The Catacombs

Quick Reference

Boss	NPCs	Notable Loot	Enemies
Pinwheel	Blacksmith Vamos Patches	Bonewheel Shield Darkmoon Seance Ring Cleric Set Eye of Death x3 Tranquil Walk of Peace Lucerne Great Scythe	Skeleton (sword and shield, large sword) Skeleton Archer Skeleton Wheel Necromancer (total of 5) Crystal Lizard Black Knight (Axe) Prowling Demon

Description

Underground mausoleum area preceding the Tomb of the Giants.

Connections

• Firelink Shrine
• Tomb of the Giants (Sealed)

Maps

Area map

General Notes

Down in the Catacombs you find the blacksmith Vamos that will let you make fire weapon upgrades up to +5, +10 if you bring the required large flame ember. He can create even chaos weapon from fire weapons (+5) if you bring the Chaos Flame Ember.

Important Tips

• The Catacombs consist of several underground spiraling stairs, Cliffs, Spiked Bridges (more on that later), Traps and Pitfalls, some good…some not so good.

• The Catacombs contain Skeleton enemies that behave similar to the white skeletons from Demon's souls. They have similar attacks with several new tricks:
  • Typical rolling attack
  • Strong Lunge Slash Attack
  • Multiple Slashes from 1 to 4 attacks continuously
  • Corkscrew Dive Bomb Attack (for lack of a better name)
  • The Dive Bomb Attack consists of the skeleton visibly "charging up" and then flying at you in a corkscrew spin for High Damage, Shattering himself and assemble himself, leaving himself vulnerable for attacks.

• The skeletons in the catacombs can only be killed by using any Divine weapon. In this way they will not be revived by a Necromancer, although they will respawn if the player rests at a bonfire. Astora's Straight Sword seems to be considered a Divine Weapon.

• Keep in mind that in every section of the catacombs there's a Necromancer who controls the Skeletons, and as long as he lives the Skeletons will respawn a few seconds after you kill them off. The best way to do this is, if you possess a weapon strong enough, is to do a suicide run, avoiding all Skeletons until you find the Necromancer. Kill him off and dispatch (if you can) all the pursuers, then do it again until you slay all of them. If you die, do not worry, as Necromancers, once dead, they stay dead, and you can kill off all the Skeletons of the area he controlled. Another strategy, although extremely hard to pull off against multiple enemies, is to push them off a bridge or a cliff using a kick or a shield bash. The spell Force is very good for this strategy. Note that a divine weapon will prevent any resurrection by necromancer.

• Also in regards to the kicking method, though it can result in a safer run through it is not necessarily faster. Each necromancer controls a minimum of 6 Skeletons and convenient ledges are not always in the most convenient places, this makes backtracking essential in some areas and can even make the ordeal seem tedious when trying to rout 3-4 skeletons up a ladder at a given time. A mix of suicide and kicking can definitely save time. The section with the giant skeleton and the Darkmoon Seance Ring comes to mind as a definite example of where mixing the two strategies can be of benefit.

• Also, it is very useful to bring a bow with you, several of the necromancers can be killed right as you enter their area if you have a bow and about 40 arrows per necromancer, i killed number 2 and 4 using a short bow and wooden arrows, spent about 90 arrows including misses, I had 19 str / 12 dex.

• There is one hidden bonfire in the area with waterfall, flying skulls, some switches and bridges. You can see it behind a wall near the first switcher. Hidden passage starts before a ladder to the next switcher. Hit the wall, but beware of a statue (it's a trap). Ta-da!=)

• Be wary of these statues—found all around the Catacombs. Once you get close to some (not all) of them, 3 spikes will come out and you'll receive damage. You still receive minuscule damage even while guarding. (see picture on the right)
  Proceed with caution when you see one. Keep 2-3 body widths away, raise your shield or roll past them.

• If observed closely you will notice that these statues represent Pinwheel, the later boss of this area. Statues which emit spikes always have the Mask of the Mother at the top and the Mask of the Child in the abdominal region.

• Some spiraling stairs have a seemingly bottomless pit which provide good areas to kick skeletons to their death.

• Be cautious of the Wisps, they are proximity triggered and in some cases will seek you out.

• Some of these stairs will have little grottoes with items, be aware that collecting these items will trigger skeletons.

• Throughout the Catacombs you will come across bridges with Spikes protruding from them. You must search around and find a large Totem Switch. These switches will rotate the bridge to allow access. some also open doors to shortcuts.

Walkthrough

Three Ways to Get to the Bottom

Your journey to the boss in this area will lead you to the bottom of the valley you've been criss-crossing over. There are three ways to get here:

1. The primary (and slowest) way is winding down the valley using the ladders, bridges, etc. and entering via the final Necromancer's chamber. At some point you'll have to do this to kill all of the necromancers. The final approach starts from the hallway with the Prowling Demon, down a ladder in a room to the right. After dispatching two skeletons, another ladder leads down to the final Necromancer, protected by two skeleton archers. This tomb is open to the entire bottom level - meaning that anything can find its way in here so beware.
2. The shortcut method is the quickest and is accomplished by dropping down a series of cliffs. This will likely only be used as a shortcut to the boss or the Tomb of the Giants beyond and will require some healing afterward. Jump down off the first bridge after the bonfire (run past three skeletons). Then turn around fast and jump down again to the broken bridge. Turn left, toward the group of skeletons and go a little less than halfway down, then drop down onto a ledge (you will find a soul there).
   There are now two more ledges, one on either side of the ledge you are currently on. On one of them you will find the Cleric Armor. Here you also find the summoning sign for Paladin Leeroy
3. Lastly, the secret method starts from the circular staircase that ends in a drop-off. You'll see an outcropping of rock to the left. Aim just to the left of this outcropping and roll - you'll land on a ledge with a soul (beware - you'll take damage from the fall). Drop down from there to another ledge (to the left is facing the wall). Continue dropping down in the same direction and you'll land on the top of a tunnel with an opening into it. Drop down and follow the tunnel to discover Vamos who will create an opening from the tunnel into the valley.

