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Dark Souls Low% Glitchless

No unnecessary bosses or phantoms? No enemies that despawn besides the required ones if there are any.

Only bosses/mini bosses allowed: - Asylum Demon

  • Quelaag

  • Gargoyles

  • Iron Golem

  • Ornstein and Smough

  • Pinwheel

  • Nito
  • Ceaseless
  • Bed of Chaos
  • Seath
  • Sif

  • Four Kings

  • Gwyn

Preface

Let me start by saying, this is my favorite Souls game. I've played through this game to completion around 20 times. My original character had a few hundred hours and I had gone to NG+9. Originally on PC with Prepare to Die Edition, but more recently I've been playing on Nintendo Switch with the Remastered. I've done a play through of essentially each main damage type (Strength, Dexterity, Pyromancy, Sorcery, and Miracles). Most of my later play throughs end up rather similar because I typically have similar goals and I haven't been exploring as much as I used to. That said, I've done different builds, but never set out to do a challenge. I wanted to try something unique, of my own design. Is it going to be optimized at the beginning? Of course not. I'm going to do the best I can and try to document the plan as I go. Maybe redo this later on to try to get a better time.

I was inspired by low% speed runs of legend of Zelda Majora's Mask. That said, their low% requires glitches. I didn't want this to just be any% where you skip the bells. I just wanted this to be an interesting run of the game. Essentially, you can kill anything that respawns, but you can't kill anything that doesn't respawn unless it's required to finish the game. So no killing NPCs, no killing Channelers, no killing Titanite Demons. No Mimics. No killing Knights outside Anor Londo/The Kiln of the First Flame. No killing invaders or Crystal Lizards. If you kill it and it doesn't respawn, that's a failed run. Minimum number of bosses, which means no access to The Depths. Certain equipment is unobtainable. The entire DLC is off limits, including Dusk because the golem she is trapped in is off limits.

With those basic ground rules laid out, I started thinking of pitfalls. Chaos Servant Covenant are required to open the shortcut to remove 2 bosses. Firelink Shrine bonfire will eventually be unusable. The Depths will be inaccessible (I consider this, but forget about access to Laurentius). Bed of Chaos is going to be a pain (the closest bonfire is now going to be the one before Ceaseless Discharge in the Demon Ruins because the one before Demon Fire Sage is blocked by the Burrowing Rockworm which doesn't respawn. So dying is a run back through the Demon Ruins, the Chaos Servant Covenant shortcut, through Lost Izalith and avoiding the Daughter of Chaos).

Day 1

Pyromancer because I thought not having the souls from boss as well as no Havel ring/FaP ring might make it worthwhile especially with early Power Within. I did not consider:

  1. no access to Laurentius so none of his Pyromancies or upgrading.
  2. I still need souls to upgrade the Pyromancy Flame and now as part of A, my Pyromancy trainers are even more limited.
  3. the cost to upgrade the Pyromancy Flame is high.

Asylum was fine, uneventful.

Start putting levels into Vitality and Endurance. Wasn't set on where my weapons were going. Realize my mistake with Pyromancy and contemplate restarting. I decided to try to wing it. Could always do another run of this, maybe do it better next time. Go for the Fire Keeper Soul in New Londo. Then attempt to go straight to Blighttown.

Climb down was uneventful, get to the bonfire. The only issue is I'm noticing how little both my Hand Axe and Fire Ball are doing to basic enemies down here. First order of business, Power Within. Struggling to get there, the Hand Axe barely does damage and I keep getting stuck on the Cragspiders. Took about 10 attempts. Next I plan to head to the Great Hollow.

It's been a bit since I've been there but I remember at least the Cloranthy Ring is down there. For this run, that's probably going to be one of the better rings, especially right now with no rings. I don't remember what else is in the Great Hollow or ash lake for that matter besides the Hydra (which I can't kill due to the challenge and being like level 4) and the Dragon Covenant. I rest at the bonfire at the top of the Great Hollow and begin the descent. It takes a few tries to get the ring but I eventually grab it. The bigger issue is after grabbing the ring, I get cursed by a Basilisk. This is devastating. A few more attempts down, all I have to show for it is some Titanite Chunks. I head back to the bonfire at the bottom of Blighttown, feeling defeated.

