Dragon Barracks

Before you start this route, ensure you have killed both of the dragons breathing fire on the bridge and unlocked the gate shortcut to the Dragonslayer Armour boss arena. Enemies in this route drop Large Titanite Shards, Titanite Chunks, and Embers. The Lothric Knights drop Sunlight Medals, Refined Gems, and Lightning Gems. The clerics drop Blessed Gems, but the drop is more rare than obtaining Sunlight Medals from Lothric Knights. The regular hollows drop Raw Gems.

This area can be difficult for farming souls, primarily because enemies tend to cluster together at many places. Your farming can be made easier by summoning one or more NPC phantoms. If you have been following the quest lines of Eygon and/or Sirris, their summon signs would appear near the fog wall to the Dragonslayer Armour boss. Eygon is much more tankier than Sirris and his quest line is easier to follow than that of Sirris'. Even if one or both phantoms die during your farming route, their summon signs would re-appear once you are embered and have reloaded the game/area.

You should lure one enemy at a time away from its cluster and kill it as quickly as possible before other enemies notice you. Wherever you see a cleric, eliminate him as quickly as possible before he has a chance to buff and/or heal nearby enemies. I recommend you to avoid using a straight sword. You should use a weapon that can stun lock regular enemies as well as Lothric Knights. In NG+0, my preferred weapon for this area is a Raw infused Cathedral Knight Greatsword+9. A more effective weapon for all enemies in this route is a Lothric Knight Greatsword+9. This weapon is heavier than a Cathedral Knight Greatsword. However, it has built-in lightning damage, which is effective against Lothric Knights. Whenever possible you should stun lock an enemy. Lothric Knights who wield greatshields are tricky to stun lock because they tend to turtle behind their shields. An effective strategy against such turtle knights is to two-hand a Lothric Knight Greatsword+9 and swing with R1; two swings (or more) are usually enough to break their guard. When using a melee weapon to fight a Lothric Knight, your best option is to tank a hit and trade with your two-handed R1 or R2.

Start from the Lothric Castle bonfire and kill all enemies on your way to the Dragon Barracks bonfire. Ignore the Winged Knight who wields twin axes. Next, kill the nearby Lothric Knight who kneels next to a shiny. Cross the bridge and eliminate all enemies to your left, including the 2 kneeling Lothric Knights. Then get rid of the 2 clerics near the shortcut gate as quickly as possible, kill the 2 nearby Lothric Knights, and finish off by dispatching the lone Lothric Knight near the statue of the Warrior of Sunlight covenant. Equipping the Silver Serpent Ring+0, Shield of Want, and Symbol of Avarice in NG+0, this route yields approximately 65,188 souls.

Farming souls: Dragon Barracks part 1, Dark Souls III

After you have defeated the Dragonslayer Armour, you might find that the above farming route can be easier if you start from the Dragonslayer Armour bonfire and work your way down to the Lothric Castle bonfire. In a sense this reversed route is easier because enemies can no longer ambush you. By reversing the above route, you can easily kill a cleric before taking on the Lothric Knight who wields an ultra greatsword. Once you're near the Dragon Barracks bonfire, you can easily lure the hollow who wields a Greataxe away from the 2 crossbow hollows. And so on.

Farming souls: Dragon Barracks part 2, Dark Souls III

Below are some data on the approximate amounts of souls you would obtain if you use the above route for soul farming in various NG cycles. The data were gathered while equipping the Silver Serpent Ring+3, Symbol of Avarice, and Shield of Want.

• NG+0: 80,000