Dark Souls Noob Guide for Mages – Section 5

FIRELINK SHRINE

Warp to Undead Parish

UNDEAD PARISH

Talk to Andre and Modify Equipment to get your weapon to +11. Then upgrade it as much as you can. You probably won’t have that many chunks to upgrade it much, but even a little bit extra will help you on your journey ahead.

After you’re satisfied with your weapon, you can head back upstairs and level up if you have the souls. Remember you should have picked up a few souls to consume so that will help. From here, warp to the Chamber of the Princess and we can continue onward.

ANOR LONDO

From the Chamber of the Princess, let’s go back to the bridge with the two gargoyle guys. If you forgot the way, take an elevator on either the left or right side, and go out the front doors of the castle. Continue forward till you get to the lever that raises and lowers the bridge. What you want to do is make sure the bridge is in the position so you can walk down the steps to the downstairs area of the big room with the chandelier. If the bridge is already aligned without you having to bring it up or lower it, you should be able to just walk down the steps to enter the huge room. You should see lots of the white hooded guys there. The goal is to get to the opposite side of the room and use the Peculiar Doll to interact with the painting. You should see a giant painting with a wooden bridge on it. Examine it to cross into the Painted World.

THE PAINTED WORLD OF ARIAMIS

Cross the bridge, go up the steps and rest at the bonfire on the left. Continue upward and kill the three Hollow that approach you. After that, head to the right and go up the steps. Kill the next set of three hollow and continue up the next set of stairs. You’ll come across some ugly looking Hollow with huge bulbous heads. Use magic to take them down and try to use the walls to your advantage. Also, I wouldn’t recommend to get close to the big ugly guys.

At the very top of the steps take a left across the bridge and enter another building. Upon entering, you should come across four more of those bulbous guys and one more regular Hollow. Please do yourself a favor and use magic to take them out from afar. Your goal is to go to the right side of this room, up a short set of steps and back outside through a doorway to the left. Before going there, let’s take a left out the doorway on the left side of this room to go out onto a balcony. Hit the hanging corpse and it’ll drop down to the bottom. Now we can head the correct way on the opposite side.

After going up the steps and to the left, you’ll be outside again. To the left is a consumable soul and to the right is the way ahead. Cross the bridge and you’ll enter a ruined Colosseum-looking building. Your goal is to roll off to the bottom of the room. The fall shouldn’t kill you if you have full health. Once you land you should see a fog gate. Heal up and cross the gate to proceed. We will be returning here, so don’t forget about this area.

Ahead you’ll see a group of ugly creatures with shields and spears. You can deal with them now, but it’s likely that you’re low on Estus Flasks at this time, so I’d recommend to go around them and head to the big doors just past them. You’ll want to go past the three giant cubes and cross the courtyard. It’s just ahead of the fog gate you opened.

Open these doors and you’ll be back at the bonfire! Yay! Rest up and we can continue. Now, go back through the door you just opened and head to the right, down to an open snowy area to grab a few souls that are scattered throughout. You may get invaded by an NPC, but he isn’t too hard to beat. Just backstab him a few times and avoid his AOE fire attacks. Once you’ve gathered the souls, head back to the door you opened and put your back to it, and face the giant blob creatures.

Go forward a bit and you’ll see an area where you can go up a set of steps on your left. Do that and then head downstairs on the right. Enter the building on the left and go down the ladder here. You should see a flooded, dark area with an item off in the distance. A light shines on it perfectly. This part is hard and annoying. Use a Homing Soulmass and head toward that item. Keep in mind, our goal isn’t to pick up that item, but interact with the lever that’s on the way to it. You should see pillars on your right side leading to the item.

The hard part is that there are rolling skeleton guys that will MESS YOU UP. Seriously, these are one of my least favorite enemies. Look for the pillars and go to the third one and you’ll see the lever. Once you interact with it, a cutscene will play. After that, you’ll want to head back to the ladder you just came down, as quickly as possible. Get away from these skeleton guys. Remember to quit out and reload if you need to. Once you get to the top of the ladder, head back to the area next to the giant creatures at the courtyard.

