Upper Undead Burg | Dark Souls Wiki

Level limit
The maximum level of beginner players in this area is approximately level 15 if you're intending to summon or be summoned (for the Taurus Demon boss).

Welcome to Undead Burg

Coming from Firelink Shrine, you'll exit the aqueduct and climb some stairs where you'll meet an Armoured Zombie and an axe wielding Armoured Zombie behind him on a rooftop. NOTE: You will see some barrels at the end on the right blocking a path ahead, make a note of this section as we'll come back here later. Cross over a very small bridge on your left, to where a firebomb wielding zombie will attack you from between some wooden pilings. The building to your left hides another zombie which may complicate the fight if you take too long with the firebomb zombie. There is a fog gate on the right and once you go through it, look on the left, under the stairs, to find a corpse with Soul of a Lost Undead. Head up the stairs and there will be two doors; one going back to the area where you just fought the firebomb zombie and the other with stairs leading outside. The one going back reveals a doorway across a gap, but do not worry about making this jump as you'll never do it from here - we'll get a chance to go in there later. Head up the stairs outside.

About one quarter the way up the stairs a large dragon, The Bridge Wyvern, will crash down overhead. Move back quickly and put your shield up once you hear him, as it can hurt/kill you should it connect. It'll only be there for a moment and then fly off and once it is gone, keep going forward the way you were going. In the distance you will see four enemies: the two closest to you are the ones that concern you for now. The one at the back is a Zombie Archer who has some range once he spots you, so best here is to lure the other Zombies and use the bridge as cover from the arrows. There are two more Zombies hiding behind the wooden barriers ahead - making three in total. Lure them out and dispose of them and then go up the second set of stairs to get rid of the archer. At the top of the stairs on your left there's a room with a bonfire - but since we have cleared out a lot of enemies it may be best not to use it just yet, but the choice is ultimately yours

Exploring Around the First Bonfire

Before we continue on, let's explore the rest of the immediate area. Head back down the stairs and you will see a door in the building the archer was on. Open it to find a Wooden Shield on a corpse that's out on the balcony. Back out that door and to your left you will see two spear wielding Undead Soldiers. These guys are tough to take out once their shields are raised, so it is advised that you use a ranged attack to take them out one at a time. Kicking while their guard is up will stagger them and leave them open to attack. If you have any Pyromancies such as the starting fireballpyromancy, or some firebombs, you can kill them with a single shot by standing at a middle distance and lobbing the spell or firebomb so it arcs beneath their shield and hits their legs. This is a useful tactic with many shielded enemies, so it is worth practising a bit by resetting these two soldiers a few times via the bonfire. If you are lucky they will also drop a Hollowed Shield, which is a good one. Just be careful not to be surprised by a sudden spear thrust, as the two soldiers will occasionally turn aggressive or even leap at you.

Once the two spear wielding Zombies are dead, head over and destroy the boxes near where they were to reveal some stairs going down. Down the stairs, the door ahead will lead outside where you will find the Undead Merchant. Before you go talk to him, turn right and just on the other side of the fireplace is another Zombie hiding behind some cabinets. Kill him now, otherwise he may come and attack you while you are talking to the merchant. The merchant has some useful items for sale. You should purchase the Residence Key and the Bottomless Box, but other very useful items he sells include Firebombs, a Short Bow, and Repair Powder. If you can't afford them, do a few runs from the merchant to the bonfire, killing a few guys along the way until you have the souls to enable your purchases. Head back inside from the merchants balcony and turn left to take the other exit. Once outside, descend the stairs and at the back of the resulting alleyway there will be four shield-less Zombies. Take care of them and ascend the ladder at the back to go up to a rooftop where you will find a corpse with Throwing Knives (x10). Straight ahead you will see the doorway across the gap from earlier. You can now reach it from up here by making a running jump. Once inside, head up the stairs onto the ledge to find Light Crossbow and some Standard Bolts (x16) on a corpse. Jump off this ledge through the gap in the railing and you'll be back on the rooftop where you entered Undead Burg.

Remember the barrels from earlier blocking a path to your right? Destroy them and drop down to find a Large Soul of a Lost Undead. NOTE: There is an zombie patrolling down there, if he spots you he will either run away or attack you. Should he run away, don't chase after him as he may lead you to a sticky situation if you're not careful. Drop down all the way and take the door on your immediate left. Up the stairs you will find another corpse with Soul of a Lost Undead. Heading back the way you came, take a right and proceed forward with caution. There are two zombies hanging on the other side of a wall and will climb over to attack you once you are close to them. Dispose of them and head over the small bridge on your right into the building. From the other door, you will see an item on a corpse outside. Be warned that this is a trap - there are more of those hanging zombies on the right waiting for you to come close, four in total. HINT: There are two zombies hanging on your immediate right. You can strike their hands to make them drop before they have a chance to climb over. Once they're dead, you will find Rubbish on the corpse. ( Note: Despite the name, this item can eventually be traded to a character named Snuggly for a nice item, so ensure you pick it up.) Head straight ahead and take the ladder. Follow the walkway to find Humanity on a corpse. Head back and drop down at the broken section of the walkway to find yourself back on the opening stairway again. Now, make your way to the bonfire you found earlier again to continue.

