DARK SOULS II Fist Souls: Fastest way to obtain the Vanquisher's Seal

EDITS FOR SCHOLAR OF THE FIRST SIN

The Scholar of the First Sin patch changed a lot of things in Dark Souls 2. One of many changes were tweaks to the Covenant of Champions covenant, which is integral to this guide.

Where before you needed to farm for 4 Bonfire Aescetics before you can start grinding for the Vanquisher's Seal, now you only need one. This is because the Covenant of Champions make enemies respawn indefinitely (like in the first Dark Souls), and as such the red phantom "Rhoy the Explorer" will also reappear to make farming much faster and easier.

I'm putting this preface before the guide (and before I rewrite the rest of the guide to better reflect these changes) to clarify these details that didn't exist when I first wrote this guide, and if any inconsistencies remain after I revise the guide, please let me know in the comments and I'll update it. I try to answer all questions that get asked in this thread, and am happy to have helped so many people get the Vanquisher's Seal.

That's all for now though. Happy grinding! The rest of the guide waits below.

Introduction

As previously stated, you'll need fifty Awestones to max out devotion to the Covenant of Champions, and get the Vanquisher's Seal. The fastest way to do this is to farm NPC Red Phantoms, which will respawn multiple times by using a Bonfire Ascetic.

You'll also get most of your Awestones from Rhoy the Explorer, and the last one from a different one. This guide will walk you through every step needed, from starting a brand new game, to getting the final Awestone needed to get the Vanquisher's Seal, and start punching things really hard. Also there will be screenshots and Youtube videos to help beat certain parts of game along the way.

There's a couple things to keep in mind with this guide:

1) After grinding Rhoy 49 times, it will raise your Soul Memory a TON. So if you're looking to play your brawler character with a friend, you may have a hard time doing so. The Name-Engraved Ring may help with this, though.

2) This guide will involve joining/leaving the Covenant of Champions. As long as you're in the Champion's Covenant all enemies will deal more damage and take more hits to kill. Also, you cannot summon other players for help, but you can be invaded by other players. So the guide will be organized in a way so you'll have to be in the Champion's Covenant for as little time as possible, so that the run will be easier.

That being said, let's start with the beginning of the game, step by step, and area by area.

New Game

1) Start a new game, and run through Things Betwixt like normal.

2) Enter the Fire Keeper's dwelling, and get yelled at by old women. Name your character and customize them to your liking.

3) This is the first really important part of the guide. Pick Cleric as your class. Also you can get a Bonfire Ascetic (1/4) as your starting gift, the first of four needed to properly farm for Awestones.

As a side note, Cleric isn't absolutely required, per se, but it's just incredibly convinient, as you'll need the 12 points in Faith the Cleric starts with to use the Miracle "Force" (will get to this later), and you'll also start with the Cleric's Sacred Chime, which lets you cast Miracles faster than usual. Not to mention the fact you'll also start with a single Attunement slot, which is all you need. Yes, you can level any other class to have the required amount of Faith and Attunement, and buy the Cleric's Sacred Chime fairly early in the game. But picking Cleric now would be much faster. Besides, you can find a Soul Vessel ingame and use it to re-allocate your stat points after you get the Vanquisher's Seal, if you'd so like.

4) Run through Things Betwixt as normal. You can collect the items littered through here (Soul items, Lifegems) that you can use later in the game, but it's not really needed. It's faster to just skip to...

5) Majula! Light the bonfire here, grab your trusty Estus Flask from the Emerald Herald, grab the Estus Flask Shard in the well, and make your way to a downward set of stairs to the left side of Majula, leading to a large, circular room. One path is blocked off with bars, so continue down the other corridor, and start with the first real area of the game...

Heide's Tower Of Flame

If you've already played Dark Souls 2 the regular not-punching-things-in-the-face way, you'll already know this area is littered with large Old Knights. They're fairly slow, and telegraph their attacks in a very obvious way, but hit fairly hard, and are pretty dangerous to lower level players. Keep this in mind as we start the first really dangerous part of the game.

Or it can be very easy, if you use an easy trick that makes this area utterly trivial.

1) Run past the first Old Knight and light the bonfire. It's not absolutely required, really, and can be skipped entirely if you want to save even more time. But it's a nice little safeguard in case you screw up and die, so you don't have to walk all the way back from Majula. If you DO light the first bonfire here, make sure you rest so that an aggro-ed Old Knight won't be waiting for you right at the top of the stairs.

2) The Old Knights are fairly slow, so you can run past all of them right to the fog door. Just be mindful of your Stamina bar, and watch out for any knights winding up an attack. While they're slow and obvious, some of them have really large weapons, and therefore longer range. If you decide to take the slow route and kill each knight, you'll get some cool rewards, including a Sublime Bone Dust from a mace weilding one. You'll also notice that levers raise from the ground after killing certain knights. But...

