Boletarian Palace
From Wikidsouls
Contents |
1-1
Level Walkthrough
The first real section of the game, can be pretty merciless. Expect one and a half to three hours playing time while you get used to the controls and bulk up your character and weapons enough to not have difficulty. This game is all about grind. So lets get started:
You'll appear behind a dried up fountain with a sword stuck in it. If you touch this sword you'll be taken back to the nexus, so don't worry about that right now you'll want to do that when you get a few souls collected and are set to put them into your character.
First thing you'll want to do is turn around and run at the camera. There's an item hidden behind a barrier at the closed gate. Having gathered that you'll want to run back in the direction you were first facing. You'll encounter several slaves as you work your way up the steps. Move slowly, watch your surroundings, parry and riposte are your friends in this section.
At the top of the stairs you'll come to a large gate that you need to find a way to open. To your right you'll see stairs leading up to a doorway that has a portcullis covering it, and to the left you'll see the same. You'll want to head left and take out the slave on the stairs.
Since you won't be able to open this portcullis you'll need to head left again, be careful as an enemy sniper is just around the corner. Get your shield up and charge in, take out his two friends and then run up onto his platform and take him down. Then head into the doorway here.
Immediately to the right in the doorway is a hidden slave (to the right) drop him turn around and drop his friend that walks in the door. Be careful because section and the next are extremely dark, rely on your characters lock ability to target enemies that you can't see.
After you've cleared these two rooms it's time to head out and grab the treasure in the alcove at the bottom of the stairs. Then up the stairs and around the corner. There's two minor knights here, but at low levels they're still a tough fight. Draw aggro on them one at a time and take them down. Once they're out of the way move into the archway they were protecting.
You'll need to move quickly right under the scaffolding or the minor knight on the stairs will toss a firebomb on you. Grab the prize at the back of the hall, then turn around and slay the knight. There's three(?) levels to this scaffold and a switchback, each platform has an enemy on it. At the "top" you'll need to exit the scaffolding that you're on and go back outside the castle wall.
Outside look immediately left and take down the slave that just attempted to pounce on you. If you look carefully you'll see that you're only about half way up the castle wall. Run up the steps and a knight will come out of the passageway. Take him down and his friend that stays back behind the arch.
The only way to go from here is up, but the soldier at the top of the stairs disagrees with you and will kick a rock down the stairs trying to run you over. Walk off the side of the stairs to get out of the way then follow the rock. If you drop down where the rock fell through you'll find that you now have access to a bastard sword from a fallen soldier (you did notice the glowing orb on your way up didn't you?). Take it, and do what you will with it, just head back up and run over that guard that just tried to flatten you. Be careful again however because a friend of his armed with a crossbow will attempt to shoot you in the back. Show him what you think of cowards that try to shoot people in the back.
For that matter continue down that part of the wall and take out a spearman and another two archers. You can go into the room beyond the last archer, but it's not recommended to go beyond that. There's a red eyes knight who will almost certainly kill you unless you're above a certain level or have taken certain precautions. Instead turn around and head back to the location where the guard that kicked the rock was. Move past him and you'll find a Blue Eyes Knight.
The Blue Eyes Knight (BEK) can be tough, especially if you're new to the game, you'll simply have to find the combination that works best for you. One technique that seems to work is to draw aggro and then run away, eventually the knight will give up the chase, when he does you may be able to sneak up behind him and stab him (what was that about cowards?). Regardless of how you do it, once the BEK is dispatched do not go into the fog instead turn around, see that missing chunk of wall? Jump.
Don't worry you won't die, instead you'll land on a platform where you can find a crossbow and some bolts. Go in the archway, kill the knight on your platform, and jump down. Then head back topside.
Back on top you'll want to go back to where the BEK was, again do not go into the fog we'll get there soon enough. Instead continue over to the tower, the top is empty but there's a large number of slaves with flaming swords on the stairwell. There's also a large number of barrels with red stripes on them. If the slaves are swinging near the barrels let them, they'll blow themselves up. If you're swinging near the barrels with turpentine on your weapon, prepare to reload. The barrels are explosive, but only if your weapon is on fire. Start working your way to the bottom of the tower.