Beyond the First Bonfire

Outside of the bonfire room on your left there is a bridge, but be warned that there will be three firebomb zombies chucking firebombs at you from above (one is behind the church tower) as you approach and cross it. Move over fast with a shield up and keep as far right as possible. Once you enter the doorway at the other end (and safe from the firebombs), you'll encounter two axe zombies. Once they're dead open the other door in here and take on the Undead Soldier (sword)that's waiting outside. Also be aware that one or two of the firebomb zombies from earlier may have dropped down here. ( Note: This door will already be open the next time you come here and you should travel a small section of the bridge to lure the undead soldier across the bridge toward you and once he is gone you can then proceed onwards and get rid of the axe zombies.) You will also notice a locked gate in this room that you will be able to unlock it a bit later from Lower Undead Burg.

Head out the door and take the next door on your right into a building. On your immediate right a zombie will attack. Go straight through to reveal another zombie on your immediate left. Back in the first room will be some stairs to another room on the left. In here you will find a chest with Black Firebombs (x5). Head back outside and ascend the stairs on the right and into an area with three more zombies, one of which will throw firebombs. Sidestep the first two and take out the firebomb zombie before taking on them on. After you have disposed of them, look back at the wall beside the way you came from and take the ladder on your left. Once ascended, you can now take revenge of the firebomb zombies from earlier. There will be a corpse up here with Soul of a Lost Undead. Head back down the ladder and enter the small tower on your left to dispose of the armoured zombie archer that's at the top.

Back downstairs there is a building on your right that you can unlock with the Residence Key you bought earlier. Head through to find a chest containing Gold Pine Resin (x3). If you have a ranged weapon, you can take care of the three undead soldiers that are visible from here. Drop down off the ledge here and you will see some stairs leading down, and some leading up:

• The downward stairs lead to the intimidating sight of a Black Knight, but luckily he has his back to you. At such an early stage in the game these guys are tough, but if you are feeling brave you can attampt to take him on - be warned however that at low levels a straight melee fight will be a challenge. If you lure him out and run back to the ladder that lead up to the firebomb zombies, he won't be able to follow you up the ladder and will give you an opportunity to kill him through ranged attacks - firebombs work well for all character types. If you have experienced summons with you, they may also be able to handle him for you. He will drop a Titanite Chunk and possibly other valuable items such as a Black Knight Sword or Shieldonce killed. Past where you met the Black Knight you will find the Blue Tearstone Ring.

 

• The upward stairs leads toward a tower, but proceed carefully because at the top there is an undead soldier waiting to roll a barrel down the stairs at you once you take the second flight of stairs. There is a broken section in the wall you can drop down (carefully) to avoid the trap - once the trap is set off, it does not reset. Alternatively, go just far enough up the stairs to set off the rolling barrel, and then run back down around the corner. Once the trap is sprung and the undead soldier is defeated, head up the stairs into the tower.

 

The Taurus Demon's Tower

Inside the tower you'll find a door straight ahead of you that can be opened with the Master Key, but it's best to avoid this area for now because Havel The Rock is waiting downstairs, although if you have summoned spirits with you it is worth a try. Even if you manage to defeat him, there's only a locked door down here (it opens as a shortcut between Undead Burgand Darkroot Basinlater in the game), so you will have to go up to proceed regardless of if you decide to take him on or not. Head up the stairs until you are two floors up from the tower's entrance and then take out the barrels here to reveal a Crystal Lizard which you should quickly dispatch to receive some Twinkling Titanite and another random Titanite drop. Keep going up until you reach a fog gate and go through to find yourself on some battlements with another gate at the end, but don't cross the bridge yet. Ascend the ladder on your immediate right instead to find two zombie archers (with swords) that will attack you once you reach the top. Kill them then go back down again and start crossing over. About three quarters of the way across the bridge, a monster will come crashing down in front of you...


Boss fight: Taurus Demon

Meeting Solaire

After defeating the Taurus Demon, head through the fog gate at the end of the boss arena. There will be some stairs leading down but before you go down, destroy the boxes at the end to find a Large Soul of a Lost Undead. At the bottom, you will see the locked door that will lead you to Lower Undead Burg - you'll find the keylater. To your left there's a wide and long bridge with some enemies on it and to the right you'll find Solaire of Astora out on the platform looking at the sun. Praise the Sun! If you answer YES to all his questions he will give you White Sign Soapstone - giving you the ability to join co-op with other players to help take on bosses in their world.

