Frigid Outskirts
Frigid Outskirts is a Location in Dark Souls 2. It is an optional area of the Crown of the Ivory King DLC. Takes place in a frigid outskirts of Eleum Loyce, with a recurring blizzard.
General Information
- Previous: Frozen Eleum Loyce
- Next: Forest of Fallen Giants
- Boss: Lud and Zallen, the King's Pets
- Recommended Levels: ?? to ??
- Bonfires: 0
Frigid Outskirts Map
Click to enlarge!
Someone needs credit for this map--I only posted it.
NPCs
Items
ConsumablesEquipment
- Ring of the Living
- Mirrah Hat (Unmasked Lucatiel's Hat)
- Bone Fist (Rare drop from Frozen Reindeer)
Enemies
- Frozen Reindeer (aka Horses)
- Abandoned Hollow
- Rampart Golem
- Faraam Warrior
- Mastodon Halberd Archdrake
Notes
- Garrison Ward Key is needed to access this area. Access is at the Expulsion Chamber bonfire, which is behind a locked door. Where three hollows and one Rampart Golem are at outer wall. There is a bonfire and a coffin that takes player to the area.
Frigid Outskirts Walkthrough
Access
Reaching the Frigid Outskirts is as simple as heading over to the Expulsion Chamber Bonfire and just behind it, there's a coffin. Examining it will make your character jump into it and slide off of the cliff.
Snowy SZN
You'll emerge in an area with a recurring blizzard, as well as the constant Frozen Reindeer (aka Horses) spawning throughout the area, making navigation in this area extremely difficult even with the help of Prism Stones. When exiting the coffin, head southwest from where the camera is initially angled to arrive at a summoning circle area, where you can summon Head of Vengarl, and Abbess Feeva. One can also summon Manhunter O'Harrah in the Scholar of the First Sin edition.
TIP: When traversing between structures and ruins, you'll always be able to see the next one in the distance. Once you set off for it, it is very important that you make a beeline for it, without falling off-track. This is because the blizzard will return as soon as you leave the summoning circle, and will block your visibility of the path ahead. There are three buildings throughout the map with some loot.
The second building to the boss contains a healing spring activated by a Pharros Lockstone. This is especially useful for healing NPC phantoms; although, you have to get them to stand down in the water. They have a mind of their own, but getting them to lock on to you helps: you can herd them into the area, as you may have done to the Barrel Carriers in the Crown of the Old Iron King.
Krampus
When you arrive at the third structure, you'll have to pass through a very short valley to reach a thin, icy bridge. On the other side is a fog gate to the boss encounter. However, you'll have to defeat a large Lance-wielding NPC invader, halfway through the bridge, in order to get to the gate. Avoid getting knocked off of this thin bridge; his lance has the ability to break your stance, or that of your NPC companions.
Once you've defeated him, continue forward and take on the boss- or, bosses- of the Frigid Outskirts.
BOSS FIGHT: Lud and Zallen, the King's Pets
Once they have been defeated, you'll receive the Soul of Lud and Zallen. Head through the doorway ahead and continue forward, until you reach a thin beam of light. Examine it to return to the bonfire by the coffin, in Frozen Eleum Loyce.
Hints & Tips
- Basically there are 3 areas throughout the map where the horses will appear: 1) past the first ruin, 2) past the second ruin, 3) between the third ruin and the bridge to the fog gate. It doesn't matter where you are in that area, they will always spawn near you.
- The horses will stop spawning at some point. (I killed about 17 horses after the first ruin until they stopped spawning, around 22 after the second ruin and roughly 30 right before the bridge. If you kill them one by one they are not that hard.)
- If you wipe out all the horses, they won't respawn after dying or leaving the area.
- The horses have a small chance (like 5%) of dropping a Petrified Dragon Bone.
- Pass through this area can be hard, you just have to know one thing. The sun (the reflex that blinds you when is directly on your sight) is your guide; starting from the statues where you can summon phantoms, just follow the sun having it slightly to your right hand (at some point you will reach a wall, go forward close to it), following it will lead you to the right corner of the map (doesn't matter if you get lost, just find the sun and follow it), where the boxes and barrels mark the limit between you and the cliff; and there you go, follow the boxes (in the path there is a corpse with the ring of the living), turn to the right when you see the path to the fog gate (All the enemies will follow you to the fog gate, so be quick or kill them in the way). Also you can summon the phantoms for a little help, most of the times they will make it with full health.
