Dark Souls Noob Guide for Mages – Section 7

If you’re interested in doing the DLC, that section will commence now. Otherwise, skip ahead to the part just before Gwyn, the final boss. Since all the DLC is included with the Remastered version, it might be a good idea to play through it. If you are going to do the DLC, you might want to have as close to a +15 melee weapon as possible.

Let’s warp to Anor Londo to get an item we need.

ANOR LONDO

When you spawn, you may notice the firekeeper is aggroed and will be attacking you. Just run, and head to the left, like you’re going to the Duke’s Archives. Head all the way inside, through the hall with the two boars and past the bonfire.

DUKE’S ARCHIVES

Take the elevator up and you’ll be in the room with several crystal enemies and a crystal Golem at the far end of the room. Kill the Golem to get the Broken Pendant. Once he’s dead, warp back and warp to Undead Parish.

UNDEAD PARISH

Okay, now head out to the Darkroot Garden, past the tree creatures and down to where the Hydra was.

DARKROOT GARDEN

Head down to Darkroot Basin.

DARKROOT BASIN

Equip your Rusted Iron Ring and cross the lake, sticking to the left side. Go all the way back to where the Gold Golem was, at the back of the lake and you should see a portal that will take you to the DLC area.

SANCTUARY GARDEN (DLC)

Walk through the tunnel and you’ll see a fog gate. Cross it to start the first boss fight.

SANCTUARY GUARDIAN (DLC)

This boss is normally really tough, but because the guardian is so weak to magic, it’s a cakewalk. I defeated it in three hits. Run into the arena and shoot him with two Crystal Soul Spears and a regular Soul Spear and he will go down. There is definitely more nuance to the fight, but since magic is so effective against him, he will go down before you can experience any of it.

A few tips, though:

1. Watch out for his lightning attack.  He likes to do that right as the fight begins. I recommend to dodge to the side for that.
2. Try not to get too close to him because he will catch you in a loop of healing and getting smacked. Your best bet is to stay far away and spam magic.
3. If all else fails, use Power Within to help.

After he’s dead, go to the left corner of the arena and go down the path that leads to Oolacile Sanctuary.

OOLACILE SANCTUARY (DLC)

When you enter, rest at the bonfire and then head left to talk to the giant mushroom lady. Answer yes to her question.  You can buy Gold Pine Resin, which I find extremely useful. After that, continue along and you’ll see a bridge.

 

ROYAL WOOD (DLC)

When you cross the bridge, head to the right, up the hill and you should see some enemies with pitchforks coming for you. Luckily, they’re super easy to kill – two hits should do it. From here, follow the path, but stick to the right side. Use magic to take out the big stone enemies and melee to take out the pitchfork guys. You should stumble upon a structure. Enter and climb the steps to get the Guardian Gauntlets. Take note of this area as it will be a shortcut for the next boss fight. Exit and make a right, continuing along the path and you’ll come to a short drop. After that, keep going.  

When you come to a bigger drop that leads to a more open area with flowers, get ready to take out several enemies. Pick them off one at a time and use magic on the big guy in the corner. Grab the Guardian Leggings and then make a right, towards the next bridge.

At the bridge, a freaking dragon will land, but he will go away after a few seconds. If you stand there for a bit, a couple of those big guys will start making their way towards you. Again, magic does wonders on them.

Head across the bridge and follow the path to the right. This will lead you through a narrow area and you’ll come to a crystal lizard. If you chase it off the edge you might fall off, but that’s okay because there’s a platform to land on. Do that, and kill the lizard. After that, follow the path to the left and around to the next area.

For this next part, let’s continue along to the right, towards the enemy with the hedge clipper-like weapon. He’s not too bad; two swings of your halberd should do it. Ahead are two more enemies that will be a tad harder to take out since they’re coming at you in a pair. Just do the same thing you’ve been doing: Pick them off one at a time. Keep going after that. You should see a coliseum in the distance.

After you continue ahead, you should see some more enemies on your left,  but they will be trimming the branches off trees, which makes killing them seem a bit sad. You can skip past them if you want.