The Wyvern Bridge

Go back to the long bridge with the enemies and proceed across it. If the Wyvern is not at the end, it will come flying from behind - either way, there will be loads of fire when you are about halfway across the bridge. There are two openings ahead, one on the left and another on the right. The one on the right has some stairs going down - that is the one you want to aim for. Raise your shield and start running towards the stairs on the right of the bridge, hugging the right side of the bridge as you go. Ignore the enemies but avoid the arrows since they will slow you down. As mentioned, about halfway across the wyvern will spew fire, killing all the enemies (and hopefully not you). Hint: The heater shield (purchasable from the Undead Merchant in Undead Burg) and its increased fire resistance may prove useful here if you are having difficulty making it across. Head down the stairs and you will see two doors. One leads under the bridge and the other is a shortcut to your last visited bonfire. Take the one back to the bonfire first and note that you will need to kick down a ladder to open a way back up. IMPORTANT: Make sure you kick down the ladder first to open the shortcut for good ! Once this is done, go back up and take the other door that leads under the bridge.

Down here you can obtain a weapon that's very useful for low level characters: the Drake Sword. You obtain it by shooting the Wyvern's tail multiple times with arrows from below the bridge on the right side until it breaks off. Note: Once done, you should be aware that there are three ways you can proceed. One way will allow you to go under the bridge, ignoring the Wyvern and the other two ways will require you to either run past or kill the Wyvern, but these methods will open up a shortcut to the Undead Parish, a bonfire and a covenant (the Warrior of Sunlight covenant - read up on this covenant to find out how to join):

• Method 1 - Under the Bridge: While under the bridge, go around the pillars. Past the second one an undead soldier (sword) lurks. Take the path to the left of the last pillar and you will see a shield undead soldier (spear) patrolling. Past him you will see a door leading into a room. This part can be tricky since three poisonous sewer rats will rush you (and possibly knock you off the edge if you're not careful). Either try lure them out or rush inside and get rid of them. They are poisonous, so proceed with caution and keep that shield up. (Should you get poisoned, don't freak out. Being poisoned will only drain HP slowly, so if you just keep an eye on your health and use flasks when you need to you should be okay. Make your way back to the bonfire to remove the poison and try again) Once inside the rat room, you can ascend a ladder on your left that will take you up to the Undead Parish.

 

• Method 2 - Running Past the Wyvern on top of the Bridge: You can brave a run straight through to the passage below where the Wyvern sits, but this might be a tall order and having high fire resistance is recommended. So if you sprint from the top of the stairs on the bridge towards the other safe zone on the left side, it will usually cause the Wyvern to breathe fire, killing any remaining Zombies in the area while hopefully missing you. Then simply wait in the other safe zone until the Wyvern gets bored (usually takes no more than 20 seconds) and he will leap down onto the bridge. The second he does this, quickly turn and run through his legs towards the doorway behind him. It is worth trying to pick up the Claymore on the corpse on the right as you run. If you make it through it is possible that the Wyvern may turn around and breathe fire into that area, so if you want to be safe you can hang a sharp right in the passage and run out the door here. Pulling the lever in there will make the Wyvern fly away and open a shortcut to Undead Parish. There is also a bonfire in here and a doorway leading to the covenant mentioned above. Go through the gate opened by the lever to enter the Undead Parish.

 

• Method 3 - Defeating the Wyvern: There are a number of ways to kill the Bridge Wyvern (as further detailed on its discussion page), including moving to the left side under the bridge and shooting it in the neck with arrows as it patrols back and forth.( With the Patch this method has been fixed, the Wyvern heals, when health drops by 25%.) However, if you prefer melee, then what follows is also a viable option - but it will likely take a few tries to perfect, so don't be discouraged if you die a few times. Stand at the top of the stairs to the side of the bridge so you can see the Wyvern's head, shoot it with an arrow to make it jump down and then ready your preferred weapon (ideally the Drake Sword), holding it two-handed. As soon as the arrow hits (and not before) start running out to the middle of the bridge and do a jump attack. The Wyvern will have come down to you by the time your strike lands and it will hopefully hit him right in the head, taking off a chunk of his health. As soon as you can, run back and down the stairs to avoid his attack and wait down there for him to go back up to his perch. Repeat this process a few times and he'll eventually expire, giving you a load of souls, allowing you to traverse bridge at your leisure, letting you pick up the items and get to the room at the back to access the bonfire and covenant. Pull the lever and go through the gate to enter the Undead Parish.

Whichever method you decide to use, you'll be at the Undead Parish once you're done.

Undead Burg Map