I essentially have my starter gear + Power Within and the Plank Shield I grabbed while wandering Blighttown. I am also cursed. I take one attempt at Chaos Witch Quelaag and it's not even close, the Hand Axe just isn't doing enough. I start planning to head back up, planning to instead attempt Gargoyles, when I have an idea. The Backlogs made a video on spell tools only and surprisingly, the Tin Banishment Catalyst was an effective weapon. I decided to pick it up and allocate the stats I need for it after popping some souls (aka 1 Dexterity and 2 Intelligence?), and start using it like a spear. Is it the best weapon? No, but it's doing about 3-4 times the damage of my Hand Axe, so a power boost. Grab the Blighttown Fire Keeper Soul on the way out, head back to Firelink Shrine.

I have to figure out how to get rid of this curse status. I'm only around level 10 so I barely have Vitality. I know Oswald sells Purging Stones but he's behind Gargoyles. I figured I could try to reach Ingward in New Londo seeing as I can slowly poke the Ghosts to death with the Tin Banishment Catalyst while I'm cursed. First attempt I open the shortcut but get destroyed in the ghost house. Second attempt goes about the same, slightly faster due to the shortcut at least. I just don't have enough health. I try 4-5 times just running in, keep dying in the ghost house. Finally decide to Google it and see I can just give Snuggly a Cracked Red Eye Orb (which I have 4 of from Firelink Shrine) to get 2 Purging Stones. Nice to learn something new, but annoyed I didn't look this up sooner. Quickly head back to the Asylum, kill the 4 Torch Hollows, trade with Snuggly, and head back to Firelink. With my health restored, I set my sights on the Gargoyles.

I head back down through New Londo to the Valley of Drakes. Grabbing items along the way, I make my way to the Darkroot Basin bonfire. I double back to run for the Red Tearstone Ring, die, then begin the climb up to Darkroot Garden, grabbing the Grass Crest Shield and avoiding the Knight. Make my way up to the Undead Parish, slowly poking my way through the fodder, carefully avoiding the Heavy Knight and the Channeler. It's essentially a mad dash up the stairs and past the Hollows, hoping to get by without fighting them while they're buffed. Make it up to the Fog Gate and go through. The Tin Banishment Catalyst was incredibly useful for the Gargoyles, easily one of the most impressive low investment weapons. I'll have to keep it in mind for future runs seeing as it's relatively accessible early on. (Maybe next time I'll do a sorcerer seeing as I can actually access their teachers). The boss fight is quick; early poking to soften them up, Fire Balls to clean up. The first bell rang. I Homeward Bone out seeing as the church is still full of possibly buffed Hollows and start allocating souls, putting more into Vitality and Endurance.

I start considering my options. Weapon-wise, I'm more or less stuck with an unupgraded Pyromancy Flame until I beat Quelaag. The Tin Banishment Catalyst does solid damage, but likely won't be enough for Quelaag. My plan is to head back through the Undead Burg, essentially going in reverse to access the Claymore and Lower Undead Burg to have access to Griggs. That was my plan anyway. Getting the Claymore is uneventful. Seeing as I hadn't progressed the Drake, the bridge is clear. Grab the Claymore and other assorted goodies and kick down the ladder to the battlement bonfire. I start the climb down to the Lower Undead Burg and realize I hadn't interacted with the merchant yet to get the key to free Griggs. So with Claymore in hand, I begin clearing out the Undead Burg, going from the Lower Undead Burg shortcut back to the Undead Burg. Clear out the Hollows, grab the key and proceed to completely forget the reason I was doing all this was for Griggs. Oh well. Proceed back to Undead Parish without realizing, grabbing the Fire Keeper Soul in the church I had missed earlier.

I stop at the Undead Parish bonfire for two specific reasons. Due to the rules I set, I can't kill Lautrec. I have an expectation that sooner or later, he'll kill the Firelink Shrine Fire Keeper. Turns out, it already happened. Now my nearest bonfire is Undead Parish. The other reason is to upgrade my Claymore to +2. It's a start. I then proceeded back through Firelink Shrine, back through New Londo, and back through the Valley of Drakes to Blighttown. Climbing down is again uneventful. Rest at the bonfire and then head for Quelaag. With a non-cursed health bar and an actual weapon in hand, it goes smoother, though it comes really close to death. I ran out of Estus and hadn't put Humanity in my item slots yet (just hadn't come up yet). Ended out the fight in Red Tearstone range but it was touch and go for those last 30 seconds.

