Dark Souls III/Cemetery of Ashes

''The fire fades and the lords go without thrones. When the link of fire is threatened, the bell tolls, unearthing old Lord of Cinders from their grave. [...] Only in truth ... The Lords will abandon their thrones and the unkindled will rise.''

Rise from the Grave
The game starts with you rising from your grave. The cementery greets you with several messages on the ground. Interacting with one gives you a quick tutorial on the controls. Each enemy is positioned to try out a means to test them out. The hollows around the area have a couple of standard swings, that hurt a bit. If you keep your shield up, they stagger after attacking you, giving an opening for a counter attack. You can also run towards the enemy and execute a strong attack. Right after the first enemy, make a turn to the right for a Soul of a Deserted Corpse (worth 200 Souls). Turn back and head for the second hollow. Behind him is the Ashen Estus Flask.

There are five more hollows around. One of them has a crossbow, introducing you to ranged weapons. Behind him is the path foward. If you keep right from where you started, you will find two hollows and a detour through some shallow water. On the ground is a message to turn back, because you have a powerful enemy coming. You can see a small arena like place with an item to the left and a creature covered in blue crystals.

Crystal Lizard
Defeating this enemy might take a few attempts, as it is quite tough and is meant to be defeated later. A knight might have an easier time for his weapon is stronger and his overall toughness is higher, while a sorcerer is put through hell, as the Dagger is weak and the Lizard is highly resistant to magic.

Sometimes the Lizard spawns crystals, that can easily be destroyed by walking through them. For closing distance it can either roll towards you or make a jump, simply dodge to the side. Close ranged attacks are a bite, an arm swipe and a belly flop. The easiest way to stay alive is to circle to its side and dodge at the appropriate time.

Another way is to lure it back all the way you came and and follow the path further. It can be lured into rolling over the ledge to kill it off instantly.

Either way you will be rewarded with 4,000 Souls and a Titanite Scale, which will come in handy much later. Next to the Lizard's spawn point is a Soul of an Unknown Traveler (worth 800 Souls).

The first bonfire
After the hollow with the crossbow come your first bonfire. They are save points, restore your HP and FP, cure ailments and replenish all your Estus. Interact once to light it and a second time to sit down and heal up. You might also start noticing blood stains on the ground (online only). From the bonfire you can explore the next part. The hollows now have different behaviors and are a bit more aggressive. Take your time and fight them one by one. From the start you get ambushed by a hollow with a sword. Foward is another tutorial about running and jumping. Execute it right and land on the coffin below, so you can loot a Titanite Shard. After that execute a plunging attack to the hollow below, go ahead and kill the hollow with crossbow.

You are now in front of the Boss area. But there is still more to explore. Follow the path back up, dispose the four thrall on your way and head to the ledge, where you find a small path with two thralls, one wielding a shield and spear, the other behind him wielding a crossbow.

These are your second truly dangerous enemies. Humanoid enemies with spear and shield keep their shields up most of the time and can even attack with their shield up, only attacking after you attacked. In order to create an opening, simply kick the shield and attack immediately after. Act fast in between the two shots of the crossbow shooter and dispatch of him afterwards. Behind him are 5 Firebombs, that are useful for the bossfight ahead.

Once you are done in this area, get back to the bonfire, heal up and make your way towards the boss. The left route is safest.

Boss: Iudex Gundyr
He is your first true challenge, showing you everything a Dark Souls-boss is about. He is fast, strong and has a long reach.

Tactic 1: Blocking and Dodging
His attacks consist of a combination of wide horizontal swings, jabs and a shoulder bash. If you keep to his left (your right) you can easily dodge most attacks. Dodging away makes it harder to retaliate and leaves you open for more attacks. If you get too far away he will close the distance with a huge leap, that can easily dodged through him. Giving you opportunity for two or three hits.

If you choose to block instead of dodging, know that his attacks drain quite a lot of stamina and getting staggered can kill you off very quickly, so anticipating his attacks and dodging them might be more effective.

Tactic 2: Parrying
Until now you probably had a hard time to try out the parrying for the timings can be quite tough on the hollows. It is much easier with Gundyr. Most attacks start by striking out his halberd, stopping shortly and then swinging towards you. The point, where the halberd is the furthest out, is the time to hit the parry button. If you hit the button too early or too late, the parry will be incomplete.

