10 Dark Souls Tips New Players Must Know

With the latest release of Elden Ring in the “Soulsborne” series, Fromsoftware’s famous lines of tough games got a new wave of audience. Naturally, new players are bound to start at the first Dark Souls game, however it would be a mistake to start without some tips so as to not get overwhelmed if not discouraged 3 hours into your first playthrough.

From mental preparation, to gameplay advice and finally to secrets, this guide will provide with 10 tips any new players must know before getting into the game itself.

First Tip For New Players of Dark Souls, Set Correct Expectations

The best tip to start with is to launch the game with a complete basic idea on what the gameplay really is about. Reviews, discussions and memes alike will tell you that Dark Souls and its complete trilogy is hardcore. However, isn’t it a bit too broad of a description? What difficulty is there to expect? Many would fall in the trap to begin the game with a false definition and be disappointed and enraged too early on because they were not mentally prepared to what they would expect.

You must have a good understanding on the gameplay’s premise before seeing this on your screen.

To describe Dark Souls’ difficulty, it is more about patience than true skill. The game does not expect you to start with an intimate knowledge of RPGs to even get passed the first few areas. More accurately, Dark Souls is built around learning your mistakes, the whole difficulty is revolved around you making mistakes from which the game will punish you for, directly or indirectly. Of course getting better at maneuvering and fighting is a must to finish the game, however that is learned automatically as you get used to the mechanics.

The other aspect making Dark Souls a game of patience is that there are no other checkpoints than bonfires. And considering most are a bit far away, dying so close to the next bonfire will have you redo an entire portion of the map with the enemies respawned. So expect doing that often if you are going to give the game a try.

Know Your Stats

Next up is finding out what each stats on your character do so you have a better idea on what to level up. In this section I will give an “easy to understand” description of how each stats will impact your character. A good rule of thumb with all stats is that after hitting 40 in a stat, it has peaked and upgrading it further won’t be worth your souls.

Leveling menu, notice the stats on the left side.

Vitality: Very simple to understand, it upgrades your maximum health point. And to give an idea on its potential, at about 40 points you will have as much HP as the starting bosses, which when you fight them normally is pretty decent when you know they have next to no armor and you probably have.

Attunement: This stat increases the maximum amount of spell slot you have for your magic spells. Considering spells seem to all have a limited amount of use, it is a good stat to have if you are going with a mage build.

Endurance: Leveling this stat increases your endurance bar, as well as equipment load (making equipped gear less heavy) and resistance to bleeding status (causes lots of additional damage by enemies with slashing type of weapons). 

Strength: Essential to lift the heavier weapons that is found throughout late game, it also acts as a boost to your damage. 

Dexterity: It acts the same as strength, but for weapons involving a more agile use, such as daggers, bows, rapiers, curved swords, etc… On another note, starting at 35 points, casting speed of attack spells is increased.

Resistance: Known as the black sheep of stats, it’s only use is to resist physical and fire attacks as well as resisting poison status better.

Intelligence: Important stat for builds involving Sorceries since a minimum requirement is needed to cast certain spells. It also grants bonus to damage with magic/enchanted weapons.

Faith: Miracle spells (common use for the Cleric class) uses the faith stats, it also increases magic defense.

Humanity is another stat in on itself, one that isn’t increased through souls. We will get more in depth about this item later on. For now this is all the stats you have to learn and choose next time you are at a bonfire with plenty of souls.

Recommended Class for First Playthrough

Something that will overwhelm player right as they create their character is the class to pick. Some class may be confusing to understand, and you might be afraid to pick the wrong one for your first playthrough. Describing each would be a guide all on its own, instead I will use my experience and what seems to be a consensus of the community to recommend two classes.

Warrior class, basic and easiest to understand.

First we have the warrior. Built to be a balance of power and defense. This makes them the easiest to get a grasp on and find your style, Granted you have a harder access to magic spells but hey, it should not matter when your focused stats are on weapons. If you want a more magic focused build, scroll downwards for the Sorcerer class.

Sorcerer class. Pretty powerful and opens up a lot of magic spells to use.

While it seems that it lacks the balance of offense and defense that the warrior has, if you are more of a magic user in other RPGs, you are most likely already familiar with a mage’s pros and cons. So long as you explore carefully you will easily find merchants to buy strong spells from and find others in the open.

