How to get past the two dark knight archers in Anor Londo

Today I wanted to upload a guide on how to get past the two dark knight archers found on the battlements before entering the palace in Anor Londo. You will know you are at this point as the archers are both using very large bows, and you have to fight your way through several bat wing demons to reach them. I personally think this is one of the most aggravating parts of the game, especially as the nearest bonfire is near the start of Anor Londo; requiring you to run all the way down the elevator, across the bridge, and fight through the bat wing demons again. 

There are a few different ways to do this part, but I will list the two most successful of those here. First off I would recommend watching the video below, as this is a great technique to getting past the archers.

Method 1:

The main thing to focus on here is that you should NOT BLOCK AT ALL when approaching the right-hand archer, instead roll to dodge the arrows being fired at you. If you try to block, even when facing the wall on the left, the arrows will knock you down. The other key to this method is to make sure you run into the angle in the wall on the left-hand side when you are right near the archer. This is absolutely essentially as he will be unable to hit you with arrows if you continue running into this section of the wall, and the other archer cannot shoot you in the back either. Each time the archer pauses to pull another arrow out just edge around the corner slightly to try and tempt him into switching to his sword. Once he has done so block his first attack and run back down the way you came a bit, making sure to keep the large pillar behind you blocking the other archers shot. As the author of the video states: the knight doesn't always pull his sword out, and I have also noticed that sometimes he will pull his sword out but if you run away too quickly he will resume firing arrows. If this happens the first arrow will likely hit you and knock you to your death, so be sure he is following you before running away. 

If you are successful, the right-hand archer should fall down to his death and you will know when this happens because some souls will be added to your meter. Quite often the reason this happens is because he will try to do a medium-range slash attack at you and fall from the roof due to poor footing. Be careful not to get hit by the left-hand archer as you run back up the rails and into the palace. Just be calm and remember not to stop at any point unless you are sure neither of the archers can shoot you. You should also wear some fairly protective armour, as you may be hit in the back by the other archer. Although the left-hand archer is essentially blocked by a pillar, sometimes his arrows slightly curve around it and hit you in the back, so watch out for those. A final point to mention is not to try and use estus whilst you are up there. This will waste time and won't really help as you don't have time to drink it before being shot again. Instead, make sure you have full health before attempting the technique. 

Method 2:

This method is very different to the one above, and requires a bit more waiting; but is much safer. Before starting make sure you have a healthy supply of poison arrows, these can be purchased from the witch merchant near Firelink Shrine in  the large aqueduct area leading to the Undead Burg (she is the one who also sells, and has an unusual passion for, moss clumps). These arrows are quite expensive, but this is probably the best area in the game to use them, so it's worth spending enough souls to buy a lot (~50/more for NG+). 

Once you have the poison arrows (and a bow to shoot them with!) clear your way to the two archers, don't try to sprint past the bat-wing enemies as you will need the previous area to be clear. Kill the two bat wing demons immediately before the archers and get your bow out. Equip the poison arrows and try to snipe one of the archers from this platform. You will need to allow for a lot of curve due to the distance, but once you get the hang of it this should be quite straight foward. You will know when you have successfully poisoned the archer because you will be able to see points of damage detracting from his health bar. Now you just need to wait for the poison to run it's course until the enemy is dead. You may need to poison each archer twice before they die (as it runs out after a while), so make sure you go for the right-hand archer first (in case you run out of arrows, and because this is the area you need to get to). Be careful because the archers can also shoot you when you are on this platform, so if they do just hide and wait for them to stop shooting before trying again. 

Hope these methods help, and at least one of them works for you. If you're getting annoyed don't worry, this is an aggravating part of the game for almost all players, even experienced ones. Please note: the archers will be more difficult in a new game+ etc. so make sure you take more poison arrows with you for method 2. Good luck!