Sanctuary Guardian Guide

You will encounter the Sanctuary Guardian shortly after entering the new DLC area and traversing the first white mist. Fortunately there is a bonfire just before going into the arena, and there are usually a lot of summons signs on the floor if you are in human form. 

Before you challenge the Guardian I would recommend having the Thunder Stoneplate Ring which can be purchased from the crestfallen merchant in Sen's Fortress for 15,000 souls. I would also advise players to have a good shield with them, preferably one which has 100% physical damage reduction and a high lightning damage reduction %. I used the Silver Knight Shield which I looted from a silver knight in Anor Londo. This shield has 65% lightning reduction which is helpful when the Guardian does ranged attacks. 

First of all don't expect to beat this boss first time, unless you are with a party of good online players. It's important to try and learn the Guardian's move set, and this can be done quite easily thanks to the bonfire just before the white mist. He uses a combination of ranged lightning attacks and close range slashes, however his most powerful attack is the large lightning ball he will shoot at you. Try to get up close and circle around him, he should then do a string of slash attacks. I found he did 2 slashes quite a lot and would then jump away. It's when he jumps away that you have a small window to use estus, or recover stamina. 

It's quite obvious when he is about the use his lightning ranged attack as you will see sparks around his face, if you time it correctly you can roll sideways to dodge the large lightning ball, however there is no way to tell whether he will fire one large ball or several smaller balls. If you're unsure or don't want to risk it, just block; however you will still take some lightning damage through your shield. 

Occasionally the Guardian will also inhale briefly and do a very powerful breath attack. He usually does this up close, and when you see him inhaling, either immediately raise your shield or roll to the side of him. Each time he did this attack it drained my entire stamina bar, but if you hold the left trigger/L1 even whilst your on the floor, you should raise your shield before he does his second attack. Just after this second attack you have an opportunity to get a couple of hits in.

Successful Method:
The method I used to defeat the Guardian was staying up close, as close as I could get. I was constantly circling him, and each time he did 2x/3x slash attacks and stopped I would land 2 hits and then back away to regain stamina before charging in again. If i took hits from his lightning ranged attack I would get up close again, wait for him to jump away after his slash attacks; and then use an estus flask. Eventually I had the confidence to roll sideways to dodge his main lightning attack, but if you're low on health I would NOT recommend this. 

A final note: I was on NG+ as a Lvl 65 pure warrior with high strength/endurance. I placed my summon sign before the door and was summoned into another player's game in his first playthrough. The boss was significantly easier, so if you're beyond NG+ be very careful! The Guardian's physical attacks and lightning attacks deal HIGH damage, so block a lot and don't become complacent. 

Good luck! 

How to get to the Artorias of the Abyss DLC areas

Today the new DLC was released for Dark Souls on consoles and I wanted to write a quick guide on how to actually reach the new areas from the standard game, as it's not so simple. 

First of all you need to go Darkroot Basin and defeat the Hydra (I have written a guide elsewhere on this site for defeating that boss - please use the archives tab or search bar to find it if you're having trouble). Once you have defeated it go around the large pool it was in and into the cave at the back. Inside you will find a golden golem, kill it. This frees Dusk of Oolacile, who then asks whether you will help her - select 'yes'. Note: if you are on NG+ etc. and saved her in your previous game, you will need to do it again to be able to reach the new areas. 

Once you've done this make your way to the Duke's Archives, this is located in Anor Londo near the start of the area and past the large statue of Smaug the Executioner. If you haven't reached that area yet you will have to progress through Anor Londo and defeat Ornstein and Smaug to be given the Lordvessel. Once you have the lordvessel remember to fast travel back to Firelink Shrine and give it to Kingseeker Frampt in order to open the portal leading to the Duke's Archives. 

Once inside the Archives, get to the first bonfire and use the elevator to the floor above where you will be shot by a channeler from the next room and attacked by several skeletons. In this room you will find a large blue golem, the same as the ones located near the Hydra. Kill this golem and you will receive the broken pendant.

Take this back to the area you freed Dusk of Oolacile from (inside the cave behind where the Hydra was), and you will now find a purple portal leading to the DLC area. 

Enjoy, and good luck! I will be uploading some more content and guides soon. 

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! 

Artorias of the Abyss new items and armour

An article recently posted on IGN reveals some of the new items found within the Dark Souls DLC. While this list may contain spoilers for console players who are yet to get access to the DLC, it gives an insight into the properties and stats of the new items available.

The article can be found here.

I will be back to update this blog once the DLC arrives, with guides on how to obtain these items.

Dark Souls DLC: Artorias of the Abyss release date

The DLC will arrive on the 23rd October for N.America, and the 24th October for Europe and the rest of the world via XBL/PSN. The release date was recently announced at the Tokyo Game Show, and will feature a new player vs. player mode, boss battles, and maps.

As promised once the content is released I will upload some guides, hints, and tips onto this blog to help gamers with difficult areas, secrets or boss battle strategies.

In the meantime check out some of my other guides and posts if you are struggling with other parts of the main game using the search bar above. Alternatively if there is something not covered on the blog you can message me and I will see if I can help :)