Dark Souls Walkthrough

This Dark Souls walkthrough will help you complete all the "quests" of the game and take you to the end to finish the journey

Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to the most difficult RPG of its time, Demon Souls. It is developed by From Software and they have promised it to be more difficult than Demon Souls. For those who struggle yet want to play these games, this Dark Souls walkthrough should prove helpful.

Dark Souls Walkthrough

Dark Souls as the name suggests is set in a dark fantasy setting and focuses on dungeon crawling and the tension and fear that arise when the players encounter enemies in this setting. It gets even better when these enemies are insanely difficult but don’t sweat, we will walk you through each battle.

Unlike Demon Souls, you can light certain bonfires which act as respawn points when you die. In Demon Souls, if you remember, you had to play the level again when you die. These bonfires also replenish health, magic, and special items like Estus Flasks – there are also limited vials that restore health.

You can use different weapons and strategies to survive in this dark fantasy world. There is also online mode which will allow you to play coop and it’s unique in its own way.

Anyway, be it online mode or offline campaign, we will guide you through your every battle and quest in Dark Souls in this walkthrough.

Table of Contents

Prologue – Northern Undead Asylum
As the game starts, you will find your character inside a cell. Grab the key on the floor to open the cell. Ready to fight? Not yet because you need to be familiarized with the controls first. Follow the on-screen instructions as you walk through the corridors of the asylum.

When you reach the courtyard, light the bonfire to save the progress. After moving through the big gate, you will encounter first of many demons you are going to face in the game. He is there to scare you of course and is difficult to take down.

If you mange to kill it, you will get a hammer as a reward and if you want otherwise, move by it and light the next bonfire. Don’t forget to grab that leather shield that will help you to defend against the arrows in the near future.

In the next courtyard, head to the second floor and as you climb the stairs from here, you will find a boulder stone coming towards you. Jump to the side to dodge it. It will hit the wall behind you. Enter the hole and you will find a knight inside who will assign you a quest.

If you accept, he will give you Undead Asylum F2 East Key. Move back to the stairs and deal with the the knights around the balcony. You are almost at the end of prologue but you will have to fight with a boss before that.

Move through that white light door. You should have melee weapon equipped before you enter. Now, the beast won’t go easy on you. Don’t think that the ledge you are standing on is safe. The demon will smash it into pieces in no time. Jump onto the demo and inflict as much damage as you can before the real fight begins.

You can use the pillars as cover and don’t forget to drink the bottle when you are low on health. It will take some time before you take the demon down. Get the key and move through the doors for the next chapter. Before you leave, you can unlock the gate near the white light and grab an undead soul. Souls are quite important as you can exchange them through blacksmith or bonfires for useful purposes.

Firelink Shrine
In this area, the NPCs you will save throughout the game will eventually return here to do their jobs. Anyways, get to the bonfire and grab the humanity there. It is important that you read our other guides to be familiarized with all the technical terms and their functions in dark souls.

For humanity, these points will convert you to a human (you are a demon by default) which have advantage like it’s easy to deal with merchants and blacksmiths and you get extra healing potions etc.

Now you can adopt three paths to proceed. If you choose to head northwest to the graveyard then get ready to face a wave of skeletons. You won’t be able to fight them all so you can try dodging them and get any loot around. If you die, you don’t have much souls to loose. It is relatively safer that you use the stairs to the east.

On the hillside, you will face some skeletons. Remember that you are not a hero of a movie who can deal with a couple of enemies just like that. You need to stay sharp all the time and take every enemy seriously even if it is a weak skeleton. Try to keep your shield up and when you get a chance, utilize it to do some damage.

While fighting with enemies up there, you can jump from the edge to the stoney section of the bridge. Why are you doing that? You can get the ring at the end. If you die and that ring is equipped, you won’t loose any souls but the ring will break. Move upstairs and then through the pipe is Undead Berg.

Undead Burg
You might be thinking that you have faced sufficient already but that’s nothing as compared to the future challenges. Anyways, there are plenty of skeleton creatures in the berg that need your attention.

Move through the building to the rooftop. You will see a dragon but that is not a problem – well, for the time being atleast.

Watch out for that archer on the tower. Head for the bonfire inside the room to restore your health and Estus flask count. This also revives all the enemies. You can use bonfires strategically and return back to grab more souls by killing enemies.

Head down the stairs and deal with the two skeletons. Smash the boxes on the platform to reveal a passage leading to the merchant. He will be the main source of purchasing items in the early stages of the game.

The items you purchase depend upon the class you chose at the beginning. Melee characters should have armor while daggers and crossbow are good options for the sorcerers.

Cross the narrow bridge and move forward, dealing with the skeleton demons. Always watch out for the archers above you. You can use your ranged attacks here for good. After killing the enemy on the guard tower, you can either go down the stairs to face the knight or upwards which is a much safer option.

