Once you arrive at Lost Bastille be sure to light the Bonfire here before moving on outside. You should see a new enemy up in front (the Undead Jailer ). For now though, just take a left through the broken wall and very carefully walk along the left-hand ledge.

At the end you’ll find a [Radiant Lifegem] and a [Large Titanite Shard] for your collection. Before dropping down to the chest below; kill the Royal Swordsman with the crossbow in the nearby window.

Now push the barrel down below to kill all the dogs and then head outside (watching out for the drop just to your right as you pass through the door) and open the chest for the [Antiquated Key] and the [Covetus Silver Serpent Ring] .

The best way to kill the Undead Jailers is to get up close and roll behind them as they have a lengthy cool down period after attacking. You can also parry their attacks if you’re feeling brave and/or confident.

Roll through the barrels in front of the door ahead (they’re explosive you see) and then chat to Lucatel. Keep using the ‘Talk’ option to exhaust her dialogue and she will become available to you to use in the upcoming battle (should you want to work towards completing her story-arc and earning her armor/weapon set).

Open the door outside then look for a broken bit of wall to your right and walk up this so you’re standing on the edge of the wall. Slowly walk up to the ladder on the left, climb up and claim the [Large Titanite Shard] for yourself. Drop back down and head back outside.

We’re now going to wade through a few dogs and Undead Jailers up ahead, so take your time and remember to stay close to the Jailers (but be really careful of the broken walls around you as it’s easier than you think to fall off).

When you reach the second Jailer (at the top of the stairs) be super careful to lure him away from the explosive barrel he’s standing in front of (he can detonate it with his scythe). You want the barrel to remain intact as it opens up access to a hidden bonfire and blacksmith!

Before you run down the stairs though; turn around and look for a dog by a corpse on your right. The corpse is holding a [Gold Pine Resin] that will prove to be very effective against the optional boss we’re going to face very soon.

Now go down the stairs, kill the two dogs down here and then light the bonfire in the newly opened area. You should now light your Torch on the bonfire (by pressing Triangle/Y) and then walk into the blacksmith’s room beside you. Light the unlit Sconce in front of you and then rest at the bonfire!

This will get the blacksmith McDuff to move off of the metal chest and start clanging away. You can now easily raid all the chests in his room for a very nice selection of freebies including: [2 x Large Titanite Shards] , [5 x Titanite Shards] , [10 x Iron Arrows] , [10 x Heavy Bolts] and finally [Craftman’s Hammer] along with a very rare [Twinkling Titanite] .

To The Optional Boss¶

With that little haul under our belt, run back up the stairs and look for rubble that acts as a ramp to the open platform on your right. You need to either be very careful when opening the door ahead (or very quick) as there’s about seven Royal Swordsmen walking around in there (and they can hurt you pretty bad pretty quickly).

If you want to take them all on then it’s wise to go in, grab their attention from a distance and then back off outside again where you’ll have more space to take them on.

If you want to run past them, you’ll need to quickly drop down the two flights of stairs just in front of the first door and make an immediate beeline for the ladder on your left. If you don’t rush up the ladder then the two Royal Guardsmen near the top won’t spot you.

To your right is a fog gate at the end of the corridor and it leads to a boss fight that many people tend to find very difficult (as it’s a 3 versus 1 battle)! But fret not; we’re here to make it much easier for you.

Boss Fight - Ruin Sentinels (x3)¶

Preparation is vital before you enter the fog gate; as you’ll drop onto an upper-floor platform with one of the three bosses right beside you! We strongly recommend that you don’t summon anyone for this fight either as it’ll only boost their HP levels.

• Equip yourself with the best physical damage shield you’ve got (the Drangleic Shield is perfect as it’s light and offers 100% physical protection).
• Apply a Gold Pine Resin to your right-hand weapon just before stepping through the fog gate.

Sentinel One Strategies¶

• As soon as you land on the platform, bring your shield up and strafe behind the sentinel. Watch out for its weapon swinging behind it; but get a hit or two in then get your shield back up.
• Do everything you can to stay up here (for now). If you fall down then you’ll have to face all three sentinels at the same time! (Far from fun on your first time fighting them).
• If the sentinel ever falls down to the ground below, back off into a corner and bring your shield up until it has jumped back up and attacked once.

