Dark Souls: Undead Parish Party Planning

The Undead Parish is a place you arrive at early on in Dark Souls. It’s a memorable place for veterans and an absolute hell for newcomers. The area is crawling with tough enemies. However, it also hides a ton of hidden gems—from items to NPCs.

The Enemies in the Undead Parish

The enemies you’ll encounter in the Undead Parish are ready to demolish your entire being. There are tall knights who can move fast and hit hard, a literal armored pig, smaller enemies that go from being annoying to deadly, and so much more. That being said, you’ll have a lot of fun here!

There are particular enemies you’ll need to keep an eye on in the Undead Parish. You can just ignore and run past them, of course, but why run away safely when you can face them, die multiple times, and finally succeed and be sparingly rewarded?

The Black Knight

The Black Knight is on top of the tower you can ascend right after you enter the Undead Parish from the rat-infested sewer from under the Undead Burg bridge. He’s alone here, but he’s more than enough of a challenge for you.

This one is one tough opponent. He deals high damage and has very high health. You’ll need to dodge his attacks and land a few of your own multiple times before putting him down.

Aside from letting the battle play out normally, one of the best ways to deal with the Black Knight is to constantly parry his attacks and then follow it up with a riposte.

Tip

Another good strategy is to circle the Black Knight continuously and hit him with a backstab when you’re positioned right behind him.

The Black Knight can and will follow you down if you decide to descend the tower while fighting him. This may be a better choice for you as long as the undead enemies below have already been slain.

If you’re having a hard time defeating the Black Knight, lead him to the bottom of the tower, then draw him out and head near the closed gate. Fight him here to take advantage of the added space that allows for safer dodge-rolls.

Note

The Black Knight won’t respawn after you defeat him.

After defeating the Black Knight, you’ll receive a Titanite Chunk and 800 Souls. You also have a 20% chance of receiving the Black Knight Sword and a 5% chance of receiving the Black Knight Shield.

Fang Boar

When you approach the courtyard in the first area of the Undead Parish, you’ll find multiple undead enemies, as well as one new enemy type. This enemy is a large boar that’s encased in armor. Wonderful!

Don’t engage with the Fang Boar yet. Instead, deal with the undead enemies in the courtyard first. Eliminate the ones on the ground, then the ones on the upper area on the right, and finally, the undead archers on the ledge.

Tip

You’ll find a dangling corpse on the aforementioned ledge. Loot this to receive four Alluring Skulls. These items are useful against Fang Boar.

Once all the undead enemies are gone, jump down and face the Fang Boar.

To meaningfully damage Fang Boar, you must hit the only part of its body that’s not covered by armor: its rear. This is where the Alluring Skulls come in handy. Throw an Alluring Skull on any wall and Fang Boar will run toward it, allowing you to attack it from behind.

If you run out of Alluring Skulls, don’t worry. Simply lock onto the Fang Boar and keep circling it until you’re positioned behind it.

Warning

Be careful, though. It will still attack you with a kick from this position.

Once you manage to take down the Fang Boar, you’ll receive 750 Souls. You also have a 20% chance of receiving the Fang Boar Helm.

Berenike Knight

This towering, mace-wielding knight lingers on the altar at the Undead Parish. The best approach to this enemy is to simply be patient. He is massive, but he is also very slow. Wait for the knight to attack, dodge, and then land attacks of your own.

Tip

Don’t give the knight too much space in the middle of the fight. He has Estus Flasks and he will use them when he’s not fighting you.

Once defeated, you will receive 1 Titanite Shard and 800 Souls.

Channeler

The Channeler isn’t too strong of an enemy, but it’s the circumstances surrounding this encounter that make it tricky to handle. When you face the Channeler on the upper level of the Undead Parish, it will be accompanied by a horde of hollow enemies wielding broken straight swords.

Warning

They fall in one hit, but they can mob and overpower you easily if you’re not careful.

Lead the undead enemies to the narrow walkway before the area where the Channeler is and deal with all of them here. The Channeler may also follow them. Either way, deal with the smaller enemies first before focusing on the Channeler.

After you defeat the Channeler, you will receive 1,000 Souls.

Titanite Demon

A Titanite Demon awaits in the large area outside where Blacksmith Andre is located. This enemy is quick despite its size and has a massive health pool. Its damage output is decent enough. This foe is adequately dangerous, but you’ll be able to handle it just fine as long as your weapon is strong enough.

Tip

It is weak against lightning. If you have any Gold Pine Resin on you, apply it to your weapon.