Half way down you'll notice an archway, head out the archway onto a small vestibule with two chains hanging over the sides. This is an executioners platform, cut the chains and two bodies will fall to the earth below. Work your way to the bottom of the tower, and pull the switch. Congrats, you just did the double duty of creating a shortcut and being able to grab some nifty prizes, like the Jade hairpiece that you'll give back to the item holder in The Nexus.
With this accomplished head back up the tower and to the fog. Now you can go through it.
There's two ways you can go from here. The first is just to run down the stairs around the corner and avoid getting blown up. But you're a hero right, and you need to find something that fits your particular idiom. Look down below you may see a knight standing below a bunch of scaffolding, what you won't see are the slaves that have him pinned down there. Let's go help him out and get some nifty stuff. Run half way down the stairs and jump towards the knight.
Ostrava will introduce himself, and ask you to take care of the slaves, how you do this is up to you, but be certain to grab the Thief's Ring in the corner and equip it, this makes you more invisible to enemies. Now take out the slaves (without taking out Ostrava) and he'll give you a bronze telescope. Don't worry about playing with it for now, it may come in handy later though.
You'll need to follow Ostrava for a bit and make certain he doesn't get himself killed. To do this you'll be taking out several groups of slaves and a couple of BEK's. Try not to hit Ostrava during combat, he's a little frail, and doesn't he seem a little depressed?
After you've followed Ostrava on his rounds and eliminated his attackers you'll need to move on. Smash your way through the cabinets blocking the alley to the courtyard and clear it out. Be careful not to get pinned down by sniper fire. Work your way up the stairs to the first landing and walk back towards the castle wall. You'll come to a room on your left with a large number of red striped barrels after you take down four minor knights. Hang a right in this room and sneak up on the spearman guarding the doorway. Take him down and his buddy to your right. Then head the rest of the way down the hall to another knight who may toss a flamebomb at you. Eliminate him and you'll be back at the staircase where you jumped down to help Ostrava.
Turn around and head back the way you came. In the cross roads where you eliminated the spearman and his friend you'll find a path blocked by a bunch of tables. Go ahead and take them down until you're able to enter a small room with a man sitting on a table. This is a local merchant who can sell you better armor, and some herbs and bolts for your crossbow. Buy anything you need from him and head back to the room with the red striped barrels.
Go left, then right and follow the path towards the scaffolding. If you've been following this you should still have two snipers up on the scaffolding. Head up one level and take out the lower one, then get set to knuckle up for another BEK. I highly recommend drawing aggro and pulling him to the base of the stairs. If you have a pole arm get him top stop at the 90 degree bend, he can't hit you but you can hit him. Any other weapon and you'll need to draw him down to where the fight will be fair. Then run up the stairs and take out the sniper up top.
From where the sniper is turn around and proceed into the fog. When you get to the end of the path do not go down the path instead stand to the side of the stable and swing, you'll destroy the wood that's holding the boulders used in a trap that you would have been uselessly caught in. Instead they'll wipe out the 8 slaves on the path. Follow the boulders down and loot to your heart's content along the way.
Round the corner and approach the 3 way intersection at the top of the stairs slowly two spear soldiers are at the top. You'll need to try your best to draw aggro individually for a fair fight. Once they're gone go up the rest of the stairs. You can go left at the intersection, and get a good look at two dragons, however chances are good that you'll also get charbroiled doing this. So just ignore it for now, once you defeat the local boss you can comeback and loot without any trouble.
Now that you've headed up to top of the stairs you'll find a bridge with a bunch of soldiers and a lot of debris. Proceed slowly that screech you just heard means all hell is going to break loose for these soldiers. So stop where you are, and when the dragon swoops down sprint behind it like your life depends on it (because it does). There may be some archers left at the far end of the bridge. Run behind them before you even think of trying to engage, you do have a fire breathing dragon on your butt as it is.