You’ll want to go back into the Colosseum area and now enter the area that was previously blocked off, across from where the fog gate was. You should see a long narrow pathway ahead with a fog door at the end. This will be the boss area. Fortunately, this boss is easy peasy. Cross the path, but do so in a weaving motion to avoid the Hollow and their arrows. Or kill them. Close to the end of the path, a giant armored guy will spawn. Again, you can just go around him or kill him. Either way works. The quit out trick does wonders here. Get through the fog gate to start the fight.

CROSSBREED PRISCILLA

This is a unique fight for a couple reasons. For one, Priscilla doesn’t actually aggro you upon entering. You can walk up to her and even talk with her before fighting. She won’t aggro till you strike her, so make sure your initial strike is powerful. Try using a heavy attack to start the fight.

Once she’s aggroed, she will become invisible, which is the second unique thing about this fight. The issue is that you can’t lock on to her once she’s invisible. You can see her footprints, though, so do a sweeping heavy attack right on top of her footprints to get her to turn back to being visible. She’s super weak, so a 10+ heavy attack will murder her. It’s also a good idea to use a Homing Soulmass before you attack so the arrows will hit her when she’s visible again.

It’s a pretty simple fight. I took her down after her turning invisible a few times. If you’re struggling, I’ve heard of people going to the long narrow platform behind her to get her to follow and attacking her there. Because the path is so narrow, your attacks have more room to strike her.

Once she’s dead, drop off the narrow platform behind where Priscilla was to return to Anor Londo…

BUT FIRST…..

This area, the Painted World, is the best area in the game for grinding. If you go back to the bonfire, then go kill all the weird creatures in the courtyard, you get a boatload of souls, especially if you stack it with the Covetous Silver Serpent Ring and the Symbol of Avarice (a headpiece gathered from Mimics). Since these are two items you may not have yet, you can wait to grind later, but doing a bit now couldn’t hurt.

I urge you to grind for a bit here and get to level 60 if you can. Once you’re finished, drop off the narrow platform behind Priscilla and you’ll be back at Anor Londo.

ANOR LONDO

From the large room with the painting, head back to the movable bridge and lower it once. Go down the steps and enter a small area with a bonfire. Rest here and then warp to Firelink Shrine.

FIRELINK SHRINE

From here, head to the center of Firelink, where a pool of water once was. You should see a giant serpent, Frampt. He’s a good guy. Talk to him and he will take you to the area below. Once here, you can place the Lorvessle and gain the ability to fight the four main bosses of the game. When you’re finished, talk to Frampt and he’ll take you back up. You should also buy some spells from Big Hat Logan if you have the souls for it. Now head to the bonfire and warp to Anor Londo.

ANOR LONDO

This will take you back to the first bonfire in Anor Londo. Head up the steps and this time go left into the room at the far end. You’ll see two large guards in here that you can kill, but I usually just run past them out the right doorway. However, it might be a good idea to kill them so you can get to the chests behind them. Keep in mind the chest on the left is a Mimic. After that, head out the doorway on your right (left if your back is to the chests). Here, you’ll see another guard. Unfortunately, you must aggro him and kill him or go around. I usually just roll around him.

If you do run past, head up the stairs and either run or use the quit out trick. Either way, keep heading this way till you get to a building with a long hall. If you see a golden barrier here it means you did not place the Lorvessle below Frampt. Do so if you haven’t.

DUKE’S ARCHIVES

Down this hall, you’ll see a large creature breathing heavily. It’s another boar, unfortunately. My recommendation is to use a Homing Soulmass and run down the hall with your shield up. Try to doge him once he’s close. If he hits you once you’re probably dead, so be careful. Alternatively, you can aggro him and run as he chases you back up the hall. Once he gets tired, he’ll turn around and you can get him from behind. If you do manage to get around him, take a left down the next hall and go all the way to the end. Be careful because a second boar will be on your right. Just before you turn the corner on the right you should quit out because the boar behind you will probably be on your tail.

When you load back in, the first boar should be far away and you can now safely maneuver around this boar. Again, run into this area as far as you can and quit out. Load back in and you’ll be behind the boar. Unfortunately, you will have to kill him in order to use the bonfire here. I’ve found that four or five sets of Homing Soulmass with a Great Heavy Soul Arrow does the trick. Use the elevator at the back of the room to take cover and be safe from the boar. If you use magic you shouldn’t have too hard of a time.