- Running to the Head of Vengarl and then moving in a straight linear path to across the area may be most effective. Vengarl will take aggro from some of the enemies and you don't waste time and on some cases hardly any health. Once you've made to the cliff, its the home stretch to the boss. You can wait for Vengarl (at the risk of enemies following you across the bridge) or go in and start the fight til he gets there. However, if Vengarl's health drops too low, or he dies, head back to the bonfire, due to the fact that the bosses will be stronger and you will have no support. Or simply find a friend to summon with.
- It is possible to pass through this area in complete stealth without fighting anything. This is achieved by using chameleon/silver talismans to transform into an object, as such the horses will not aggro when the blizzard causes them to spawn so long as you stand still when the storm kicks up. They also don't seem to aggro if you move as slow as physically possible and keep a respectable distance from them, but be careful not to bump into freshly spawned ones in the blizzard and keep your distance from the roaming hollows, they tend to bump into you as they wander around. Warning: this method is painfully slow.
General Information
- Previous: Frozen Eleum Loyce
- Next: Forest of Fallen Giants
- Bosses: 2
- Recommended Levels: ?? to ??
- Bonfires: 0
Frigid Outskirts Map
Click to enlarge!
Someone needs credit for this map--I only posted it.
NPCs
Items
ConsumablesEquipment
- Ring of the Living
- Mirrah Hat (Unmasked Lucatiel's Hat)
Enemies
Notes
- Garrison Ward Key is needed to access this area. Access is at the Expulsion Chamber bonfire, which is behind a locked door. Where three hollows and one Rampart Golem are at outer wall. There is a bonfire and a coffin that takes player to the area.
Frigid Outskirts Walkthrough
Access
Reaching the Frigid Outskirts is as simple as heading over to the ___ Bonfire and just behind it, there's a coffin. Examining it will make your character jump into it and slide off of the cliff.
Snowy SZN
You'll emerge in an area with a recurring blizzard, as well as the constant Frozen Reindeer spawning throughout the area, making navigation in this area extremely difficult even with the help of Prism Stones. When exiting the coffin, head southwest from where the camera is initially angled to arrive at a summoning circle area, where you can summon Head of Vengaarl, and Abbess Teeva.
TIP: When traversing between structures and ruins, you'll always be able to see the next one in the distance. Once you set off for it, it is very important that you make a beeline for it, without falling off-track. This is because the blizzard will return as soon as you leave the summoning circle, and will block your visibility of the path ahead. There are three buildings throughout the map with some loot.
The second building to the boss contains a healing spring activated by a Pharros Lockstone. This is especially useful for healing NPC phantoms; although, you have to get them to stand down in the water. They have a mind of their own, but getting them to lock on to you helps: you can herd them into the area, as you may have done to the Barrel Carriers in the Crown of the Old Iron King.
Krampus
When you arrive at the third structure, you'll have to pass through a very short valley to reach a thin, icy bridge. On the other side is a fog gate to the boss encounter. However, you'll have to defeat a large Lance-wielding NPC invader, halfway through the bridge, in order to get to the gate. Avoid getting knocked off of this thin bridge; His lance has the ability to break your stance, or that of your NPC companions.
Once you've defeated him, continue forward and take on the bosses of the Frigid Outskirts.
BOSS FIGHT: Lud, the King's Pet and Zallen the King's Pet
Once they have been defeated, you'll receive the Soul of Lud and Zallen. Head through the doorway ahead and continue forward, until you reach a thin beam of light. Examine it to return to the bonfire by the coffin, in Frozen Eleum Loyce.
Hints & Tips
- Basically there are 3 areas throughout the map where the horses will appear: 1) past the first ruin, 2) past the second ruin, 3) between the third ruin and the bridge to the fog gate. It doesn't matter where you are in that area, they will always spawn near you.
- The horses will stop spawning at some point. (I killed about 17 horses after the first ruin until they stopped spawning, around 22 after the second ruin and roughly 30 right before the bridge. If you kill them one by one they are not that hard.)
- If you wipe out all the horses, they won't respawn after dying or leaving the area.
- The horses have a small chance (like 5%) of dropping a Petrified Dragon Bone.
