Dark Souls 2 how to open Drangleic Castle door

So, you’ve embraced all four of the Great Souls in Dark Souls 2, and you’re on your merry way to Drangleic Castle. This is far from the end of the game, however, as you’ll need to defeat another 8 bosses before you can finally call yourself a true vanquisher of the undead.

In order to get to the Castle, you will have to travel back to the Shaded Woods, to the Ruined Fork Road bonfire. From there, take the left hand path, which leads to the Shrine of Winter, and beyond, Drangleic Castle itself.



The path ahead is not without danger. Immediately after you pass through the archway from the bonfire area, turn around to your left and quickly kill the poisonous pot-bellied zombie lurking behind you. His three friends further up the path will then storm in attempting to put an end to your quest. Kill them and move on.

Further up this path is a monster that resembles the Flexile Sentry from No Man’s Wharf, though this one is much easier to defeat. Magic characters should have little problem disposing of him, but melee characters will benefit from adopting a hit and run approach, keeping to the side of him wielding the clubs rather than the dual Scimitars. He doesn’t has nearly as much health as the actual Flexile Sentry, however, so you shouldn’t have too much of a problem provided you remain cautious. Be aware also that there is a small hidden path to the left of the Flexile monster which hides another poison zombie, so be careful not to rush in too far and get blindsided from behind.

Once you have taken care of these enemies, the way is clear to the Shrine of Winter. Head on up the left hand path where the zombie was hiding and you will soon reach the Shrine. Remember that you need to have defeated the following four bosses and obtained their Great Souls in order to proceed from here:

The Lost Sinner
The Old Iron King
The Rotten
The Duke's Dead Freja (this Great Soul, for some reason, has to be picked up by the player after the boss battle. It's a glowing orb that you'll see on the ground.

You’ll only be passing through the Shrine of Winter on your way to the Castle. Beyond the Shrine, you will enter a dark stone tunnel: the start of the Castle Entrance. At the other side, be wary of the corners, as there will be a trio of Royal Guards around one corner, two with crossbows and one with a longsword. Dispatch them and continue on to find the grand stairway leading up to Drangleic Castle itself: a majestic sight.



At the base of the stairs is the Emerald Herald; talk to her if you want some cryptic words to mark the final stages of your journey, but if not head on up the stairs. At the top, you will see two statues of Mammoth warriors: when you approach they will come to life, and the main entrance to the Castle contains infinitely spawning Royal Soldiers. The best strategy here is to approach just enough for the statues to spring to life, then lead them back down the stairs and deal with them apart from annoyance of the infinitely spawning soldiers. They are slow but have a great deal of range, so simply wait for them to finish their attack combo before closing in to deal melee damage.

Back at the top of the stairs, you will notice that the great door to the castle is closed, with no levers or other visible ways to open it. The key here is the statues positioned either side of the entrance, which are holding vessels. You must kill an enemy next to each of these statues to fill the vessels and activate the door mechanism. These door mechanisms will appear throughout the castle, so keep your eyes open for these types of statues if you get stuck further along.

As a side note, you may think it’s worthwhile to spend some time farming the infinitely spawning soldiers outside the Castle for some additional souls. Unfortunately, however, due to the low amount of souls that each fallen foe yields here, it’s generally not worth the time. Continue into the Castle to find Chancellor Wellager, and straight ahead on the lower level of the entrance hall through two doors, a bonfire.

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