Unfortunately, we can’t just run to the coliseum yet, but we can go to a structure off to the right. You should see a couple big stone enemies to the left of the structure. There will be an elevator inside that will take you down stairs. Do that.

You should now see a fog gate in the distance. We will be heading here shortly. When you exit through the doorway, go ahead and to the right, across a bridge. Talk to the NPC, answer yes, and then go to his right, into another structure. This will take you up and act as a shortcut from the Royal Woods. Take it back down and go back to the previous elevator you first came from. Immediately turn left for a Soul of a Brave Warrior.

From here we’ll be getting prepared for the Knight Artorias boss fight, which is no joke. For starters, if you die, remember there is a handy shortcut in the form of an elevator not too far from the last bonfire. When you’re ready, head towards the fog to prepare. You might want to rest at the bonfire to stock up on magic.

KNIGHT ARTORIAS (DLC)

This fight is insanely difficult, but magic makes it a cakewalk and you can end up killing him in a few seconds, provided you’ve been following the guide and matching my stats. At this point, my Intelligence was at 64 and I was using the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring and the Crown of Dusk to maximize magic effectiveness.

You can start the fight with Power Within, but I didn’t on my run. After he finishes the attack, you can use a Crystal Soul Spear. If you’re using Power Within, this should cause devastating damage.

He will probably jump towards you with a freakishly fast attack. Roll through this and get ready to roll through another one because he likes to do multiple attacks like this. Once he finishes, he will back up and you can use another Crystal Soul Spear. If you’re lucky, he will start charging up his dark attack. This will allow you to get off multiple Soul Spear attacks that, if combined with Power Within will probably kill him.

Now, the fight is much more complicated that what I just described, so we can go into some of the nuances. What might help is to use your Homing Crystal Soulmass as soon as the fight begins. He then might lunge towards you, which you should roll through. After that animation finishes, hopefully you hit him with a few of the beams from the Soulmass.

There should be some distance between you, so shoot him with a Crystal Soul Spear and hope for the best. You want to use magic when he’s farther away, to ensure he won’t hit you. If you see him about to strike, roll through the attack. The purpose of the magic build is to kill him in a matter of seconds, because fighting him any other way is tougher.

If you want to fight him with melee, by all means, but magic is wildly effective.

After you take down one of the hardest bosses of the game, you’ll notice a lady kneeling down and praying at what looks like a grave. If she’s not here, quit out and she’ll spawn. Talk to her and give her the Soul of Artorias that you just acquired. She’ll give you the Dark Silver Tracer and the Gold Tracer, respectively.

Then head out the newly accessible fog gate towards the bonfire ahead. On your way to the bonfire, you’ll notice a fog gate on your right. This is a totally optional area designed for PVP, so we don’t have to go there. You will notice that across the hall is a set of stairs. Head that way. At the top of the steps, turn around and grab the Soul of a Hero. Now, continue ahead of the steps and you’ll come to a locked door on your right.

Don’t worry; we’ll be back. For now, head back down to the bonfire and level up so we can continue. At this time I was a level 80 and Intelligence at 66. Head left and you’ll see a set of stairs you can descend. By now you will probably be hearing awful noises from enemies.

OOLACILE TOWNSHIP (DLC)

Take out the long-armed guy on the right and keep going down. Grab that Large Soul of a Proud Knight atop the roof. You’ll see four more long-armed guys. What works best is to aggro the first two and take them out separately. Then take out the other two. Go left and there will be an area with an elevator that we can’t access yet. Keep going, take out two more enemies and follow the path downstairs. The next set of enemies might give you trouble, mainly because of the one that shoots projectiles. She’s weak to magic so take her out from afar. To the left is a short set of steps we’ll be heading down, but first grab the Soul of a Brave Warrior in the small room. Be careful of the guy on the left.

Now head down the steps and you should come to a fork: you can either keep going downwards, or head right. For now, let’s keep going downwards. Be careful of the enemy coming towards you on the narrow path. In the distance you should see an almost perfectly placed chest, just for you. Obviously, it’s a Mimic, so be aware of that. Kill it, pick up the item it drops and keep going down the steps.

