Dark Souls 2 Walkthrough Guide: Part 10

BOSS: ROYAL RAT VANGUARD

Finding Rhoy The Explorer means you’re not that far away from the next boss, the Royal Rat Vanguard. Every major encounter in Dark Souls II demands considerable multitasking, but this particular fight will truly test your presence of mind as well. By now you will have spent some quality time with the Corpse Rat, which is good because you’re about to deal with even more of them. In fact, this boss fight will dole out as many as 100 Corpse Rats, but hopefully you won’t have to deal with no more than 20 of them, since defeating the Royal Rat Vanguard will make the other rats retreat. The catch is that this boss will not appear until you have killed 10 Corpse Rats during this fight.

This will demand considerable crowd control so be ready to use your best area attacks that can hit multiple enemies in a single blow. Alluring Skulls are also effective to distracting a few rats, allowing you get to some breathing room. It’s not that hard to lure a crowd of rats to one end of the room and then dash to the opposite end to give yourself some extra space to move around and plan your next attack.

The key to winning this fight is in paying attention to the three status bars: your health, poison, and petrification. There’s no shame in have someone at home watch your HP while you pay attention to poison and petrification statuses. Petrification attacks can build up real quick and it’s especially potent coming from the Royal Rat Vanguard. Locking on to the boss should be your main objective once it appears. You’ll have an even easier time if you happen to have melee attacks or spells that interrupt enemy actions.

NAVIGATING THROUGH THE GUTTER

If you thought descending The Pit was a tense exercise in leaps-of-faith verticality, wait until you’ve entered The Gutter. It’s one of the darkest areas of Dark Souls II and you’ll need all the illumination that you can get. If you have saved up on torches, now is the time to use them.

Many of the wooden platforms are as fragile as they look, but no matter how many times you might fall through a weak roof or floor, the game isn’t so cruel that it would unexpectedly drop you into the abyss (any misstep is your fault). Bridges are few and far between, but if it looks like a platform is within jumping distance, it’s most likely that the game wants you to head that direction. The same goes for the very few spots of solid ground you might find just by looking down. This video shows you one of the possible routes to go from the top of The Pit to the fire bonfire of The Gutter.

INVADER: MELINDA THE BUTCHER

Getting an invitation to duel with Melinda The Butcher requires more adept maneuvering through The Gutter, specifically to areas that share the same cave wall as the bonfire platform. The video shows how to summon Melinda, which involves crossing a number of bridges and dropping onto a flat rock platform. You should also make special note that walking to the edge of platforms might reveal paths that you wouldn’t otherwise see. The initial goal is to find a treasure chest that’s jumping distance from a skinny wooden tower. Standing near the chest will bring Melinda into the map.

It’s almost scary seeing her at first, running around in the distance, trying to find a way to reach and murder you. While she figures that out, make your way back to the bonfire by relying on the various platforms that share the same wall as the platform with the chest. The platform with the bonfire is ideal for gaining equal footing against Melinda and should help you avoid any Undead Citizens who would otherwise join in the fight. The reach of her axe is poor, and is only a great threat when she performs a jump attack.

BOSS: THE ROTTEN

The Black Gulch is one of the smallest maps in the game, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in hazards, particularly the poisonous kind. The perils might be high in density but at least Black Gulch features three bonfires. The second bonfire should be your prep area for the next boss: The Rotten.

Unless you’ve had an easy time with most of the bosses to date, we recommend a couple dry runs to study The Rotten’s attack patterns before using a Human Effigy and taking on the boss with a full life bar. It’s most common attack is the Vertical Cleave which, depending on your distance, will either involve one or two downward swings. If it is two swings, you’re guaranteed an opening to execute at least one attack. This is can be done with either ranged attacks or melee attacks, where the latter is best used after a forward roll dodge toward The Rotten. You also need to watch out for its left hand since it’s capable of an unblockable grab attack. This literal mash-up of lost souls might be slow, but you’d be surprised how well it can keep up with you. This is due in part to the small size of the room in relation to the large size of The Rotten. Knowing that, your best dodging strategy is to roll sideways while being mindful of the fire puddles.

Guide Home

Class Breakdown

30 Items to Collect Before Your First Battle

Part 1: The Forest of Fallen Giants, The Last one (Boss), The Pursuer (Boss)

Part 2: Heide's Tower of Flame, The Dragonrider (Boss), The Old Dragonslayer (Boss)

Part 3: Down Heide's Tower, No Man's Wharf, The Flexile Sentry (Boss)

Part 4: The Lost Bastille, Ruin Sentinels (Boss), Sinner's Rise

Part 5: Belfry Luna, Bell Keeper (Invader), Belfry Gargoyles (Boss), Vorgel The Sinner (Invader)

Part 6: Huntsman's Copse, the Greatsword Phantom, Merciless Roenna (Invader)

Part 7: Skeleton Lords (Boss), Executioner Chariot (Boss), Harvest Valley, Earthen Peak, Covetous Demon (Boss)

Part 8: The Crescent Sickle Phantom, Mytha The Baneful Queen (Boss)

Part 9: The Pit, Grave of Saints, The Gutter, Rhoy the Explorer (Invader)

Part 10: Royal Rat Vanguard (Boss), The Gutter (Part 2), Melinda the Butcher (Invader), The Rotten (Boss)

Part 11: Iron Keep, Smelter Demon (Boss), Belfry Sol, Old Iron King (Boss)

Part 12: Shaded Woods, Scorpioness Najka (Boss), Doors of Pharros, Bowman Guthrie (Invader), Royal Rat Authority (Boss)

Part 13: Brightstone Cove Tseldora, Prowling Magus (Boss), The Porcine Peasant (Invader), The Duke's Dear Freja (Boss), The Lost Sinner

Part 14: Shrine of Winter, Drangleic Castle, Nameless Usurper (Invader), Dual Dragonriders (Boss), Looking Glass Knight (Boss)

Part 15: Shrine of Amana, Undead Crypt, Peculiar Kindalur (Invader), Demon of Song (Boss), Nameless Usurper (Returning Invader)

Part 16: Aldia's Keep, Velstadt, The Royal Aegis (Boss), Aslatiel of Mirrah (Invader), Guardian Dragon (Boss)

Part 17: Dragon Shrine, Dragonfang Villard (Invader), Ancient Dragon (Boss)

Part 18: Memories of the Ancients, Memory of Vammar, Memory of Orro, Memory of Jeigh, Giant Lord (Boss)

Part 19: Throne Watcher and Throne Defender (Boss), Nashandra (Final Boss)

Part 20: King Vendrick (Boss), Dark Chasm of Old, Darklurker (Boss)