Dark Souls 1 Remastered SL1¶
Day 1 2025-09-01¶
Something I’ve always been interested in, but never sat down to try. Going in blind. Honestly, I didn't remember if any of the classes are actually SL1. Turns out, Pyromancer is. I was planning to invest in Pyromancy so that’s convenient. Master Key obviously.
Asylum is fine. Nothing exciting.
Looting around Firelink Shrine. For once remember to equip Homeward Bones.
Typical route through New Londo Ruins in the Valley of the Drakes, grabbing everything I can as I go, including the Firekeeper Soul in the ruins.
Upgrade my gear slightly with what I’ve picked up. Hand Axe for Morning Star and Cracked Round Shield for Dragon Crest Shield. Minor upgrades. I die to the Black Knight in Darkroot Basin trying to parry it. It’s been 9 months since I last played anything Souls, so this will involve some de-rusting. Knock him off on the second attempt, get a Black Knight Halberd for my troubles. Oh well. Grab the Grass Crest Shield, which is likely going to be used the rest of the run.
I try to go for Havel. I figured his ring is usually useful, especially right now while I have nothing, and the Morning Star has bleed damage. I get close on the first attempt. I know I can get this done with backstabs. It might just take a few tries. Just need patience for the fight and in general. This whole run is going to be a marathon, not a sprint.
Havel takes about 6 attempts, 2 bleed procs.
On the way back up, I grab the Leather set and the Bow. Just never know. I kill the Titanite Lizard for 2 Twinkling Titanite and 2 Large Titanite Shards.
Continue up and talk to Andre. I have about 8k souls. I spend 6k on the boxes and buy 2 Titanite Shards. I start working my way into the Undead Parish. I’m considering upgrading the Morning Star as I’m not sure what my next upgrade would be. For now I hold off through. I want to start clearing out the church and maybe seeing how my damage is against Gargoyles? Kill the Tower Knight, grab the Firekeeper Soul. Start clearing out the church slowly and decide to just upgrade the Morning Star. Not exactly limited on souls early on and I’d rather get damage upgrades sooner if I can. There’s probably a better weapon I should be going for, but oh well. Playing blind. Up to +3. I also get my Estus upgraded to +2 while I’m at it.
Back to clearing out the church. 2 Fireballs make quick work of the Channeler and the Morning Star cleans up the Hollows. Free Lautrec while I’m here. I throw myself at Gargoyles while I’m here. I die, but I’m doing good damage.
I kill Lautrec mainly for his ring, then go for Gargoyles round 2. Not much to say, Morning Star to start, Fireball to clean up. Easy enough.
I have souls, but I don’t know what to spend them on. I get the Morning Star to +5 and hold the rest. I decide to start opening the shortcuts from the battlements, so through the church, down onto the lower bridge, kick down the later, and die to a Hollow after grabbing the Claymore. Mainly just being careless… I try heading back and I die sandwiched on the lower bridge with Rats and Hollows. Well, easy come, easy go. Should’ve just bought shards.
I decide Taurus Demon is next. I make my way through the Darkroot Garden down to Havel’s tower, then up to the Taurus Demon, getting the Titanite Lizard on the way. Die the first time getting cocky and just trying to rush it. Embarrassing. Go back, easily clean up the Taurus Demon and start making my way down to the Lower Undead Burg with the eventual goal of getting to The Depths for my first Pyromancy teacher. I open the shortcut to the Upper Undead Burg, clearing my way to the Undead Merchant. I buy a Reinforced Club as at +0, it’s already close to the damage of my Morning Star, still has the bleed damage and I can use it. I think about buying the key, but don’t, because I forget what that key is for. Probably should anyway.
I clear through the Burg, clearing the way through to the Capra Demon. I decide I should start from Firelink Shrine, so I clear through to open the shortcut. After restocking at Firelink, I go to Andre now to upgrading the Reinforced Club to +4 with the souls I have.
I’m realizing I should’ve purchased the key for Griggs, oh well. My fault forgetting, but purchasing probably would’ve been safer. I’ll save him it at some point because the ring would be nice to have. Taking down the Capra Demon and saving Griggs are the current goals.
I knock out Capra in the second try and start working towards The Depths. I still have the souls from Capra but I’m trying not to backtrack too much so I play very cautiously. First order of business is save Laurentius. After that, I grab the Large Ember. I try to make my way to the exit past the Giant Rat, but I miss, but I find my way out. Open the shortcut to The Depths bonfire. I have 2 soft Humanities, so kindle the bonfire.
I then work my way in reverse, back to Firelink Shrine, careful not to rest there. I upgrade my Pyromancy Flame to +5 and buy Combustion. I Homeward Bone back to The Depths, restock and attune Combustion.
Now to try the Gaping Dragon. I forgot about the Channeler. Gaping Dragon got buffed, I got 1-shotted. Beat up the Channeler, work my way back. I have some souls from the Channeler, the Giant Rat, and everything else I beat along the way, so before round 2, I stop by Domnhall to spend my souls, buying 3 Gold Pine Resin. Restock again, then Gaping attempts. Actually take it out on the second attempt. I loot the Hard Leather Set and work my way back to Firelink Shrine. I upgrade my Pyromancy Flame to +8 and buy Fire Orb. I rest at the bonfire, attune Fire Orb over Fireball, and now it’s time for a detour before Blighttown.
Back to the Asylum for Purging Stones and the Rusted Iron Ring. Possibly the Stray Demon? Considering trying while here so this is a one time trip. Stray Demon takes about an hour, most of the time dying instantly. Finally get it, grab the Titanite Slab and the Peculiar Doll and leave that awful place.
