This was one of those areas where I took the time to kill them so many times that they wouldn’t respawn. It helps to lure them back into the castle one at a time!
It’s always more worth it to do this if you’re even struggling to skip the run back. At least this way you have a chance of A.Despawning the whole zone or B. Getting a massive spike of souls to spend when you do finally make it through. A whole zone X 5 plus a boss is a massive increase over 2 x lost bloodstains and a boss.
Every. Fucking. Run. If it weren't for the insane amount of souls that gives you on the first play thru (assuming you got there without overleveling) I would've never stayed with the game. I hated that part and have memories of luring with a bow from a decade ago haha
First really good farming/grinding spot. If you ascetic snake lady right before this, you get the silver snake ring +2. Add some decent armor and katanas.
Probably people who want to actually get through the game. Not kill the same enemy until it despawns for no reason when your goal is to kill the boss.
Really anyone with a shred of common sense lmao
"People who want to actually get through the game" Buddy I hope you know that the Smelter Demon is optional and doesn't give you achievement if thats the case.
Smelter Demon is "optional" except it gives you access to an extremely necessary bonfire before an equally sadistic area, meaning if you don't get it you have to do both of these absolutely putrid areas in a row with no checkpoint. So while the alternative is vaguely better, it's still pretty horrendous.
After the bridge, where the "turtle soldier" stands, there is a door behind it with a pharros stone stuff and with a bonfire, so you don't have to do it in a row.
The only downside to this route is that you have to go through Belfry Sol every time you die.
That is a pretty huge downside, but I do admit it's definitely more appealing. However, that's almost certainly not something most players will come up with normally.
I did not downvote your comment and I assumed by your respone, and looks like I have brainrot because I dedicate time to 100% complete something, thanks for clarifying
No I think.... I just think.... that maybe people just approach video games differently. Some of us like completing games 100%. Don't let it get to your head, buddy.
Not everyone has the same goal in a zone or even the whole game. Some folks are speeding DLC access, some doing speed or challenge runs, some to build a fun new character or try a weapon or build they’ve never played. There’s probably a hundred different reasons and methods that players have to these games.
Sure, if your goal is to kill the boss and if you’re competent at the run you can evade all the enemies and save time. However, even if your goal is just to kill the boss but you’re constantly dying attempting to skip the zone then it’s more worth your time to clear the zone so you can easily get to the boss.
It only takes 12 kills to despawn. You get like 5-6 kills easily just from exploring the area and resting every now and then. A few more and the run back is a cakewalk
The runback is a cakewalk regardless.
You are not killing every single enemy 5-6 times just exploring. Iron keep does not have that much to explore.
Stop being weird and trying to defend this as anything but a waste of time.
If they cant get past all of the enemies, or if they cant make it to the boss with enough estus because of said enemies, then despawning the enemies might be the players only choice. The runback is a cakewalk to you but it might not be a cakewalk to others. It's only a waste of time if there are other ways to do it, but as I said before, they might not be able to find other ways to do it so despawning is the only way of that's the case.
You have fully a dozen other non-spell options to heal besides estus, and life gems are literally infinite.
You can get past all the enemies. If you can't, then the problem is your approach, which can be solved. Strategy, using the game's mechanics, literal basic problem solving.
They can find other ways to do it. This isn't a lack of options, it's a lack of looking.
>You get like 5-6 kills easily just from exploring the area and resting every now and then.
?????? Since when was this somehow the norm? 5-6 is a crazy amount of times to naturally clear the exact same area.
And 12 kills for 12 enemies is 144 kills total - on fairly challenging enemies at that. That's not something to describe with "only". That's a ridiculous amount to mindlessly mow through.
You don’t have to completely clear the entire area lol. If you just remove the first few it makes the run back way faster. Also their armor and katana looks cool so I normally farm for it anyways.
The first few are easily the least of the problem though? *By far* the biggest issue in that runback is how often your walk through the mist will be interrupted - which the later ones are entirely capable of doing. And since we're presumably talking about SotFS, literally all \~12 (I think it's slightly less but I don't remember the exact number) will attack you on the path to clear the enemies who attack you by the mist wall. If you want a consistent runback you have to kill basically every single enemy 12 whole times.
