This is the first guide I have made. Please take my inexperience of creating guides, the fact I got dyslexia and that English is not my native language into account when reading this guide. If you find any errors please be nice and point them out without being rude so I can correct them


Dark Souls 2 is a Western action role-play game created in Japan by FromSoftware. Dark Souls 2 have many advanced things to learn from the start and therefore can easily hit a new player in the face so hard they lose interest in learning how it all works. This guide is aimed to help addressing some of those issues and help a beginner survive the initial learning curve. This guide will not cover any strategies, item locations or act as a walkthrough.

In Dark Souls 2 and in the Dark Souls franchise souls have been an important resource that the player can gather. Every living thing regardless if it is a biological creature or a moving statue have a soul, by killing that creature you will absorb its soul and add that to your own. Souls are your currency and the resource you need to level up your character attributes with. You can also gather souls from soul items and by defeating a boss and earn yourself a boss soul item. Souls also play a vital part in online matchmaking.

Soul Memory and Level
In Dark Souls 2 there are 2 terms that are often used when it comes to online matchmaking. Those are Soul Memory (SM) and Soul Level (SL).

• Soul Memory (SM) is the total number of souls your character have collected in the game, this amount will never be lowered. Soul Memory is what will decide who you can play with in multiplayer. More on this in the multiplayer section. You can view your current Soul Memory in the Player Status as the red box show the image.

• Soul Level (SL) is the level your character currently have. If a character is at level 200 their Soul Level is at level 200. Soul Level doesn't have much impact on online matchmaking, the biggest impact it has is how many character attributes a character have and how many souls you earn in online Player verses Player combat (PvP). The exception to this is PvP in the arena that is Soul Level based and not Soul Memory based. You can view your current Soul Level in the Player Status as the red box show the image.

Level up
In order to use your souls to level up you need to talk with the Emerald Herald in the hub town of Majula. She will allow you to spend your souls to level up your character attributes at a more expensive cost for each level.

Attributes
There is a total of 9 different attributes your character can have, they are the following:

• Vigor
  
• Endurance
  
• Vitality
  
• Attunement
  
• Strength
  
• Dexterity
  
• Adaptability
  
• Intelligence
  
• Faith

These attributes define your characters statistics in the following way:

• Vigor is the attribute that increase the players Health Points or Hit Points (HP). The more HP the player have the more damage the player can take without dying.

• Endurance increase your Stamina which allows you to use weapons more often and run for longer distances. Endurance also help determining your physical defense together with Vitality, and poise together with Adaptability.

• Vitality increase your equipment load and allow you to carry more and/or heavier equipment. Vitality also help determining your physical defense together with Endurance, and poison resistance together with Adaptability.

• Attunement is the determining factor in how many spell slots and number of spells your character can have without special equipment. Attunement also help determining spell casting speed, agility and curse resistance.

• Strength is one of the main weapon requirement attributes. Your strength will determine if you can or cannot use a weapon, heavy armor or a shield. Your strength will also determine how much damage you deal with strength based weapons. If you hold a single weapon in 2 hands your strength requirement to use a weapon will be doubled. If you have 10 in strength and need 20 in order to use a weapon you can use that weapon if you hold it in 2 hands. Note that your strength will not be doubled in terms of damage.

• Dexterity is one of the main weapon requirement attributes. Just like strength Dexterity will determine if you can or cannot use a weapon, unlike strength you will never be able to use a weapon correctly if you do not meet the dexterity requirement. Dexterity will also determine how much damage you deal with weapons that require finesse over raw power. Dexterity also help increase your physical defense.

• Adaptability is the main attribute that determine your agility and resistance to status effects such as poison resistance. Adaptability also help determine your poise along together with Endurance.

• Intelligence is the main attribute that is required for Sorceries and Hexes. Intelligence will give more magic, fire and dark defense and somewhat faster casting speed.

• Faith is the main attribute that is required for Miracles and Hexes. Faith will give you more lightning, fire and dark defense and somewhat faster casting speed.