I proceed to join the Chaos Servant Covenant. It's necessary for the low percent ruleset to be able to skip Demon Fire Sage and the Centipede Demon, but also because otherwise I won't be able to upgrade my Pyromancy Flame. Also I upgrade my Estus with the Fire Keeper Soul from the Undead Parish while I am here. I need to get to at least +10 before I can see Quelana, so my only option is Eingyi. I start dumping souls into my Pyromancy Flame. I go and cheese Ceaseless Discharge for the souls while I'm here. It's still a required boss, so figured I'd knock it out. More souls for the Pyromancy Flame as well as 2 levels of Attunement for a 3rd Attunement Slot to fit Power Within and Great Chaos Fireball. I ended up with a Pyromancy Flame +8. I make a handful of attempts to grab the Chaos Flame Ember as I'm considering a Chaos Claymore, but my Vitality seems too low to grab it, so I give up on that for now.

I proceed back to Blighttown. With Chaos in mind, I start farming Leeches for green Titanite Shards, but also just farming souls to try to upgrade my Pyromancy Flame. It's slow and tedious. Because I don't have access to Rat Humanity farming in The Depths, I'm trying to be more conservative with my Humanities especially if I plan to go into Chaos, so my Item Discovery is the base value. Eventually, with a handful of deaths and retrievals, I get enough souls to get to +10. I upgrade with Eingyi, double back and meet Quelana. I see Great Combustion for 5k souls and decide I should have that before leaving Blighttown as unless something goes horribly wrong, I probably won't be back here until after I have the Lordvessel. Farm the souls, buy the Pyromancy and begin the climb back out. I pass through Firelink and take the shortcut back to Undead Parish, narrowly avoiding the Heavy Knight and resting at the bonfire to wrap up day 1.

End of Day 1 Time: 4:25:29

End of Day 1 Level: 22

Day 2

I start day 2 with trying to consider my goals for the day. I think I want to get to Anor Londo, but I probably should get at least +5 on my Claymore before making the climb. I also consider if I want to work towards Chaos, maybe doing just Fire +5 for now as I have the shards, and I wasn't planning on dumping more stats into Strength or Dexterity. I plan to at least get +5 in the Undead Parish and try to get Fire +1. I have the shards for Fire +5 but not for regular +5. I also have to consider that I can't kill Necromancers in the tombs which means I can't rest at the bonfire and I'll have to make a long run back from the Undead Parish to Vamos.

I feed a Large Titanite Shard to Frampt. I ended up with 10 Large Titanite Shard while farming for the green Titanite Shards so figured I could at least make use of them. I go back to Andre to upgrade my Claymore from +3 to +5. I begin to attempt to climb down to The Catacombs.

The first attempt lets me push the switch into the wall and I die to Skeletons trying to run out of the chamber. 2nd and 3rd attempts make some progress, but still death. 4th gets down to Vamos, upgrades to Fire +2 (ran out of souls) and I decided if I'm already down here at 1 soul exactly, might as well try to take out Pinwheel. Power Within and Fire +2 Claymore make quick work of it. Get a Mask of the Father for my troubles. Homeward Bone back to Undead Parish.

Back at Undead Parish with souls to spend. Upgrade my Fire Claymore to +5 and get some level ups (1 Vitality, 2 Endurance). I remember I never saved Griggs, but I want his Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring. I figure the best grind now would be Sen's Fortress, possibly climbing to the top, and getting the shortcut back down. Risky with the souls, but seemingly worthwhile. It takes 3 attempts to climb Sen's Fortress, the first saving Logan and grabbing the Gold Serpent Ring and dying right at the top. The second attempt dying in almost the same spot to the same enemy. After 3 attempts though, I have my bonfire. I need to get the cage key for the shortcut but with how few souls I have, I'm considering not even worrying about Griggs' Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring. I might just go for the Iron Golem.

