SegmentNextLocations
Three things in Drangleic are easy to walk straight past: the NPCs who hand out covenant membership, the glowing signs that summon a scripted ally outside a boss door, and the stone faces that only open for a Pharros Lockstone. Our three location pages track all of them. This guide gathers the where and the why for each, so you know which detours pay off before you reach the area.
Covenants
There are nine covenants, each tied to an achievement or trophy for joining, and only one of the nine trophies asks for maximum devotion, so you can sample freely. You join by meeting a requirement and then talking to the right NPC or examining an object, and rank up through co-op, invasions or interacting with the world. Our covenants guide describes each; grouped by what they actually do for you, they look like this.
| What you want | Covenants |
|---|---|
| Help when you are invaded, or easy co-op | Way of Blue, Heirs of the Sun |
| To hunt other players | Brotherhood of Blood, Blue Sentinels, Bell Keeper |
| To defend your own turf | Rat King |
| Duels and trophies | Dragon Remnants |
| A harder or stranger single-player game | Company of Champions, Pilgrims of Dark |
| Covenant | Where and how to join | Joining gift and rank rewards | Ranking up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Way of Blue | Majula: keep talking to Saulden, up the stairs from the Emerald Herald, until he offers it | Blue Seal; then Bloodbite Ring, Hush, Blue Tearstone Ring | Defeat 1, 5 and 10 invading phantoms; a Blue Sentinel is summoned whenever you are invaded |
| Company of Champions | Majula: examine the Victor’s Stone up the stairs beside the path toward Heide’s Tower of Flame | Champion’s Tablet; then Great Magic Weapon, First Dragon Ring, Vanquisher’s Seal | Examine Victor’s Stones, 10, 20 and 50 of them; the game gets harder and bosses much harder |
| Bell Keeper | Talk to the Bell Keeper who stands where Belfry Luna or Belfry Sol begins | Bell Keeper’s Seal; then Titanite Slab, Hidden Weapon, the Bell Keeper armor set | Defeat 10, 30 and 100 hosts as a grey phantom, or black phantoms invading the belfries; you are summoned each time a trespasser goes for the bell |
| Brotherhood of Blood | Undead Purgatory: talk to Titchy Gren by the bonfire with a Token of Spite in your inventory and agree | Crest of Blood; then Curved Twinblade, Crescent Sickle, Great Chaos Fireball | 50, 150 and 500 kills while invading or winning deathmatches |
| Rat King | Grave of Saints or Doors of Pharros: talk to the Rat King with a Rat Tail, which the rat boss drops | Crest of Rat; then 10 Smooth and Silky Stones twice, Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring | Collect 10, 20 and 30 Rat Tails; you summon players into your world to kill them, and the area’s NPCs stop attacking you |
| Pilgrims of Dark | Talk to Darkdiver Grandahl in the Shaded Woods, Black Gulch and Drangleic Castle; he asks at the third meeting | Abyss Seal; then Resonant Soul, Great Resonant Soul, the Xanthous armor set | Clear the first area of the Dark Chasm, light all three braziers, defeat the chasm’s boss |
| Blue Sentinels | Cathedral of Blue: talk to Blue Sentinel Targray on the balcony after the boss with a Token of Fidelity | Guardian’s Seal; then Spirit Tree Shield, Wrath of the Gods, Bountiful Sunlight | 50, 150 and 500 Black Phantom kills as a Revenge Phantom, or the same number of training wins; you protect Way of Blue members |
| Heirs of the Sun | Harvest Valley: take the side path before the Earthen Peak entrance to the Altar of Sunlight and kneel | Sun Seal; then Sunlight Parma, Sun Sword, Sunlight Spear | Collect 10, 20 and 30 Sunlight Medals; your summon signs become easy to spot |
| Dragon Remnants | Give Magerold of Lanafir the Petrified Egg, then talk to him again | Dragon Eye and Ancient Dragon Seal; then Dragon Head Stone, Dragon Torso Stone, Black Dragon Greatsword | Collect 10, 20 and 30 Dragon Scales |
The Pilgrims of Dark are the odd one out because their ranks are earned inside a dungeon rather than online; our optional areas guide walks the Dark Chasm of Old that they open. Every covenant’s seal ring is also listed in the rings guide.
NPC phantoms and scripted invaders
Beyond the signs left by other players, a set of named NPCs called Battle Comrades leave their own summon signs at fixed spots, and they work offline. Most stand outside a boss door. Some need a condition met first, usually exhausting the character’s dialogue when you meet them. Our NPC summons page has the full list; the table below is ordered by the fight the phantom helps with.