Statistics
Now that each attribute has gotten a basic explanation its time to go into some statistics that are required to understand. We will talk about Agility. Poise, Equipment Load/Stamina Regeneration and Magic.

Agility
Agility is a statistic that is based on your Attunement and Adaptability. Agility will reduce the time needed for a player to use items like Estus and lifegems but does not affect attack speed. Agility also increase the amount of invincibility frames a player have when rolling or making a backstep. An invincibility frame or iFrame is a frames where you are invincible in a roll or backstep and cannot be hurt. If the game is running at 60 frames per second that means there is a total of 60 frames each second, if you have 10 iFrames you can be invincible in 10 out of those 60 frames each second. So in short the more frames you have the easier it is to dodge an attack when you are rolling and the more agility you have the more iFrames you have. Something to keep in mind as well is that the less equipment load you have the more iFrames you have even when you do not have as much agility. If you have dresses yourself in big rocks you will not be able to dodge as well as someone that is running around naked.

Poise
Poise is a statistic that determines how easy you are to be staggered or interrupt. Poise is primarily given to you based on your Armor. The heavier the Armor the more poise you get, your innate poise is however given to you based on the lower attribute between Endurance and Adaptability. If your Endurance is at level 15 and your Adaptability is 10 you are given innate poise based on your Adaptability level.

Equipment Load/Stamina Regeneration
Your equipment load is based on your Vitality attribute, the more Vitality you have the more stuff you can have equipped. Equipment Load have a big impact on your roll distance, your ability to dodge and how fast you regenerate stamina. If you had hauling around on a rock the same size as you are you will not be able to move as fast and recover your stamina as fast as someone that is running around naked. There is 3 kinds of rolling Fast rolling, Medium rolling and Fat rolling. Fast rolling is between 0%-40%, medium rolling is between 40%-70% and fat rolling is anything above 70%. Unless you are making a tank character that can work as an damage sponge fat rolling is recommended to be avoided. There is items that will help you increase both your Equipment Load and Stamina Regeneration but the biggest factor that will determine your stamina regeneration is how much equipment you can carry and how much of your Equipment load that equipment will take.

Magic
There is 4 kind of Magic in Dark Souls 2. Those are:

• Sorceries

• Pyromancies

• Miracles

• Hexes

Soul Magic
Soul Magic is damage made by sorceries. Magic damage and defense is based on your Intelligence attribute

Fire Magic
Fire Magic is damage made by pyromancies. Fire damage and fire defense is based on your Intelligence and Faith attributes.

Lightning Magic
Lightning magic is damage made by miracles. Lightning damage and defense is based on your Faith attribute.

Dark Magic
Dark Magic is damage made by hexes. Dark damage and defense is based on your which of the Intelligence or Faith attributes that is the lowest.


Further reading:
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Stats
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/stats

This part will cover the basics of different types of weapons and magics.

There is many different kind of weapons and magics in Dark Souls 2. The weapon catagorize are the following:

• Daggers
  
• Straight Swords
  
• Greatswords
  
• Ultra Greatswords
  
• Curved Swords
  
• Katanas
  
• Curved Greatswords
  
• Piercing Swords
  
• Axes
  
• Great Axes
  
• Hammers
  
• Great Hammers
  
• Fist & Claws
  
• Spears
  
• Halberds
  
• Lances
  
• Reapers
  
• Twinblades
  
• Whips
  
• Bows
  
• Greatbows
  
• Crossbows
  
• Flame Magic
  
• Soul Magic
  
• Holy/Lightning Magic
  
• Dark Magic

Weapon
In Dark Souls 2 all weapon categorizes can be grouped up into 4 groups. Strength weapons, Dexterity Weapons, Quality Weapons and Magic.

• Strength Weapons are weapons that have a high scaling in the Strength attribute but low scaling in Dexterity. An example of Strength based weapons are Axes or Hammers.

• Dexterity Weapons are weapons that have a high scaling in the Dexterity attribute but low scaling in Strength. An example of Dexterity Based weapons are Katanas and Bows.

