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[edit]
As you rise from the grave, follow the path and don't forget the Soul of a deserted Corpse to your right. Use the hollows around to practice your attacks. Block their attack with your shield and attack back, while they are staggered. Or attack them before they can strike you back. The messages on the ground give you a hint on how to fight. the enemies are positioned to give you a proper target practice.
Do not forget to pick up the Ashen Estus Flask and move on to the crossbow-wielder. Its damage deals partially fire, so you can't block its damage 100%, no matter the shield. After that, turn right and kill the two cowering hollows and follow the shallow water. A message will urge you to turn back, because a difficult enemy is ahead.
Ravenous Crystal Lizard[edit]
In the left corner is a Soul of a Deserted Traveler and in the right corner a tough enemy. It is resistant to magic and does not get more damage from fire. So stick to your melee weapon. You have two ways of defeating it. Either choose to fight it fair and square or to lure it into its demise. You will get your full reward either way.
Fight it fair[edit]
It has multiple attacks, that really hurt. If you sustain damage, you should heal up, for you won't take another hit. Most of its attacked can be mitigated by dodging to its side at an appropriate time. Do not dodge away from it, its range is awfully far. The bite is particularly dangerous, as he tries to snap for you multiple times. If it jumps into the air, dodge right before it lands, or prepare to get hit by a crystal attack around him.
Look out for its tail swipe and its long jump to close the distance to you, so just keep sticking to its side and circle around it, while attacking. You can also attack the tail for full damage.
Lure it to its demise[edit]
Lure it back the way you came and watch out for both of its gapclosers. Dodge at the appropriate times. When going through the water, that slows you down, roll instead to make it faster. The Hollows should be killed before the encounter or they could pose a threat.
After behind the crossbow-hollow a ledge and a narrow path to your left will come. Since the lizard alternates between jumping and rolling time it, so that it rolls over the ledge. Dodge at the approrpiate time, or you fall, too. The Titanite Scale is not to pick up and goes straight into your inventory, so don't mind the lizard falling.
The first bonfire[edit]
Replenish your HP and FP by sitting at the bonfire and aquire the Rest gesture. Move foward and kill the sword-hollow. The two to your right won't become active until approached. At the message locate the item ontop of a grave and jump there with a running start. Loot the Titanite Shard and drop down, while executing a "Light Attack", to kill the enemy below instantly. Kill the archer and turn back to the ledge. Coming ahead is the Boss, but for now ignore it and explore the rest.
If you play online, you might start noticing bloodstains on the ground, that you can touch. They show you how other players died at that spot and might tell you of upcoming threats.
Follow the ledge to the end, kill all enemies and then go down the narrow path. You will face a hollow with spear and shield an one with crossbow behind. Act quick, as the archer is out of your reach, unless you have means of ranged combat (thieves, sorcerers, pyromancers). Kick the spear-hollow, kill him and then kill the archer quickly. Loot the 5 Firebombs, then turn back to the bonfire and rest.
If you want to use the firebombs in the upcoming fight, equip them in your quick-select-item-slots. But they can also be used in the next area for two other difficult items. Also if you use them and die to the boss, they are wasted.
The quickest route to the boss is by killing the first hollow, drop down two times and dispatch the archer lastly. You can even choose to ignore him, if you reach the boss for a second time. After the initial encounter with the boss, a fog will block the entrance to the boss arena. No enemy can pass this fog, not even their protjecitles.
Enter the arena and prepare for first true challenge.
Boss: Iudex Gundyr[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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[edit]
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.