Crown of the Ivory King - Frozen Eleum Loyce, Shrine of Winter, Frozen Soldier, Giants, Retainers, Warriors, Golems
Our walkthrough will take you all the way through the Crown of the Ivory King's deadly winterlands, with every last bonfire location included.
To start the DLC, you'll first of all need to go to the Ruined Fork bonfire at the Shaded Woods. Use the path on your left (over from the foggy patch), until you come to the Shrine of Winter. Interact with the obelisk you come to to enter the new zone.
Go up the hill and then pass through the door when you reach the top. Go up the stairs and light the Outer Wall bonfire you come to. Go forwards until you're buffeted with a little light cold damage, then keep making your way forwards into Frozen Eleum Loyce.
Frozen Eleum Loyce
Once you're inside the zone, you can choose to head either left or right. If you choose left, you'll have to fight a creature called Aava, the King's Pet. As if a boss fight straight off wasn't enough of an intimidating proposition, if you start the fight now the creature will be invisible. Not helpful.
Instead, it makes sense to track down the Eye of the Priestess first, a trinket that allows you to see the beast more clearly. Take the right-hand path, kill the Frozen Soldier, and then carry on through the door. Kill the enemies in the next room and make sure you grab the four Radiant Lifegems from the item in the corner while you're at it.
Now go downstairs and be ready to deal with the regular Frozen Soldier, as well as the invader Frozen Soldier. Go through the door and over the bridge, killing any frozen enemies you encounter. When the snowstorm abates, the Retainer on the other side of the bridge attacks, so stay at range and pick off him and his friends before they can get too close.
Head forwards into the next passage and grab the pair of Goldenfruit Balms. Expect an ambush from a Frozen Soldier from your left, before you use ranged attacks on the Frozen Hounds who are lurking below. Once you fire off a single shot they'll start charging, so don't hang about with your follow-up attacks.
Go down these stairs and into the zone where the Hounds were originally. There's a Winged Spear +7 in the corner of this room, so grab it, then go down the next set of stairs. Dart straight to your left when you reach the bottom, and take the five Torches by the cliff-edge under the steps.
Go along the next path until you come to some ice that's blocking your way. Once the zone has thawed out, you'll be able to get a Retainer Staff, a Dried Root, and another set of Goldenfruit Balms from the area on your right. On your left is a Retainer - be ready to fight it from afar when the ice has melted.
Head to the next area, and look for the Retainer over on your right. There are also Frozen Soldiers and a Frozen Warrior over on the left. Look over at the fountain on your left and you should also be able to see another Retainer hiding behind it.
We recommend using ranged firepower on the Frozen Soldiers you can see, and making sure they both die before they can reach you. Now use another ranged attacked on the Warrior, but be ready to get in closer when it fires its own shots at you. Getting closer will bring the final Frozen Soldier into play. Kill it first, then finish off the Warrior. Deal with the Retainer by the fountain next, then grab the Repair Powders from near the hidden Frozen Soldier.
Beneath the underpass where the Warrior was originally situated is one of his friends, along with a Soldier in the next zone along. You need to kill both of these enemies, but just keep in mind that when you fire a shot from range at the Frozen Soldier, both enemies will start charging towards you.
When they're both dead, go into the Warrior's starting area and take the Small Blue Burrs. Keep heading forwards to where the Soldier was until you reach a snowy mound. Be ready to fight the Soldier on your left from range, or just charge into battle if melee's more your thing. There's another Warrior and a Retainer at the top of the stairs here, so be ready for a beefy battle if you draw too much attention to yourself.
Knights of Eleum Loyce
Just over on the other side from the stairs is another Retainer. As soon as the ice has thawed out, you'll be able to go inside the building that's just to the right of this bridge. If you've thawed out the region and are missing one of the knights you need for the final fight, follow our guide to tracking down the fellow from this location. Otherwise, carry on with the walkthrough.
Go upstairs, and then enter the building that was guarded by the Frozen Soldier. Be aware that the next room along houses four more enemies. Sadly, none of the barrels or boxes in here can be detonated, so just use your ranged attacks to pick them off from a position of relative safety. Get ready to melee when they get close.
Once you've killed all four creatures you've got a couple of options. There are two doors here, one on the far side which leads to the outside, and one that will take you deeper inside. If the ice has been thawed out, you'll be able to rummage around in a trio of chests. Make your way through the door, then go around the corner until you come to a Warrior guarding the top of the steps. Either take it out with ranged firepower, or trigger its attention and have it come charging towards you.
Kill it, then go upstairs and look for a room that contains a pair of Retainers. Kill them, then go upstairs, kill the Frozen Giant when you come to it, and loot the chests when the beast drops to the ground.
Assuming you haven't thawed out the ice yet, go through the other door instead and kill the pair of Frozen Warriors, then the pack of Retainers in the next zone along. Go through the left-hand door at the top of the hill, and kill the Prisoner on the other side of it. Smash up the crates to expose a hole, go through it, then take a right into the tunnel where a Frozen Giant is waiting for you.
