Dark Souls 3 Cemetery of Ash – Find the East-West Shield

This guide offers a walkthrough of the Cemetery of Ash in Dark Souls 3. When you first begin the game you are treated to an opening cinematic that gives you a brief overview of the general story in the game. After the cut scene you need to create your character. Select your character’s name, gender, age, class, burial gift and determine how your character will look. You can check out our character creation guide for more detailed information on the choices here and their effect on your character when you begin the game, but if you’re playing it safe go with a melee combat build (Knight, Mercenary or Warrior) and a Life Ring as the burial gift.

Once you’re ready to move on, finalize your creation and move on to the Cemetery of Ash.

Cemetery of Ash

Move down the path ahead, reading the messages on the ground if you’ve never played Dark Souls or Bloodborne before. These message give you a quick tutorial on some of the basic functions you have available to you. Seasoned Dark Souls veterans should be familiar with this and can skip all of the messages.

When you reach the water it’s time to engage your first enemy. He should go down without much of a fight, but before you move to the altar just beyond the enemy, head down the path to the right to find an item at the end. Collect the item to obtain the Soul of a Deserted Corpse.

Head back to the altar to find an another enemy that’s sitting on the ground which cannot be targeted until it stands up. Make quick work of the second enemy then collect the item on the altar, an Ashen Estus Flask. This is a new item which replenishes your FP gauge, the blue bar in the upper left corner between your Health (red) and Stamina gauge (green).

Just ahead you have three paths you can take that all lead to the same destination. Up the stairs to the right and left you’ll find another enemy just like the two you already fought. Both stairs loop around to the left or right of the stairs directly ahead (in the center instead of to the right or left). Waiting at the top of the center stairs is another enemy equipped with a crossbow. Be sure to avoid his projectile attacks as you move in for the kill.

Kill the enemy then head to the right to find two more enemies along the path. With the enemies down, you can continue down the path, but it’s purely optional. At the end of the path is an open area where a boss-like (in your present condition) crystalline creature awaits. To the far left side of the open area you’ll find a Soul of an Unknown Traveler on a corpse, and if you defeat the enemy you obtain a Titanite Scale, but there’s nothing else in the area. If you want an early challenge you can take on the beast, otherwise head back to where you faced the ranged enemy and continue straight from that point.

If you choose to fight the crystalline beast, be wary of its various biting and tail attacks. If you stand close to it you can use a shield to block the attacks. Starting as a Knight you will have a shield with 100 percent physical damage absorption. All of the crystalline beast’s attacks at close range are physical so you won’t take any damage with that shield. It will drain some of your stamina, but you have plenty of time to let it replenish between attacks.

After each attack you can generally hit the beast at least two times with most weapons. If you’re being adventurous you can try for three or four attacks, but you will risk taking full damage from the next attack if you’re not careful. Continue to circle around the enemy with your shield up and roll to avoid its attacks when necessary.

If you have a ranged weapon you need to be very careful if you move too far away from the enemy. It will curl up into a ball and roll toward you, leaving a trail of crystal behind. This is a very damaging attack if you get hit by it, but it’s relatively easy to roll away if you’re paying attention. However, the beast will also jump high into the air and land on top of your if you venture too far away. This attack can also be avoided, but it’s a bit more difficult to dodge compared to the rolling attack. Once the beast is down, collect your Titanite Scale and head back to the area where you found the enemy with the crossbow and continue straight.

Follow the path as it curve up the mountain to the left to find the Cemetery of Ash bonfire. Rest here to obtain the Rest gesture for your character. Continue along the path to find another enemy directly ahead and two more that are clearly visible down the path to the right. When you move right to take down the enemies, two more may attack from the adjacent path to the left.

Clear the enemies, then follow the path to the left as it circles around and heads down the side of the cliff. As you approach the end of the path you’ll find two more enemies, one with a spear and another with a crossbow. If you have a shield you can block the crossbow attacks but you will take a bit of damage due to the fire on the crossbow bolts. Get the attention of the spear enemy and lure him closer to you to take him down, then move in on the ranged enemy between crossbow attacks. At the end of the path is a corpse holding five Firebomb items.

Collect the loot then head back up toward the bonfire. When you reach the area where you engaged the first enemy after the bonfire, head right this time. There was another path to the right that leads toward the structure ahead, but ignore that for now because there’s an item to be found. At the end of the path there’s a note instructing you how to jump. Just beyond the note is a coffin below with a corpse on top. You need to jump off the edge here to land on the coffin and collect the item. If you simply fall you won’t be able to reach the item.

Jump off and land on the coffin to obtain the Titanite Shard on the corpse, then move to the far right to find an enemy just below the cliff edge. Drop down and take out the enemy, then move toward the structure ahead to take down the ranged enemy at the entrance. Head into the courtyard to face off against the first boss, the Heir of Fire, Iudex Gundyr.

Continue on to the boss battle against Iudex Gundyr or head back to our Dark Souls 3 walkthrough and guide!