Beginners Guide | Dark Souls Wiki

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The Book of Noob for Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered is a page dedicated to explaining some basic concepts that new players may have trouble grasping. ~ A little bit of help for fighting the good fight, by Wigriff.

 

Foreword

I wanted to make a brief guide, separate from the F.A.Q., that explains many of the questions that are frequently asked, but may take a bit more of an in-depth explanation than what a typical F.A.Q. list can accommodate while still maintaining brevity, as well as providing a "quick find" resource for questions that the F.A.Q. doesn't cover. Some of the things in this guide will rehash things already spoken of in the F.A.Q., and I am well aware of this. I hope that many of you find this guide helpful, and if there is information you would like to see referenced here, please contact me.
Credits

• Author: Wigriff
• Contributors: I would like to thank Schpadoinkle, MonochromeDreams, Lorin and twinfangbiorr for contributing ideas and subjects for this guide.
• Special Thanks: I would like to give a special thanks to Fexds for helping me out, and giving me the opportunity to publish this guide on the wiki.

Contact

• Contact Wigriff in the Dark Souls Wiki chat if you have anything else you would like to see in this guide.

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Classes

• The Class system in this game does not work like it does in other games. Instead of thinking of a class as a template for what type of character you will become, think of your class as picking which abilities your character will be proficient in at the start of the game. Each character class can be customized to accommodate any sort of play style or choices that you may make while moving through the game. A Sorcerer or Pyromancer could end up wearing heavy armor and battling with 2-handed weapons, using their spells as a secondary skill, or not at all.

 

Class Builds

• As stated above, any class can become proficient in any ability that they choose, so there are no set "builds" in this game like in other RPG's. Advanced players will eventually meta-game, and will use the starting templates to make an end goal more easily obtainable, but you can make your character how you want.

 

Best Weapon/Armor

• There is no "best" weapon or armor. There is no best weapon for a knight, or best armor for a sorcerer. This question is entirely relative. Different people will prefer different weapons for different reason, complimenting different play-styles. This isn't Final Fantasy.

 

Swinging Your Weapon Faster

• No stat in the game will make you swing your weapon faster. As long as you meet the minimum requirements for using a weapon, stacking Str and Dex will NOT make you swing it any faster.

 

Upgrading Weapons Past +5

• First, you have to find a Large Ember, which is in a chest by where you fight the first butcher in The Depths. You bring this ember to Andrei, the blacksmith in the Undead Parish, and he will then be able to level your weapons past +5. Once you get a weapon to +5, you will have to select "modify weapon" from the dialogue menu with Andrei, and then use the required materials to raise said weapon to +6. From there, you will raise the weapon up further like normal.

 

How Do I Make A Weapon From a Boss Soul?

• The Giant Blacksmith in Anon Londo will transform the appropriate +10 weapon into a boss weapon if you have the soul. Note that I said "Appropriate" weapon. Not all weapons will work with boss souls. For more specific information, visit the upgrade page on the wiki.

 

Curses

• Once in awhile you will get cursed, probably from the “frog” creatures in The Depths and The Great Hollow. When you are cursed, you will lose half of your total health bar. This is stackable, so if you get cursed while cursed, you will go down to ¼ health. To cure a curse, you need to buy an item called Purging Stone. They cost 3,000 souls from the man who is standing in the tower off of the roof where you fought the Bell Gargoyles, and 6,000 souls from the old woman in the waterway passage who sells the moss. You can also get cured for free if you have access to the New Londo Ruins, but you have to go pretty far into the ruins to get to the guy who does it. He is a red clad, wizardly looking guy who is standing on a roof far past where you encounter the ghosts. Speaking of ghosts…

 

The Ghosts in New Londo Ruins

• You have to be cursed to kill the ghosts in New Londo Ruins. You don't want the type of curse you get from the “frog” monsters. Instead, you want to purchase an item called Transient Curse that you can get from the lady who sells the moss in the waterway passage, as well as a couple of other spots. They are pricey, but you will find more when you are down there as drops from the ghosts. If you run out of transient curse when you are down there, you are screwed. *Note: Sorcery, Divine Weapons, Pyromancy and Miracles DO NOT hurt ghosts UNLESS you are cursed. NOTHING hurts ghosts unless you are cursed.
• "Wait a minute" some of you are saying. "How is this Wigriff fellow going to have the audacity to write something called 'The Book of Noob', and he doesn't know that there are other ways to hurt ghosts?" Baby steps, people... baby steps. There are a couple of weapons in the game that are capable of hurting ghosts if you want to go to the trouble. You can get a Jagged Ghost Blade, which is a rare drop from fighting the aforementioned ghosts, and that will hurt them. The only other way is to use Sif's Soul on a +10 greatsword and make the Cursed Sword of Artorias.

