Short Summer's guide for poor pveers (2023)

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I'm Summer, it's my short guide how to beat the game in the easiest way possible. Feel free to contact me on steamtwitchredditruski wikidiscordYouTube

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The guide made for the purpose to send it to anyone who complains how hard the game is. If you think so you just do not understand some game basics or do not want to understand it.

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This page made mostly for late game areas/bosses or ng+(1,2,3...7) but can be useful at any stage of the game anyway. I repeat this challenge sometimes, so I'll definatelly add something else to this guide. I find "meta vs the world" much more fun than SL1 run or anything else, NG+7 and meta SL force to optimize your build, taking part in game's multiplayer acquires meaning (to get help from other people, to help or to invade to refresh your estus flasks), huge variety of builds and in my opinion harder than SL1 run. Gonna buy new pc in 3-4 months, probably will stream and will make similar challenge at ds3.

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The whole game, every boss and every area was finished by this build (at least once):https://soulsplanner.com/darksouls2/216150 SL, NG+7 (the hardest possible)

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You can make the game harder joining Covenant of Champions but you'll lose an ability to summon white, gold phantoms and shadow. The game with all three summons becomes even harder than being in CoC.

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It's not mandatory, but the build is optimized well against absolutely every enemy or enemies in-game - can use all good weapons, has high elemental resistances, good damage (RoB+2, leo ring and flynn used a lot), an ability to cast something (to pull, to buff, AOE)

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50 VIG 20 END (and far higher) 96+ AGL third dragon ring and life ring+3 are strongly recommended to not been oneshoted, to be able to trade damage, to have decent i-frames

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I don't pretend to be good at pvp but I'll use a lot of terms "Quick Attacks", "Quick Rolls", etc. below so I recommend to check it out too:Crag's Comprehensive Guide to Competitive ds2 pvp

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The best pve weapons

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Roughly speaking, you need 3 weapons: something fast with high DPS; well-staggering weapon; strike weapon (not a greathammer, cause recovery time is too long)Ice RapierBroken Santier SpearHomunculus Mace

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probably the highest DPS in-game35 poise damage in combination with fast moveset makes it the most powerful staggering tool in-game

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140 counterdecent pure physical damage

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takes any elemental infusion wellbackstabs' damage is ok, sometimes it's worth to fish

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can shootrich moveset

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bleed is a small but pleasant additionlong

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low requirements for using and for powerstanceneeds only min stats and raw infusion to be used at its' full powerjust good strike weapon with good moveset, decent base damage and low requirements

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depends on your build or/and game progress can be replaced to these:

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Rapier, Espada Ropera, Ricard's Rapier (uninfused only), Blacksteel Katana (uninfused only), Uchigatana, Chaos Blade, Berserker Blade, ManslayerBandit Axe, Gargoyle Bident, Red Iron Twinblade, most halberds (blue knight halberd is close to santier cause of weight-damage), Red Rust Scimitar, Warped SwordClub, Mace, Blacksmith's Hammer

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PoiseBuffsItems

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Mushrooms and lifegems are the best items for healing, armor is unnessesary but poise and high elemental resistances make the game easier sometimesPoise protect you from being staggered. It's strong tool in pvp which forces your opponent not to use some 1h or low poise-damage attacks. It's even more stronger in pve cause mobs and bosses are much more predictable.Makes sense to use in pve to boost your damageMost of them can be bought or farmed. I'll write "Burr" and "Elizabeth mushroom" a lot below. You can replace mushrooms with lifegems, for example.
Pine Resines and Oozes are amazing for boosting damage, good replacement for buffs if it can be used on your current weapon.

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Black Witch Hat allows to use them without wasting your stats in ATN. 20 INT cancels roll-distance penalty and allows to use some buffs having fine duration.

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In pvp it's waste of stats cause any buff can be waited to run out. Also your opponent can play super passively or/and eat burr

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Dark Weapon:79s(99s if INT=24)

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Old Knight Armor is absolutely the best item by the ratio weight-poise, it gives 50 poise without wasting your ring slot, it's more than enough for pveMagic Weapon:135s(135s if INT=15)

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Flame Weapon:90s-

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Good Skorbrand's note about poiseSome buff tests

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bossweaknessesmy setupcommentaryshort note about an area (ng+ and higher mostly)YouTube vids

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The Last Giant-darkbuffed dark chaos bladekeep in mind that you're not immortal, at ng+7 he can two-shot youthere are few new enimies - red phantoms, which can be surprisely strong. 2h Homunculus Mace, Santier spear, Warped Sword or Red Rust Scimitar is a good choiseboss

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Pursuerstrike, lightningRaw Homunculus Mace, golden pine resineballista's usage doesn't worth it at high NG cyclesboss