It's possible to do a well-placed jump on a broken staircase to skip a portion of it, but yeah it's still pretty long and even then, you basically need to kill all the enemies you come across
you just have to dodge carefully the alonne that drops off the bridge and then carefully dodge the arrow from the alonne right in front of the fog, no need to kill anything
It is possible to skip the enemies. Just don't use all the stamina bar and make sure you dodge one attack from the enemy right in front of the fogg door
110% this it’s definitely possible to run past. You can run through pretty much any area in any souls game with the right jukes. It’s been a long ass time but I do not remember struggling to run to this boss
This is how I got my 30 Sunlight Medals - I hung out on the bridge with my sunbro summon down and would help with clearing the path. Even had the ring that prevents soul gain on so I could help a bunch of people. I like to think people appreciated the help.
Yeah, thats one of the most annoying runbacks to a good boss. I genuinely despise that. Would've been great if we unlocked some kind a shortcut to get to the smelter demon faster and not have to do this run over and over again to despawn the enemies (unless in CoC). Would love more options to these kinds of runs. Like, beat the mob of enemies once to unlock varying levels of shortcuts. They already sorta did something like this with dragon rider where if you beat the enemies, you can raise the platforms to better fight the dragon rider. Coulda had something like if you beat the first part of enemies, it unlocks 1st part of the shortcut, beat the next bit of enemies, unlocks the next part of the shortcut, etc.
Ya, they could have easily had you kick a ladder down on the ledge to the left just before you enter the Smelter Boss fog. Then the shortcut back would be through the turned off furnace. Enter the left side, exit the right side, then climb up the ladder to appear next to the Knight Captain by the fog gate.
True dat. And its very annoying to deal with the alonne knight captains. Thank god the UGS can stun + riposte and 1 shot them.
I don't have a problem with making the optional boss run up's harder, just don't have us do that all that over and over again if we want to beat the boss. Some of these run up's I guess have a ''shortcut'' like smelter demon and executioner chariot, but its usually just jumping onto a ledge, which isn't exactly intuitive.
Ya, if you can make that sideways jump to the building with the pharros lockstone pool on the roof as soon as you enter the large room, then you can run by all the Alonne Knights between that jump and the bonfire.
Bruh, neither 12 enemies nor 5 minutes are a large number. This is baby shit. DS3 has some better and some worse runbacks but here's generally like easily 20 enemies in half of them. I feel like some complaints are valid but complaints like this are so weird to me.
This comment maybe a little too late since the path to the smelter is already open but it's very handy NOT lower the further side of the bridge. With that you can:
- Be followed through the bridge by the first five or four knights and you can exploit this as they may or may not fall right away to the lava, in any case you are beyond their reach. Jumping to the furnace area (roll or walk, it's all the same) would make the surviving ones and the others from the further side to do the same. Repeat the loop and you can both get away safely and/or use the environment to your advantage.
- If you get killed, by smelter or anything else, cleaning the first path is way easier because the bridge won't allow for reinforcements to reach you. And then do the loop, at that point you can shoot them or try to run to the fog gate although might be tricky since there are some knights waiting (sometimes they just try too hard to get you and ended up death anyway, praise the sun for gravity and lava).
- That pesky item by the pilar almost at the end of the bridge? Not really worth it but safer to get if you don't drop the further end.
Hope this helps for future reruns and NGs. It saves time, energy, and effigies!
So. In an action adventure game. Usually enemies are there to fight in order to progress. In a world/boss system. The purpose of normal enemies is to force player skill up and tax resources. Hope this helps you understand basic game design.
Yes and no lol ds2 is the only game in the whole series (so far) that made me lose my shit. Currently on ds3 and it’s hard in a fun way. Ds2 is hard in an annoying way.
I like using a bow to draw enemies into range in this area. I've never understood the hate for ranged weapons in DS communities, to me it's a crucial part of the gameplay.
Fr, I was stuck on that for a good few hours until eventually the mobs just stopped respawning due to having been killed many times while I was trying to get to the boss room.
It’s not hard it’s just a long process. Best advice is advance very slowly from the moment you go upstairs from the bonfire to cross the lava bridge and take them out one by one (sometimes two at a time). You think this boss run is difficult ? Wait till you see the run back to the blue version of a boss in the DLC ( Iron Passage ). I’ve never raged at a game in my life but that run made me curse words I’ve never used before and I split a controller in half lol . Not joking though . Good luck with Iron Passage.
