Dark Souls 2 Covenants Guide

In Dark Souls 2, the hero should join a Covenant in order to maximize the already very good gaming experience in the game. A covenant allows the hero to join a brotherhood or sisterhood or company of humans and undeads and rats and the like as they journey towards other worlds. This is especially useful for defeating the boss monsters and the mega bosses in the game, when the hero can enlist the help of warriors and champions from his own covenant to help in his quest, and earn rewards in the process.

Each convenant is governed by a leader or special place who or which will preside over who should join the covenant or not. Then, as the hero earns medals or points towards increasing their rank within the covenant, the hero's ranking within the covenant will increase. Eventually, this will open up the leader or the covenant's inventory, and then the hero is rewarded with a very very special reward when he attains rank 3.

This will guide the hero on -

• where to find each covenant to join.
• how to rank up for each covenant.
• what special items are rewarded for each covenant.

• where to farm human effigy.

The Heir to the Sun Covenant is an especially good covenant to join, for those players who have difficulty trying to defeat the bosses and want help. Help is provided in the form of the Heir to the Sun Covenant players, who display their signs on the pathways in each area.

• The difficulty initially lies in trying to find the Sunshine Altar which gives the hero the chance to join the Heir to the Sun Covenant. The hero can get to the Sunshine Altar at the Gutter.

Once joined, simply go into battle with another Heir to the Sun hero and be rewarded with a sunshine medal. Collect 10 medals and get to rank 1. Another 10 gives rank 2. Another 10 gives rank 3.

• Joining Heir of the Sun gives a Sun Seal
• With rank 1, the hero gets a Sunlight Parma.
• With rank 2, the hero gets Sun Sword.
• With rank 3 of the Heir of the Sun, the hero gets Sunshine Spear.

Sunshine spear is, of course, one of the most powerful miracles in the game, and one of the founding miracles of the world of Dark Souls. It fires off a sunshine spear that annihilates enemies. The problem is that it takes a lot of miracle attribute points to cast.

• The hero can join the Way of the Blue Covenant by finishing the dialogue with Crestfallen Saulden who presides at the top of the hill from the Bonfire at Majula.

After joining the covenant, the hero will get the Blue Seal. This ring is worth wearing because it will add on to the hero's health points. To rank up, the hero needs to defeat Black Phantoms, including NPC phantoms.

• Joining Way of the Blue gives a Blue Seal.
• With rank 1 (1 phantom killed), the hero gets a Bloodbite Ring.
• With rank 2 (5 phantoms killed), the hero gets Hush.
• With rank 3 of the (10 phantoms killed) Way of the Blue, the hero gets Blue Tearstone Ring.

The hero needs to join the Way of the Blue initially. Then, when enough black phantoms have perished, speak to the Blue Sentinel Targray, who presides in the alcove beyond the Old Dragonslayer.

After joining the Blue Sentinels, the hero will get the Guardian's Seal. The condition for ranking up is death of the black phantom or the target host as a revenge phantom, or victory in a training match.

• With rank 1 (50 phantom killed), the hero gets a Spirit Tree Shield.
• With rank 2 (150 phantoms killed), the hero gets Wrath of the Gods.
• With rank 3 of the (500 phantoms killed) Blue Sentinels, the hero gets Bountiful Sunshine.

• The hero can join the Brotherhood of the Blood by speaking to Titchy Gren.

Joining the Brotherhood of the Blood will give the hero the Crest of Blood. The ranking up condition is to defeat the host or blue phantom during an invasion, or victory in a deathmatch.

• With rank 1 (50 phantom killed), the hero gets a Curved Twinblade.
• With rank 2 (150 phantoms killed), the hero gets Cresent Sickle.
• With rank 3 of the (500 phantoms killed) Brotherhood of the Blood, the hero gets Great Chaos Fireball.

The rat king is an interesting one. The hero will meet the rat king after defeating the Royal Rat Vanguard. Then present the rat king with the rat's tail. The rewards for helping a rat is not great though, but the way the rat speaks is hilarious.

Joining the Rat King covenant will give the hero the Crest of the Rat. The ranking up condition is obviously to offer more rat tails.

• With rank 1 (10 rat tails), the hero gets 10 small smooth and silky stones.
• With rank 2 (20 rat tails), the hero gets 10 smooth and silky stones.
• With rank 3 of the (35 rat tails) Rat King covenant, the hero gets slumbering dragoncrest ring.

• The hero will meet the Bell Keeper recruiter at Belfry Luna and Belfry Son. This is a silly laughing dwarf who cracks rhythmic jokes.

Joining the Bell Keeper covenant will give the hero the Bell Keeper's Seal. The ranking up condition is defeat the host in the Belfries as a grey phantom, or to defeat black phantoms that invade the Belfries.

• With rank 1 (10 phantoms), the hero gets a titanite slab.
• With rank 2 (30 phantoms), the hero gets the Hidden Weapon.
• With rank 3 of the (100 phantoms) Bell Keeper covenant, the hero gets Bell Keeper Armor set.

• The hero can join the Dragon Remnants Covenant by offering dragon scales to Magerold of Lanafir. Magerold of Lanafir is found shortly after the first bonfire in Iron Keep.

Magerold of Lanafir will give the hero the Dragon Eye and Ancient Dragon Seal. The ranking up condition is to offer more dragon scales.

• With rank 1 (10 dragon scales), the hero gets the Dragon Headstone.
• With rank 2 (20 dragon scales), the hero gets the Dragon Torso Stone.
• With rank 3 of the (30 dragon scales) Dragon Remnants Covenant, the hero gets the Black Dragon Greatsword.

The hero will get to join the Company of Champions Covenant by going up the hill on the side of the dungeon (at Majula) that leads to the Heide's Tower of Flame. Pray at the Victor's Stone to enter the Company of Champions. This covenant makes all battles difficult like new game +, so avoid joining unless the hero wants extreme challenges.

The ranking up condition is to offer awestones

• With rank 1 (10 awestones), the hero gets the Great Magic Weapon.
• With rank 2 (25 awestones), the hero gets the First Dragon Ring.
• With rank 3 of the (50 awestones) Company of Champions Covenant, the hero gets the Vanquisher's Seal.

Finally, there is the Pilgrims of Dark Covenant, which the hero can join by speaking to Darkdiver Grandahl. The condition for ranking up is based on fulfilling certain conditions in the Dark Chasm.

• With rank 1 (clear one area of the Dark Chasm), the hero gets the Resonant Soul spell.
• With rank 2 (light all three braziers in the Dark Chasm), the hero gets the Great Resonant Soul spell.
• With rank 3 of the (defeat the boss of the Dark Chasm) Climax: Xanthus Armor Set and dragon chime.