Huntsman's Copse | Dark Souls 2 Wiki

Huntsman's Copse Walkthrough

Majula Access

After meeting Licia of Lindelt in Heide's Tower of Flame and expending all of her dialogue, she will move to the contraption in the tunnel leading to Heide's Tower, in Majula. You will know if she's there because the light above the door will be shining brightly. For 2000 souls she will shift the path and will grant you access to the Huntsman's Copse--however if you have no regard for her life, or her miracles, you can simply kill her and reload the game to access these areas for free.

Felkin and the Bonfire

Upon first entering the tunnel, you'll immediately notice a corpse with a Rouge Water, followed by a long cave up. Continue until you come across an NPC named Felkin, sitting in a chair facing the wall. A Hex trainer that claims you lack the skill to learn his trade, unless you've attained a level 8 in Intelligence and Faith in which case, you'll have access to him as a merchant. When you exhaust his speech, you will be given the Sunset staff which requires 20 faith and 20 intelligence and the Hex Set.

Shortly after exiting the cave, you'll find the first bonfire to the left. On the edge looking out towards the horizon, you might see various messages saying "try rolling" as is typical in the Souls games--don't. Also, before leaving, the proceeding areas become a bit easier if you've got a torch lit, so take advantage of the never-ending flame of the bonfire to light it.

Second Bonfire

After leaving the bonfire and heading up the path on the right, you'll find 2 kneeling Hollow Prisoners at the entrance to another cave, in which another 2 Hollow Prisoner will attack you as soon as you enter it. After dealing with them, move through the cave quickly, dealing with the Great Moths above that will try to spray you with poison mist--rather feebile, can be taken down with 1x Throwing Knife--,the torch wielding Hollow Prisoner, and the Hollow Prisoner on the ground ahead of you. Below the path you may notice a corpse with an item, ignore it for now.

After exiting the cave the path will split, one path has a gap with a tree that can be knocked down on the opposite side, and the other leads up to a dark building; we're heading into the latter first.  On the way up, a Hollow Rogue will drop down and attack you. Upon entering, another Hollow Rogue with two daggers will shoot poison arrows from the other side. After entering, there are two ways, on to the right, which quickly leads to an dead end, and a way to the left. As you move to the left, you can smash open the woode barricades at the windows, which will let in some light. Further down the walkway are 2 Hollow Prisoner and at the end there is a door. Be carefull when opening it, as 2 more Rogues will wait on the other side. Deal with them then go through the doorway. This leads back outside on the ledge above the staircase, with an Hollow Prisoner hanging on the edge. Ignore the first way to the right and instead go all the way to the end and around the corner, on the far edge, a corpse hanging of the side with a Cracked Red Eye Orb. Be careful when you approach it though ,as a club wielding Hollow Rogue will ambush you from around the corner. Go back to the previously ignored way and down the ladder. If you go around the corner to your left, you will see the previously mentioned tree, which you can kick down to open a short-cut. In the opening to the left of the tree you will find the second bonfire of this area. Be carefull when you respawn the enemies in this area, as the club-wielding Hollow Rogue from before will drop down on you once you try to progress further.

Venture Below

Across from the bonfire there is a stone pillar with a corpse on it that you can jump to from the ledge near where the Cracked Red Eye Orb was, it has a Pharros' Lockstone and a Token of Fidelity. Looking back toward the bonfire there is a ledge down below, drop down and you'll find yourself in a lower section of the moth cave. Beware, there are more Great Moths and a Great Basilisk below. At the end of the walkway is a corpse with a Monastery Charm and a Soul of A Proud Knight. Use Throwing Knives or a Bow to kill the Great Moths, 1 is on a mushroom next to the corpse the other is on the left side of the walkway when you come in and then drop down using the mushrooms. Kill the Basilisk for a nice 3x Large Titanite Shard. The chest at the bottom contains Ricard's Rapier, and directly opposite it on the other side of the cave, there is a rock wall that you can open by pushing the "use" button on your controller, that leads to a room with a corpse with a Large Soul of A Nameless Soldier and an Iron Maiden lift that takes you up.

