Dark Souls 3: Consumed King's Garden

Dirty secrets are locked away beneath Lothric. It's not as bad as it seems. Honestly.

Dark Souls 3: Consumed King's Garden

We shall now proceed into the Consumed King’s Garden and get to the bottom of this dragon-snake-beast-people-abyss business. Have you got some Blooming Purple Moss Clumps, or some other way to cure status effects? You'll need at least one ahead, and a stack wouldn't be a bad idea.

Consumed King's Garden is accessible via a lift near the Dancer of Boreal Valley and Lothric Castle bonfires; it's the door we haven't checked out yet. There’s a nasty cathedral knight with a mace waiting for you further down the path, but he’s very easy to hit with head shots from the last landing on the stairs, immediately followed by sprinting back in the other direction. Hooray! When it’s safe to proceed, collect the Soul of Weary Warrior.

The knight was guarding the lift. If you take this lift down you’ll be dropped into a pit of horrors. Luckily, there’s a lovely safe balcony halfway down you can step onto instead. The really important thing here is to only get off the lift when it’s on the way down. You do not want to be left without a quick escape down there, believe.

When you reach the balcony, head right to collect an Estus Shard, then go back the other way to an area of broken railings. Fall gently onto the stonework below and collect the Titanite Chunk, then snipe the hell out of a nearby snake beast. As long as you stay at the high end of this structure, it can’t get you.

In fact, before you drop off this bit of stone, peer ahead into the area. There’s a stone structure in the middle, and to the left of it, if you look carefully, you’ll see another snake beast. Snipe hell out of that, too.

We’re going to drop down now but before we do you need to know that the white areas of ground will cause toxicity. Drop down and roll onto the safe earth in front of the lift immediately. Let the toxicity fully drain before moving on to the other side of the lift tower, then roll over and grab the Ring of Sacrifice. Roll back and let the toxicity fully drain again.

Next, look at the cathedral knight standing on the stone structure in front of the lift tower. He’s the same as the one upstairs. Fight him whoever you fancy, of course, but we Cheeseburger Assassins can ping him in the head, and then two or three more times in the body as he enchants his mace, before fleeing to the lift. By the time you go up, let your toxicity drain and come back down again, he’ll be ready for another few arrows. Shouldn’t take more than three trips if you have a good bow and dexterity. Depending on how much damage you do, he might not enchant his mace, but will instead run at you, but this is even better; if he fails to return to his patrol, the toxicity kills him for you or he falls in the hole. Just make you sure you get out of the lift on the balcony when you come back down, in case he's still wandering about.

Back at the bottom, don’t climb onto the stone structure yet. Walk a few steps around it in a clockwise direction so you can peer underneath and see out the other side. Poke about with a few arrows through this sniping line and you can take out a third snake beast. You should probably shoot all the slugs you can see, too; walk around and over the stone structure listening for the crackling sound they make to ensure you have them all.

Before we go after the loot, just one more thing: stand on the stone structure with your back to the lift, looking deeper into the garden. Look left. See the passive there? Go and murder it before it can become a snake beast. We don’t actually know if it ever becomes a snake beast because we always murdered it immediately, but better safe than sorry.

It is now clear to roll around under and in front of the stone structure to collect the loot, which includes some Human Pine Resin, a Claw weapon and the Shadow set. You absolutely will suffer toxicity; cure it with an item or miracle if available, or swallow your pride and chug Estus as you return to the bonfire and resign yourself to clearing all the baddies again.

From the stone structure, head around the left side of the area, hugging the wall. Kill the grunt pretending to be dead before it can transform, then grab the Dark Gem from under the stairs nearby. Climb these stairs to collect a Titanite Chunk.

Keep ignoring the central platform and cross to the other corner to grab a Titanite Chunk and some more Human Pine Resin. Take the doorway on this side to find a lift. Take it up and cross over to the next door; an assassin awaits in the darkness ahead with kukris, so snipe from well back from the door to avoid aggroing him early. There are two priests up there too, but it’s hard to take them down with ranged attacks as they heal each other constantly. Ignore them and grab the Titanite Scale from the bottom floor, then climb the stairs. An assassin drops down in front of you, and another assassin drops to the floor below. When they’re dead you can rush the priests. At the top you’ll find a Titanite Chunk and can open a shortcut door back to the Dancer of the Boreal Valley bonfire.

Unfortunately we’re not finished with the garden, so take the lift back down. About two thirds of the way down you can roll off to a platform eventually leading to the Dragoncrest Ring. A little further you'll meet an overseer; kill it quickly or any passives you left in the garden will be a real problem.

You an see the central platform we've been avoiding from here, and it's a good spot to snipe the two cathedral knights waiting below. They don’t have shields, but they hit even harder than their pals with maces. Luckily, they’re pretty stupid, so cheese away if you like. When they’re dead you’ll get the Magic Stoneplate Ring.

If you go into Ember form on or near the platform you can summon Hawkwood. Nothing but a boss gate is left here.

Continue to Oceiros, the Consumed King boss guide.

Back to Dark Souls 3 guide and walkthrough.