I attempt the Iron Golem and my first death is almost instant. I can't kill the ball throwing Giant because it doesn't respawn. It throws a ball, killing me. The second attempt goes a little better. Get the golem down to half health only fighting him on the bridge. I'm behind him but somehow it grabs me, through its legs and throws me off the bridge. The 3rd attempt starts poorly. I'm stuck next to the Fog Gate. Eventually get an opening to run towards the longer bridge portion. After some Great Chaos Fireballs I start chopping at its ankles. Poise break, it starts to falter. I swing as fast as I can and it tumbles, falling off the bridge. I consider my options. I have souls to spend. I decide to level up Vitality but leave enough souls to buy the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring from Griggs. I don't want to spend all my souls but also don't want to leave all of them. I double back through Sen's Fortress with the cage shortcut.

I work my way through Undead Parish and Undead Burg, working my way to Lower Undead Burg via the Kite Drake bridge. I free Griggs as well as open the aqueduct shortcut to get to Firelink to buy the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring I should've bought yesterday. Now to proceed through Anor Londo.

Anor Londo is complicated. Having to ignore the Gargoyles is obnoxious on death. It takes 3 runs to get into the castle, twice dying to the Silver Knight on the window ledge. Actually within Anor Londo, it's quick. I run past all the Knights to open the door between the bonfire and the boss room. I grab Havel's Armor Set. Rest at the bonfire with 7 flasks left from the Fire Anor Londo bonfire and attempt Ornstein and Smough. It's anticlimactic. Ornstein goes down in 2 Chaos Fire Balls plus some sword swings. Smough takes some more effort and a Humanity to get through the fight, but it isn't anything to write home about. 4 levels in Vitality, 3 levels in Endurance. Lordvessel acquired.

Now I have options. Bed of Chaos will likely be last. I don't have 30 Humanity to open the shortcut. That said, I can start warping there to donate what I pick up. Sif should be fine, but Four Kings I probably can't pass the DPS test. Nito might be fine? Seath might be fine. I decide to aim for Seath first.

The Armored Boars on the way to the archive are devastating. Can't kill them and they keep following me into the room with the bonfire so I can't rest. I die twice but otherwise it's a straight run to the first Seath fight. Avoid the Crystal Knight and the Crystal Lizard, get killed and cursed by Seath. Still have one of the Purging Stones from Snuggly so cure that up. Kill one of the few required enemies (the Snake Warrior that has the jail key), but die on the way down the tower to a Maiden. No worries, easier the second time because the Maidens stay in the cell. Grab the key, rest at the bonfire on the way back up to reset Snake spawns and start running, quick flipping the stairs back and forth, open the shortcut, and we are at the Archive bonfire. Now begins the attempts at Seath.

First two attempts are death but almost getting cursed. Third attempt I switched to the Dingy Robe and Blood-Stained Skirt from the dead Firelink Shrine Fire Keeper. It still comes close, Seath's large AOE attack is still really damaging due to lighter armor, but at least no chance of getting cursed. Takes 3 Humanities, but the fight gets finished. 3 more Humanities towards the Chaos Servant Covenant and 60k souls towards the Pyromancy Flame getting it to +13. While here I take another shot at getting the Chaos Flame Ember. Seems I now have enough Vitality. Takes 2 attempts but we get the ember. Now to target Nito.

Nito is going to be problematic to begin with. We have to go from the Undead Parish down to Vamos' bonfire (playing on Remastered). We've done it once, it can be done again.

Well, there's a key difference this time. Last time I ignored the Skeletons by the bonfire. Now I can't. They're blocking resting. Now I have to consider options. I don't necessarily need Vamos. It was more of a safety bonfire and a warp point. If I can at least get a Chaos upgrade like I had at least got a Fire upgrade previously, I'd have issues getting back to him and that area of the map by not having the warp point, but I'd at least have a Chaos weapon. The second time I rush as fast as I can, playing less cautiously to try to get down before Vamos' tunnel has 5 Skeletons in it. I get down with 2 Skeletons on top of the tunnel, light the bonfire, but I can't sit. I die to those 2 Skeletons. I check if I can warp there now. I cannot. You have to sit to be able to warp. 3rd attempt, now that the bonfire is lit, the rushing strategy worked because I could sit at it. Still took a bit running from Undead Parish for each attempt but that's part of the challenge.