Honestly, I don’t know what my overall goal is. All bosses? Just see what I can do in general? Idk. In any case, head back to Firelink, upgrading my Pyromancy Flame to +10. I equip the Rusted Iron Ring and start to make my way down to Blighttown. I grab the Firekeeper Soul on the first attempt and die. Second attempt makes it to the bonfire. Grab the Dragon Scale just in case. I have no set plans, so I decide to go straight for Quelaag. On the way, grab the Great Club mainly because I don’t remember the stat requirements. I get to Quelaag and take her down first try. Way easier than Stray Demon. Ring the bell. Use her souls to level up the Pyromancy Flame to +11 and buy Great Combustion from Quelana because I usually mess up Ceaseless Discharge. Get the Chaos Servant bonfire then on to Ceaseless. For once, it goes ok. Get the outfit, cheese Ceaseless, heading back out towards Blighttown. I stop again at Quelana, upgrading to +12, then use all my non-Quelaag hard souls to upgrade to +13. Now time for some errand running.
I climb out of Blighttown to Firelink, then take the shortcut into Lower Undead Burg, clearing it out all the way to Griggs’ door. I climb up into Undead Burg, buy the Residence Key, then back down to Griggs. Free Griggs, grab the Sorcerer Set, then climb up the ladder shortcut I opened earlier to hit the Sunlight Warrior bonfire. Likely won’t be coming back here, but I like having options open when I’m not sure of my total plan. Work through the courtyard, picking up the Alluring Skulls I had left earlier. I make my way to the Undead Parish bonfire. I have about 6k souls. I decide to upgrade my Reinforced Club to +8. It’s been working so far. I wrap up Day 1 at that point, having completed more than I expected.
Time: 4:22:17
Day 1 thoughts:¶
Overall not too bad. Weird to not have a Zweihander, so playing much closer than usual. Not exactly worrying about the timer just because I don’t know what my goal is. I doubt this will be all bosses, I hate the DLC bosses so I’ll probably skip them. I don’t know weapon-wise if I’m missing something obvious. I’m realizing I didn’t grab the Red Tearstone Ring or Power Within, which may or may not be needed down the line. Hoping to get the Lordvessel without needing to double back, but we’ll see.
I expected I’d be doing worse than I am as usually I bulk up on stamina and HP. I’m not even using the Ring of Favor and Protection yet, mainly just been using Havel’s. No clue what my plan is on armor. Mainly just been trying to fast roll and get a little poise so whatever fits with that and what I’ve picked up. I definitely need some more rings. Probably should’ve gone for the Cloranthy Ring. I’ll be more diligent in Sen’s Fortress.
Day 2 2025-09-04¶
I realize I should’ve spent the rest of my souls, so I just buy 7 Titanite Shards. I try a few times to take out the Hydra, thinking Crown of Dusk would be good, but I’m not even sure I can get it yet without the item. But down the line, I’d want it, so even if I just take out the Hydra now, it’s still worth it I think. It goes horribly.
Change of pace. Moonlight Butterfly. I grab the Elite Knight Set. Take off my armor, put on the Elite Knight Helmet and Leggings. Go for the Butterfly. Not much to say. It lands, I hit it with 5 Great Combustions. It’s down. Easy enough. I grab the Divine Ember for my troubles. Because I essentially am just using Havel’s Ring, I grab the Wolf Ring. It’ll help with Poise with light armor. I’m not far off 20k souls, so I farm for a few minutes and buy the Crest of Artorias.
I decide why not go for Sif. Not sure why. Usually it ends poorly. Guess I could’ve spent those 20k souls on the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring. I join the Forest Hunter covenant. I grab the Stone Armor Set and head off for Sif. It's actually easy. Just Pyromancy the entire fight, between Fire Orb and Great Combustion. Only use 2 Estus. 40k souls in my pocket. I head back to Firelink Shrine. I buy the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring and get my Pyromancy Flame to +14.
I make one more pass at the Hydra. It’s slow but I get it done. I had to take off each head. Restart the game and the Golden Golem is there. Take it out, but it’s rough after using most of my Pyromancy on the Hydra. Talk to Dusk, reset, grab what I came here for. I switch outfits. Gold-Hemmed Black Hood, Elite Knight Gauntlets and Elite Knight Leggings. I can swap to the Crown of Dusk while still fast rolling. Put some upgrades into my Grass Crest Shield and the Elite Knight Set.
Sen’s Fortress is Sen’s Fortress. Either goes great or terribly depending on patience. I work my way up, grabbing the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring and freeing Logan. I continue my ascent, not stopping until I get the upper bonfire. I loot everything on the top, open the shortcut to the bottom, and take out the bomb throwing giant. I think I’ll just keep moving. I’m not recalling anything off the top of my head that would be useful short term and I can always come back.
Iron Golem is a cakewalk. I put on the Crown of Dusk and the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring, 7 Great Combustions and it’s dead. On to Anor Londo. I have 40k souls I’m likely going to die with. I decide to backtrack with the plan of either Homeward Bone or Darksign teleporting back to Anor Londo.
It’s uneventful. With the Iron Golem souls and some hard soul items, I Ascend my Pyromancy Flame. Darksign back to Anor Londo to begin the adventure here.
Rafters go well, archers do not. Eventually get the castle bonfire, but it takes about 4 tries. I kindle the bonfire as I know I’m going to need it. Grab Havel’s Set and the Occult Club. Overall a damage upgrade? Maybe sidegrade. Otherwise, time to open the shortcut. I just run. Grab the Silver Knight Set before restocking at the bonfire. Time for Ornstein and Smough.