3) Ignore the levers, and run straight to the fog door to the right (Left leads to the Old Dragonslayer, who is a much harder boss). You'll see that the Dragonrider's boss arena will be smaller because of this, and you'll risk falling to your death if you linger by the edge. This is actually a good thing, because...

4) This.

This is the dumbest, most hilarious moment in all of Dark Souls for me. It's so easy to do that it makes all of Heide's Tower of Flame redundant. You don't need to grind in order to be strong enough to beat Dragonrider, you don't need to waste time summoning help to make sure he's beaten, just immediate results in roughly eight seconds. You CAN fight him if you want to, but again, that'll take more time. This guide is for doing this as fast as possible. If you want to take the leisurely route, be my guest.

For people who have a hard time pulling this off, I find it helps to not move at all after entering the fog door, and watch Dragonrider's feet. He will slowly walk towards you, and reliably do his powerstab attack (that leads to his doom) after six steps. Run at him and dodge to the right (his left) right when he takes the sixth step. It will work nine times out of ten.

5) Once you defeat the Dragonrider, light the bonfire that is right after the boss fight, and if you want, use the souls gained from the fight to level up a few times. But before you do anything, talk to the woman that is here. She is Licia of Lindeldt, and she will sell Miracles (along with the Cleric's Sacred Chime, if for some reason you didn't start as a Cleric). Make sure you exhaust her dialogue. You'll know when this happens when she starts repeating herself. This is required to make sure she goes to Majula later.

6) Buy the miracle "Force" for 1800 souls. This is ESSENTIAL for when we actually farm Rhoy the Explorer down the road to get the needed Awestones, so make sure you get Force first before using your Dragonrider winnings to level up/get gear/whatever you want to do before continuing. Attune the spell if you want, as it is useful for pushing enemies off cliffs, but it's not necessary yet.

7) Once you're done spending your newfound souls and have the Force miracle in tow, continue onwards from the second Heide's Tower bonfire through a flooded church looking place. After this, you'll end up in...

No-Man's Warf

Pirates and traps ahoy! Definitely one of the more annoying areas of the game for low level players. I suggest bringing along summoned help to get through this area easier. That being said, there isn't very much that needs done here, so you can beat the area as you would in a normal playthrough, except keep these in mind:

1) The Royal Soldier's Ring is hidden behind a breakable wall late in this area. It increases Equip Load, serving as this game's equivalent of Havel's Ring from the first Dark Souls. While it's not absolutely needed, you might want this later once you have the Vanquisher's Seal, as it'll give you more leeway in wearing heavier armors without compromising the all-important dodge roll. This fact alone will make it useful even while following the steps of this guide, so I reccomend grabbing it.

2) The last part of this area is a pirate ship which has the fog door leading to the area boss, The Flexile Sentry. While he's not too tough to beat, this will be the first boss you'll have to actually fight legitimately, and can be tough if you're careless. If you're having trouble killing him, you can click HERE[darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com] to read up on the boss' page on the Dark Souls 2 wiki, and get some tips on how to successfully beat him. And as always, Summoned players make the fight WAY easier.

3) THIS is the most important part, and why this guide even goes to No-Man's Warf in the first place. After defeating the Flexile Sentry there is a contraption that moves the pirate ship to the next area, The Lost Bastille. DO NOT TOUCH IT. Instead, look around in the rooms after beating the Flexile Sentry, and you'll find a Pyromancy Flame. This is absolutely necessary later, and you won't be able to get back on the pirate ship after making it move, so make sure you get the Pyromancy Flame before you continue at all.

4) With the Pyromancy Flame in tow, activate the contraption to move the Pirate Ship into the next area...

The Lost Bastille

Compared to the many annoyances of No-Man's Warf, The Lost Bastille is actually somewhat easy in comparison. That doesn't mean you should underestimate this area, as the large mummy-like guards can deal a lot of damage, the scrappy looking wolves can inflict bleed, and there are a wave of longsword-weilding Royal Soldiers that can easilly overpower you. Not to mention the area boss, the Ruin Sentinels, consist of three enemies, and are considerably harder than the Flexile Sentry. As always, Summoned Help will make things much easier.

But press onwards, as we'll find the second Bonfire Ascetic that is needed here. And this will open the way to Sinner's Rise later, allowing you to fight the Lost Sinner and light one of four Primordial Bonfires to progress the game at your leisure.

1) Progress through the area as normal. Be wary of ambushes by Royal Soldiers, they can really ruin your day. One way or another, fight your way to the Ruin Sentinels Boss Fight.

2) After defeating the Ruin Sentinels you'll have to walk through quite a bit of the Lost Bastille before hitting Sinner's Rise. But you won't need to go to Sinner's Rise for this guide anyway, so that'll be for another time.