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Dragonriderlightning, fireFire Ice rapierkilling Old Dragonslayer first is recommended to not aggro heide knightsthe area is extremely hard to speedrun if you want to kill Old Dragonslayer. But you can try to buff your weapon, use brighthug in front of a greatsword old knight and kill a wyvern as fast as you can. You will probably die after, but next time you will be able to run to the boss directly. Homunculus Mace is good to clear the area. (the easiest way to skip the area https://youtu.be/hKWn43kR5PM)boss

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Old Dragonslayerlightning, magic, fireFire Ice rapier-boss

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Flexile SentrylightningLightning Ice Rapier, Old Knight Armor take some poise to not been staggered by shadowsthe area is pretty depressing and doesn't worth exploring. But you can get Bandit Axe here, check the location on wikiboss

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Ruin SentinelslightningLightning Ice Rapiertry to kill them separatelyopen shortcut and use it incase you'll die somehowboss

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Belfry Gargoylesmagic, poison, toxic Magic Ice Rapierpretty long fight, need to be extremely patient and do not do lots of mistakes. You can wear Black Witch Hat, Pyromancy Flame and cast toxic mist sometimes, it works well here cause of multiple-enemies bossfightPlease bully bell kiddiesboss

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The Lost SinnermagicMagic Bandit Axe, Magic Ice Rapier, Old Knight Armorthe first really challenging boss. Poise makes the fight far easier, passive regeneration stuff allows to do some trades with pyromancers. Kill them immediately is strongly recommendedjust speedrun to the bossboss

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Scorpioness Najkafire Fire Ice Rapierdon't panic if she uses soulmass, run on the right or the left side before it's gone. If she digs into the ground stand on a stone plate.Santier spear or Bandit Axe (raw or uninfused) are recommended cause of good range and high physical damageway + boss

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Royal Rat AuthorityfireRaw Roaring halberd, Chaos Storm, Common fruit, any shield the easiest way to oneshot all rats is chaos storm. Hold up the shield to not get knocked over then the boss is going to do run attack. Remember that he'll try to break your gear at the end.Ice rapier is good to kill rats pretty fastboss

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Prowling Magus and CongregationphysicalSantier Spearspin to winJust take a torch after Magus. Santier Spear staggers well both red phantoms hereway + boss

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The Duke's Dear FrejafireFire Ice Rapier, torchthe first meeting will happen before first spider door after first bonfire, try to deal as much damage as you can. Buffs and brightbug will help.way + boss

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Executioner's Chariotphys -> lightning, fireRaw Bandit Axe, Old Knight Armor, hotswap to Lightning Ice Rapier. kill mages -> kill skeletons -> swap bandit axe to ice rapier and kill the bossPretty hard to speedrun to the Chariot boss, but I recommend to reach the greatsword phantom and jump on the right side. Eat Elizabeth mushroom, jump back, wait for phantoms' mistake and enter the fog gate. The rest is not so hard.boss

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The Skeleton Lordstrike, lightningLightning Homunculus Mace, Old Knight Armor wheel-skeletons are extremely dangerous, kill them as fast as you can. Try to kill lords separately to not miss wheel-skeletons' summon.boss

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Covetous Demonfire, magicMagic Ice Rapierthe most powerful boss in-game, I'm too bad to give advice for itSuperannoying areas, get some poison moss. Santier Spears does its' best as usual, buff it with resines sometimes

try №1488 fucking impossible

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Mytha, the Baneful QueenfireFire Ice Rapierlit the mill nearby the second bonfire.boss

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Smelter Demonlightning, magic, darkMagic Ice Rapier, White Hollow Mage Hood, Black Witch Dress, Chaos Gloves and Boots, hotswap from Life Ring+3 to Magic Quartz Ring+3 and from Flynn Ring to Dispelling Ring+1 after his weapon buff, Red Burrdo not panic, learn his timings, heal when he does AOE attack or buffs1st. Fancer Sharon does ridicolously huge damage, rolls like a god and has hundreds of poise. There is a good tactic - take Crypt Blacksword (Zwei, KUGS, etc) and knock her over the lava. Hard, but possible, If she got stacked on the ledge - take a greatbow and knock her over again, in lava this time.
2nd. There is a shortcut. Jump to the ledder on the right side then you exit the 1st building, kill red phantom, climb up next ledder and pull knights down. Kill them, take a bow and poison arrows and shoot everything you can. Jump down and go fight Smelter Demon.
3rd. It's IMPOSSIBLE to speedrun legit from 2nd bonfire to 3rd one, just be as patient as you never was before, kill all enemies separately if it's possible. Homunculus Mace is good here.
4th. There is a red phantom just before the 3rd bonfire. He has million poise and HP but he's quite predictable. Provoke him to attack, climb up a ledder, lit the bonfire, take smth like Crypt Blacksword and knock him over the down floor, Repeat, if he didn't die.way + boss