I decide to do the same strat as Iron Golem. First try gets super Smough down to 20%ish. Second try insta combo’ed. 3rd gets to Super Smough again. These surprisingly aren’t bad attempts. Just need to get in the groove. 6th attempt gets it done. Lordvessel in hand, I warp to Firelink Shrine, place the Lordvessel, then warp to the Daughter of Chaos bonfire. From here, I walk to Quelana, with some added souls, my Ascended Pyromancy Flame is now +2. Darksign back, now I think my next target is the Demon Ruins?
The climb down isn’t bad. Ignore the Embers. I kill the worm guarding the bonfire, rest there. Still have 10 flasks from Daughter of Chaos. Demon Firesage is up first. Same strat as the last 2. And it’s a joke. Take it out with just Pyromancy. I take the shortcut out to Quelaag’s Domain to upgrade my Flame again. On to the next boss in the gauntlet.
Centipede Demon is a different story. Being immune to fire, my Pyromancy is useless. I need another source of damage. I try a few times with the Reinforced Club +8, but it isn’t great. I decide to try Lightning. I’ve been needing some kind of upgrade for my club but Pyromancy had been carrying. I pop a soul item, go from Reinforced Club +8 to Lightning Club +2. I need to farm chunks eventually, but it’s a start. Back to the Centipede Demon.
Damage looks a lot better when I land hits, but it’s rough getting the fight going. I haven’t got the tail cut yet, and I don’t know if I’m able to cross the lava (tried and failed but might be doing it wrong), so for now just flighting on the sliver. After roughly an hour (30 minutes before upgrading to Lightning, and 30 minutes after), the deed is done. I rest at the bonfire, 40k souls richer. I consider going back and upgrading my Pyromancy Flame again. I always struggle with Bed of Chaos and I can just Darksign back here after upgrading so I decide to do it. Now Ascended +4. Time for Lost Izalith. Not much to say, I run straight to the bonfire only grabbing items on my way. I want to be in and out of here ASAP. 2-shot the witch, time to deal with the Bed of Chaos.
I take out the left side, get knocked into a hole. Typical. 9 more attempts to get the right side done. I’m rusty and it's bad. I feel like I’m playing Bed of Chaos for the first time. I want to blame being drowsy, but I think it’s a mix of a few things and I really just need to get good. Next attempt gets the floor opened and one shot by a flame blade to the head. Not much I could’ve done on that one. 3 more attempts to even get in the hole and I over-roll. 4th try gets it. Took about 30 minutes to beat Bed of Chaos. Terrible. At least that’s over.
Last trip to Quelana. Finish upgrading my Pyromancy Flame and buy Great Fireball. Next up is The Catacombs. I figured getting the Right of Kindling and a Mask of the Father are the first priorities before any other Lords. Essentially, trying to speed run to Vamos first. Make good ground and take out a lot of Necromancers but end of dying to Skeletons. Second attempt gets the Vamos bonfire. On to Pinwheel. 2 Great Fireball clean up (with Crown of Dusk and Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring of course). Mask of the Mother for the reward. Better than nothing for the moment. I make it to the Tomb of the Giants bonfire, warp to Firelink, buy out whatever I can with the Pinwheel souls, the back to the Tomb of the Giants.
Trust fall with Patches. Loot the items, kill the hollows, Darksign back, tell Patches I don’t forgive him, then quit for the night. Next up should be Nito assuming it’s not a train wreck.
Time: 9:25:03
Day 2 thoughts:¶
Serious fire power upgrades today and it definitely helped. Besides maybe getting some other elemental damage types, I feel like my gear is pretty set. I could go back for Power Within and I could see myself using it. But I have no plans yet.
It’s been a few years since I’ve fought a lot of these optional bosses, so that’s been interesting. I really considered skipping the Centipede Demon after Fire didn’t work, but realized I’ll probably have an excess of souls, so why not try some other options. I still don’t know if I’m missing something exciting but Lightning Reinforced Club seems great. Besides Lightning and Fire/Chaos, I’m not sure if there are any other upgrade paths that don’t use scaling. Everything I’ve seen as an option in the game does some kind of scaling. So far things are working out though, even if that’s just safety hyper mode.
I still haven’t decided to what extent I am going to clear the game. Maybe all main game bosses? Guess I could try the DLC. Probably won’t get far. At least for now, probably sticking with the Lords unless I hit a wall. I think the order is going to be Nito, 4 Kings, Seath, though we’ll see. Possibly unlock 4 Kings to then farm Titanite Chunks or something. I really want the Cursebite Ring for Seath. These next few bosses are ones I normally just tank, so who knows. Might need to adapt.
Day 3 2025-09-06¶
I decided I’m set up for Nito, so I might as well start there. Leeroy takes 3 hits with my club. Easy enough. I make it right outside the Fog Gate and die to the Pinwheels. Annoying, but fine. Good warm up I tell myself. I try one attempt with the boss hyper mode, I get a good hit, then insta die. I think I might try tanking? Not sure though.
Full Havel’s with the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring works great. I have to do some fat rolls to avoid the ground swords, but otherwise, tank and stay close to Nito, healing whenever I’m hit. I take Nito out with just Pyromancy, starting with the Great Combustions, ending with the Great Fireballs. I grab the Paladin Set just in case, then warp to Firelink Shrine to visit our friend Patches. I buy the Mask of the Father and the Mask of the Child. Otherwise the 3 Humanity because I’m not sure what else I would even need at this point and I’d rather spend the souls. I check Domnhall’s inventory on the ledge as I still have 17k souls. I didn’t realize Smough’s armor gives more defense than Havel’s. I pop some soul items and buy the whole set. Might as well if tanking is going to be viable. Still fat rolling in either case while wearing Havel’s Ring, so the weigh really doesn’t matter. Time for New Londo Ruins?
