Crown of the Sunken King - Shulva, Sanctum City, statues, Poison Stone, pillars
Everything you need to know about making it safely through Shulva, Sanctum City, and surviving every single deadly fight.
Be careful where you're firing those arrows in the first section of Crown of the Sunken King, as activating those red pillars can create all kinds of mischief for yourself. Follow our guide to make it safely through this region, and bag plenty of useful loot along the way.
Shulva, Sanctum City
To access the first piece of DLC for Dark Souls 2, you'll first of all need to look in your inventory to check you have the Dragon Talon item, received when you purchase the content. Once you've got it, make your way towards the Black Gulch, then go into the room where you fought The Rotten.
Once you've made it to the boss room, head to the rear of it and look to your right. There's a gap here that will take you to a Primal Bonfire. Carry on down the corridor until you're at the bonfire, then walk towards the obelisk at the rear of the room. Interacting with this will whisk you across to the start of the DLC content.
As soon as you arrive, go downstairs and past the fire. Eventually you'll come to a door, on the other side of which lies Shulva, Sanctum City.
Before entering the city itself, check your inventory to make sure you have plenty of ranged attacking power at hand. This sort of damage is very helpful for some of the fiddlier fights ahead of you, and it can make puzzles much easier to solve too. Hitting the red pillars spread all around this zone causes environmental changes to occur - platforms being raised or lowered, for example, or new pathways appearing. This can bring new enemies into play at the same time too, so be very careful about where you're firing those arrows.
When you're ready, carry on along the path until you reach the Sanctum Walk bonfire. Light it, then get ready for your first fight a little further on down the road. Kill the enemy, then carry on up the hill in front of you.
Give the pillar on your left a good whack so that a structure on the hill lifts up and inflicts some damage to the nearby enemies. As you clear through the building, you'll see inaccessible structures to your left. Keep heading forwards, but be ready to be attacked by a pair of enemies when you reach the summit of the hill. A third enemy awaits you on the opposite side of the structure. Kill them all.
As you get near the next hill crest, you'll be attacked by another four enemies. Each one of these brutes can make use of ranged attacks, so pick them off from distance before they can get at you. If you prefer the melee approach, try kiting them backwards so you don't have to fight them all at once.
When they're dead, grab the handful of Lifegems, then give the nearby pillar a hit. This will raise a structure up through a hole in the ground, so once you've whacked the pillar, run onto the platform. Now leap towards the smaller structure in front of you so you can loot a Dark Quartz Ring +3. Next, use the structure to reach the lower ground ahead of you where the enemies are.
Kill them all, then grab the Poison Stone from nearby. Go up the stairs here, then walk straight ahead until you're in a room full of red objects. Shoot them from range, then enter the room and grab the trio of Goldenfruit Balms - just be ready to kill the pair of spiders that appear when you do. Leave via the door on your right, and kill the enemies ahead of you from range. They may race towards you, so have a melee weapon ready just in case.
When everything's dead, go through the other door, then look for the pillar by the crystal formation. This will lift up a platform that grants you access to the first bonfire, as well as the structure on your right. Shoot the little creature lurking between the building with the red devices you shot at earlier and this new building. Next, go inside, and kill the enemy waiting for you before going upstairs. You'll be able to pinch a Poisonbite Ring +1 if you do.
Head left, then go back downstairs and fight the poisonous statue. Make sure you hit its feet to inflict damage against it - you'll find this much easier to do with a ranged attack. When it's dead, take the five Cracked Red Eye Orbs and 20 Throwing Knives from its starting position, then head left until you come to another enemy. Kill it, then go down the stairs to your right.
Look to your left and you'll see a ramp which leads to the Cave of the Dead and Dragon's Sanctum. For now, go forwards until you see a small set of stairs leading into the left-hand building. Go down them, kill the enemy waiting for you, then head along the path to your right so you can loot the Sanctum Mace.
Head back downstairs and then keep walking forward to kill another four enemies. Take the trio of Twinkling Titanites from the ground. Kill the poisonous stone creature on your right, then go up the ladder near the enemy. Head along the roofs until you come to a room with a bonfire. Light it, then go through the door and take the Dried Root.
Head downstairs, then turn right and keep going until you come to some new stairs. Go down the ramp on your right, and fight the pair of enemies in the next room along. Once they're dead, go through the next door, over the bridge on your right, and then down the next set of stairs.
There are more stairs to your left. Use them, then go over the bridge. Two more enemies are ahead of you, but a dragon will swoop in and kill them for you. Smash all of the nearby pots while you're here - there's a Force Souls in one of them.
Carry on over the bridge and you'll eventually find yourself in Dragon's Sanctum. Ignore the room on your left for now - it's locked, but the rest of the area is available for you to explore.
You can find the rest of our Crown of the Sunken King walkthrough from the first page of this article.