• Quality Weapons are weapons that have a good scaling in both Strength and Dexterity. Individual quality weapons can be found in almost every category but Straight Swords have many quality weapons and is mostly a quality weapon category.

Armors
There is 3 types of armors in Dark Souls 2. Light, Medium and Heavy armor.

• Light armor is lightweight but doesn't offer much in terms of physical defenses but is often very strong in magic defense. Light armor give the lowest amount of poise.

• Medium armor offer more defense then to physical attacks then light armor does, but medium armors weigh more then light armors and often doesn't have as much magic defense.

• Heavy armor is the armor that have the highest weight, give the most amount of poise and physical defense. Heavy armor also have a lot of magic defense but not as much as some light armors.

Shields
There is 3 different kinds of shields in Dark Souls 2.

• Small shields offer little protection but are light weight and easy to use. Small shields like for example the Buckler or Target Shield are easier to parry with which makes a great addition in ones arsenal of weapons in melee combat.

• Standard Shields are bigger and the most common kind of shield. Standard shield offer better protection from damage then small shields does but are slower and harder to parry with.

• Greatshields are the biggest shields in the game and offer the most protection out of all shields. You cannot parry with a greatshield but instead of a parry you can attack with it. Greatshields often require a lot of strength to be used correctly.

Something important to know about shields and blocking is its defense reduction and stability. Shield that have low physical defense often have higher magic defense and vise versa. Stability is the statistic of a shield that determine how much stamina will be used on each attack that is blocked. Higher stability means it cost less stamina to block. When blocking your Stamina regeneration will be severely slowed and its recommended to not block all the time so your stamina can recover faster.

WARNING!!! WARNING!!!
It's not recommended to use a shield in PvP if you are not planning to use it as a Stamina Regeneration item or a parry tool. To use a shield in PvP will allow your enemy to a Guard Break and do a critical attack on you very easily. If you do not plan to use a shield as a parry tool it is mostly only a liability that takes equipment load, slow down your Stamina regeneration and will most likely get you killed if you use it.
WARNING!!! WARNING!!!



Magic
In Dark Souls 2 there is 4 different schools of magic. Those schools are Sorceries, Pyromacies, Miracles and Hexes.

• Sorceries
  Sorceries are based on Soul Magic and deal Magic damage. Sorceries have mostly spells focused on offense but it also have a fairly good amount of support spells such as Yearn and Cast Light. Sorceries scales with a characters Intelligence attribute and the catalyst used to cast all sorceries with are Staves.

• Pyromancy
  Pyromancies are based on Fire Magic that deal Fire damage. Unlike all other schools of magic pyromancies have no requirements to be used and can be used by anyone that have a spell slot for the magic and the correct catalyst to cast it, which makes Pyromancies a good addition on a character that doesn't want to have to spend levels on Intelligence or Faith but still want to use some kind of magic. Pyromancies scale on both Intelligence and Faith and the only catalyst that can cast a pyromancy is a Pyromancy Flame.

• Miracles
  Miracles are based on lightning damage in its offensive spells and deal lightning damage. Miracles doesn't have many offensive spells but rather focus on support or defensive spells. Miracles scale with the Faith attribute and the catalyst used to cast all miracles are chimes.

• Hexes
  Hexes is most likely the most technically difficult school of magic to understand. Hexes are dark magic and deal dark damage. Hexes scale both on Intelligence and Faith and both attributes are required to use Hexes. To use Hexes the user has to use a staff or a chime depending on the hex.

Further reading:

Weapons:
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Weapons
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/weapons

Armors:
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Armor
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/armor

Shields:
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Shields
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/shields

Magic:
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Magic
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/sorceries
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/pyromancies
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/miracles
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/hexes

Combat is a central part of Dark Souls 2. Every weapon in the game has 2 kind of attacks, 1 light and 1 strong attack. Every weapon can also be held in 2 hands and that includes you own bare hands.

What is a moveset?
A moveset is the set of moves a weapon have when you use it. The moveset includes when you hold it in 1 hand, in 2 hands, in your left or right hand or in duel wielding.