I get to one of my favorite places (sarcasm), the ghost house. As per usual, it sucks. I can one shot Ghosts with 2-handed heavy attacks with my club, but this is rough. I die. I decide to try Fire Tempest to have an AOE attack. Never tried it here but I don’t know. Trying to change it up. I was at least able to get 2 more Transient Curses so I have some play. Fire Tempest works like a charm, but 3 Ghosts survive and take me out as I’m trying to heal. I try a few more times, no luck. I’m now out of Transient Curses. I go to the undead merchant, pop some soul items and buy 2; first time for everything I guess… Just hoping this will be the only time I have to buy them.
Doesn’t work… alright, new idea to avoid spending 4k a pop. Just get cursed. I still have the safety Purging Stones from the Asylum trip. This sounds like desperation more than anything. I go to The Depths, get cursed, back to the Ghosts. Goes poorly because low health, but maybe I can farm some Transient Curses during attempts.
After about an 40 minutes, I have 8 Transient Curses and a Jagged Ghost Blade. I think that’s a good point to cure my curse as most of my attempts end with too low health. The next attempt gets it done. No major issues, some close calls, but it’s done. Get the Key to the Seal from Ingward, loot everything around the ghost house, especially the Cursebite Ring, and open the seal. I take the elevator down, cross the Valley of Drakes and rest at the bonfire. I pop 2 Twin Humanities so I can fully kindle the bonfire. I guess it’s time to try Four Kings?
I grab nothing on the way there, focusing on the boss. I throw on the full Smough set and the Covenant of Artorias and jump into the Abyss. It goes ok. I get through two kings on the first attempt using Pyromancy. I will need to use my Lightning Reinforced Club to finish the fight, but I think it can work? I try a few times starting with the club and I realize I’m wrong. It’s just not doing enough. Well, I’m in the perfect spot to farm Titanite Chunks. Farming doesn’t go too badly. Knock it out in about 3 run throughs with the 1 in the chest and upgrade to Lightning +5. I have about 40k souls, but nothing in mind, so if I lose them it’s fine.
First attempt after upgrading goes ok. I’m still losing the DPS race. Got to the 3rd king but died. I try a few more times and it’s about the same. I ended up doing a few attempts at fast rolling light armor, but ended up back on the Smough set with slight changes. I put on the Mask of the Child. I swap out Havel’s Ring for the Ring of Steel Protection as I think the kings’ attacks are hybrid but no clue. I consider going to get the Spell Stoneplate Ring but it feels like a big time sink. In any case, with the Smough armor set, I’m still under weight. I pretty much just 2-handed club my way through the kings, staring as close as possible. But I get it done, actually getting ahead on kings 3 and 4. In the end, I spent around 2 hours on the Four Kings, if you include the 15-20 minutes of Titanite Chunk farming. I warp to Anor Londo, change my gear for the next adventure, and quit for the night.
Time: 12:51:05
Day 3 thoughts:¶
Nito was surprisingly not bad. Less than 5 attempts is what I hope for and I pulled it off at SL1. The entire New Londo Ruins section on the other hand… I’m disappointed in myself for how badly the ghost house went. That entire section was poor. I want to blame having a short range melee and bad drop rates on Transient Curses, but I don’t know. I just feel like I could’ve played better.
Four Kings on the other hand, I’m torn. It was a long test of patience and I got it done. Could I have done it faster? Definitely. But for a blind SL1 play through on a boss I normally struggle with? I’m ok with this. I had considered upgrading the club while here anyway so knocking it out before the boss I’m using it on makes sense. I was 1-shotting the Dark Wraiths with Pyromancy so it wasn’t even bad. Good refresher after the Ghosts and the first attempts at the Four Kings. Smough’s set surprised me. Need to start considering this after Anor Londo part 1.
At this point, I have Seath, optionally the Painted World of Ariamis, and optionally the DLC. I was planning to do Seath next and wrap up, but I’m considering the Painted World. I really don’t care for the DLC bosses, so I don’t know how much I care about trying them. I think my first step is to use the souls from the Four Kings to buy rings from the Crestfallen Merchant. They might be handy. Otherwise choose between going for Seath and going for the Painted World.
Day 4 2025-09-19¶
I go to the Crestfallen Merchant and buy his 2 rings. I then warp to The Catacombs. I still have 30k souls and I want to start upgrading a Fire weapon, as I’m realizing just Lightning might not work for certain enemies. I have the souls anyway. I consider getting a second Reinforced Club, but decide to try the Hand Axe now that I can pretty much max it from the get go. No harm, there will be more souls. I upgrade it to Fire +5 and realize I never got the Large Flame Ember. Back to the Demon Ruins I go.
The run back isn’t bad. I grab the ember and jump off the side. Now back to The Catacombs to upgrade past +5. And I realize I don’t have any Red Titanite Chunks. I got back to the Asylum a second time, take out the 2 Knights, getting the 2 guaranteed chunks. Back to The Catacombs for hopefully the last time? Get my Hand Axe to Fire +6.
I decide, against my better judgment, to make my way back to Lost Izalith. I fall down the hole under the Bed of Chaos arena, grab the 2 static Red Titanite Chunks and the Red Titanite Slab. No luck on any other Red Titanite Chunks, so I still need 3. Second run through, I get another chunk. I Darksign back to the bonfire. No luck on the third run, but I decide to try going to grab the Sunlight Maggot while in this area. I think the Chaos Bugs have a chance to drop Red Titanite Chunks? Not sure. I’m guessing I forgot, but I realize I can open the shortcut from behind which might be handy instead of having to make the full run back to Lost Izalith. Fourth run, I get my last 2 chunks. Homeward Bone out so I still have souls to use for upgrades. I upgrade my Hand Axe to Fire +10.