For now I won't upgrade to Chaos. I only have 1 Red Titanite Chunk and without Humanity I'm actually losing a decent chunk of damage, but at least I have the option to easily come back here now. On to Tomb of Giants. Trip down is fine. Dark but fine. I rest at the bonfire, talk to Patches and get kicked down the hole. I get the Skull Lantern and Homeward Bone back to the bonfire. I specifically don't forgive him for the Twin Humanities. Now to attempt to get to Nito. Trip down to Nito was quick, no real issue while holding the Skull Lantern. I decided to just tank through Nito, so Mask of the Father + Havel armor, Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, Power Within, Great Chaos Fireball and Fire Claymore. Unsurprisingly made quick work of the lord of death, with only 4 Estus uses (one being from dropping down into the arena).

Back to Daughter of Chaos bonfire, I run to Quelana to upgrade my Pyromancy Flame, finally being able to ascend it. I then warp to Undead Parish, with the eventual goal of reaching Sif.

End of Day 2 Time: 7:42:51

End of Day 2 Level: 39

Day 3

There's about a month worth of time between Day 2 and Day 3. Life got in the way and I just never got back to playing. That said, after rereading my Day 2 notes, as far as I know, all I have left are Sif, Four Kings, Bed of Chaos, and Gwyn. Bed of Chaos is going to be a mess so leaving that for now and doing the next lowest hanging fruits, Sif and Four Kings.

Sif either requires luck or the Crest of Artorias. I think luck works to get past the Hydra. That said, no clue if it is impossible. I don't have the souls for the Crest of Artorias from Andre, so I decide to make an attempt at climbing the ladder in the Dark Root Basin.

On the way down I grab the Leather Armor Set and the Bow just in case. First attempt I make it up the ladder only actually getting hit by two Hydra blasts. Not enough to knock me down, but enough to use 2 Estus Flasks. I should've kindled the bonfire at the Undead Parish more, but I wasn't thinking. Here's hoping Sif goes well. Grab the Soul of a Brave Warrior. And climb up to the dark root garden. Cats make me use another Estus, down to 7. Grab another Soul of a Brave Warrior. Walk up to Sif's boss door.

Fire Claymore + Power Within starts making short work of Sif. I then decided to try playing more cautiously by trying to use Great Chaos Fireball and using most of my Estus trying to get the right range to hit the fireball but not get hit. I land one of four Fireballs and end up just finishing the fight with the Fire Claymore anyway. Definitely made the fight closer than it needed to be.

I walk through the forest to the bridge to grab the Stone Armor Set while I am here in case I'll need it in the future and Homeward Bone warp back to Undead Parish. I have enough souls for 4 level ups. Considering I have 3 bosses left (one of which damage doesn't matter) and my current weapons don't scale anyway, I just go the safe route of 2 in Vitality, 2 in Endurance (28 and 26 respectively). I then warp to Firelink Shrine to begin my descent into New Londo.

The main goal is to get the seal open. I like resting at the bonfire in the tunnel and running through the Valley of Drakes bridge as opposed to going from Firelink. The first step is getting through the ghost house though. The shortcut is still open from the last time I struggled here, so that helps. I use a Transient Curse and attempt to make it through. I make it to the ghost house without much trouble, but while in there, I get destroyed. I can one shot most of the regular Ghosts, but the main ghost didn't die, so then I'm getting combo'ed by regular Ghosts and lightning from the main ghost. At least I picked up 2 more Transient Curses for a net of +1. The second attempt goes much better. I realize I can one-shot more Ghosts 2-handing, including the main ghost. Get down to 3 Ghosts, but get impatient and die. The third attempt is similar to the first attempt. I take out the main ghost and then get swarmed and trapped in the chimney and die trying to heal. I am now down to 1 Transient Curse.