Two-handing
Two-handing is when you hold a weapon 2 hands. When you two-hand a weapon your Strength requirement is doubled which means you can use weapons that even if you do not meet the strength requirements. Two-handing weapons also to deal more damage then one-handing a weapon.

Duel wielding / Power stance
To duel wield you need to use a game mechanic called Power stance. You can only use the Power Stance weapons that are compatible with each others, to Power Stance a claw weapon with a Lance weapon is therefore impossible. To be able to powerstance you need to have at least 1.5x of the requirements to powerstance the weapons. Note that you do not need to have 1.5x of the weapon requirement for Intelligence or Faith, you only need 1.5x of the Strength and Dexterity requirements. If you want to Power Stance 2 weapons with the requirements of 10 Strength and 5 Dexterity you will need to have 15 Strength and 7,5(~8) Dexterity to powerstance the weapons. When you Power Stance you create a new moveset for both weapons and depending on the weapons can create very strong attacks.

Blocking
All weapons and shields can block apart from bows and crossbows. Shields are the best way to block damage with as weapons doesn't have much defenses and not much stability. The stability of the weapon or shield you block with will determine how much Stamina that will be used in the block. If you are blocked and exhausted all your Stamina you will automatically stagger that will leave you open for an attack or a critical attack.

Backstabbing
If you can get around the back of an enemy you can preform a backstab attack. This is a form of critical attack that deals a massive amount of damage to a target, and some weapons like daggers are exceptionally good at backstabbing and deal damage 2 times instead of just 1.

Parry
Parry is a move where you use your shield or offhand weapon to knock away an attack to leave your enemy wide open for critical attack or riposte. Parry is a move that require a lot of training but can be deadly if used correctly, and in PvP a good parry can often spell instant defeat or cause massive amounts of problems for an enemy. Note that not all enemies can be parried and if they can it might not be for very long.

Guard Break / Shoulder Push
If your enemy hides behind a shield or guard using a weapon you can preform a Guard Break to knock away the enemies shield and make them stagger for a short while. Many enemies will in that moment when they are staggered be open for a critical attack also known as a riposte. This guard break is very useful in PvP against enemies that hide behind a shield, but this move is also the reason why using a shield in PvP can be a death sentence.

There is 8 classes in Dark Souls 2. Each class have their own starting items and stats. The classes are the following:

• Warrior
  
  
• Knight
  
  
• Swordsman
  
  
• Bandit
  
  
• Cleric
  
  
• Sorcerer
  
  
• Explorer
  
  
• Deprived

Remember that Dark Souls 2 isn't a classed based game. Each class is just a starting point from where to continue. If you want a bandit to become a mage you can level up in such a way that your bandit becomes a world class mage, but it will have the drawback that you have to spend more points then a sorcerer had have to do. If you are not playing to create a specific build the starting class does not matter that much.

Warrior
The Warrior class is a fairly well-balanced class that starts with a shield and a broken sword. The class have a high strength and dexterity that allow the class to use many early game weapons easily. The class do not have much in faith or intelligence that might make it harder to use spells early on.

Knight
The Knight class is a very durable class. The class start with the higher HP and adaptability in the game but have lower attunement and intelligence then many other classes. For example: The warrior have 5 in attunement and 5 in intelligence while the Knight got 4 and 3. The class starts with a Broadsword which is a better sword then the broken sword the knight starts with, however the class doesn't start with a shield unlike the warrior.

Swordsman
The Swordsman class is a class based on the use of dexterity weapon, and therefore starts with the highest amount of dexterity out of all classes. The Swordsman start with the lowest amount of health out of all classes but also got a decent amount of intelligence.

Bandit
The Bandit class starts with a good amount of HP, vitality and dexterity. The class have the second higher starting dexterity out of all classes, and the highest amount of vitality out of all classes. The class starts with an hand axe, a short bow and x25 wooden arrows. When the arrows run out you have to buy them from a merchant or a blacksmith that might take a while to get to at first. The class start with the lowest amount of attunement and intelligence that will make it harder for the class to use spells. However the class does start with a good amount of faith that can only be beaten by the Cleric.