NOTE on Blacksmith shortcut (First time per game ONLY): Based on experience, the very first time you try and go through this hole you can actually miss all the ledges as long as you fall directly into the hole at the bottom. Even though it will show you in a death fall animation, a cutscene should interrupt this death (FIRST TIME ONLY) and you will land in the hallway unharmed. The cutscene apparently triggers fast enough that you cannot complete the "falling death" animation. Since he opens the doorway to the area when you make it once you shouldn't have to make this troublesome leap again unless you want the petty soul laying on one of the ledges. OF course turning your brightness up all the way helps make this jump easier as well.

Once in the valley, you'll discover a new variety of skeleton enemy - the bonewheel skeleton. They approach on foot, but as they near you, they climb into the spiked wheels they carry with them and roll after you at high speed. Because of their speed, the limited visibility due to heaps of bones and size of the area, you'll be hard pressed to defend against any more then 2 of these. If they get a solid hit on you, either your health bar or your stamina bar is toast. Be careful when crossing the valley, they spot you from very far away, and if you're careless, you may very well attract 4 of them at once. One more thing, they deal damage on both their front and back, so it is very possible that you kill yourself while closing in from behind, counter-intuitively enough, they do not damage you if you land on one.

Shortcuts and/or hidden paths

• Video showing the shortcuts from first bonfire in the Catacombs > area with the wheel skeletons > boss pinwheel room > first bonfire in Tomb of the Giants

• At one point you will come across a stairway to nowhere, you can fall sideways from this stairway to a platform and then to another platform for a decent shortcut.

• Also be aware that some coffin areas (the square ones with fresh looking dirt around them) may have hidden pitfalls in the dirt. Usually in the corners. These lead to new rooms and provide a bit of a shortcut.

• Once you've defeated the Prowling Demon, you'll be able to access a shortcut to the Tomb of the Giants. There is an open coffin in the Prowling Demon room; get in and wait…someone will close the coffin and transport you to the Tomb.

Prowling Demon

This Prowling Demon acts the same as the one near the first Blacksmith in the Undead Parish. The main difference is the location. Rather than a large open room, you are in an enclosed corridor.

For Melee, approach until he wakes, keeping your shield up to block his first attack (or shoot with an arrow from a distance). Back up until you are just outside his melee range. Not only does this prompt him to switch to lightning, but it will also give you plenty time to see the Jump Attack coming to get out of the way. Always keep your shield up just in case as his attacks are quite damaging. If you remain here, he'll switch to the lightning attack which is your cue to approach him, keeping to one side. If you time it right,you'll get too close for his attack to target you and the blast will go straight past you, allowing you to get in a hit. Judge whether to use normal or hard attacks based on your stamina, as you'll still need to retreat back outside his melee range and will likely take at least on hit on your shield in the process. Be patient and you'll defeat him. Ranged attacks work also, but your damage will likely be limited and you'll be in for a long battle.

A much easier method is using a secret open coffin on the left wall used as a shortcut to the Tomb of the Giants. Approach the demon until he notices you, then quickly run towards the coffin and rest inside of it. The demon will crawl across the corridor until reaching the narrow opening he can't get through. Afterwards, climb out of the coffin, silently approach him, then use a strong two-handed attack on him. Quickly return to the coffin as he will turn around in an attempt to attack you. If not fast enough, he might hit you while in the coffin (you will take damage, but will not flinch). Rinse and repeat until dead, took me five hits with a Black Knight Sword
Behind the Prowling Demon is an Eye of Death x3 (Lure's Enemy Phantoms - ability only usable for the members of Nito's convenant)

Be aware, in the area with the Prowling demon, there is a ladder leading down to a coffin room. There are two pitfalls around the coffin in the middle of the room, one at the top and one at the bottom, that lead to a room with an axe wielding Black Knight. Avoid these if you don't want to encounter the Black Knight, but this can be a shortcut once you've cleared the level. If you decide to take him on bear in mind he can get a free shot at you from falling, but also be sure to take care of any skeletons in the area so they don't fall down there with you - it is near impossible to take on the Black Knight with immortal skeletons. Note that the area the Black Knight is in opens to the bottom level of this area, so you if you've found another way down to the bottom, be wary of the Black Knight dropping down from his area.

Black Knight (Axe)

The Black Knight can be taken down with similar strategies listed on the Black Knight Page.
Circle strafe, Backstab, rinse, repeat.
Has a chance to drop Black Knight Equipment, including the Black Knight Greataxe. Guaranteed 1200 souls, and a White Titanite Chunk

Blacksmith Vamos (fire and chaos upgrade)

You get to him from the bonfire. If you come from the bonfire don t go over the bridge. Go right in the cave again and find the stair that leads down and ends at a bottomless pit.
There you can jump down twice on small overhangs. The first time you will see a soul on the 2nd overhang. When you get down the pit you find a hole in the ground. Jump through there and you will get a short cutscene with the undead smith.
He will open up a way into the cave with the Black Knight (ground floor) and the spinning skeletons.