After he’s dead, rest at the bonfire and take the elevator up.  

At the top, you’ll see a smaller room, with a larger room behind it. In this room there will be a few smaller crystal enemies, and one giant crystal golem. There isn’t an amazing strategy for this part, but I found success in using the elevator to my advantage. If you can bait some of the enemies to you, get them to stand on the elevator, and send it down. Once it’s down, you can then kick enemies off the top sending them falling to their deaths. Otherwise, use the pillars and try to take each enemy one at a time.

Be careful of the arrow guy at the top of the stairs ahead. He will mess you up. Once the smaller guys are all dead, you can move your focus to the large golem. He’s pretty tough, but he’s weak to fire, so shoot some fireballs at him. Otherwise, try using the elevator or the pillars to help. He’s slow, so you shouldn’t have much issue dodging him. Your other option is to rush into the next room, quit out and reset the enemies. It’s up to you.

Next up is the first big archive room. You should see a channeler firing soul arrows at you. Be careful and go along to the right side of the room, placing a bookshelf between you and the channeler. Follow the path to the end of the room and you should see an item below the steps. Grab it for some souls and take out any enemy you see. Backstabbing is super useful here. Once everyone is clear, you can then move your attacks to the channeler.

He’s actually not too tough. I hit him with a Great Heavy Soul Arrow and a two-handed heavy attack with my Halberd and he was donezo. After that, head up the steps and either take out the archers, or avoid them. Go either left or right at the top of the first set of stairs and it will lead you to another elevator like the last one. If you went up the right staircase, the elevator will be on your left; vice versa if you went up the left staircase.

At the top, you’ll be in a smaller room with only one way to go. Enter this hall cautiously. You’ll come across a crystal enemy here. Back away out of the narrow hall, use a Homing Soulmass and then do your best to backstab this guy. Upon death, follow the path up the steps and you’ll start to see more and more crystals. Kill the crystal lizard and eventually you’ll come to a fog door. Enter it to start a battle.

Ready for a fakeout? This is Seath the Scaleless, but unfortunately, he cannot be killed here. Let him kill you to get to the next part. Also, don’t let yourself get cursed here.

You will awaken in the Duke’s Archives, locked in a cell. Light the bonfire to your right and look at the door next to you. It’s locked, but you should see a snake guarding it from the outside. Give him a good whack and then grab the Archive Tower Cell Key from the outside. Once you open it, head to the right and go down the steps. You’ll get a cutscene of some snakes making a ton of noise and you’ll notice a bunch of enemies coming your way. Not to fear, the snakes will not run after you. At least not the ones coming towards you up the steps. Be aware that the weird squid-like creatures will attack, so either take them out with magic or run past.

Go all the way down to the bottom floor and enter the room with lots of squids. You don’t have to kill them, but I recommend it so they don’t interfere with you climbing the ladder. Kill them all using magic and bait them up the stairs if you have to. They’re easy to kill, but deal a ton of damage, so you should be cautious of that. Remember, take them out one at a time to be safe. Once they’re all dead, talk to Big Hat Logan sitting in a caged room. We will be back to rescue him, don’t worry.

Once you’re finished, exit the room and head to the right, up a ladder. This will lead you to three snakes. I recommend to use Homing Soulmass at this point to take two of them out and finish the third one off with melee. Try leading them around this area in a circle, using magic when you can. Grab the Archive Tower Giant Door Key from the chest at the back of this area, and head all the way back up the steps, past the room with the bonfire and go up a ladder. I recommend to stop at the bonfire and rest first to get some much needed health.

As you climb the ladder at the top of the steps, you may be followed by snakes. Just open the door at the top of the ladder and quit the game to get them off your tail. Follow the path and when you get to an area outside, look right and you’ll see a crystal enemy. Kill him and now go the other way towards a crystal archer. When you enter the little area with the archer, be cautious because there will be an enemy to your left, hiding.