- Pass through this area can be hard, you just have to know one thing. The sun (the reflex that blinds you when is directly on your sight) is your guide; starting from the statues where you can summon phantoms, just follow the sun having it slightly to your right hand (at some point you will reach a wall, go forward close to it), following it will lead you to the right corner of the map (doesn't matter if you get lost, just find the sun and follow it), where the boxes and barrels mark the limit between you and the cliff; and there you go, follow the boxes (in the path there is a corpse with the ring of the living), turn to the right when you see the path to the fog gate (All the enemies will follow you to the fog gate, so be quick or kill them in the way). Also you can summon the phantoms for a little help, most of the times they will make it with full health.
- Running to the Head of Vengarl and then moving in a straight linear path to across the area may be most effective. Vengarl will take aggro from some of the enemies and you don't waste time and on some cases hardly any health. Once you've made to the cliff, its the home stretch to the boss. You can wait for Vengarl (at the risk of enemies following you across the bridge) or go in and start the fight til he gets there. However, if Vengarl's health drops too low, or he dies, head back to the bonfire, due to the fact that the bosses will be stronger and you will have no support. Or simply find a friend to summon with.
- It is possible to pass through this area in complete stealth without fighting anything. This is achieved by using chameleon/silver talismans to transform into an object, as such the horses will not aggro when the blizzard causes them to spawn so long as you stand still when the storm kicks up. They also don't seem to aggro if you move as slow as physically possible and keep a respectable distance from them, but be careful not to bump into freshly spawned ones in the blizzard and keep your distance from the roaming hollows, they tend to bump into you as they wander around. Warning: this method is painfully slow.
AnonymousInstead of trying to go to each ruins, try to keep the sun (sunglare) on your right and keep sprinting. If you summon the npc you'll be quite safe vs the spawning beasts. If you reach a snow wall, it means you have to follow it to its left side. When you reach some crates and barrels, it means that you have reached the cliff. keep following the edge to the left. You'll see a ramp daown below soon. Jump and cross the bridge. Quickly adjust your equipment, wait for the summons to reach you and go through the fog gate before the electric deers catch you.
- Anonymous
Why the salt for these Kirins? These things beat old and new MH Kirins any day and if these things had gear... I'd wear nothing but their gear.
- Anonymous
I wish the person(s) who came up with this area cancer. I wish the person(s) that allowed this atrocity, cancer. I wish the person(s) who developed this crime against humanity, cancer.
See I like the idea of this area but the execution is garbage, here is how it should have been done:
1- Nerf the reindeers so they aren't tanky and can be killed with 1-2 hits
2- Add a pharos lockstone somewhere so you could make the blizzard dissapear
3- It's way too long, just cut it in half
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Tried this area out and beat it despite how infamous it is... It was not fun, infact it was horrible and if it wasn't for the summons I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up rage-quitting, this area is a nightmare and absolutely NOT worth the trouble unless you want the loot like the Ring of the Living, Loyce Greatsword etc really badly, there's nothing but agony, misery and so many goddamn frost horses to be had in this hellish tundra
- Anonymous
Maybe it was because I just beelined it to the boss, and maybe it was because of my choice of weapons (powerstanced smelter sword and aged smelter sword), but I didn't think the area was too bad. Now, if I were to actually explore, I might be saying otherwise.
- Anonymous
Hug the wall to your right and proceed forward so you don't encounter random hollows while fighting the horses.
- Anonymous
I went in blind dreading the negative reputation of this area. Tried to find my way, got swarmed by reindeers, lost in the snow died. Respawned and tried finding my souls, no luck reindeers are back to claim my soul, after running for a bit died again. 3-4x more deaths later I said fck it, fck this time for human effigy/ summon time. Called in the boyZ Vengarl, Feeva, Manhunter. Fcked every reindeer we came across, proceeded to find our way to the boss room without struggle. Defeated the boss in 1 try (I would have wanted to challenge the boss in a 1v2 (since there are 2 of them) but fck the runback that will entail as I don't want to get fcked in Reindeer Fckvalley more than intended.
Truly the peak of Dark souls 2 design. Worst area in all from soft games, worst area in dark souls 2 (followed by iron passage, and iron keep smelter demon run).
The good thing though is From software learned how shitty this area is and the limits of their designs. There is a mini frigid outskirts in elden ring, but without the fcking reindeers and it is only a short area.