Now back to the main goals. First up is Seath in any case. Well, Armored Boars on the way to Seath. I always struggle with them for no reason. Guessing it’s the tight corridors. Take more tries than it should have. I take the elevator up and take out the Crystal Soldiers in the first room. I take out the Crystal Golem, grabbing the Broken Pendant. I run through the Archive, ignoring everything else. Elevator up, take out the Crystal Knight and the Crystal Lizard. Take the forced death.
Now I make a mistake. I don’t rest at the bonfire in the tower. In my mind, it doesn’t matter, but it surprisingly does. Get out of the cell, die to a Maiden to turn off the music. Go down the tower, die to a Snake as I grab the key. Perfect. I leave the tower.
Back in the Archives, I turn the first staircase. As I’m turning the second, I’m being sniped. I use all my Estus and switch to Humanities, using 1. I get sandwiched by buffed enemies and die. When I head back up, my item slot is still on Humanity. I get back to the staircase and I go to heal after continuing to be sniped and I have zero Estus. Because I never rested at that bonfire, my Estus Flasks haven’t refilled. I panic, use even more Humanity, but get through it. I was going to use Humanities anyway to kindle the bonfire so it isn’t a waste, but just the panic was terrible, especially if I would’ve lost those soft Humanities. Open the passage to the Crystal Cave. I rest at the Archives bonfire and kindle it.
The Crystal Cave itself goes fine. I use my 4 Great Fireballs on the Gold Golem. I get to Seath and 2 clams get into the arena. I get combo’ed by Seath and clams. Second attempt I get one-shot by a clam on the way to Seath. 3rd attempt though. First time I think I’ve no hit Seath? Stunned after the Crystal then went for the wide AOE attack. During that, I just attacked. 1 club hit, 8 Great Combustions, and 1 more club hit and it’s over. Anticlimactic but acceptable.
Back to the Chamber of the Princess, I’m starting to buy Twinkling Titanite to upgrade the Antiquated set. Nothing else planned at the moment. Next up is the Painted World.
There’s nothing I’m specifically here for besides Crossbreed Priscilla. I pop 4 Humanities just because this is the only bonfire (if I recall correctly) and I’d rather have some Estus for the area. I essentially run past everything, grab the items on the bridge, especially the Bloodshield. I take out the Undead Dragon just for ease in the area, then I just run down the tower, past the phalanx, and open the shortcut door. Skeletons up next.
Initially I tried going via the well. Gave it a few shots but it didn’t work out. Probably my issue with tight corridors again… Next I instead I take the staircase left from the shortcut door. This goes better, but still takes a few tries due to agro’ing too many Wheel Skeletons at once, but I get it done. I grab what I can while wandering down below, as well as Fire Surge. Probably won’t be used, but why not. Next up was the main goal of coming here, Priscilla.
It’s been a while since I’ve fought Priscilla. First few tries I’m not cautious enough and get bled. Finally on the 5th or so try, it clicks. I get 2 hits back to back, making her visible, then it’s just 3-4 2-handed smacks with my Reinforced Club and it’s over. Not too bad. I take the jump.
Back to the Giant Blacksmith for more Twinkling Titanite. More upgrades to the Antiquated set. Next up is Gwyndolin, who I remembered was a boss between Day 2 and Day 3. I went down to the Darkmoon Tomb and remembered I needed the Darkmoon Seance Ring. What I didn’t remember is where that comes from. Quick Google because even though I wanted this to be blind, I also didnt want to wander aimlessly for days and I see it’s in The Catacombs. Good enough to work off of.
I do some thorough exploration of The Catacombs, grabbing every item I see. Essentially going layer by layer as I try not to miss anything. It takes a good 20-30 minutes of cautiously clearing out Skeletons, but it’s not too bad. I eventually find the ring as well as another Necromancer to take out, and I am on my way.
Back to the Darkmoon Tomb. I try a few times and it goes ok, but not successfully. I can see I will 4-shot Gwyndolin with Great Combustions. I just need to land them. I change up my equipment, aiming for more magic defense. I throw on the Chest and Dress of the Antiquated set, with the Mask of the Child (which I’ve been using a lot this run). Rings are the Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring and the Ring of Steel Protection. Antiquated set is light and has high magic defenses, so I didn’t need Havel’s Ring as much. I don’t know, just seemed like a decent idea. It’s a mixed bag. Either I die instantly or land an opening hit. Finally, I get a good run going, starting strong with a first cycle, 2 Great Combustions. I start playing a bit more cautiously, as I only need to land 2 more hits. It’s not bad. After struggling for a bit, the last attempt isn’t bad at all. Gwyndolin did more arrows than anything it felt like.
I take the souls from Gwyndolin and buy more Twinkling Titanite. More upgrades to the Antiquated set. Then I warp to Undead Parish with plans to at least try the DLC. It’s all that remains besides Gwyn.
Time: 16:19:47
Day 4 thoughts:¶
Today felt like adventures in backtracking. A lot of stops I probably should have hit in the past, but whatever.
So far not exactly impressed by the Hand Axe. I like how the Reinforced Club has a bit of range to close the gaps. I guess I’ll see if I even end up using the Hand Axe. I was worried I’d have another Centipede Demon situation and I had the souls, but I didn’t really consider how much of a detour it would be. I could have left it until it was needed. But hindsight is 20/20 on how much I actually needed to detoured… At least it was good for a change of pace. If I do another SL1 and Fire is useful, I’ll probably just do 2 Reinforced Clubs instead of a club and an axe. I’ll also do more prep for Fire and not forget things. In my mind, the ember by the Demon Firesage was the Very Large Ember, otherwise I would’ve grabbed it. If Fire isn’t relevant, it won’t matter anyway. I’m worried about it mostly for Gwyn I think.
