New Londo Ruins

Quick Reference

Boss	NPCs	Notable Loot	Enemies
None1	Ingward Rickert of Vinheim	Composite Bow Very Large Ember Fire Keeper Soul Cursebite Ring Parrying Dagger	Hollow (docile) Crestfallen Warrior (hollowed) Ghost (male and female) Wisp Darkwraith Mass of Souls (don't respawn)

Description

These haunted, dark and initially flooded ruins are located directly beneath the Firelink Shrine and are the haunt of cursed souls. After draining the water later on in the game, the lower part will become accessible. Can be accessed from Firelink Shrine. Past the Firekeeper Anastacia will be a staircase leading to an elevator which will bring you to New Londo Ruins.

Connections

• Connects from Firelink Shrine
• Leads to Valley of Drakes either by draining the water or by unlocking the gate with the Master Key
• Leads to The Abyss - requires Covenant of Artorias after draining the water

General Notes

There is no bonfire in this area. Caution is necessary, especially when exploring the lower parts after draining the water.

If you exhaust the Crestfallen Warrior's dialog at Firelink Shrine after ringing both bells and awakening Kingseeker Frampt, he will be a hostile hollow here just before the first bridge.

Important Tips

• The Ghosts in this area can pose a real threat because they can swarm the player in large numbers and can pursue a player through walls. Lure them out one by one. Ghosts can be engaged when Cursed or when using a Transient Curse. If you want to fight the ghosts, make sure you can kill them in two to three hits.

• On top of one of the ruins, you'll find Ingward who can cure the Curse status for Humanity. He also sells Resist Curse.

• After crossing the first two narrow wooden bridges and defeating the first two ghosts, turn to the right. You should see a small wall. Follow that wall and get behind it. You should see an opening in the wall, and if you look closely, you can see a narrow walkway in the shallow water. If you are still under the effect of the Transient Curse, slowly step forward to get three ghosts to spawn and lure them away from the narrow walkway and defeat them. After that, carefully cross the narrow walkway for a Fire Keeper Soul. If you have no way to beat the ghosts quickly cross the narrow path, grab the Fire Keeper Soul and use a Homeward Bone/Miracle.

• A risk in this level is that one runs out of Transient Curses. Fortunately, when killed, the Ghosts occasionally drop two Transient Curses. To increase this rate, the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring is handy. Also, the ring improves the chance of getting the Jagged Ghost Blade or the Ghost Blade so that you don't need the curses.

• Another thing worth keeping in mind: If you are relying on Transient Curse when going through this area, remember to keep watch on the curse effect, whether it is still active or not. It is not a good situation where the effect runs out when you are in the middle of the room with a squad of ghosts around you.

• After draining the water from the ruins, the elevators in both buildings will become operational. Beware of taking the elevator in the first building, as you will come out right in front of two Darkwraith knights who will attack you at the same time. The knights are dangerous even for high-level players, but it is also possible to kill them easily by riding the elevator back up and letting them fall into the bottomless pit under it.

• Once you have drained the water, there is a shortcut down to the lower area. From the beginning area, where you encounter the first two ghosts, you can drop down to the lower section instead of taking the stairs upwards. The drop-down point is by the clay pot which holds a corpse containing two Transient Curses, labeled '5' on the map. You will land near a shallow square pool, and a Darkwraith is not far away. *Not far from the Darkwraith, around the corner between the pool and the nothingness below (well not exactly nothing - it's water, but you die if you fall), you will notice a very narrow walkway behind a wall; this is an illusory wall. A Darkwraith is waiting at the other end of the walkway - so watch out. He is guarding a chest containing a Titanite Chunk. Unlike other illusory walls, this one resets along with the area.*

• For players that are having difficulty in New Game Plus or higher with the swarms of ghosts, the miracles Force and Wrath of the Gods are a very efficient way of dispersing the groups if you get surrounded. Highly recommended if you can't one-shot them and are stuck in a room with them.

• Ranged offensive spells, such as Lightning Spear, Great Lightning Spear, Soul Arrow-type sorceries, Homing Soulmass, Homing Crystal Soulmass, are suitable for taking out the ghosts from a distance, especially when they are floating above the water, within target-lock range, and you can't reach them with melee weapons. The ghosts seem to have good resistances, however, to both magic and lightning.

• It appears that you cannot summon phantoms until after you drain the water.