 

Killing/Attacking NPC's

• So you managed to smack a NPC in the face with your sword huh? And now he won't sell you a bucket of water if you were on fire? Well, what you have to do is go to the man who is in the tower off the roof where you fought the Bell Gargoyles. He has an option to buy something from his MAIN menu called Absolution. Again, this is in his MAIN MENU, not his normal purchase window. Absolution will cost 2,000 souls, times your current soul level. Therefore, if you are level 20, absolution will cost 40,000 souls. If you KILL an NPC, there is no guarantee that this will bring them back. I killed the cat who you have to talk to about entering the Forest Hunter Covenant though, and absolution brought her back, twice. You will just have to try it out. Speaking of Covenants…

 

Covenants

• There is no “best” covenant. All of the different covenants serve a different purpose. If you pick a covenant, you are required to stay in it. You can, at some point in the game, join ALL of the covenants, just not simultaneously. If you leave a covenant, the only way to get back in normally is buy getting absolution from the guy in the tower, past where you beat the bell gargoyles. It will cost the same no matter what you need it for, which is 2,000 souls times your current soul level. See the section on Killing/Attacking NPC's for a bit more information on absolution. You also may need absolution to negate and adverse effects your character may experience from abandoning a covenant.

 

The Pyromancy Trainers

• The first Pyromancy trainer is trapped in a barrel, in a room, in the depths close to where you first encounter the butcher. When you find him, GROUND ROLL into the barrels to free him. DO NOT attack the barrels, or you will piss him off, he will attack you, and you will have to buy absolution if you ever want to buy anything from him, ever. If you DO attack him, see the section on Killing/Attacking NPC's.
• The second Pyromancer Trainer , Quelaana of Izalith, is sitting by a pillar, on a small island, in the swamp at the bottom of BlightTown, close to where you go into Quelaag's Domain. You will not be able to even see her until you have leveled the Pyromancy Flame (Glove) up to at least +10.

 

The Pyromancy Flame (Glove)

• The Pyromancy Flame (Pyromancy Glove) is how you increase the damage of your pyro spells. You have to level the glove at the pyromancy trainer like a weapon. The Pyromancy Flame that you start with goes up to level +15. Eventually you will find the second pyromancer trainer, and she will ascend the Pyromancy Flame +15 into the Pyromancy Flame (which is stronger, it is NOT a down grade), and then you will level THAT Pyromancy Flame up to the max of +5.
  The Pyromancy Flame (Glove) eventually gets Intelligence scaling. This scaling DOES NOT effect spell damage. It only increases the damage that your Pyromancy Glove does when using it as a melee weapon. It in no way, shape, or form increases the damage of your Pyromancy Spells. Intelligence has NOTHING to do with Pyromancy. Intelligence has NOTHING to do will pyro spell damage. Intelligence DOES NOT MAKE PYRO SPELLS STRONGER! EVER! PERIOD!

 

The Drake Sword

• No, it is not hard to get the Drake Sword. You need a short bow or long bow to do it, but NOT a crossbow. Once you have access to the underside of the bridge that the dragon is always attacking, you can do this easily. Get your short bow (make sure you meet the minimum requirements), and some arrows (30 wooden arrows will do it, but bring extra to be safe), and make your way to the underside of the bridge. Take out the enemy under there before you get into place. Make sure that you line yourself up on the edge of the bridge to where you have a clear shot of the dragons swinging tail. Press triangle (Y on the Xbox) to hold your bow in both hands, and then press R1 to enter 1st person perspective. Line up your shot, be patient, and start plunking arrows into the dragons tail. Every time you land a hit, he will fly to the bridge above you, breathe fire, and stomp around before returning to his perch. After about 25 or 30 shots, his tail should come off, and you will automatically get the Drake Sword.

 

Where Do I Go After The Bell Gargoyles?

• You can either go to Darkroot Forest (recommended), or you can go to The Lower Undead Burg and then The Depths. To get to the Darkroot Forest, you go past Andrei the blacksmith in the Undead Parish, and past the Titanite Demon. To get to the Lower Undead Burg, you will go through the locked door at the far end of the bridge from the red dragon, by where you met Solaire.

 

Capra Keeps Raping My Face!

• Listen, I am not going to say that this is the definitive, end-all method for killing Capra, but this is how I did it. As soon as you come through the fog, be blocking. Immediately run or roll past Capra and the first dog, and make a break for the area below the tree. Once you are there, about-face (military jargon for turn around), and take out the dogs as quickly as possibly. Once the dogs are down, roll past Capra and run up the stairs. Range him until he comes up the stairs with pyromancy or sorcery, but before he gets up to you, run across the top of the tree and drop to the ground. When you get to the ground, drink a flask quickly if you need it, and then wait for him to drop down after you. Once he does, run back up the stairs, rinse and repeat. I was fortunate enough to actually get him hung up on the bottom of the stairs the second time I ran up them, and I just nuked him to death. Good luck!