Carefully Approach the Enemies

(NB: From this point on, images will be pulled from Youtuber SourceSpy91’s full no commentary playthrough on Dark Souls. Video can be found all the way down the article.)

If you plan on blindingly attack all enemies you find without any plan, Dark Souls will gladly put you back in your place. Truth is, the AI is good enough for new players to be wary of, big and small. They will attack, block, parry, backstab and dodge accordingly, they will even punish you for missing or healing in front of them. Needless to say, you have to adjust your strategy with every enemy. Let’s take an example with an Undead Soldier.

Just like a player, medium sized enemies will flinch from getting blocked.

A medium sized enemy are bound by the same rules as a player. In this case, consider every hollow soldier as a human enemy, they will trick you into blocking your attack and follow up with an attack. But if you can block them, dodge their attack or kick them, they’ll be left open to your own attack.

Backstabbing, the most satisfying animation in the game next to parrying.

All that’s left to you is punishing the enemy’s mistake, you can give your own attack during its window of vulnerability, or get right behind them and use the normal attack button to backstab them. If you are daring enough, you can press the strong attack button of your left hand right as the enemy’s attack is going to land followed by a normal attack for a parry.

Be Mindful With Your Souls and Humanities

When you die, your amount of soul and “consumed” humanities (the number on your health HUD) you had is left about where you died. But if you die again before recovering them it will be gone for good. In other words, if your number of consumed humanities and souls is high, avoid dying and if you do, be extra careful on your way back.

Souls and Humanities can be spent at bonfires.

Alright for souls, it’s used for leveling up, but what about humanities? How useful are they? This is where we follow up on the “knowing your stats” section. Kindling a bonfire to upgrade your quantity of Estus Flasks requires you one Humanity, but also to be human again, and to be human you have to spend one other humanity using “Reverse Hollowing.” Consider also that when you die, you lose your human status with no way of recovering it for free.

It is not even its only use, Consuming humanities increase your resistance to the dreaded “Curse” status (Not only kills you but halves your HP until you can get healed with a costly Purging Stone) and boosts your item discovery rate (excellent for farming rare items).

Humanities can be hard to acquire too, so be careful when consuming them, don’t use them as a heal unless absolutely necessary.

Reinforcing your Estus Flask

Estus Flask was previously mentioned, and you will eventually wonder how to reinforce the amount of HP it heals as your vitality increases.

A Fire Keeper Soul, found in the Undead Parish Church.

To reinforce your Estus Flask, you first need to find a Fire Keeper Soul. Warning: they are in very very limited quantity, it cannot be grinded. So while the game may allow you to consume it for additional souls. It is not worth it at all, at any point in the game. While the one at the Undead Parish Church is easy to find, getting others are more tricky and require careful exploration. You should also note you can only carry one of them at a time.

Firelink Shrine’s Fire Keeper. Found beneath below the starting bonfire.

Once you find one, go to the nearest Fire Keeper you find and give them your acquired soul for a +1 boost in your Estus Flask. Each boost costs just one Fire Keeper Soul. There are three NPCs that can grant this service (Hidden bonfire below Blighttown’s bell and the first bonfire of Anor Londo).

You could kill two of the the three NPCs for their soul, and give them to the Fire Link Shrine’s Fire Keeper. However keep in mind that it will make their bonfire unusable for the rest of the playthrough, though you can still warp to them after completing Anor Londo. They will no longer be considered checkpoints. Worse the remaining Fire Keeper may not be as safe of a “survivor” as you think. So it’s better to stick to fire keeper souls you find in the open, as rare as they are.

Good Items to Get

This section will serve as an example of good items to get you may not think existed on your first playthrough. Unlike other items you could find with thorough exploration and defeating the right enemy.

Lautrec, sitting there menacingly.

The first type of item is a ring only found equipped by the NPC named Lautrec. You may find him imprisoned at the top of Undead Parish church. But whether you choose to free him or not. Personal experience has shown that he would find a way out himself eventually. Once freed, you’ll find Lautrec sitting near the Fire Keeper of Firelink Shrine.

Arguably the best ring in the game. With a cost.

Two kicks in front of him and he will fall off to his death. Reload your game and his ring will stand where he sat. Congratulations, you will have not only prevented a difficult situation later on, but got one of the best ring item of the game. There is a cost though, you cannot ever remove it. If you do, it’ll break and disappear forever, with no duplicate.