After that, continue along the path, up the stairs and go back into the archives. To your left will be a Channeler, so take him out if you can. The goal here is simple: get to the bottom of this room. This may be tough, but it’s not that bad if you’re careful. Behind the Channeler and to the right, you’ll see a set of stairs that lead down. Take these stairs and be careful not to get caught by one of the crystal enemies. Go down again and you’ll see another set of steps. Take these to the bottom of this floor where you’ll see a balcony up ahead where you can see outside. Go past the long tables and head out to the balcony just across the steps. Rest at the bonfire here and get ready for the next part.

This sucks, but you have to go back to where you came, up the three set of steps and back to where the first Channeler was. Once you do that, make sure you’re where the Channeler was so we can proceed. With your back to the prison cell you were being held in (the part with the long ladder you climbed up), head left, down the hall behind where the Channeler is and into another huge room. If you continue along, you’ll see an archer ahead. Once you get to this room, be cautious as there is an enemy hiding to the right, around a corner. Take him out here and use this area as cover to kill any other enemies. Remember to quit out if you need to.

Head over to the archer, kill him and look to his right. You’ll see a set of steps. Go up the steps and about halfway through you’ll see a lever. Interact with it and it will rotate the steps. After it’s rotated once, head to the top, kill the archer (if he’s there), and go left. Follow this path and you’ll be back into the first room, but up one floor. You may encounter another archer. Follow this path a bit and eventually, you’ll see a Channeler across to your left, firing away at you. In front of him are some steps leading down. You should be able to drop down onto the steps in front of him, run up them and quickly rotate the steps before getting hit.

After the steps have been rotated, head down them and make a right, into a room with an archer ahead, across a gap. Take him out with magic and head down the ladder on your right. At the bottom of the ladder you should see a lever to pull, so do that to open up the shortcut back to the bonfire. If you die, the path back here is just to the right of the bonfire as long as you’ve opened the shortcut. With the lever in front of you and your back to the ladder, you should see three options: Straight ahead, left or right. For now, let’s go right and you’ll enter a room with lots of books.

Open the chest to the left and then head to the right, behind some bookshelves. You’ll see a chest on the right, with a Crystal Ember. Grab it and then follow the path around to the left where you’ll see another chest. As you may expect, this one is a Mimic, so use a Homing Soulmass before attacking and kill it. Finally, across from the Mimic, you should see one last chest. Open it to get the Archive Tower Giant Cell Key to rescue Big Hat Logan. Let’s go do that now. Head back up the ladder you just came down and go to the revolving steps ahead. Rotate them once and then head to the bottom of them, to the left and out the path that leads back into the room with the squid creatures. I just ran past the enemies here, using the quit out trick to my advantage.

Once you climb down the ladder and go down the steps, enter the cell with the squids and take them out again. They’re weak to magic, so lure them out and make sure they’re all dead. After that, head to the door and open it to let Big Hat Logan out. Once inside his cell, go to the back of it to grab a Firekeeper Soul. Now, talk to Logan and after his dialogue is finished, warp back to the bonfire outside on the balcony.

From here, head to the right, into the room with the shortcut and the ladder, and then to the left into a dark room with a chest. Open it and to the right of it you’ll see…Big Hat Logan! Talk to him and buy everything you can from him. Our goal is to buy his whole stock to acquire some good items. You’ll probably be short on souls for that, so maybe warp back to Anor Londo and enter the Painted World to grind for souls? Either way, you’ll need around 120,000 souls to buy his whole inventory. You don’t HAVE to do this, but I recommend it and I will be doing so in my playthrough.

If you do decide to buy all his stuff, go back with the required souls, buy his entire inventory, and exhaust his dialogue. After this, we can begin our trek towards the real Seath the Scaleless. Go back into the room where you fought the Mimic, to the right of where Logan is now and you’ll see a lever that drops down a set of stairs. Climb down this set of stairs and you’ll see a crystal enemy behind it. Kill him and open the chest to get some Prism Stones.

After this, exit through the fog door and head to the left. You can climb down the ladder or drop down. Ahead, you’ll see a Crystal Golem in the distance. Go in that direction and you’ll see lots of crystals and a ramp leading down into the foggy cave.