 

Sen's Fortress Shortcut

• As you are facing the fog door that leads to the boss, turn completely around, and head back to the floor directly below. There is a pit with some more cages hanging from chains in front of you. If you step inside the open cage, it will work as an elevator, and will take you all the way down to the first pathway where you had to dodge the swinging blades. You can now use it to go back and forth as a shortcut to the boss or the blacksmith.

 

How Do I Get To The Catacombs?

• Walk through the graveyard behind Firelink Shrine. You will come to the first group of 2 skeletons, and then a second group of skeletons will spring up further down the path. After that group, follow the path a little bit farther. The path may only look like it is hooking to the right, but it actually splits. If you take the semi-hidden left fork, it will lead you around the edge of the mountain, and directly into the Catacombs.

 

How Do I Kill The Skeletons In The Catacombs?

• There are 2 ways to handle this problem. First, you can use a divine or holy weapon against the skeletons to kill them directly. Second, the skeletons in the Catacombs are controlled by necro/pyromancers, who are the ones who are actually resurrecting the skeletons. If you find the necro/pyromancers and kill them, they will stay dead permanently, and their assigned group of skeletons will no longer come back after you kill them, regardless of the weapon type.

 

How Do I Go Through The Orange/Gold Fog Doors?

• You have to have the Lordvessel before these doors will open, which you get for completing Anon Londo, after Sen's Fortress.

 

Where is Old Izalith/Lost Izalith?

• There are 2 different ways into Old Izalith. The first way is through the Demon Ruins, where you fight Ceaseless Discharge. You will go down to the bottom of the Demon Ruins after the lava is gone, and you will find a path into some ruins with a bunch of Capra and Taurus demons as regular encounters. There will be a fog gate at the bottom, which will be orange and inaccessible until you get the Lordvessel. If you have the Lordvessel, go through the fog door to fight The Firesage, which looks like the Asylum Demon. After he is defeated, you will proceed to an elevator that will take you to Quelaags Domain, and another bonfire. Past this point you will fight another boss, The Centepede Demon. Cut off the Centepede Demons tail to get a ring that will allow you to walk in lava without taking as much damage. After you beat the Centepede, there will be a cave to the left of where you entered his room which will take you to Old Izalith.
• The second path is right before the room where you fight the Firesage, but requires the Firesage to be defeated. To the right of where the former orange fog door was, there is a passage that leads into a long hallway. This is the secondary route into Old Izalith. There is a door that you will have to open in order to proceed through the hall, which requires rank 2 in the Chaos Covenant. For more information about how to open it, see the covenants section.

 

How do I find The 4 Kings?

• Before you can fight the 4 Kings, you have to defeat the giant wolf Sif in Darkroot Forest. He will drop a ring called The Covenant of Artorias, which will let you walk in the abyss. After you open the floodgates in Old Londo Ruins, and you find the fog gate that leads to the 4 Kings, you will walk down a long, winding staircase. At the bottom, equip the ring, and jump in the hole. *Note: There is no reason to kill the red-robed mage looking guy in New Londo to get the floodgate key. He will give it to you after you get the lordvessel, and until you have the lordvessel you can't warp from bonfire to bonfire, which is your ONLY way out of the 4 Kings fight anyway.

 

How Do I Drain The Old Londo Ruins?

• You have to get a key from a red-robed mage, who is standing on top of a roof in Old Londo Ruins. You can kill him and get the key, but there is NO point, as he will give you the key after you get the lordvessel from completing Anon Londo. When you get the lordvessel, you also get the ability to warp between bonfires. Since the only real reason to drain Anon Londo is the fight the 4 Kings, and the ONLY way back from their fight is by warping from the bonfire, killing the only guy in the game who will cure your curses for free is a bad idea.

 

My Firekeeper in Firelink Shrine is Dead!

• Relax, it was suppose to happen. You know that guy in the gold armor that was sitting by her? Well, that was Knight Lautrec of Carim, and he ganked her while you weren't looking. You will need to wait until you get to Anon Londo, and there will be a room you will walk into near the boss there, and the black eye orb will begin to tingle. When it does, use the black eye orb to invade Lautrec's world. When you kill him, you will get the Firekeepers Soul. If you take it back to where she sat in Firelink, and click on the gate, you will be able to use it to bring her back to life.

 

How Do I Get Out Of The Painted World?

• You have to either beat the boss, or choose not to fight the boss, and then jump off of the cliff behind her. You don't manually jump; an animation will take over once you are up there.

 

I Have An Egg On My Head!

• You need to be in the Chaos Covenant, and the guy with the eggs on his back will sell you an antidote. Until you get it, the parasite will take half of your earned souls, and will make your kick attack slower.

 

What Is That Snoring In Firelink Shrine?

• You will find out after you ring the second bell in Blighttown. It is part of the story.

 

Can I Sell Stuff?

• You will eventually be able to see things, but not until you ring the second bell in Blighttown. There will be an NPC that you can "feed" items to for souls in Firelink.