Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City - complete walkthrough with all bosses and optional areas

Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City brings From Software's RPG epic to an end. One last guide, to rule them all.

Dark Souls 3 is the last game in the Souls series - supposedly - and this is its final DLC. Did it answer all our questions? Has it wrapped everything up?

Absolutely not, and if you were expecting that to happen then Hidetaka Miyazaki beat you before you even started. That's just not the Dark Souls way, is it.

The Ringed City is a fittingly mysterious, suitably challenging end to the Dark Souls series, and it has been turning me into a nervous wreck for the last week. I'm delighted to say it's in the bag now, and if I can do it, you can do it too, my cheeseburger assassins. (Except for Midir. We do not talk about Midir.)

As usual, this DLC how-to is an add-on to our Dark Souls 3 guide and walkthrough and is written with beginner PvE players in mind. It was produced using our Cheeseburger Assassin Dark Souls 3 PvE build, and focuses on stealth, cheesing and summoning rather than twitch-reflex duelling.

Don't be afraid, cats: take my hand and we'll go for a nice gentle stroll, take in the sights, and indulge in a couple of bouts of frustrated crying.

The Ringed City walkthrough

• How to start The Ringed City

  As usual, it's not immediately obvious how to even start exploring the new content added in The Ringed City DLC. Assuming you've jumped through your network hoops first, here's how to access your latest adventure.

• The Dreg Heap to Earthen Peak Ruins

  This nasty place is made up of the detritus of the Age of Fire. The world is collapsing in on itself; this is what happens when time, space and gravity are compressed at the end of the universe.

• Earthen Peak Ruins to Within Earthen Peak

  An incredibly unpleasant new enemy guards the entrance to the Ringed City - and we're not talking about a boss. Safely navigate a hellish barrage and quickly get to the next bonfire.

• Earthen Peak Ruins optional loop

  Oh? What's that? You want to know the legitimate path to the boss in this area? Very well: let's do this the hard way. There is some nice loot in it - and a great deal of satisfaction, too.

• The Demon Prince boss battle

  The first of four bosses in The Ringed City DLC, The Demon Prince will test you. If you want to enter the city itself, you'll have to face the very last of the chaos demons.

• Mausoleum Lookout to Ringed Inner Wall

  Having finally arrived at The Ringed City itself, you must work your way past an amazing hazard. You'll want to take down this enemy at least once, if just so you can spit on its temporary grave.

• Ringed Inner Wall to Ringed City Streets

  The most onerous crawl in the whole DLC, this is geographically a short trip, but it may take you a long, long time. Stealthy types will have an advantage here, if they're willing to tiptoe past a series of nasty foes.

• Ringed City Streets

  Finally down at ground level, we explore a swamp, take in an optional mini-boss, and generally have a good time on our quest to unlock a shortcut gate about three minutes from our starting point - if you skip everything in between.

• Dragon bridge and Shared Grave

  Ah ha ha ha! What's a Dark Souls game without a bridge guarded by a flame-breathing dragon? Nothing, that's what. "This is fine", you assert, as you are instantly transformed into ash yet again.

• Shared Grave to Darkeater Midir

  Knock the bloody dragon off the bloody bridge, pick up some great loot, and briefly toy with the idea of battling the optional boss before laughing and running away as fast as possible.

• Spear of the Church boss battle

  An interesting boss fight you can win with this simple trick: unplug your router and throw it out the window. Have I mentioned that I hate you all? I hate you all.

• Slave Knight Gael boss battle

  Not that bad, considering.

Thank you, Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City, for not actually killing me as I say farewell to writing guides for Souls games. Squad, salute.