Gutter - two red phantoms on the dead end path just before the wooden scaffolding that leads to the Gutter (the area just after the Grave of Saints with the exploding guys in the water area).
Brightstone Cove - two large pigs in the Royal Campsite area, a red phantom cleric in the hidden alcove with the Estus Shard (just before Prowling Magus fight) a second red phantom by the arch before the crystal field that leads to the chapel before the boss.
Shrine of Winter - red phantom in the path leading to the Shrine, just to the left of the Flexile Sentry.
Drangleic Castle - red phantom by main entrance.
Aldia's Keep - red phantom acolyte in the last picture as you enter.
(Will add in the rest once I check them).
Regardless, your main goal here is to kill the FOUR bosses guarding the Primal bonfires - BUT DO NOT USE THE SOULS YOU GET. Instead take the new souls to Straid in the Lost Bastille to get a new spell for each of them (NOTE: Ornifex can ALSO take these souls and create weapons so be sure NOT to give them to her by mistake). The one's you need are as follows:
Flame Weapon - Trade Old Witch Soul with Straid of Olaphis (New Game +) – 5,000 souls
Numbness - Trade Old Dead One Soul with Straid of Olaphis (New Game +) – 5,000 souls
Blinding Bolt - Trade Old King Soul with Straid of Olaphis (New Game +) – 10,000 souls
Crystal Soul Spear - Trade Old Paledrake Soul with Straid of Olaphis (New Game +) – 10,000 souls
You will get all of the sorceries (achievement unlocked) and all hexes (achievement unlocked) once this is done. Then continue the game and complete it to get to NG++. You can skip the optional Rat Bosses, Smelter Demon, Vendrick and so on. Just kill the bosses you have to (unless you want the souls etc from the others) and get through the game ASAP.
Once you get to NG++ you can either play normally and grab the four souls AGAIN to unlock the Shrine of Winter, then head to Drangleic Castle, open the gates and go and talk to Chancellor Wellagar. He will now sell the following spells:
Great Chaos Fireball - Chancellor Wellager (New Game ++) – 17,400 souls
Bountiful Sunlight - Chancellor Wellager (New Game ++) – 11,000 souls
Wrath of the Gods - Chancellor Wellager (New Game ++) – 8,200 souls
So buy them to get all pyromancies (achievement unlocked) and all miracles (achievement unlocked) and you will then have everything and get the Dark Soul (achievement unlocked).
If you don't want to slog through the bosses again on NG++ there is a faster way. Head to Majula, equip the Silvercat Ring and drop down the Pit. Go all the way to the second stone ledge and then down to the wooden bridge. Snipe the exploding guys from here (or drop down and kill them) then run to the wooden scaffold that leads to The Gutter. Head down here and into the Gutter drop down to the bonfire and light it (just in case). Go over the bridge here and kill the dog, drop down to the bridge in front and cross it (watch out for the exploding guy) then kill the dog on the other side and go right and up the ladder. Kill the torch guy up here and cross the next bridge (another exploding guy here) then kill the next dog. Watch out on this section as you can fall through the floor.
Cross to the other side and follow the path around to the end. Drop down, kill the dog and head through the fog gate. You can go through to the other side of this building for another bonfire to be safe OR just head down to the bottom via the ladders, kill the ghouls down here and smash the pots that break your gear. Drop down and grab the Fragrant Branch of Yore then use the Ancient Feather and head back to Majula.
Use that branch to go and free Rosabeth (on the way to the Shaded Woods) and follow that path to the bonfire at the Ruined Fork Road. Take the left hand exit from here and follow the path to the Flexile Sentry (kill him with arrows from the ridge before to be safe). Go up the small path next to him (watch out for the red phantom) and then save and exit the game at the top.
Now delete the update from your harddrive and load it back up. DECLINE the update and load your save. Now follow this video to bypass the Shrine of Winter. Then make your way into Castle Drangleic, save and exit again. Then reload the game and apply the update. Now speak to Chancellor Wellagar for the spells - this route will take you less than an hour max. BE CAREFUL: if the enemies outside Drangleic kill you then you have to do the jumps again.
Either way you now have to full 1,000g. Congratulations!
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