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Old Iron KinglightningLightning Ice Rapierbe careful to not jump into lava, 100% death. With AGL above 96 you can easily roll into his fire-breath attacks.boss

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Royal Rat VanguardfireIce Rapier, Black Witch Hat, Pyromancy Flame, Chaos Stormjust spam chaos storm and eat grass before the boss shows off. Poke him to the death afterbefore the gutter there are two red phantoms. I recommend fo take a bow and poison arrows and kill a cleric at least, jump down and kill a knight. He has high poise so Santier Spear will be a good choise.boss

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The RottenlightningLightning Ice Rapierbe ready to run away, his AOE attack has huge range.if you train a bit it's the easiest area to speedrun in-game, the gutter and the black gultch both. Take a bow and poison arrows to kill giants on the lowest floor. most enemies has no poise so Ice Rapier is your the best choiceboss

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Twin Dragonriderslightning, fireFire Ice Rapierkilling an archer first is recommended. Come closer to him and provoke other dragonrider to hit the colomns. Archer will fall down,Mastodons can be easily killed by poison arrows, a red phantom before the huge gates is predictable and can be killed by Grand Lance, just spam 2h runnings. Claw manikins can be easily poked by Ice Rapier.boss

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Looking Glass Knightmagic, darkDark Ice Rapierthe best time to poke him a lot is when he casts something. His moves are slow but hit very painfully. Eat Elizabeth mushroom if he summons a squire. If he summon a player you'll probably die, cause on high NG cycles you won't be able to kill him fast. Just accept it, it's pretty rare anyway.boss

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Demon of Songmagic, lightning, darkDark Ice Rapierthe boss is a joke, low HP and huge blind spots on the left and the right sides. To be honest The Shrine of Amana is far easier than Iron Keep. Take poison arrows and Santier Spear to clear the area, I don't recommend you to speedrun it.boss

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Guardian Dragon-Magic Ice Rapier, Magic weapon buffthe boss flies a lot and you can not do anything with it. Just poke him then he's on the ground.Aldias' mobs have high elemental resistances, Forlorn gets much stronger here, just spaming 2hr1s to stagger him is a good tactic. Santier Spear is recommended.boss

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Velstadt, The Royal Aegislightning, magic
Magic Ice Rapier, Magic weapon buffroll into dark range attack or run to his back if he casts it.Mobs have high elemental resistances. Santier Spear.boss

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Vendrick

anti-undead stuff

Magic Ice Rapier, Magic weapon buff4+ giant souls are strongly recommended. Stay close to him and be patientboss

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Ancient Dragonlightning, darkDark Ice Rapier, Engraved Gautlets, Brighthug, Black Whitch Hat, Dark Weapon buff. pation test. Not hard to avoid his attacks but he oneshots and has million HP. Stay under him and follow his tale if he flies up.Do not summon shadows if you don't want to fight black dragon knights. Homunculus Mace for an area, Santier Spear for a dragonbro in the end.boss

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DarklurkerlightningLightning Ice Rapier, Black Whitch dress, Chaos Gloves and Boots, White Hollow Mage Hood, Dispelling ring+1, Dark Quartz Ring+3, Dark burrstack maximal dark resistance and you won't take any damage, Dodge his fireballs attack2h high-poise damage weapon is recommended. Warped Sword, Red Rust Scimitar, Santier Spear, Bandit Axe, Red Iron Twinblade.boss

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The Giant Lord-darkbuffed dark chaos bladeThe Last Giant v2.0. Now he oneshots. Just press [B] button.Skip the area, this huge head will crush most mobs anyway.boss

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Throne Defender and Throne Watcherdark, fireFire Ice Rapierdo not focus on one of them, need to kill one after another fast to prevent resurrection.Do not fall downboss

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Nashandrafire, lightningBlack Witch Veil, Fire Ice RapierBlack Witch Veil will prevent curse, but it's not scary. Keep in mind that she can oneshot too.boss

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Aldia, Scholar of the First SinlightningLightning Ice Rapierstay close to him, then dodging his attack won't be a problem. Giant fireball will definately oneshot you, run left or right and be ready to roll.boss

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Elana, Squalid Queenmagic Magic Ice Rapier, Magic Weapon Buff, Brighthugbuff weapon and eat all the items before fog gates, enter and poke her as much as you can until the first summon. If she summons Velstadt - focus on Elana only, cause she'll summon somebody again if Velstadt dies. If she summons skeletons or pigs (rare, but take them seriously, high poise damage, high HP and early hits) leave one summons alive, it decresases the chance of new summon. After focus on Elana again. Eat mushrooms while she casts AOE spell or Affignity. Do not play too passive, there is a high chance of new summon, it's possible to have 2 Velstadts at the same time, for example. Quick Rolls will help to avoid multiple enemies' attacks.Santier Spear staggers sanctum soldiers and these women-casters too, good for backstab fishing on sanctum knights. Same for drakeblood knights, easy to stagger and bs-fishing cause of their fatrolling. From this moment and untill the end - forget about elemental damage and focus on pure physical.boss

