-= Dark Souls Walkthrough =-
                        Version 1.1(November 02, 2011)
                          Copyright 2011 Jerryn Hur
          Most updated version will always be found at gamefaqs.com



            -=Contents=-

Version History..................dver
Intro............................dint
Stat Builds......................dsta
Tips.............................dtip
Walkthrough......................dwal
   Undead Asylum.................dasy
   Undead Burg...................dbur
   Undead Parish.................dpar
   Depths........................ddep
   Blighttown....................dbli
   Sen's Fortress................dsen
   Anor Londo....................dano
   Darkroot Garden...............dgar
   New Londo Ruins...............dnlo
   The Duke's Archives...........dduk
   Demon's Ruins.................ddem
   Lost Izalith..................dlos
   The Catacombs.................dcat
   Tomb of the Giants............dtom
   Kiln of the First Flame.......dkil





-----------------------------Version History[dint]-----------------------------


1.1(November 02, 2011)
Slight change to stat builds section
Removed "iron flesh" usage for four kings
Removed statement saying "greater magic shield" gives invincibility
Removed statement saying "master key" is not obtainable in game
Added a little bit more information for "kiln of the first flame"

1.0(October 28, 2011)


-------------------------------Intro[dint]-------------------------------------


This guide will contain general strategies on how to approach the game and a
walkthrough. This won't have lists of all items or where to get everything.
It will only include items that are along the way of the walkthrough or items I
feel are very helpful. I didn't include covenants, because I don't know them
all and I don't know how they exactly work. I didn't include optional areas,
but I may add them later if I feel motivated to. Also, this walkthrough does
not avoid spoilers. You have been warned.

There is going to be quite a few things in this guide that is based on my
opinion. For example, fighting in range tends to be easier than melee or that
stat builds based on lightning weapons tends to be better than ones based on
scaling. If you send me an e-mail trying to refute an opinion, I probably will
ignore it unless you make a really good case. On the other hand, if I have an
opinion that is just completely wrong(such as pyromancy magic adjust scales
with int which is wrong), then I would really appreciate the e-mail.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, e-mail me at
mrjhwar@hotmail.com with the subject as "dark souls walkthrough (site you read
this from)". I have to admit that there is a good chance I won't respond due to
laziness but I'll try my best to not let your e-mail go to waste. If I use
whatever from the e-mail you send me in my guide, I'll credit it to whatever
name you put within your e-mail.



-------------------------------Stat Builds[dsta]-------------------------------


I don't recommend going over 50 in any stat, because you'll meet severe
diminishing returns.

Also, for all builds, I recommend getting pyromancy. The only investment you
probably have to make is some stats into attunement and souls for buying spells
and upgrading the pyromancy flame. Considering the power it offers, those are
very cheap requirements. Unless you play a pyromancer, the first time you get
to get pyromancy is when you reach the "depths."

The stats
Vitality:     determines how much health you have
Attunement:   determines how many spells you can equip
Endurance:    determines stamina(for striking, blocking, dodging), equip load,
                 resistance to bleed
Strength:     if less than required by shield/sword, it will be used slower and
                 do way less damage; boosts damage if weapon is scaled by
                 strength
Dexterity:    if less than required by weapon, it will do way less damage;
                 boosts damage if weapon is scaled by dexterity
Resistance:   determines defensive stats and poison resistance
Intelligence: boosts magic adjust of certain weapons(not fire), required to use
                 certain magic, damage of certain weapons reduced if not enough
                 intelligence, boosts damage if weapon scales to intelligence
Faith:        boosts magic adjust of certain weapons, required to use
                 certain miracles, damage of certain weapons reduced if not
                 enough faith, boosts damage if weapon scales to faith, boosts
                 magic defense


-------------Vitality and Endurance

For this build, once you meet the minimum requirements of the weapon you want
to use, you pump points into vitality and endurance with slightly more focus on
vitality. The weapon should be upgradeable into a lightning weapon which is one
that begins an upgrade with a titanite shard.

In order to make a lightning weapon, go to the blacksmith in "undead parish"
and upgrade the weapon all the way to +10. You'll need "large ember" from the
"depths" and some "large titanite shards" which can be bought for 4000 souls
each from the merchant in "Sen's Fortress." After that, it can be upgraded into
a lightning weapon with "titanite chunks" by the blacksmith in "anor londo."
I recommend saving up "titanite chunks" you find just for upgrading your
favorite weapon so you don't have to farm too much. They are dropped by the
dark wraith solders in the lower part of "new londo ruins" after the water is
drained.

By the time you first reach the blacksmith in "undead parish,"
try to upgrade your favorite weapon to +5 ASAP. Then once you get the
"large ember" from the depths, use up all the "large titanite shards"
you found just for upgrading your weapon as much as possible. Once you
reach "Sen's Fortress," you can farm the knights on the roof to get more "large
titanite shards" and upgrade your weapon all the way to +10. Once you reach the
blacksmith in "anor londo," use up all the "titanite chunks" you found to
upgrade your weapon as far into lightning as possible.

If you find yourself having problems with running out of estus flasks, go ahead
and invest points into attunement until 10 and faith until 12. Then go to
firelink shrine and go to the back area where you find the cleric and learn
"heal" from him for 4000 souls. Then go up the stairs near him and keep going
until you find a area with 2 doorways with a dark bottom area. Drop down and
keep going to find 4 chests, one with a "talisman" which is required to cast
the "heal" spell. After that, drop down and run left to reach firelink shrine
and rest at the bonfire to get rid of the enemies chasing you. Also at the
bonfire, be sure to attune to the "heal" spell. To cast it, equip the
"talisman" and use it.

For a starting class, I would recommend a knight if this is the first time
you're playing this game. It allows you to get heal spell with just one point
investment into faith and they start with good armor and vitality. I would
continue the game while investing points into vitality(health) or
endurance(stamina/equip heavier gear) and into strength/dexterity as you find
weapons you want to try out(try to stay away from weapons requiring more than
32 strength). Also try to reduce your equipped gear until you weigh below 50%
of your max equip load so you move and dodge faster.

Recommended Starting Class: 
   Warrior
   Knight  (for heal)
   Bandit  (for strength based weapon)
   Hunter  (for dexterity based weapon)
Recommended Stats:
   vitality:   40-50    (put slightly more into here than endurance)
   attunement: 10-14    (for heal or pyromancy)
   endurance:  40
   strength:   up to 32 (just put enough to meet weapon requirement)
   dexterity:  up to 20 (just put enough to meet weapon requirement)
   faith:      12       (only if you want to get heal)


-------------Scaling

I haven't made this build before. I believe it's similar to the vitality and
endurance build but with stats into strength or dexterity up to 50 with a
weapon that scales by them. You upgrade the weapon of your choice that scales
to strength or dexterity into +15, boss +5, unique +5, or dragon +5 depending
on the weapon type. That is all I know about this build.


-------------Intelligence

I recommend going all out intelligence until it reaches 50 after adding 1 into
attunement for an extra slot. I personally also added 3 more into attunement
for another spell slot along the way. I would start as a sorcerer and one of
the first things I would do is try to get "soul arrow" and "heavy soul arrow"
from the blacksmith in new londo ruins. You can reach him by going down the
stairs by the firelink shrine bonfire and keep going, go down the elevator, go
towards the right area of the new londo ruins and down the stairs by a hollow
who is lying down comfortably.

I didn't have a problem of running out of casts. The only problem I had with
this build is dealing with dogs early on. Once you get used to them, they're
not too bad. Other than fast enemies like the dogs, I found myself having an
easier time with his build than the melee build. Most regular enemies die
before they reach me and most bosses die very fast from range by the more
stronger spells that only have a few casts.


Getting better spells, "bellowing dragoncrest ring," and catalysts:

In order to get better spells, you need to free people at 3 points in the game.
First is trapped in a house in the basement of "undead burg" which can be
reached after getting the "basement key" in front of the church in "undead
parish." To free him, you need to buy the "residence key" from the merchant in
"undead burg." When he's freed, he'll sell you spells at "firelink shrine." The
main spells you want from this guy is "great soul arrow" and "great heavy soul
arrow." You'll also want to buy "bellowing dragoncrest ring" from him.

Second is in "Sen's Fortress." You need to get the "cage key" which is below
the merchant that you reach by jumping a gap. Then use the boulder controls of
the area to punch a hole through the wall where a serpentman is comfortably
leaning on. Free the man in the cage there and he'll sell you some spells at
"firelink shrine." The main spells you want to get is "great soul arrow,"
"homing soulmass," and "soul spear."

Third is in "Duke's Archives." You need to get the key from the room with 3
chests and a mimic. Then head back to the jail area and free him from the big
jail at the way bottom. He'll sell 3 spells in small room by the room where you
got the key.

If you buy all 3 spells and kill Seath, talk to him again then reload the game.
If you go to where you first fought Seath, you'll see Logan as a hollow. Kill
him for another spell and a catalyst. Then go back to where he was selling the
3 spells for another catalyst and his armor. The catalysts you get require high
intelligence before they shine.


Getting "crown of dusk":

Go to "darkroot garden" through "undead parish" and take the first
path to the right to go all the way down to "darkroot basin." There will be a
black knight so be careful. If you head all the way down, there will be a
bonfire.

Come back up a bit and follow the path you haven't been through yet and you'll
reach an area with 4 crystal golems and a huge hydra that spits water at you.
Kill off the golems then head as close to the boss as possible while avoiding
its spit. Once you reach the water, don't get too close or you'll fall into the
water and die. Once you're close enough for the hydra to reach you, it will
start slamming its heads towards you. Just block it and hit it and rinse and
repeat. There will still be phases where it spits so watch out for that.

Once it's dead, head into the back left area and somewhere there will be a
golden golem. Kill it and talk to the lady that appears. Quit and reload the
game and you should see a summon sign by the shore for Oolacile or something
like that. Summon her and talk to her. Then go back to where the golden golem
was, you can get her armor. The headpiece boosts magic.


Getting a melee weapon:

Once I reached 50 intelligence, I went ahead and invested into a melee weapon.
I decided to use a "long sword" which only requires 10 strength and dexterity.
I upgraded it into an enchanted weapon to get the scaling into intelligence but
I ended up regretting it, because it doesn't exceed the stats of the lightning
version even at 50 intelligence and I'm stuck with another weapon that does
magic damage. So once you find a weapon you want to use, I recommend upgrading
it into lightning. Also, you don't HAVE to get a melee weapon. I just got it,
because I wanted to and I only had to put 1 stat into strength to use a "long
sword" which I really like using.

Once I got a melee weapon, I just focused on vitality then endurance. You can
go for more attunement slots if you want, but after 19 attunement for 5 slots,
it requires 4 stats into attunement to get another slot.


Recommended Starting Class: Sorcerer
Recommended Stats:
   vitality:     40       (after reaching 50 intelligence)
   attunement:   19
   endurance:    40       (after reaching 50 intelligence and 20-30 vitality)
   strength:     up to 12 (as little as possible to meet weapon requirements)
   dexterity:    up to 12 (as little as possible to meet weapon requirements)
   intelligence: 50


-------------Faith

I haven't made a faith build so I'm not sure how to approach it. I would assume
it will be similar to the intelligence build but with stats into faith and more
melee and pyromancy. I would probably invest some stats into vitality,
endurance, attunement, and strength/dexterity for a stronger weapon before
investing big time into faith.


-------------------------------Tips[dtip]--------------------------------------


-------------General
Do NOT attack the NPCs. Make a habit of targeting before attacking. If you're
trying to pull something with your bow, make sure it's a monster you've
encountered before.

You can kindle the bonfire for one humanity while you're in human form. When
you do that, you'll get more flasks when you rest at that bonfire.

At the bonfire, you get the option to reverse hollowing. It uses up one of your
humanities to turn you into a human. When you do that, you get to kindle
bonfires, you get to summon others for help, and you can get invaded by others
or by NPCs. You can beat the game without reversing hollowing at all if you
want, but if you're having trouble at some point, more flasks and being able to
summon others to defeat hard bosses may be worth spending humanities on.

Not all comments on the floor is trustworthy. Follow them with caution.