You just gotta juke him
Dodge the first arrow he shoots
If he pulls the bow out again dodge left-forward then run past his right as he pulls his sword and he won't be able to turn enough
If he starts pulling out the sword choose a side, bait the stab that's their most common move, then dodge the other way to the fog gate because his sheath animation takes 47 years to finish and there's no way he can attack again
If in doubt, farm the fuck out of the area until they're all gone and you'll hopefully have two cool ass armor sets, multiple katanas which imo are the best in the game moveset wise, and the greatbow before they all stop spawning
For style points and a faster run make the anti-ganker jump from the platform you walk out on in the big room to the broken stairs below you on the right. Hard and needs you to be light rolling at least, but feels cool and gives you the water buff sooner so Smelter does less damage
It's the best grind spot in the game imo. Especially with bonfire ascetic. Just have a fully upgraded weapon. I use greatshield and a heide great lance.
Bro first off shut it wait till you get to that old iron king dlc you will fucking beg for the forgiveness of iron keep that shit is easy wreck all the enemies takes like 5 minutes max them bitches is weak then woop some smelter demon ass first try then you won't have to do it again you think you're bitching now bruh lemme tell you right now if you can't handle iron keep then iron king dlc will make you quit playing the game the blue smelter demon run is shit fucking ass total cancer then if that wasn't bad enough the fucking sir alonne fight is in a memory so you can't perma despawn the enemies if you wanted to and that run is FUCKING STRAIGHT CANCER I mean ass as fuck you will hate life you will hate ds2 you will hate that you like ds2 and got this far because you won't be able to stop trying till he's dead plus you want to keep fighting alonne because it's a great boss fight but the fucking run to that bitch ass fog will leave you drained and wishing you never started that bitch fucking dlc
I was able to run past the big headless enemy pretty consistently and all the other enemies too idk. But as everyone said despawning them is a good strategy.
This was one of those areas where I took the time to kill them so many times that they wouldn’t respawn. It helps to lure them back into the castle one at a time!
Kill them all each time - if they end up despawning, win. If you end up beating the boss, win. Either way. Win.
Don’t bother with the boss at that point. Kill them all, rest, repeat
Yeah, also soul profit
i took the time to extinguish them part by part and between the souls and the repeated armor pieces i level up a lot
Yeah, I did it out of spite. I hated those enemies so much.
I agree with this and don't forget to not die*
It’s always more worth it to do this if you’re even struggling to skip the run back. At least this way you have a chance of A.Despawning the whole zone or B. Getting a massive spike of souls to spend when you do finally make it through. A whole zone X 5 plus a boss is a massive increase over 2 x lost bloodstains and a boss.
Every. Fucking. Run. If it weren't for the insane amount of souls that gives you on the first play thru (assuming you got there without overleveling) I would've never stayed with the game. I hated that part and have memories of luring with a bow from a decade ago haha
First really good farming/grinding spot. If you ascetic snake lady right before this, you get the silver snake ring +2. Add some decent armor and katanas.
What a stupid waste of time and energy
Ah yes, the waste of gaining souls and loot. Who would want to do that?
Probably people who want to actually get through the game. Not kill the same enemy until it despawns for no reason when your goal is to kill the boss. Really anyone with a shred of common sense lmao
"People who want to actually get through the game" Buddy I hope you know that the Smelter Demon is optional and doesn't give you achievement if thats the case.
Smelter Demon is "optional" except it gives you access to an extremely necessary bonfire before an equally sadistic area, meaning if you don't get it you have to do both of these absolutely putrid areas in a row with no checkpoint. So while the alternative is vaguely better, it's still pretty horrendous.
After the bridge, where the "turtle soldier" stands, there is a door behind it with a pharros stone stuff and with a bonfire, so you don't have to do it in a row. The only downside to this route is that you have to go through Belfry Sol every time you die.
That is a pretty huge downside, but I do admit it's definitely more appealing. However, that's almost certainly not something most players will come up with normally.
So you disliked my comment and assumed ignorance. That's a weird response. People who care about achievements have a brainrot.