3) Eventually you'll find a lot of these annoying mummy undeads that lunge at you and explode violantly. They're similar to the ones in Grave of Saints before the Gutter, but these ones can actually explode multiple times. They're very dangerous, but also very frail, so kill them before they can explode.

4) There is one last bridge in the Lost Bastille leading into Sinner's Rise, so if you enter Sinner's Rise, go back. You've gone too far. Instead go back into the room right before the bridge, and open the wooden door along the wall. You'll see a corpse and a torture cage. The cage, like most others like it, will act as an elevator to a lower area where items await. But if you ride it the safe way you'll miss the Bonfire Ascetic that waits below. Instead, roll off the ledge to the right of the torture cage, and you'll land along a ledge that has a Bonfire Ascetic (2/4) lying on it. If you're health is too low and you die from the fall, buy the Silvercat Ring from Sweet Shalquoir (IE: Talking Cat) in Majula. Though it is unlikely that the fall will kill you, buy the ring anyway if you get a chance. It's required later in this guide anyway.

If you're having trouble finding the Bonfire Ascetic, this video will show you where it is:

With the second Bonfire Ascetic in possession, warp back to Majula. The next area will be fairly difficult, and will require fighting your first NPC phantom and getting your first Awestone. So prepare yourself before venturing to...

Huntsman's Copse

This area ratchets up the difficulty that much more over the Last Bastille. It's littered with Bandit Hollows that attack quickly, sprinkled with other hollows that will shoot arrows at you from afar. But don't underestimate these bow weilding foes, as they'll pull out close range weapons when you approach them. This, coupled with large sickle using hollows and perched butterflies that will rain poison powder on you, will make this area fairly annoying. Once again, summoned help will get you far, but there will be a point where you won't be able to call for help. I'll get to that in a sec.

1) From Majula, go back to the rotating room that you passed through to get to Heide's Tower of Flame. Licia should be here now, if you exhausted her dialogue after killing the Dragonrider in Heide's Tower of Flame. You'll need to pay 2000 souls for her to rotate the room to reach Huntsman's Copse. Do so, and progress up to the first bonfire in Huntsman's Copse, and then continue onwards until you reach the second bonfire in Huntsman's Copse (it's actually not too far, oddly enough).

2) There are two branching paths one can take in Huntsman's Copse. One leads to the Nightmare Chariot boss fight, which in turn leads to a dead end. Unless you really want to join the Brotherhood of Blood covenant later, skip it. Instead take the other way, which leads to the Skeleton Lords boss fight. On the way, you'll see a hut that contains the area's third bonfire. Unfortunately, it's locked, so progress along the narrow pathway, being careful of the hollows that litter it. Try not to fall.

3) PROGRESS VERY CAREFULLY. An NPC Red Phantom will invade you if you approach the last stretch before the boss door to the Skeleton Lords. While Rhoy is guaranteed to not show up as long as you are playing online, I'm not sure if this one will still appear or not. Just to be safe, try not to go too far. While this invader isn't absolutely essential to this guide, it's just very conviniently placed, as Rhoy the Explorer will only give you 49 of fifty Awestones, meaning you'll have to get the last one elsewhere. This Red Phantom is convinient, as it is on the way to our next step anyway, so it'll have you a bit of time getting your first Awestone now.

4) Eventually you'll come across another hut to the left, which will contain the Undead Lockaway Key (and two Hollows! So be careful for that). You can see the location of the hut here:

As soon as you have the key, turn back to the locked door to the third bonfire. Unlock it, and warp back to Majula.

5) If you want to kill the red phantom and get your first Awestone, this is required. It's a really good idea to do this now, but if for some reason you want to get your last Awestone elsewhere, feel free to ignore the next couple of steps entirely. Go to the Victor' Stone in Majula, and join the Covenant of Champions. Being a member of this covenant is the ONLY WAY to get Awestones, as invaders and certain enemies won't drop them otherwise. Being in this coveneant isn't without it's downsides, however, as enemies will be noticibly more difficult to defeat. Not to mention you cannot summon help when in the Champion's Covenant, but can still be invaded by other players. This makes the game much harder, but such is life when trying to beat Dark Souls in an efficient, fun manner.

After joining the Champion's Covenant, warp back to the third bonfire in Huntsman's Copse, and quit to the main menu.

6) Quit Dark Souls 2 entirely, and find a way to disconnect your computer from the internet. Either you can unplug your internet router, mess with your computer settings, etc., or you can close Steam, and re-launch it in offline mode. If done correctly, when you launch Dark Souls 2 again it'll warn you that the game can't connect to the internet, and will start in offline mode. MOST (if not all) NPC RED PHANTOMS WILL ONLY INVADE WHEN IN OFFLINE MODE. Make sure you kill your interenet connection for this step, and for when it's time to farm Rhoy the Explorer. This will have the side benefit of making sure invading players stay out, which is convinient, but it also blocks out any Jolly Cooperation, so once you're done you may want to quit a second time and reconnect Steam/Dark Souls 2 to the internet.

