Black Gulch
Black Gulch is a Location in Dark Souls 2. A dark, poisonous cave far beneath Majula, which houses several monstrous abominations and The Rotten. One key thing to note: resting at a bonfire will regenerate enemies but NOT shattered statues, so don't be afraid to do several hit-and-return runs to the initial fireplace shattering as many statues as possible each time, to open up the area. (NOTE: The statues WILL respawn if you die or teleport, including using a Homeward Bone to a Black Gulch bonfire, but not if you save and reload.)
General Information
- Previous: The Gutter
- Next: Iron Keep or Shaded Woods
- Recommended Levels: 65 to 75
- Boss: The Rotten
- Bonfires: Black Gulch Mouth, Hidden Chamber
Black Gulch Map
NPCs in the Black Gulch
- Darkdiver Grandahl
- Lucatiel of Mirrah
- Lone Hunter Schmidt (NPC Summon)
- Bashful Ray (NPC Summon)
Items
Consumables- Fire Seed
- Silver Talisman x4
- Petrified Something
- Simpleton's Spice
- Skeptic's Spice
- Great Magic Weapon
- Scraps Of Life
- Pharros' Lockstone x1
- Forgotten Key
- Soul Of A Giant
- Petrified Dragon Bone
Enemies
- Darksucker
- Giant worms
- Giant(s) with clubs who came to conquer Drangleic.
Boss
NPC Invasions
- Woodland Child Victor
- Woodland Child Gully
Notes
- Stock up on fire arrows
- If you have trouble finding the Darksuckers, use one of the NPC summon signs, they will run towards the tar puddles with the Darksuckers in them.
- When farming in the Forgotten Door area, be prepared to finish it 12 times without leaving the area or the statues will reappear. Don't forget to change from your Item Discovery set for the Ponds above, into your Soul Increase set for the Giants below
- With the Forgotten Key, revisit the other locked door in The Gutter area to claim Havel's Armor Set.
- You can also open the door in the pit in Majula to get Soul Vortex, Witchtree Branch, Witchtree Bellvine, Great Lightning Spear, and the Dragon Talon.
Black Gulch Walkthrough
Invasion of the Body Statues
After entering from The Gutter there is an immediate cave to the left with a Bonfire inside. Make sure to use this before proceeding down the pathway, which itself is pretty easy to follow in a single linear progression. The poison statues you encountered in the gutter that were previously scattered, are now in abundance everywhere, making them a greater threat, or equal to, the enemies in this area. For the sake of not being repetitive, assume the whole area is infested with statues, and only the key examples will be highlighted, so just destroy them as you go along to save you the trouble. After a short path there is a large area with oil puddles -you can ignite- on the floor. This will kill the three Darksuckers lurking in two of the puddles. The Forlorn might also invade shortly after the bonfire.
Burn the Oil
Just before you get to the first large open area, it's worth lighting a torch and examining the ground beneath the cliff on the right hand side. If you look carefully, you will see a small ledge jutting out that you can jump down on. This will take you into a tunnel containing Lucatiel of Mirrah and no enemies. The tunnel winds up and you'll end in a terrace area overlooking the first main clearing. There are a bunch of poison statues that you can destroy here, and doing so will make navigating this area much easier. Once you're done, drop back down into the main area and proceed.
On the right there should be a summon sign for Lone Hunter Schmidt. Three of the five first puddles hide Darksuckers. Ignite the oil pools with a fire arrow or a pyromancy spell to kill them without even having to contest them in battle. They can drop Titanite Chunks and Large Titanite Shards. To the left of the first set of puddles, is a smaller path leading into a cave where a chest, guarded by more poison statues, containing Shotel and Great Magic Weapon can be found.
Worms
Continuing down the main path, you'll encounter two Cragslippers that will pop out of the wall. As long as you don't stand directly in front of it, you should be safe to smash. Two corpses are near this worm. One has a Torch and Scraps Of Life, and the other has a Large Soul of a Nameless Soldier, A shade summon sign for Bashful Ray is shortly after the worm. Another giant worm will pop out at you. They may drop Poison Stones, making this a possible farming area.