- Anonymous
One of the most brutal areas I've experienced in the series. I went through with a sword n' board character with some utility sorceries (repair, cast light, etc.), and even with the Repair spell helping through the whole area, my sword ended up breaking mid-boss fight, and I ended up needing to two-hand my shield and beat the damn things to death with it. Yes, that's right, it got so desperate I literally used my shield as a weapon. Between the constant blizzards, constant assaults from giant reindeer, broken gear, and next to no checkpoints, this was by far the most gruelling part of my journey through the souls games.
- Anonymous
Please edit: in SOTFS the Faraam Knight is not in phantom form but as a enemy NPC and he wields dual straight swords.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
At least you can save scum at the boss door on PC.
For those who don't know, select run -> type %appdata% -> navigate to dark souls 2. The save file ends in .sl2. When you get to the boss door, change the properties of the file so it's read only. You can alt + f4 and since you made the file read only once you got to the gate, it won't have saved you dying and you'll find yourself back at the gate. Can also do this for blue smelter demon, Alonne, and any other boss that's annoying to get to. It also works on any other FromSoft game. I used it in Elden Ring as well for the great jar trial thing. This also won't get you banned for cheating or anything, don't worry.
Have fun not ripping your hair out. :)
- Anonymous
Don't be like me, bring repair powder or spell to this area. For some reason, horses drain durability like crazy. Fume UGS is at 25% after 6-7 horses.
- Anonymous
If you decide to pick up any loot, such as the ring, after you kill the boss, you will not be able to call upon any summons to distract the ponies of death. If you're intending on making this journey, well, I cannot tell you your chances of survival, but you have my sympathies.
- Anonymous
This is the co-op focused area of the DLC so play in co-op.
There you go, now it's pretty standard.
- Anonymous
Play it on NG+2 for true bullsh*t experience with the added red phantoms
- Anonymous
Use the npc summons to get through, and you'll be just fine. Really could've used a bonfire in the area though, just to get to the boss room faster.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
What was even the intent here? This area and iron passage are pure garbage. Just really lazy uninspired game design.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Why do people stubbornly refuse to summon? This area is actually pretty cool with the 3 summons, feels like youre in an mmo dungeon or something
- Anonymous
I like the design of the area, is a big open field and when the the snow isn't blocking your view the area looks cool
...the enemies on the other hand, just suck
- Anonymous
I've beaten this area and it's bosses once just to see if it is worth it. It is not. Just skip this part and enjoy the game. Or be a little masochistic like me and see what it is like. Trust me, there is nothing of value here. Just stupid horses, an npc and 2 recycled Aava's (cat boss). There is nothing wrong with the area itself, the feeling of being lost in a storm and isolation is what they got right. If only there was something of value here and an extra bonfire. If only.
- Anonymous
I always like to think "it could be worse". This zone could have been unskippable. Just saying.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I was about to finnish my first all bosses run and out of 35 hours in total i spent 5 just on this area, and I still did not kill those double trouble gank garbage bosses. It took fume knight, burnt ivory king and sinh less time combined than it did to accomplish nothing in this absolute hellhole of an "area". This single location crushed my entire spirit and I no longer want to play dark souls 2 ever again. I sincerely hope that the people behind this level are thrown out to die of frostbite while being attacked by several psychotic reindeer in northern Siberia.
But then again it could also be just a skill issue so idk.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Whoever reading this: maybe you're an overworked guy with tons of issues in life, but just remember to hug your kids, take them to the cinema/beach/zoo, let them invite their friends for their birthday parties and just generally make sure they get enough love and care.
That way, the possibility of raising psychopaths who live off childhood trauma by desigining areas like this can be reduced close to zero.
- Anonymous
went through this **** show of a place so much that I eventually knew where they spawned, how to dodge them, where to traverse the snowfield with the fog so that they wont spawn and to just get 4 shot by those stupid cats
- Anonymous
It's... challenging. That's the best I can say about this cancerous anal discharge of an area. I will defend this game to death and sometimes it feels like I'm the only one in the world that loves it. But this area, man...
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The quintessential Dark Souls 2 experience:
1. "Woah this area sucks" --> You then run into an even worse area right after
2. "Woah, this area is AWESOME!" --> You then run into a candidate for the worst area in any game ever right after (You are here)
- Anonymous
Why are people complaining just use the 3 Overpowered summons the game gives you lol
- Anonymous
I cant find manhunter summon sign is it soft only? I have the original ds2
The amount of crying is absurd hahahaha Just learn the area and go. You don't need to rush. Like every FS the DLC it's supposed to give a challenge. Hold this challenge.
