Part 11: The Lost Bastille

One of the best areas in the game. Sure it looks bland but as far as the rest goes it's great. The first video shows a regular romp through the area while the second vid shows a route to skip the boss and covers the mostly optional part of the Bastille.



Creightons set goes well with the helmet from the swordsman set. In general, this helm looks decent with a lot more things that I care to admit. Creighton's armor itself isn't too shabby either, I just really don't like the headpiece.




The Ruin Sentinels
x3
Immediately as you enter the boss battle you will notice three health bars with unique names. This might make you believe that you have to contend with three unique enemies. But it's actually just that one enemy times three. They all use a shield and a long range hammer/spear thing.

The first one will be on the same platform you'll find yourself on when entering the room. It's best to stay on there to fight the first Sentinel without aggroing the other two. One Sentinel by itself is not hard to deal with at all. As long as you are good enough at dodging or have a shield that can take some abuse, though I definitely prefer the former.

As soon as the first one is dead the others will come after you. You can choose to fight them on this same platform, but this strategy relies too much on luck for my tastes because the basic idea is that one of the Sentinels drops down and you only have to deal with two for short periods of time. I prefer to just drop down and fight them in the open area downstairs. You can drop down before killing the first Sentinel, by the way. But in that case you'll have to deal with all three of them at the same time. Two are very manageable. But I don't really want to try to seriously fight all three at the same time.

When fighting multiples you'll have to carefully pick your time to attack or heal. It's best to bait an attack from both (or all three, if you're so inclined) and then attack whichever is closer during their recovery animation.

Most of their attacks are pretty straightforward swings but they have a few tricky things they can do. For instance they can use magic. But you expected that. Well, did you also predict the multi-spin attack during which they move towards you? It's best to just get away if you see that one coming because when dodging through it a second round is likely to hit you. Finally, they have one fuck you they can only throw at you once. Their shield. The bad news is that this has no audio cue to speak of so you'll have to look at the Sentinel who's about to throw their shield to see it coming. The good news is that they wont be able to pick their shield up again, making it easier to deal damage to that Sentinel.

According to the description of the Ruin Sentinel soul the sentinels have no body, their souls just hang out in the armor and do their thing.


Boss Weapons
Soul of the Ruin Sentinel, a creation of the Jailer.
The Ruin Sentinel has no corporeal form. It is only an empty soul that haunts the armor.

Give the Soul to Straid to make...

Heavy Homing Soul Arrow

Magic Type: Sorcery
Requirements: 35 INT
Description: Fires a blue orb that slowly moves towards the enemy, homing in to some degree.

In-Game Description:
One of the sorceries devised by Straid, the great mage of ancient Olaphis.
Fires thick, powerful soul arrows that seek their targets to the ends of the earth
Note: Yyyyyeah, they just literally gave the Sentinels a Soul that gives us a spell that Straid would have sold otherwise. Instead of giving us maybe their shield, which doubles as a throwing weapon or their hammer thing.


Item Descriptions
Sorcery: Hush
Dark Souls II: A sorcery that facilitates surreptitious activity. Reduces the sound made by its caster.
The eastern land of Mirrah is not only the home of proud knights.There is also a traditional order of shadow knights, who quietly carry out unspeakable tasks.
Dark Souls: Sorcery developed by a certain surreptitious sorcerer at Vinheim Dragon School. Masks all noises of caster.
Effectively, Vinheim is controlled by the Dragon School, and it is no wonder that the town has its share of dark secrets.

Golden Wing Shield
A blue shield with a gold relief of wings. Likely a symbol of guardianship used by Knights of the Blue.
Contains materials enchanted by magic, allowing spells to be deflected by parrying

Royal Swordsman Set
Armor of a royal swordsman. Its shape provides defense while allowing great mobility. Stripped of ornamentation, this particular helm/armor is designed strictly for battle.
King Vendrick supplied his bravest men with the best armor available to face the great giants, but very few returned alive.

Craftman's Hammer
Dark Souls II: An old smithing hammer.
Looks like a typical hammer, but is in fact incredibly sturdy. Some say it was the hammer used long ago by a famed blacksmith of yore.
Dark Souls: Metal hammer of Andre of Astora, blacksmith at the Old Church.
Can be used as a strike weapon, but better left in the hands of its talented owner.
Note: Called the Blacksmith Hammer in Dark Souls. But looks the same. Andre was the coolest dude in Dark Souls. It's a pity he couldn't live forever.