The Shrine of Amana is at the same time one of the most beautiful and annoying places in any Souls game. Its beauty outmatches Ash Lake, but its annoyance is almost as stupid as Blighttown's.

So here's some random tips that will make your life easier on that crappy but unavoidable sightseeing hellhole that is the Shrine of Amana.

EDIT: Also, keep an eye down at the comments after reading the guide. Amongst the people who deserve hell for their actions, there are some very helpful tips about ways to traverse this hell-hole.

Water. Keep in mind water will reach your waist on some spots, making your movement difficult. This also means you're probably next to an insta-death fall.

Underwater insta-death falls. Yeah.

Stay on the "main path" as much as possible. Just figure it out by the enemy placing and the surfacing rocks. Clean up every enemy you can on each cave before exploring for loot.

Those ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mages. They will target you way beyond the range of your spells. The will send a homing missile towards you. It hurts. It's easy to dodge though, but keep in mind that while you're busy dealing with one, another one is already locking onto you. Best tip is to strip Gavlan clean of poison arrows every time you meet him. Just give him all your souls! For real! Always a good idea to have a nice bow and a ton of these, but moreso in this place than any other. Four arrows will poison them and kill them, and the smack on each hit will be enough to interrupt them from casting while you shoot. Don't waste more than you need, dodge any magic missiles coming your way while they die (if any) or block line of sight if possible. Hear them scream in the distance. Grin evilly.

Explore with a torch. Once you cleaned up an area lit up your torch and start walking around the edges. You will see the cliffs way easier, and keep in mind there are hidden chests on the deeper end of the water. Always be mindful of the hidden aberrations waiting for you, there's always a few more you didn't kill while going down the main path. Good thing is the torch will attract them from farther away, so you will see/hear them coming from afar. Bad thing is if you were sloppy while killing everything, you can get overrun quickly. Never underestimate the designers' ability to put a hard drop where you don't expect it, or an item or chest where you're unlikely to search. But you already know this by now. Because Dark Souls.

Ogres. Two of them. Poke them from afar, with poison if you can. Both guard loot.

There's an Estus Flask Shard on an awful, tight pathway guarded by two mages and a few aberrations. Worth the trouble though. Just go slow and re-lit your torch if you need to use your bow. You'll thank me later.

There's also a cool weapon on a cave hidden by a Pharros contraption. You probably have more than enough Pharros' Lockstones for this, but you can avoid it if you don't want the Helix Halberd.

Big giant metal guy on tiny bridge guarding a cool looking door with the King's set. You can completely ignore him unless you've already killed Vendrik, which is not the case on your first pass. Trust the dozen bloodstains on the bridge and just walk away. When it's time to face him, lure him out of the bridge and kill it.

Don't kill the Milfanitos. The lil girl-like creatures that talk to you will give you stuff. That is if you care enough to go back to this hellhole after defeating the boss, and to go back once more after releasing the one imprisoned in Drangleic Castle. Personally I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ love the keyblade weapon, so ♥♥♥♥ you Milfanitos. ♥♥♥♥ you.

Right before the hut where the fog gate for the boss is, to the right, there's one of those invisible dudes that just sit there and can only be seen by the shadow cast by your torch. I don't know about you, but I love to find these guys. There's another one not far, after you take the elevator to Undead Crypt, chilling under the staircase.

Another thing I love to hunt and find are the butterfly things sticking to trees and ceilings like the poisonous ones on Huntsman's Copse. They are everywhere in Scholar of the First Sin even if you don't pay attention. They will not rain poison on you (main reason most people don't find them) and drop lifegems and items of the sort. There's at least one right at the start of the Shrine and another one on the Demon of Song room. There's also one stuck to the building on the right of the passage to Undead Crypt after the boss room (the one with the Milfanitos).

And speaking of which, if you have a branch to spare you can unlock that bonfire, and if you're not human you can open that closed door. There's some good loot beyond and cheeky hollow pyromancers to have fun with.

But the most important tip of all: GO OFFLINE. I will repeat this tip I'd never give on any other area on any other Souls game. GO OFFLINE.

Restart your Steam in offline mode and play offline through the whole of the Shrine. If you don't you will get invaded over and over again. You will take your time, almost clean up an area ready to explore and loot, and some cheeky ♥♥♥♥ with an overpowered pvp build will invade you just because he/she knows how annoying this area is. You can kill one. You can kill two. But the moment you die, it's time to go through all of it again. Go offline. If only to deny cheeky ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ the pleasure of trolling you, and to avoid wasting your precious poison arrows.