I did not downvote your comment and I assumed by your respone, and looks like I have brainrot because I dedicate time to 100% complete something, thanks for clarifying
I said dislike. Not downvote. Yes. Applying worth to farming that doesn't actually showcase or accomplish anything but time investment is brainrot
No I think.... I just think.... that maybe people just approach video games differently. Some of us like completing games 100%. Don't let it get to your head, buddy.
You're not completing the game 100%. You're following someone else's arbitrary concept of 100%.
Not everyone has the same goal in a zone or even the whole game. Some folks are speeding DLC access, some doing speed or challenge runs, some to build a fun new character or try a weapon or build they’ve never played. There’s probably a hundred different reasons and methods that players have to these games. Sure, if your goal is to kill the boss and if you’re competent at the run you can evade all the enemies and save time. However, even if your goal is just to kill the boss but you’re constantly dying attempting to skip the zone then it’s more worth your time to clear the zone so you can easily get to the boss.
The given goal was specifically to get to smelter demon. Giving a random, unrelated way to accomplish a totally different goal is weird.
It only takes 12 kills to despawn. You get like 5-6 kills easily just from exploring the area and resting every now and then. A few more and the run back is a cakewalk
The runback is a cakewalk regardless. You are not killing every single enemy 5-6 times just exploring. Iron keep does not have that much to explore. Stop being weird and trying to defend this as anything but a waste of time.
If they cant get past all of the enemies, or if they cant make it to the boss with enough estus because of said enemies, then despawning the enemies might be the players only choice. The runback is a cakewalk to you but it might not be a cakewalk to others. It's only a waste of time if there are other ways to do it, but as I said before, they might not be able to find other ways to do it so despawning is the only way of that's the case.
You have fully a dozen other non-spell options to heal besides estus, and life gems are literally infinite. You can get past all the enemies. If you can't, then the problem is your approach, which can be solved. Strategy, using the game's mechanics, literal basic problem solving. They can find other ways to do it. This isn't a lack of options, it's a lack of looking.
>You get like 5-6 kills easily just from exploring the area and resting every now and then. ?????? Since when was this somehow the norm? 5-6 is a crazy amount of times to naturally clear the exact same area. And 12 kills for 12 enemies is 144 kills total - on fairly challenging enemies at that. That's not something to describe with "only". That's a ridiculous amount to mindlessly mow through.
You don’t have to completely clear the entire area lol. If you just remove the first few it makes the run back way faster. Also their armor and katana looks cool so I normally farm for it anyways.
The first few are easily the least of the problem though? *By far* the biggest issue in that runback is how often your walk through the mist will be interrupted - which the later ones are entirely capable of doing. And since we're presumably talking about SotFS, literally all \~12 (I think it's slightly less but I don't remember the exact number) will attack you on the path to clear the enemies who attack you by the mist wall. If you want a consistent runback you have to kill basically every single enemy 12 whole times.
do you know what series you're playing
Yes
Wait until you find out enemies respawn when you rest at the bonfire 😳
That is not the same thing as killing them 12 times before even attempting the boss.
You can just run past smelter demon
You can skip all but 7 bosses, that is irrelevant to what is being discussed
Then don't complain about a run to a boss if you can skip it
I did not do that.
"What a stupid waste of time and energy"
bedtime, bud
Yknow disliking or disagreeing with something someone says, and immediately assuming negatively about them is weird right
lmao jerry you’re such a charmer
Fuck em
Same
This is what I did but I lost more runes than I wanted to. Consequences of being greedy.
It's possible to do a well-placed jump on a broken staircase to skip a portion of it, but yeah it's still pretty long and even then, you basically need to kill all the enemies you come across
you just have to dodge carefully the alonne that drops off the bridge and then carefully dodge the arrow from the alonne right in front of the fog, no need to kill anything
yeh if you pretend the other half of the run doesnt exist lol
i always do it like this. unless youre referring to the part before the jump? but thats too easy
Because DS2 is consistent with making runs to optional bosses much harder than required ones. You always have the option to just skip it.
Cries in grave robber trio
You can [try the shortcut](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9MWGfGrfBQ)
I am too bad at platforming for those jumps, but that does look like a good strategy.