- Anonymous
I have been trying to finish this area from the last 12hrs because I am dead set on beating every single boss in the game
I like the idea behind this area, but the horses should be a bit less annoying and there really needs to be a bonfire at the end.
- Anonymous
Tried this once, and never came back. Yeah, no thanks, I've already done Iron Passage, not gonna claw my way through another horribly designed optional area just for the sake of it.
- Anonymous
Me on my way to kill 70 minibosses while blinded by snow so I can safely go get ganked by two giant cats.
- Anonymous
Objectively horrible. I would be embarrassed to have an area like this in my game.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
s***** area for sure, but not that hard. just wait the blizzard, kill 2 horses per run, and be calm and focus 1 cat at the time. 2 or 3 tries and it's done, no summons needed
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If I have to chose between moving to South Sudan or going through this area again. Then consider my stuffs packed
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If the devs had put a bonfire at the boss door, I would have called this area tough and annoying but fair. Without that, though, I just think it's not worth doing.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Sadly, miyazaki didn't share your opinion about this area and instead saw the blueprints of tediousness for the farron swamp.
- Anonymous
Ridiculously easy, except for the bullshit boss.
Literally just wait for the blizzard to stop, run the right direction for a while and then stop when the blizzard stops.
The reindeer can be knocked down with 2HR2 attacks with a great club +10and killed in three hits.
Just bring a great club and 1 lifegem for each horse and win
- Anonymous
Whoever designed this map just dont know how to play game, why do you so lazy and just throw every mobs into player, even the boss has to be 2 too, is there nothing they can do but just let player 1v3 1v4 mobs :'D this game is not fun and is not worth playing it considered at how lazy in level designed, especially this map contains all the worsts this game has, i will only proceed 1 playthrough and never comeback this garbage again.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Ok, just did this... Summon the 3 npc's at the start, book it to each checkpoint killing a horse if it spawns and take on the 2 tigers. The summons soak up a ton of damage! Dodge, weave and they'll be beat in no time. Charcoal pine resin worked pretty good too. Oh, use the healing pool on the way to the boss if the rent-a-friends need health, Vengarl tends to not heal for some reason. Ngl this area is poopoo...
- Anonymous
If you are feeling doubt about being a dev, know that people got payed to create this, if they got a job, you can do it
- Anonymous
What a waste making an area this cool and filling it with tedious nonsense
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Finally visited this area, and yeah, it's really not worth it. Didn't even bother trying the boss because, no, I'm not willing to run back though this frozen hell again when I inevitably die.
- Anonymous
Imagine that boss of this area is Malenia. I bet no one would ever finish her. Just worst ever created souls area.
- Anonymous
Whatever some people think about Dark Souls games having to be played fully solo - Frigid Outskirts, Iron Passage, Cave of the Dead and Memory of the Old Iron King were clearly designed to be played in coop, and I encourage everyone to play them that way. There's a reason why players from outside of the DLC gates can be summoned here, why enemies often gank you in large numbers, and why the game gives you 2-3 phantoms every time so even if you can't summon players, you can still complete the areas without going hollow irl. For the Iron Passage, the devs were even foresightful enough to only place non-unique loot into the area, with the only unique item being behind the boss room so you're not missing out on anything even if you're playing with braindead NPCs that don't understand strategy.
You can still send the NPCs home before entering the boss room if you feel like doing them solo, but at least use them to get through the area.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Not really a hard area if you take it slow, and make sure to heal your npc helpers between buildings/don't rush out. (REAL horseshit area was the smelter demon run up, i wish the person who designed that to rot in the fiery pits of hell)
Beat lud/zud 2nd try, almost did it first try but got grabbed by rage mode zud and ran outta estus.
Manhunter O'harrah is probably the most OP Summon here, vengarl makes a nice meatshield, and when she WANTS to; Abess can heal the entire group.
- Anonymous
Got invaded yesterday by an arbiter spirit while farming reindeers. The poor dude just walked through a vast desert only to get demolished by the moonlight greatsword.