Sentinels Two and Three Strategies¶

• Hang around on the upper platform for now (near the middle) and keep your shield up. Sentinel No. 2 will jump up soon so block the attack and get a sneaky hit in.
• Quickly activate any Lifegem and then fall off the platform to the ground below (the damage dealt from the fall will be regenerated by your lifegem).
• Once on the ground keep your shield up as often as possible and you’ll want to try and focus your attacks on the sentinel you damaged a minute ago (as he’ll die sooner).
• Keep your distance and only get in close when both sentinels have attacked and they’ve left a window for you to attack in.
• If they jump up high; immediately roll backwards twice as their reach is scarily far.
• Watch out for them throwing their shields at you. It’s a one-time-only attack; but it’ll really hurt if it hits! (So dodging to the left or right works well here).
• Finally; always try and keep both of them in your sights at all times. It’s frustratingly easy to be killed if you don’t as one will get a sneaky attack in without you knowing about it otherwise.

Secrets Galore¶

With the bosses down and out; it’s now time to pick up a few secrets via some cunningly hidden secret walls! Start by going to the middle of the wall that’s left of the broken double doors (on the bottom floor). Press the action button to make the wall rise up and reveal a new room.

Inside this new room is a ladder, so climb up it and open the metal chest for a spell [Hush] . The middle of this room also has another secret wall, it’s located up and to the left of where the ladder is and outside you can pick up [3 x Homeword Bones] .

Head back downstairs, through the proper exit opposite and at the top there’s another hidden wall on the left. Be careful here though as there’s a Wretch inside who’ll explode near you given the chance and it’ll do some ferocious damage to you (before getting back up to do it again )!

Once you’re ready, go through the upper floor platform and don’t stop running down this corridor! There’s a Wretch in a cell to your left that will explode and likely kill you if you stop near it. In this open room you’ll find another Bonfire to your left.

Secret Area¶

If you’ve got a spare Pharros Lockstone on you; then slide down the nearby ladder, kill the dog, raid the metal chest and use the lockstone on the wall. This’ll open up a hidden wall that leads to a totally new part of the prison known as Belfry Luna .

This area (which we cover in detail a bit further on as it’s an option part of the game) is one where you can join a new covenant and fight another boss that’ll be very familiar to Dark Souls 1 fans (although a bit more fraught if you’re not careful). It’s also an area where you’ll potentially fight a lot of human players who’ll invade your world with reasonable frequency (so bear that in mind).

Onwards to Sinners Rise¶

Wretches will play a big part for the remainder of this prison run so you need to keep your wits about you as they’ll only die when you kill them (so they’ll get back up and keep exploding at your feet until you die).

The best thing to do is to run right up to one ASAP and kill it (they have pretty low HP making one-hit kills fairly easy).

Run up the stairway opposite the bonfire and head out the door. There’s another Undead Jailer over to your left, so dispatch it and claim the [Effigy] from the very edge of the broken path behind it. Also; if you close the door you just came out of you can pick up a cheekily hidden [Soul of a Nameless Soldier] .

Run up the stairs in the tower and get ready for a series of Wretch-packed rooms. The first one is hidden behind the wooden barrels on the far-left so kill it before it stands up.

Then run around the corner and pull the lever. There’s three Wretches here in waiting so it’s advisable to, very quickly, work from closest to farthest with your strongest weapon. The next room has several Wretches hiding in the pots so ignore them for now and instead run into the doorway near the metal bars.

Press the action button by the far wall here to open a secret passageway and then run down the left-side and keep hitting the action button over and over until you trigger another secret wall and then when you’re outside run left and pick up the [Bracing Knuckle Ring] (great for melee players).

Be careful now as you run up the stairs to the next floor as there’s a couple of Wretches sitting down up here and the Wretches from the lower floor will follow you up here too. When they’re all dead pull the lever on the wall near the gate to raise the bars.

There’s another floor above, but it’s packed with Wretches and unless you have a Fragrant Branch of Yore it’s pointless going up there yet.

Instead, hang a right after going through the now-open gate and kill the Royal Swordsman here and pilfer the [8 x Lifegems] from the corpse.

Now run across the path (don’t stop otherwise the arches above will hit you) and cross through the fog gate to the next area; Sinner’s Rise .