CRYSTAL CAVE

Go down this ramp and just before the end of it, head right, down another ramp with a Golem guarding it. Go around him and continue down and to the right. If you continue along, you’ll see two paths: One to the right, and one to the left. The one to the left, however, features an invisible floor and does not appear to be friendly to cross. However, you should see some small crystals dropping onto it, indicating it’s safe to cross. Walk over the invisible ground through a narrow tunnel and continue to the right. Grab the Humanity and drop off to the right, down towards the butterflies. Don’t aggro them, though. Once you get to the bottom, close to the butterfly, head right and go all the way to the end of this section. You should see some dropping crystals.

At the end, if you turn left, you should see another butterfly in the distance, with a platform ahead. This is another invisible walkway. You may see some orange messages on the ground, but if not, try to align yourself just to the left of the giant crystal that’s protruding upward and to the right. Describing where to walk on an invisible floor through text is tough, but this first part isn’t too bad. Just run across to the next platform and use the Prism Stones if you need to. Once here, you’ll see another Golem at the end of the platform. Go to where he’s standing and you should see some darker crystal ground. Go to the right and drop off the side, right above another Crystal Golem beneath you.

If you look below, you’ll be standing right above him on invisible ground. This part is tough. You have to go all the way to the end of this section on invisible ground. It’s pretty close to a straight shot, but it does curve a tad, so if you fall, you’ll be dead. Hopefully, you’ll see some orange signs on the ground that will help guide you. Otherwise, reference the video for help.

After you’ve reached the next platform, head to the right and you’ll be met with a foggy room containing lots of clams. I don’t recommend fighting them, as they’re extremely difficult to kill. Just go around them to the left and enter the room behind them where a cutscene will play.

SEATH THE SCALELESS

Fortunately, he CAN be killed, but before you do that, head to the opposite end of the room and destroy the glowing crystal so he will take damage. I know this is easy for me to say, but Seath isn’t that bad. Once the crystal is destroyed, go to him and stick to his back or side and wail on his side tail. That’s essentially the gist of the fight. Keep in mind the crystal to destroy might be behind you if this is your first try.

Make sure to stay away from his front and consistently do your best to stick behind him while whacking his tail with melee. You can use magic, but I found better luck hammering away at his tail with my Halberd. The move you want to watch out for is the one where he spawns a ton of spiky crystals that cause cursing effects. If you stay behind him, this attack shouldn’t hurt you. Even if it does, my character had enough health to survive it. Just make sure you back away and heal. Also, keep in mind to two-hand for this part, as your shield is basically useless.

That’s the gist of this fight. You can circle around him and use melee or magic, just avoid his front and you’ll do fine. The hardest part is actually getting here because of how far away it is. Once he’s dead, rest at the bonfire and warp back to the Duke’s Archives. Save 20,000 souls for a ring we will need in a few.

DUKE’S ARCHIVES

Go back to Big Hat Logan and talk to him a few times. You’ll notice he’s gone crazy. After you’ve exhausted his dialogue, quit and reload the game. When you spawn back in, you’ll notice he’s gone. To find him, you must get back to the room where you first encountered Seath. The easiest way to get there is to exit the room and enter the large archive with the books. From here, head up the steps and enter the next large room, through a hallway. Make sure you don’t go up to the third floor. Your destination is on the second floor (from the balcony with the bonfire). Make sure you kill all the enemies along the way. Once you enter the next room, turn right and you’ll see a lever you can pull to call the elevator down. Take it up to the crystal room and you can fight Big Hat Logan.

He’s pretty easy; just use a few heavy melee attacks and he’s done. After you kill him you’ll get the best catalyst in the game, the Tin Crystallization Catalyst. Open the chest to get some goodies, too. Oh and head up the right set of stairs and then go right to find a Soul of a Great Hero.  After he’s dead, warp back to Firelink to proceed. Equip the Tin Crystallization Catalyst, too.

FIRELINK SHRINE

Head down to the firekeeper and reinforce your Estus Flask. If you have 20K souls to spare, I suggest going over to the merchant, Griggs of Vinheim, to buy the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring if you haven’t. He’s right by where Big Hat Logan once was. If you can’t afford it, no biggie, but it will make your life easier. After this, go down like you’re going to New Londo.

NEW LONDO RUINS

Head right, up the steps that lead to the Valley of Drakes.