- Anonymous
The easiest way to get through this area is to summon the npc phantoms to assist you. Both this area and Iron Passage seem to be designed around co-op.
- Anonymous
I genuinely hope whoever designed this area was fired and never allowed to do game design again.
- Anonymous
the reindeer are hell but they're a little easier to deal with if you play this area with headphones and/or no background audio - you can hear them coming up behind you and it gives you a chance to avoid their first charge. its the only real cue you get but if you can catch them early you should be able to avoid getting staggered and fight them on more even footing than you would otherwise.
- Anonymous
I will do that chamaleon strategy, lets see how it goes
Btw yeah this area is heavy bem, but fun is fun
- Anonymous
Y'know ? I managed to get that 'high' when you succeed a whole level or boss after learning and trying more succesful tactics. It usually happens on different intensity on that franchise.
But this map ? I had none whatsoever. 4 hours of suffering being gangbanged by horse duos. Terrible walking time, no interesting level design, cheap double ganks you cant alleviate, no loot worthwhile, recycled boss but with cheap double with enrage/heal... i had a terrible time. I feel just rage against the devs for this travesty that i endured because 'muh boss completion'. Really one of the worse and hollow experience i had in gaming.
- Anonymous
If I read about this area in a Dark souls novel, I would be all over it! A baron frozen wasteland that stretches on seemingly forever, what is beyond the Frigid outskirts is Unknown. Who are these lost dudes out here, did they once come here for the same reason I did, get lost and lose sanity? There are ruins indicating there may have been a settlement at one point, maybe Eleum Loyce once stretched all the way here? There is a single Pharos technology here who installed it? Was it dudes of Pharos themselves or is it gifted or stolen? Why where the beasts at the end not tamed like the Kings pet? Everything is all so Vague and it sparks so much additional imagination.
But playing this area in the game can suck one.
- Anonymous
Imagine forcing people to coop in a game that will be dead online some year later..
- Anonymous
I am absolutely in love with this area. After completing every other area of this totally depressing game, what else could be at the very end except this nearly barren, blizzard ridden hell, full of shitty horses, barely visible, with 2 **** you bosses at the end. I get the hate but my worn out heart can't help but love it.
- Anonymous
It might be a hard pill to swallow to all of you complaining about this area (downvote me, IDGAF) but you're all pathetic.
THIS IS A CO-OP AREA. CO-OP! If you go here solo and then whine that it's too hard, only one to blame is you. Iron Passage and Cave of the Dead are also like this, but you can sprint through them. Here, you are SUPPOSED to summon help, and game offers you 3 strong NPCS. Wait till storm calms, zero in on nearest ruin and run straight there fighting occasional enemy and raindeer. With companions (and properly leveld character) it isn't hard at all. I can say that in three playthroughs i didn't die here once. And I'm not that good. Even boos fight is pretty easy, with main difficulty (two bosses) eliminated by distracting them with npcs.
"But I don't summon, because I'm gud and gud players don't summon" Not summoning here is purposefully handicapping yourself, and with that attitude you can play with your feet and complain about terrible controls.
Frankly it boggles my mind that community so filled with tryhards can be whiny.
- Anonymous
this area is such a great design by far my favourite level in the soulsborne franchise wow, breathtaking such a great flow and not too hard either, bravo
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
First time making a comment about something, this area was the worst thing I ever had to endure in a game and it's not even the area I've been stuck at the most, it's just so frustrating.
Those damn deers man.
The boss itself is not that much of a problem, same moves as Aava.
Come to the frigid outskirts! See our beautiful reindeer who are notorious for railing people in the back! Bring lots of warm clothes for our never ending blizzards! And most importantly, bring your patience!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I like the idea of this area conceptually, it answers the question of what would happen if you just walked away of the area you're supposed to be in. they just made it irredeemably unfun. and the boss sucks lol
- Anonymous
Reasons this area sucks.
1. Reindeer. I actually don’t mind these guys too much if they’re by themselves. Aesthetically they are great, and most of their attacks are easy to dodge. But the ridiculous spawns combined with the bad visibility completely ruin this enemy and make them unbearable.
2. The blizzard itself. An example of lazy artificial difficulty. If the blizzard only stayed around for a bit, it wouldn’t be too bad, and it would actually add a layer of depth to this level, but it NEVER LEAVES. I have to basically stand in the same place for half an hour waiting for the blizzard to pass, because I know that if I try to go anywhere I’ll run into some half invisible reindeer. Jesus.
