Boost your Strength and Dex to 16, and then go nab the Drake Sword off of the Red Dragon. If you don’t know how, just ask google. There’s plenty of detailed videos to show you exactly what you need to get that sword, seeing as how it’s probably the most common starter weapon for new players.
Secondly, if you think you’re good enough at running…go to the bottom of Darkroot Basin (again, you can probably just look up a video on the specific location of this) and grab the Elite Armor Set. It’s the cover armor set for this game and it’s actually not bad at all for starting out.
Make sure you speak to Solaire after defeating the Tauros Demon. He gives you the items required to summon NPC’s and other players to help you before a boss battle. But also remember that you need to be in Human form before summoning.
Also, I really wouldn’t recommend this if this is your first playthrough, but if you have the Master Keys you can literally skip over two huge areas of the game (Blighttown and Depths) and go straight to the second bell boss. The door to this place is at the beggining of New Londo if you’re coming from Firelink.
That’s all I can think of for now, ask more if you need more.
Moving onto a topic I’ve thought about for a long while now, I have a theory on Havel and I want to hear what you guys think of it in terms of probability.
-More specifically, I want to discuss why exactly he is locked down there in the Undead Burg. Now I know there have been a few good theories, the first one coming to mind being the popular Dark Souls Youtuber “EpicNameBro”. According to him, the man locked at the bottom of the tower actually isn’t even Havel, but one of his soldiers. He backs this up through Japanese text that states only Havel’s followers carried his ring, and brings up a lot of good points. However, I have to disagree with him. And here is why.
First off, we know Havel was a rebel. We know he was plotting some sort of insurrection against Gwyn, as you find his occult club in the hidden basement of Anor Londo along with the rest of his equipment. The occult club is further proof of this in itself because of the magic imbued within the weapon, which was something Gwyn was weak against.
Now, let’s look back a little. Do you remember in the Darkroot Basin, where you fight the moonlight butterfly? After this battle you go up a small tower to see a petrified smith, holding the key to the tower Havel was locked in. This leads me to believe a few things.
In my theory, this smith was a personal friend of Havel’s. I gather this from the key’s description. Furthermore, remember the occult club we were talking about? This club was MADE for Havel by this smith, because even though they both worked for Gwyn, they were both also part of the Darkwraith’s insurrection against Gwyn’s reign of fire.
What I believe happened, is that Gwyn somehow found out about the Darkwraith’s (and Havel’s) plan. We know that Gwyn at least knew about the Darkwraiths as a whole which is why he had New Londo flooded, hence you find all of the bodies at the bottom of the floor and actual members of the Darkwraith wearing the traditional armor. I imagine they’re still there because they’ve died and gone hollow, which is why they mindlessly attack you now. But I digress.
So, Gwyn learns of Havel’s treachery. He orders the smith to trick his best friend and locks him away in the tower for god knows how long, hence finding him down there. Then, to cover up whatever lose ends might be left, Gwyn orders Seath to take care of the blacksmith.
Why do I think Seath had involvement in this? Look at the moonlight butterfly.
Now look what enemy floods the area right before you fight Seath in the Crystal Cave.
Seath must have sent out one of his butterflies, and upon reaching the blacksmith it cursed him and he died, petrified in his spot. And now, however much time has passed after that point, you as the player come up there to see that the butterfly still guards his corpse, and you can see what remains of the situation.
TLDR: Gwyn had Havel’s best friend, the smith, lock him away in the tower and then disposed of the smith himself because of their treachery for joining the Darkwraiths.