Forgotten Door (Detour - Skip to 'Big Gully' to continue)
Before the next area but after passing the Cragslipper, look to the right to find a small ledge which you can drop down from to land on a platform in front of the Forgotten Door that requires the Forgotten Key.
Acquiring the Key
Head right when facing the door and jump down to the platform below then to a platform below that on your hard right (almost behind). You will find a cave housing a pair of Great Giant Warrior. (Break all the poison shooters on the upper level before dropping down or you will be hit multiple times when leaving the giant area). The Giants are able to be poisoned, and casting is also a viable tactic:
- Tip 1: For an easy fight, bait them to the ledge outside while doing damage, then once outside run around the corner to the right and hide. They will retreat to the cave. Keep doing this till they are dead.
- Tip 2: There's another easy tactic if you use ranged weapon like Dragonrider Bow. As soon as you enter the cave with two Giants run to the cave on the right, hug the wall in the right side of the cave an safely snipe them, since they can't reach you.
- Tip 3: Equip 2 Dark Fog hexes (needs 4 slots), 3 casts on each should kill them, if not, cast 4. If you do it perfectly you can kill them both with 1 hex equipped, killing both Giants in 3 total casts! To start, run up to them to get them moving, then run for the exit, wait for them to bottleneck as they enter the tunnel then cast once to hex them both. Lead them out towards the mouth of the tunnel while the hex does its work, then let them start to head back in. When they're almost back into the cavern and when the hex wears off, cast it again, while they're both still in the tunnel, then lead them out and back in again and repeat. You don't need to lock aim as they're hard to miss. Enjoy your reward.
Upon killing the giants you will receive a Soul Of A Giant and the Forgotten Key. While these Giants respawn, they only drop loot upon first killing them. In the chamber with the Giants, is a doorway straight ahead from the entrance which leads to a chest containing Ring of Giants +1 and a Petrified Dragon Bone.
Scrap with the Darkdiver
Go back into the main chamber and search for a door to the left. In here you can find an elevator and a Jar on the ledge behind which holds 4x Silver Talisman. Circle around hugging the right wall to reach the Jars. Ride the elevator up -don't use a bone, feather, or miracle if you plan on farming giants for souls unless you plan on breaking all the poison shooters again.
CAUTION: The left of the elevator basket is much more narrow than the right. Be careful not to fall down here.
This brings you to a ledge above the main pit (opposite the bonfire, near the large skeleton). Make your way back to the ledge and drop down to the Forgotten Door. Beyond the door you'll find Darkdiver Grandahl and one of the altars that leads to the Dark Chasm of Old, upon joining the Pilgrims of Dark.
Big Gully
Shortly after you will arrive in another big area with a lot more oil pools, and statues. Light them up to make in the incoming NPC invasion via Woodland Child Gully, which should be triggered very shortly after entering this area.
There is a corpse hidden in a Jar with a Radiant Lifegem. In a cave on the left, find another cave with another chest containing a Divine Blessing, surrounded by Poison Statues. Head back outside and retrace your steps. Take a right, from where you entered the area, to scale around the hill and find a petrified Hollow, blocking the entrance to a cave which happens to hold a Bonfire, as well as a Pharros' Lockstone on a corpse in the Jar behind it, and the summon sign for Lucatiel of Mirrah. Another urn blocks a shortcut that leads to the end of the large room. This is important as it allows you to bypass almost all of the statues and enemies, if you fail to win against the next boss, who is rather close. Either taking the shortcut or going through the main area leads to the Boss Fog Gate. However, when you initially get closer to the boss gate, you will be invaded by the NPC Woodland Child Victor.