If you want to mess up with the knight down there (which is not recommended in your current situation) and manage to defeat it somehow without dying, you will get a ring that will increase your defense when you are low on HP.

When you head upstairs, watch out for the barrel that rolls in. You will get to the white gate and across that gate is waiting the first boss fight. Boss fights are usually annoying in dark souls and eat up a lot of your time in figuring out the strategy to take them down. You can refer to ourboss guide for the tips to take them down.

For this one, you should climb up the ladder first and take out the archers above. You can jump down the ladder and perform a melee on its head, that will do some damage.

Repeat the exercise a couple times to bring it down. To dodge its attacks, try to keep a safe distance and jump either towards its legs or away from it depending upon your distance.

If you have some fireballs, use them for good. Melee users should try to stay in his legs area to dodge the hammer attacks. It’s not easy but you don’t have any other good options.

After you have defeated the boss, move across the bridge and take the stairs down and then turn left to meet Solaire. He will grant you White Sign Soapstone.

But if you attack him, he will fight back and is not an easy foe to deal with. And if you manage to defeat him, you will have his armor, weapon, shield along with the soapstone.

Move back upwards and you will find a dragon who will start emitting fire on the bridge. You need to head for the stairs to the right wing of the bridge and move to the bonfire below. Stock up and head back up the bridge (i know it’s dangerous but necessary for a worthy weapon).

Drake Sword
Head to the underneath side of the bridge and spot dragon’s tail. If you have 30 or so bows with you, you will be able to get the blade. You need to shoot the tail for at least 15 times to get the blade. Yes 15 times. You won’t be able to wield it right now as you are weak but later on, you are going to love this blade.

Make your way to the left and deal with that warrior. Don’t get hasty and try to make him come towards you. Those rats in the next section are poisonous. Yes they are still rats but the demonic ones. The next courtyard has plenty of skeletons to deal with. They are for lesser trouble but the armored boar is ready to take you down.

Deal with the weak ones first and then rush towards the stairs quickly to get the height advantage. You can either use the range attacks and if you don’t have them, try melee backstabbing. All you need to do is wait for the right time, get behind boar’s back and bang.

Grab the master key he drops and then use the stairs to the dinning area. Deal with the enemies and proceed towards the bridge. After crossing the bridge, there are two paths to choose from.

If you dare to take the path to the right, a knight will be waiting for you ahead. If you have spent some time in leveling up then you can give it a shot but dying is costly as you can easily choose the left path to stay safe.

If you go for the left path, there will be some normal enemies along the path before you reach “Undead Parish” threshold.

Undead Parish
Things will go on getting tougher from now on. Knights are difficult foes to go up against but they render descent amount of souls on death. As you move up the staircase, watch out for the knight standing in there.

On the upper level, deal with the sorcerer keeping a safe distance. Crossbow can help your purpose or some magic tricks you have. If you can manage to lure the undead to the hallway, you can protect yourself from being outnumbered.

Move through the wooden door and climb up the ladder to free Knight Lautrec. You will meet him again in the Firelink Shrine. Climb the ladders ahead to get to the boss fight. Just before that white gate, you can summon Knight Solaire if you are a human that is to help you in the boss battle.

Either way, the boss must be defeated. Initially shoot the target with ranged attacks like soul arrows. You need to jump away when it opts to swing its axe. Soon, another Gargoyle will join in the party. You need to alter your strategy slight and target one foe first before you get to the other.

Magic attacks are quite effective against them so if you have some, you are going to have relatively easy task to kill them. After the creatures are dead, head to the base of the bell tower. Mark the location of Oswald as you are going to need him soon.

Climb the series of ladders to ring the first bell. Head back down and exit through the door across the elevator. Follow the path to reach the ruins of a chapel.

Reach the bonfire below and then there is a blacksmith below it. You can spend souls to buy the armor or other related upgrades. Then move to the next section where awaits yet another boss fight.

It is not that tough for the sorcerers to bring it down specially when they soul arrows. Ranged attacks will do great. Keep a safe distance from it and you will be fine. Being a melee user, you should block its swings using the shield.

Once it attacks, block it and move around it to place a couple of shots. Don’t forget to use the estus flask whenever you are low on health. Your next destination now is Darkroot Garden.

Darkroot Garden
In Dark Souls, you should grab any opportunity you get to level up your character by collecting some souls or other useful items. Darkroot Garden is just a place where you can empower your character before you face the big beast.

You can enter Darkroot even before you complete Undead Parish. The stairs from the blacksmith in Undead Parish can lead you there but there is a big monster in the chamber before you proceed which you need to keep in mind.