I highly recommend saving up "titanite chunks" and using it all to upgrade your
favorite weapon into lightning.


-------------Combat
Try to have your shield down when you know you're not going to be attacked in
order to regenerate more stamina.

Try not to spam the attack button. You may end up attacking again when you
really wanted to block or dodge.

When going for a back stab, remember to lower your shield first.

When approaching an unknown area or a group of enemies, try to pull them one at
a time with a bow. You don't need to meet a bow's requirements to use it. You
can also use poison arrows to weaken or kill tougher enemies as well.

If fighting an enemy for the first time, be cautious and don't get too greedy
with getting hits in.


-------------------------------Walkthrough[dwal]-------------------------------


-------------Undead Asylum[dasy]-------------

---------------------------------------------


This place is a tutorial and doesn't have much secrets. Just proceed while
reading the writings on the floor. Once you reach the bonfire, get prepared for
a boss.


*****BOSS*****
Asylum Demon

Okay, here is the strategy. RUN! Run through the doorway to the left. You can
try to beat him, but it will take a long time and you can only get hit a few
times.

If you want to beat him to get his hammer, you just have to choose "black fire
bombs" as your starting gift. Just equip it, keep your distance, and use it on
him and you should be to beat him and get his hammer. This hammer requires a
lot of strength so you won't be able to use it for awhile and there are better
weapons out there.
**************

Once you pass him, you'll meet the second enemy that fights back, an archer.
For now, ignore the archer and pick up the white flame on the ground to get
your shield. Equip it and approach the archer with your shield up. Along the
way, pick up your weapon, equip it, and use it to kill the archer. He's not
hard, just keep your shield up while approaching and swing at him until he is
dead.

Go through the white light and keep going until you see stairs. Go up slightly
and drop down to the right to avoid the boulder. If you look behind, you'll
notice that the boulder punched a hole in the wall. Go in, talk to the dude,
say yes to get "estus flasks" and a key. Before you go back up the stairs, go
down the stairs and open the door to reach the bonfire and rest there. Then
proceed back up the stairs to meet a hollow with a melee weapon. Keep your
shield up until he attacks. Once he staggers from hitting your shield, strike
him down.

Continue on and you'll meet the two types of enemies you already fought. For
the archer, shield up until you reach him and strike him down. For melee
hollows, shield up until they stagger from striking you and strike them down.
When you proceed through the white light, you'll get your chance at revenge.


*****BOSS*****
Asylum Demon

Now that you have a proper weapon, you can deal good damage to him. I would
first equip the weapon with both hands to do more damage since you can't block
him. Then, right after passing the white light, press the light attack button
while falling to hit him hard with a downward attack.

The key to beating this boss is timing. You have to know when to dodge. Also,
since you can't dodge while attacking, you have to know when it's safe to
attack. Try not to spam the attack button too much or you might end up doing
another attack when you really needed to dodge.

His attacks have delays to them so when you see him winding up, dodge about a
second later. If you see him flying up, just back away a little bit. After each
of his attacks, get in there and get one or two light attacks in. Rinse and
repeat.

If you're a sorcerer or a pyromancer, just keep your distance after the fall
attack and burn him down. Much easier for you guys.
**************

After he is down, you'll get a key. Use that key to open the closed door and
just follow all the way up the stairs for a cut scene into "firelink shrine."



-------------Undead Burg[dbur]-------------

contents:
preparations at firelink shrine.....burpre
to the burg.........................burbur
to the first bonfire................burfir
before the boss.....................burbef
to the boss.........................burbos
to the second? bonfire..............bursec
to the "undead parish"..............burpar

-------------------------------------------


-=preparations at firelink shrine[burpre]=-

Before we go to the "undead burg," we'll get a few items. Go down the stairs by
the guy sitting down near the bonfire and keep following that path. At the end,
take the elevator down. follow the path and drop down to the side of the stairs
for a "soul of a nameless soldier." Before you continue, note that the enemies
here won't attack unless you attack them. You can easily kill them for 20 souls
each if you want.

Continue down and go towards the left area. Right after you pass a doorway,
there will be an "estoc" to your right. Continue down and break the pot by the
stairs for 2 "transient curses" which allows you to attack ghosts later on. Do
not cross the bridge. Just go back up the stairs.

If you're an intelligence build(sorcerer), I suggest using the "soul of a
nameless soldier" for 800 souls which should get you up to 2000 souls if you
haven't used any so far. If not, kill the hollows around you until you do. Then
from the elevator, head to the right side of the area where you'll see stairs
going down by a hollow lying down comfortably. Down those stairs will be a
blacksmith. He sells another copy of "soul arrow" for 2000 souls. Attune to
that on your second slot at the bonfire and you'll have 60 "soul arrows." You
can get "heavy soul arrow" later when you get 4000 souls.

Now go back to "firelink shrine." From the bonfire, head up the stairs through
a doorway. From here, go up the stairs to most right for 5 "firebombs." Then go
up the left most stairs and after the doorway at the pond, take a left and
behind a wall will be a "soul of a lost undead." Then back at the pond doorway
go up the stairs all the way and follow the path for another "soul of a lost
undead."

Now go back up the stairs from the bonfire and take the middle stairs. You'll
meet a guy who will train you in miracle spells. This is the guy to talk to if
you want to get "heal" later for 4000 souls. For now, take the stairs by him
and get to the highest place for another "soul of a lost undead." Go down one
stairs through the doorway and drop down to the dark area. Proceed and open the
four chests for 4 "cracked red eye orbs," a "morning star," a "talisman," 6
"homeward bones," and "Lloyd's Talisman."

When you drop down, 2 tough skeletons will spawn. Run away towards the left and
head for the bonfire and rest to get rid of them. If you die, just go back and
pick up your body.

If you weren't a sorcerer, you should still have the souls from before. Use
them to level up.


-=to the burg[burbur]=-

Finally time to head to "undead burg." From the bonfire, head towards the well
for a "humanity." Keep going in that direction and take the stairs going right.
Lure and kill the enemies one by one using the same strategy as before: shield
until they strike AND stagger then strike them down. I would ignore the one
with the big shield for now.

At the top of the next stairs will be a new enemy, a hollow that tosses
firebombs. These firebombs will probably cause you to stagger even if you block
them leaving you open for attack. Best way to dodge is to keep moving. For this
one, I would pass him and kill the axe hollow behind the stairs first.

Kill the rest of the enemies in the area and pick up "soul of a lost undead" by
the one with the big shield. If you want to get the item under the bridge, you
have to jump. You jump by first running by holding down the run button then
let go and press it when you want to jump.

Go back all the way up the stairs and get the "lost of a lost undead" at the
end of the bridge. Then go through the doorway. There will be a new enemy to
the left. It's a small rat. They first run away and then attack you. Although
they are easy to kill, they will poison you if you let them attack you enough
so watch out. The item behind it is another "soul of a lost undead." Continue
along the only path to reach the "undead burg."


-=to the first bonfire[burfir]=-

After you kill the two hollows, you'll notice 4 barrels to the right. Break
them and drop down below for a "large soul of a lost undead." Watch out for
hollows that try to ambush you in the next areas. You should notice them
hanging on to the railings. They will probably attack in 2s. Shield up and
strike when you see your chance. It will be tricky, because these tend to
attack even after striking your shield.

In the house will be a "soul of a lost undead." In the area with 4 hanging
hollows will be "rubbish." Up the ladder and down the path will be a
"humanity." Drop down the crack along the path and continue to the left this
time. There will be another firebomb hollow. I would rush in and strike him
down then deal with the melee hollow in the house to the left. After that, go
through the white light.

To the left will be another "soul of a lost undead." Up the stairs and to the
left you'll notice a gap that looks like you can jump over. You can't but you
will be able to get there later. Just proceed to the right. There will be 3
melee hollows and a crossbowman. Just lure the melee hollows out of the
crossbowman's sight and kill them one by one. Then kill the crossbowman.
Through the door below the crossbowman will be a "wooden shield." From where
the crossbowman was and to the left will be the first bonfire in "undead burg."


-=before the boss[burbef]=-

Before going to the boss, head down the stairs while dealing with the hollows.
Once the area is clear, head to the left where you see 2 hollows with a big
shield are standing by. They are very defensive spearmen.
There are 2 ways to deal with them at this moment.
Either keep your shield up and wait for them be vulnerable after attacking you
or run behind them and backstab them. Until you get used to fighting them,
use the shield method. It may take a little while to kill them.

Once they are down, break the boxes and go down the stairs. There will be an
axe hollow behind some boxes. Go through the doorway straight from the stairs.
There is your first merchant. He sells a couple of noteworthy things:
"firebomb," "orange guidance soapstone," "residence key," "short bow," "heater
shield," and some arrows. What you really want right now is the "short bow,"
"heater shield" if you don't have a shield with 100% physical damage reduction,
and about 150 "wooden arrows." The total cost is 2450 souls. I highly recommend
farming a bit to get these items.

Through the other doorway will be 4 melee hollows that come in 2s. Up the
ladder will be 10 "throwing knives." Across you'll notice the gap you couldn't
jump over earlier. You can jump to it from this roof. Once you carefully make
it, you'll get a "light crossbow" and 16 "standard bolts." Proceed back to the
first bonfire.


-=to the boss[burbos]=-

If you got the bow like I suggested and you happen to have at least 12
dexterity, you can kill the firebomb hollows with the bow to make this part
easier. If not, start pulling the 2 melee hollows inside the building one by
one. Then run into the building. Behind the door will be a hollow with a big
shield and possibly none or a few firebomb hollows. Just fallback a little bit
or to the bonfire area to take them one at a time.

Through the door and in the house to the right will be 2 melee hollows. One
will be hiding to the left through a doorway. The chest in the house will have
5 "black firebombs." Then out the house and slowly up the stairs to the right
will be 3 hollows. Right when you see them, the firebomb hollow will walk
towards you. Fall back a bit and kill him once he gets close. Then pull
the 2 remaining hollows one at a time. Up the ladder to the right will lead to
the pesky firebomb hollows. You don't have to kill them but if you do, you get
to get the "souls of a lost undead."

Back down the ladder and if you have the master key, you can go through the
door for 3 "gold pine resins." Back out and you may see a spearman approaching.
Once he is taken care of, go up the small tower to kill a crossbowman. Then
head back down and do the usual pull one at a time technique. You'll come
across one stair going down and one going up. Do not go down the one going down
yet. As you go up, a fire barrel will roll down so watch out for that and then
take care of the hollow. Go in the tower but ignore the door and go up the
spiral stairs.

Before going through the white light, break the barrels nearby for a critter.
Kill it before it runs away for some loot. Then proceed through the white light
and head up the ladder to the right. There will be 2 archers. Once they are
dead, head back down and go down the path for a boss.


*****BOSS*****
Taurus Demon

Remember to two hand your weapon.
Once you pass a certain point, the boss will jump from behind the tower ahead
and towards you. RUN back to the ladder and go up. At the top, get prepared to
pounce onto the boss like you did with the Asylum Demon. After that, it's a
very similar fight as the Asylum Demon. Once you dodge one of his attacks, he
has an opening for 1-2 attacks. If you get hit, dodge one of his attacks before
drinking a flask. Rinse and repeat.

If you're having a hard time, use a "gold pine resin" to deal big damage making
the fight way easier.
**************

-=to the second? bonfire[bursec]=-

Once the boss is down, go through the doorway ahead. Before going down the
stairs inside, break the boxes for a "large soul of a lost undead." When you
reach the bridge with 4 hollows, go the other way first and talk to the dude
for a "white sign soapstone" which allows you to get summoned by others.

Now for the bridge, as you cross it, a drake will fire up the whole bridge. I
don't exactly understand how the damage you take is determined but
heal up to full health and stick to the right side since
that's where you want to go. The hollows will die and hopefully
you're still alive. Keep going and then down the stairs to
the right. If you die, he seems to breath fire less often the second time so
you should be able to make it that time.

Go through the left door and you'll be familiar with the bonfire there. Don't
jump down yet, kick the ladder down first.