BOSS FIGHT: The Rotten
Beating the boss nets you the Soul of the Rotten and 40,000 souls. Helping another player beat this boss will result in 10,000 souls. There is a corpse holding a Fire Seed that requires crossing a bit of fire to reach.
A small door leads out to a narrow tunnel. There is a small room on the right with a chest containing Petrified Something, Simpleton's Spice and Skeptic's Spice and a large room that has a Primal Bonfire and an obelisk that transports the player to the entrance of Shulva - Sanctum City, the first area of the Crown of the Sunken King DLC.
After igniting the Primal Bonfire and getting teleported back to Majula, if you have followed the walkthrough so far, teleport to Iron Keep, if you already finished that area, head to where the petrified Rosabeth of Melfia was and continue on to the Shaded Woods.
General Information
- Previous: The Gutter
- Next: Shaded Woods
- Recommended Levels: 65 to 75
- Boss: The Rotten
- Bonfires: Black Gulch Mouth, Hidden Chamber
Black Gulch Map
NPCs in the Black Gulch
- Darkdiver Grandahl
- Lucatiel of Mirrah
- Lone Hunter Schmidt (NPC Summon)
- Bashful Ray (NPC Summon)
Items
Consumables- Fire Seed
- Silver Talisman x4
- Petrified Something
- Simpleton's Spice
- Skeptic's Spice
- Great Magic Weapon
- Scraps Of Life
- Pharros' Lockstone x1
- Forgotten Key
- Soul Of A Giant
- Petrified Dragon Bone
Enemies
- Darksucker
- Giant worms
- Giant(s) with clubs who came to conquer Drangleic.
Boss
NPC Invasions
- Woodland Child Victor
- Woodland Child Gully
Notes
- Stock up on fire arrows
- When farming in the Forgotten Door area, be prepared to finish it 12 times without leaving the area or the statues will reappear. Don't forget to change from your Item Discovery set for the Ponds above, into your Soul Increase set for the Giants below
- With the Forgotten Key, revisit the other locked door in The Gutter area to claim Havel's Armor Set.
- You can also open the door in the pit in Majula to get Soul Vortex, Witchtree Branch, Witchtree Bellvine, Great Lightning Spear, and the Dragon Talon.
Black Gulch Walkthrough
Invasion of the Body Statues
After entering from The Gutter there is an immediate cave to the left with a Bonfire inside. Make sure to use this before proceeding down the pathway, which itself is pretty easy to follow in a single linear progression. The poison statues you encountered in the gutter that were previously scattered, are now in abundance everywhere, making them a greater threat, or equal to, the enemies in this area. For the sake of not being repetitive, assume the whole area is infested with statues, and only the key examples will be highlighted, so just destroy them as you go along to save you the trouble. After a short path there is a large area with oil puddles -you can ignite- on the floor. This will kill the three Darksuckers lurking in two of the puddles. The Forlorn might also invade shortly after the bonfire.
Burn the Oil
Just before you get to the first large open area, it's worth lighting a torch and examining the ground beneath the cliff on the right hand side. If you look carefully, you will see a small ledge jutting out that you can jump down on. This will take you into a tunnel containing Lucatiel of Mirrah and no enemies. The tunnel winds up and you'll end in a terrace area overlooking the first main clearing. There are a bunch of poison statues that you can destroy here, and doing so will make navigating this area much easier. Once you're done, drop back down into the main area and proceed.
On the right there should be a summon sign for Lone Hunter Schmidt. Three of the five first puddles hide Darksuckers. Ignite the oil pools with a fire arrow or a pyromancy spell to kill them without even having to contest them in battle. They can drop Titanite Chunks and Large Titanite Shards. To the left of the first set of puddles, is a smaller path leading into a cave where a chest, guarded by more poison statues, containing Shotel and Great Magic Weapon can be found.