Cleric
The Cleric is a faith based class that is a very useful class to start as. Due to the lack of ways to heal yourself early in the game due to a lack of Estus Flask uses makes the healing spell the class start with very useful spell to have. The class starts with a mace that is very powerful against the early game enemies. Note that you do not have the required strength to wield the mace from the start so you need to two-hand the mace to be able to use it correctly at first. The armor the class starts with can only be found later in the game so you cannot complete the armor set until then, and it can be considered a rare armor until then. The class does start with the lowest amount of endurance out of all classes and do not have much adaptability that may make it harder to fight.

Sorcerer
The Sorcerer class is a ranged magic based class with a high amount of intelligence but lack in HP. The class starts with the spell Soul Arrow, a staff for spell casting, a dagger for close combat and a Black Hollow Mage Robe. The Robe can only be found by a few enemies in a rare drop that does not respawn in the Undead Purgatory. It is very much possible that this Robe can be unobtainable without resetting the area by the use of a Bonfire Ascetic, or the start of a new game in a New Game +. The armor is considered a rare armor for this reason.

Explorer
The explorer class starts with a lot of consumable items and the highest amount of adaptability out of all classes. The class is considered one of the weakest starting classes as it doesn't have any other stats that really stand out apart from adaptability and a lot of the consumables can be found later without much of a problem. The class starts with a dagger as a main weapon and a head piece that increases the chance for rare item drops.

Deprived
The Deprived class starts with nothing apart from the clothes on your body (unequipped as default). This is an advanced class ment for advanced players and have a perfectly equal starting stats, a 6 in all fields. The Deprived have only 1 advantage over the other classes and that is that its a flexibile character if you wish to rebind your stats later. It is recommended to pick up the dagger in the tutorial area to get a starting weapon you can use early on. Or don't pick it up and become the self-made man that started out from nothing only to beat everyone up with your fists of fury. It's a RPG game so do some roleplay.


Starting Gift
Pick whatever you want. Does not really matter.



Further reading and sources:
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Starting+Classes
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/classes
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Gifts

Majula is the hub town of Drangleic. From this town you will be able to reach all locations in the game. You will be able to meet several different characters and vendors to Majula that you have met in your travels. It will help a lot by having all vendors centralized in 1 location.

Majula have 5 different paths as shown on the Map of Majula below.

A overview of Majula



Things Betwixt
The first path is the path you first entered Majula from. That path lead to Things Betwixt and will not be shown in this guide as it's unnecessary to show a path you already know of.

Forest of the Fallen Giants
The path that is recommended for new players to first use is the path that leads to the Forest of the Fallen Giants. Its have easier enemies then the other locations and have some good gear to find as well.

Path to the Forest of the Fallen Giants


Heide's Tower of Flame and Huntsman's Copse
An alternative path you can take when you start the game is to go to the Rotunda and take the path to the right that leads to Heide's Tower of Flame. The Rotunda is also the path to the Huntsman's Copse but you need to find someone in Heide Tower of Flame that can move the Rotunda for you and unlock the path.

The Rotunda in Majula

The Pit
In the center of Majula there is a pit called The Pit. You need to be able to find a way to reach the bottom of the pit in one way or another.

The Pit in Majula.

Shaded Woods
If you walk from the path you took when you came from the Things Betwixt and take to the left you will find a path that leads to the Shaded Woods.

Path to the Shaded Woods.

Multiplayer in Dark Souls 2 is a big part of the game experience. if you do not play multiplayer you are missing a big part of the game. There is 2 ways of multiplayer: Co-operation and player verses player. As said in the section about Souls. The most determining factor when it comes to multiplayer is your Soul Memory except for the arena. Multiplayer is based on a tier system depending on your souls memory. Each item that you use to enable multiplayer will have different ranges depending on the users tier. A fast way to see what ranges are relevant for the host is to use the Summon Range Calculator that can be found on the game wiki hosted by fextralife.

Summon Range Calculator:
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Summon+Range+Calculator


When you are in a multiplayer session in Dark Souls 2 and are not the host you will be either a Phantom or a Shade.

