Dark Souls II Walkthrough, Part Forty-Six: Undead Crpyt - King Vendrick

King Vendrick needs help. He's been reduced to the form of a Hollow, and try as you might, you probably won't be able to kill the old monarch. His defenses are just too overwhelming to cut apart. The chances are good that you've pondered ways to get past them... or whether the fight is meant to take an hour-and-a-half.

Fret not. King Vendrick's defenses can be brought down, and the key to doing it is the semi-key item you occasionally find in the game, the Soul of a Giant. Souls of a Giant are precious items that will gift you with a bundle of souls if used. More importantly, though, having multiple Souls of a Giant in your inventory will reduce Vendrick's defenses and make him beatable. The more Souls you have in your inventory, the easier he gets. There are five souls in all.

How do you find them, you ask? Let's find out.

Memory of Jeigh

The first Soul of a Giant you're likely to find is in the Memory of Jeigh, the only compulsory giant memory in the game. This article covers the entirety of the Memory of Jeigh, including the location of the Soul of a Giant.

Memory of Vammar

The second Soul is found in this small area, perhaps the most difficult giant memory in the game. You'll find the Memory of Vammar's giant in a small courtyard not far from the Cardinal Tower Bonfire, to the right of a giant turtle knight and several grunts that hurl fire bombs from above.

- You begin this section in a crumbling hallway. Run down it until you see a door ahead. A man to your right, Drummond, will chat away for a while if you talk to him. Keep talking until he hands over a Drangleic Helm. Speak one more time and he'll teach you the Hurrah! gesture.

- There's a giant behind the door, and it will bash through. Either slide through when you get space to fight or engage it from afar. It can't enter the room where Drummond sits. Continue all the wall down the hallway the giant was guarding to find a Fire Seed.

- There's a hole in the wall ahead and to your left; in the courtyard beyond you'll find two giants. Move carefully around the courtyard to take them down, or snipe 'em from the hole. Check this courtyard's left side to find the remains of stairs. These will lead you to a ledge, where a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier sits.

- Go out the other end of the courtyard. There's a sizable battle ahead, with several melee giants and two ranged giants pummelling some unseen opponents. Fight if you wish, but it's not difficult to slip behind the giants while they're fighting and into the alleyway to the left. If you do want to fight, use either the ruined house straight ahead or the ladder to your right to climb to the rooftops.

- Down the alley is a chest. Assuming you aren't being chased too closely, pop it open to find a Blossom Kite Shield.

- Go through the ruined house and out the other side on the ground floor. Check to the left of you for a set of stairs. Look beside them to find Rouge Water on a corpse, then climb the steps and face the final giant that waits at the top. It's a big one, but reasonably slow.

- After defeating the live giant, check the dead one that's slumped against the wall for a Soul of a Giant. This will end the dream for you.

Memory of Orro

The final memory is easy to miss. You'll find the Memory of Orro's giant in the empty stretch of castle behind the lair of the Pursuer.

- You'll start off this memory in a long hall, filled with unmanned ballistas. Benhart is sitting ahead, though he has little to offer besides some history.

- There are two pathways beside Behart. We'll start by going right, which will lead you out to a battlefield watched over by several melee giants and a few royal guards. They'll battle away against one another; fight or ignore as you see fit. Check to your immediate right upon entering this large area to find a corpse carrying a Soul of a Great Hero and a Soul Vessel, and look amid the rubble on the left for a Large Soul of a Proud Knight.

- Also on the left is a ladder. Climb up and you'll be on a series of planks, along with two crossbowmen. Kill them off and follow 'round the planks until you land on a roof. There's a Soul of a Proud Knight along the way, and a corpse on the roof holds three Wilted Dusk Herbs.

- From here you can drop down to the ground again, and giants or no giants your destination is in the top-left corner of the area. Go up a set of stairs here to find a giant corpse that carries a Soul of a Giant. Check it again to leave this area.

- Pop back in. You're back with Benhart. This time, check the left passage. It leads up a flight of stairs...