Anyways, in the forest, you will soon encounter your first enemies emerging from the ground. You need to be defensive in your approach and let them attack first and then get them on counter. It is always recommended that you take one undead at a time. Do use Estus flask when needed.

If you keep on following the path, after some running and walking, you will end up near a door with a glowing mark at its center. To enter the door, you need 20,000 souls to buy Crest of Artorias key which will open it. The key can be purchased from the blacksmith in the Undead Parish.

If you focus on the wall to the left side of this locked door, you will find your way to a bonfire hidden in the bricks. Replenish your health and Estus flasks.

Again, since the monsters would have regenerated, you can go back and kill them again to grab more souls. The ones you have killed so far are quite sensitive to fire attacks.

Just across the bonfire is a path that will lead you to three more demons. They will attack you normally and by now you should have know how to doge/block their attacks and then counter.

When you reach the clearing, some of the knights will be there to entertain you. It is quite difficult that you can currently fight with them and win. So what’s the other option? It’s to make a run for the other side by moving along the left hand wall.

If you are not able to do that, you should engage with one at a time. Ranged attacks like soul arrows will be quite useful here. If you manage to save yourself from big knight swords, you can earn yourself some Elite Knight armor.

Moreover, there are 300 souls for killing each of these armored soldiers.So the engagement might be risky but the rewards are there. That’s how Dark Souls work.

After the hefty fighting, get to the white gate by climbing the tower ahead. A butterfly is there to entertain you (boss fight).

Initially, you won’t be able to do any damage to the butterfly if you don’t have the ranged attacks. All you need to do is dodge its attacks. The glowing moves can be predicted and dodged by dash away and forth. You can’t allow its attacks to hit you as that homing attack can take you out in no time.

After some time of dodging, the butterfly will land itself on the ledge. This is your time to strike. But beware while it glows which is actually a pre symbol of explosion. You will have to repeat the exercise for at least a couple of time before you can defeat it.

Then ascend the tower further to collect your rewards that is Divine Ember and Watchtower Basement key. Now you need to head back to the blacksmith in Undead Parish for the bonfire. It’s above the blacksmith actually.

Undead Burg Slums
Back to the Undead Burg now. From the bonfire above the blacksmith, move back to the bridge with dragon. You can now open that door using the key you got in the tower after killing the butterfly. Use the stairs downwards and then the climb down the ladder.

While descending, to the right is a door you can unlock which actually is a quick root between this area and star of Undead Burg.

When you come back and reach the alley with some carts on fire. It’s time to face the bleeding effect. Many enemies in the slums have this effect when you are hit by their attacks. So if you have any bleeding effect resistance, you should equip it before you proceed further.

The best way to deal with those dogs is to lure them towards the stairs and deal with them one by one. You won’t stand a chance if you let yourself surrounded by them.

After, you are done with them, it’s time for some exploration. Start searching each house section for useful items. Don’t let your guard down as there will be some enemies hidden inside.

If you want the Sorcerer’s Armor then you need a key to open the door near the stairs. You can buy the key from the vendor who is near the bonfire upstairs. You will also get Griggs inside the room. If you help, you will be able to buy items from him in Firlink Shrine.

Move further through the street till you find some assassins. They have low defense so it won’t take long to take them down. Keep your shield up against their daggers and hit when you get the opportunity.

You will find a leather armor behind that last door. A good light weight option. When you are done in the street, head through the white door for the next boss fight.

Capra Demon is fast and furious. If you can survive the first 10 seconds during which he charges towards you along his dog, you get a hope to win the fight. So immediately go to defensive stance and then try to take out the hound first. A couple of good hits and the hound will history.

Then you can focus on the demon. You will notice that there are stairs leading upwards, try to pass the demon and use those stairs strategically. There are two ways; head upwards and the demon will follow.

When you reach the end, jump down again and he will jump after you. This will be your time to attack as it takes him some time to retain his posture.

Alternatively, you can also use the height to perform a stab attack from above but you will have to be quick as the demon will follow you upwards quickly. After the fight is over, grab the key and use the stairs downwards.

As you proceed, there will be some more assassins to deal with. Proceed further and from the raised section to your left, head up the twisted stairs to unlock another shortcut that leads to the water pipe area in Firelink Shrine. Move back downstairs towards the hallway and then towards the Depths.

Depths
After you are done with the Capra Demon,head outside and use the stairs downwards. There will be a couple of enemies in your way. One can be spotted easily while the other one is behind the wall. After you are done fighting with them, move through the door to enter Depths.

Depths has more challenging enemies than you have encountered yet. Soon you will encounter the undead with torches. To stay safe, you should maintain a safe distance to dodge the fire attacks.

When you reach a room with barrels, you should free the person caged in there. He will thank you and head back to Firelink Shrines. It’s better that you don’t break the drums with your weapon. If you do the man will get furious and you will have to kill him. You can break them by jumping towards towards the barrels.