Kill this first creature, then go further ahead and kill the next one. Carry on up the hill, then go around the corner and kill the next Giant you encounter. Take the Old Bell Helm from the cliff-edge up ahead, but make sure you don't fall off!
Garrison Ward Key
Go back to where you fought the Prisoner, but before heading through the opposite door, take note of the section on your left. This will take you to a series of pedestals as well as a door you can't go through yet. Once the ice has thawed out however, you can use our guide to the Garrison Ward Key.
For now, go through the other door until you can see the Abandoned Dwelling bonfire beneath you. Jump down and light it, then go through the door and kill both of the Frozen Giants - pull 'em into the room one by one using ranged attacks if you can.
When they're dead, keep heading straight forwards, then go up the snow-covered hill on your left. There's another Frozen Soldier and Giant lurking around up here, not to mention some Retainers, so keep your eyes peeled. Make sure you take the Lloyd's Talismans from the middle section of this area.
On your left you should be able to see a staircase with a Giant nearby. He can be tricky to spot so don't go charging in recklessly. Before going upstairs, look right until you spy a little passage that's near a tree. Stick to the left-hand wall, go through this passage, and then take the Ring of the Embedded.
Do a 180 and then go left, snaking all the way around the building until you can take a right. Go down this alley towards the Retainers, kill them, and make sure you pick up the Dark Dance hex before leaving.
Jump down to the section below you, then go up the stairs on your right. Go forwards when you reach the top and kill the Rampart Golem. Ignore the nearby door for now, as you can only open it from the other side. Once you've gone through this passage, keep your eyes peeled for a window on your right - you can use it to pick off an upcoming enemy.
Frigid Outskirts
Go over the bridge, take the set of Radiant Lifegems, then interact with the lever to get the next door open. Look left and you should be able to see a pack of Prisoners, along with another of those Golems.
Kill the Prisoners with ranged firepower, then kill the Golem. You can't open the gate here yet, as you need the Garrison Ward Key mentioned earlier on in this walkthrough. When you come back here later, you'll be able to light a new Expulsion Chamber bonfire, and make your way into the Frigid Outskirts zone.
For now, go in the other direction through a door and inside a building. If you didn't manage to pick the Frozen Soldier off through the window, you'll have to deal with him now. Inside this room there are also a set of chests, but you can't access them just yet - come back when the ice has thawed. When you do come back, just be aware that the chest on the far right is a Mimic, and will attack you when you try to open it.
Leave this room, go upstairs and kill the next Rampart Golem you come to. When it's dead, go upstairs again, and then along the path. Across from the Retainer is a Golem, but if you try to damage it from range, it'll shield up and come charging towards you. This makes it very difficult to kill with ranged weapons, so just ignore it for now.
Carry on along this tunnel. If the ice has been thawed out, you should be able to access a set of steps going down. If you can see them, go straight to our guide to unlocking another Knight of Eleum Loyce. For now, be ready for your first fight with a Black Ice Knight. You'll hardly be able to see these creatures when the snowstorm is blowing, but you can see their outline if you yourself are shielded from the wind.
Get right to the outer edge of the tunnel and look for a pair of turrets ahead of you. The Knight is controlling the right-hand crossbow. Use a ranged weapon to get his attention, then wait for him to charge towards you. Kill the enemy inside the tunnel, then carry on to the right where the second Knight is waiting. You'll struggle to drag this one back to your hiding place, so let loose with as much damage as you can, and escape to the safety of the tunnel if need be.
When it's dead, carry on along the right-hand path and take the stack of Prism Stones, Large Soul of a Brave Warrior, and the Goldenfruit Balms. You'll be able to see a Pharros' Lockstone spot nearby as well, but you'll have to come back after melting the ice to get at the chest.
After looting everything, go over to the other side of this area and kill the Rampart Golem waiting inside the little room. You can't loot the frozen chests here until the ice has thawed out, so for now simply kill the creature and then leave via the left-hand door.
When you come to the next tunnel, kill the Frozen Soldier on your left, then interact with the lever at the other end of the room. This'll take care of all the debris that was blocking your way towards the starting section of this zone.
Now go back outside and head left. If you didn't kill it earlier, kill the Rampart Golem. Make sure you take the pile of Green Blossom items from the opposite side of the balcony. Just be aware that doing so will likely pull a Frozen Warrior towards you. Don't go downstairs just yet - instead, it's worth hanging around to grab some extra items.
In the room ahead of you is a pack of Frozen Hounds that attack on sight. If you struggle to kill them all in the big open area, consider drawing them back onto the walkway as it's easier to pick 'em off one-by-one this way.
When they're dead, take the Human Effigy from the opposite side of the room, then go upstairs. Deal with the Frozen Soldier who's waiting for you by firing a ranged shot. That'll cause it to fall down into the area below, along with a Hound.
Kill them both, then go back upstairs and pass through the gap on your right. Take the Soul of a Great Hero from this balcony, then go back downstairs and through the door. Use the ladder on your right to get up to the room again, then take the Splinter Lightning Spear miracle from the chest. Finally, head back to where you picked up the Green Blossoms, and get ready to go downstairs.
Head back to the first page for the rest of our Crown of the Ivory King guide.