VALLEY OF DRAKES

Cross the little wooden plank that leads you to Blighttown, but instead, go left and follow the narrow path down the way. Keep going and you’ll see a bridge. Cross it and continue. You’ll eventually see the carcass of a dragon on the left. Don’t mess with it unless you really want to. Your spells should be strong enough to take it out, but I just use the walkway in front of the dragon to walk past. Continue along the narrow pathway and you’ll see a smaller dragon that you can also just run past. These guys have a ton of health, so I recommend to just run past. Keep going and you’ll see another one.

What you want to do now is go past the second dragon and go up the path to the right. You should see a sloped walkway with a doorway on the left. It bends to the left a tad before you can see the doorway.  Enter here to find the elevator that will take you up. Keep going and you’ll come to a bonfire. Rest here and we can move on. Exit the tunnel and you’ll be in a familiar area. If you go right there will be a ramp that will take you upwards. There may be a Black Knight here if you didn’t kill him earlier. Head up the ramp to the right.

DARKROOT BASIN

Continue up the second ramp and then follow that path till you reach a more open area with a few Crystal Golems in the distance, to the left. This is the area with the shortcut up to Undead Burg that we came down at the very beginning. There should be four Golems, so kill them one at a time and make sure to be cautious of the flying water beams coming at you from the lake. We’ll get to that shortly.

If you’re lucky and skilled, you can position yourself on the other side of the Golems so the water attacks will hit them. I couldn’t get it to work as much as I’d like but one beam did kill one of the Golems, which was cool. When you can, hide and equip the Rusted Iron Ring and then we can begin our mini boss battle. Make your way towards the beast on the right side, by a tree. You should get a few feet into the water and make sure the Hydra can’t attack you with the water attacks. Stand right where there’s an item, on the right side.

The Hydra isn’t really that bad, but there are a few things to know. For one, and most importantly, there is a limited amount of space you have to attack the Hydra. If you get too close, you will fall to your death. But, there is a sweet spot that will allow for magic attacks and you can avoid falling into the water.

The way I handle it is simple: Use your shield to block the physical attacks, and once the heads are all close to you, use your magic to attack the heads. As you destroy heads, the overall health will deplete, but you will have fewer targets to attack. Once you get to the last couple heads, it will be tough, but just use a Great Heavy Soul Arrow to shoot them. Keep in mind if you lock on it will target the body and I didn’t have much luck getting my magic to connect. I had to free aim my catalyst to actually strike the heads. You may have to lead your shots, too. I know using magic sounds annoying, but trying to use melee is even more annoying.

Once it’s dead, head to the left side of the lake and make your way to the far back end, sticking to the left wall. Go all the way to the end and eventually you’ll come to a narrow tunnel that dead ends. Once here, face the way you came, and quit out and reload. Upon coming back into the game, you’ll be faced with a Gold Golem. Melee does wonders against him, so take him out. After this, an NPC will spawn in his place. This is Dusk of Oolacile. Answer yes to her question and then head all the way back to where you fought the Hydra. Make sure you hug the wall to do so, because otherwise you’ll fall to your death.

If you go to where that tree was, (On the right side of the Hydra if your back was towards the bonfire) you should see a rock with a summon sign behind it. Use the sign to summon Oolacile, a merchant that sells spells. Buy Cast Light from her and then warp back to the bonfire. From here, warp to the Daughter of Chaos bonfire and we can begin our journey towards the Bed of Chaos.

BUT FIRST…

Head back to where you killed the last Golden Golem at the end of that cave. Go to where he spawned and then quit out and load back in. You should see an item that can be picked up. It will include the Crown of Dusk, which you should equip immediately. This will boost your magic attacks. I think this item is only accessible AFTER you talk to Oolacile, so make sure you do that first. Now, warp back to the bonfire and we can head to the Daughter of Chaos. (Note: You may want to head to the Andre in Undead Parish to grab some arrows from him. They only cost 10 souls a piece, so stock up).

QUELAAG’S DOMAIN

As soon as you spawn, head forward past the egg guy, and into the next room. Head right and you’ll be able to go through a broken down wall. Follow the tunnel to take you to the next area.