Now, there are 2 neat things you can do. One is farming 300 souls. You can do
this by going up the ladder, go up the stairs, pass the right railing, run
back to the bonfire, rinse and repeat. When you pass the right railing of the
stairs where the 4 hollows are at, the drake will burninate them giving you
300 free souls and it takes less than a minute to do it. I recommend doing this
if you still need more souls for heal or if you want to level a little bit.

The second thing you can do is if you have a bow. Go up the ladder and take the
door to the left. Kill the hollows here then look for the drake's tail. If you
hit it with enough arrows, you'll get a very powerful "drake sword." If you
meet the bow's requirements, it will take about 50 hits. If not, I haven't
tried so I'm not sure.

The "drake sword" has 200 physical damage and requires 16 strength and 10
dexterity. You can still use it with two hands if you have 11 strength. It will
make the next few areas pretty easy.


-=to the undead parish[burpar]=-

From the bonfire, go up the ladder and through the door to the left.
Kill the 2 hollows and then the 3 rats in the sewer. Go up the ladder and make
a right for now.



-------------Undead Parish[dpar]-------------

contents:
passing the gate.............[pargat]
to the bonfire...............[parbon]
to the firekeeper's soul.....[parfir]
to the boss..................[parbos]
back to the burg??...........[parbur]

---------------------------------------------


-=passing the gate[pargat]=-

Kill the few hollows nearby. Ahead you'll see an armored
creature. Two ways to take it on. One is to pull it with an arrow, dodge his
charge, and hit his unarmored butt several times to kill it. Second very safe
way to kill it is to go up the stairs to the right and either arrow/pyromancy/
firebomb/magic him to death. He does take more damage on his butt if you can
aim there.

The item next to the 2 archers is 4 "alluring skulls." Now, this seems random
to me but sometimes the large gate is open and sometimes it's closed. If it's
closed, you have to go down the stairs near it. If not, you don't have to. I'm
going to assume the gate is closed.

When you go down the stairs, you'll see a lone hollow saying "bring it, b****!"
Show him who's boss by rushing him and killing him... would be awesome but
you'll probably die unless you're pretty good. There are hollows hiding to the
sides so try to pull them out into the open area and kill them off. As you
venture on, you'll get a mystery key which I'll go over what it does later.
Continue on and you'll see an item on a beam after you climb a ladder. It's a
"soul of something..." I forgot which. If you continue, you'll reach a white
light.

You'll recognize the area when you pass it. It's the higher bridge before the
large gate. Keep going along and to the right is a tougher hollow. He takes
and dishes out more damage and he can also parry/backstab. If you don't have
the drake sword or some form of magic, I suggest going for backstabs. Hopefully
you practiced doing them up until now. Just keep your shield up and when he
staggers from hitting you, get behind him, lower shield, and light attack. If
he holds his sword towards you, he is going to parry so don't melee him head
on. You shouldn't have to worry about his backstabs unless you turn your back
towards him.

Past him is a "knight shield." Go back and go the other way. You'll meet a
spearman with I think an item behind him. I forget what it was but it wasn't
important. Continue down the hall by the spearman and there will be another
spearman hiding to the right. Lure him back to where the other spearman was,
since there is another tough enemy is to the left.

The other tough enemy is just like the tough enemy you encountered by the
"knight shield" but he doesn't parry/backstab so he isn't as bad. Go left at
the next fork and you'll fight another tough one who comes from the church.
You'll notice you're on the other side of the gate. By the gate is a "basement
key" which is needed later and on the side of the stairs is a "halberd."


-=to the bonfire[parbon]=-

Don't go inside the church yet. Go back through the path to the right of the
church and make a left at the fork. There will be 3 easy hollows there. Once
they're down, take the path to the right. The tinking sound is from the
blacksmith. Do not attack him when you see him. As you go down the stairs in
the building, you'll reach the bonfire.

If you continue down one more stairs, you'll reach another blacksmith. He sells
"titanite shards" for 800 souls so you should be able to upgrade one of your
favorite weapons to +5 fairly easily(also because you should have a few
shards with you). He's also the one who upgrades your weapons to raw, +10, +15,
and divine later on.


-=to the firekeeper's soul[parfir]=-

Time to upgrade the good old estus flasks. Go back to where the church is, kill
the three hollows, and cautiously enter the side entrance of the church. To the
right you'll see a huge knight. Pull him outside the church. I don't remember
but I don't think you can block him so go two-handed and treat him like a boss.
Dodge his slow attack and get a few attacks in.

Once he is down, go to where he was standing and pick up the "firekeeper's
soul." Now nearby you should see 2 doorways close to each other with one open
and the other closed. Go through the open one and it will take you back to
"firelink shrine." From there, rest at the bonfire, go down the stairs nearby,
and talk to the firekeeper behind the cage to upgrade your estus flask. After
that, head back to where the elevator was and take it back to the church.

Now we want to take care of the sorcerer if we can. If you have a bow and you
meet the requirements, you should be able to kill him. You should be able to
see him standing on the second floor in the direction of the church's front
door. Shoot him in first person mode, side step to dodge his magic, repeat
until he is dead.

If you don't have a bow or don't meet the requirements, no worries. We'll kill
him later.


-=to the boss[parbos]=-

You should have noticed the stairs by the elevator. Cautiously go up to meet
the parry/backstab guy. Kill him and proceed cautiously. You'll encounter a big
hollow ambush. Shield up and slowly backtrack while attacking when you see the
opportunity. When they are all down, rush the sorcerer and strike him down.
Now there are 3 paths from where we came from. The middle path leads to a
"large soul of a nameless solder." The left path leads to another parry/
backstab dude. Kill him and as you go along, you'll notice a cracked boarded up
window. Attack it to break it and it will lead to a caged dude. You can use
a "master key" or the "mystery key" from going down the stairs by the large
gate to free him. You'll see him again at the firelink shrine.

The guy you just saved will end up murdering the person behind the cage at
"firelink shrine." If you kill him now, you'll get a very good ring and some
humanities. If you allow him to do his deed, you won't be able to access the
bonfire in "firelink shrine" until you revive the caged person after defeating
this dude later in the game. But if you do that, you'll also be able to get his
armor. 

Continue down the path and break the stuff around the area to free a corpse
with a "humanity." Back at the tri-fork, the path to the right will lead to the
boss.


*****BOSS*****
Bell Gargoyle x2

This boss is going to be tough if this is your first time and if you're a melee
build. They're attacks are much quicker, can be a bit confusing, and can strike
several times in a row. If you're a melee build without the drake sword, I
highly recommend farming for a +5 weapon.

Before starting, two-hand your weapon. I hate to say this but you'll probably
die a few times getting used to his attacks. He has a sweeping strike that he
may do three times in a row, a downward attack which I believe was just once,
a flying quick tail swipe attack, and a flying slower upward swing attack.
While he is on the ground, I would try to get to his side or behind. When he is
about to attack, I side roll towards his tail and attack if it was a downward
swing or get ready to dodge again if it was a sideways swipe. If he flies, I
try to get away from him. If I know I'm not far enough from him, I try to time
my dodge. It's basically rinse and repeat from here.

When he reaches about half health. another Bell Gargoyle spawns with half
health. at this time, I try my best to take this one down as fast as I can so I
don't have to deal with 2 of them at the same time. The other one will focus on
doing a sweeping fire breathing attack until you approach him to attack him.
Then he'll start to attack just like the other one.

If you're a sorcerer, you should be able to beat this boss easily. Just keep
your distance and fire away. I'm not sure if pyromancy is effective but I
think it should be.

If you want, you can try to go for his tail to get an axe. Just do what I said
up there but aim for his tail. You'll probably have to detarget him to hit his
tail. This axe isn't that impressive and you have another chance to get it
later in the game.
**************

Once they're down, head into the tower ahead, go up the ladders, and pull the
lever for your first bell. As you head back down, you'll probably get surprised
by an NPC. Don't attack him.... He sells a purging stone that cures curse so
remember him when you get cursed.


-=back to the burg??[parbur]=-

Yeah, back to the burg.... Head back to the firelink shrine through the
elevator shortcut, rest there, then head to the bonfire in the "undead burg,"
rest there, then get to the bridge with the drake the long way and don't cross
the bridge. Open the door there and go down the ladder. You'll reach a point
with stairs ahead and stairs to the right. Go up the stairs to the right to
open a shortcut to the bonfire in "undead burg."

Go back down and you'll encounter 3 dogs. They move very fast and have quick
attacks. They can also cause a bleed effect. Sorcerers will have
a hard time taking them down. As a sorcerer, block, move back
a tiny bit, then cast and hope it hits. For melee builds, just block then
attack.

One of the houses nearby has a sorcerer trapped inside it. In order to free
him, you need to buy the "residence key" from the merchant by the bonfire in
the upper "undead burg." Once he's freed, he'll be at firelink shrine and will
teach you more magic. The house he was trapped in has I think a sorcerer's
armor set and maybe a catalyst or a shield.

After that, head to the right side. You'll see a bunch of hollows with torches.
Do not rush in! Pull them out a few at a time and it should be no problem.
There is a "twin humanities" at the end.

Then go back the other way and you'll get ambushed by 3 bandits. They move
fast, can parry/backstab, throw knives, and cause bleed. Once they come
out of their houses, back up and kill them one at a time. In one of the houses
they come out of, there will be a "mail breaker."

As you continue down, you'll get ambushed by another 3 bandits and 2 dogs. Back
up as much as possible and try to fight them one at a time. After that, there
will be a vase with a corpse to the left with a "large soul of a lost undead."
In one of the houses, there will be a black leather armor set and a "target
shield."

Before heading through the white light, go down the stairs. You'll see a lone
bandit taunting you. There is another bandit hiding to the left. You can bow
the loner to death then kill the camper. At the end up this path is a "large
soul of a lost undead."

Then go up the stairs, go through the doorway, kill the lone archer, and find a
merchant to the right when you reach the sewer. That merchant sells "homeward
bones," "blooming purple moss clump," "poison arrows," and "purging stone" at
a higher price. Keep going down the sewer and open the door which is a very
nice shortcut to "firelink shrine." I'd rest there then come back then go
through the white light for a boss.


*****BOSS*****
Capra Demon
Dog x2

Don't two-hand your weapon this time. Right when you head through the light,
maneuver around the boss and two dogs and head up the stairs. At the top of the
stairs, start killing the dogs off. When the boss starts coming up the stairs,
drop down and slowly head towards the white light and kill off the rest of the
dogs.

The boss has several attacks. One is a double weapon jump smash which is
unblockable. He also puts his two weapons together and then slashes which I
believe is also unblockable. Then he has a single blade slash which is
blockable. Finally, two single blade slashes in a row, both blockable.

The key is to abuse the stairs. Use it for safety and for offense. Go up the
stairs, drop off to the side when he comes up the stairs, then the boss will
jump off and stagger a bit. Run up the stairs at this time and do a falling
stab to do severe damage to him. Rinse and repeat. You'll get a key when he is
defeated.
**************



-------------Depths[ddep]-------------

contents:
to the giant rat........deprat
to the bonfire..........depbon
to the boss.............depbos

--------------------------------------


-=to the giant rat[deprat]=-

After the Capra Demon, go back and rest at the "firelink shrine." Then come
back and once back at the "undead burg," go down the left stairs and open the
door there. At the bottom of the stairs are 3 hollows. Pull them one at a time.
Go right from the stairs to get a "large soul of a nameless soldier." Then at
the next part, start pulling the hollows one by one. Once the hollows are
cleared out, pull the two dogs from the area with the butcher in it. The
butcher himself shouldn't come up.

Once the dogs are down, kill the butcher. His slash attacks are blockable so
just strike him down right after blocking his slash attack. Once he is down,
get the "larger ember" from the chest near the butcher table. Then continue
down killing the 2 dogs and a hollow one at a time. When you get out of the
water and continue right, there will be a butcher that tries to ambush you from
above. You should be able to see him at the top left right when you get out of
the water. Kill him as usual.

Now instead of going right, go left into the room. Do not attack here. Roll
around to the end of the room to save the guy. He is the pyromancy trainer.
He'll be back at firelink shrine.

