The Ringed City, the second add-on for Dark Souls 3, brings the pain with unstoppable enemies and difficult new encounters. Learn how to survive (and get lots of items) with Part 1 of our Dark Souls 3 DLC walkthrough.

On top of all the murderous monsters, the first location you’ll reach is a complicated maze of ruins. There are two ways to reach the Dreg Heap, the first area in The Ringed City DLC. You’ll need to gain access to the Kiln of the First Flame, or complete the Ashes of Ariandel DLC. Either of the added bonfires will take your character to the Dreg Heap, where you can expect to die over and over again.

For more Souls-style secrets, check out how to reach all the secret locations in Bloodborne, or where to find every Estus flask upgrade in Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin.

The Ringed City – Walkthrough | Pt.1: The Dreg Heap

There are two ways to enter The Ringed City DLC in Dark Souls 3.

• If you’ve completed the Ashes of Ariandel DLC, go to the Sister Friede bonfire and interact with the new bonfire near the memorial.
• Or, travel to the Kiln of the First Flame bonfire. Turn around to find an alternate bonfire.

Both bonfires lead to the Dreg Heap, the first location of the Ringed City DLC. That’s all it takes – your Undead Champion needs to reach the final encounter of the main game, or defeat the boss of “Ashes of Ariandel” to make the DLC area available.

Getting there is the easy part. Surviving to the end is going to be a lot trickier.

The Dreg Heap

At the ledge overlooking the wreck of the great city, talk to the hag. She sells a unique weapon and other random sundries.

To the right of the hag, move across the ledge to find an Ember.
Drop down from the ledge and take the stairs down to encounter your first enemies.

• Enemy Note: The corpses are slow and won’t pose much of a threat, though their humanity-infused magic can track you down. Target the summoners with staffs to stop the endlessly spawning undead.

• [Weapon Location] Take the stairs up to reach a larger humanity-infused creature. You’ll find the [Aquamarine Dagger] in this upper area.

In the first combat area, find the ledge on the right. There’s a [Twinkling Titanite] on a corpse – approaching and standing on the ledge causes it to collapse. You and the body will fall through the glass and into a tower below. Believe it or not, this is the only way to make progress.

• [Weapon Location] In this fallen tower, there are a handful of materials, but the item most worth getting is the [Murky Hand Scythe]. Find it by stepping onto the fallen shelves to the left of the exit door. There’s an alcove containing the weapon.

Enemy Note: Outside, you’ll encounter a deadly pilgrim. It launches a series of killer attacks. Try to avoid it for now. Follow the narrow path to the right to enter a church-like interior guarded by two Lothric Knights.

Outside the door into the chamber with the Knights, collect a [Lightning Urn] bomb from the corpse.

• [Armor Location]There is a chance the Lothric Knights will drop armor pieces. Go to the memorial to collect a [Soul of a Crestfallen Knight].

Outside the chapel, you’ll find a fountain littered with more headless Lothric Knight corpses. Go around the outer edge of the fountain to get a [Rusted Coin].

From the chapel, go up the hill (to the right) and to the interior entrance. The rooms are guarded by an endless swarm of crawling undead. Rush through and kill the summoners to stem the tide.

• [Weapon Location] On the way through the interior, before reaching the stairs up on the left, there’s a corpse with the [Murky Longstaff].

[Spell Location] Up the stairs, you’ll reach a larger mess hall with arches to the left. Kill the summoner to get the [Great Soul Dregs] spell.

Kick down the ladder to create a shortcut back down to the fountain square. From the wooden walkway, drop down onto the walkway below to find a [Covetous Silver Serpent Ring +3].

Continue down the hill from the fountain square to reach another open courtyard beyond the fallen stone tower – watch out for the pilgrim. This butterfly pilgrim can’t be killed, unless…

• Enemy Note: You’ll find a strange tree-like human creature in this courtyard. Kill the stationary creature to kill the flying pilgrim for good.

Drop down the ledge onto the curved hill. There’s a murky area behind the statue pillar where another humanity giant will spawn.
Follow the red messenger text (It reads “Take the plunge. You won’t die.”) to find your way forward. Another ghostly message is found ahead, past another giant.

You’ll land on a rune / ash, preventing damage. The Earthen Peak Ruins bonfire is straight ahead.