The fourth attempt goes the same as the third attempt, but I am now out of Transient Curses. I weigh my options. I could buy one from the aqueduct merchant, but those cost 4k souls. I could just try doing what I did early game and just try to run to Ingward. I have significantly more health (both in stat and not being cursed) and I could put on armor with more poise. Another option is I could also get cursed. Finally, I can try to use a Jagged Ghost Blade. I've gotten 3 of them in my attempts through New Londo Ruins. I haven't upgraded one though and I don't have much Twinkling Titanite. None of these sound like particularly amazing options.

I decide to try the Jagged Ghost Blade first, with Power Within to boost it. It goes better than expected, but not amazing. Again getting swarmed. The 6th attempt goes the same as the 5th. I feel like I'm overthinking this. I never have this much trouble with the ghost house. The 7th attempt goes a bit better. New strategy. Kill singular Ghosts with the Jagged Ghost Blade to try to get Transient Curses. Works alright, get 2 curses, but die in the ghost house. At least I have a curse for attempt 8.

Attempt 8 goes well. Ghosts finally attack 1-2 at a time rather than 4, actually letting me get a sword swipe in here and there to clear it out. For salt in the wound, get 6 Transient Curses just in the ghost house. Key to the Seal in hand, time to grab my rewards on the way to the seal. I pop another Transient Curse when on the ground floor of the ghost house. There are still too many Ghosts around. Most of the loot on the way to the seal will likely be irrelevant for what's left (besides the 1 Humanity). I make my way across the Valley of Drakes bridge to light the bonfire in the tunnel on the other side to then begin my attempts at the Four Kings.

Before I leave the bonfire, I use 1 Humanity and 1 Twin Humanities to kindle this bonfire. I have low expectations of how the Four Kings will go, but I also don't want to use all my Humanity so I'm trying to be conscious of how much I'm using. First run to the Four Kings goes perfectly. I grab a few loose soul items, but otherwise take zero damage and get through the Fog Gate.

I consider my options. I consider Stone Armor Set, but I still would be fat rolling. At that point, I'll probably just wear Havel's Armor Set. Might consider trying to mid-roll with a mix of Stone Armor Set and lighter armor if this doesn't work out. Put on the full set + the Covenant of artorias and drop down. I get some good swings in on the first king, but I'm not paying attention to my health. Get grabbed, die from half health.

The second attempt ends up being a war of attrition. King 2 has been up for a while by the time I finish 1. To try to get back on pace, I use my Great Chaos Fireballs to burn through 2, I start hitting 3 and my Power Within runs out. This is a mess. As I'm finishing 3, 4 spawns. As I start 4, 5 spawns. I'm out of flasks, now healing with Humanity. The fight is full of close calls, but I wrap it up before the 5th king really starts getting involved.

I have enough souls for 5 more level ups. Sounds like 3 more Vitality, 2 more Endurance. I warp to the Sunlight Altar to begin the final phase of this challenge.

I need Humanity to open the Chaos Servant Covenant shortcut. Normally I'd farm it from Rats in The Depths. That's not an option here. We don't have access to The Depths due to not beating the Capra Demon. So we have to go to the next best spot, the passage under the Sunlight Altar and Red Kite Drake. I put on my Covetous Gold Serpent Ring and pop enough Humanity to get to 10 soft Humanity, getting maxed item find for the equipment I have and get to work.

My goal is to farm 25 Humanity. Enough for the Covenant with my 10 soft I currently have plus 10 hard Humanity left over in case I decide to upgrade to a Chaos weapon. That said, the only target left that requires damage is Gwyn, so I'll probably just see how my Fire Claymore does first. 29 minutes later, 25 Humanity farmed from Rats. Warp to Daughter of Chaos and start giving Humanities. Turns out at some point during Day 1 or Day 2 I had already given the Fair Lady 4, so farmed more than I needed, but nothing too crazy. Now begins the worst part of this run. The trek from Quelaag's Domain all the way to the Bed of Chaos, with no bonfires along the way.

