Tears of Denial

Road of Sacrifices

How to get Irithyll Straight Sword, Dark Souls III

Titanite Shard & Braille Divine Tome of Carim at Road of Sacrifices, Dark Souls III

Start from the Road of Sacrifices bonfire and defeat the Boreal Outrider Knight to obtain the Irithyll Straight Sword. Navigate to the Halfway Fortress bonfire. On your way, grab the Braille Divine Tome of Carim and give it to Irina. Purchase the Saint's Ring from her for 300 souls as well as Tears of Denial for 10,000 souls. Tears of Denial requires two Attunement Slots, but you currently have one. The Saint's Ring grants you an additional Attunement Slot, enough to attune Tears of Denial. But you still need the Priestess Ring to cast Tears of Denial at SL1.

One Titanite Shard can be collected on your way to the Halfway Fortress bonfire. Light the Halfway Fortress bonfire, then exhaust the dialogues of Anri and Horace. Follow Anri's quest line to receive the Ring of the Evil Eye and Anri's Straight Sword. At SL1, you can properly wield the sword even one-handed. The sword has the auxiliary effect of regenerating your HP at a rate of two points every two seconds. Anri can be killed now if you really want the sword, but Horace would be aggressive towards you, meaning you are likely fighting two NPCs at the same time. Warp back to Firelink Shrine and exhaust the dialogue of Sirris to initiate her quest line. You need to follow her quest line to obtain the Silvercat Ring and as well as summoning her at Lothric Castle (before the fog wall of Dragonslayer Armour). Following Irina's and Sirris' quest lines would allow you to summon both Sirris and Eygon at Lothric Castle to help you clear the area and safely collect treasures.

Crucifixion Woods

Locations of Grass Crest Shield & Great Swamp Pyromancy Tome, Dark Souls III

Titanite Shard x 3 & Estus Shard at Crucifixion Woods, Dark Souls III

Start from the Crucifixion Woods bonfire and collect Titanite Shard x 3. The Raw Broadsword is already at +3. You now need Large Titanite Shards to upgrade the weapon. Collect Titanite Shards with a view to upgrading the Caestus and the Light Crossbow. Near the bonfire is the Grass Crest Shield, which boosts your stamina regeneration by four points per second. The Grass Crest Shield functions similarly to the Chloranthy Ring. The effect of both items stack, giving you an extra 11 points of stamina regeneration per second.

Grab the Great Swamp Pyromancy Tome and give it to Cornyx, who would then sell Poison Mist. Give Cornyx the Tome and purchase Poison Mist as soon as possible. You don't need Poison Mist for an SL1 playthrough, but it's there if you want to use poison to cheese Wolnir and other bosses. The weapon art of the Storyteller's Staff is recommended for inflicting poison on enemies because the effect is more powerful, and lasts longer, than Poison Mist. However, at this early in the playthrough you don't have access to the Scholar Ring, hence you can't cast the weapon art of the Storyteller's Staff. Next to where you grabbed the Tome is the Conjurator set. This armour set provides high fire defense, useful during your sprint through Demon Ruins. It's the Conjurator Hood that you want because that head piece will be used to help you collect Toxic Mist.

An Estus Shard is found near a pyre where Lycanthrope x 2 sit. With this Shard, you should now have eight uses of the Estus Flask. The Farron Coal is guarded by a Black Knight. Give the Coal to Andre and he would be able to infuse your weapons with Heavy, Poison, or Sharp. You need the poison infusion for the Rotten Ghru Dagger and optionally the Rotten Ghru Spear.

Location of Orbeck, Dark Souls III

Find Orbeck, exhaust his dialogue, ask to learn sorcery, and promise to bring him scrolls. He would then relocate to Firelink Shrine. The main purpose of following Orbeck's quest line is to obtain the Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring and the Hidden Body sorcery. Equipping the ring would mask the sound of your character's footstep, useful for narrowing the range at which enemies become aggressive toward your character. The Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring together with Hidden Body allow you to dash through an area without making enemies hostile. Grab Blue Bug Pellet x 2 on a platform opposite where Orbeck stands. Consume these to boost your magic defense while fighting the Crystal Sage. If possible, farm the Poisonhorn Bugs for Rotten Pine Resin because the area boss is vulnerable to poison. You can't purchase Rotten Pine Resin until you have given the Dreamchaser's Ashes to the Shrine Handmaid.

Crystal Sage

SL1 Crystal Sage, Dark Souls III

This boss is weak against fire and is vulnerable to poison. During phase one, buff your weapon with Rotten Pine Resin and hit the Crystal Sage a few times to poison the boss. Then buff your weapon with Charcoal Pine Resin. Stack as much magic defense as possible and consume a Blue Bug Pellet. During phase two, the boss would summon a bunch of clones of itself. The real boss is the copy that uses purple magic, as opposed to the fake boss which uses blue magic. In both phases, after the Crystal Sage teleports, the location of their re-spawn is random but is predictable. Follow the guide on spawn point here:

Dark Souls 3 - Crystal Sage Guide on Sage Spawns and Crystal Patterns

Defeat the Crystal Sage, warp back to Firelink Shrine, and Greirat should have returned with an enlarge stock of wares. Greirat now sells Heavy Bolts and Sniper Bolts. Stock up on these two types of bolts.