Dark Souls 2: Crown of the Old Iron King - Brume Tower, axe demons, Soul of Nadalia

Explore Brume Tower and fight groups of vicious enemies with ranged attacks and fire.

Brume Tower

Light the bonfire then head up the small stairs and you'll come across the first Ashen Idol. Wait for the flames to subside, run up to it and use the Smelter Wedge. You will now pick up the Soul of Nadalia, Bride of Ash. Turn around and go down the staircase on the right.

Now go around the corner and drop onto the hanging platform. Drop down again onto a circular platform in the middle of the room and pick up two Old Growth Balm. Drop down one last time and you'll be in front of a doorway.

From here you'll need to head down the stairs and fight the first Axe Demon. Walk behind it as it ops out of the soot and get a critical blow on it before finishing it off in a fight. Once its dealt with you can take two Twilight Herbs at the end of the platform. Go the right and destroy the fallen knights as you go.

At the bottom of the hill you'll see three more Axe Demons appear. Hit them with ranged attacks if you can and you'll be able to get two or three good hits in before they come at you. If one of them leaps at you avoid the attack and circle around it to hit it from behind. Try and keep them apart to make the fight easier.

Once they're dead, go down the hill and turn right to fight another Axe Demon. Now go to the far end of the path and at the gate you'll find a Rogue Water. Go back the way you came and go through the doorway on the right. Climb down the ladder on the left and at the end of the small platform, around the circular structure, you'll find a Blackweed Balm. Pick it up for an intelligence boost and go back to the small platform and down the other ladder for a Scythe +7

If you want a few extra items here you can drop to a ledge below on the right and fight a Axe Demon and a Possessed Armour inside the balcony. At the end of the path is a chest containing a Bonfire Ascetic and two Human Effigy.

If you don't want the items just go through the doorway for 10 Prism Stones before going around the corner and opening a chest at the end of the hall for a Titanite Slab. Go down the ladder next to the chest and in the room below you'll find an Ashen Idol but not before having to fight three enemies.

At the bottom of the ladder take out the first enemy and the Ashen Idol won't activate. Once dealt with, move to the adjacent room and fight the next enemy. Stay close to the hallway and the third enemy won't attack until this one is down. Once all three are dead pick up the Dance of Fire spell.

In the Ashen Idol room kill the enemy at the far end with ranged attack. As you approach the Idol another enemy will appear (an Axe Demon) so kill it and use a Smelter Wedge to disable the Idol.

Help yourself to the Soul of Nadalia, Bride of Ash then pull the lever on the left to open the iron door. There's an enemy patrolling here, so kill it and go through the door and left. Two Axe Demons will spawn - kill them before taking five Lloyd's Talismans. Go back to the door and past it to the stairs, opening the door at the balcony.

Inside you'll find a bunch of enemies holding explosive barrels - they're ripe for the picking with some ranged attacks. Go left and reach the ladder to climb down and move over to the stairs. an enemy will approach from the closest room, so prepare your shield and defeat it.

Go halfway down the stairs and look left to see a enemy next to a flaming statue. Hit it with a ranged attack and there are two more enemies in a similar spot. Another ranged attack or two will take care of them. Pick up the two Goldenfruit Balms. Go into the adjacent room and left of the flaming statue. Down the ladder you'll find another enemy, then head right for another ladder.

From this position you'll see one of three enemies in the room below. Hit it with ranged attacks and it won't be able to hit you with firebombs. Climb down the ladder waiting for the other two enemies to move away from the bottom, but as you hit the bottom climb back up. the red invader will follow you but the the other won't, so you can take them both on separately.

The red invader uses a whip and throwing knives and has quite the reach, able to stun at close range. When he throws knives attack two or three times and back away, avoiding the whip. With that guy dead fight the last enemy in the room below and open the chest for a Caestus +8. through the doorway and down the stairs you'll find a bonfire. Light it and ignore the statues as they're of no use at the moment.

Head up the stairs. There's a door directly ahead but it doesn't open, so go left. On the right near the railing you can see into the room. There are two enemies here with bows standing near flame traps. Wait for them to fire an arrow, which will hit the railing, then move to the chest and open it for three Twinkling Titanite. Now the enemies will approach you but kill themselves on the flame traps.

Now go back to the room with the bonfire, head straight and around the corner to the right. You'll see a mist doorway here, but go left into the first alcove and there's a ladder.

Move to the alcove at the bottom right and into the corridor to the right to open the door at the end. as soon as the door opens move away and ready a ranged attack to take out the two enemies with exploding barrels. One shot should do the job.

Next to the ladder at the end of the room are three Radiant Lifegems and in the room below a bunch of enemies. Look down from the left of the ladder (be careful of the trap door) and wait for an enemy with an exploding barrel to come in to view. Hit him with a ranged attack before going any further.

You really don't want to drop down here because there's a lot of enemies, but with some patience you can hit them all with ranged attacks through the hole where the ladder is. All together you'll see four Axe Demons, a Giant Club Demon and an Ashen Idol. You'll need to climb down the ladder a bit to get them to come close, then back up to pick them off. It's not the quickest method - it takes about 5 minutes - but it's the safest.

If you're impatient/brave just head down and get stuck into the fight. Leave the Giant Club Demon until last. Just keep moving and attacking and don't stay in one spot for too long. There's another enemy in a cage just above the room on the far side throwing fire bombs. If you don't go past the rotting body on the floor you'll be out of range and you can deal with it later.

When the room is clear grab the Flame Quartz Ring +3 at the bottom of the ladder and go up to the Ashen Idol. Wait for the first burst of lava to recede then move quickly and insert the Smelter Wedge. You'll be given another Soul of Nadalia, Bride of Ash.

Open the door on the far side using the lever and go through to tackle a Possessed Armour with a flaming sword and bow just past the stairs. You can wait for it to fully form before hitting it with ranged attacks but if it rushes you brace for flaming sword attacks. When it's on the ground look out for an sneaky attack from it.

Go down the stairs for five Large Titanite Shards, a Human effigy, two Twinkling Titante and a Dried Root. Brace yourself as you turn the corner for a Fume Sorcerer attack. Get too close and two Axe Demons will join in - one from the front and another from behind - so try and use ranged attacks on the Fume Sorcerer. If you knock it off the cliff it will continue to attack from below, so don't think you've gotten away with finishing it off.

Further along you'll be attacked by another Fume Sorcerer. Attack with ranged weapons again and use the pillars on the path for cover. There's a Humam Effigy on the left and at the end of the path is a ladder. Climb half way down and enemies will spawn below, so climb back up and take them out with ranged weapons.

Climb down the ladder to see an invader. When it follows you, climb back up and fight it up top before climbing back down. Around the corpses in the snow you may find a few items such as a Soul of a Proud Knight but be prepared for two enemies to attack close to the wall on the left.

You now face two paths. you can go down the stairs and through the doorway on the left, or head straight through the doorway on the right. The path on the left takes you to an Alonne Greatbow +5, a Majestic Greatsword and two Bonfire Ascetic. The path on the right takes you on to the boss fight.

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