After that, head back to where the first butcher was. Behind the table, break
the boxes and drop down. If you've been wondering what the heck the giant rat
was, well here he is. Feel free to kill him with arrows or magic or pyromancy
or bombs. You can drop attack if you want, but before dropping down, go around
and get the "spider shield."


-=to the bonfire[depbon]=-

Once he is down, collect the items around: "soul of a nameless solder" and
"sewer chamber key." Don't go through the doorway, instead slide down where the
water is going. There is 1 curse frog nearby. Do NOT stay in the fumes he emits
or you WILL get cursed and die instantly. You do NOT want that to happen. At
least he is very easy to kill. The frog will be located in the left pathway.

After carefully killing the frog, go straight instead of going to where
the frog was. There will be a 3 large rats. They are very aggressive, strike
multiple times in an unexpected way, and stun you when they hit you so be
cautious. Once they are dead, there will be a small rat which should be a joke
after the large rats. Then keep going straight all the way to the wall and go
up the stairs to the right. Open the door, go up the ladder ahead, take the 
stairs to the right, kill the hollow, open the door to the left and rest at the
bonfire.


-=to the boss[defbos]=-

Now before going to the boss, we need to kill something. From the bonfire, head
right and don't go down the ladder, just keep going straight. There will be 5
small rats to the right which should be a joke. Then get the "greataxe." Then
go down the other path and watch out for the rat in the box. Then down the
stairs will be 4 small rats. Then go straight down the narrow hall. Don't turn
right until the end of the hall. Then go through the white light. Quietly pull
the large rats up one at a time.

Once the 3 large rats are down, go down the stairs and head left. Rush the
boxes and kill the small rats ASAP. Then rush the sorcerer and kill him off.
After that, go to the end and look behind the pillar for a "large titanite
shard."

Backtrack all the way back to the ladder we skipped and use it this time. Then
go all the way down the ladder and rush down the path to the right through the
hole in the gate. There may be some slimes following you so kill them if they
do. There will be a merchant sitting down right there. Once you're done
browsing, go through the hole in the gate and head through the path to the
left.

Continue through the only path then go down the stairs. Then go right and pass
the stairs to find "heavy crossbow" and 11 "heavy bolts." Then go down the
stairs and through the white light for a boss fight.


*****BOSS*****
Gaping Dragon

This is a relatively easy boss. Only thing annoying is his high health. The
main thing is to stay away from his front. Most of his moves that do critical
damage is done when you're in front of him. So continue to be on his side or
back.

The absolute best time to attack is after he does his charging move. He won't
do anything for a few seconds. Go ahead and go for his tail to get a powerful
axe. Also when you cut his tail off, his tail swipe will become harmless and
pitiful.

As long as you stay away from his front, the move you need to watch out for is
his drop on top of you move. As long as you continue the side stepping around
him motion, you shouldn't get hit by it. He also does a super vomit AOE but it
doesn't do that much damage and it isn't that hard to avoid. That's really
basically it.

Once he's finally dead, you'll get a key for "blighttown" and 25000 souls!
Don't forget to pick up the hard leather set nearby. You
can go back to the bonfire and level up like crazy or risk it and save it for
something else.

The axe by the way is "dragon king greataxe." It requires 50 strength and 8
dexterity, doesn't scale, and does 360 physical damage. It uses up dragon scale
to upgrade and at +5 it should do 540 damage. The damage is nice, but I don't
think it's worth getting to 50 strength for it.
**************


-------------Blighttown[dbli]-------------

contents:
to the first bonfire..........blifir
to the second bonfire.........blisec
to the boss...................blibos
to some decent armor..........bliarm
getting out of blighttown.....bliout

------------------------------------------


-=to the first bonfire[blifir]=-

Some notes before we head to "blighttown." Ladders are kind of hard to spot in
"blighttown." The best way to spot them is by looking for torches. The ladders
here will have torches on them so look for that instead. Also, I know I haven't
been giving the best directions, but in "blighttown," it's probably going to be
worse. If you see an item around, I'm probably going to leave it up to you to
go get it and come back.

From the bonfire in the "depths," head to where the merchant was. Just make a
right, go down the ladder there and go down the stairs and run through the
hole in the wall to the right. Now open the double doors there and go down the
ladder ahead. You'll encounter a new enemy, an ogre with a big club. These guys
are similar to the butcher but with longer range, more health, and poison. Most
of their moves can be blocked except a big downward slam. Still, it's basically
a block then attack pattern except when they roar. They are completely open for
several seconds when they roar. Also, they can be backstabbed fairly easily.
There are 3 of these so be careful not to pull more than one at a time.

After those 3, you'll meet yet more new enemies. You'll see some weird short
people. These guys are fairly straightforward except for their grabs which does
a ton of damage. As long as you're fairly aggressive yourself or you keep your
distance, these guys won't be too bad.

Another one to watch out for is those guys who fire toxic darts at you. The
toxic is very nasty and if you don't have a cure for it, you'll probably die
from it if you don't get to a bonfire ASAP. So try to keep your shield up and
wear something with high poison resist.

There will be one toxic dart guy ahead with a bunch of short people all over
the place. I ended up killing about 10 short people by the time I got to the
bonfire so go slow if you don't want to pull them all at the same time.

Go all the way straight. You should reach a dead end where you'll see the
bonfire ahead and an item to the left. That item is the "iaito" which is
supposed to be a decent weapon. To get to it, you have to jump at the right
moment towards it. If you don't make it, there will be 2 short people there.
Just kill them, go up the ladder, rest at the bonfire, make your way back and
try again.

Anyways, assuming you didn't jump for it yet, go right, take the ladder down,
and get the "large soul of a nameless soldier.
Nearby you should see a very narrow bridge. Ahead will be 3 short people, one
stuck in a vase. I'd pull as much of them over the bridge then kill them before
proceeding. Once you get across and drop down a ladder, go for the bonfire and
rest there.

-=to the second bonfire[blisec]=-

From the bonfire, if you head the other way from the way we came from, you'll
meet 2 short people at the bottom of the ladder and find 3 "blooming purple
moss clump" which can heal both poison and toxin. Now from the bonfire, go the
way we came from but stick to the left side. You may get attacked from nearby
short people so watch out for that. You should encounter 2 small red dogs.
They breath fire but they're pretty weak so they shouldn't be a problem.

Ahead you'll encounter another dangerous toxic dart guy who will shoot at you
from somewhere above and to the right so watch out. There will also be 2 short
people along the way so pull them back to where the toxic darts can't get you.
Now keep going until you meet a dead end. Go down the ladder there. Pick up the
"soul of a proud knight" nearby then head back up the ladder you came from.
There should be about 5 short people coming for you so take care of them one by
one as they come up the ladder.

Now go back down and you should have noticed the strange tentacle creature
already. Do not melee it. Use range to kill it. Arrow, firebombs, magic,
whatever. I tried to melee it and it killed me in one hit.... Once he's dead,
you'll get 1000 souls and "pyromancy: power within." Now go down the path while
picking up the "large soul of a nameless soldier." Go slow making sure no short
people are following you. Pull the ogre in the cave and kill him. Just continue
through the cave and pass through the white light.

There will be a new enemy here. Spiders that breath fire. They start their
attack slow so you should be able to go up to them and strike them down before
they get you.

There will also be another toxic dude. What I did is slowly drop down to his
level then rush and kill him. Near him should be a wanderer armor set and a
"falchion."

You will encounter another new enemy that usually appear in 2s. The mosquito
like creatures will fly around you and squirt red liquid and swoop at you.
They are not a big threat and they are weak but they will constantly respawn
and annoy you throughout this part of "blighttown."

At the very bottom of this area will be a swamp. When you're in the water,
poison will build up and you probably will end up getting poisoned. This is not
as bad as it sounds, because the poison does very little damage over time.
You can cure it if you want but I just ended up ignoring it and healing as
necessary.

Once you reach the swamp area, head to the right and on the right side of the
wall should be a tunnel with a bonfire. Rest there and head all the way in the
tunnel for a "dragon scale."


-=to the boss[blibos]=-

I hope you have some spare humanity because if you do, it will make the next
boss way easier and you'll get more humanity back for the investment. Reverse
hollowing at the bonfire and get to the swamp area. Kill the fire spider nearby
and the 2 mosquitoes and Maneater Mildred should invade you. She is basically
a faster butcher. Still, she shouldn't give you too much trouble. When she is
down, you get about 9000 souls, 3 humanities, a butcher knife, and the ability
to summon her for the next boss fight. That is a freaking jackpot considering
how easy it was. Use up the souls at the bonfire if you want and head to the
right side of the swamp.

Continue while sticking to the right wall. You will encounter 3 fire spiders
along the way and possibly some mosquitoes if you go slow. Keep going until you
reach land with a bunch of spider webs. Continue while hugging the right side
so you don't have to fight the ogres and head into the cave. Inside there will
be 2 dude with eggs on them. They are neutral so just ignore them and keep
going. If you are in human form right now, which you should, there should be
a summon sign on the floor. Go ahead and summon it and prepare for a boss
fight.


*****BOSS*****
Quelaag

This boss is cake if you came here with Mildred. Whenever Quelaag is distracted
by Mildred, strike her butt. If she starts looking at you, slowly back away
while watching out for her vomits. If she starts bowing, she'll do an AoE
scream of some sorts so back away.

If you came here alone, it's still not bad but it will take a significantly
longer time to take her down since she won't have as many openings.

If you send away Mildred before the boss dies, I think you can get 20000 souls
for killing Quelaag instead of 10000 souls. You'll also get "soul of Quelaag."
**************

After she's down, continue down the only path and then pull the lever to ring
the second bell. If you go back to "firelink shrine," you'll see a creature
where there was a pond. You can sell items to him.


-=to some decent armor[bliarm]=-

There is some very decent armor nearby. It's should be better than what you
currently have and it will last you quite awhile.

From the lever for the second bell, head down the stairs and start hitting the
walls to reveal a secret area. Don't attack the dude with eggs on him. Talk to
him and say yes. Activate the bonfire there. Then head out and then through the
doorway that leads to redness. Keep going and rest at the bonfire spending the
souls you got if you're worried about losing them. Then continue on and look
right for a path to a bridge. Cross it, pass the white light, and stick to the
right side until there is a path there.

You should see a huge fire tentacle boss. Don't attack it. It won't attack you
until you pick up the armor. Go all the way to the end of the path where the
boss is and you should see an item. Pick up the gold-hemmed armor set and get
ready to get the heck out of there.


*****BOSS*****
Ceaseless Discharge

Don't move for a second and watch the boss. When it is about to do something,
try your best not to get hit. That's your chance to try to get back to the
white light. Just keep going non-stop. Once you reach there, you should see the
boss trying to hang on. Hit its hand a few times and it will fall and die.

If you end up dying, this trick won't work anymore and you have to beat him the
manly way. All you have to do is make sure you're not too far from him so he
doesn't use the flame attack. If you're close enough, he'll just slam his
tentacles onto the ground. Dodge it and beat it. It should be rinse and repeat
from there.

This boss may be tough at this moment so if you fail the first time, just come
back later.

This boss will give you 10000 souls.
**************


-=getting out of blighttown[bliout]=-

Time to get out of this annoying place. As you exit Quelaag's Lair, stick to
the left side of the area. You should see about 6 torches ahead before the
tunnel with the bonfire. Head into that area and climb the ladder. There should
be a very dangerous elevator there where one side goes up and one side goes
down. Obviously get on the side that is going up. Then at the top, carefully
roll onto the platform.

There will be 2 floors of interest as you climb up. One will have a "firekeeper
soul" in a tunnel guarded by many fire dogs and toxic dart shooters. Just go
slow and steady with your shield up and killing them off one by one. They
should occasionally drop the cure to toxin so just keep killing them off.

The other floor of interest will have crimson armor set and a remedy spell.

At the way top, there will be a chest to the right with a "key to new londo
ruins." Now slowly head the other way killing off the ogres one by one. Then
you should reach an area called "valley of the drakes." Cross that bridge and
pick up the "large soul of a nameless soldier" then open the door. This area
is "new londo ruins" and you should be familiar with it. Head back to "firelink
shrine," rest at the bonfire, take the elevator to "undead parish," and rest at
the bonfire near the blacksmith.