7) Continue through Huntsman's Copse as you did before. Again, being in the Champion's Covenant and being offline will guarantee that you cannot summon help for this coming fight. Make sure you are well equipped to fight the hollows that stand between you and the Red Phantom. Once you pass the hut that once had the Undead Lockaway Key, you'll eventually be invaded by http://NPC Red Phantom Merciless Roenna

Roenna has the Bone Scythe equipped, which has pretty decent reach and can inflict bleed if it hits you enough. She also has an Estus Flask with her, which will heal her of any inflicted damage, and prolong the fight further if you can't stun her before she takes a swig. Fortunately she only has around 1500 HP, so if you've got good Strength stats and a good weapon, you should be able to take her down. Alternatively if you have the Force miracle Attuned, you can attempt to knock her off the cliff for an easy kill. Fortunately you don't need to loot Awestones from the corpse, so you can kill her in this cheap fashion to ensure you get the Awestone.

As as side-note. If you're killed by Roenna she'll respawn when you approach the area again, so don't worry if you die. You'll get another chance to kill her.

8) With your first Awestone obtained, return to Majula and speak to Sweet Shalquoir. Leave the Covenant of Champions so that you can go back to normal NG levels of dificulty, and summon help again. Do not offer any Awestones to the Victor's Stone until you have all fifty.

9) Now that you can summon again, return to the third bonfire in Huntsman's Copse, grab a Phantom friend or two, and fight the Skeleton Lords. Note that blunt weapons like Maces do bonus damage to them. Also they may be the only bosses in the game that can be backstabbed, making them fairly easy. Also keep in mind that when one of the Skeleton Lords die, they'll spawn three or four smaller skeletons, so take them down one at a time to avoid getting overwhelmed. The fight is only slightly hard because you fight three Lords at once, but it's not nearly as tough as the Ruin Sentinels in Lost Bastille.

With the Skeleton Lords defeated, we're currently at one Awestone and two out of four Bonfire Ascetics. Also after the several boss fights and waves of enemies you've fought, you should be quite capable at this point. While leveling up, put most of your points into Strength. This will, naturally, give you a better attack, and prepare you for when you will start punching everything Dark Souls 2 has to offer. And while you're working to get the Seal, points in strength will make the starting Mace hit even harder. At any rate, you've progressed quite far in this guide, so well done! But we aren't done yet, because next up is...

Harvest Valley/Earthen Peak

While this section is VERY important since it has the third Bonfire Ascetic and two great NPC merchants in Chloanne and Gilligan, it is surprisingly short and easy. Especially in comparison to everything else you had to slog through to get here. But because it's easier doesn't mean you should underestimate it. Don't forget the game you're playing. Keep your wits about you, and you'll be through this area within fifteen minutes or so MAX.

1) Light the first bonfire in Harvest Valley. Note that this game warns you right off the bat by having a poison pool right outside the bonfire. There's a lot of poison up ahead, so make sure you're stocked on lifegems, and restorative items.

2) VERY close by the first bonfire is Stone Trader Chloanne. She's an awesome merchant, as she sells various Titanite that can be used to upgrade gear. But most importantly, she sells a Bonfire Ascetic (3/4). Buy the Bonfire Ascetic for 7500 Souls. Also exhaust her dialogue so she moves to Majula. She'll be an invaluable NPC to have around when you want to upgrade your gear.

3) Run through Harvest Valley. While the giants look large and intimidating, they move very slowly. They also can shoot orbs of dark magic at you, but they can only shoot straight ahead, meaning if you're at all higher or lower than them, they can't touch you. That being said, just run past them, save your Estus for the trek ahead. Run straight through until you see a blocked off door stopping your progress. Climb up a ladder to the right and kill the fragile hollows that guard a lever. Pull it to open the door that leads to the area's second bonfire.

Keep in mind that, while this area is really short, it's brimming with items. While most are not at all needed for this guide, some players may want the goodies that lay within. But going for them will mean having to brave the enemies that lurk around and swimming around in way more poison. You WILL get poisoned by the way, it's practically guaranteed if you go for the secrets in this area. So for the purposes of this guide, they will be skipped entirely.

4) Continue running through Harvest Valley (Go in the cave entrance to the right from the bonfire) until you see a fat hollow right at the end with a large hammer. He's about as tough as you'd expect: He's slow but hits like a dumptruck. Dispatch of him to end up in...

5) Earthen Peak! That certainly didn't take long. Be wary of the fat Hammer undeads that roam around, and the squishy mushroom looking guys that spew poison. Also in this entire area, don't roll through pots. They're full of poison. Right away there's a fog door leading to a boss, and it's flanked by hammer undead. Proceed with caution.