Phantom
A Phantom is another player or NPC. They can either be a friendly summon or a hostile invader. All phantoms have different colors. Friendly Phantoms are either White, Golden or Blue. Invaders are normally Red or Gray.
When you die as a Phantom you do not lose your souls and leave a bloodstain like when you normally die. With the exception when you are invading as a Red Phantom. When you die as a Red Phantom you leave a bloodstain with all your souls from the location you made the invasion in your game.

Shades
Shades can only be summoned using the Small White Soapstone and can only be a friendly summon. A shades color will be the same as when summon as a Phantom, only darker. When summoned as a shade each enemy killed will shorten the maximum duration of the multiplayer session.

Co-operation (Co-op)
To co-operate in Dark Souls 2 you need to summon another player by using a summon sign. You can also place your own summon sign by using 1 of the 2 following items:

• White Sign Soapstone
  
• Small White Sign Soapstone

If you used a White Sign Soapstone you will place a big sign and be summoned as a Phantom, and if you use a Small White Soapstone you will be summoned as a Shade. The way you see the difference between the host and a summoned player is by looking at how the character looks. A Phantom or Shade normally have a ghost like appearance with different colored glows. When you are summoned using a small or big White Soapstone you have a white appearance as a Phantom or Shade. If you are a member of the Heirs Of The Sun covenant you will be summoned with a golden glow instead of a white glow. Both White soapstones can be found in the Forest of the Fallen Giants, one of the first locations you are likely to visit.

The reward for using a White Soapstone in a successful multiplayer session is a Token of Fidelity. Members of the Heirs Of The Sun will receive a Sunlight Medal instead.

The reward for everyone using a Small White Soapstone in a successful multiplayer session is a Smooth & Silky Stone.

NOTE!!!
You need to be human to summon someone for a co-op session. If you are in hollow form you will not be able to see any summon signs. However you can place a summon sign and remain human if you successfully complete a co-op session.

Player verses Player (PvP)
There is several ways to PvP in Dark Souls 2. You can use covenant rings, Cracked Eye Orbs or summon signs.

Covenant Rings
The Guardian's Seal ring is a ring you get when you join when you join the Blue Sentinel. The ring will allow a Blue Sentinel to be summoned as a Blue Phantom by a member of the Way of the Blue covenant that have been invaded by another player. Your goal is to defend the host and eliminate the invader.

The Bell Keeper's Seal ring is given to you when you join the Bell Keepers covenant. The ring will allow you to be summoned as a Gray Phantom and an invader in the game of another player that have entered the bell towers. Your goal is eliminate the host.

The Crest of the Rat ring is given to you when you join the Rat King covenant. The ring will allow you to summon anyone that enters the locations controlled by the rats as a Gray Phantom. Your goal is to eliminate the Phantom and prevent the Phantom from reaching the end of the maze. To your help you have several friendly NPC enemies, traps and other environmental hazards.

Cracked Eye Orbs
There are 2 kinds of Cracked Eye Orb, Red and Blue. Every cracked eye orb is a 1 time use consumable item and cannot be reused again. When invading using a Eye Orb you cannot use any healing items. The only way for an invader to heal themselves are by using healing spells.

Cracked Red Eye Orb can be used by anyone. When used the player will be invading another players game as a Red Phantom. The goal is to eliminate the host. If the invading player is successful in eliminating the host the player will be rewarded with a Token of Spite. If the host is able to eliminate the invader however the host will be rewarded with a human effigy that will allow the host to turn into a human.

Cracked Blue Eye Orb can only be used by a Blue Sentinel. When used the Blue Sentinel will invade a sinner that have at least committed 10 sins. The goal for the Blue Sentinel is to eliminate the sinner. If the Blue Sentinel is successful the sinner will lose 1 sin. If the sinner is able to eliminate the Blue Sentinel the sinner will stay sinful.

Summon Signs
There is 2 summon signs that allow PvP. The Red Sign Soapstone and the Dragon Eye. Both summon signs are placed by the invader and can only invade another player if the host allow to be invaded.