Otherwise my gear hasn’t really changed. Swapped rings a few times today and armor around mainly for boss fights, but nothing too crazy. I had the Sanctus on my back for heals for a bit, but otherwise most of the time I just wanted more stamina. Grabbed a few armor sets when I was wondering but I put all of them in the Bottomless Box. Just grabbing things as I go in case they’re useful and then realizing what I’ve picked up. Otherwise the Sunlight Maggot, which I could see coming up.
I’ve at least knocked out all the main game bosses besides Gwyn. I think? I’ll double check before the next session just in case. I’ve decided I’ll give the DLC a shot but I have low expectations. I feel like the only time I do the DLC is when I’m playing a Spell Caster and I want Dark Bead. So I’m out of practice and I typically don’t enjoy the bosses… but again, I’ll give it a shot.
Day 5 2025-09-21¶
Nothing new is planned. I make my way to the DLC entrance. Pop 4 Humanities, I want as many Estus as I can and seeing as I shouldn’t need any for Gwyn, I might as well use them in the DLC. First up is Sanctuary Guardian.
I expect it’s weaker to fire than Lightning? So Pryromancy and Fire Hand Axe equipped. Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring over the Wolf Ring. First attempt, I get 2 Great Combustion hits, doing solid damage, but I’m getting zoned out. Try for a bit but then get combo’ed after having been poisoned. I die, but I think I can work with this. Second try, insta-die. Maybe not.
3rd try gets it down to a quarter of its health. I whiffed a few Great Combustion hits so I tried the Hand Axe. It was poor damage. I die trying to heal after a bad hit. I switch my second weapon back to the Reinforced Club. I only need maybe 6 Great Combustion hits, so this should be doable. Just need to be more patient.
4th gets it done. I whiffed some Great Combustions and Great Fireballs but got it down to 1 hit away and finished it with the Lightning Reinforced Club. Not too bad. Took more time on some main game bosses.
I now have souls to burn again but no major plans. I buy the 5 Gold Pine Resin from Elizabeth because why not. Otherwise, I warp back to Undead Parish. I’m wondering if I can upgrade my Grass Crest Shield and would it be relevant? I’d be able to raise my Stability. Seeing as I have nothing else going on, I think it’s worth it. I go back to Anor Londo, pop a few soul items to buy 9 Large Titanite Shards. I get my shield to +10. I never grabbed the Very Large Ember because I didn’t consider shield upgrades. I’ll get it down the line if I really struggle, but I figured I’m closing in on the end. Back to Oolacile Sanctuary.
I pop 4 more Humanties and kindle the bonfire as I think this is the only bonfire before Artorias? The Royal Woods are touch and good. I’m not specifically here for anything besides bosses, so I’m not exactly going out of my way to grab anything unless it’s already on my path. Enemies hit hard and I can maybe take 1 or 2 hits so I’m trying to make every fight a 1-on-1 unless I can get the shortcut open to the next boss. See Kalameet on the bridge and slowly keep progressing. It takes a few tries but I make it down to Artorias’ arena. I send the shortcut elevator back up and decide to see how Artorias goes.
I get him down to about 70% health and I die. I’ll have to be more cautious and learn his move set. He doesn’t have too much health where I think my cautious hyper mode can work. I just need to play close but smart. Twice I die without getting a hit. I’ll have to think on this…great Fireball does solid damage. Great Combustion does alright, but not great for having to be so close.
It takes right around 2.5 hours of attempts (most of that time being the run back), but I get it done. That was miserable. Just using Pyromancy, mostly Great Combustion, with Great Fireballs while Artorias charged. I barely got hit. I just played ultra cautiously as I probably should’ve done from the beginning. But whatever. I rest at the bonfire and quit for the night. That was grueling.
Time: 19:15:04
Day 5 thoughts:¶
Not much to say today; I barely did anything. Artorias just wasn’t clicking for me. I’m going to still continue trying to beat the DLC bosses, but if this is anything to go off of, the last 2 will probably be even worse. I considered going back to fully upgrade my Grass Crest Shield as well as Power Within, as I never ended up getting it. Otherwise nothing has come to mind in terms of upgrades. I have the 50k souls from Artorias I have no clue what to do with. Maybe buy stuff from Chester? Probably the best use without major backtracking. Problems for next time.
Day 6 2025-09-28¶
It’s been about a week, mainly due to traveling. I give up Artorias’ Soul as I don’t remember the Tracer requirements are. Unsurprisingly, they are high. Whatever. Not like I need souls really. I go back to Chester, I buy a few more Homeward Bones and 40 Green Blossoms. Why not. Back to Ooacile Township.
I have an expectation that this will be a slough. Guess we’ll see. Going to take it slow as I think there’s loot I want? Again, it’s been a while. At least the club is 1-2 shotting depending on if light or heavy attack. Doesn’t mean I don’t get killed a few times being careless; all enemies are still 1-2 shotting me in return. I grab the Silver Pendant in my wandering, using the Sunlight Maggot to cast light. That’s important. I find Dark Orb, less useful. Take out the Mimic for the useless carving. I get to the large building and try to rush it. It goes poorly… I need to be more patient. I’m rushing things and I’m too squishy.
I start taking it slow, 1 enemy at a time. Eventually clearing my way to the building Mimic, gaining the Crest Key. I grab the rooftop Twin Humanities and jump down. I then send the elevator up, so I have a shortcut back down. Major progress. I then instantly die, not expecting the Bloatheads on the sides. Oh well, still major progress. I take the elevator back down. I get down to just the 2 Bloathead Sorcerers, but I mess up my timing between attack and defending and die.