Further on, a tough competitor will attack. He is alone and if you stick to the basics, you can handle him well. You will also spot a rat further ahead but it is not a danger for the time being. In the narrow hallway ahead, look at the roof and shoot those slimy sources. The fkuid up there can take up your health.

If you somehow don’t have any ranged weapon/magic attack then you should keep along the walls to avoid it. There is a door at the end that can lead you to the bonfire. In the next section, you should watch out for the traps that can send you down into the maize for more trouble.

Next, you will encounter the rat you saw earlier. Instead of engaging with it here, head back to the place where you found the first butcher (the one around the table) and break some barrels behind the table at the back side of the room.

This will open a passage that will lead you to the passage above the rat where you can simply use your ranged attacks to kill it. It won’t be able to reach you to do any damage. If you want the spiffy spider shield then you should follow the walkway you are standing on in the opposite direction to get to it.

Since the rat is dead, you can now jump down. Move down the slop to get deeper inside. Those frog like creatures in the next section have the ability to curse you. The curse can kill you instantaneously and with your HP reduced to Half along with reduced health, you will wake up at the last bonfire.

There are a couple of ways to deal with this situation. If you have the curse bite ring, you can use it to increase the resistance against the curse smoke. Or you can go to vendors for the cure.

You can find one at the end of the short cut leading to the Firelink Shrines which you found earlier. The other one is just below the first bell. Either way, you should try to kill those creatures before they can affect you. Fortunately, they aren’t that resistant making things slightly easy for you.

You will soon reach a larger room with a locked door at the end. You can’t open the door for now but before you turn right, you can reveal another short cut to the beginning section of the depth. For that you need to head up that staircase and open the door at the end. Now head back and move to reach a big chamber.

This chamber is not big for the walk only, some waves of enemies will be there to test your skills before you can take on the next boss. Move around and try to engage with least number of enemies at a time. Don’t forget to gather the loot. Head downwards to the bottom and get ready for a boss fight.

The Gaping Dragon is strong but slow. His attacks can take you out quickly but you will have some time to counter attack if you manage to dodge its charged attacks. You need patience in this fight.

And if you are ready to take a risk for Dragon King Greataxe, you can target its tale throughout the battle and when it’s about to die, the tail will fall off rewarding you the appealing weapon.

Valley of Drakes
The second bell you need ring is in Blight town but before you enter that ruthless territory, it is highly recommended that you take some time in upgrading your equipment. You can visit Darkroot Basin first to grab some precious armor.

Head to the bonfire in the cave below Darkroot Basin. Use the elevator there to enter the Valley of Drakes. This area contains unforgiving dragons and Wyverns. But if you manage to survive, there will be plenty of souls you can harness in this area.

Don’t engage them in groups and try taking them out one by one. It’s always wise to take on tough enemies individually as in groups, your survival chances are reduced to minimum.

Like always, to gather more souls, you can take the elevator back to the bonfire, save your game and come back to kill those revived enemies again. Keep in mind that if dragons are proving too much for you then you can also choose to run away from them.

You can’t open the guarded door ahead so take the alternate path along the cliff to the left. When you find a Drake, there is a small path to the left that can earn you some humanity. Almost half way up the canyon, there is a giant dragon sleeping. Do not engage it unless you want “Dragon Crest Shied”.

You should stay away from its poisonous attacks and do the damage from distance. So ranged attacks will be of great help in this fight. Move along the path and you reach a locked gate. You can find a key (it won’t open the guarded door earlier) to open it inside the tunnel on your right side.

If you open the gate, a shortcut will be created connecting this place to New Londo Ruins and the Firelink Shrine. If you chose the master key at the start of the game, you won’t need this key.

Darkroot Basin
From the blacksmith you visited earlier, head into the Darkroot forest. You can grab some armor in this area which will help you in the near future. From the Darkroot forest entrance, while moving towards the glowing door, you will find a sharp right turn which will take you to the top of Darkroot Basin.

As you descend down the curved path, you will be able to collect leather armor and a Large soul. At the bottom of this passage, you will face a black knight.

Block his attacks and then try to hit him on counter. Head inside the cave ahead for a bonfire. Don’t use the elevator yet and exit through from where you entered. Head left now to meet Hydra boss.

But before you face the Hydra, you will have to deal with some crystal Golems. They are quite resistant but not fast. Try to lure them towards yourself one by one. After you have cleared the area, you should head to the watch tower opposite to the side from where you entered the Basin.

The Knight inside will give you a tough time. Stay away to avoid its hammer attacks. He will drop an armor which is quite useful if you can afford to equip it.