-------------Sen's Fortress[dsen]-------------

contents:
to the bonfire................senbon
to the boss...................senbos
getting the shortcut..........sensho
fun with boulder controls.....senbou

----------------------------------------------


-=to the bonfire[senbon]=-

From the bonfire in "undead parish," head through the doorway nearby to "Sen's
Fortress." There will be a floor trigger in the center that will fire arrows
from straight ahead. There will be 2 serpentmen standing to the sides. Fight
them one at a time. To the right where one of them were standing is a soul
item. In the next area, I hope you have a bow. To the top right is a serpentman
that fires electricity at you. Pluck him with a couple of arrows until he falls
and dies. Then across the deadly bridge will be another serpentman. Pull him
and let him get himself killed by the pendulum axes.

Carefully cross the bridge. You can pass all the pendulum axes here one at a
time. When you reach the next bridge, pass the first 2 axes as usual but the
next 2 axes you have to pass both at the same time. After that, watch out for
another floor triggered arrow trap. Open the chest for 2 "large titanite
shards."

In the next area, ignore the guy chilling on the wall to the right and keep
straight. You'll see a serpentman pop out then get run over by a boulder. If
you want to be cruel, stand by the doorway and keep your shield up. He'll get
run over to death.

Now you have to outrun the boulders and get to a safe area on the left side of
the wall. It can be done as long as you're below 50% of max weight. After that,
do the same to the other serpentman. If you go to where that serpentman came
from, you'll find a "ring of steel protection" in a chest. Now go through the
white light.

From that room, there is another serpentman in the next room. There is also
another floor trap that will fire from behind this time. Lure the serpentman to
your room by making some noise, kill him, and then carefully pass the floor
trap as you go to the next room.

The next area will have boulders going all the way down a path. Time it so you
go right after one boulder passes you and follow it all the way down. There
will be a safe spot to the left when you reach a dead end. If you wait there
for awhile and let the boulders accumulate, it will punch a hole through the
wall allowing you to obtain a very useful "covetous gold serpent ring."

The next area will have a chest that is a mimic. Although it isn't very tough,
it hits hard and it takes while for it to die. While it is still in chest form,
two-hand your hand and hit it as many times as you can. Then keep a pillar
between you and the mimic while keeping your shield up and get hits in after
his attacks. Once it's dead, it will drop a "lightning spear." It is likely to
be more powerful than all your weapons and it will be quite useful until you
get to upgrade your favorite weapon into lightning.

Once you get on the bloody elevator, make sure to get off as soon as possible.
Then when on a tiny bridge, go up the huge stairs instead of going through the
doorway on the other side of the tiny bridge. Ignore the boulder controls for
now. Head through the only doorway there, trigger the floor trap, then back off
until it stops. Then you'll encounter another pendulum axe bridge. This time
you have to pass all 4 at the same time.

Once you do so, there will be a serpentman to the right and electric serpent up
the stairs to the left. You should be able to fight the serpentman to the right
without aggroing the electric one. Once both are dead, head down the hall to
the left for another serpentman guarding 2 "large titanite shards." Then head
upstairs where the electric serpentman was as at and take out your bow. Keep
hitting the electric serpentman to the left until he falls to his death.

For the next pendulum axes, you have to pass them in 2s. Watch out for another
floor trap. The arrows will come from the left side this time. Head through the
white light and head right. Kill the 2 tough knights you fought in "undead
parish" and get the "flame stoneplate ring" from the chest.

Now head back to where the white light was and go the other way. Start running
and go up 2 stairs and to the right you should notice some broken stone
railing. There will be a platform with the bonfire below. Drop down onto it and
rest.


-=to the boss[senbos]=-

When you drop down, you should notice you're back at where the white light was.
Now what we want to do is move non-stop towards the giant throwing the bombs.
I'll try my best to describe where to go. From the white light area, turn left,
go up 3 stairs and take the left path at the fork. go up the stairs and walk
across the fairly narrow walkway and turn right. Ignore the gap that looks
jumpable to the left for now. When you reach the building, turn right and keep
going. There should be only one path from now on. Just keep on moving and when
you finally reach the building with the crossbowman, kill him and start
climbing the stairs inside.

This giant is not as hard as it looks. Stick close to his feet. Go in between
his legs to get behind him and start beating the crap out of him. When he turns
around, get behind him again through his legs. Obviously dodge if you don't
have enough time to get through his legs. Some of the moves that he does are
stomping, grabbing, and swinging his arms. They're all pretty obvious and easy
to dodge.

Once he is down, you're free to move around the area without worrying about
getting blown up. Things to pick up include "large titanite shards," some
crossbow that has snipe in its name with some bolts which you get by
dropping down the gap I mentioned earlier, and I think a soul item. If you make
a right at the fork after climbing 3 stairs from the white light, you'll
encounter the large shield knight that guarded the "firekeeper's soul" back at
the "undead parish." If you keep following that path, you encounter a heavily
armored archer who uses a rapier as backup. Nothing special about him. Just
block and attack. He'll drop a lot of souls and "Ricard's Rapier." Ahead of him
will be 2 chests with "rare ring of sacrifice" and "divine blessing."

Anyways, when you're ready, go through the white light for a boss fight.


*****BOSS*****
Iron Golem

This boss is actually not that bad. Two-hand your weapon and quickly head to
the big platform in the middle. Stay in the center area of this platform. His
moves are not hard to dodge. Do a similar thing you did with the giant. Stay
near his legs and try to get behind him.

Don't target this boss. Once you dodge one of his moves and you see an opening,
start beating the crap out of his feet. After awhile, he will get stunned and
fall and be defenseless for about 10 seconds. Rinse and repeat.

Once defeated, he'll give you 30000 souls and a "core of an iron golem."
**************


-=getting the shortcut[sensho]=-

If you happen to go to "anor londo" after touching the orange circle, just talk
to the imp behind you to get back to "Sen's Fortress." Go to the gap on the
narrow pathway and jump over. There will be a merchant who sells "large
titanite shards" and "green titanite shards." If you go all the way down the
stairs, you'll find a "cage key" guarded by a lone electric serpentman.

Go back over the gap. Head towards where the boss was. You should notice 2
cages inside a building as you go. Use the key to open one of the cage and get
inside. It will bring you all the way down to the middle of the very first
pendulum axe bridge next to a serpentman. There is also an electric serpentman
above so watch out.


-=fun with boulder controls[senbou]=-

Once the serpentman is taken care of, make your way back to where the boulder's
direction was controlled. You should notice it can be sent into 4 directions.
One leads to nowhere, one leads to the serpentman leaning against a wall, one
leads to the outside boulder path, and one leads to the inside boulder path.
Direct it to the serpentman leaning against the wall and let about 4 boulders
pass. Then direct it to nowhere. If you go to where the serpentman was leaning
against the wall, you should notice that he is now dead and there is a hole in
the wall.

Go through and free the man inside the cage. It is Big Hat Logan and he teaches
more advanced magic back at "firelink shrine." Open the cage with an item for
a soul item.

Head to the outside boulder path. Go up the path and look to the right. Drop
down to where the item is at for a "shotel."


-------------Anor Londo[dano]-------------

contents:
to the first bonfire.............anofir
activating the huge elevator.....anoele
to the second bonfire............anosec
to the boss......................anobos

------------------------------------------


-=to the first bonfire[anofir]=-

Before heading to "anor londo," I highly recommend getting a bow if you haven't
already and at least 25 poison arrows. It will make one particularly
infuriating area very easy. When ready, go to where the Iron Golem was
and activate the orange circle on the ground to go to "anor londo."

This is a very short trip with only 3 enemies in the way. Go down the stairs
and you'll notice a huge stone spearman. You can ignore him if you want and
just pass by him. He won't attack. To the left will be 2 of the huge stone
spearman guarding a chest. The chest has a "demon titanite." If you want it,
pull one of the spearman to the wide open area.

These guys are quite annoying with their shield. They will do double swipes,
a stab to a swipe, a downward smash, and a shield smash. They are all
blockable, but it's preferable to dodge backwards for the shield smash. Just do
your best to side step around them and get hits in.

At the wide area, head into the building to the left for a bonfire.


-=activating the huge elevator[anoele]=-

From the bonfire, go straight ahead and step on the circular platform to get
transported down. You'll fight a gargoyle similar to the Bell Gargoyle from the
"undead parish." You can cut his tail for an axe if you want. He has similar
moves to the Bell Gargoyle except he'll breath electricity instead of fire.

After that, drop down to the left side of the stairs(when facing the bonfire).
Then follow the path around the spiral elevator building for a chest with
another "demon titanite." Head the other way and get to the right side of the
stairs this time. You should see a narrow path nearby that leads to the roof
of a huge building. Get on it and carefully get to the end and drop down onto
the balcony and enter the building through the broken window.

You'll encounter a new enemy. People dressed in white. They're somewhat quick
and they throw daggers. Still, compared to the huge stone spearmen, these guys
are jokes. There should be 2 that attacks you right there. When they're down,
head up the ladder and balance your way through the beams with your shield up.

You can approach the white clothed people on the beams in 2 ways. You can arrow
them off the beams or you can bait them into falling. In the middle, hit the
chain that holds the chandelier to make it fall. Once you get to the end, pass
the white light, head to the circular contraption and activate it. Another
Gargoyle will attack so kill it.


-=to the second bonfire[anosec]=-

One of the most frustrating parts of the game for first timers. Feel free to
visit the first bonfire before you continue. Back at the huge elevator,
continue up the huge stairs and there will be 2 huge stone spearmen. Pull them
one at a time. Head right after killing those 2 and you'll encounter another
new enemy. Imps with lightning weapons. They are quite annoying, because you
take a bit of damage even if you block and they are quite quick. Still, they
are pretty weak so they shouldn't be a problem as long as you pull them one at
a time.

There will be a narrow path heading down. Behind the wall ahead are 2 lightning
imps waiting to do a pincer attack. Fire a regular arrow nearby to draw them
out then use poison arrows until they become poisoned. Once they die, quickly
head to where they were and take cover from the arrows that come from the left
side.

When ready, head up towards where the archers are and stop at the middle
pillar. Go back down the narrow path slightly until you have a clear shot on
the left archer. His arrows should get stuck on the railing. Poison him with
the poison arrows. Do the same to the archer to the right.

Once they are dead, go to where the left archer was for a "soul of a hero" then
follow the path where the right archer was and drop down to the balcony. The
first door to the left will be the second bonfire.


-=to the boss[anobos]=-

The door across the bonfire room will have a silver knight and 3 "sunlight
medals." Silver knights are just like the tough hollows without parry/backstab
from the "undead parish." Once done with that room, continue down the only path
left for another silver knight.

Skip the stairs for now and go through the left door and hit the fireplace
for a secret door. Head down and you'll see 5 chests. The most left one is a
mimic. Just like the first mimic, two-hand your weapon and hit it as much as
possible as it gets up. Then keep a pillar between you two with your shield up
and strike when you see him recovering after doing an attack. He will drop a
"occult club." The other chests contain Havel's armor set, Havel's greatshield,
and "dragon tooth."

Head back out and up the stairs. Both chests nearby are mimics. Since there is
no pillar around here, you'll just have to block and dodge his attacks. All of
them are easily blockable or dodgeable so you shouldn't have too much problem.
I believe they contained coins.

On the side that's a dead end, go through the door to the left and kill the
silver knight. There is a "soul of a hero" there. Now go to the side with a
archer. He is just like any other silver knight but with a bow for long range.
Just dodge/block his arrows to approach and he will bring out his sword and
shield making it a familiar fight.

After that, head through the left door. Through the next door, there will be
a silver knight hiding to the right. Kill him and head up the stairs. Do not
move out into the open yet. Shoot the guy to the left and pull him all the
way down the stairs so you can fight him in a more open area. After that, go
back up and kill the archer.

If you want, you can go down the stairs to the left to help Catarina out. Open
the door by him and pull them out one by one back up the stairs to kill them.
After all 3 are dead, talk to Catarina again and open the door ahead for a
mediocre shortcut.