Head right out of the archway and follow the steps till you get to two more enemies. Across a narrow bridge you should see another enemy shooting projectiles. Kill the first two enemies and then run across the bridge, rolling through the attacks. Once you get to her, backstab her. To the left is another set of stairs so go down them and then look left to take out another enemy.

You may be tempted to rush in and grab the item ahead, but just know there is an enemy waiting for you on the right. Upon grabbing said item, another enemy will drop from the ceiling. Kill him and then keep going down. This next room is tough because there are a ton of enemies. Let’s take them out one at a time and try to step back to avoid getting overwhelmed. Take note that the enemy to the back left will shoot magic projectiles, so always be aware of her position.

If you’re really tricky, you can lock on to her and run and jump over the ledge to land a plunging attack on her. To the right is a set of stairs that you should definitely climb up. Also, there’s another magic projectile enemy in the far left corner of this room so you should try to avoid those attacks. Take these stairs all the way up and kill the enemy in the narrow walkway with the balcony.

Exit and look left and then left again and you’ll see an area below you that is illuminated, with an enemy guarding it. If you position yourself correctly, you can totally roll down and get yourself into this room. Kill the enemy and kill the mimic in the corner to get the Crest Key. Now, head to the left of the fireplace and and ignore the little drop-off to the left. Keep going straight, through the doorway. Keep in mind, an enemy will be waiting for you on the left. At this point, you’ll see a ladder in the room, but I wouldn’t bother going down there. It will just take you to the mage enemy from before.

Head outside, to the left of the ladder and drop off the ledge and head all the way down to the lower platform. Just after you walk across some windows on the ground, take a right. Head inside and this will take you to the shortcut via elevator just next to the bonfire. You might want to go back and replenish your magic. Once you’ve activated the shortcut, head keep going past the windows on the ground and you’ll see three enemies in the distance.

It’s actually five, because two are hiding. This area might be difficult, but luckily we just unlocked the shortcut.  Oh and if you use the shortcut, make sure you send it back up to make your life easier. To take out the enemies, do what you’ve been doing: Aggro the closest enemy, step back, kill, rinse and repeat. The hard part is that two of these enemies will shoot projectiles at you, so you have to be savvy with your positioning. You might want to just run past everyone, get to the next area, quit out and bum rush them from behind.

Try magic or bows to take out the mage enemies in the back and use the pillars to your advantage. If all else fails, use a Homing Soulmass and let them have it. Speaking of Soulmass, you should use one when you enter the next area. It will be useful against the next mini-boss which you’ll see off in the distance. It took me two Crystal Soulmasses to kill him. After he’s dead continue onward and you’ll get to a pressure plate that calls an elevator. Be ready, though. An enemy will be on the elevator.

Ride the elevator down and rejoice! A bonfire awaits. Exit the bonfire room and head left, down the path.

CHASM OF THE ABYSS (DLC)

This area is like Tomb of Giants 2.0 – it sucks. After going down the path a bit, look left and you’ll see the red glow of several enemies guarding an item. Grab the item if you want, and head back to a glowing orb on the floor that will face in the direction of the objective. It’s just like Tomb of Giants. Head down the slope and follow it down and to the left, avoiding the enemy to the right of the slope. Keep going and you’ll see a bunch of ghost-like creatures that resemble Humanity.

Take a right across a narrow bridge and follow it down. At the end of the bridge, take a left and go around the bend. This will cause the floor to disappear. You will drop down and land in a foggy area. Follow the path. Keep going and you’ll see a cat ahead. Continue onward and you will have to engage the Humanity ghosts. They aren’t hard; just whack them a few times. At the end of the area will be the cat and to its left, a pathway with an elevator. This is another major shortcut back to Royal Wood, so activate it and head back down.

Just to the left of where the cat was sitting is an illusory wall that can be uncovered. Enter this area and kill all the Humanity ghosts. Behind them you’ll see Sif! Walk up to him and he will disappear and you can get a nifty shield. Go back into the room with the cat and backtrack a bit to the start of this room. Look for an orb on the ground that will lead you down. If you exit the room with Sif, the path down will be just to the right, next to an orb. You will reach a fork. You can go up another path, or down to fight more Humanity ghosts. You can go down if you want, but I recommend just heading up.