• Having trouble dodging the pilgrim? After hiding, wait for the pilgrim to lose track of you. It will slowly turn in a circle and survey the area. Wait for it to face away before rushing to the next piece of cover. Save your stamina and only sprint when it spots you. Sprinting will help you dodge incoming projectiles.

Earthen Peak Ruins Bonfire

Enemy Note: Avoid the poisonous beetles on the fallen castle ruins near the bonfire. Clear them out to get a [Black Firebomb] from the corpse.

Down the hill, use the rocks and ruins to avoid the pilgrim’s ranged attacks.

Stick close to the roots of the giant tree (on your right) – don’t bother trying to kill the pilgrim. It will immediately respawn if you try. Try to find and kill the tree-human hybrids.

There’s a [Twinkling Titanite] on the corpse, on a high ledge of the roots.

• [Armor Location] Weave under the wooden buildings to avoid the butterfly pilgrim’s attacks. There’s a structure near the edge where you’ll find the [Desert Pyromancer Garb].

Move into the ruins of the Earthen Peak to find an interior path. It leads toward a bog. Standing in the green water is poisonous, so don’t stay submerged for too long.

Use the covered structures in the bog to avoid the pilgrim. It just won’t give up! The nearest house contains a lump of [Purple Moss] on a corpse.

Enemy Note: Don’t stay in one place too long. The pilgrim will summon a bright light to curse you.

• [Armor Location] To the left, go up the rock path toward the giant tree roots to find the [Desert Pyromancer Gloves].

From the entrance into the bog, spot the caves in the distance. Use these caves to shield yourself from the pilgrim’s attacks.

In the bog, look under the roots circling the windmills to reach an area out of the pilgrim’s line-of-sight. Follow the poisonous path to a ramp guarded by a humanity giant.

• [Weapon Location] The [Harald Curved Greatsword] is located in the poison bog, near where the humanity giant spawns.

To progress, enter the bog and continue to the giant roots surrounding a windmill. Climb the roots up to the windmill rooftops.

Before reaching the roots, look in the caves to find a large pool of poison water in a cave. The cave is guarded by beetles and a humanity giant. Around a corner, there’s an alcove with a second humanity giant and a [Titanite Slab].

[Spell Location] The stone path is guarded by hooded creatures and Desert Pyromancer Zoey. There’s a [Prism Stone] on the corpse near where Pyromancer Zoey spawns. Defeat her to collect the [Flame Fan spell].

• The easiest way to defeat Desert Pyromancy Zoey is… stay close and circle-strafe. Dodge away when she uses her flame sword, and backstab when she uses her close-range fireball spell. Her whip is also extremely easy to block and doesn’t expend much stamina.

• [Armor Location] Continue along the path. Past Zoey, you’ll find another corpse with the [Desert Pyromancer Hood]. Beyond that, there’s a giant root – crossing the root means you’ll have to dodge attacks from two pilgrims at once.

WARNING: You’ll want to find the strange, human-like trees in the area to clear the sky of pilgrim butterflies before attempting to cross here.

Sprint across the roots until you can drop onto a large Earthen Peak toppled spire with a red message on the far edge. Drop onto the tower, then drop into the ruins below where the red message is located.

The [Within the Earthen Spire] bonfire is located below.

Within the Earthen Peak Ruins Bonfire

From this bonfire, walk toward the precarious edge with another red message. Once again, drop down from this message and fall into the deep, gnarled tree trunk. It’s a long, long drop, but you won’t take damage if you step off exactly where the ghostly image is pointing.

This is where you’ll encounter the Demon Prince boss battle. It begins right after landing in the arena. Check out our boss guide for tips to help handle this difficult battle.

Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City – How to Beat Every Boss

Demon Prince Bonfire

After defeating the Demon Prince, activate the bonfire in the arena.

Collect the [Small Envoy Banner] from the corpse near the Demon Prince bonfire. This is a key item, and its use isn’t initially obvious.

Enter the ruins past the [Small Envoy Banner] corpse and follow the underground passage.

There’s a cliff ahead – select to “Display the Small Envoy Banner” to travel to the Ringed City proper.

The DLC isn’t over yet. Not even close. The Ringed City continues in Pt. 2 of our Dark Souls 3 DLC walkthrough.

Find more Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City guides on The Escapist:

• Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City – How to Solve the “Humanity” Puzzle
• Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City – All Armor Locations Guide
• Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City – All Weapons Locations Guide
• Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City – All Spells Locations Guide
• Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City – Secret Ending Guide