| Fight or area | Phantom | Sign location | To unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Last Giant | Mild-Mannered Pate | Outside the boss room | Take the White Sign Soapstone from him |
| Dragonrider, Heide’s Tower of Flame | Masterless Glencour | Outside the boss room | None |
| No-man’s Wharf | Lucatiel of Mirrah | Behind the one-way gate, reached over a rooftop with two Varangians | Exhaust her dialogue at your first meeting |
| Ruin Sentinels | Pilgrim Bellclaire | A cell in the alleyway from The Tower Apart bonfire | None |
| The Lost Sinner | Lucatiel of Mirrah | The bottom of the Sinner’s Rise elevator | As above |
| Smelter Demon | Lucatiel of Mirrah | Outside the boss room | As above |
| The Rotten, Black Gulch | Lucatiel of Mirrah; Lone Hunter Schmidt | The Hidden Chamber bonfire room; outside the boss room | Lucatiel as above; Schmidt none |
| Scorpioness Najka | Manscorpion Tark | Outside the boss room in the Shaded Ruins | Exhaust his dialogue while wearing the Ring of Whispers |
| The Duke’s Dear Freja | Ashen Knight Boyd; Benhart of Jugo | On a pillar opposite the boss room; among the tents surrounding the Royal Army Encampment bonfire | Boyd none; Benhart needs Rosabeth rescued and his dialogue exhausted |
| Looking Glass Knight | Benhart of Jugo | Outside the boss room in King’s Passage | As above |
| Velstadt | Grave Warden Agdayne | Left of the boss room in the Undead Crypt | Exhaust his dialogue |
| Giant Lord, Memory of Jeigh | Captain Drummond; Benhart of Jugo | Right outside the boss; down the stairs from Drummond’s sign | Exhaust Drummond’s dialogue; Benhart as above |
| Ancient Dragon, Dragon Shrine | Melinda the Butcher; Head of Vengarl | Right after the first stairs; outside the boss room | Defeat Melinda in The Gutter; exhaust Vengarl’s dialogue |
| Throne of Want | Benhart of Jugo; Head of Vengarl | Beside the mist | As above |
| Shrine of Amana | Felicia the Brave | An empty hut near the shrine | None |
The same page covers the scripted invaders, who also appear offline and mostly guard a specific stretch of a level: Rhoy the Explorer near the ladder in the Grave of Saints, Bowman Guthry close to where the Rat King sits in the Doors of Pharros, Melinda the Butcher above you when you drop from the wooden tower in The Gutter toward the Ring of Soul Protection chest, Peculiar Kindalur at the mouth of the Shrine of Amana cave that holds Rhoy’s Resting Place bonfire, Aslatiel of Mirrah in the alley outside Aldia’s Keep, Vorgel the Sinner under Belfry Luna’s Upper Ramparts bonfire, Merciless Roenna beside the Skeleton Lords’ arena in Huntsman’s Copse, and Dragonfang Villard in the Petrified Dragon Egg room atop the Dragon Shrine’s spiral stair. Two are NPCs you know: Licia of Lindelt invades in Drangleic Castle before the two Imperious Knights and in the Undead Crypt rotunda if you use the Crushed Eye Orb, and Royal Sorcerer Navlaan, once freed by the lever in the Aldia’s Keep manor, turns up in the second Ogre room there, at the Upper Gutter bonfire, outside the Writhing Ruin in Tseldora, in the lower floors of Drangleic Castle and midway through the Dragon Aerie.
Pharros Lockstones
Pharros the Vagabond left contraptions all over Drangleic, and each one needs a Pharros Lockstone to reveal whatever it hides. Our Pharros Lockstone locations page finds nineteen, plus three ways to farm more. Grouped by area they come out like this.
| Area | Lockstones | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Forest of Fallen Giants | 1 | Melentia sells it at the Cardinal Tower bonfire for 4,000 souls |
| Majula | 1 | From the Bridge Approach bonfire, climb the ladder near the entrance to the right ledge, run past the enemy and drop to the lower level |
| Earthen Peak | 3 | Pay Gilligan 2,000 souls for his ladder from the upper level past the smashed railing; the poison chest in the room with two sorceresses and the blade fan; pay Gilligan 500 souls for the short ladder around the well and check the second plank |
| Grave of Saints | 1 | After the Royal Rat Vanguard, talk to the Rat King, go through the door and jump into the circular room; on a skeleton |
| Black Gulch | 2 | A large pot in the hidden chamber with the bonfire; cut off The Rotten’s arm during the fight |
| Iron Keep | 1 | After talking to Magerold of Lanafir, upstairs and left, on a corpse by the window |
| Shaded Woods | 3 | Left of the Ruined Fork Road bonfire on the upper level, near the stones; the barrels in the lower level of the small room before Manscorpion Tark; upstairs left of the giant Basilisk in the ruins, on a corpse |
| Doors of Pharros | 1 | Upper level, in the chamber with steps across the ledge on your left, near the wall |
| Brightstone Cove Tseldora | 2 | The pots on the mid level of the webbed room before the boss; the vases through the first left door after leaving the building by the sandpit near the Brightstone Cove bonfire |
| Sinner’s Rise | 1 | Off the elevator, the cell on the left at the far end of the flooded area before the gate |
| Drangleic Castle | 1 | Clear the enemy room near the King’s Gate bonfire, then the mid room on your left |
| Aldia’s Keep | 1 | Kill the caged ogre in the great hall, take the first door on the left and smash the shelf |
| Dragon Aerie | 1 | After the Guardian Dragon, drop from the cliff, skip the bridge for the other path and drop to the ledge below |
When you run short, the rats in the Doors of Pharros have a small chance to drop one, and the Rat King covenant hands one over for each intruder killed or each host beaten as a grey phantom, including hosts who run to the bonfire before dying. The page’s dedicated farm is in the Grave of Saints: rest at the bonfire before the boss, quit and reload, wait in the hallway to be summoned, camp the corner you spawn in, spam the Mastodon Knight when the opponent arrives, then quit and reload again without stepping into the doorway. The small rats inside the Royal Rat Authority arena respawn until the boss dies, and the hill at the start of the Shaded Woods works too.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to max out a covenant?
Only one, for the trophy that asks for it; joining each of the nine is enough for the other eight. Rewards such as the Titanite Slab from the Bell Keepers or Sunlight Spear from the Heirs of the Sun are the reason to go further.
Can I summon NPCs while offline?
Yes. Battle Comrades and the scripted invaders both work without a connection; only signs left by other players need one.
Where should my first Pharros Lockstone go?
Our page does not rank the contraptions, but it does tell you the first stone costs 4,000 souls from Melentia and the second is free in Majula, so you can afford to try one early and keep one for the belfries. When you are choosing between Pharros doors and petrified statues, our items guide covers the Fragrant Branches that open the latter, and the Dark Souls 2 hub has the rest.