Walkthroughs | Dark Souls Wiki

A quick note on patience

You've probably heard some advice from players and websites that the game requires heavy doses of patience, but what does that really mean? If you're a beginner at this game, consider the following thoughts:

• EVERY ENEMY IS CHALLENGING. If you go into a fight or a new area realizing that there is inevitably an enemy waiting around the corner who can kill you within seconds, you'll live much longer and save time scrambling to recover your lost souls and humanity. Even at high levels, if you underestimate the weaker enemies, they'll often find a way to make you regret it. Take your time and properly execute every fight (even if you've already been through this area dozens of times). ALWAYS enter a new area with your shield raised or at the ready to dodge a trap.

• Boss fights are about OBSERVATION, STRATEGY, and EXECUTION.
  • Observation: What is the boss's move sets? Which animations trigger which attacks? How long does it take the boss to complete every action? When is the boss vulnerable? Are there any changes in elevation/obstructions that can prevent the boss from hitting you? For how much time is the boss vulnerable after an attack?
  • Strategy:Strategy can be broken up into two separate categories...
    • How do I keep myself alive? Which attacks can be parried, blocked, countered? Which cannot? How much damage does each attack do? When is there a moment of respite to heal? Does the fight require blocking/tanking or agility/quickness?

Once you've figured out how not to die...

• How do I kill the boss? When is the best time to strike? Where must I be positioned to hit the boss? What weapon is best used for this fight? Do I need any ranged weapons (magic, arrows, firebombs)?
• Execution: Practice, practice, practice. Even if you look up a boss fight online it is highly unlikelythat you can pull it off on your first try (at least for most bosses.) The strategies and hints that someone else told you came from their own observations and strategizing, so try to fine-tune their methods to suit your needs. Because of the variety of play styles available within the game, bosses can similarly be beaten in a variety of different ways.
  • Also important to consider is that a majority of the bosses can be beaten without losing any health. If you take the time to first figure out the best, most conservative means of winning a fight, it'll save you hours of trial and error.

• NEVER make a decision impulsively. Unlike some RPGs, there is no way to save the game, attempt a decision, reload the save and try again if you're unsatisfied. Every decision is final and has a consequence. Whether it means requiring you to put in hours of grinding later on as a result of mismanagement of souls, or the inability to access a certain crucial item (until New Game +) because of a poor decision, most decisions in the game are muddy and have upsides and downsides. Try focusing on planning long-term, because the game does get progressively harder (as difficult as that is to imagine.)

Some basic advice for easy progression

• Start the game as a Pyromancer!
  • Get to level your stats how you want because of the low starting level
  • Pyromancy is extremely helpful throughout the game and doesn't require any stats to be spent on it so you can still end up however you want.

• Start with the Master Key! (for experienced player)
  
  • All starting items, including the master key, will be obtainable in game.
  • Some parts of the game are a lot nicer with this key.
  • Keep in mind that the main use of the master key is to by-pass several levels of the game to reach directly Undead Parish and the lower part of  Blighttown. By doing so, you will de facto skip bosses, items and NPCs that might be useful in your first play-through. You also risk arriving in Blighttown underleveled and have a harder time getting through that zone. Finally, if your goal is to get all the trophies, you will have to go through those skippable levels anyway, limitng even more the use of the master key. The master key is however useful in NG+ and beyond, and you will be able to buy it from Domhnall of Zena after meeting him in the Depths.
  • NOTE: Never start with the Master Key if you're playing as a Thief as you'll already start with one, rendering the 2nd key useless. If this is the case the next best option would be starting with Twin Humanities as they have a variety of uses in game, for example if you're inexperianced in gaming you could use them to kindle the bonfire at Firelink Shine so you can have a much greater number of estus flasks avalible from the start, or if you're a pyromancer you could use it to save up for the Chaos Storm spell from the Daughter of Chaos. Also note that if you plan on keeping the Sunlight Maggot Helm you will need to start with the Old Witch's Ring to talk to the Daughter of Chaos, and if plan on joining the Blade of the Dark Moon covenant and obtain the Darkmoon Blade and Darkmoon Talisman you may wish to start with a Pendant so you can swap it for a Souvenir of Reprisal and offer it to Gwyndolin.

• Spend most of your souls on leveling your pyromancy flame.You can do this by freeing the pyromancer trainer who is trapped in a barrel in the depths. Once freed he will be at the firelink shrine. Talk to him and modify equipment.
  • At higher levels the pyromancy flame can deal out large amounts of damage.
  • Buy Iron Flesh from him. This is great for bosses, but it has some downsides.
  • Remember that leveling your character will also improve your resistances, so a good balance between leveling your flame and your character is advised.

• Get the drake sword as early as possible!
  • First, check the Drake Sword page to make sure that the weapons stats are suitable to your character and that it is a fitting way for you to play the game.
  • Obtain this by shooting off the red dragons tail  with arrows.
  • Buy about 100 standard arrows from the merchant as soon as possible. You never know when you will need them.

• At some point in the game you will free a Knight Lautrec wearing gold armor.
  • Kill him once he goes back to firelink shrine. He drops a really nice ring. (You get the ring anyway if you follow the questline but make sure to read the page).
  • Do not underestimate this NPC, you might have a hard time killing him at low level, and he will become hostile.
  • Note that killing him this early will prevent you from experiencing the full quest of this NPC.
  • He drops the Ring of Favor and Protection when killed, and while it is a nice ring, it has drawbacks, and might not be useful for all builds.