If you want to take them out great if not go down the stairs on the far side and to the right, where you'll find a nice little reward. Now turn around and head into the alcove with the wood floor and a rather intriguing looking switch. Go ahead and pull it, and enjoy the cutscene.
That's an interesting place to land a rather large spear isn't it? Lets go find out what's throwing those. Head left down the stairs keeping an eye open for ambushes along the way. Eventually you'll come to a black blob holding a large shield, and a rather large spear. If you can get behind it great, that's its weak spot, it also doesn't play well with fire, so now's a good time for some firebombs or turpentine. You'll come across a few of these as you work your way down to..
Another switch. Go ahead, pull it, you know you want to...
Because it opens the portcullis on the right archway that you couldn't enter at the beginning (remember that? 3 hours ago?). Exit the tower and go examine the spear, then get geared up for your first boss fight. Get set to meet Phalanx...
Boss Strategy
Phalanx
Main article: Phalanx
Attacks:
- throws spears
- melee attack with spears
The first real boss of the game can be quite difficult for some builds, unless you manage to find a decent amount of Firebombs and Turpentines throughout the stage. With Firebombs, you should try to kill as many hoplites as possible (about half can be killed using the Firebombs found throughout the level). To clean up the rest, use a Turpentine on your weapon and melee away, making sure to attack them from behind. If your character is able to wield the bastard sword found earlier in the level, this works well with Turpentine due to its large attack arc. For magic and ranged attacks this battle takes a lot longer, since each hoplites will have to be killed individually. After a decent amount of hoplites have been killed, go for the main core of the boss, who has a attack that knocks the player back slightly when all the hoplites have been destroyed.
If you find that you used up all of your turpentine and fire bombs, go through the level a couple more times and collect up on souls. There is a merchant located within the level that will sell firebombs to you for 500 souls a piece. While a steep price, it will help you make short work of Phalanx.
During the battle with Phalanx, be sure to keep circling the room. Don't let the demon get you caught in a corner, especially with a bunch of it's minions. The demon has the power to take you down before you know what hit you. Instead, keep circling the room and attacking the hoplites back's that are spread throughout the room. Don't worry about killing multiples, you're in the fight for the long haul. As you continue to do this, you may begin to realize that the room isn't as full as before. Keep it up and before you know it, Phalanx will have openings on his body where there are no minions protecting him. Get in close and unleash some attacks on this area but be careful the minions don't swarm to you. If they do, keep circling the room and looking for that opportune moment when you can swarm in and take the demon down some more. Once you get Phalanx's health down to zero, he dies along with all remaining hoplites. Collect the demon's soul and exit the level.
Heres a strategy for the more foolhardy warriors that want to go straight for the core: Simply hide behind any of the columns in the room that doesn't already have stray hoplites around it and let Phalanx come to you. As it comes up on the column, the hoplites will begin to split off of the core in order to get around the column. Once they get close, run behind another column and repeat. As the hoplites are forced to separate, it should eventually leave an opening to Phalanx's core. If you have turpentine, use it now. Run in and get a few strikes in, but don't be too greedy, as it won't be long before the surrounding hoplites ready their spears. After a few hits, roll away and run back behind another column and repeat the whole process, healing should you ever get hit. Eventually you can defeat Phalanx this way without defeating a single hoplite.
New Game+ and on Strategy: Firestorm and Magic are the fastest and easiest ways to kill Phalanx. Just make sure they attack and counter with Firestorm. Should kill it in one to two casts depending on how many flame pillers hit him. If you don't want to use magic you can use any weapon that deals magic damage because it can pass through the Hoplites' shields.
Sidenotes
Notable items
Cling Ring (important item that raises your hp when in soul form. Continue past the first Blue Eyes Knight into the building with rock filled carts. You'll find it at the bottom of that staircase)
Thief Ring (important item that decreases your aggro range, meaning you can sneak up on enemies easier and attract less enemies to you when you move around. It can be found at the bottom of the staircase after opening up Phalanx's Gate.)