Example of cutting the tail of a dragon.

Another style of item are the weapons you can find is by cutting the tail of dragons. Every dragon seems to have a hidden weapon to give if you cut their tail off. If you have the appropriate stats to equip them, these could be game changing if you are stuck with tough enemies.

Earliest tail you can cut.

An example is the red wyvern protecting the bridge you cross after the Taurus Demon boss. Going under the bridge you may have a clear shot at its moving tail. With enough precision and arrows for your bow, you will eventually cut it off. Earning you the Drake Sword. A strong sword so early in the game that’ll make the obstacles less unbearable to pass.

How to Return to Undead Asylum

Now that you have a good idea on the tricks and tips of gameplay. There are secrets the game won’t outright tell you. For example killing the NPC found after defeating Anor Londo’s boss room can be killed, transforming the entire city in a dark sky. But here we are talking about secret locations. Let’s start with the possibility of returning to the tutorial area.

From the elevator shortcut, quickly get on the ceiling.

After getting to the Undead Parish’s church you’ll most likely find the elevator shortcut back to Firelink Shrine. Get on this elevator and when you notice the ceiling of the floor below, land or walk to it. Continue walking on the right until you are in front of a cliff facing a structure.

If you are not too heavy you will be able to roll over to this small structure from the cliff.

Either jump or roll over the structure. if you manage to land, all that will be left to you is going up the following stairs until you come across a giant crow’s nest. Press the action button to mimic the shape of an egg and wait for the crow to pick you up.

What will be there to find you wonder? Well, a tougher version of the tutorial boss, worth a lot of souls! Near your landing zone, you will find another nest and crow’s voice wanting warm with your items. This is a trading spot. If it does not protest to the item you dropped on, reload and when you get back you will have another (mostly rare) item in exchange. Note that it will accept one item only once.

Ash Lake, The Secret Location

(NB: Before attempting to get there, make sure to have gotten the Lordvessel from Anor Londo beforehand to fast travel Getting back on foot is tougher than going in.)

The greatest secret of the entire map may be finding the access to Ash Lake. It is a tough journey but the splendid view and findings could be worth your while.

A tree root on the left of Blighttown’s bonfire, climb it.

from the bonfire at the bottom of Blighttown on the left, you may notice in the distance a big tree’s root. Get over there but mind the poisonous swamp. You will be able to climb it and find a corpse with a plank shield.

Two sets of illusory walls, Do not be deceived.

This is a trick of the developers, it’s not all this path has to offer. Behind the corpse is an illusory wall, hit or roll over it to reveal the path to… a treasure chest containing a twin humanities. Don’t be fooled, there is another illusory wall behind. when you get passed it, you will finally find a bonfire and a series of tree roots leading downwards. This is where the true challenge starts. 

The Great Hollow, Descend carefully.

Mind the enemies with its cursing breath. They are easy to avoid but still dangerous if you are not careful. When you reach the ground floor, find the ladders and then escape to the tunnel. It may have been tough but now you have arrived. Ash Lake.

Sneak peak to what awaits in Ash Lake.

Besides the amazing view and empowering music, you will notice a bonfire, sit there if you are not afraid of the way back. The sole enemies are an Hydra and a few walking clams. I will let those that want to explore themselves the surprise as to what awaits at the end of the road.

Two Ways to End the Story

On your first playthrough, once you rang the two bells you will be guided by a certain NPC into accomplishing “your destiny”, and others will help out on your quest. This will eventually lead to the final boss, after which all you will have to do is touch the last bonfire. STOP. What if you had the choice of not lighting this last bonfire? Truth is, all you have to do is leave the boss area after defeating them.

If you are not feeling like it, get out of there and accomplish the alternative ending.

This will grant you a second ending, from which the fate of the world is hinted at being massively impacted from that choice. What about context of that choice though? Here’s a final tip. Do not ever speak to Firelink Shrine’s Primordial Serpent, get the Lordvessel and defeat the Four Kings boss at New Londo.

Here we are. This was 10 tips new players of Dark Souls must know. Hopefully this guide will make you more at ease with playing this intimidating game. Again credits to SourceSpy91 for their walkthrough, this has been very helpful in the making of this guide. Dark Souls: Remastered is $39.99 on Steam, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One. Will you give it a try?