6) The next boss is the Covetous Demon. He's a big fat guy that will attack with sweeping swipe attacks. While he isn't too hard, he will do a lot of damage if you let him hit, and has a few tricks to get a cheap shot at you. Also if he licks his lips, RUN. If his tounge hits you, he'll eat you, which deals a ton of damage. Also if you survive, it strips you of all your equipment, meaning you'll have to quickly re-equip ALL of your stuff while Jabba the Hutt gears up for another knuckle sandwich.

If you have trouble with this boss, you can find the Dark Souls 2 wiki page on the Covetous Demon HERE.[darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com]

7) With the Covetous Demon dealt with, there's still a bit of Earthen Peak to go, sadly. Fortunately there's a bonfire right after the boss, so you won't have to walk all the way back from Harvest Valley. The enemies here are notably harder than Harvest Valley, by the way. The Manakin enemies that litter the place attack very quickly, and have a fondness for throwing knives (which can poison,by the way). Keep your Estus ready, and bring a summoned friend. Eventually you'll find the second bonfire behind a fog door.

Something to look out for when you find the second bonfire is the windmill right before it. Light a torch at the second bonfire, and you'll be able to set the windmill on fire. This will drain all the poison out of Harvest Valley and Earthen Peak, and make the upcoming boss slightly easier, so make sure you do this.

8) The rest of Earthen Peak after the second bonfire is quite a bit easier, and there isn't much left to do. If you wish, go up the stairs to a room open to the outside. Break the fence and walk to the left alongside the wall to speak to Laddersmith Gilligan. He's a shrewd businessman, and you have to exhaust his dialogue AND pay 2000 souls before he'll move to Majula, but he sells really cool stuff. And also, true to his name, he builds ladders, which we'll need later.

Speaking of ladders, once you're done with Gilligan, return to the second bonfire and go up the stairs (beware of the Sen's Fortress-esque floor trap in this room). There will be a ladder to the left, so climb it. At the top, go to the left, and progress through several hallways (be careful of the Pyromancer enemies that lurk here. Their fire hits very hard). You'll be at the boss door before you know it, though beware of it's guards.

Also if you haven't summoned any help yet, you'll find a summon sign for an NPC White Phantom, Jester Thomas. Despite his funky look he packs powerful pyromancy, and is a great asset for the coming boss ahead. Speaking of which:

9) Mytha, the Baneful Queen. Snake Lady's lair is surrounded by a poison pool, even if you burned down the aforementioned windmill, so be careful of that. Her spear attacks pack a punch and have long reach, so be ready to dodge/block when ready. She can also throw her head, which will scream and cast an AOE effect similar to Wrath of the Gods. This will hurt, so if you survive be sure to heal immediately. Like every boss in Dark Souls, summoned help makes things much easier, so find whatever works in defeating the Baneful Queen.

Once again, if you're having issues, give this video a watch to get an idea on how Mytha attacks:

We're nearing the end of the preparations needed to farm Rhoy! Packing three out of four Bonfire Ascetics needed, it's time to enter...

A Tiny Bit Of Iron Keep/Shaded Woods

As the title suggests, we actually won't need to delve too deep in either of these areas, so take solace in the fact that you won't have to fight anymore bosses until after you can punch their stupid faces in. These steps are kind of short, but no less important, so pay attention.

1) After defeating the Baneful Queen, you'll enter into the volcanic scenery of Iron Keep. The first bonfire is close by, so make sure you light it, as you'll be needing it in a bit. Continue forward, being careful of the katana weilding knights that guard the door. They're pretty tough. Once you open the door, kill the two knights that dwell in the first room, and go to he first hallway to the right of the door.

2) Another merchant, Magerold of Lanafir, will be sitting here. He won't move to Majula, so there's no need to exhaust his dialogue this time, but you can if you want to. He sells a Fragrant Branch of Yore, so make sure that you have the souls needed to buy it.

3) On the way out of Magerold's room you'll see a flight of stairs to the right, with a katana knight waiting at the top. Climb the stairs and kill him, and look around for a Pharros Lockstone. You'll be needing this later.

4) Return to the bonfire and warp to Majula. From here go up the hill leading to the entrance to Things Betwixt, but instead take the right entrance instead of the left. You'll find the sealed entrance to Shaded Woods here, with a petrified Rosabeth of Melfia stuck to the mechanism to open the door. Use the Fragrant Branch of Yore here to unpetrify her.

5) I want to make this it's own step because it's important. DO NOT use the lever while Rosabeth is in this room! Enemies will flood the room, and likely kill her. And besides, all it does is open the door to Shaded Woods proper, which isn't needed for this guide, so you can do it later after you have the Vanquisher's Seal. Don't get Rosabeth killed, you need her for this to work.