Brass Telescope (go through the archway the blue knight is guarding, and drop off the ledge before the fire-tossing deamon, save Ostrava and he will give you the telescope)
Red Eyes Knight
While the Red Eyes Knight will give you 2074 souls if you kill him, new players should note that he is incredibly tough. He is not meant to be taken on during your first playthrough. Instead, skip this section and head the opposite direction to where the blue eye knight is.
He is weak against fire though...
If you do want to risk it and try to "trick kill" the Red Eye Knight, use the following tips:
In order to do this you need to unlock the shortcut at the stairwell. Fight your way through the stairwell and up to the rooftop.
Method One
Lure the Red Eyes Knight to the shortcut stairwell, stand at an angle just around the corner, when he approaches you he will charge off the edge and hopefully die. If this however does not work then follow method two.
Method Two
Lure the Red Eyes Knight down the stairwell to the beginning of the stage (the large steps leading to the Phalanx). Let the Red Eyes Knight follow you into one of the fires. If it does not kill him immediately, keep leading him to the fires and he will eventually die.
Method Three
If you have a Soul Level of about 20, a good, upgraded weapon (preferrably a sword!) and a nice, strong shield, such as the Purple Flame Shield, you CAN take this boss on. Remember to use Turpentine for a quicker kill. You need increased HP, so level up your Vitality to about 17. Block all of the Red Eyes Knight's attacks, except for when he swings his shield. After he swings his shield, move in to R2 attack him. After you block his spear attack, R2 attack him. If you run low on stamina, which you probably will, move away and lower your shield until you get some back. This will take a few recovery herbs, so bring about 5 Full Moon Grasses just in case. Note that when he gets low himself, he'll back out and use a recovery item, nearly filling his health. You'll want to watch for this so you can quickly attack to interrupt him. If you do this right, you WILL beat him!
Method Four
If you have Soul Arrow or similar and the Thief Ring, you can kite him. Walk up close enough to target him with auto-target, fire a Soul Arrow, turn around and run until he stops chasing you. He will normally stop chasing well before you reach the tower. When he turns around, he will start walking back slowly. As he walks back, follow him until you are close enough to target him again, and fire off another Soul Arrow into his defenseless back. Repeat as necessary. If he ever gets close enough to attack you, he will typically heal himself to half, but if you are careful he will never do this.
Method Five
Lure him down the spiral staircase to the area with the archer sits above the bottomless pit. It has the blue glowy things flying inside of it. Just run around that with him, and eventually he will fall in like a hobo. I've done this twice in a row, and the 2.8k souls is nice when farming this entire area.
1-2
Level Walkthrough
This level is actually pretty straightforward compared to the one before it. You begin this level directly after you defeated Phalanx. Continue straight until you come across some hoplites in a small room. There is one directly in front of you, one to your left, and one to the north east. Take out the one in front of you but keep the shield up. The guy to your left will be shooting spears at you while you take out his buddy. Continue clearing the room of hoplites and be sure to talk to the Knight down the walkway to the left. If you find him in the level he will give you something. When the area is clear, continue to the next area which is actually outside.
Notice the burning bodies on the floor? There's a dragon flying around to your right, and if you move up next to the bodies he will swoop in and blaze the length of the bridge section. You don't want to be on it when he does this, so you're going to have to taunt him into it. He should come in to attack when you are almost at the end of the body pile. You can use the birds as a guide, as they will all fly away if you are far enough. Run up to that spot and then back again. You'll hear him roar and swoop down from the right. This is the point of no return; once you start down this path, you can't backtrack until you've cleared the battlement, or killed the dragon. Immediately after you see him come down, sprint across the bridge, following him. IGNORE THE LOOT. If you stop to pick anything up, you'll be toast. You will probably run out of stamina just as you get to the tower, by which point the dragon will be nearing the end of his second run behind you. In the tower, take the stairs up on the right. Kill the spearman on the stairs, the soldier after him, and then take out the two remaining archers on the roof. Go back down and take the stairs down to the basement area under the walkway and head to the left. You'll come across some archers on your way, so make sure you have your shield up. When you get to the end, you will have rescued Ostrava again and he will give you an item. Go back the way you came, passed the stairs you came down on, and keep heading straight.
