The Let's Play Archive

Dark Souls II

by IGgy IGsen

Part 20: Brightstone Cove Tseldora Pt. 2


This is the rest of Brightstone Cove Tseldora. There are many spiders. We're also going to collect the fourth and final Old Soul. For those not too familiar with the lore of the first game there's a video for you again.




Just the Royal Soldier Armor minus the helm. Also swapping out the mace for an Estoc. Significantly less poise damage but much longer range. As far as thrusting swords go this is the longest I'm currently aware of.



Dragonrider Helm and some Lion Knight stuff and the Skeleton Lord skirt. We're using the Vanquisher's Seal. Which is a ring that increases the scaling for our bare fists. Which means we're not actually using any weapons aside from our body. Which makes parts of this area very difficult. I knew this going into it but I didn't expect one particular spot to be as bad as it turned out to be.




The Duke's Dear Freja

The Duke's Dear Freja, in case you could not tell, is a very large spider with one head in her front and back each. To make matters worse there's tons of smaller spiders running about the arena, while you can kill them and take them out of the picture temporarily new one's will spawn after a short amount of time. So it's just as valid to ignore them.

She has a few attacks that uzilize her legs. She can stomp several times in a row and she can also use two of her legs at the same time. Needless to say you will want to avoid being stomped by her. This may be accompanied by her spitting acid in front of her. She can also do this without any stomping. Unless you want you equipment to break I suggest just staying the hell away from the acid.

When getting closer to one of her heads you'll also have to luck out for whenever she widens her pincers because she will bite you soon after. She may also spit out webs which slow you down significantly. Mashing buttons seems to speed up recovery, or at the very least has a placebo effect.

Sometimese she just might jump up into the air and attempt to land on you, which may cause her to reposition and be much closer to the walls, which can make it harder to avoid her attacks.

In the video you don't see me dealing with the above attacks a lot though, because I always bait her laser attack. She'll get poised and move her head to the (your) left. She'll then shoot a powerful laser beam starting from the left and moving to the other side. It's best to run around her counter-clockwise and attack the other head which is completely defenseless during that time.

Oh yeah, don't forget there's smaller spiders too. Once Freja is dead they will attack you sometimes. Other times they won't. I'm not sure if it's a bug or not but be prepared to fend of the small ones once you killed Freja.


Soul of the Duke's Dear Freja
Soul of the Duke's loyal Freja, the Writhing Ruin's Keeper.
The Writhing Ruin is an ancient thing whose shadow remains cast over the land. Tseldora is a place burdened by terrible misdeeds, and those who remained there were transformed beyond recognition.
Note: The Writhing Ruin is either the area she's located in, the dead dragon hanging from the ceiling, Seath or all three of those.

Spider Fang

Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Curved Sword
Physical Damage (+0/+5): 84/210
Scales with: STR (E); DEX (A)
Requirements: 10 STR, 25 DEX
Damage Type: Slash
Special Ability: Heavy attack shoots a ball of spider web which can slow down opponents.

In-Game Description:
Curved sword forged from the soul of the Duke's Dear Freja. Its blade is coated with a sticky silk that is cast with each strong attack, slowing enemy movement.
Supposedly, the duke himself, an eccentric soul fascinated with spiders, went on to take a form that was far from human.
Effect: movement slowdown


Spider Silk

Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Thrusting Sword
Physical Damage (+0/+5): 78/195
Scales with: DEX (S)
Requirements: 5 STR, 20 DEX
Damage Type: Thrust
Special Ability: Heavy attack pierces shields.

In-Game Description:
Thrusting sword forged from the soul of the Duke's Dear Freja. Its needle-like blade can easily pierce the seams of the toughest armor.
Supposedly, the duke himself, an eccentric soul fascinated with spiders, went on to take a form that was far from human.
Effect: shield piercing


Old Paledrake Soul
Soul of the ineffable
This once magnificent soul continues to exert influence over the land, even after the eons have reduced it to these remnants.