Navigate down the winding paths, stopping to gather the Leather Armor and Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier. Take your time near the bottom, as a Black Night is waiting for you in the fog. The path is narrow during this battle, so be sure to watch your footing as you repel his attacks.

With him defeated, you’ll spot a cave containing a bonfire. Note the elevator at the back of the cave, but don’t use it quite yet. Exit the way you came in and make your way towards the large opening on the left.

This valley is filled with an array of Crystal Golem as well as a Hydra in the lake. Next up is the Boss Fight.

Beating Hydra is going to be a tough task. You need to watch out for its Water Cannon attacks which are lethal at any level. It can also lunge its heads towards you when you get close to it.

So when you find an opening, make sure that you don’t get too close to the boss for two reasons; one due to its physical attack and other there is a zone in the water that will kill you instantaneously as soon as you step on it. Don’t forget to keep your shield up when you are close to its body.

After you have defeated Hdra, if you want to grab some more souls and learn some magic tricks then head to the left to find a lake opening, In the small cave ahead, you will face a variant of crystal Golem who on death will give you 5000 souls.

After the Golem is dead, a maiden will offer you to learn some sorcery. If you say yes, you will be able to summon her on the lake and purchase spells. Time to ring the second bell.

Blighttown
You can reach Blighttown in different ways. You can enter it straight after defeating the Gaping Dragon using the key. A more safer way is that you complete other territories first including Darkroot basin and Valley of Drakes and then head towards Blighttown using the lift underneath Firelink Shrine.

It will be a long journey though – through the Valley of Drakes and then to the Queelag and Blighttown. You will earn some reward but those poisonous enemies along the way will make life tough for you.

If you choose the primary entrance (which is through the Depths after defeating the dragon), you will have a chance to buy the crystal shield from the NPC nearby.

You need some anti-toxin articles as poisonous enemies are going to be abundant from here on. Purple and white flowers will help your cause. You can buy them from the female undead merchant who will give you one flower for 1000 souls.

There is a bonfire at the bottom of Blighttown you may want to visit before proceeding further. Slow enemies are always vulnerable for back stab attack so make it count when you have the appropriate opportunities as there are plenty of slack undead in here.

In the swamp at the bottom of Blighttowm, you may want to switch to an armor that has more resistance against poison as your are going to need it down there.

At the end of swamps, you will encounter boss protrusions coming out of the mountain. Keep to the left side to avoid some boulders being directed towards you. Keep your range weapons equipped to keep off those mosquitoes.

To the right side of the mountain, you will spot a cave entrance. You really don’t need to nudge the enemies inside as they won’t attack you. If you kill any of them, you may have to deal with the small creatures that will spawn from the dead.

It’s time for the Queelag witch (boss fight). You can summon Maneater Mildred here if you are in human form or any of your friend from other world. They are always useful in boss fights.

The witch has multiple attacks. The area attack that actually covers the complete field cannot be dodged. So you need to have fire resistant armor if you want to survive this battle.

You can dodge her lava attacks by moving around in circle along the perimeter. Ranged attacks will help as it is dangerous to get near it.

After the battle is over, ring the second bell. You from here can now try to attain the Gold-Hemmed Black Armor which is a perfect choice for magic users.

Proceed further to the Demon Ruins (it’s risky so only try it if your soul count is low). After the bonfire, head along the cliff to reach the glowing door. There is an angry demon (Ceaseless Discharge) behind it.

When you grab the armor on the other side of the cliff, the demon will wake and you can guess the rest. There is a small passage you can go into to save yourself. But protecting yourself won’t kill the demon.

Right? It is recommended that you make a run for the door you came from. Yes it is possible if you have 5 estus flasks along you. You will get some damage but at this point, you can’t really afford to battle out this demon.

Before you leave through the door, you may notice that the demon has placed its arm on the ledge. If you are lucky enough, few hits can eliminate the demon just before the exit. This will save you from a long annoying encounter in the future.

Return to Undead Asylum
It’s better that you revisit the Asylum and deal with the demon there before you enter Sen’s Fortress. You should use the elevator the connects between Firelink Shrine and Undead Parish.

When you leave the elevator, face the broken tower and and roll to the pillar and then move the stairs upwards. Don’t forget to grab the key on the roof of one of the buildings before you leave.

When you get to the top, a crow can take you to the Asylum from here. Use the action button to bend yourself and wait for the crow near the nest. There will be same old undead to welcome you but they won’t cause you any big trouble this time.

In the courtyard where you first saw the Asylum Demon, watch out for the central area as it will make you fall. You may want to save the game at bonfire first before that. You can reach the next room if you walk along the edges.

This boss fight will be slightly tougher than you saw it first. You should equip your fire resistant shield and armor for this fight. You need to stay behind him to do any damage.