- ... and into a room with four guards, one of them carrying a crossbow. Kill the lot off, then check the corpse in here for a Fading Soul. If you use a Pharros' Lockstone in this room you'll pop open another room, inside which is a chest that contains three Souls of a Hero. There's a second Lockstone face in here, but setting it off only sparks a wall trap. Ignore it and save your Lockstone.

- There's another set of stairs in the guards' room. Go up and you'll be on the ramparts, with another battle raging ahead. Two normal giants and a flame-slinging giant are here, and they're facing a melee soldier and two soldiers covering a pair of ballistae. You can fight if you want, but all you're really looking for is a gap in the wall to the left. This leads to a narrow ledge where a corpse carrying a Soul of a Brave Warrior waits. The ledge is near the giant that will shuttle you out of the memory, so hop down when the path is clear and you'll be all done with this grim place.

Black Gulch

Ahhh, bet you didn't want to return to this place. Black Gulch is small, but it hides a secret area that you'd probably miss completely without a lot of exploration and peeking into dark places.

- Make your way through this area until you find two worms. Kill or avoid them as you see fit.

- Approach the cliff's edge. If you look closely you'll see the edge of a platform below. Drop down onto it. You'll find a locked door here, part of a covenant quest; ignore it and look for another ledge, and past that, one more.

- At the bottom is a cave. Inside, in the dark, you'll find two live giants, the likes of which you've been fighting in memories. Fight and kill them (a torch helps with targeting, if you can manage) and you'll gain a Soul of a Giant and a Forgotten Key. There are two small rooms off to the sides of their larger room, if you need somewhere to rest or snipe.

- Is one of these rooms are two urns, on the other side of a small - but lethal! - pit. Leap over and into these jars to find four Silver Talismans. The other room contains a chest; in it is a Ring of Giants +1 and a Petrified Dragon Bone.

- That's all you'll find down here. If you don't have a Homeward Bone... well, that pit looks pretty inviting.

Dragon Shrine - Ancient Dragon

Yep, the final Soul of a Giant is held by the Ancient Dragon of Dragon Shrine. This is perhaps the most finicky boss in the game, so... uh... have fun. This article covers strategies for defeating the Ancient Dragon.

Got 'em all? Or at least four of the five? You're ready to take on the king. Head to Undead Crypt and wail on him a few times until he responds. The battle begins!

Vendrick

King Vendrick starts off with ridiculously high defenses. Your hits will do virtually nothing to him, and one or two hits of his own are like to murder you on the spot. Your weapons and spells will likely run out long before you can kill the Hollow monarch... but if you did as mentioned above, and collected Souls of a Giant, Vendrick's defenses will drop precipitously. Collect two and he'll be a bit easier to fight; four makes it a longer-than-average boss battle; all five will weaken him so much that this battle becomes near a joke.

Regardless of the number of Souls of a Giant you have, you can expect Vendrick's attacks to remain the same. His range with the greatsword more than offsets his slow speed, and he's powerful enough to kill lightly-armoured opponents with a single blow. He will do the following:

- Sweep the ground. This is his most common move, and he'll usually do it twice, right to left and left to right. You can roll under the blade if you're careful.

- Lash out with an overhead chop. Good range, but easy enough to avoid. Occasionally Vendrick will do this twice in a row.

- Perform a leaping slash. Vendrick reserves this attack for far-off opponents. If you see it coming, you can roll right under him.

- Send an energy ball at you. This is an irritating attack, as it's tough to dodge and will inflict curse status. Stay close to Vendrick and you may never see this.

Your approach to Vendrick should be the same whether you're a heavily-armoured knight or a threadbare sorcerer: stay on his back. Vendrick's attacks are brutal, but they're universally aimed at opponents in front of him. Go behind him and they'll never hit you. Wait for him to attack, then use the opportunity to loose an attack or two of your own. Move as he moves and repeat. It may take a while, depending on Vendrick's defenses, but he'll eventually go down.