Giant Lord

Souls: approximately 263,154 at bonfire intensity 2, but increases with each bonfire intensity.

Farming the Giant Lord, Dark Souls 2: SotFS

Fighting the Giant Lord is the best method for farming souls because:

1. The boss arena is located right next to a bonfire, i.e. The Place Unbeknownst bonfire.
2. The arena has a Bonfire Ascetic. This item respawns each time you burn a Bonfire Ascetic at The Place Unbeknownst bonfire. You don't need to farm for Bonfire Ascetics at a separate location, e.g. at Aldia's Keep or within one of the three Dark Chasms of Old.
3. Burning a Bonfire Ascetic at The Place Unbeknownst bonfire would increase the amount of souls obtained after defeating the Giant Lord, but at the cost of raising the difficulty of the fight.
4. The Giant Lord is relatively easy to cheese by using a ranged weapon such as magic or miracle projectiles. A raised platform is found right next to the boss. Use the platform to cheese the boss with magic or miracle. An alcove is located just before the giant stone head. Use the alcove as cover while you shoot Poison Arrows and other types of arrows at the boss. A few Poison Arrows are enough to poison the Giant Lord. You might need to equip the Hawk Ring and Durgo's Hat to increase the range of your bow. A melee strategy is possible. For a quick kill, two-hand the Raw Red Iron Twinblade+10 and buff it with Dark Weapon.

Start from The Place Unbeknownst bonfire and burn a Bonfire Ascetic to respawn the Giant Lord. If the boss is still alive, you would not be able to burn a Bonfire Ascetic. Equip the Witchtree Branch+10 (or a catalyst that can cast hex) in the left hand, the Raw Red Iron Twinblade+10 in the right hand, and equip these: Covetous Silver Serpent Ring+1, Nahr Alma Hood, Nahr Alma Robes, Jester's Gloves, and Tseldora Trousers. Enter the arena, grab a Bonfire Ascetic on the raised platform to your left, and wait for the giant stone head to start rolling. Buff the Red Iron Twinblade with Dark Weapon and two-hand the buffed weapon. Sprint to the Giant Lord, while avoiding the fire projectiles and enemies in the area. As you approach the boss, he would perform an overhead slash. Roll diagonally toward the boss and away from the attack. Get in a few hits on one leg, then move to the other leg. Being underneath the Giant Lord, your camera blocks most visual cues that indicate an incoming attack from the boss. You must rely on audio cues and the movement of the legs. Don't linger by a leg for too long.

You obtain souls from defeating the boss, together with these items: Giant Lord Soul, Ring of Giants+2. Collect a Fire Seed from a corpse hanging on a ledge and a Divine Blessing from a corpse sitting in a corner. For extra souls, consume the Giant Lord Soul and sell the items you collected from the arena. Exit the arena and burn a Bonfire Ascetic to repeat the process. Note that from bonfire intensity 8 onward, the amount of souls you receive from defeating the Giant Lord doesn't increase.