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Sinh, The Slumbering Dragonlightning, darkdarkbuffed dark Ice Rapiermillion HP and extremely high damage, swoop down attack can oneshot. Be very patient and rebuff when it's possible.It's possible to invade here, try out.boss

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Afflicted Graverobber, Ancient Soldier Varg, Cerah the Old ExplorerdarkDark Chaos Blade + Raw Roaring Halberdbosses have abnormally high poise. Enter the fog gate, run to the first pit on the right side, provoke Havel and Katana dude to follow you, jump down and go up, to give an archer some katana runnings. Make sure two other bosses follow you, go back to the pit, repeat until the archer dies. Provoke the katanist to attack - punish with katana's 2h running, Recovery Cancels will help a lot. Repeat to the death. Hotswap to Roaring Halberd and backstab Havel to the death. Or parry, but remember he punishes hard at high NG cycles.Make sure sanctum soldiers made an attemp to attack you, then enter the fog gateway + boss

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Fume KnightlightningLightning Ice Rapiermillion HP and extremely high damage, some attacks can oneshot. Be very patient and rebuff when it's possible. The best time to attack is after his poke moves and this dark-fire version of Magic Greatsword spell.Santier Spear staggers ashen warriors well, pure physical is the best against fume sorceresses. Huge dudes with chicken legs can be poisoned. Also Alluring Skulls work on ashen warriors.boss

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Sir AlonnelightningLightning Ice Rapierthe fight may seems rapid at the first time, but every move is predictable. Anyway, some of attacks can oneshot, if you are not chill you'll die.Turtle time: wear Gover's ring of protection, light armor (or get naked), take Twindragon Greatshild 2h, eat Elizabeth mushroom and run to the boss.way + boss

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Blue Smelter DemondarkDark Ice Rapier, White Hollow Mage Hood, Black Witch Dress, Chaos Gloves and Boots, hotswap from Life Ring+3 to Magic Quartz Ring+3 and from Flynn Ring to Dispelling Ring+1 after his weapon buff, Blue Burrthe way to boss is hard and the boss is stronger than common Smelter Demon, that's why so much items. It's not really nessesary, but definately will make the fight easier. Just eat burrs and mushrooms while boss is going to explode.You can protect your back and wear Gover's ring of protection and eat Elizabeth mushroom. You'll have to roll a lot.way + boss

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Aava, the King's PetfireFire Ice Rapier, Black Witch Hat, Pyromancy Flame, Flame Weapon buffmake the boss visible first, I've never killed invisible Aava at high NGs and probably won't do it ever. Not hard, make sure you have repair powder cause you'll definately break your weapon.Santier Spear is recommended. Fire damage is also good against the most enemies. Alluring Skulls work on frozen monsters with rapiers and spears. Hedgehogs can oneshot, 1h Santier Spear, Gargoyle Bident allow to outspace them and deal decent damage. Or take poison arrows. Maldron's AI is pretty bad, most greathammer's 2hr2s won't allow him to wake up. It's better to return to the bonfire and try again if he has run away cause cleaning the area does not worth time.boss

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Burnt Ivory KingmagicMagic Ice Rapier, Magic Weapon Buffbuff weapon and eat all the items before the king comes. Heal, use items or rebuff only after his buff, AOE or pierce-attemp attacks. The fact that you'll have to deal with all knights again if you lose is really oppressing, so try to be very chill or focus on some other boss for a short while. His poke attack oneshots, stay close to the boss and be ready to roll on the right side. Quick Rolls may help in this bossfight.Use Elizabeth mushroom, take Santier Spear and buff it with some pine resine or ooze. Try to provoke knights to come closer to each other and hit 2h after.knights + boss

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Lud, the King's Pet and Zallen, the King's PetfireFire Ice Rapier, Black Witch Hat, Pyromancy Flame, Flame Weapon buffEnter the fog gates, buff, use all the items. Do not hurry, then HP bar comes closer to the half - try to rebuff and use all the items again. When second cat appears focus on the first and kill it as fast as you can. Try to turtle behind one of cats to prevent being hit by both. If you succeded - the fight will become much easier. Do not panic, at NG+7 you probably just can't kill the cat after it's selfbuff. Wait until it's run out and finish the bossTurtle time: wear Gover's ring of protection, light armor (or get naked), take Twindragon Greatshild 2h, eat Elizabeth mushroom, summon cleric NPC phantom and run to the boss. Follow the sun in the beginning and turn left then you reach the wall. There is an extremely dangerous red phantom just in front of the boss, do not waste time, send phantom home if she's still alive and enter immidiately, swap rings, weapons and use items and buffs after.way + boss

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