The Red Sign Soapstone will place a red summon sign on the ground for people to summon. When summoned the player will be invading as a red phantom and follow the same PvP rules as using the Cracked Red Eye Orb with same reward for both players.

The Dragon Eye is a summon sign that when placed will look like an eye. Unlike all other signs neither the host or the summoned player needs to be human to use it. When summoned the player will invade as a Gray Phantom with the goal to eliminate the host. The host will be unable to summon any other player until the invader is gone. The invader will unlike all other invader (with the exception of the Rat covenant) be able to use any healing item just like the host. The winner of the fight will be rewarded with a dragon scale.


Further reading:

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Online
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/online-matchmaking

In Dark Souls 2 there is a total of 9 different covenants. Each covenant can be groups into 3 groups: Co-op, PvP and PvE. Each covenant is a faction within the game with different goals in mind and ways to interact with the games world. To join a covenant you must make an oath to the covenant leaders of each faction. There is no penalty for breaking your oath and leaving the covenant so feel free to try different covenants as you progress through the game. If you wish to abandon any covenant without joining a new you can visit Sweet Shalquoir in Majula. Sweet Shalquoir is a cat that can help you abandon any covenant faction.


Co-op Covenants

Way of the Blue
The Way of the Blue or the Covenant of the Meek is a covenant which goal is not really to PvP but rather just to proceed through the game. The Way of the Blue is a covenant that have a deep relationship with the Blue Sentinels covenant. Whenever a member of the Way of the Blue gets invaded by a player that was not summoned any Blue Sentinel that is on alert and within the same Soul Memory range will be able to respond and join the fight on the side of the member of the Way of the Blue. Note that this will only apply to player invasions, the Blue Sentinels will not react to NPC invasions. To rank up in the Way of the Blue you need to have eliminated an invader (or at least taken the final blow), this applies to NPC invaders as well as player invaders. You need to eliminate 10 invaders to achieve the maximum rank of this covenant. The Way of the Blue is one earliest covenant you can join in Dark Souls 2. The covenant leader is Crestfallen Saulden that can be found in Majula.

Heirs Of The Sun
The Heirs Of The Sun covenant is a friendly co-op covenant. The members of the covenant have the goal of helping other players as summoned Phantoms and collect Sunlight Medals as proof. Members of this covenant is often called a "sunbro" within the community. A sun bro will have a golden glow unlike normal white phantoms. to rank up in the Heirs Of The Sun you must offer sunlight medals to the covenant leader, you need a total of 30 Sunlight medals to achieve the highest rank. To join the covenant you must reach Harvest Valley. In Harvest Valley there is a broken statue that acts as the covenant leader.


Player verses Enviorment Covenants (PvE)

Company of Champions
The Company of Champions covenants is that is aimed to the players looking for a challenge and can be found in Majula as soon as you start the game. Company of Champions or CoC for short, makes the game harder and disable all kinds of co-op. As a member of CoC you are not allowed to summon anyone for help, and that includes NPC's. To rank up in CoC you need to defeat Red invaders. By defeating invaders you are given Awestones that can be offered as to the covenant leader. Player and NPC invaders all grant Awestones when defeated. to achieve the maximum rank you need to offer a total of 50 awestones to the covenant leader. The covenant leader is the Victor's Stone in located in Majula.

Pilgrims of Dark
The Pilgrims of Dark covenant is a covenant that is build around hexes and dark magic. The goal of the Pilgrims are to enter the Abyss and travel through it. While in the Abyss the Pilgrims must light a fire beacon and return alive through 3 different dungeons in the Abyss. When the Pilgrim has done that he/she must then fight a boss and survive. To achieve the maximum rank in this covenant you must defeat the boss. to join the Pilgrims of Dark you must find the covenant leader Darkdiver Grandahl in 3 different locations. He is located in the Black Gulch, Shaded Ruins and Drangleic Castle.