This will lead you back up. Be aware – there will be one of those ugly mages at the top of this area, so don’t be too careless. To the left is some Humanity to pick up. Ahead, there will be several Humanity ghosts – like, a lot. You can kill them all, but what you want to do is take the makeshift bridge, the one illuminated by orbs and use it to get to the next area. At the bottom of the bridge will be a pathway ahead, but if you look behind the bridge after you’ve crossed it, you’ll see an item containing Twin Humanities.

Head forward and enter a room that leads down to a giant fog gate. Be cautious of the Humanity ghosts and look to the left for an item containing some souls. If you go down and cross the fog gate, you’ll be in for a treat (joking).  This will start the boss fight for the hardest boss in the game, in my opinion. For now, let’s head back to the bonfire to finish up some business.

To get back here from the last bonfire, head to the left, follow the path past the crystal lizard, and head to the first orb. Follow that down and ahead and get to the next area with a short bridge on your right. Cross it and you’ll be in the room with a ton of Humanity ghosts. Take the ramp down and look out for the mage that’s ahead. Luckily, there’s a pillar to hide in front of that can be used to either make a shot or wait to run between attacks. To the right is the bridge illuminated by orbs. Follow this into the boss room. For now, since this boss is so tough, let’s not worry too much about it and head back to unlock that door near the coliseum.

Warp back to Oolacile Township and turn around to head towards the area where you fought the Knight Artorias. Enter the arena where you fought him and then exit through the original entrance. This will put you back to the start of the fight. Now head forward towards the structure with the elevator and you’ll see a path that leads down.  

ROYAL WOOD (DLC)

Go straight ahead and to the left of the structure, which will lead you down into a shallow river. At the bottom of the steps, you can go left and back, or forward. Going backwards will get you an item and lead to a dead end. Grab it if you want and be cautious of the dogs. Let’s now go forwards, past the steps you just came down following the river and taking care of the dogs. You’ll go through a fog gate and head left towards a ladder that leads all the way down.

What we’re going to do is trigger the ability for the Giant to shoot the dragon. Take the ladder down and you should see some items off to the right. Head towards them, but be aware of the dragon who will be coming from the right side. As soon as you seem start to come towards you and breath fire, quit the game. Doing this will trigger the dialogue option with the Giant.

Now, head back to the area where you fought Artorias. I know, backtracking is annoying, but we’re almost finished. You can warp back to Oolicile Township if you want. Enter the little hallway just before the Oolicile Township. Go up the steps opposite of the fog gate with the PVP room (assuming you haven’t crossed it) and follow the path until you get to the locked door.

Open it with the Crest Key. Climb the ladder and talk to the giant. Answer yes to his question and he will allow you to fight the upcoming dragon. Answer yes again and a cutscene will play with him shooting the dragon, allowing you to properly fight it. Now, head back down into the area where you fought the Knight Artorias and exit to the right, towards Royal Wood and back down to the Black Dragon Kalameet.

BLACK DRAGON KALAMEET (DLC)

This is one of the more straightforward fights, but still difficult, nonetheless. The run when I beat him was absolutely horrible and I barely won, but it just goes to show how much room for error there is. You might want to put a backup save in the cloud.

For starters, make sure you have the Crest shield equipped with at least one Crystal Soul Spear, Homing Crystal Soulmass, and Power Within. At the bottom of the ladder, use Power Within and switch over to Homing Crystal Soulmass and use it. Then run along to the right and get ready to shoot a Crystal Soul Spear at the beast. Whether or not you hit him with the Soulmass will depend on what kind of move he does at first. For me, he jumped up in the air and did his headbutt attack.

If he does this, just roll to either side and hope the Soulmass hits. Because of my build, I didn’t have much room for misses since I didn’t have as much magic equipped. Once this animation is complete, you can hit him with a Crystal Soul Spear.

Be cautious of his sweeping headbutt attack and know that he may do a follow-up attack right away. Just roll right through this attack just as his head is about to hit you. If you stay close, he may be inclined to do this move a lot. Make sure you time you heals in between attacks and at the end of his animations. When he flies up in the air and hovers for a bit, you need to roll back three times because this is a deadly AOE attack.