6) Buy the Pyromancy "Flash Sweat" from her for 2300 souls, and attune it at the bonfire. Equip your Pyromancy Flame, and warp back to the Iron Keep bonfire.

7) This is where things get a bit tricky. There's a gap to the right of the bridge at the beginning of Iron Keep leading to a line of four rocks right at the top of the lava. Two out of the four are on fire, and will burn you to death if you stay on them for too long. Use Flash Sweat (and a lifegem if you want, as the damage still racks up quickly even with Flash Sweat). Then, run and jump from rock to rock, taking a swig of Estus on the cold rock between. This is kind of tricky to pull off, so be ready to die. But don't lose heart, as the last Bonfire Ascetic (4/4!) waits at the end of these rocks.

If you're having trouble, here's another video guide. It's a pretty tricky jump to pull off:

With the fourth Bonfire Ascetic in tow, it's time to go to the Grave of Saints to farm Rhoy the Explorer for the remaining 49 Awestones. There is one annoying part to get through first, but your days of fighting tough enemies and bosses are, for now, over.

The Majula Hole, Grave Of Saints, And Rhoy The Explorer

We're almost done! There was quite a bit of prepwork to go through, but you're finally ready to farm the NPC Red Phantom, Rhoy the Explorer, and take your well earned Vanquisher's Seal in the fastest way known. This last part, Grave of Saints, isn't very tough, but it can get annoying. And it can be even more annoying to get to the Grave, as it involves a lot of falling.

1) JOIN THE COVENANT OF CHAMPIONS IF YOU HAVEN'T YET. The Victor's Stone is kind of out of the way, so it's a bit easy to forget to do this, and nothing is worse than starting to farm Rhoy, only to realize you aren't getting Awestones. And after all the effort gone into getting to this point, that feeling is going to suck. A lot. So do yourself a favour and see if you're in the Champion's Covenant. If you're not, fix that now.

2) Before you even think of going down the Majula hole you have to find a way to not die in the process. If you haven't already, purchase the Silvercat Ring from Sweet Shalquoir for 13400 souls. It's not cheap, but it's one of the only ways to survive the fall. Make sure you buy this ring, it's absolutely necessary.

Alternatively if you exhausted his dialogue in Earthen Peak, Laddersmith Gilligan will set up shop next to the Majula Hole, offering his ladder building services to make traversing the deep a little easier. While you can go down the hole with the Silvercat Ring alone, having a ladder or two will give a nice lead when you're ready to make the trip (Also buying all three ladders from him unlocks an Achievement). Even having one ladder purchased from him will lessen the first fall when you start your trip down the Hole.

3) Time to go down the hole. Equip the Silvercat Ring, and aim for the topmost plank down the hole. This drop will hurt, so keep your Estus and Lifegems ready. From here, drop from plank to plank, going for the ones closest to you so you don't have to risk too many long jumps.

If you're having trouble figuring out where to go (because it IS possible to go too far, and go the wrong way), this video will show you how it's done:

Once you traverse the Hole, you'll be in the Grave of Saints' first bonfire, "Harval's Resting Place". Keep this bonfire in mind, it will be important later.

4) Grave of Saints isn't too hard, as the only enemies here are rats, which will stop following you if you run away fast enough. The only thing that really sucks about this area is the Rat King Covenant, which will forcibly summon you as a grey phantom to run through a covenant member's gauntlet of traps and forced PVP. It's really annoying, and easilly the worst part of the game. At least you won't have to be here long before disconnecting your internet again.

Anyway, run straight through from the bonfire, and take a right when the hallway splits left and right. You'll find a ladder along the right wall. Again, very important, and I'll explain why in a sec.

Also, ignore every Pharros Lockstone contraption along the way. They're all traps, and will screw you over one way or another. You will throw down a Pharros Lockstone in a sec, which we'll get to in a moment.

5) At the top of the ladder is a Pharros Lockstone contraption. This is the only one that isn't a trap, and if anything, lowers a bridge when used. This is necessary for farming Rhoy, as it makes killing him (especially after an Aesetic or two) WAY easier. After lowering the bridge continue down the hallway before the bridge to find the second bonfire right before the boss door. Do not take the boss door yet, just light the bonfire.

6) Return to the main menu and quit Dark Souls 2. Like before in Huntsman's Copse, kill your internet connection, or start Steam in offline mode. Make sure that you get an error message when you restart Dark Souls 2 saying the game is starting in Offline Mode. You're doing it right this way, as Rhoy won't spawn when playing regularly.

7) After reloading the game offline, rest at the bonfire and attune your "Force" Miracle, and equip your Sacred Chime.

8) Backtrack a bit and drop down the ladder, then immediately climb back up. For whatever reason, this causes Rhoy to invade your game. As soon as Rhoy invades, run across the bridge and wait in the doorway at the end. The Rats won't follow you this far, but Rhoy will sprint at you. Don't underestimate him, as he has an invisible Shotel equipped.