Right after parrying him, you get an opening for a riposte - a powerful retaliation. Walk up to him and use a light attack.

Phase 2
Once Gundyr reaches about 50% of his Health, he will spawn an amorphous, black mass that makes him more dangerous. This mass makes it difficult to anticipate his attacks and gives him much much more range with its additional "hand". But on the other side, this top half is suspectible to fire damage.

At this point the safest spot is either behind him or far away. A sorcerer or pyromancer may stay back to fire his spells at the black mass or throw firebombs (the ones you find and/or the burial gift). Just be sure to target the top half of him, by pressing up.

If you don't have any ranged option or don't want to waste your Firebombs, be sure to stick behind him. While barely visible, he still has his halberd and makes wide swipes with both the black mass-hand and the halberd. Dodge so that you still stick behind Gundyr.

Once you managed to kill him, a bonfire will appear and Gundyr will drop a Coiled Sword. This is a key item, needed a bit later. A bosses death will also put you into the kindled state, which increases your HP by 30% and restores them.

The path to Firelink Shrine
Open the door and keep left. Pick up the Broken Straight Sword and follow the path to find a Homeward Bone. Turn back and follow the path to the right near a ledge. Keep your shield up, because an undead dog will ambush you. They are quite nimble but can get knocked back quite easily by being attacked. Behind him you find an Ember, an item that puts you into the kindled state. Now head into the structure, where you can find an NPC, that gives you the Collapse gesture. There you find another bonfire, where you can place the Coiled Sword. After that turn back to the entrance but go left instead of out.

The first Estus shard
Regularly this area is open until later, but a sequence break for a part of it is possible. Walk through the alternative exit, head left until you head a metal gate and pick up the Soul of a Deserted Corpse. Go to your equipment screen and unequip your equipment, until you hit a weight ratio below 30%. Then align yourself in front of the tree, run it up a little and jump into the direction of the roof to land ontop of it. Even for a player who knows, what he is doing might take multiple attempts to manage the jump.

Once you are ontop, move along the roof and go into the little entrance. There are two beams that cross in the middle with a birds nest on it. This is a place where you can trade items. Some trades are more useful, than others. For your first trade you can drop the recently looted Homeward bone from your inventory and pick up the Iron Bracelets. Also possible at this point is to drop a Firebomb and a Black Firebomb to trade for a Large Titanite Shard and a Titanite Chunk respectively. Both items are not needed yet and the trade can also be made later.

Next to the next is your first Estus shard, then walk towards the wall and attack it. It is an illusory wall. Walk further and make the small drop, where you find a chest containing a Covetous Silver Serpent Ring. After that drop back to the bonfire.

The Sword Master
Exit the shrine through the first exit and head right. Near a tree you find the East-West-Shield, then right again you find two hollows and an Ember behind them. After that walk up the stairs where the Sword Master waits for you. He is not meant to be fought so early, but can still be killed. Either use ranged combat spells and retreat, when he comes to close or shove him off a cliff.

Stay near the cliff and wait for him to approach. He is most likely to attack with his Weapon Art, which makes him dash foward a bit. Dodge behind him and attack him a few time, knocking him back a bit every times until he drops. Once he is dead, log out to the Main Menu and reaload the area. The Sword Master's drops are at his spawn location.

He leaves behind 2,000 souls, the Uchigatana - a good early dexterity-based weapon - and the Master's Set.

Back to Firelink Shrine
If you killed the Crystal Lizard and the Sword Master and never lost your souls on the way, you will be at 9,000+ souls. And if you use all souls from your inventory you may land at about 11,000. Talk to the Firekeeper and Level up. Spend as many points as you can. This is likely to leave some leftovers.

Talk to the Shrine Handmaiden and spend the remaining souls on 100 arrows. If you still have leftovers, buy a torch, that can be used much later.

The last stop is Andre, the Smith, reinforce your Estus flasks giving you one more use per Estus shard and allocate the uses between the Estus Flask and the Ashen Estus Flask. A pure melee character may want to allocate everything twoards the Estus Flask to get more chances to replenish HP. If you chose the Fire Gem at the start, you can also infuse one weapon with it. Be sure to keep a few souls ready for payment.

The fifth NPC is Ludleth of Courland sitting on his throne (2nd to left). Talk to him for a bit of lore and head for the bonfire.

Once you are ready, talk to the bonfire and teleport to the High Wall of Lothric.