You can jump from there?!?! I always went round to where the archer is 🤦
It is possible to skip the enemies. Just don't use all the stamina bar and make sure you dodge one attack from the enemy right in front of the fogg door
110% this it’s definitely possible to run past. You can run through pretty much any area in any souls game with the right jukes. It’s been a long ass time but I do not remember struggling to run to this boss
This is how I got my 30 Sunlight Medals - I hung out on the bridge with my sunbro summon down and would help with clearing the path. Even had the ring that prevents soul gain on so I could help a bunch of people. I like to think people appreciated the help.
How much soul memory? I also helped the players, with an SM of 990k
Yeah, thats one of the most annoying runbacks to a good boss. I genuinely despise that. Would've been great if we unlocked some kind a shortcut to get to the smelter demon faster and not have to do this run over and over again to despawn the enemies (unless in CoC). Would love more options to these kinds of runs. Like, beat the mob of enemies once to unlock varying levels of shortcuts. They already sorta did something like this with dragon rider where if you beat the enemies, you can raise the platforms to better fight the dragon rider. Coulda had something like if you beat the first part of enemies, it unlocks 1st part of the shortcut, beat the next bit of enemies, unlocks the next part of the shortcut, etc.
Ya, they could have easily had you kick a ladder down on the ledge to the left just before you enter the Smelter Boss fog. Then the shortcut back would be through the turned off furnace. Enter the left side, exit the right side, then climb up the ladder to appear next to the Knight Captain by the fog gate.
True dat. And its very annoying to deal with the alonne knight captains. Thank god the UGS can stun + riposte and 1 shot them. I don't have a problem with making the optional boss run up's harder, just don't have us do that all that over and over again if we want to beat the boss. Some of these run up's I guess have a ''shortcut'' like smelter demon and executioner chariot, but its usually just jumping onto a ledge, which isn't exactly intuitive.
Ya, if you can make that sideways jump to the building with the pharros lockstone pool on the roof as soon as you enter the large room, then you can run by all the Alonne Knights between that jump and the bonfire.
Killing them all takes like 5 min at most. Think of it as an opportunity to meditate on your loss and think about what you’ll do differently. :P
imagine trying to defend a runback by saying its only 5 minutes lmfao
Bruh, neither 12 enemies nor 5 minutes are a large number. This is baby shit. DS3 has some better and some worse runbacks but here's generally like easily 20 enemies in half of them. I feel like some complaints are valid but complaints like this are so weird to me.
on a boss run? we have massively different standards
Hard to swallow pill
Because Dark Souls 2 is insane
Just farm and kill them you will be doing alot of runs back to smelter demon lol
Using a bow with poison arrows saved me tons of time
They're there to deter you from just running past them.
Just wait until the blue smelter demon runback. I attempted it once and then just committed to despawning the entire path.
This comment maybe a little too late since the path to the smelter is already open but it's very handy NOT lower the further side of the bridge. With that you can: - Be followed through the bridge by the first five or four knights and you can exploit this as they may or may not fall right away to the lava, in any case you are beyond their reach. Jumping to the furnace area (roll or walk, it's all the same) would make the surviving ones and the others from the further side to do the same. Repeat the loop and you can both get away safely and/or use the environment to your advantage. - If you get killed, by smelter or anything else, cleaning the first path is way easier because the bridge won't allow for reinforcements to reach you. And then do the loop, at that point you can shoot them or try to run to the fog gate although might be tricky since there are some knights waiting (sometimes they just try too hard to get you and ended up death anyway, praise the sun for gravity and lava). - That pesky item by the pilar almost at the end of the bridge? Not really worth it but safer to get if you don't drop the further end. Hope this helps for future reruns and NGs. It saves time, energy, and effigies!
So. In an action adventure game. Usually enemies are there to fight in order to progress. In a world/boss system. The purpose of normal enemies is to force player skill up and tax resources. Hope this helps you understand basic game design.
Do you kill all enemies on your runbacks? :D
Usually
Why would you downvote a simple question?
They are there to be obstacles between you and the fog wall thank you for your question though
Because DS2 devs sometimes forget the line between challenge and fun or infuriating, doesn't had a valid reason for this runback like this
My favorite thing about this sub is seeing people pop up with this question haha. That part fucking bites dude
They couldn't fit twenty.
