I did the same thing, I accidently killed a few NPCs that I sholdnt have and decided to make a new toon. I suggest going through the early stages as fast as possible and opening the door in darkroot gardens asap and then just level ur char there for like an hour. When you know what your doing the game really isnt that tough, its just the first playthrough thats difficult.

Where do I find the crest to open the door in the darkroot gardens? Never even tried it my last playthrough.

Buy it from the first blacksmith for 20k souls.

and you will make this back within 5 minutes. the trick is to run in and aggro the creeps and then run to the corner of the entrance that is next to the cliff. the creeps will run up the stairs and fall off the mountain trying to attack you. 3 of em are worth 2k souls and 1 is worth 1k souls. there are also a few really tough guys that are worth 5k souls but dont respawn.

You can also hug the left hand cliff edge as you go through the door and follow it to the small buidling Alvina the cat is in. From there only the axe guy will rush you, but he's no problem once you figure him out and then you can lure the rest out and fight them one by one.
In fact all you need is a shield that can withstand a couple of their blows as you can maneuver them to the cliff edge and then blast them off with the 'Force' miracle.

Any thoughts on what shield I should stick with to level up now that I'm restarting? Using a knight shield for now but haven't upgraded at all. Gonna say materials until I find a shield worth upgrading.

I'm pretty sure I know what has to be done to help kill this bastard, but executing it is the problem.. plus every time I die, I try to get cute with the easier enemies on the way to him and end up doing something dumb and dying lol.

Whats the general consesus for this game for people using guides/walkthroughs.. I'm borderline ready to check out some youtube vids of how to beat this bastard

I feel like it varies a lot because how much you look at guides can greatly alter the gaming experience more so than a lot of other games. The exploration and horror of what can be around the corner is a huge part of the games appeal for me, using a walkthrough would kill it for me personally but I end up having to look up how to beat bosses after dieing a million times and getting frustrated. IIRC this was kinda what most of 2'ers did for Demons Souls as well.


I must have died 20 times trying to figure out how the hell to kill Taurus, by the end I had a near perfect pattern of shield up running and re-upping stamina to get to him from the bonfire without having to fight anyone.

How to beat him:

Go for it unless you want to put a TON of time into this game while getting nowhere. I think I've already logged 80 hours between four characters and I still see/learn new stuff all the time.

Firebombs work really well of Taurus as well fwiw and they're pretty cheap at the first merchant iirc. I think we're good to drop the spoiler tags now, but that's just imo.

I've been using the Wiki since day one, but only for stuff like shard location/enemy drops/merchant location etc. There's just so much knowledge that would take forever to accumulate yourself. I'd nearly finished Demon's Souls before I found the Wiki and it made my second playthrough much more enjoyable.

For instance anyone who played Demon's Souls must agree that the poison swamp was a real ball-ache because of your restricted movement speed. Now in Dark Souls, there is another poison swamp, and also the base of Sen's Fortress has knee-deep water too. However there is a ring that lets you move freely in water, but it's very possible you may have slogged through these areas before you ever find it (if you ever do). Google 'Rusted Iron Ring' ftw.

In fact, it's not just useful items. There are also a couple of entire 'levels' that would be very easy to miss entirely.

Was just dicking around up there looking down on the chests was wondering if I could survive the drop but had a few too many souls on me to try.

Lol @ naming him "Snuggly."


Timmay: 80 hours? Damn dude. Respeck

I guess a little less than that actually. Got like 40, 10, 4, and 18 between my four guys. Really didn't like the middle two but def got it right the last time - or it seems that way so far at least.

What you going for this time?

I'm curious to hear your builds for each guy and what you liked/disliked about them that led you to your current guy, if you want to share.