The Rotten
The Rotten is one of four mandatory bosses you must defeat to unlock the gate of the Shrine of Winter. This boss is located in the poison infested Black Gulch. You must pass through The Gutter to reach the Black Gulch. Both of these areas are dangerous for different reasons, but the common element is poison. Have plenty of Poison Moss ready. Repair Powder can help to prevent your equipment from being broken by the acid from the various large vats found at the bottom of The Gutter.
The Pit
The Pit at Majula is a wide, deep hole. Descending The Pit requires tricky platforming and can deal heavy fall damage. Equipping either of the Silvercat Ring or Flying Feline Boots can reduce fall damage. Equipping both items can reduce a significant amount of fall damage. If you cannot spare a ring slot for the Silvercat Ring, equip the Flying Feline Boots instead. However, the fall damage reduction from the Silvercat Ring is higher than that of the Flying Feline Boots. You might also want to cast Fall Control.
How to safely descend The Pit NG+7, Dark Souls 2 SotFS
The Pit has three openings on its side. You want to descend The Pit deep enough to reach the third opening, which leads to the entrance of The Gutter. A gang of Undead Citizen x 3 is guarding the entrance. Run past them as quickly as possible. Do not stop to throw an Alluring Skull or cast Yearn. The self-explosion from an Undead Citizen would most likely one-shot your character. Exit The Pit and light the Upper Gutter bonfire.
The Gutter
This area is a gigantic maze. The difficulty is compounded by two factors.
- Poor visibility. The whole area is dark to the point where you can see immediately ahead of you, but not much beyond that. The low visibility coupled with the maze-like layout make The Gutter a rather confusing area to navigate. Light your torch to increase the visibility.
- Dangerous enemies. The three types of enemies to be wary of are Undead Prisoners, Undead Citizens, and poison spitting statues. The Undead Prisoners who wield dark-buffed weapons can one- or two-shot you. The Undead Citizens can self-explode, knocking you off the edge to your doom. The Undead Prisoners and Undead Citizens are both easily distracted by Alluring Skulls. Poison spitting statues are scattered throughout the area, usually in groups of two or more. Their poison spits can quickly fill up your poison metre. Have plenty of Poison Moss ready.
Speedrun through The Gutter NG+7, Dark Souls 2 SotFS
The more time you spend at The Gutter the more dangerous the area becomes. Enemies would most likely catch up to you and attempt to knock you off various edges. Run through The Gutter as quickly as you can. Have plenty of Poison Moss and Repair Powder ready. When you have reached the lower-most floor of The Gutter, find the entrance to the Black Gulch. The entrance is blocked by a number of large jars filled with corrosive liquid that can quickly degrade and break your equipment. Throw a Firebomb to break one or more jars. However, you do not have time to throw Firebombs at the jars because enemies are catching up to you. Instead, roll through the jars to enter the Black Gulch. Before rolling, use a Repair Powder to restore the durability of your equipment. You will be dropped onto a platform and near a shiny containing a Fragrant Branch of Yore. The item can be used for various purposes:
- Unpetrify Rosabeth. You should have already collected the Fragrant Branch found after defeating the Lost Sinner. The Fragrant Branch found at the Black Gulch can be used for the following other purposes.
- Unpetrify Straid at The Lost Bastille. Straid sells Rouge Water x 3 and you can trade various boss souls with him for some powerful spells.
- Unpetrify the enemy at Aldia's Keep who stands in front of a Giant Basilisk. Use the enemy to farm Elizabeth Mushroom x 2 and Wilted Dusk Herb x 2.
Light the Black Gulch Mouth bonfire. In case the corrosive acid breaks one or more of your equipment, the broken items can be repaired through the services of Lenigrast. Purchase Lenigrast's Key from Melentia and use the key to unlock Lenigrast's workshop. Warp back to the Far Fire bonfire and Lenigrast should be smithing away in his workshop. Speak to him to repair any broken items.
Black Gulch
The poison spitting statues are the most dangerous enemies in this area. Equip the Poisonbite Ring+1 to increase your poison defense. Use a poison infused Blossom Kite Shield to block 100% of poison or block with Havel's Greatshield+5. Have some Poison Moss ready in case your character is inflicted with the poison status ailment. Dash as quickly as you can to the arena of The Rotten. Do not stop to fight any NPC invader.
The Rotten
Ice Rapier versus The Rotten NG+7, Dark Souls 2 SotFS
This boss is most vulnerable against thrust attacks and lightning damage. Use a rapier class of weapon. The Ice Rapier+5 is recommended because it has the longest reach. Two-hand your weapon. Buff your weapon with Sunlight Blade; spam the buffing button as your character is entering the fog wall. If you buff your weapon while outside the arena, the NPC invader and possibly other enemies might catch up to you and gank your character to death.
The Rotten is easy by itself. The difficulty of the fight is trying not to step or roll onto the various patches of fire scattered throughout the arena. The boss' hand that wields a clever can perform a horizontal swipe, a charged overhead downward attack, and three successive fast overhead attacks. The most dangerous attack from this hand is the charged overhead chop that also doubles as an area-of-effect (AOE) attack. The boss' other hand usually performs at most one attack. Roll through each attack, then punish with a two-handed R2 x 2. If you are quick enough, you should be able to get in three hits. Try to aim each attack against one of the boss' two hands or arms. You want to cut off one arm to remove the boss' ability to attack with that arm. Do not attempt to roll through the AOE overhead chop. Dash and/or roll away from the boss to be outside the range of the AOE. Note that this overhead chop AOE has a rather long range. Running far away from the boss does not usually guarantee that your character would be outside the range of the attack. The safest place is usually behind the boss, where the AOE cannot reach. Another AOE to be wary of is when the boss charges up an explosion. Again, roll and/or sprint away from the boss, then take the opportunity to heal or re-apply the Sunlight Blade buff. The boss has a retch attack where it vomits onto the ground in front of itself. Run away from the boss or strafe behind its back to be outside the range of the vomit.
Defeat The Rotten and warp back to Majula. Level up with the Emerald Herald if possible, then purchase all Brightbug x 3 from Melentia.