The best way to handle the Titanite Demon is to always place yourself somewhat behind its free arm (the one not holding a weapon). Its attacks will barely reach you from here. Whenever you have an opening, attack it a few times—but don’t get greedy!

It will often jump up before landing on top of you. When this happens, run or dodge away from it. After its jumping strike, you should return to the ideal position for attacking.

You’ll receive 1 Demon Titanite and 2,000 Souls for defeating the Titanite Demon.

Important Items to Find at the Undead Parish

As you explore and wreak havoc all around the Undead Parish, make sure you take the time to find these items as well.

Basement Key

The Basement Key is found on a corpse lying on the staircase behind the locked gate. This opens the locked door at the start of the bridge that’s guarded by the Hellkite Wyvern in Undead Burg.

Mystery Key

The Mystery Key is located in the underground cellar that you enter past the yard where the Fang Boar is located. It’s on a slightly sunken area behind a ladder. This key opens a cell in the Undead Parish.

Fire Keeper Soul

The Fire Keeper Soul is found on the altar at Undead Parish. Bring this to any firekeeper to reinforce your Estus Flask.

The NPCs at Undead Parish

There are a handful of NPCs at the Undead Parish. Meet them here and a few of them will have something to offer you that’s greatly helpful for your entire playthrough.

Andre of Astora

Andre of Astora is on the bottom floor of the dilapidated structure in between the main parish and Sen’s Fortress. He’s one floor below where the bonfire is burning.

This gruff fellow is a blacksmith. You will return to him from time to time as you progress through the game. He will upgrade your weapons in exchange for souls and upgrade materials, as well as modify them as long as you have the correct embers.

Andre also sells a handful of items such as keys and weapons. Spare a few souls for these items as they’re useful for your playthrough:

• Weapon Smithbox – Gives you the ability to upgrade your weapons at a bonfire.
• Repairbox – Gives you the ability to repair your weapons and armor at a bonfire
• Armor Smithbox – Gives you the ability to upgrade your armor at a bonfire.
• Titanite Shards – Used to upgrade Standard weapons to +5. Purchase the ones you need for immediate upgrades.
• Crest of Artorias – This opens the gate to Darkroot Garden.

Knight Lautrec

Knight Lautrec is behind a locked cell in the Undead Parish. After defeating the Channeler, head to the left hallway and continue until you find a Balder Knight. Defeat it and continue forward until you spot a crumbling wooden door. You can break this door down by attacking it.

Once inside, head up and you’ll find the cell with Knight Lautrec behind it. You can open this door with the Mystery Key. Do so to free Lautrec. He will reward you with a Sunlight Medal.

You can also open this cell with the Master Key if you chose that as your starting gift.

There are two options here: you can leave him here after talking to him and he will eventually make his way to Firelink Shrine or you can kill him to receive the Ring of Favor and Protection, 5 Humanity, and 1,000 Souls.

If you leave him be and allow his questline to progress, you’ll have the chance to naturally fight him later. At that time, you will receive the same items listed above as well as Anastacia’s Fire Keeper Soul and his armor set.

Oswald of Carim

Oswald of Carim is a merchant NPC you’ll encounter after you ring the bell. After ringing the bell, descend the tower and you’ll find him before the entrance at the base.

You can perform the Request Absolution feature with Oswald. This is for when you accidentally harm another NPC. Requesting Absolution will cause that NPC to forget your actions, essentially undoing any erroneous assaults.

Oswald also sells a handful of items relating to magic.

The Bell Gargoyles

The Bell Gargoyles are the bosses of Undead Parish in Dark Souls. Before entering the arena, if your humanity is intact, you can summon Solaire of Astora. You can find his summon sign in front of the fog. You can also summon Knight Lautrec if you’ve rescued him beforehand. If you want, you can summon either of them to make the fight easier.

When the boss fight begins, you’ll only fight one of the gargoyles. Deal as much damage to this one as fast as you can. Stick behind it and keep attacking it.

The second gargoyle will join the fight once the first one’s health drops to below 50%. You’ll want the first gargoyle’s HP to be as low as possible when this happens. The second gargoyle will enter the fray at 50% HP.

Mainly focus on the first gargoyle for now. Remember that these two will now spew fire, which makes it better to stick to their sides.

Once the first one falls, you can make short work of the second one.

After defeating the Bell Gargoyles, you can make your way up the tower ahead and ring the bell to progress the game.

The Undead Parish in Dark Souls is a highly thrilling area. Many players will quit here while many others will overcome it and feel triumph. Do your best to be the latter. This FromSoftware title has so much more to offer. See all of it by clearing this area.