Moonlight Greatsword

Trade Soul with: Ornifex
Moveset/Weapon Class: Greatsword
Physical Damage (+0/+5): 152/380
Scales with: INT (A)
Requirements: 18 STR, 18 DEX, 18 INT
Damage Type: Magic
Special Ability: Strong attack unleashes a magic projectile together with the swing.

In-Game Description:
Dark Souls II: The blade of this greatsword shines like the brilliant rays of the moon. In the oldest legends, rarely spoken of today, it is said that the sword was born of a great white being.
The strong attack unleashes its strength, launching a wave of moonlight.
Dark Souls: This sword, one of the rare dragon weapons, came from the tail of Seath the Scaleless, the pale white dragon who betrayed his own.
Seath is the grandfather of sorcery, and this sword is imbued with his magic, which shall be unleashed as a wave of moonlight.


Crystal Soul Spear

Trade Soul with: Straid
Magic Type: Sorcery
Requirements: 53 INT
Description: Shoots a piercing projectile, same as regular Soul Spear but considerably stronger. It will routinely deal damage higher than 1000. Normally this is something only ripostes, backstabs and perfect counter-hits are capable of


In-Game Description:
Dark Souls II: Soul spear sharpened through crystallization. Pierces enemies, causing heavy damage.
Superior to the most finely sharpened weapons. When wielded precisely, it can take down several enemies at once
Dark Souls: Sorcery boosted by the knowledge Logan acquired at the Regal Archives. Fire piercing crystal soul spear.
These pale magic spears, sharpened through crystallization. are on par with the armaments of the ancient lords.


Item Descriptions

White Priest Armor
Traditional Headpiece/Robe/Gloves/Skirt worn by Drangleic clerics.
The clerics of Drangleic were not viewed with particular reverence, and their positions were only preserved as a nod to tradition.
It is customary for clerics to wear different garb depending on their sex, but the reason for this practice is unknown. These are a man's robes.

Creighton's Armor
Belonged to Creighton the Wanderer.
Its design resembles that of the knight order of the eastern land of Mirrah, but with some odd differences that catch the eye.
Perhaps it is a finely-crafted imitation.

Pate's Armor
Dark Souls II: Although it appears to be common armor, it has in fact been meticulously customized. Belonged to mild-mannered Pate.
This has been considerably altered. Perhaps it was pillaged.
Dark Souls: Armor made of thick leather. Very common type of protective gear, it provides a sound level of defense.
Note: In Dark Souls it was called the Hard Leather Set and had no affiliation to any character. It was just the starting gear for the Warrior class.

Black Knight Ultra Greatsword
Dark Souls II: Ultra greatsword wielded by knights who served a lord of light in a long forgotten age.
Even after their flesh was charred by flame, they remained as strong as ever, and stood watch, challenging visitors to their land.
Dark Souls: Greatsword of the black knights who wander Lordran. Used to face chaos demons.
The large motion that puts the weight of the body into the attack reflects the great size of their adversaries long ago.

Crescent Axe
Dark Souls II: A bronze greataxe with a crescent shaped blade.
Its long handle gives the weapon great reach. One senses that this axe was once imbued with a sacred power, but only traces of it remain.
Perhaps those who blessed this axe are no longer with us.
Dark Souls: Well-used old bronze battle axe with a long hilt and a crescent-shaped blade.
One of the blessed weapons of the Way of White. The Crescent Axe is bequeathed to cleric warriors who have proven their faith.

Pickaxe
A Pickaxe used for mining. Not intended as a weapon, but packs a powerful punch.
This tool, designed to crush hard rock, can easily puncture weaker forms of armor.
Note: Only listed here because it is difficult to obtain. Near the first bonfire in the encampment there are a couple pigs. Aggro one and bring it all the way down to the room with spiders hanging from the ceiling and mushrooms on the ground. The pig will then dig up the pickaxe from under the mushrooms. There's also a chance for a non-hostile pig to spawn, which makes things easier. But that never happened to me.

Engraved Gauntlets
Stone gauntlets engraved with odd writing. Said to bring good fortune to the wearer.
The wealthy merchant Fiorenza searched for these rare and precious gauntlets his entire life, but was not the one who found them."
Effect: Rare chance normal attacks become critical hits