I rest at the Demon Ruins bonfire and kindle it with the 4 extra Humanities I had. I then use my Dark Sign so I'm not human. This avoids Kirk and doesn't put a Fog Wall at the Chaos Servant Covenant shortcut. I make the first attempt. It ends rather quickly, dying to one of many Capra demons. This isn't going to end well. Second attempt goes the same. 3rd attempt I drop down and dodge the Burrowing Rockworm. One Burrowing Rockworm is easier to dodge than 4 Capra demons. I make it to Lost Izalith, run past the Titanite Demon, past the Daughter of Chaos and start the Bed of Chaos. I destroy the left side and get knocked off on the way to the right side. Bed of Chaos is consistently where I end up spending the most attempts and this is likely going to be the worst run yet due to having to make the run all the way back, but these are the rules I set for this challenge.

4th attempt gets the right side but gets trapped among Fire Tempests and hands. No room to heal, I die here. 5th attempt dies dropping down in the middle, just barely rolling off. The 6th attempt makes it, but as I slash the Chaos Bug, I get hit by Fire Tempest. I almost die, but the Fire Tempest ends and I achieve victory. Only 1 boss to go. I put the souls from the Bed Chaos plus some consumable souls together to get 7 levels of Endurance. Hopefully this is enough to finish things off.

I offer my Lord Souls to the Lordvessel and begin my run through the Kiln of the First Flame. At least I have access to upgrade materials in here if this doesn't go well. I consider my gear. The main concern I have is I really don't have good mid-weight armor. It's all light, except for the Stone Armor Set and Havel's, so I either have poise or fast rolls. I really can't mix and match as I didn't have access to Havel's ring or the Ring of Favor and Protection. I could try to find lighter, mid-weight armor, but I'll leave that as an option as well if I can't finish the fight. I'm decent, but not amazing at parrying and it's been a while since I fought Gwyn, so I'm planning to be tankier rather than not fast just to have more forgiveness in this fight. Similar to the Four Kings, that means full Havel's Armor Set.

Attempts 1 through 12 end as quickly as they begin. I'm trying to use Power Within plus Great Chaos Fireball and dying before I can even get off 1 fireball.

13 goes much better. Being more patient, I am able to land all 4 Fireballs. He's down to about 15%. I start swinging my Fire Claymore, trying to finish the fight. I was more patient, but not patient enough. He survives with 2%, and kills me.

15 is another instant loss. Power Within goes off and as it does, I get combo'ed to death.

16 starts well. I use Power Within and land 3 out of 4 Great Chaos Fireballs, getting Gwyn down to roughly 45%. Now it's just down to me, my Fire Claymore, and my Grass Crest Shield. I parry 3 or 4 times, and he goes down. I'm not sure why I had it in mind that I needed to get off the Fireballs. It probably would've ended on round 1 had I just used parrying and ignored everything else, but here we are. I light the First Flame and the credits roll.

End of Day 3 Time: 11:19:02

End of Day 3 Level: 54

Closing Thoughts

Overall, I feel like I could've done better. As stated towards the beginning, Pyromancer seemed like a rough choice so there is a lot of room for improvement there. Getting cursed early was also not good. Chaos at a glance seemed like a good route, but at the end of the day, I feel like just regular scaling and Power Within would've been fine. There was huge room for improvement on getting Power Within, as well as the Gwyn and Bed of Chaos fights.

My equipment could've been better. Fire +5 Claymore was good but I spent time farming souls for Pyromancy and really didn't dip into that too much. I didn't really invest much besides leveling it to power up Great Chaos Fireball in the end. Those are souls that could've been saved.

My route wasn't perfect. There was a bit of back and forth as I tried to figure out my options. Get an idea of my damage and go from there. Better planning on which equipment to get when might work out better. Maybe a trip down to Blighttown for the Cloranthy Ring, the Tin Banishment Catalyst, and Power Within, then straight to Quelaag might've worked better as well as a better starting class.

Next time it'll be faster and probably smoother. Next time it could be more focused and refined, knowing the best gear to target. This was mostly exploratory; can this even be completed? For a first attempt, I am proud of what I accomplished.

I'll never claim to be the best dark souls player. I enjoy it and get the satisfaction of beating it, but it comes easier to others and I know my limits. That said, this was a fun idea to reinvent the game for myself and maybe others. It wasn't just my typical gear set with different primary weapon/stats to match it. Really think about gear I don't typically use or pick up. That said, I'm sure if this ever became something people routed for actual speed runs, I'm sure there would be a defined meta.