3. The lack of bonfires. This is different from the new londo ruins from ds1, where there were actually shortcuts. If you die here or to the crappy ass boss, you have to deal with reindeer ****land all over again.
4. The dude with the mastodon halberd. Wtf. He’s just standing in the middle of a damn blizzard for no apparent reason. He’s not particularly hard, but it’s just so weird and out of the ordinary. It shows how little the devs cared about this place.
5. The boss. It’s a 2x reskin of aava, except that the one you kill last can buff and heal itself, drawing the fight out and making it extremely frustrating. Probably the laziest boss I’ve ever come across.
- Anonymous
This area made me stop playing Dark Souls 2 altogether. I was enjoying it up until this point. Fighting these stupid reindeer over and over while they greatly lower your weapon durability with each hit is cancer.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
An absolute travesty of lazy, thoughtless, uninspired level design. A directionless blind fought maelstrom of spammed enemies, worthless loot, and recycled and spammed bosses. Literally the worst part of any Dark Souls game.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The developer thinks it's fun to play in snow field, while you can't see ****, and freaking deers come to gangbang your ass every 3 seconds.
- Anonymous
The only thing insane about this area is the snowstorm. It takes so long and when ever you die you start from the way beginning and have to wait again so annoying. Reindeer are tough but beatable if you can manage one at a time. Honestly if the snowstorm was taken out of the picture it would be better.
- Anonymous
So I pussied out and didn't take on Lud and Zallen solo, meh. I took Vengarl with me. Reindeers are mini-bosses, for sure. You can pancake them with a Great Club and a Stone Ring, but if it RNGs such as they do a backstep and ram you again - game over. It is fine to use a shield against them, but they are overall very nimble, have powerful attacks, and also fly ("THEY FLY NOW?"). You can protect yourself somehow, even when rolling with 100+ agility is finicky, but punishing in return is hard.
Lud and Zallen on the other hand are two rehashed bosses that we've already fought. It takes a few tries to get the timing right to roll. I always get caught by slower, charged attacks.
I was infuriated at first, but after all, it just takes time to learn. Learn the boss, that is. Flying reindeers are indeed a mystery to me. I mean, if you stagger the hell out of them, it is easy, but my condolences to smaller weapon users.
Good luck.
- Anonymous
To be honest, Reindeer ****-Land isn't THAT bad in my opinion. It's Lud and Zallen, on the other hand, that makes me want to no longer exist. Hardest boss in the entire series.
- Anonymous
A barren and extremely dangerous land, literally an icy hell where (I’m assuming) criminals and outcasts are thrown away to be killed by hostile creatures ... the bonfire name “expulsion chamber” being the finishing touch for me. This is a genuinely amazing and terrifying concept for an RPG game but it just wasn’t handled quite right in the gameplay, shame.
- Anonymous
Worst area, worst boss, worst game.
This place exemplifies what Dark Souls 2 stands for - not difficulty, tediousness. The reindeers on their own aren't difficult - they're annoying because you're rushing to the boss and can't see anything. The tigers on their own are terribly easy, at least Aava was - they're annoying because fast multi enemies don't work well at DS1-DS2 speed and you can die due to particularly bad timing getting comboed by two tigers at once, not to mention the camera going crazy when they jump. All of this is compounded by an incredibly long boss run.
Fume Knight is arguably more difficult but much, much more fun to fight. He's so good in fact he kinda feels out of place in DS2 aka bad boss galore.
- Anonymous
On SOFTS. I find that if you (and your allies) stop moving during a blizzard, it seems to stop the reindeer from spawning. Not sure if I just got lucky, but it's worth a try for anyone having a hard time.
On a separate note, with a +4 Defender's Shield (lightning) and a +10 Greatsword with 45 Str and 40 Vit, I didn't find this area hard at all. I was kind of disappointed because it was so hyped as being atrocious. But overall, the arctic expedition with Feeva, O'Harrah, and Vengarl, was fun.
- Anonymous
the four stages of cancer
1 Iron Passage
2 Black Gulch
3 Shrine of Amana
4 Frigid Outskirts
I guess I'll have to use my good ol' strat for this zone: repeat ad nauseam until those reindeers are all permanently dead. My winning strategy for bad zones in this game
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