Eventually, you're going to come to two Slaves. Take them out and then get ready for the dogs. When they come, have your shield up to block them and then counter. There are about 6 in total. Continue along this path and you will be greeted by an archer shooting at you. Take him out and then talk to the merchant past him. Be careful not to attack him. Head back the way you came to the first gate you come to and look to your left. There should be an open door being blocked by a wooden structure. Break it down and head to the roof of this tower. Kill the two archers and pick up the bow and arrow on the ground. Head back down the stairs (not to the basement) and go out onto the walkway. There should be a set of 5 archers behind you so get your shield up and take them out. When completed, continue along the walkway to the last tower.
This is a very tough area. Let the dragon come once and take out the demons along the path. You have a little breathing room to walk up a little ways before his breath/claws will get you (up to the big cart). When he takes off, run right behind him. As long as you are under 50% of your max equip burden and started running from the furthest point up the path before the dragon can hit you, you should be able to make it across without getting hit by his fire breath. As you run, keep your shield up too because there are about 3 archers at the end of the walkway waiting for you along with soldiers and spearmen. Should you get hit by the flames, be sure to heal immediately! Be extra careful at this point, this is a spot of a lot of bloodstains. When you finish off the guys, you will have to fight two sets of blue eye knights.(alternativly, you can run past BOTH the blue eyes, walk up the stairs and wait till they go back to their posts. then you can go down the stairs again and attack them from behind) Try to not stir the second one until the first is taken care of. This can be tricky too as you are trying not to back up to far so the dragon won't get you. When you finish the second blue eyes, heal up. Get everything in order because through the fog is the demon boss, The Tower Knight.
Alternatively for this last part before the boss, once you make it to the crossbowmen and the 2 blue eyed demon knights, you can kill off the crossbowmen or most of them and then when the first blue eyed demon knight starts to attack you, run back the other way and wait. While the demon knight is running after you, the dragon will swoop down and hurt him! He will most likely fall and take minimal damage; don't worry as he will get back up and start to walk back and then the dragon will come down again and kill him for you! Repeat this for the second demon knight.
Boss Strategy
Flying Red Dragon (optional)
Main article: Red Flying Dragon
Attacks:
- flame breath
- feet/claw attacks if you run under him
For the most part, this boss is more of an environmental obstacle than a fight. But he can easily be killed with a decent supply of arrows (around 150-200) and a good bow. Just simply clear to one of the guard towers (the first one being best) and shoot an arrow or two at him every pass. Alternatively, you can cast Poison Cloud just as he makes a pass over a bridge, which can take off a decent amount of his hp if you let it run its course.
The safest way is to have a long rang attack, either Soul Arrow or projectile weapon, and stand on top of the first guard tower. Place yourself in the open space in the middle, facing the dragon. Don't worry, his fire can't hit you at all up here. As he flys down, target him. Your timing will differ based on weapon, but you should be able to take him down fairly quickly. (If you are using a bow, enter aim mode and aim at the center and slightly above the entrance to the bridge. As soon as the dragon's wing comes into view, fire. The arrow should hit him every time.) Royals will have an easier time as you should be able to take the dragon down with a 2 bars of magic at most, even if you miss every 2-3 times.
See the main Red Flying Dragon article for more details.
Tower Knight
Main article: Tower Knight
Attacks:
- magic spear throw
- sweeping spear attack
- thrusting spear attack
- shield slam
- crouching shield slam
- jumping back
The first important part of this fight is to clear all the archers along the wall, this will make it significantly easier. Next, there are two options: ranged attacks from the wall or melee. With ranged or magic attacks from the wall, simply wait for his shield to be out of the way and attack, making sure to dodge his magic lances. For melee, you will want to stay behind him as much as possible. He has several attacks where he slams his shield on the ground and one where he jumps back. Be prepared to dodge these while attacking his ankles until he falls down, being wary of him falling back onto you. While on the ground, his head is extremely vulnerable to attacks. It should take about 3-4 knockdowns in order to deal enough damage to kill him for lower level characters. For much larger melee weapons, such as the Greatsword or Dragon Bone Crusher, it is possible to hit his torso while he is standing from ground level using the seconary attack while two-handing the weapon. These attacks will do about as much damage as attacks while he is on the ground.