9) As Rhoy runs at you, spam Force to stunlock him until he falls off the bridge and dies. You'll get an Awestone when he dies.

While it's not too hard, you can follow this video to see how to do it properly:

10) Go back to the second bonfire, and kill the Royal Rat Authority boss. It's not THAT hard, it's just cheap. Rats will swarm into the room, and you have to kill them for a while until the actual boss appears (A rat with black spiky hair). Sweeping weapons Greatswords, or long weapons that hit multiple enemies like Halberds work wonders here. Rats are also weak to fire, so Pyromancy and/or Firebombs will kill them very quickly.

11) After killing the Royal Rat Authority, go back to the second bonfire, and warp to Harval's Resting Place (The first bonfire).

12) Burn a Bonfire Ascetic here. Only at Harval's resting place, though, not the second bonfire. Burning at the first bonfire won't respawn the Royal Rat Authority, but will respawn Rhoy the Explorer twelve times.

As a side-note, if you get killed by Rhoy the Explorer, it won't use up one of his respawns. However, if you and him die at the same time, it will use one of his respawns, and rob you of an Awestone. So be careful of Rhoy, especially after using a couple Bonfire Ascetics.

13) Rinse and repeat. Warp to the second bonfire, go down and back up the ladder, get invaded by Rhoy, run across the bridge, wait, knock Rhoy off bridge, get Awestone, rest at the second Bonfire, and repeat twelve more times. After twelve times (he will stop spawning after twelve times), return to Harval's Resting Place and burn another Bonfire Ascetic, and keep going. After using all four Bonfire Ascetics, you'll have all fifty Awestones! You're done! You've collected fifty Awestones without going into NG+, and the fun part is about to begin.

Conclusion

Now that you have fifty Awestones, warp back to Majula, and go to the Victor's Stone. Unfortunately this part is a bit tedious, as you have to make fifty offers to the Victor's Stone in a row. Fortunately, you get three prizes for maxxing out devotion to the Champion's Covenant:

Rank 1: Great Magic Weapon: Not really useful considering that this guide is focused for getting the Vanquisher's Seal. But Great Magic Weapon is as good here as it was in the first Dark Souls. So if you want to build a Great Magic Weapon build with a sorcerer, feel free to follow a shortened version of this guide, and collect only ten Awestones. Done!

Also no, you can't cast Great Magic Weapon on your fists. So sad.

Rank 2: First Dragon Ring: It's essentially the same as the Ring of Favor and Protection from the first Dark Souls, boosting your HP, Stamina, and Equip Load by 5%. Doesn't sound like much, but it really does help. It also pairs well with the Royal Soldier's Ring in No-Man's Warf, allowing you to boost your Equip Load without having to put too many points into Vitality.

And last but not least...

Rank 3: VANQUISHER'S SEAL! SUPERCHARGED FIST POWER TO PUNCH THINGS! Although the ring has the added benefit of granting the ability to powerstance your fists, as if you're dual wielding weapons. This not only makes your fists even stronger, but your left-handed light attack lets you attack twice in quick succession, and your left-handed heavy attack lets you spin around with your fists out like Zangief from Street Fighter, dealing heavy damage.

No to mention reaching Rank 3 in the Covenant of Champions will give an achievement, if you're into that sort of thing.

At this point, you can leave the Covenant of Champions, and enjoy your newfound godhood by unleashing your fists upon the poor denizens of NG difficulty. You can use the Vanquisher's Seal well into NG+ and beyond, utilizing it's raw power and speed to beat bosses to a pulp. Help your friends who are struggling with hard parts of the game by PUNCHING IT REALLY HARD. You can even circumvent the dreaded Fate of the Undead by PUNCHING FATE IN THE FACE. The possibilities are endless!

For now, thank you very much for reading this guide! If there are any errors, or ways to speed up the process a little bit, leave a comment and I'll take a look, making changes as needed.

1/4/15: Hindsight, Bone Fist, And Other Notes

It's been six months-ish since I uploaded this guide, and I wanted to thank everyone who used it. I've tried to be quick to reply to questions made in the comments, and help people gain the ability to punch Dark Souls 2 harder than they could previously.

But before you write this new section off as gushy thank-you nonsense, there's actually new info here! When I originally wrote this guide I hadn't beaten the game yet, and wasn't very good at PVP. Now that I have played the game to death and beaten it many times with many different builds, it has changed my opinion on the Vanquisher's Seal.

Even when I first posted this guide people were skeptical about my insistence that Vanquishers was the best item in the game. Of course, having used a myriad of weapons, I'll have to disagree as well. To be fair, the speed and damage of the Vanquisher's Seal is amazing depending on how early in the game you can get it. And it's one of those weapons that, if you really want to, you can use it through a whole playthough, and well into NG+ and onwards (like the regular Mace, for instance). But it definitely isn't the best.

