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Dragon Aerie Walkthrough

Things to Note

Be wary of breaking the grayish white dragon eggs in this area. If too many eggs are broken, simply rest at bonfire to reset.

• Break 3 eggs - All guardian dragons get a power boost.
• Break 7 eggs - There will be a time limit for crossing the bridge later in the level, to Dragon Shrine, before it gets destroyed.
• Break 10 eggs - The bridge is destroyed and you have no chance of crossing.

Before you begin, consider exploring this area on your own and taking in the epic scenery and layout. Of all the areas, this one is the most visually stunning. It's also pretty easy to get around and you'll probably have a lot more fun with it just on your own. There's not much you can do wrong as long as you remember the rule above, which doesn't really matter since you'll be using your new feather and the big guys don't respawn.

To Skip or not to Skip

As you enter the area, the path splits in two:

• Following to the right will lead you to a cliff side where The Emerald Herald will engage you in dialogue, revealing that is was she that drew you into this world, and give you the Aged Feather.
• The path to the left leads to a bridge with a bonfire at the other end. Exit from the opposite side and follow the winding path up to another bridge. A Rupturing Hollow is clearly visible at the other end, and can be sniped very easily, avoiding the risk of getting blown off the bridge by his explosion.

First of the Drakes

Once across the bridge you will find yourself in a cave with two paths and a recess with a wall of three eggs separating you from a Crystal Lizard and a Radiant Lifegem.

The path to the left leads out to a large area guarded by a Red Dragon. Directly to the right, if you are fast enough is a Crystal Lizard, between some dragon eggs is a Dragon Tooth, a Darknight Stone sits on the edge of a hole in the floor. Kill the other Crystal Lizards and loot the corpses for a Soul of a Brave Warrior and a Boltstone. The holes in the floor will drop you back into the cave. To the right is a path leading up to another Crystal Lizard. To the far left is a bridge looping back round to the path from the right.

To the Second Dragon

The path to the right of the recess in the cave is blocked by more eggs, and leads to a bridge and another fork. At the end of the tunnel, you’ll drop down to a walkway. To the right is a bridge leading to the previous open area, off the side of the bridge you’ll notice a corpse with a glowing treasure. You can’t access it yet, as you’ll need to get to the zipline above it.

Follow the bridge to the left, and watch out for the Rupturing Hollow just around the corner. Cross the bridge to your right and follow the path up the side of the hill. Follow the path to the right and smash through the dragon eggs to collect a Petrified Dragon Bone. The path splits again to the left to a walkway revealing another open area with another Red Dragon, which can also be accessed from the left path. Entering the area will immediately aggravate the Red Dragon that drops a Petrified Something. In the open area there are a couple of corpses, one holding a Soul of a Great Hero, the other a Large Soul of a Brave Warrior, and there's another Crystal Lizard.

Loot City

Again, there are two paths, the path to the right, leads to a ledge overlooking another Red Dragon that you can use to snipe him or attack him with spells. This one drops a Twinkling Titanite and a Petrified Something. Once dispatched, drop down on the ledge to the left to loot the treasure, and down to the next ledge on the right for a Crystal Lizard. Corpses in the area hold: 

• 1x Soul of a Great Hero
• 1x Ring of The Evil Eye +1
• 1x Firedrake Stone
• 1x Twinkling Titanite
• 1x Petrified Dragon Bone
• 1x Dragon Charm.

A path to the left, blocked by some more eggs, leads back up to the area where the previous dragon was. To the right is a ledge that you can drop down to, to obtain a Large Soul of a Brave Warrior and a Pharros Lockstone. Homeward Bone or use the Aged feather to go back to bonfire, and retrace your steps to the main path.

Path to the Shrine

Back on the main path, cross the bridge. Immediately to the left is a zipline leading back to the Bonfire and to the right a bridge leading to the castle.

Take the zipline and hug the path to the right to find a hole in the ground with a ladder leading down to the Bonfire. It’s the same one as earlier, so climb back up the ladder to get back on the correct path. Just past the zipline drop down to a ledge to grab the Twinkling Titanite then Homeward Bone back to the Bonfire. Climb back up the ladder and take the zipline across to the castle.

Remember the treasure on the pillar you could see from the bridge earlier? Glide across the zipline and press the "B/O" button to drop off and grab a Soul of a Great Hero. Homeward Bone once again, or drop of the edge, to warp back to the Bonfire. Climb back up the ladder, take the zipline to its completion, and the long bridge to Dragon Shrine. 

 

Easy Dragon Strategy

Strategy

An easy strategy for these drakes is to stay underneath them and go for the legs, similar to the Rat Authority fight or Sif from DaS1. Hanging out by one of the legs will bait the stomp attack pretty consistently, which can easily be completely avoided by simply staying directly underneath and running to the other leg, which you can then hit a few times and rinse/repeat.

Make sure to stay directly under when using this strategy; the stomp attack has a pretty wide tracking arc and can easily one hit you if you try backing off or going behind the drake. If you just stay right under his crotch and run to the inside of his other leg, though, he can't bring the stomp further in and will miss you while you get 3-4 good hits in on the other leg.

 

Resistances

They have very little resistance to lightning as well as poison/toxin, even 4-5 regular poison throwing knives is enough to build the poison meter all the way up. Since the second and third drake are in positions where you can see them before they see you, it's a good opportunity to hit them with poison knives/arrows or dark fog/toxic mist depending on your build, to start of at an immediate advantage. It's also possible to poison the second and third drakes from any number of snipe spots and kill them without having to actually fight them at all.

 

Equipment Suggestions

Staying under 70% equip load is highly recommended for this strategy to work. Using a +10 lightning shortbow (upgraded the one found in Iron Keep) with 20STR/22DEX, Iron arrows hit for ~111HP per shot and Magic, Dark and Lightning arrows hit for ~200-250HP. 

Using the stay-between-his-legs strategy, two-handing a +2 mundane Santier's Spear (broken) with 19 as the lowest stat and gold pine resin did about 1000 damage for every three R1 presses. If you start off with poison and then hug the legs, the fights should be over very quickly with only dodging needed.