DEMON RUINS

If you head straight ahead from the tunnel, you’ll see a bonfire. Rest here and continue forward till you come to a fork. Don’t take the left path, as it will lead you to an inaccessible area right now, full of lava. Instead, head right and follow the path, across a bridge and to an area with a fog gate to the left. Before crossing the fog gate, you may want to backup your save to the cloud because if you die here, the game makes it harder on your subsequent tries because the boss will already be aggroed. Oh and I recommend to be take off all your clothes (in the game). Leave your Crown of Dusk if you wish to attack with magic.

CEASELESS DISCHARGE

When you cross the fog gate, just keep following the path. You’ll head up some stairs and then around a bend. Eventually, you will see it…

However, don’t attack the monster; Keep following the path till you get to a dead end with an item. Once you pick this item up, the fight will begin. Before you do that, though, there are a few things you should know.

I will be cheesing the boss, because…well….it’s the easiest method. You CAN fight him properly, but I don’t recommend it and I won’t be doing so on my playthrough. What we will be doing is grabbing the item and then running ALL THE WAY back to where we came. Go back to the fog gate. It may also help to unequip your shield to make your equipment load less. Before running, watch the beast and wait for him to attack once and run immediately after. You may want to cut through the narrow path as a shortcut. I actually got hit once on my way back, but it didn’t kill me. If you are having trouble, equip the Gold-Hemmed clothing you just grabbed to help negate some of the damage.

Once you get to the fog gate, turn around and the beast should be right behind you. He will jump and slam his hand down. Run up to the hand and give it a few whacks. After doing so, he will die, almost instantly. This is because he is standing over a bottomless pit after jumping towards you. For some reason, doing enough damage to him causes him to fall to his death. If you do die and don’t make a backup save, you can still cheese him. Just run all the way to where the item was, then run back to the fog gate and he’ll still do the jump.

Anyway, collect your 20K souls and warp back to the bonfire to level up. The other path that was previously inaccessible is now available. By the way, my character is now at level 65, which I recommend you aim for on this part. My intelligence is at 50, which means I can use the all powerful Crystal Soul Spear.

Now, take the path to the now accessible area and follow it as it winds down. You’ll notice several Taurus Demons on the left, but we won’t mess with that. Instead, look for a path to the right with a Capra Demon guarding the way. It should be on the opposite side as the Taurus Demons. Make sure you pick up the Soul of a Proud Knight just before taking on the Capra Demon. He’s almost as annoying as his boss counterpart, but at least this time there are no dogs. I used a Homing Crystal Soulmass to take him out instantly. You can run around him.

Whichever you choose, take the path behind him and follow it around till you come to an area with more Capra Demons. Don’t aggro them, though. If you look below you and to the right, you’ll see a platform you can easily drop down to, so do that. Try to stick to the side closest to the item below, because as soon as you drop down, a giant bug will spawn from the wall. Unfortunately, we must defeat it, so use magic to take out the bug. One Soul Spear basically kills him, so just attack from afar. When it dies, a bonfire will appear in front of where the beast was. Rest here and we can move on.

Following the path to the right of the bug will lead you to the next area. Keep following it, make a right and the path it will lead you down some stairs and you’ll see a fog gate in the distance. Head to the fog gate, dodging all the enemies, including a Taurus Demon and another bug thing ahead. I really don’t recommend fighting these enemies, because you will just be wasting your time and magic.

Enter the gate to start another version of the Asylum Demon. UGH. Make sure you change out the Rusted Iron Ring for something more useful.

DEMON FIRESAGE

This version is almost exactly like the last, only he’s fire-themed. When the fight starts, hold up your shield and run right into him. Doing so will probably avoid his attack. You should then do what you did before and try to get behind him with your attacks. When you see him lift his staff up for a giant AOE attack, get out of the way, preferably behind him. I used magic and it took him out in a few attacks – the Homing Crystal Soulmass does wonders. Remember, if he jumps in the air, back away and wait for him to land.

You can use that time to attack him with melee from the front if you want, but magic is so powerful against him, you may want to stick with spells instead. Also, try not to get in front of him since he likes to slam his staff down for an instakill. Just remember, stick behind him and look out for him to use the AOE attack. He only has a handful of moves, so you should be able to memorize them easily.

Once he’s dead, continue onward to the stairs and follow them down to the next bonfire. From here, follow the winding tree root down to the next fog gate containing the next boss.