You can use the ranged attacks too. Back off when it starts its fire explosion. When he is done, strike it with full force. This repetitive sequence will enable you take out the big beast.

Now head back to your cell and grab that doll item inside (will be helpful in the fortress). There won’t be any major resistance except for a few knights in your way. Head back to the top of the Asylum where you first left in the Prologue.

You can use the key grabbed in Firelink shrine to open the locked gate and get the Rusted Iron Ring which is quite useful for the mobility in water (extremely helpful against the hydra boss). Get ready to enter Sen’s Fortress.

Sen’s Fortress
After you have rung the second bell, you can enter the Fortress. As you enter from the main entrance, you will encounter Serpent soldiers. You can lure them into a trap by pressing the pressure switch.

The narrow path where you need to dodge the pendulums requires your concentration. Deal with the serpents. Watch out for the one above you.

In the next room, do not interact with the switch in the next room and then head outside. Don’t be hasty and let the boulder pass before you can fight with the magic using serpent ahead.

If you enter the room which was guarded by the mage, you will get a Ring of Steel Protection. Head back downstairs and leave through the glowing door.

In the next room with stairs, wait for the boulder to roll, and then follow the path downwards. If you want a lightening spear then head left when you reach the bottom. You will end up fighting with a mimic.

After you defeat it, destroy the chest (don’t try to open it as it will kill you on spot) to get the spear. It’s pretty useful as almost all classes can wield it.

When you are riding the dumbwaiter, make sure you leave it in time or it will lead you straight into a death trap. Get to the room from where boulders are coming and change the trajectory towards the room at the start of the fortress.

This will reveal a series of prisons when the wall crashes. If you have the master key you can free, Big Hat Logan right now for different sorcery tricks (he will head back to Firelink Shrine).

He is one big entity in the game. Otherwise, you will find the key in the fortress form where you can come back and free him later on.

Head back to the boulders room now and move through the small door. You can beat the pendulums with one timely run. The white door next will lead you to outside the Fortress.

To your left is a series of explosives waiting for you but if you choose right, you can get a ring that can provide you resistance against these bombs. Keep your shield and run towards the two staircases.

Head right to get to the only bonfire you can find in the Fortress. Move back outside and dodge those flaming attacks. Around the corner, move through the long path that will lead you to the prince.

You can’t take him for granted. It will take some time before you manage to take him out. Move to the big land patch and then take the stairs on your right side.

You can’t reach the tower unless you jump the gap. Inside the tower, you will find the key to free Big Hat Logan. Head to the chamber now with two hanging cages. You can make a shortcut here that will connect you to the bottom of the Fortress.

Before you fight with the Iron Golem Boss, it is recommended that you kill the source of flaming attacks towards you as it will also help you in the fight.

You should not be intimidated by the size of the enemy. If you have the magic attacks more powerful then the physical attacks then you can afford to maintain a safe distance. But it is better that you stay up close and personal so you can dodge its hammer swings and grapple attacks effectively.

Keep on hitting and dodging (by dashing away at right times) its attacks till you bring the giant Golem down. Grab the glowing item and it’s time to enter Anor Londo region.

Anor Londo
Once you are in Anor Londo, there will be some knights you can fight with. They won’t attack you unless you go alarmingly close to them. One of them is at the stairs while others are in the first building you enter (in the room on the left side).

There is a bonfire in the next building and across the courtyard, you can collect some treasure inside the chests in the other building. Be warned though as there will be some armored knights and a mimic inside.

You should take the fact into account that all chests in the regions are meant to be broken not opened. Collect the reward and make your way to the open land area.

If you move along the hallway, you will meet Lady of the Darkling who will direct you towards the tower across the landing. There is also a bonfire in here if you are interested.

Use the elevator and fight off the Gargoyle. If you are quick enough, you will manage to target the tail and if you strike it repeatedly, you will be mange to win a Gargoyle Tail Axe. It’s better that you lure it back to building first. You should be careful of Gargoyle’s ranged attacks.

Outside, you will notice a broken window on the side of the chapel. Head inside and you will encounter painting guards in there. You need to be cautious about their agility and knife throwing ability. Keep your shield up to defend yourself against the knives. Exit through the glowing gate ahead.

You will be able to rotate that large platform. You can either create a link between the place where you fought with Gargoyle and next stop or move it towards the bottom floor of the chapel.

Across the enemy troops, there is a big painting. If you collected the doll from the Asylum in your cell, you can enter the painted world for a new adventure. But the condition is that you won’t be able to return till you have completed the task. That’s quite a challenge. Enter only if you dare.

You need to get to the palace ultimately. As you move up the stairs, there will be plenty of enemies to deal with. If you are in fighting mood then you can take them on one by one. A quicker way is that you choose the light armor and dash through the crowd.