Worms
Continuing down the main path, you'll encounter two Cragslippers that will pop out of the wall. As long as you don't stand directly in front of it, you should be safe to smash. Two corpses are near this worm. One has a Torch and Scraps Of Life, and the other has a Soul of a Nameless Soldier, A shade summon sign for Bashful Ray is shortly after the worm. Another giant worm will pop out at you. They may drop Poison Stones, making this a possible farming area.
Forgotten Door (Detour - Skip to 'Big Gully' to continue)
Before the next area but after passing the Cragslipper, look to the right to find a small ledge which you can drop down from to land on a platform in front of the Forgotten Door that requires the Forgotten Key.
Acquiring the Key
Head right when facing the door and jump down to the platform below then to a platform below that on your hard right (almost behind). You will find a cave housing a pair of Great Giant Warrior. (Break all the poison shooters on the upper level before dropping down or you will be hit multiple times when leaving the giant area). The Giants are able to be poisoned, and casting is also a viable tactic:
- Tip 1: For an easy fight, bait them to the ledge outside while doing damage, then once outside run around the corner to the right and hide. They will retreat to the cave. Keep doing this till they are dead.
- Tip 2: There's another easy tactic if you use ranged weapon like Dragonrider Bow. As soon as you enter the cave with two Giants run to the cave on the right, hug the wall in the right side of the cave an safely snipe them, since they can't reach you.
- Tip 3: Equip 2 Dark Fog hexes (needs 4 slots), 3 casts on each should kill them, if not, cast 4. If you do it perfectly you can kill them both with 1 hex equipped, killing both Giants in 3 total casts! To start, run up to them to get them moving, then run for the exit, wait for them to bottleneck as they enter the tunnel then cast once to hex them both. Lead them out towards the mouth of the tunnel while the hex does its work, then let them start to head back in. When they're almost back into the cavern and when the hex wears off, cast it again, while they're both still in the tunnel, then lead them out and back in again and repeat. You don't need to lock aim as they're hard to miss. Enjoy your reward.
Upon killing the giants you will receive a Soul Of A Giant and the Forgotten Key. While these Giants respawn, they only drop loot upon first killing them. In the chamber with the Giants, is a doorway straight ahead from the entrance which leads to a chest containing Ring of Giants +1 and a Petrified Dragon Bone.
Scrap with the Darkdiver
Go back into the main chamber and search for a door to the left. In here you can find an elevator and a Jar on the ledge behind which holds 4x Silver Talisman. Circle around hugging the right wall to reach the Jars. Ride the elevator up -don't use a bone, feather, or miracle if you plan on farming giants for souls unless you plan on breaking all the poison shooters again.
CAUTION: The left of the elevator basket is much more narrow than the right. Be careful not to fall down here.
This brings you to a ledge above the main pit (opposite the bonfire, near the large skeleton). Make your way back to the ledge and drop down to the Forgotten Door. Beyond the door you'll find Darkdiver Grandahl and one of the altars that leads to the Dark Chasm of Old, upon joining the Pilgrims of Dark.
Big Gully
Shortly after you will arrive in another big area with a lot more oil pools, and statues. There is a corpse hidden in a Jar with a Radiant Lifegem. In a cave on the left, find another cave with another chest containing a Divine Blessing, surrounded by Poison Statues. Head back outside and retrace your steps.
Take a right, from where you entered the area, to scale around the hill and find a petrified Hollow, blocking the entrance to a cave which happens to hold a Bonfire, as well as a Pharros' Lockstone on a corpse in the Jar behind it, and the summon sign for Lucatiel of Mirrah. Another urn blocks a shortcut that leads to the end of the large room. This is important as it allows you to bypass almost all of the statues and enemies, if you fail to win against the next boss, who is rather close. Either taking the shortcut or going through the main area leads to the Boss Fog Gate.
BOSS FIGHT: The Rotten
Beating the boss nets you the Soul of the Rotten and 40,000 souls. Helping another player beat this boss will result in 10,000 souls. There is a corpse holding a Fire Seed that requires crossing a bit of fire to reach.