Now head down the other stairs and open the door to the right. Head down and
you'll aggro one of the silver knights. Kill him then go down and kill the
other one. The chest will have a silver knight armor set. Now open the door for
a very good shortcut to the second bonfire. Rest if you have to. If you do, you
don't have to kill the silver knight by the chests. Just run by and he'll leave
you alone.

You can go into the room across the room with the silver knight armor set and
kill the miniboss for a "demon titanite," but it's optional. Best way to kill
him is to position him by the doorway then snipe him with arrows or spells. If
not, it will be a tough fight.

Finally, head up the long stairs and you be in a huge hall with 2 stronger huge
stone spearmen and a silver knight archer. If you have a +10 weapon that you
use, some titanite chunks, and want to upgrade that weapon to a lightning
weapon, go up the stairs to the left and around the whole area. Ignore the
broken window for now and keep following along the wall. You'll see a path to
the left. If you follow it, you'll meet a blacksmith that can modify +10
weapons into lightning weapons and combine certain +10 weapons with boss souls.

When you're done, come back and continue left to kill the silver knight archer.
Then kill the stronger huge stone spearmen one at a time. Go to the opposite
side of the white light and open the huge door with the lever nearby but don't
go though it.

If you haven't killed the caged guy from "undead parish" and let him kill the
firekeeper in "firelink shrine," you should have picked up a "cracked black
orb" from the firekeeper's body and it should be reacting right now. If you use
it, you'll invade the murderer's world. He'll be accompanied by a sorcerer and
a spearman. Your main goal is to kill the non-glowing guy but if you kill the
others, they may drop something.

The non-glowing main guy has a weapon that can't be blocked all the time so
try to dodge him. He can also parry so watch out for that as well.
The sorcerer will be annoying with his soul arrows. The 
spearman kind of jumps around and is almost harmless but still be cautious.
I personally rushed the sorcerer and killed him ASAP then focused on the main
guy.

Once the main guy is dead, you'll receive "firekeeper's soul," 5 "humanities,"
"ring of favor and protection," and "souvenir of reprisal." You'll also get his
golden armor after the next boss fight.

After that, head back to the first bonfire and rest there to get 10 estus
flasks. When getting to the boss, just run past the enemies and go through the
white light.


*****BOSS*****
Smough
Ornstein

I have to say this is the first boss fight in Dark Souls that frustrated me and
the first time I despised how the camera worked.

The order that you kill these two actually matter. If you kill Smough last,
you get "leo ring," "soul of Smough," and the store under the bridge at
"firelink shrine" will sell Smough's armor set. If you kill Ornstein last, you
get "soul of Ornstein" and the store will sell Ornstein's armor set. Either
order will net you 30000 souls. If you want the "leo ring" but want to kill
Ornstein last, kill Ornstein first, loot the ring, then die.

I personally have done both orders but with different stat builds. I killed
Ornstein last as an intelligence build and Smough last as a vit/end build.


As an intelligence build, attune "soul spear," "homing soul mass," and 1-2
"great soul arrows." Burn down one of them with "soul spear" and finish him
off with "great soul arrow" if needed. After that, burn the other one with
"homing soul mass" and "great soul arrow." It should be pretty easy as an
intelligence build and you should have access to those spells at "firelink
shrine" if you've been following this guide(from freeing the guy in the
basement of "undead burg" and freeing Big Hat Logan from "Sen's Fortress").


As a melee build, I've only killed Ornstein first so I'm going to focus on
that order. Try to get some poise and defense and equip the "ring of steel
protection" or "Havel's ring" if you have it. Stay below 50% of max weight.

Get near Ornstein and try to keep Smough in view. Ornstein doesn't have much
devastating moves at close range. Just block, dodge, or tank his moves
and hit him. Smough is who you have to watch out for while near Ornstein. Get
prepared to dodge whenever Smough does a move.

It should go well until Smough gets out of view. Break target if you have to
in order to get into a more favorable position. Also, when Ornstein is far
away, he will either launch very damaging but easily dodgeable lightning at you
or do an unblockable dash stab attack. Those moves normally aren't hard to
dodge but Smough might distract you enough for you to get hit so watch out.
It will probably take a few attempts to get used to it.

Once Ornstein is down, Smough's hammer will have lightning attributes. Still,
the hard part is over. Smough's attacks include a charging upward swing, a 
jumping downward slam, a regular downward slam to a swing when you're nearby,
a swing to another swing when you're nearby, and a jumping butt slam that does
a damaging lightning AoE.

When he charges, shield up while backing away. If you back away just enough
that you don't have to block, you'll have a chance to attack. When he does a
jumping downward slam, dodge to the right and hit him. When he does a regular
downward slam or a swing, back off. When you see electricity coming out of his
butt as he crouches, back away as fast and far as you can. Rinse and repeat and
he should go down.
**************

When you get 30000 souls for defeating them, save 20000 souls for later.

Once they are down, go up either elevator and rest at the bonfire. If you
killed Lautrec by invading his world, his armor will be on the opposite side of
the big double door. Go through the double door and talk to Gwynevere to get
the "lord vessel." You can now warp between bonfires with firekeepers.

Warp to "firelink shrine," hit the creature at the pond once to wake him up,
talk to him and he'll take you underground where you can place the lord vessel.
Do so and you'll gain access to areas that were previously blocked. Also
remember to restore the firekeeper of "firelink shrine" by examining the cage
(or you can just upgrade your flask with the soul at another firekeeper if you
don't care about the bonfire there).


-------------Darkroot Garden[dgar]-------------

contents:
to the bonfire.....garbon
to the boss........garbos

-----------------------------------------------


-=to the bonfire[garbon]=-

Head to the bonfire in "undead parish." Go to the blacksmith and buy the crest
for 20000 souls. Then go down the stairs nearby. There is a strong enemy
there. You can either kill it or skip it. Continue down the forest. You'll
meet a new enemy. The tree has long range attack but it should be cake now.
Just block then attack.

Don't go right when you see a path to the right. Just keep going straight and
following the path until you reach a stone door with a blue circle. To the left
will be a breakable wall to a bonfire. The stone door will open with the crest.

This is a great place to farm souls. The humanoid enemies here will give 1000
to 3000 souls each. Some of them can't be targeted so it may be a little
annoying but you'll get used to it. You can also do an exploit where after you
aggro them, you go to the edge of the cliff and go hug the wall where the
stairs are at. If you did it right, they should climb the stairs and jump off
the cliff trying to get you.


-=to the boss[garbos]=-

Now from that bonfire, head through the stone door and run along the left side
of the cliff. I suggest just running past the enemies. You should see a huge
stone doorway ahead. Pass it and continue in that direction. You should see a
vertical light ahead. Get to it and open the door. Examine the big sword in the
middle to start the boss fight.


*****BOSS*****
Great Grey Wolf Sif

This boss isn't too bad. He does do a lot of damage if you're not careful, but
overall, you should be able to do fine.

What you want to do is hug the boss. Pretty much be under him and he won't be
able to hit you. That's when you strike him as much as you can. In order to
approach him, I suggest dodging forward during one of his slashes. You can
block, but it drains quite a bit of stamina and you won't have as much time to
hit him afterwards.

When he is down, he'll give you "soul of Sif," "covenant of artorias," and
30000 souls. Also behind the big gravestone is a "hornet ring."
**************

After that, head back to "firelink shrine."


-------------New Londo Ruins[dnlo]-------------

-----------------------------------------------


Now before heading there, be sure to have a few "transient curses." You should
have 2 if you've been following this guide. If not, get some from the merchant
in the sewer in the bridge by "firelink shrine." If you already bought them
but still don't have any, you may have to get cursed. I'm hoping this is not
the case. Also, equip the "covetous gold serpent ring" to increase the chance
of getting more "transient curses" from the ghosts.

Now head to "new londo ruins" by going down the stairs by the bonfire and going
down the elevator at the end. Go towards the left side of the area and cross
the bridge. Use a "transient curse." You'll encounter ghosts. At this point in
the game, they shouldn't be much of a threat, but they're still dangerous in
numbers. They will basically swipe at you and try to do a grab. Just pull them
one at a time and be aggressive and you should do fine.

Once you cross the bridge, there will be 2 ghosts nearby. Then head right and
look for a narrow path that leads to a tiny building. 3 ghosts will spawn. The
tiny building will have a "firekeeper's soul." Head to the stairs and nearby
will be a vase with 2 "transient curses." Head up the stairs and 2 ghosts will
spawn. The next building after the bridge will spawn about 5 ghosts so proceed
with caution. Try to lure them out one by one.

Through the building and down the stairs and go straight for a "parrying blade"
guarded by a ghost hiding in the walls. Now take the other path and a ghost
will appear from the floor. Go straight and a ghost that can shoot electricity
will be guarding a chest. I forgot what was in the chest. Go through the white
light.

Unfortunately I picked up items around here ahead of time and don't remember
what most of them were. Head up the stairs and head left. Sprint down the
bridge and head down the stairs. This next building has about 15 ghosts in it.
Advance very slowly killing them off one by one. From the entrance, head 
straight then left and up the ladder in the fireplace. You'll find a merchant
that will give you a key for obtaining the lord vessel.

Head back to the entrance and take the left path from the entrance this time.
Head out the door to the left after going down the stairs and follow the path.
You should enter a building that has a spiral staircase. Go open the door
nearby and push the lever to lower the water level.

You can explore the area if you want. When you're good to go, come back to the
building that has the merchant on the roof. You should notice a white light
below. Jump down and head into the white light. Heal up, equip the "covenant
of artorias," then carefully drop into the middle to start the boss fight.


*****BOSS*****
Four Kings

I recommend having high defense and poise.

Their moves include slashes and downward swing, grabs, an AoE scream, and a
purple projectile. Most are fairly obvious and easy to dodge. Their swings are
blockable but I recommend dodging them so you have more chance to hit them. It
shouldn't be too bad until 2 of them are on you. When that happens, back off
and try to separate them.

Unfortunately that's all the advice I have since that's all I really know.
That's all I had to do to beat the boss.

He will drop "bequeathed lord soul shard" and 30000 souls.
**************

After they're down, light the bonfire and warp to "anor londo."


-------------Duke's Archives[dduk]-------------

contents:
to the first bonfire......dukfir
to the boss...............dukbos
escaping the cylinder.....dukesc
to the third bonfire......dukthi
to the boss again.........dukaga

-----------------------------------------------


-=to the first bonfire[dukfir]=-

From the first "anor londo" bonfire, head left. There are two chests guarded by
the huge stone spearmen. One of them is a mimic. I don't remember what were in
those chests. Then kill the third spearman out to the right and follow the
path. You'll reach a hall with an armored bull. Approach him then run back as
he charges you and he should stop short. I'm not completely familiar with his
moves, because I killed him with magic so after the initial charge, treat him
like one of the tougher enemies.

Once he's down, keep going and there will be another bull hiding to the right.
There will be a bonfire after that.


-=to the boss[dukbos]=-

Pull the lever to go up. These new crystallized enemies are pretty much the
same as the hollows in the "undead burg," but they do a LOT of damage. They are
pretty much glass cannons. Pull them one at a time and they should be no
problem.

There are three archers and a mage ahead. After killing off as much of the
melee fighters as possible, rush the archers and the mage. Under the stairs
will be a "soul of a brave warrior" guarded by a lone crystal dude. Up the
stairs and to the right and to the balcony on the left will be 2 crystal dudes.
One of them will be hiding to the left. The item is "twinkling titanite." Out
the balcony and continue all the way and there will be a mimic. You should know
the drill by now. It will drop a "crystallized knight shield."

There is another chest in the exact opposite side with another "twinkling
titanite." When you're done with this area, pull the level to the next level.

When you go up the stairs, you'll see a humanoid with crystallized armor. I
suggest that you pull him back to the open area and backstab him to death as he
has a nasty parry.

After him will be a crystal lizard. Kill it quick for some titanites. Before
passing the white light, if you have a lot of souls or humanites, you'll want
to equip a "ring of sacrifice" or equivalent. Also, increase your curse
resistance as much as possible.