Move through the gate to the right side. Then you need to charge through two more knights. You need to be careful as one proper hit from their arrows can knock you out. Next, drop down to the lower level and move across the door to enter the castle area.

Before you explore all the level of the structure, move to the door to your left to visit a bonfire. There is an empty door to the left on the same floor and if you attack the fireplace inside, you will reveal a secret passage to the basement. There will be some chests down there. Don’t open them rather break them open to collect some precious armor.

Use the stairs now to reach the next level. There will two more mimic chests here along with two knights. After you have defeated them and collected the loot, open the door to the third floor.

You can now create some shortcuts if you want. You can open the front door of the chamber using the crank to create a shortcut from here to the start of Anor Londo. This will also lead you to a blacksmith.

Next, make essential preparations like equipping the best possible armor and weapons and visiting the bonfire for estus flasks replenishment before you meet the bosses.

If you have sufficient humanity, you can also summon a sunlight warrior at the staircase to help you out in the battle. That is not mandatory of course but can help a lot.

Ornstein and Smough is the cruelty at its peak. The worst part is that when you manage to take out one of them, the other one takes all the HP and becomes more lethal. Ornstein should be your primary target.

This is easy as Ornstein is faster than Smough so if you dash away quickly, you can isolate them which is quite important in this battle. Strong magic attacks will be life saver during this battle.

You can’t afford to roam around freely as you wouldn’t want to be stuck between the two to invite your death. After you have dealt with Ornstein, Smough will get the lightening in his attacks.

He is slow so you can manage to dodge them. After you have defeated both of them, take the elevator to see Gwynevere. Get the lord vessel and the bonfire wrapping ability. Move back the Frirelink shrine now and meet the Kingseeker.

When you reach Firelink Altar, place the vessel on the the concerned (the pedestal) place to unlock further quests in the game.

The Great Hollow
You are going to need poisonous resistant armor and Rusted ring to evade this small section in Dark Souls. You can enter this area through the bottom of Blight town. Look for the giant tree opposite to the place where entered Queelag’s domain.

At the base of that giant tree is the entrance where you can also get some humanity and Titanite Shard. Watch out for the leeches there before you enter. Break through a couple of walls to your left to continue your journey.

You need to watch your foot as you navigate this territory as you can easily fall off the corners. You will soon face some cursed enemies. You need to attack keeping a safe distance. As you further descend downwards, collect different Titanite items that come along. At the bottom of the tree, clear your path leading to Ash Lake.

Ash Lake
After visiting the bonfire, as climb up the sand dune. You will spot another Aquatic animal (Hydra) in the lake ahead. It’s similar to the one you have faced before and considering the fact that you must be quite stronger now than the last time, it won’t give you hard time. Rusted Iron ring will help a lot.

Now grab the dragon scales on the other side of the beach and enter the tree which is further down the path. Deal with the enemies quickly and then climb the room.

You can now get the Magic Barrier Miracle if you want. When you are halfway across the branch, look for the stump below which can re-enter the tree after falling. You can grab the miracle from here.

Before you leave the area, there is a Great Stone Dragon that needs your attention. If you run behind him and target its tail (don’t worry it isn’t that dangerous) to have Dragon Greatsword.

It’s a powerful sword but you need to have 50 strength to wield it. If you talk to the dragon, you can join in the Dragon Covenant. You will get Dragon Head Stone as a reward. Dragon Head stone will enable you to spit fire towards enemies like dragons.

Visit the bonfire and enter the next territory to continue your journey.

Catacombs
You can access the Catacombs through the cemetery near the Firelink Shrine. Instead of fighting the endless skeletons, you can head to the bonfire near the Catacombs entrance and press the switch inside.

There is also a Pyromancer you will have to deal with before you can get to the bonfire. The good thing is that resting at bonfire won’t respawn the Pyromancer.

When you press the switch inside, a wall will pull back in the previous room revealing the passage to the Catacombs. Those skeletons won’t end. You should need to be patient and wise here. You can lure them to the bridge or the ledges and then make them fall off by using some heavy attacks.

You can find the second bonfire behind an illusionary where you also pulled the level to move the bridge. Watch out for the statue that will execute a spike-trap for you. You can dash away to dodge this attack.

Proceed further and after the bridge, move through the door to face another Pyromancer up there. You need to deal with it quickly with your ranged attacks otherwise he will start the resurrection task.

You should not walk into the center till you have cleared the pyromancer as doing so will spawn two skeletons that will make life difficult for you.

Head back and move to the second flipped bridge. To avoid another wave of skeletons, you should examine the right side of the bridge to take a short cut. In the next tomb, you have a titanite demon to deal with.

There is a reward behind it so you defeat it first. The trick here is to stay at a normal range as its swings are quite dangerous and when you use magic attacks, it can swing back which can waste your soul arrows shots. Utilize any chance you get during its lightening attacks to make your hits count.