A small door leads out to a narrow tunnel. There is a small room on the right with a chest containing Petrified Something, Simpleton's Spice and Skeptic's Spice and a large room that has a Primal Bonfire and an obelisk that transports the player to the entrance of Shulva - Sanctum City, the first area of the Crown of the Sunken King DLC.
Anonymous
- Anonymous
It is worth to note that if you want to summon Lucatiel to help you with boss fight, you need to clear Darksuckers in two pools nearest to bonefire in Hidden Chamber (one next to ledge that leads to bonefire, and one to the middle). Otherwise she will just rush there and get locked into madly swinging at air, as Darksucker only comes out when player or invader is near, and will not follow towards fog gate. For same reason I strongly advise to clear area of those ... statues, as Lucatiel is 300% sure to get hit by some darts and get severly wounded by poison as a result during her reckless run.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
does the black phantom spawn twice? same with the fog wall, both respawned after I defeated the boss and came back for some stuff.
I did kill the invader first time around
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I would hate this area so much less if the poison-shooting statues didn't respawn
- Anonymous
Not a long area and can be ran through but dang it is a nightmare despite being a quick run through.
- Anonymous
I gotta say running face first into a petrified enemy blocking the path to the second bonfire while dying from poison sure was a surprise the first time I played SOTFS.
- Anonymous
After you dispatch the 1st invader, you get 2 more Unga bunga invaders right by the fog gate (1 after the other)
- Anonymous
The worst part of this map is BIG GULLY why is he here who thought this place was not annoying enough let add another problem to the equation !!
- Anonymous
No mention here of the Branch of Yore statue down the hidden path?
- Anonymous
fun fact: while going solo will give you one invader at the time, having a coop phantom with you will activate the two woodland child invaders at the same time, making their "welcome" gesture even more cool.
- Anonymous
The info for the ledge you drop down to isn't correct it's more complicated than that and yes there are enemies down there. The first ledge there's a locked door and you have to drop down to a second one. When you get to the second ledge you follow the cave to where there are two giants you have to kill to get the key to open the door. Better have a spell or homeward bone because there's no way back up to the first ledge either.
- Anonymous
Are there no pages for the NPCs invaders (Woodland Child Victor and
Woodland Child Gully) ?
- Anonymous
When I first heard the name "Black Gulch" before playing, I was expecting a dusty Western cowboy-themed area, and I was curious as to how they were going to fit that into a medieval fantasy game
- Anonymous
The part with the Giants where tip 2 says to run inside the cave to the right and then hug the right wall.....maybe you should have mentioned that there's a hole in the ground there that will cause you to fall to your death. I had destroyed all poison statues and was forced to start completely over. How something like a hole in the ground that will kill you isn't mentioned in a guide is beyond me. It's literally three feet inside that cave to the right, where you tell us to go.
- Anonymous
It’s confusing, I’m replaying on steam deck and I’m pretty sure this is the first time the statues have actually stayed broken and not respawned when I rest
- Anonymous
The description is a lie. PC version of Sins will regen the statues at bonfire rest.
- Anonymous
Annoying gimmicks aside, I do really like how this area is designed. The enemies and the darkness give off a really strong “I’m not supposed to be down here”, “bottom of the world” kind of feel. The only places I can think of that match this sort of vibe somewhat are Blighttown and the Fishing Hamlet, but even those places are still really different in their respective ways.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Very easy to run past everything if you stay away from the corners and run from the middle
- Anonymous
me:Takes one step
Those **** statues: your now poisoned and you got shot in the head.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I understand these games are not supposed to be a walk in the park but who tf playtested this and thought “yeah, Im having a good time”
- Anonymous
Having trouble with the runup? Easy peasy guys just drop down to this dark ledge, hit two giants 5 million times in the dark to kill them and presto! A shortcut!
- Anonymous
It's called a bonfire not a fireplace. It literally says bonfire if you rest at one...
