Irithyll of the Boreal Valley: pre-Pontiff

By now in NG+0, you should have picked up the Shield of Want found in Smouldering Lake. Irithyll is either easy or difficult depending on which weapon you use. After you have explored Smouldering Lake, you should have enough Large Titanite Shards to upgrade your main weapon to +6. I recommend you to farm Large Titanite Shards in Smouldering Lake to upgrade your offhand weapon to +6 as well. You might find that it's difficult to use a straightsword to fight the Pontiff Knights. These knights are strong and fast. Your best option is to stagger them with a greatsword. While 2-handing a Raw infused Claymore+6, you require 3 hits with R1 to kill a Pontiff Knight who doesn't use a shield. The Pontiff Knight who wields a shield requires at most 4 hits with R1, the Pontiff Knight wielding a great scythe requires 4 hits with R1, and the Fire Witch requires 5 hits with R1 to be killed. If possible, level up your Endurance to enable you to perform at least 3 consecutive R1 while 2-handing a Claymore. The Pontiff Knights drop Large Titanite Shards and farming them is less dangerous than farming the large skeletons in the Catacombs of Carthus.

Starting from the Church of Yorshka bonfire, head to the area in front of Pontiff Sulyvahn's fog wall. On your way, kill the Fire Witch, 2 Irithyllian Slaves, and 2 Pontiff Knights. Now head down the staircase to the room full of Irithyllian Slaves; dispatch of all enemies in the room. Go up the staircase to the area in front of the fog wall, jump down to the corpse having the Ring of the Sun's First Born, and kill the lone Pontiff Knight. Equipping only the Silver Serpent Ring+0 and the Shield of Want, each round yields approximately 9,636 souls. If you also equip the Symbol of Avarice, this route would yield approximately 14,454 souls.

Farming souls: Irithyll of the Boreal Valley before Pontiff part 1, Dark Souls III

A longer, but more dangerous, route is to start from the Central Irithyll bonfire and kill all enemies on your way to the Church of Yorshka bonfire. On your way, you will first meet a group of 3 Pontiff Knights who will gank you to death if you don't pull one at a time. Then you will meet 2 Irithyllian Slaves who are easy to kill. Further on is a Fire Witch escorted by a group of Irithyllian Slaves, another nearby Fire Witch, and behind them is another group of Irithyllian Slaves. Once you have dispatched of all these enemies, you will meet a duo of Pontiff Knights. There is another Pontiff Knight at the foot of a hidden staircase and a Cathedral Evangelist. Each of these enemies is easy by themselves, but they are dangerous in groups. If you want to use this route for farming souls, lure one enemy at a time away from its group and eliminate one enemy at a time. This route is very long so it's not a good idea to equip the Symbol of Avarice. Using only the Silver Serpent Ring+0 and the Shield of Want, each round yields approximately 15,576 souls.

Farming souls: Irithyll of the Boreal Valley before Pontiff 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. Note that the route starts from the Church of Yorshka bonfire. The data were gathered while equipping the Silver Serpent Ring+3, Symbol of Avarice, and Shield of Want.

• NG+0: 17,734