

Now you’re in a ruined library area with more Murkmen. Go back the other way and approach the tempting item on the exposed ledge which totally isn’t a tra … oh dear, you fell down.

Someone call Troy Tempest, because I just found Aqua Marina. He’s guarding a Titanite Chunk and (up the stairs again), the Aquamarine Dagger. Take a left and up some stairs to face a fatty with no face who you’ll later learn is a Harald Knight. Casters are fairly standard, but some of them have a weird attack where they turn into a sort of sentient cloud (which looks like a larger version of the mini Humanity creatures from the first Dark Souls Artorias DLC) and launch themselves in your face. The standard Murkmen aren’t too bad – but they do hit fairly hard if they catch you. Plus a couple of caster Murkmen who’ll shoot magic at you. You can then get her ashes and give them to the Handmaiden at Firelink who will promptly accuse you of murder.Īnyway, dropping down from the ledge will get you attacked by many crawling horrors known as Murkmen. At some point (probably once you’ve triggered the final boss fight), she’ll die. You can return here once you reach the Ringed City itself for some new dialogue. She’ll tell you a few things, and sell you stuff – including the Splitleaf Greatsword if you fancy such a weapon. Have a chat to the Pilgrim Lady before you follow the developer message and drop off the ledge. That’ll take you to the same place as the one in Ashes. Turn around and look down the hill a bit and you should see a new bonfire a few feet away from where you warp in. If you don’t own Ashes of Ariandel, or haven’t beaten Friede, or just fancy being different, travel to the Kiln of the First Flame (yep, the very end of the game). Here’s the one at Kiln, with the original in the background. There should be a new bonfire there from which to warp to the Dreg Heap.

If you own Ashes of Ariandel and have defeated Sister Friede (and Ariandel), go and talk to the painting girl in the attic and then return to the boss room. Any end game level character of 80-100 should do fine. The pre-release blurb suggested level 125 for this DLC, which to me seems rather excessive. I played through with a melee-focused Dex (Estoc and shield) character, at around level 90. The rest will follow in Part Two, once I’ve explored a few more nooks and crannies, and written the thing up. It’ll help with directions, enemy types, items (mostly – I doubt I found every single thing), bonfire locations, and offer a few boss tips. Part One covers the entrance to The Ringed City DLC to the Dreg Heap boss. So, if you’re struggling with gatling laser angel creatures, or lost amongst the windmills of The Ringed City’s Dreg Heap, this guide should be able to help you out.

Even the wisest of Ashen Ones needs a little Dark Souls 3 guidance now and then.