- Anonymous
The most irritating area, but good for farming once the pedestals are cleared out.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Try running through ... I like to spend as little time in this area as possible.
Infuse a whip with fire, and you can ignite the oil ponds from a distance along with destroy the statues.
- Anonymous
While resting at a bonfire doesn't restore the poison statues dying does.
Spears work very well here to poke the statues as you go along. Just equip one you don't care about and get to smashing. Being able to smash them from a bit of distance (and several in a row) helps a lot in avoiding the crossfire. When you get to the big room leading up to the boss fog, hug the left wall and smash statues all the way until you get to the fog. Cross over to the right side and hug that wall all the way up, smashing everything on the way. You'll clear the whole place without getting poisoned.
- Anonymous
If you ignite the tar under the chest in the big room, there is a booming of an explosion off in the distance. No idea what it does...
- Anonymous
Whoever designed this place deserves a flaming pinecone up their urethra.
- Anonymous
i don't know if it's true or not, but i think that spawns one giant for every phantom that you summon
- Anonymous
Equip a poisonbite ring, a dispelling ring, and chuck a common fruit greatly helps in this area
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
i have no care for my life so i camikaze through the statues and eat a few moss clumps
- Anonymous
Preparations to tackle this area.
1) Your range weapon of choice with fire ammunition from Cornifex.
2) A dagger to easily break the statues without damaging your main weapon.
3) A bag full of life gems to counter the poison.
4) A little bit of patience.
- Anonymous
My journey through this vomit-infected hellhole was just as enjoyable as burning hemorrhoids with chilli cheese filling and athlete's foot on a hot summer day.
- Anonymous
**** I just run through the whole area to fight the boss, without resting at the bonfire and ****ing lost *sigh*
- Anonymous
in SotFS (PC) the statues reset too when u use the Bonfire.....I REPEAT THE STATUES RESET.....
- Anonymous
This thing gave me PTSD, i keep freaking out when i see the statues in Majula, bc i get flashbacks to this place... (ds2 is still great)
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Route to clear easily: Break or sprint past first cluster of statues. Drop off cliff to the right, where you find Lucatiel. After bypass reconnects with main route, drop to left side, roll between the two worms. Hugging left wall keeps you safe from any of their attacks. Kill worms on either side. Next, just a little forward, another drop off the cliff on the right puts you in front of forgotten door. Continue past series of drops to reach the Giants. After killing Giants, head up lift. Drop down, sprint directly across opening to small ledge. Use fragrant branch and rest at bonfire. Gully/Victor do not stop you from resting. Finally, rub straight to Rotten.
- Anonymous
In SotFS (at least on PS4) every damn shattered poison statue respawns if you die. ***** this whole place.
- Anonymous
The toxic mist pyromancy you get from the rat swarm boss is *amazing* on the giants. Just pop it as you aggro them, backtrack, let the toxic do its thing, aggro them again and pop it a second time. Should do the trick.
- Anonymous
can confirm tactic 2 -- it takes 4 poison arrows to poison them, they need to be poisoned twice each, and after that they have very little health. i used a regular +2 longbow.
- Anonymous
People***** on this area but there are much worse like Shrine of Amana or Frigid Outskirts
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
(SOFTS) In regards to the giants. I'd seen people mentioning an odd occurence of 3 giants in the cave. I went to the cave a few times and only saw two, however after killing the two giants in my game and obtaining the key I returned there, there were in fact 3 giants.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I detest this forum and it's shotty ps4/x1/dx11 funsction that doesn't work makes it really helpful.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The chest with divine blessing looked like a mimic so I ended up getting rubbish.
- Anonymous
Was invaded by Woodland Child Victor after dropping down to the forgotten key door for the first time. SotFS. He stayed in the area before the hidden bonfire and I was able to kill him from the ledge with arrows and pyromancies
running through this place to get to the next bonfire is like spongebob and patrick running through the perfume department on the flying dutchman's ship
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