Prepare for next NG cycle

Prepare for next NG cycle, Dark Souls 2 SotFS

Visit various merchants and purchase anything you need from them. Collect various consumables scattered throughout the game such as Radiant Lifegems and Divine Blessings. Use the list below to prepare your character for the next NG cycle:

• Merchant Hag Melentia. Useful items include:

  • Human Effigy x 5
  • Lifegem, unlimited quantity
  • Amber Herb x 3
  • Firebomb, unlimited quantity
  • Pharros' Lockstone x 1. Used to unlock the passage to Belfry Luna.
  • Lenigrast's Key x 1. Unlocks Lenigrast's workshop. Lenigrast can upgrade your armament and repair broken items.
  • Radiant Lifegem x 10

• Chancellor Wellager. Useful items include:

  • Old Radiant Lifegem x 10
  • Wilted Dusk Herb x 10
  • Divine Blessing x 1
  • Repair Powder, unlimited quantity
  • Great Chaos Fireball. Useful against Najka and Mytha.

• Straid of Olaphis. Your source of powerful spells and the only merchant who sells Rouge Water. Purchase Rouge Water x 3 from Straid and consume to restore some HP and spell uses. Trade various boss souls with him in return for these useful spells:

  • Sacred Oath, requires Soul of Velstadt
  • Flame Weapon, requires Old Witch Soul
  • Crystal Soul Spear, requires Old Paledrake Soul

  Straid also sells the following spells, which are useful in certain situations and against various strong enemies and bosses.

  • Dark Orb
  • Great Lightning Spear
  • Sunlight Blade

• Sweet Shalquoir. The most useful items in her shop are:

  • Silvercat Ring
  • Alluring Skull x 10. Unlimited quantity after unlocking the Shrine of Winter. The spell Yearn has the same effect and lasts longer.

• Felkin the Outcast. Useful items include:

  • Dark Orb
  • Dark Weapon. Useful against The Last Giant and Giant Lord.
  • Sunset Staff. The best staff for casting hex and buffing your melee weapon with Dark Weapon. Felkin would gift you the staff when you exhaust his dialogue while having at least 20 points in each of Intelligence and Faith.
  • Ring of Life Protection x 1. Equip to lose nothing upon death, but does not protect against petrification. If your character dies, equip the ring so that you do not lose the bloodstain if your character happens to also die while trying to retrieve the bloodstain. The ring essentially gives you another chance to retrieve the bloodstain.

• Weaponsmith Ornifex. Useful items include:

  • Flame Butterfly, unlimited quantity. Use to light your Torch. You require a lit Torch throughout some areas in each NG cycle. Use a Flame Butterfly in case you are too far away from a bonfire or a lit sconce.
  • Amber Herb x 10
  • Green Blossom, unlimited quantity

• Carhillion of the Fold. The most useful items on sale are as below. You should have purchased everything you need from him before commencing the challenge run. The journey to him can be rather long and difficult from NG+1 onward. Many enemies at No-man's Wharf can two- or three-shot you. In general, it is not worth your time and effort to access Carhillion's shop, but the items are there if the need arises.

  • Yearn x 1. Unlimited quantity after unlocking the Shrine of Winter. This is the sorcery equivalent of Alluring Skull, but lasts 10 seconds. You should have purchased at least 3 copies of the spell prior to starting the challenge run.
  • Amber Herb x 10
  • Twilight Herb x 5

• Royal Sorcerer Navlaan. The fastest way to access his shop is to pull a nearby lever and free him from his prison. Once freed, Navlaan would invade you at various areas in the game. Only free him as the last item on your to-do list. The two most useful items he sells are Dragon Charm x 5 and Crimson Water x 5. Use Crimson Water to restore a large amount of HP and spell uses. Consume a Dragon Charm to cure the poison status ailment. You can also use a Poison Moss, but the item cannot be purchased in unlimited numbers until you have completed the quest line of Lonesome Gavlan. It is not worth your time to initiate and bring Gavlan's quest line to completion. The miracle Caressing Prayer can cure poison, but at the cost of 1 attunement slot.

• Monastery Charm. Consume to cure poison and restore 850 HP. Three are found underneath the Tower of Flame bonfire, at the bottom of a spiral staircase.

• Radiant Lifegem. Pop to restore 850 HP over the course of 19 seconds. Can easily be collected at these locations:

  • On a platform atop the Shaded Ruins bonfire.
  • Outside the building where Straid can be found. The item is in a narrow alcove guarded by a Royal Swordsman.
  • Near the Foregarden bonfire of Aldia's Keep. The item is located in the water of a fountain.
  • Near the Undead Crypt Entrance bonfire.
  • Near the Royal Army Campsite bonfire, in a building containing various large jars. You exit the building as you enter upper Brightstone Cove Tseldora.
  • Two are found in a wooden chest atop Belfry Luna, guarded by various Bell Keepers and a red phantom Bell Keeper. Summon Masterless Glencour to distract some of the Bell Keepers. Grab this item in your quest to pull the nearby lever that opens the gate to the arena of the Belfry Gargoyles.

• Amber Herb. The following should be easy to collect.

  • Two are found at Things Betwixt. Start from the Fire Keepers' Dwelling bonfire and continue on the path to Majula. The first fog wall you would see is to your left; ignore this fog wall. The second fog wall is to your right. Enter the mist and follow the path, at the end of which you would find Amber Herb x 2.
  • One is in an iron chest, behind an illusory wall at Forest of Fallen Giants. The treasure is in the trap building near Pate. The chest also contains a Sorcerer's Staff.

• Twilight Herb. The following should be easy to collect.

  • Two are found in a wooden chest atop Belfry Luna. The chest also contains Radiant Lifegem x 2.
  • One found in a narrow alcove to the left of the entrance to Aldia's Keep.

• Wilted Dusk Herb. The following should be easy to collect.

  • Three in the cave where Cale is found. The treasure is on a corpse that hangs off a ledge, guarded by a Hollow Infantry who wields a bow.
  • Two in a large pot underneath the Chapel Threshold bonfire, within a room guarded by various Parasite Spiders. Outside the room stands a Hollow Mage.
  • Two dropped by a petrified enemy at Aldia's Keep. The enemy stands in front of the Giant Basilisk. Unpetrify the enemy, defeat it, and collect Wilted Dusk Herb x 2. Burn a Bonfire Ascetic at the Foregarden bonfire to respawn the enemy, who is now unpetrified. Defeat it again for another Wilted Dusk Herb x 2. Farm the above enemy as many times as required.

• Divine Blessing. The following should be easy to collect.

  • On a corpse at Majula, encountered on your way to the Far Fire bonfire when you sprint from Things Betwixt.
  • On a tree branch above the Cardinal Tower bonfire. Requires a bit of tricky platforming.

• Brightbug. Eight are found in the game: 2 in the base game and 6 in the DLCs. The Brightbug x 6 scattered throughout the 3 DLCs are difficult to collect and not worth your time and effort. The Brightbug x 2 in the base game are rather easy to collect.

  • One in an iron chest at Aldia's Keep, on the floor where mirrors hang. A number of Looking Glass Phantoms break out of these mirrors.
  • One from a corpse underneath the Upper Ramparts bonfire, accessible after defeating the Belfry Gargoyles.