3rd try, I get lucky. One of the Sorcerers comes after me, making it 2 easy 1-on-1s. Then I die to the Chained Prisoner. I forgot just how fast it was. Hmm. Can I just run past all of this? Try once, get bodied. I’ll need to at least take out the enemies before the hall. It takes a few more tries to get down to just the Chained Prisoner. This time I open with Great Fireballs. I almost take to out, the it lance combos me will I try to roll away and die. Almost got it. Next time I’ll probably just hyper mode it. I just needed another maybe 50 damage per Great Fireball.
Takes a few tries to get back to the Chained Prisoner, but 3 hyper mode Great Fireballs gets it done. Finally at the next elevator. And almost die typing this to the elevator Bloathead. I get to the next bonfire and pop 2 Twin Humanities so I can fully kindle this bonfire. I’m realizing I should’ve done the last bonfire for the eventual Kalameet fight, but oh well. I put on the Sunlight Maggot. This is going to be rough.
I don’t remember what is down here besides Dark Bead, so I don’t know what I care about. I knew I wanted the Silver Pendant and the Crest Key and was luck enough to find them while wandering without extra backtracking. I find Dark Bead after a few deaths. Whatever. I find Sif while wandering and take the Cleansing Greatshield. Otherwise the other shortcut elevator to the Royal Woods. Now I kind of regret Kindling the last bonfire, but whatever, I got a few more Humanities while down here and I already had more than enough for these last 2 DLC bosses. I take the elevator back down. Wandering, I find Black Flame. I have no recollection of this Pyromancy. I find my way to Manus’ fog gate. I die fast. My equipment should be changed for this and I just wasn’t thinking. I still have the Sunlight Maggot for example…
I warp back to Oolacile Township, kindle this bonfire, attune Black Flame over Great Fireball, then run to the shortcut. Second fight gets down to 50%. I feel like going straight club will be safer, but Pyromancy, when it lands, is significant. I also take Humanity and Homeward Bone off my equip list. I was struggling to swap quickly between 4 items during the boss. The biggest issue right now is the run back.
I try a few different combos. I settle on hyper mode with Fire Tempest and Great Combustion for a while. Fire Tempest does around 25% and sometimes I can double cast it if I get cancelled out of it. Just annoying when Manus then does the 5-hit combo after and then there’s no chance if I’m mid-Fire Tempest. High risk, high reward. I try to swap my headgear and put away the Sunlight Maggot and a Bloathead I picked up so the top item is the Crown of Dusk and the bottom item is the Mask of the Child. Eventually after a few hours of attempts, with 1 soul-crushing loss, I get it done. I use all my Pyromancy and then have to finish with the Lightning Reinforced Club, but it works. Probably about 2.5 to 3 hours just on Manus.
Soul crushing loss
With that, I rescue Dusk, travel to Elizabeth to get my reward mushrooms, then back to the Oolacile Township.
I don’t know what to spend Manus’ souls on. I know my next target is Kalameet, so I at least get that process going. I head to Gough. I forget I need to go see Kalameet by the waterfall first to get it shot down. For now, I buy some upgrade materials while I have souls. I head down to the waterfall to meet Kalameet the second time, take the forced death, then back to Gough. Gough cripples the dragon, now for attempts.
I’m doing no damage. Kalameet has high resistances to both Lightning and Fire. I haven’t really planned for that… I’m also struggling to get close up. I try a few times, but I’m ill-equipped for this. I need to get a different weapon.
I consider my options. I’d prefer some range if possible as Kalameet has predictable attacks, but not if I’m hugging it. That kind of only leaves Bows and Crossbows. I don’t actually have the stats for any bows due to my low Dexterity. Crossbows on the other hand, I can use Heavy or Light. Light is somewhere in Undead Burg, so that should be easy enough to grab. I spend the time going and finding it, realizing I never came through here and progressed the Kite Drake. It’s an uneventful trip, but I grab the Light Crossbow. Now I head to Andre to upgrade it. I get it up to +10, but I’m kind of capped there for now as I never grabbed the Very Large Ember.
I head back to Oolacile Township and head over to Chester to buy bolts. I pop a bunch of the saved soul items I have to buy a healthy amount of Sniper Bolts and Heavy Bolts (more Heavy than anything). Rocking my typical stamina and fast rolling gear, I replace my club with my +10 Light Crossbow and my Wolf Ring with the Hawk Ring. I start the fight with Sniper Bolts as Kalameet walks through the arena. I’m doing about 65 damage a bolt. It starts ok, but I’m getting tripped up by the Crossbow controls and the Lock On not staying locked on. I die, but keep trying without change much. I’ve started popping Green Blossoms at the beginning of the fight seeing as this is the second to last boss anyway. Otherwise, burning through bolts with a few ok runs and a lot of failure.
I think there’s a path forward, but I need to get good and possibly find better damage. This isn’t going to be enough. I have 2 ideas and both are in about the same spot. I warp back to the Undead Parish, climbing my way down, past Andre, through the tunnel to the Valley of Drakes. I never grabbed the Red Tearstone Ring and seeing as I die to 1 hit most of the time, that damage could be helpful. Otherwise, I want that Very Large Ember from the New Londo Ruins as well as some Titanite Chunks.
Grabbing the Red Tearstone Ring goes poorly. I grab the ring, try to cast Fire Tempest to see if it would go down and while casting, walk off the ledge and land on the 3 Drakes… whatever, I got the ring. Otherwise, grabbing the ember and some chunks are fine. I throw on the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring for better drop chance and it takes about 3 run throughs to grab 5 plus the 1 in the chest before the 4 Kings that I had missed. Easy enough.
