Raw Broadsword+2

Cemetery of Ash

There's not much I can say here that you shouldn't already know from your first playthrough. Run straight for the fog wall and fight the tutorial boss.

Titanite Shard x 1 at Cemetery of Ash, Dark Souls III

Notable loots:

• Ashen Estus Flask. Reallocate your Estus Flask to give you an extra use.
• Titanite Shard x 1. This is near the fog wall of Iudex Gundyr.
• Firebomb x 5. Useful against the area boss during phase two because the Pus of Man is weak against fire.

Iudex Gundyr

SL1 Iudex Gundyr, Dark Souls III

At the start of the fight, before pulling the coiled sword out of his body, use the weapon art of the Club to boost your damage output. This boss can be parried during phase one. To parry, ensure both hands of your character are bare. Parry the boss, switch to your right-hand weapon, and riposte. Rinse and repeat until phase two commences. During phase two, a Pus of Man would protrude from the boss. Throw Firebombs at the Pus of Man.

Firelink Shrine

Enter Firelink Shrine and place the Coiled Sword to start a bonfire. Exhaust Hawkwood's dialogue to initiate his quest line. There are three benefits to following his quest line. First, he would gift you the Farron Ring, useful for conserving your FP when you perform the weapon art of an equipped weapon. Second, you can summon him at the Consumed King's Garden to help you clear the area and fight the area boss. Third, he would be available to be summoned at Archdragon Peak to help you clear the area.

Estus Shard at Firelink Shrine, Dark Souls III

Notable loots:

• Estus Shard. Can be picked up early by performing the tree jump. Visit Andre to allot your Estus Flask and upgrade it. You should now have five uses of your Estus Flask.
• Twinkling Titanite x 1. Dropped by the Crystal Lizard behind Firelink Shrine. Can be accessed early by performing the tree jump. Use Twinkling Titanite to upgrade the Irithyll Straight Sword and the Irithyll Rapier, useful against bosses that are vulnerable to frostbite.
• Covetous Silver Serpent Ring. Perform the tree jump to collect this. While equipped, each defeated enemy would yield an extra 10% souls.

High Wall of Lothric

Rescue Greirat and Light Crossbow, Dark Souls III

The most useful NPC in this area is Greirat because he is a merchant for consumables, weapons, and ammunition. Rescue Greirat and initiate his quest line. As you advance his quest line, Greirat would expand his shop to include more consumables, weapons, and armour sets. You need the Cell Key to unlock his jail cell. Exhaust his dialogue, accept his request, and he should relocate to Firelink Shrine. Visit him at Firelink Shrine to purchase the Bandit's Knife and Light Crossbow and stock up on bolts. The Bandit's Knife serves two purposes. First, the weapon art of the Bandit's Knife allows you to quickly traverse swamps and many areas that restrict your movement to snail pace. The Dagger has the same weapon art and you can properly wield the weapon, unlike the Bandit's Knife. The second purpose of the Bandit's Knife is to be a means of quickly bleeding enemies and some bosses, an effect not shared by the Dagger.

As an SL1 character, you have the necessary stats to properly wield the Light Crossbow. The Longbow is also available near the High Wall of Lothric bonfire, but at the moment you can't properly wield the Longbow without the Hunter's Ring. However, the Longbow and arrows can still be used to lure enemies to you one at a time, conserving bolts in the process because you can carry at most 99 of each type of bolts and arrows. Some arrows and bolts have a limit of 30 or less. Once you have the Symbol of Avarice and some Rusted Coins purchased from Patches, consider farming for the Knight's Crossbow. Farm this crossbow from the Lothric Knight x 4 scattered between the arenas of Vordt and Dancer. You can't one-hand the Knight's Crossbow, but you certainly can two-hand it. The Knight's Crossbow outputs physical as well as lightning damage, which is useful because many enemies are weak against lightning.

Titanite Shard from first Pus of Man, Dark Souls III

Titanite Shard from second Pus of Man, Dark Souls III

Raw Gem at High Wall of Lothric, Dark Souls III

Location of Broadsword, Dark Souls III

Titanite Shard x 3 & Estus Shard at High Wall of Lothric, Dark Souls III

Notable loots:

• Raw Gem. A guaranteed Raw Gem is dropped by killing a Crystal Lizard at the High Wall of Lothric, past the Tower on the Wall bonfire and near a Pus of Man. More Raw Gems can be farmed by killing the Hollows near the High Wall of Lothric bonfire.
• Broadsword. This will be one of your main weapons for the remainder of the playthrough. You can also grab the Claymore, but at the moment you don't have the requisite rings to allow you to properly two-hand the Claymore. Nonetheless, make a suicide run to grab the Claymore as the weapon can help you to deal with many strong enemies.
• Cell Key. In a room guarded by various Hollows and Starved Hound x 2. Use Firebombs to kill the Starved Hounds.
• Estus Shard. Found on an anvil in the room where the Cell Key is located. Talk to Andre to upgrade your Estus Flask to six uses.
• Titanite Shard x 6. One Titanite Shard is available at the Cemetery of Ash. The other five are picked up at the High Wall of Lothric. Two of the Titanite Shard x 5 are guaranteed drops from killing the Pus of Man x 2. Use Firebombs to help you safely kill each Pus of Man. With Titanite Shard x 6 and a Raw Gem, upgrade your Broadsword to the Raw Broadsword+2.
• Gold Pine Resin x 2. The upcoming boss, i.e. Vordt, is weak against lightning.
• Deep Battle Axe. Can be collected from a Mimic chest. You must two-hand the weapon to properly wield it. Use the Mimic to farm for the Symbol of Avarice. You should have chosen Rusted Gold Coin as your burial gift and have collected Undead Hunter Charm x 2 at the High Wall of Lothric. Although Vordt is weak against lightning, he is especially weak against dark. Use the Deep Battle Axe to fight Vordt and conserve the Gold Pine Resin for a later boss. You will use the Symbol of Avarice to farm for extra upgrade materials.

Vordt of the Boreal Valley

SL1 Vordt of the Boreal Valley, Dark Souls III

Vordt takes extra damage from the Deep Battle Axe because the boss is especially vulnerable to dark.