Walkthrough

New Londo Ruins Map

Curse Removal / Key Run The ghosts in the New Londo Ruins can be deadly and frustrating, and they yield only 200 souls, so the more you can evade the faster and safer New Londo Ruins will be. Besides making treasure runs, you may wish to make a run from Firelink Shrine to the New Londo Ruins NPC, Ingward, to either have a curse removed or to kill him (or possess Lordvessel) as part of a pursuit to join the Darkwraith. If you kill the first two ghosts you encounter, equip your bow at the top of the first section of stairs and enter the sniping view; then look to the right across the pathway over the pillars, and you should see Ingward standing atop a building. You can make this run without engaging any ghosts at all, though knowing when to attack can simplify the run when things do not go as planned. Sprint past the first four ghosts, and straight into the first room where they swarm you (remember to manage your stamina) - dash straight to the "bait" ghost blocking your path (the ghost you could see from outside the room) and kill him with three swings of the Drake Sword, then roll onto the stairs behind him and run or drop down. If you do not have the Drake Sword or another weapon capable of quickly dispatching a ghost you can run straight into the room and turn right, then turn back toward the "bait" ghost, if done correctly, this will cause it to follow you into the room slightly, leaving enough space to roll behind it instead of fighting it. At the bottom of the stairs, exit the stairs and take an immediate right; often you will be able to roll past any ghosts in your way at the bottom of the stairs, if not, a swing or two from your weapon will shift them enough to move past and evade them (if you engage at this point, you will be swarmed). Take that quick right at the bottom of the stairs, and from there, you can enter the first door on your right and go up some stairs to the pathway over the pillars easily enough. You may want to pause at the top of the stairs long enough to kick down the ladder here, as it will create a shortcut from the top of the first set of stairs to the pillars, avoiding the room with the bait ghost if you have to come back this way. Continue your sprint across the pathway of pillars; at the end of the path, before descending the other side, you will have a moment enough to consume a quick Estus Flask if you have taken any damage. Now descend the stairs from the top of the pillar path, avoid a ghost and run up the stairs in the first door on your right (there are several alternate routes for treasure runs, to reach Ingward go up the stairs, to reach the lever to drain the water from New Londo Ruins go in the door and make a quick left instead of going up the stairs). In the room at the top of the stairs, you will see what at first appears to be a fireplace with a ghost standing in front of it. Run into the fireplace and climb the ladder inside. You will take some damage climbing the ladder, but you should be fine, and the ghosts will not pursue you to the top of the ladder where you will find Ingward. Drain the water from New Londo Ruins To drain the water from New Londo Ruins, you will need to obtain the Key to the Seal to open the door to the lever. One method of getting the key is to wait until you acquire the Lordvessel; once you have it, talk to Ingward, and he will give you the key. If you don't want to wait, you can also kill him, though this is not recommended considering his useful ability to remove curses. As an alternative method of killing Ingward, you may shoot arrows at him without ever climbing to the top of the building; this will be far easier and will help you avoid potentially deadly ghosts.) After obtaining the key, descend the ladder and stairs to the ladder room and turn right at the bottom of the stairs before going through the door at the bottom. It is probable that the ghosts will kill you at the bottom of the ladder if you followed the Curse Removal Run to Ingward instead of clearing the area of ghosts. If so, follow the Curse Removal Run to the point where it says lever to drain the water and instead of going up the stairs once you go through the door, still go through the door and turn left down some stairs. Take the next door on your left; this will take you to a path that can be followed up and around to a tower. You should be able to make this run without running into any ghosts that are too difficult to evade, and once you reach the tower, the ghosts will not pursue you further, and there are no ghosts in the tower. The door to the lever to drain the water is down a short flight of stairs inside the tower, the door is opened with the Key to the Seal from Ingward. After draining the water from New Londo Ruins, the levers for operating the New Londo Ruins elevator lifts will become functional. Reach the Four Kings After draining the water, the lifts become functional. Darkwraiths wait at the bottom, along with some Ghosts and the Mass of Souls. Evasion and backstabs are very effective against the Darkwraiths as they leave many opportunities to backstab if you lure them out to fight them one on one. Blocks can be effective against most of their attacks, but the Darkwraiths are capable of executing a devasting attack that can not be blocked if you just stand in front of them with your shield up - so keep circling for the backstab (or if you use a great shield you can block his combo and stab attack and cause him to stagger). One path to the Four Kings that is effective whether you choose to fight your way through or run through and evade is from the area with the first two ghosts you encounter in the New Londo Ruins area. Rather than ascending the first set of stairs to go up towards the first elevator lift, from the platform with the first two ghosts go to the right behind the stairs. Look down, and you will see a row of pillars supporting a narrow walkway. Jump down onto the walkway and walk to the right, following the path around a corner. Around the first corner of this row of pillars, you will see a Darkwraith, and past him, you will see a set of stairs. Run up the stairs into a room with a Mass of Souls, a couple of Darkwraiths and a treasure chest containing a Titanite Chunk. If you wish to fight the Darkwraiths, lure them out one at a time and down the stairs beyond the range of the two Ghosts in the same area, but be warned that if you lure the Darkwraiths out the Mass of Souls may follow to the door and block your entry to the room (forcing you to fight him from the front so you are likely better off to evade and fight other knights and blobs on your terms). Go through the door on the left side of this room, and you will see a short narrow walkway to the Four Kings' white light gate. After entering the gate, you will descend a long set of stairs that dead ends. You must jump off into the abyss; to survive the fall, you must equip the Ring Covenant of Artorias, obtained by defeating Sif The Great Grey Wolf. (You can also jump off from the top of the stairs to the abyss without risk of dying to save time on the long descent to the end of the stairs.) It is crucial that once you enter the abyss, do not unequip the ring as you will die.

Footnotes

1. The Four Kings, residing in The Abyss are accessed via the lower parts of the ruins