Player verses Player Covenants (PvP)

Blue Sentinels Covenant
The Blue Sentinels is a covenant which goal is to defend the weak and punish the guilty and sinful. The Blue Sentinels are the only players that can use the Cracked Blue Eye Orb and can use the covenant ring to help a player that is a member of the Way of the Blue. A Blue Sentinel can also duel with other Sentinels in the arena by spending 1 Token of Fidelity. to rank up in the Blue Sentinels you must achieve PvP victories, to reach the highest rank you need a total of 500 victories. You can get victories by defending a member of the Way of the Blue from an invader, by winning a duel in the arena or Eliminating a sinner using the Cracked Blue Eye Orb. Victories will never be taken away from you when you have gotten them. to join the Blue Sentinels you need to have a Token of Fidelity in your inventory when you speak with Blue Sentinel Targray in Cathedral of Blue.

Brotherhood of Blood Covenant
The Brotherhood of Blood much alike the Blue Sentinels but in the opposite way. Brotherhood of Blood or BoB for short have the goal of causing as much misery and bloodshed as possible. BoB members duel one another in the arena, and the winner is given a Cracked Red Eye Orb. to rank up in BoB you must achieve rank points, rank points are given for each victory in the arena, but each loss in the arena will also make you lose a rank point. You can also gain rank points by invading a member of the Way of the Blue and defeat the Blue Sentinel summoned by the member of the Way of the Blue. Each killed Blue Sentinel will give the Bob player 2 rank points, however you will never get a rank point by eliminating the host. To achieve the highest rank you need to achieve 500 rank points. To join the Brotherhood of Blood you must have a token of Spite in your inventory when speaking with Titchy Gren in the Undead Purgatory.

Bell Keepers Covenant
The Bell Keepers covenant is a covenant that is meant to protect the bell tower and prevent the player from ringing the bell and existing the bell tower alive. When a player enters the bell towers of either Belfry Luna or Belfry Sol they allow a bell keeper to invade. To rank up in this covenant the bell keeper must defeat the host or a red player invader. When a bell keeper have eliminated the host the keeper is rewarded with an ore piece that upgrades equipment, if the host is able to eliminate the keeper he/she is rewarded with an ore piece instead. to achieve maximum rank a bell keeper need to have eliminated 100 trespassers as well as have rung both bells in the bell towers.

Rat King Covenant
The Rat King Covenant is meant to protect the realms of the rats from trespassers. Each member gets a verity of different advantages to fight the invader, advantages that range from friendly enemies to traps and environmental hazards. To rank up you need to present a Rat Tail to the Rat King. Each time a trespasser is killed the Rat King member is rewarded with 1 Pharros' Lockstone, 1 Smooth & Silky Stone and 1 Rat Tail. To achieve the Maximum rank you need to give 35 Rat Tails to the Rat King. to join the Rat King Covenant you need to have a Rat Tail in your inventory when speaking with the Rat King. The Rat King can be found in the Grave of Saints or Doors of Pharros

Dragon Remnants Covenant
The Dragon Remnants is a covenant that is trying to become dragons and gain the power of the ancient dragons. to rank up in the Dragon Remnants the you must place a summon sign using the Dragon Eye and defeat the host when the host invites you for a duel. The winner of the fight will be rewarded with a dragon scale. Present the dragon scales to the faction leader to rank up, you need a total of 30 dragon scales to reach the highest rank. You join the Dragon Remnants by giving the Petrified Egg that can be found at the Dragon Shrine late in the game to the vendor Magerold of Lanafir in the Iron Keep.


Further reading:

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Covenants
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/covenants

Now that you have finished my guide I want to thank you for taking the time reading my guide for Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin. You should by now have a good understanding of at least the basics of how Dark Souls 2 works and functions. There is a lot more to learn and lot of things to discover as this was mostly just a brief covering of the essentials but I am sure you will be able to figure them out for yourself.

I want to thank you again and wish you good luck on your journey through Drangleic. Try not to go hollow chosen undead.

Guide image:
http://www.moviepostershop.com/the-hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy-movie-poster-2005

Majula map:
http://www.gry-online.pl/galeria/mapy/41103473_119.png

Game wiki:
http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Dark+Souls+2+Wiki
http://darksouls2.wikidot.com/