You many also stand on the ledges where the Crossbowmen were before you killed them and shoot the Tower Knight in the head with arrows and magic. This way you can avoid most of his ground attacks and not have to deal with knocking him down. The only they you need to watch for is his Ranged Sword Spell. Other then that he should be a piece of cake for you.
The easiest way to defeat the Tower Knight is after killing all of the archers make your way up and above where you first entered. If you are at the top facing the boss, move to your left where the stairs do a 90 degree. If you find just the right spot you will be immune to his spear attacks and still be able to hit him with arrows. Watch him and he will do a predictable pattern. If you time it so that right after he does his spear attack, loose an arrow and you should hit him. It may take some fine tuning but it is possible. Do not lock on to him, use manual aiming. Be sure to bring 200 arrows or so, as you will have to whittle away his health. It gets boring and takes about 10 minutes or so but it is just so easy. Note that there are two upper levels. The one that I am referring to is "South" as in when you first enter the fog, the upper area behind the Tower Knight is "North".
1-3
Level Walkthrough
Note: In order to access, you must have completed 1-2 and have slain an Archdemon (one of the final bosses of another world).
Boss Strategy
Penetrator
Main article: Penetrator
Attacks:
- spinning attack
- basic combo attack
- powerful thrust attack
This boss essentially has two difficulties. If you manage to rescue Biorr of the Twin Fangs before encountering this boss, this fight becomes obscenely easy. Biorr will assist the player, and is almost capable of soloing the boss, only taking significant damage from its piercing attack. Most of his attacks cover a large area, although approaching him from behind is relatively safe. His individual attacks also do very little damage. The piercing attack however is capable of quickly killing lower HP characters in 1-2 hits. Attacking him from range with Biorr tanking him makes this fight very easy. Without Biorr or while in melee, just adopt a hit and run strategy, making sure to only attack immediately after he misses one of his.
See the main Penetrator article for more details.
Note: If you get overzealous, the Penetrator WILL notice you, so keep a low profile if possible.
1-4
Level Walkthrough
- Insert walkthrough here
Boss Strategy
Flying Blue Dragon (optional)
Main article: Blue Flying Dragon
Attacks:
- flame breath
Another dragon that cannot be hit with melee attacks, this dragon also has a lot more hitpoints than the red one. With Biorr still alive, he will distract the dragon’s attention and be the main focus of its breath attacks. Use this opportunity to run up the stairs and under the arch that the dragon is clinging to. From this position, you can lock-on and fire arrows at your leisure, completely safe from breath attacks. With Biorr dead, getting to the arch will be a lot more difficult, as you will have to dodge multiple breath attacks to reach it, making use of the statues on the sides. The arch itself however, is still a safe spot to fire arrows at the dragon.
Soul Ray can reach the Blue Dragon. If you have high magic you might consider this an option otherwise you will need a lot of arrows depending on your equipment. See the main Blue Flying Dragon article for more details.
False King Allant
Main article: False King Allant
Attacks:
- dash attack
- jumping attack
- basic combo
- magic waves from sword
- magic explosion
- soul sucker
This boss is fairly dangerous up close due to his rapid and long range melee attacks. Many of his melee attacks also release a wave of magic, so its range is deceptive. It is best to remain at a distance from him, prompting him to use his dash attack, which is easily dodged and then countered. He will periodically start charging up his sword in a large swirl of energy, if you are somewhat close to him, run up and attack him to interrupt the attack, otherwise run far away to avoid the range of the blast. While in melee range, he will also sometimes use Soul Drain. Its startup is pretty long, so when you see him raise his hand and it start glowing, run away, otherwise you will lose a Soul Level and take some significant damage. You might be tempted to attack him after his normal attack combos, but the recovery on these is fast, so it is better to counter after only his slower attacks.
Magic is not extremely useful on him at low levels, so I suggest pure physical damage. You might see otherwise in higher levels.