*****BOSS*****
Seath the Scaleless

You want to die but not by curse. If you equipped some curse resistant gear, it
shouldn't be a problem. Just keep getting hit by his beam and keep the curse
meter from filling by staying out of the crystals.
**************


Somehow, they changed your revive area into jail. If you rest on that bonfire,
you won't be able to get out of "duke's archives" without escaping this huge
cylindrical library. It's not so bad so feel free to rest there.


-=escaping the cylinder[dukesc]=-

Kill the serpentman leaning on the bars like an idiot, pick up the key, and
open the door. 2 serpentmen and 4 blue squidmen will come up the stairs. The
serpentmen will probably continue running away, but use this chance to kill
them. Then the 4 squidmen will arrive. These guys are not that bad. Just try to
keep some distance so you can avoid their damaging grab.

Once that's done, head all the way down killing the 2 squidmen on the way.
There will be 4 more at the bottom and 2 odd ones in the huge jail area to the
right. Those 2 odd ones will drop some unique miracles. Note that Big Hat
Logan is behind those bars(if you've saved him from "Sen's Fortress"). Go back
out and up the ladder. There will be 2 serpentmen and 1 electric serpentman.
Kill them one at a time. Pick up the key from the chest and head all the way
back up the spiral stairs. Climb the ladder and open the big door.

I know there are some treasures here but I don't remember exactly what cage was
what. The most noteworthy one is the one where you drop down onto a plank from
the plank next to the big door on top of a ladder. There will be some armor
and a seance ring that gives you another attunement slot. The other treasure in
the area is a key and a soul item which are hard to miss.


-=to the third bonfire[dukthi]=-

There will be a crystal archer to the left and a crystal hollow to the right.
Kill the one to the right and approach the archer. There will be another
crystal hollow hiding to the left right before the archer so watch out.
Continue on and you'll be back in the library. There is a mage up top and a
mage to your left who will probably teleport farther down the hall when you
attack him.

Best thing to do would be to shoot them to death with arrows but if that is not
possible, you'll have to be on your toes and move around to avoid getting hit.
Dispatch the mage that teleports farther away while watching out for the archer
behind him. There will be a crystal dude hiding to the right so watch out for
that too.

Once they've been dealt with, go up the middle stairs and activate it. There
will be an archer above and behind you but once you activate the stairs, you'll
be able to kill it. Make a left after killing that archer. I think there was
another archer ahead but it shouldn't be a problem to you. You should notice
the stairs in the middle there is reachable by jumping down. Go ahead and do
that and go up without activating it and turn right for a "greater magic
shield."

Now head back to the middle stairs, activate it, head down and through the
opening. Kill the archer if you can. If not, just slide down the ladder there.
Don't pull the lever there yet. Go into the rooms and open the chests. One of
the ones towards the end of the room to the right will be a mimic. I don't
recall what all the treasures were but the most important one is the key. This
is probably the best time to head back all the way back to where that big jail
was in the huge cylindrical library since all the enemies in the way should be
dead. Do so, free Big Hat Logan, and pick up the "firekeeper shard." Big Hat
Logan will be in the smaller room in the area where you picked up the key for
this big jail and sell "crystal soul spear," "homing crystal soul mass," and
"crystal magic weapon."

Head all the way back and pull the lever by the ladder. Head through and head
left for the third bonfire.


-=to the boss[dukbos]=-

Head back into the room with 4 chests. Pull the lever there, go down the
stairs, and go through the white light. Go down the ladder and head left. You
can kill or avoid the golems. These golems are pretty slow and their moves are
easy to tell. They have a jump attack, a long range swing attack, a short range
swing attack, and an AoE crystal move.

You should notice a path going down into a cavern called "crystal caves."
Kill/avoid the golem down there and keep going. You should notice some
kind of twinkling sound and some kind of snowflakes falling ahead. You should
also notice that the snowflakes hit something in mid air instead of falling
through. There is an invisible path right there. Test that invisible path to
get the feel of how it works.

You can ignore the big butterflies. They won't attack as long as you don't
attack them. They might attack if you get way too close so try not to.

Continue down the only path and at the end will be more of those snowflakes
hinting at an invisible path. It will be a straight path to the top right of
the huge platform with the red golem. Use the snowflakes and slowly cross it.

Try to kill the red golem. It's just like any other golem but more resilient.
You can skip it, but if this is your first time, you may have trouble finding
the next invisible path. You have to drop down onto the next invisible path. It
will be where a noticeable amount of snowflakes are dropping by the platform
behind the red golem.

Once you get on the mentioned platform, you can look behind you to find a
small tunnel that will have 3 crystal lizards. Through the tunnel will be a
curvy invisible bridge leading to a "blue titanite slab."

Turn back around and try to carefully cross the straight invisible bridge to
the other end of the cavern. Once you make it, you'll see about 5 clam enemies
ahead. Again, kill or ignore and you'll be at the boss. If you ignored the
clam enemies and this is your first time to the boss, quit and reload the game
to keep the clams out of the boss area.


*****BOSS*****
Seath the Scaleless

You might want some curse resistant gear on. First thing you want to do is get
behind the boss and destroy the vertical shiny crystal. Then, head in and start
attacking his tentacle. I think if you stick to the tentacle, there isn't much
you have to worry about. Keep your curse meter from filling up too high by
getting out of the crystals he spits. Dodge when he swings his arms. Not much
else to it than that to my knowledge.

When he is defeated, you will get another lord soul and 40000 souls.
**************


-------------Demon's Ruins[ddem]-------------

contents:
to the second bonfire.....demsbf
to the second boss........demsbs
to the third boss.........demthi

---------------------------------------------


-=to the second bonfire[demsbf]=-

I highly recommend going to the blacksmith in the "undead parish" and buying
the bonfire repair kit if you haven't already. I also highly recommend getting
a bow and some arrows if you still haven't. After that, warp to the name
with chaos in it.

From the bonfire by the half spider half lady, head out and through the door
with a red environment behind it. Keep going and rest at that first bonfire. If
you haven't defeated Ceaseless Discharge yet, do so now while referring to how
to deal with him in the last part of "blighttown" chapter of this guide.

Head all the way down to where the lava used to be and follow the right edge of
the area towards a Capra Demon. He should go down fast if you've been upgrading
your weapon properly(basically up to regular +10 by the blacksmith in "undead
parish" to a lightning weapon by the blacksmith in "anor londo"). There will be
many Capra Demons and they all respawn when you use a bonfire.

Fight your way through the Capra Demons one by one. When you reach stairs that
lead to the white light, ignore it for now. You'll also fight a new enemy. All
it does is breath fire towards you. Avoid it and beat it down. You should
reach a bonfire guarded by a centipede. I highly recommend killing it from
range as it's pretty tough at close range. Activate and rest at the bonfire.


-=to the second boss[demsbs]=-

Head towards the white light while killing off Capra demons, fire breathing
creatures, and Taurus demon(same as before). To the right of the white door
will be a huge tunnel. Go down and kill the four cockroach like creatures. Go
through the white door when ready.


*****BOSS*****
Firesage Demon

I recommend having fire resistant gear for this fight. This boss has 5 moves.
He'll wind up for a second then slam the side to do a fire AoE. Back up
when you notice this. He will also wind up in an obvious fashion to stab the
ground to do a fire AoE. Again, back up when you notice this. If you stick very
close to him, he will jump and smash the ground with his butt. Just back off
when you see him jump really high. He will also jump towards you to do a
downward slam with his weapon. Dodge it sideways. Finally, he'll do a sideways
slash then another slash if you're still nearby. You won't get him by it if
you hug him.

The key to this fight is to have fire resistant gear and then hug and
aggressively hit him. With enough fire resistant gear, his fire AoE shouldn't
do too much damage. Still, you should avoid it when you can. If you can't
avoid it, go ahead and get hit by it and go back to hitting him. You don't have
to worry about his sideways slashes and his other moves are easy to avoid.

Once he's down, you'll get "demon's catalyst" and 10000 souls.
**************


-=to the third boss[demthi]=-

Ahead will be 2 stairs, one going up and one going down. Go up first to get
the shortcut to the half spider half lady room. There will be many of those
fire breathing creatures. There will also be a "soul of a brave warrior"
guarded by 3 of them.

When your done with that, go down the stairs and you'll reach a bonfire and
another white light ahead. On the way down towards the white light will be
another "soul of a brave warrior." When ready, head through the white light for
another boss fight.


*****BOSS*****
Centipede Demon

This boss is surprisingly easy. Wait for him to approach and dodge his strikes.
Once he is on land, hug his legs. Do not target the boss. As long as you're
between his legs, the only thing you have to watch out for is his jump. Just
keep striking his feet and move out the way when he jumps. Have your shield up
to block his jump attack. Rinse and repeat until he is dead.

You will get a "orange charred ring" and 20000 souls when he is defeated.
**************


-------------Lost Izalith[dlos]-----------

contents:
to the second bonfire.......anofir
to the boss.................anosec

------------------------------------------


-=to the second bonfire[anofir]=-

If you're like me, you're going to HATE this next part. Equip the "orange
charred ring." From the boss room, there should be a tunnel to the left. Head
though and rest at the bonfire. You have to do some lava walking now. I hope
you bought the bonfire repair kit from the blacksmith in "undead parish" like
I suggested, because your armor WILL get damaged from the lava.

This next part is VERY tedious. Use your bow to pull the giant T-Rex skeletons
one at a time. These guys will do a ton of damage. They will jump on you,
stomp on you, or swing their tail at you. What you want to do is avoid the
first jump they do then rush in and beat their feet. Try to anticipate when
they're going to do their stomping move. Usually they only stomp with one of
their feet so use that chance to beat their other foot. You probably won't
have to worry about the tail swipe if you hug their feet and when they jump,
run away a bit.

Once a few in the front is clear, your destination is the temple about 45
degrees to the right. Once you reach it, the inside is a safe zone from the
T-Rex. It will also have a soul item. Your next destination is the next temple
more to the right. You should notice an item on the roof. Once you reach that
temple, the wall on the left side will be breakable revealing a bonfire.


-=to the boss[anobos]=-

From the bonfire, you should notice a tilted small section of a stone tunnel.
That's where you're supposed to go. Once you clear out the T-Rex, head through
it and follow the wooden path. There will be a bunch of the fire breathing
creatures. You can skip them easily if you want or just kill them.

Up the stairs will be a weird tentacle monster. It will swing its tentacles or
spray some kind of liquid. All you have to do is approach its sides and attack
it there and it will go down fast.

Now there will be 2 wooden paths and stairs going up. The right wooden path
leads to a soul item and another item I haven't picked up. The stairs will lead
to a humanoid in gold-hemmed armor that casts fire spells. The cast time is
long so just go in and kill him. He will drop a catalyst. Ignore the white
light and ahead will be another tentacle monster guarding a "pyromancy: chaos
fire whip."

Go back to where the 2 wooden paths were and take the left one. If you go into
the left area, the floor will collapse. You can get out by taking a wooden path
or venture into the lower area. The water in the lower area will poison you
like the swamp in "blighttown." There will be a couple of tentacle monsters.
There will be a couple of treasure but the most noteworthy ones are 2 "red
titanite chunks" and a "red titanite slab."

Once you get out, the other path will lead to a miniboss. It's the same one you
find next to the blacksmith in the "undead parish." You can skip it or try to
kill it. I don't have much tips for it, because I usually kill them in range
and I just need to dodge their lightning.

Behind him will be more of those roaches. Kill them and the one that was kind
of glowing red should drop a "sunlight maggot." This will come in handy in the
"tomb of the giants" later in the guide.

Rest back at the second bonfire if you need to. If you do, you should be able
to skip all the monsters and head directly to the white light. Remember to
equip the correct ring.


*****BOSS*****
Bed of Chaos

After sliding all the way down, head to the right side and roll through the
branches towards the glowing thing. Strike the glowing thing and a cutscene
will occur. I highly recommend quitting and reloading the game, because you
will probably die trying to get to the left glowing thing anyways. Also, even
if you die or reload the game, the struck glowing things will stay out of
commission. Either way, head towards the left glowing thing while trying to
stick as close to the wall as possible. You can jump over the smaller gaps. I'm
not sure about the bigger gaps, since I failed at it. Carefully go around or
jump over the bigger gaps if you can.