For the melee users, they can stick around its arm. Whenever you go low on health, you can move behind its tail and use the estus flask. You can’t afford to stay behind for too long as its attack will do considerate amount of damage.

There is another alternative in which you can avoid the hectic fight with the demon. You can take a right just before the demon and then use a couple of ladders before you reach a room full of enemies.

There will a couple of skeleton archers and pyromancers to deal with. When inside the big open room, you should take the enemies one by one. For those spinning skeletons, you should dash away once they roll in and when their stamina runs out, you can eliminate them easily.

There will also be a black knight inside. It’s troublesome when you engage with him when other enemies are still there. So try to deal with them fast before your tough encounter.

At the end of this room will be another glowing door that will lead you to your next boss fight with the Pinwheel. It’s the cloning boss.

Make sure that you keep track of the original one as you can only cause damage to the real one and not the clones but you can hit by their attacks. Defend yourself with the shield when it executes its ranged attacks.

You will still receive some damage but you can rely on estus flasks for survival. If you are getting overwhelmed, don’t hold back and take out some of the clones first.

After you take the pinwheel down, you will receive the kindling ability through which you can get 10 estus flasks from the bonfire rather than one. You can take the ladder (watch it closely) that will lead you to the next area.

Tomb of the Giants
Climb up the ladder at the place where you defeated Pinwheel to enter the dark tomb of the giants. As you follow the lights on the ground, you will come across some giant skeletons and then some giant archers.

You need to keep your shield up and use magic spells before you begin the physical assault. After you fight with the Archers, there will be a ladder on one side that will lead you to the bonfire.

After the bonfire, you will meet patches and regardless of your answers to his questions, you will end up in a dark pit below. You will have the light (lantern) along you to save the day.

Deal with the two hollow warriors and move back to take the revenge on the Patches. Explore the area for more souls or humanity. Then, move down the path from where you first met Patches.

You need to be slow and cautious here as these paths have Skeleton Knights, Archers and Beasts lined up for you. Keep notice of the wall to your left to find a Bonfire.

After you reach the illuminated section alongside a cliff, you won’t require the lantern anymore and you can shift back to your shield again. And if you are a human by now, Paladin Leeroy will attack you in this area.

Magic attacks will work great against him. Gather the loot and head down the path. You will have to take care of multiple bone towers when they pop up from the ground. You should do it fast if you wan’t them not to attack. The room before the boss fight is a good place to gather some humanity.

How? You will come across baby skeletons spawning at the center of the room. They are a good source for humanity. For other enemies in the same room, you need to stay on high ground as taking them out from distance is a good choice.

Once you are done in this section, move through the illuminated door for the next boss fight. Swarming skeletons will make the fight fairly difficult.

You need to have something special like the divine weapon along you if you want to win this fight by any means. Deal with the skeletons first and then turn your attention towards Nito. You should keep a safe distance from him to dodge scythe attacks.

Maintaining a safe distance does not mean that you should stay as far as you can. Since Nito has got the ranged attacks, you can’t afford to stay back for long.

But if you have taken care of the skeletons first, you will have sufficient time to block his attacks and then execute yours. After you are done with him, collect the Lord Soul and get ready for the next section.

Duke’s Archive
To enter this section, collect the lordvessel first and then make your way through the golden fog close to the first bonfire in Anor Londo. When you encoutner a couple of Armored Tusk along the way, either eliminate them directly or if you are having a hard time then you should run away after they spot you. After certain time, they will stop following you. When this happens , you can use ranged attacks to get rid of them.

When you proceed further, make sure that you are fully prepared for a tough fight with Seath the scaleless . Spend any souls you have at the bonfire. If you are massively lucky, you might be able to take him down at the first attempt otherwise, you will wake up in a cell. Kill the guard. It’s time to stock up again. Explore the cells in the section to find more souls and items. Collect as many estus flasks as you can.

Since Pisaca will respawn everytime, you can use them as a sould farming opportunity. When you reach the library with plenty of moving staircases, make sure that eliminate the enemies in the area first with ranged attacks. If you try to run, they will most probably hunt you down. After you have cleared the room, look for a staircase at the third floor that will lead you to a switch. The switch will move the bookcase creating a shortcut. Also grab the the giant key and free logan if you want some powerful magic attacks. He will appear here so you can come back and do the bargain.

After you are done exploring the section, there is a bonfire at the bottom of the archives. Use the exit here to head back to Anor Londo and take your revenge from the Seath.

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Ali is a passionate RPG gamer. He believes that western RPGs still have a lot to learn from JRPGs. He is editor-in-chief at SegmentNext.com but that doesn't stop him from writing about his favorite video ...