The pros I mentioned before for Vanquisher's is still very much true: It's fast, and does really good damage if you invest in Strength. But the cons are also hard to ignore. Range is practically nonexistant, and if you try fist weapons after being accostomed to melees with good range (Greatswords, lances, etc.) it'll take a lot of getting used to. Not to mention the "It's good if you have enough strength" argument is a double edged sword; Vanquisher's does great damage with strength investment, but then again that fact is the same for all other Strength weapons, with the added benefit of range, being able to be buffed, etc.

Tl:dr I still think Vanquisher's is great, but it's definitely not as amazing and overpowered as I said it was.

Also, with the release of the Crown of the Ivory King came a strong contender to the Vanquisher's Seal:

The Bone Fist

The Bone Fist is similar to Vanquisher's Seal in some respects. It's a fist weapon where nearly ALL damage scales with your Strength stat and practically has no range compared to most weapons. But also there are really big differences: namely a new, incredibly badass moveset that only gets more diverse depending on how you use it. It's an actual weapon (rather than a ring), so it can be upgraded, buffed, and even have enchantements on it. The moves are a bit slower compared to the Vanquisher's Seal (and therefore can be parried easier), but each hit have a large amount of poise break, and even can knock down the enemy. The most ridiculous part of this weapon is that it even has a ranged attack: Powerstanced heavy attacks become a energy blast which can hit distant foes. And while the animation isn't quick, it can still trip up people in PVP.

So if that last paragraph isn't any indication, I absolutely adore the Bone Fist. In all honesty, I like it more than the Vanquisher's Seal. Keep in mind that the Bone Fist doesn't replace the Vanquisher's Seal outright, as both are equally viable in their own way. So I'll list off some pros and cons to both weapons when compared to each other:

Vanquisher's Seal:

+Very fast

+Doesn't have stat requirements to powerstance

+Can be obtained earlier in the game

+Doesn't require purchasing DLC

+Weight is .5 less than Bone Fist

-Doesn't do nearly as much poise damage

-No knockdown moves

-Takes up a ring slot

-No range attacks

-Requires lots of Bonfire Ascetics, making the Rat Covenant area quite scary for low level players

-Can only powerstance bare fists, can't be used with other Fist weapons

Bone Fist:

+Attacks are reasonably fast, though not as fast as Vanquisher's

+Attacks do a lot of poise damage

+One handed, two handed, and powerstance movesets combo very well into each other

+Access to many knockdown moves

+Powerstance works with all fist weapons (Bone Fist + Malformed claw, for instance!)

+Hadouken ranged attack

-Requires Crown of the Ivory King DLC

-Requires defeating Aava, the King's Pet. A fairly difficult boss that requires a key item to beat.

-Elyum Loyce is past the Shrine of Winter, meaning it's impossible to get Bone Fist before Four Lords. (Unless a friend drop trades it to you)

-Flashy moveset with lots of wind-ups that experienced players can easily parry.

Conclusion:

I hope that clarifies a few things about the Vanquisher's Seal, and fist weapons in general. The Vanquisher's Seal AND the Bone Fist both are very fun weapons to use, and offer a pretty different way to play through Dark Souls 2. Thank you all for reading through the entire guide, and I hope you enjoy punching your way through Drangleic.

2/5/2015: Scholar Of The First Sin, Agape Ring

Thanks FROMSoft for making me have to update this yet again. So Scholar of the First Sin is the much anticipated overhaul of a lot of aspects in Dark Souls 2. I won't go further into it, because chances are if you are reading this guide you know about this already.

This section will be for any relevant changes I find in Scholar of the First Sin that can be applied to this guide, and the first isn't very important, but is GREAT if you don't want to have your Soul Memory thrown out of wack when farming Rhoy. And that's the Agape Ring.

The Agape ring is a two-edged sword of a ring: You won't be able to take in souls from defeated enemies, but by doing so you can keep your Soul Memory at a specific range. And while I can criticise it as FROM admitted that the Soul Memory system is flawed, I for one am happy that we have the option to circumvent the system to a degree, even if it means taking in less souls for repairs or level ups.

The Agape ring can be obtained fairly early in the game, as it can be purchased from Straid in the Lost Bastille for 5,000 Souls. The ring cannot be drop traded, so there is no earlier way to get the ring. That said, it can be a great item to pick up before farming Rhoy the Explorer, as killing Rhoy over and over again will have a huge impact on your Soul memory. So if it is absolutely important to play co-op with low soul memory friends, or do lower soul memory PVP with the Vanquisher's Seal (you bully), then the Agape Ring will work wonders.

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271133954

Fist Souls: Fastest way to obtain the Vanquisher's Seal