Items

Drangleic hands out very little for free. Your flask starts weak, your health bar shrinks as you hollow, your weapons stop improving without the right stone, and half the map is locked behind a key or a petrified body. This guide sorts everything our Dark Souls 2 item pages cover by the problem it solves, so you can go straight to the section you need and then open the full location list behind it.

Staying alive: Estus and effigies

The flask itself comes from the woman to the right of the Majula bonfire. From there it grows two ways: Estus Shards add charges, and Sublime Bone Dust makes each sip heal more. Our Estus Flask upgrades page tracks twelve shards and five bone dust, grouped by the area they sit in.

The five Sublime Bone Dust are further apart: on a hanging body up the stairs past the first Dark Knight in Heide’s Tower of Flame, on a ledge to your right before the Executioner’s Chariot in Huntsman’s Copse, to the left after the elevator reaches the water in Sinner’s Rise, in a chest down the tunnel to the right after The Rotten in Black Gulch, and somewhere in the Iron Keep after its final boss falls.

Human Effigies replace the first game’s Humanity, with two differences: they work anywhere rather than only at a bonfire, and they also remove the cap on your maximum HP that repeated hollow deaths impose. Burning one in a bonfire switches off every multiplayer interaction for an hour. You get one as a starting gift and can find another in the chest upstairs in the Seer’s Hut; Merchant Hag Melentia sells five; the attack dogs near the second blacksmith drop them at random, more often with the Explorer’s Hat on; killing the Fire Keepers in Things Betwixt yields around ten; and one lies on a molten rock near the first Iron Keep bonfire. For an infinite supply, rescue the two wandering Milfanito, one outside the Demon of Song’s room and one behind the Embedded Door in Drangleic Castle, then pray at the shrine above the last Shrine of Amana bonfire while hollow, with low sin and no effigy in your item box.

Getting stronger: Titanite

Most equipment reinforces with ordinary Titanite, a few pieces need Twinkling Titanite, and the strongest boss-soul gear takes Petrified Dragon Bone. Our Titanite farming page covers where to buy each grade and where to grind it, and the reinforcement guide in our mechanics section explains what each grade adds.

The Tseldora loop is the one to learn. From the Chapel Threshold bonfire head downstairs, ride the first zip line, smash the bookshelf to open a hidden room and go through two doors to reach the first pair of humanoid spiders. Kill them, return to the room for three more, then run outside and drop down beside the quicksand, where one of three doors holds the Lower Brightstone Cove bonfire. Rest and repeat.

Opening the way: keys and story items

These are the only items you lose when you start New Game Plus, which tells you how closely they are tied to the campaign’s structure. Our keys guide covers eighteen of them.

Curing stone: Fragrant Branches of Yore

A Fragrant Branch of Yore lifts petrification from you or from anyone else, and several of the game’s best merchants start out as statues. Our Fragrant Branch of Yore page lists nine and says where each is best spent.

Spend them on Rosabeth of Melfia at the Shaded Woods entrance from Majula, who becomes a permanent merchant; on Straid of Olaphis, who blocks a bonfire at the top of the Lost Bastille tower before Sinner’s Rise and trades boss souls once freed; on Weaponsmith Ornifex in the Shaded Woods cave, the other soul trader; and on the statue that blocks the path to the Scorpioness. The petrified group near the second Doors of Pharros bonfire can wait.

Cashing in: boss souls

Every boss soul can be consumed for a lump of souls or traded to Straid or Ornifex for a weapon, and our boss souls page argues the trade is almost always the better deal. The consume values are still worth knowing, especially the New Game Plus variants.

Rings by need

You wear four rings at once in Dark Souls 2, and our rings guide lists every one alphabetically with its effect and sources. The table below regroups the ones that answer a specific problem.

Covenant seals live in the same list: the Blue Seal, Guardian’s Seal, Bell Keeper’s Seal, Crest of Blood, Crest of the Rat, Abyss Seal, Sun Seal, Ancient Dragon Seal and Vanquisher’s Seal each come from their faction, which our covenants guide covers. Two rings you cannot farm at all: the Illusory Ring of a Conqueror for clearing the game without dying, and the Illusory Ring of the Exalted for never resting at a bonfire.

Dressing for it: armor, shields and weapons

The three equipment lists are long enough to be pages in their own right, so this section only points at what makes each useful. Our armor sets page runs from the Imported Set to the King’s Set with a merchant or drop source, the reinforcement material and the repair cost of every piece, and it flags the pieces that do more than absorb hits.

The shields guide splits its list into small shields, large shields and greatshields, and warns that greatshields block almost anything but eat stamina and parry badly. The expensive end of the list tells you where the power is: Havel’s Greatshield in The Gutter costs 2,530 souls to repair, Orma’s Greatshield from the greatsword Bell Keepers and Imperious Knights 2,030, and the King’s Mirror, Pursuer’s Greatshield and Dragonrider Greatshield are all boss-soul trades with Ornifex or Straid that reinforce with Petrified Dragon Bone.

The unique and rare weapons page walks twenty-one weapon classes from daggers to greatbows and crossbows, with a source, a reinforcement material and a repair cost for each entry. The pattern is the same everywhere: common gear reinforces with Titanite, the odd special piece with Twinkling Titanite, and anything bought from Straid or Ornifex for a boss soul with Petrified Dragon Bone, from the Moonlight Greatsword and Smelter Sword to the Chime of Want. A few are simply lying around, such as the Drangleic Sword and Drangleic Armor on a corpse below the ruins after the Pursuer, the Fire Longsword in a tunnel outside the Cardinal Tower bonfire, and the Black Knight weapons in the Iron Keep.

Frequently asked questions

Is it better to consume or trade a boss soul?

Trade it, unless you are a few thousand short of a level you need now. Our boss souls page calls the weapons far more valuable in the long run, and Ornifex gives you the first trade free because you rescued her.

How many Estus Shards are there?

Our guide tracks twelve shards and five Sublime Bone Dust, and its author invited readers to report any others, so treat those as the ones we can vouch for.

Which rings should a new character wear?

The Life Ring, Chloranthy Ring and Ring of Restoration are all in the Forest of Fallen Giants, and the Ring of Blades drops from The Pursuer, so a full set of four is available before Heide’s Tower. Add the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring from Melentia when souls matter more than defence.

Where do I use the Fragrant Branch first?

On Rosabeth, because she blocks the Shaded Woods, then on Straid and Ornifex, since both trade boss souls for weapons. Anything left over can free the statues around the Doors of Pharros. For how those statues and the lockstones fit together, see our locations guide, or go back to the Dark Souls 2 hub.