Once the left glowing thing is in view, take out your bow and snipe at it until
you get another cutscene. Now head towards the middle. Your goal here is to
drop down onto a wooden path so that you can head inside the boss through the
middle. The wooden path will be slightly to the right from the middle.

What I did was after the boss does his swipes, I ran towards the wooden
path and carefully dropped onto it. Then I ran towards the boss and rolled
though the branches like there was no tomorrow. After that, just kill the
creature there and the boss will be defeated. This took me several tries so
it's kind of normal for you to fail the first few times.

You'll get another lord soul and 40000 souls.
**************

Use the bonfire that appears to warp to "firelink shrine."


-------------Catacombs[dcat]-------------

contents:
preparations..............catpre
to the first bonfire......catfir
to the second bonfire.....catsec
to the boss...............catbos

-----------------------------------------

-=preparations[catpre]=-

If you've been following this guide, you should have gotten "occult club" from
"anor londo." Go to a blacksmith and downgrade it into "divine club +5." Either
that or make a divine weapon of your own.

If you've been following this guide, you should have "sunlight maggot" and you
can proceed to "to the bonfire" part of this chapter. If you don't and you have
at least 14 intelligence, you can try to get "cast light" from "darkroot
basin." Go to "darkroot garden" through "undead parish" and take the first
path to the right to go all the way down to "darkroot basin." There will be a
black knight so be careful. If you head all the way down, there will be a
bonfire.

Come back up a bit and follow the path you haven't been through yet and you'll
reach an area with 4 crystal golems and a huge hydra that spits water at you.
Kill off the golems then head as close to the boss as possible while avoiding
its spit. Once you reach the water, don't get too close or you'll fall into the
water and die. Once you're close enough for the hydra to reach you, it will
start slamming its heads towards you. Just block it and hit it and rinse and
repeat. There will still be phases where it spits so watch out for that.

Once it's dead, head into the back left area and somewhere there will be a
golden golem. Kill it and talk to the lady that appears. Quit and reload the
game and you should see a summon sign by the shore for Oolacile or something
like that. Summon her and talk to her to buy "cast light." Also, if you go back
to where the golden golem was, you can get her armor. The headpiece boosts
magic.

If you don't have 14 intelligence and you don't have "sunlight maggot," good
luck at the "tomb of the giants." It's doable so don't waste stats into
intelligence just to be able to use "cast light."


-=to the first bonfire[catfir]=-

Equip your divine weapon. Head to the area with the long necked creature is and
head through the doorway to the left. There will be skeletons here but they
should be a piece of cake. Just keep following the path and you'll end up going
down some stairs into the catacombs. Watch out for the floating heads as they
will blow up when you're near. You can block it but it will recoil you back
quite a bit so watch out for that as well.

Keep following the only path killing off the skeletons with the divine weapon
so they don't respawn. At the end will be a fire caster. After killing off as
much skeletons as you can behind cover, rush and kill the caster. Push the
lever and rest at the bonfire.


-=to the second bonfire[catsec]=-

Get out of the bonfire room and you should notice a door opened to the left.
Head through and you'll reach a somewhat open area. There will be another fire
caster to the right. If you meet the requirements with your bow, kill it right
now to make things easier later. Poison arrows might work as an alternative but
I haven't tested it myself.

Along the way you'll notice some statues. Don't get too close or it will stab
you with spikes.

Keep following the only path killing off the usual skeletons. At the way end
after reaching the outdoors again will be a lever. On your way back, you should
notice the bridge is now crossable. Kill the fire caster with your bow if you
can. If not, just pull the skeletons one at a time.

Once inside, start clearing the skeletons. At the way bottom will be a lever
to push guarded by a lone fire caster. Once the lever is pushed, a door will be
open a bit up the stairs. Go straight and you'll notice incomplete stairs that
seems to lead to nowhere. Get to the end of it and you should notice a spot you
can drop onto to the right. Drop down to it and then to the next spot and there
will be a "great scythe." Make your way back to the incomplete stairs.

Now head through the other path and go left. At the end will be a breakable
wall between the statue and the ladder. In it will be the second bonfire.


-=to the boss[catbos]=-

Go up the ladder and push the lever. There will be a bridge that is now
crossable ahead. Cross it and go through the white light. Down the stairs will
be 2 skeletons. There is a breakable wall. In it will be 2 archers and 2
melee skeletons. If you can, use the bow to kill off as many as you can before
going in. You'll also get ambushed by a large skeleton. Large skeletons are
like a bigger version of the butchers and are somewhat aggressive to be
careful. You'll get a "darkmoon seance ring" for your troubles. There is also
a miracle spell guarded by a skeleton and a fire caster when you climb the
stairs.

Head all the way back through the door you broke to get here and
head outside and you should see 3 skeletons ahead. Lure them inside and kill
them using the stairs to drop attack. Head out again and follow the only path
through a door.

Ahead will be an optional miniboss you've encountered many times by now. There
will be skeletons that come from behind so kill them from behind cover when
they do. Behind the miniboss is 3 "eyes of death."

Head through the broken wall here and head down the ladder. Be careful, because
there are 2 floors that collapse in the middle area. Once the 2 skeletons here
are taken care of, keep going and down the ladder. There will be 2 archers and
a fire caster in the other room. Thin the numbers with a bow if you can or
just rush in at the right time and kill them.

Ahead will be a huge cavern with about 7 wheel skeletons, 2 floating heads, and
a black knight somewhere top left. The wheel skeletons are weak, but they can
do a lot of damage if you get hit by their rolling in a certain way. Their roll
can be dodge or blocked. Pull them one at a time with a bow and once the first
half of the room is clear, pull the black knight who should be somewhere left
and above.

Clear the rest of the wheel skeletons and keep going. There will be a white
light with a boss.


*****BOSS*****
Pinwheel

Remember to equip your main weapon for the fight and two-hand it.

I found this boss to be very easy. He'll duplicate himself and cast spells, but
it will be pretty obvious which is the real one(he didn't switch spots with his
copies). Just keep hitting him and he'll go down really fast.

You'll get an item that allows you to kindle bonfires more than usual so you
can get up to 20 flasks and 10000 souls.
**************


-------------Tomb of the Giants[dtom]-------------

contents:
to the first bonfire......tomfir
to the second bonfire.....tomsec
to the boss...............tombos

--------------------------------------------------


-=to the first bonfire[tomfir]=-

Equip the "sunlight maggot" or cast "cast light" now. If you don't have either,
you won't be able to see much. Assuming you don't have either, follow the light
on the floor in a straight line to each other. After you pass a bridge, there
will be a big skeleton. Try not to move too far or you may fall. Keep following
the light on the floor. Eventually you'll slide down something. After the
second slide will be an ambush by 2 big skeletons and an archer from far away.
All I can say is good luck. It's a fairly narrow area so don't make big
movements. You can also try to skip them by going around them and going down
the big slide ahead.

After you go down the big slide, ignore the light ahead and go down the ladder
nearby. Rest at the bonfire there.


-=to the second bonfire[tomsec]=-

If you're one of those without light, head back up the ladder and toward the
light. Don't attack the person standing there. Talk to him and say no. Then
walk towards the light on the floor and you'll be kicked down. Pick up the
3 treasures, one of them being "skull lantern." Equip the skull lantern to the
slot next to your shield. Nearby will be a female NPC. Ahead will be 2
humanoids. Just use the block then attack method while slowly backing up and
you should be able to beat them. Once they're down, talk to the female again to
get "replenishment." Keep going and you'll meet 3 bone towers. They do a lot of
damage so carefully attack them.

Go up the ladder and break the wall and you'll be at the bonfire again. Use the
"skull lantern" and it will show you in blue light where to go. Before
continuing, talk to that guy again and say yes. Then follow the path a little
bit to the right area and you'll reach a skeleton on all fours. This skeleton
can do a LOT of damage, maybe even kill you if you're not careful. Aggro it and
back away watching what it does. Keep a fair amount of distance and when he
does a tiny charge waving his arms, attack right after it. If there is enough
space, side step around it to avoid most of its attack and have more openings
to attack it.

Step through the white light and a black knight should charge your location
soon. Pull him back a bit and kill him. Ahead is another skeleton on four legs.
Pull him back as well to kill it. Then kill the archer that's been bugging you
all this time. There will be another four legged skeleton. After killing it,
go down the path and take a left. There will be yet another four legged
skeleton and a huge skeleton next to it. Pull one of them with your bow and
kill them one at a time.

Keep going to the left will be the second bonfire.


-=to the boss[tombos]=-

Rest at this bonfire and head towards the path going down. The four legged
skeleton will aggro so you have to kill it before going down. There will be
a "white titanite chunk" on the corpse. Keep going down and you end up fighting
3 more four legged skeleton one at a time. Keep going down the only path and
you'll come to a bright area. Once you go through the path going in to the
right, you'll be ambushed by bone towers. There will be about 5 in the whole
area along with an archer that will harass you so be cautious. Next to the
archer is a big skeleton as well.

Ahead will be a big cavern with about 5 pinwheels and a bunch of baby
skeletons. If you do decent damage with a bow, try to kill as many off as you
can before going. I'm not sure if they can be poisoned or not but you can try
that if you don't do good damage with the bow.

The best thing to do here is to rush the pinwheels. Completely ignore the baby
skeletons, block/dodge the projectiles, and beat them to death one by one.

At the top will be a white light with wooden sticks in the way. Through the
white light will be a boss.


*****BOSS*****
Gravelord Nito
skeletons x3

I suggest having a lot of poise and defense for this fight. I'm not sure but
"iron flesh" may work as well, but I was able to do it fairly easily with just
poise and defense from gear such as Havel's armor set. Also, DO NOT go in the
back area or you'll aggro big skeletons.

There will be 3 regular skeletons during this fight. They revive unless killed
by a divine weapon. What I did was completely ignore them. The high defense and
poise I had pretty much negated their existence for me. Nito will end up
killing them many times as well.

As for Nito himself, he swings his weapon, does an AoE scream, and does a weird
move where he can hit you from anywhere. His swings are easy to dodge, the AoE
has a long charge up time so you should be able to get away most of the time,
and just ignore the move where he can hit you from anywhere.

The main thing I did was side step around him the whole time. While I'm behind
him, I know I'm completely safe to attack him. What usually happens is while
I'm side stepping him, he'll do a slash but it has a wind up time so I'll end
up easily getting to his back and hitting him. I just repeat this as well as
backing away when he is about to AoE.

Beating him will give you the last lord soul if you've been following this
guide and 40000 souls.
**************

There is a bonfire nearby after he is defeated. Use it to warp to "firelink
shrine."


-------------Kiln of the First Flame[dkil]-------------

-------------------------------------------------------


This is it. Hit Frampt to wake him up and talk to him to head underground.
Put the souls into the lord vessel and the door to "kiln of the first flame"
will open.

There will be 5 black knights in there and they all drop all types of titanite
chunks so if you still need some to upgrade things, this is a great time to
farm them. They also drop the weapons they are holding. Those are pretty nice
weapons so try to get them now while you still can.

Once you beat this boss, you'll go to newgame+. I recommend doing all the
upgrades and the optional areas before doing this boss. When you're ready, head
through the white light at the end.


*****BOSS*****
Gwyn, Lord of Cinder

For this boss, I suggest high defense and poise. I also suggest equipping the
"hornet ring."

This boss is FAST. His recovery time is very low and he is VERY aggressive. I
probably wouldn't be able to beat him if I wasn't able to parry him.

His moves include slashes that can be 3 in a row, a very damaging grab, a
stamina draining kick, and a charging stab if you're in a distance.

The way I beat him was to block a slash then parry his second more predictable
slash. I just repeated this as well as dodging his grab until I beat him. Not
much else to say really.
**************



After beating the boss, you can see 2 different ending depending on what you
do. You can either light the bonfire there or just leave without lighting the
bonfire.



Congratulations! You Defeated




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I hope you found this guide useful and not too confusing. If you saw any errors
or a part that is very confusing, e-mail me about it at mrjhwar@hotmail.com
with the subject as "dark souls walkthrough (site you read this from)" and I'll
clarify and fix it.

Thanks for reading.