Back to Andre, upgrade the Light Crossbow to +14, then back to Oolacile Township. I think I now have everything I want. I start using the valley towards Kalameet plus the first dog to do enough damage for Red Tearstone range. I try Kalameet again, now with upgraded gear and it goes significantly better. I’m doing 239 damage per Heavy Bolt. It takes about an hour of attempts mainly because I was getting greedy going for extra shots as well as I kept losing Lock On which would mess up my rolls, but I get it done. Easier than Manus attempts by a long shot (pun intended).
All that’s left is Gwyn. I got back to Gough, accepting his praise before buying more upgrade materials. I now have Kalameet’s souls, plus I still have a handful of soul items left after burning a bunch buying bolts and making upgrades.
I decide to also buy a backup Reinforced Club because I have no clue how Gwyn’s resistances are and after Kalameet, I want to be able to make a non-elemental Reinforced Club if I need to. I head down to the Kiln of the First Flame. My first thought is Pyromancy.
I make a beeline to Gwyn and get destroyed only landing 1 Great Combustion. Second time, Gwyn gets down to about 30%, then I go down. I’m not feeling 100% IRL, but literally this is the last boss. I throw myself at him, switching between trying Pyromancy and parrying and a few gear sets in between. I even make a Reinforced Club +15 with the Titanite Slab from Kalameet and Chunks from the Black Knights (it’s actually worse damage than the Lightning Reinforced Club +5). It’s a mess. I throw myself at Gwyn for roughly 2 hours and after making no progress and many runs starting to fail at the Black Knights, I just log off. I need to eat something and just reset physically and mentally. I take my screenshots because I don’t know if I’m coming back to this tonight.
I come back 2 hours later. I just want to be done. First 2 attempts I get killed by Black Knights before I get to Gwyn. 3rd attempt is clean. We dance around each other. He goes for grabs, I go for Great Combustions. I whiff 1, but it doesn’t matter. He still goes down in 7. From Kalameet defeat to Gwyn was almost 2 hours exactly. I link the fire, credits roll and I quit playing to finish writing. Play time between earlier and now is 6 minutes, 30 seconds. So not exactly much time. Just need to disconnect more than anything.
Time: 27:11:37
Closing Thoughts¶
I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish. I didn’t plan on doing all bosses, especially not the DLC bosses, so getting to see that through is amazing. Though nearly a quarter of my time was spent on 3 bosses today, I’m happy I stuck with it and finished overall cleanly while basically playing blind in terms of SL1 strategy (wikis were checked for weaknesses, item general locations, and enemy names, but otherwise blind on SL1 recommendations). I used a lot of gear I had never used before. I’m sure there’s better gear/strategies and I probably missed out on a better weapon, but whatever. This feels more personal because I was blazing (and re-blazing with backtracking) my own trail.
Overall, my path probably could’ve been a lot cleaner. There was so much backtracking for upgrades, but I had souls to spend and I wanted to maximize upgrades where I could. I should’ve been better about grabbing the Fire and Large Embers. I didn’t mind as much the Very Large Ember seeing as I was there to farm Titanite Chunks, but the Large Fire Ember was bad. Honestly, a lot of time spent in Demon Ruins/Lost Izalith was bad and the extra trips were probably not needed. At least I know now the Centipede Demon is a brick wall. Maybe route Lightning +5 before that. The ghost house absolutely sucked.
I definitely picked up a lot of items that quickly got stashed in the Bottomless Box, but I just wasn’t sure where I was going with gear. I really enjoyed the Reinforced Club. Will likely be a staple if I do another run. I hated the Hand Axe’s move set. I literally never used the Ring of Favor and Protection, I swapped around rings too much and I wanted to save it just in case. I guess I could’ve used it for Gwyn. Only on the last day did I grab the Red Tearstone Ring though it was pretty necessary for Kalameet. I never grabbed Power Within or the Cloranthy Ring. I definitely upgraded equipment that didn’t matter, but I had a lot of flexibility with souls, so it was fun to experiment. It should be cleaner if I run it back, mainly sticking with Reinforced Club(s). Pyromancy carried a lot of bosses. The Light Crossbow was interesting but frustrating at times with losing Lock On. Luckily I only needed it for Kalameet. I barely used the Fire Hand Axe +10. I’d probably skip Fire all together and save like a. Hour of farming and detouring. It was good to know I could grab the Sunlight Maggot going in reverse, I’ll have to remember that for the future, but otherwise, I didn’t use my Fire weapon. I barely used anything besides Lightning and Normal for the Light Crossbow. I guess next time I’ll use the second Titanite Slab on the Light Crossbow rather than saving it. I should’ve downgraded the Occult Club to Divine +5. It wasn’t useful as an Occult weapon, maybe it would’ve been useful in The Catacombs/Tomb of the Giants as a Divine weapon. Smough’s set was surprisingly good and I used the Mask of the Child way more than expected. Usually it's the Mask of the Father.
Looking at the timestamps, I spent nearly 10 hours on the DLC alone, which seems fair. It was incredibly rough for me. The only bosses I was happy with were the Sanctuary Guardian, and to an extent, Kalameet. These are not bosses I’ve done in years and I don’t know if that’s just because they are so difficult or they are difficult because I don’t regularly fight them (probably a bit of both but more of the difficulty than familiarity). Artorias was frustrating and felt unfair due to his move set. Manus was annoying but I don’t think I’d say he was unfair, I was just struggling to read his moves more than anything. I just had to get good and not use the Pendant too early. Kalameet was fair, I was just dealing with bad Lock On mechanics.
I know it wasn’t the most amazing SL1 ever, but I’m proud I was able to complete it, let alone all bosses. Next time I play, I’ll probably do something dumb like fist weapons only. Who knows. I’m considering doing another SL1 run, but it probably won’t be anytime soon.