The nice thing about this is that it gives you time to switch to your Soulmass and get it ready. You can also use this opportunity to heal. If he shoots fire at you, you can either roll through it, or just run away to the sides. You’ll notice this because he will cock his head back and you’ll see the fire at his mouth. If you roll through, you can get a Soul Spear off, quickly.

Remember to use a Soulmass in between attacks to maximize damage. My Crystal Soul Spear was able to pull off 1213 damage, which is devastating. There’s another move the dragon does where he charges up a red attack, similar to the fire attack. If he does this, roll out of the way because he will grab you and do a bit of damage but it will also have lasting effects. All damage dealt for the duration of the battle will be doubled. So, unless you plan on not taking any damage, you need to avoid this attack.

When you avoid it, you can get another Soulmass off and get ready to shoot another Soul Spear. If you’re close to him, he might whip around and smack you with his tail. It’s hard to see coming because it’s so fast, but try to look out for him to sway to the side and whip around. If he does that, roll right through the attack.

That’s essentially all of his moves, so just avoid his attacks and get off a few shots when you can. On my run, I ran out of magic and had to finish him off with melee, which sucks because the entirety of the fight is done using magic. It doesn’t help that I missed a shot with a Soul Spear. If you have to resort to this, just stick close and two-hand your weapon, getting off attacks when you can. The dodging is the same.

Once he’s dead, pick up the three souls in the middle of the arena. If you go to the end of this area overlooking a cliff, you’ll be able to pick up Gough’s Great Arrow. Now, head back to the ladder you came down, but turn around to face a waterfall. There will be a chest there containing a Titanite Slab! Grab that and we can prepare for the final fight, Manus, Father of the Abyss.

Before that, we need a super useful item that will help with the final boss, the Silver Pendant. Warp to Oolacile Township to get this item.

OOLACILE TOWNSHIP (DLC)

When you spawn, equip the Cast Light spell and head down, past the elevator and once you get to the first mage guy, go down the small set of steps and head right before the longer set of stairs. Do this instead of going forward along the narrow walkway. When you turn right, follow the path and it will take you upstairs. From here, keep going and you’ll reach another set of stairs that leads down. Be careful turning the corner to the left because there’s an enemy.

Eventually, you’ll come to an area where you can roll down to the lower floor. It’s just below a little wooden walkway. Roll down and keep going straight. You’ll see a crystal lizard on a roof. Turn left and head all the way to the end of the walkway. If you turn your character to face the wall, use your Cast Light, you’ll uncover the path. Head inside and open the chest for the Silver Pendant. Warp back to the bonfire, and take off Cast Light. Make sure you have Power Within, and as many Homing Soulmass and Soul Spears as you can. Oh and equip the Silver Pendant.

Warp back to Oolacile Township Dungeon to head to the final boss.

OOLACILE TOWNSHIP DUNGEON (DLC)

Head down to the boss area. If you forgot how to get there, please reference the Chasm of the Abyss section. Before you cross the fog gate, make a backup save and be prepared for a few things. First, use Power Within, then while that’s initiating, switch to your Homing Crystal Soulmass. Then switch to your catalyst to shoot magic.

MANUS, FATHER OF THE ABYSS (DLC)

Once that’s done, traverse the fog and get ready. As soon as the cutscene ends, use your Soulmass, switch to Soul Spear,  and run towards him. As you run towards him, do so at an angle to the left. You may need to roll through his attack, whichever he uses. When you get close enough, your Soulmass should go off and you can then use your Soul Spear. After this, back away and get ready to use another Soulmass. Switch to your Soul Spear again. Again, get close, roll through the attack and use another Soul Spear on him.

By this point, his health should be at half, or close to. If you get hit, just back way far away and heal. Once he’s at half, make sure you switch from your Estus Flask to your Silver Pendant. Back way far away again, use a Soulmass, and then be prepared to use the pendant.

As soon as Manus uses dark magic (it’s purple), use the pendant. This will deflect all magic. You’ll then have a moment to heal or use a Soulmass if you need to. I got lucky and ran behind him and was able to pull off TWO Crystal Soul Spears, which killed him.

When you’re done, find the bonfire in here and warp back to the last fire, then back to Firelink.