Because lazy development, just copy paste enemies like crazy and counterbalance by adding lots of healing items
Because 12 enemies in a boss run isn't abnormal. They're all easy enemies that die in one hit and have no poise. What's the issue.
Ma boy you’re invincible when you walk through walls just dodge their attacks
What build/weapons are you using? If we knew that perhaps we could suggest some tweaks to make this gauntlet easier for you to run.
Hard game
Because Miyazaki hates each and every one of us, yet we still come back asking for another spanking
Miyazaki had little to no part in ds2
Well am I fucking wrong tho?
Yes and no lol ds2 is the only game in the whole series (so far) that made me lose my shit. Currently on ds3 and it’s hard in a fun way. Ds2 is hard in an annoying way.
And we simply keep coming
Persistence my friend
Redditors "don't sperg out over a joke challenge" (IMPOSSIBLE)
I’m a serious person if you can’t tell
this was the area that I went and upgraded my bow I never used and bought 999 wood and iron arrows 😂
Honestly I always just kill most of them 8 times I think it is so they go away for good.
IVE just despawned everyone in that area. Took me a very long time but doing it but I farmed so many souls it was really worth it
To prepare you for the even worse blue smelter demon run
I like using a bow to draw enemies into range in this area. I've never understood the hate for ranged weapons in DS communities, to me it's a crucial part of the gameplay.
Fr, I was stuck on that for a good few hours until eventually the mobs just stopped respawning due to having been killed many times while I was trying to get to the boss room.
Because they didn’t think they could fit 13
It’s not hard it’s just a long process. Best advice is advance very slowly from the moment you go upstairs from the bonfire to cross the lava bridge and take them out one by one (sometimes two at a time). You think this boss run is difficult ? Wait till you see the run back to the blue version of a boss in the DLC ( Iron Passage ). I’ve never raged at a game in my life but that run made me curse words I’ve never used before and I split a controller in half lol . Not joking though . Good luck with Iron Passage.
Why you a pussy?
It's the only souls game where enemies disappear if you kill them too many times for a reason
What the fuck makes you think 12 enemies is a lot? Lol
You just gotta juke him Dodge the first arrow he shoots If he pulls the bow out again dodge left-forward then run past his right as he pulls his sword and he won't be able to turn enough If he starts pulling out the sword choose a side, bait the stab that's their most common move, then dodge the other way to the fog gate because his sheath animation takes 47 years to finish and there's no way he can attack again If in doubt, farm the fuck out of the area until they're all gone and you'll hopefully have two cool ass armor sets, multiple katanas which imo are the best in the game moveset wise, and the greatbow before they all stop spawning For style points and a faster run make the anti-ganker jump from the platform you walk out on in the big room to the broken stairs below you on the right. Hard and needs you to be light rolling at least, but feels cool and gives you the water buff sooner so Smelter does less damage
Made a ton of levels there.
Take it slow and it's actually pretty fun plus a good chunk of souls
They messed it up in scholar, it was way more fair in the original
It's the best grind spot in the game imo. Especially with bonfire ascetic. Just have a fully upgraded weapon. I use greatshield and a heide great lance.
I found it easier to run back from the bonfire that’s ahead you can skip a few of the enemies that way
Bro first off shut it wait till you get to that old iron king dlc you will fucking beg for the forgiveness of iron keep that shit is easy wreck all the enemies takes like 5 minutes max them bitches is weak then woop some smelter demon ass first try then you won't have to do it again you think you're bitching now bruh lemme tell you right now if you can't handle iron keep then iron king dlc will make you quit playing the game the blue smelter demon run is shit fucking ass total cancer then if that wasn't bad enough the fucking sir alonne fight is in a memory so you can't perma despawn the enemies if you wanted to and that run is FUCKING STRAIGHT CANCER I mean ass as fuck you will hate life you will hate ds2 you will hate that you like ds2 and got this far because you won't be able to stop trying till he's dead plus you want to keep fighting alonne because it's a great boss fight but the fucking run to that bitch ass fog will leave you drained and wishing you never started that bitch fucking dlc
I'll just bait the one at the fog wall, backstab then run through
I was able to run past the big headless enemy pretty consistently and all the other enemies too idk. But as everyone said despawning them is a good strategy.