The lift leads back to the dark room we passed through, but on the other side instead. Deal with the two thieves, then go down the stairs to collect some loot. Be weary of the large pit in the center of the room. On the floor hanging on the edge of the pit is a corpse with a Lifegem and a Soul of A Lost Undead. In the corner of the room, there is also a corpse with a Bandit's Knife. Head up the staircase, and go up the ladder, opposite of the door you came through. At the top, a club-wielding Rogue will be waiting. A Rogue will jump up from the ledge, deal with him and drop down. On the ledge you'll find another Hollow Rogue and a corpse with a Poison Moss and a Lifegem. Drop down once again, and roll towards the door and return to the bonfire.

Felkin Journey to the Third Bonfire

Heading out the bonfire door, and right will bring you deeper into the Copse. Continue down the path to find a torch-wielding Hollow Prisoner on the bridge in front of you, and another Hollow Prisoner hiding behind a tree. Be carefull while fighting those, as the Executioner and the Hollow Prisoner on the ledge on the right of you might drop down to you to join the fight. Before going over the first bridge, head left to find a hiding Hollow Rogue and a corpse with a Large Soul of A Lost Undead and a Small Orange Burr. Back on track and across the bridge, you'll meet your first Undead Huntsman. Despite the intimidating appearance, he's not that hard to kill; kite him across the bridge while baiting his attacks to get two or three swings in, then just rinse and repeat. Kill the Moths before continuing onward. There is a torch wielding Hollow Prisoner to deal with ahead, then head into the cell, where 2 more Hollow Prisoner are kneeling. After dealing with them, go to the corpse to net a Morning Star and a Large Soul of A Nameless Soldier. A summon sign for Bashful Ray is next to the bodies. Going outside and right, a Huntsman guards a corpse with a Aromatic Ooze. Near the second moth you should have killed, is a corpse with a Lifegem. The moment you pick it up, Forlorn will invade.

Now there are two paths you can take, one leads to the Undead Purgatory, the other leads to the third bonfire:

Undead Purgatory

To the right of the first bridge is a second, where there are two Hollows and an Executioner. After you have dealt with them, folllow the path ahead and ignore the path on the left for now. A second Executioner is coming from the path ahead of you. On the ledge further down the path, there is a corpse with a Notched Whip, but be carefull when approaching it, as a Skeleton is going to rise behind you. After optaining the whip, go back to the path we previously ignored, heading this way will bring us to a more open path, with another 5 Executioners (replaced with Red Phantom Purgatory Guardians in NG+ onward) waiting on tall pillars and on the wall on the left, 3 with whips, two with staves. Deal with them one by one and head across the bridge where 2 Hollow Prisoner are going to climb up and abush you once you cross past them. Before the fog gate at the end of the bridge, a red phantom with a Greatsword and shield is waiting (he only respawns in NG+ onward, drops Greatsword +3). After dealing with him, jump to the corpse to the right, containing a Fire Seed.

• STRATEGY: This guy makes Havel look easy. To deal with this rather difficult phantom, first and most important is not letting him hit you, if he staggers you it's game over. The best strategy is parrying and backstabbing, his swing patterns are really odd and it's difficult to time it right but it shouldn't be too bad once you get it down. It should take about 4-5 before he is defeated and now you can head inside the Purgatory which hold the Executioner's Chariot boss as well as some loot.
• STRATEGY 2: Run backwards across the bridge. He won't follow you all the way. Find the sweet spot and you can shoot him in the back as he constantly turns around to leave/reengage you. The fight is now trivial.
• STRATEGY 3: A beautiful cheap way to kill this guy is just to the right of his entrance, at the bridge, is a ledge with an item (Fire Seed). Jump over to this ledge and you can use your bow to shoot through the iron gate and pepper him in the face. He cannot retaliate. (courtesy of TheBunnyMage).

To progress further here, please click here.

Continuing to the Bonfire

To get there, go up the hill past the first bridge where more Hollow Rogues are waiting. Deal with them, and look over the side where the hut is, deal with the Hollow Rogue on top of it. There is a hole in the roof to enter the hut, but be carefull, a Syan Soldier is waiting down there. After dealing with him, loot the two corpses one containing 2x Poison Moss and a Green Blossom, the other has the Soul Spear spell, the chest contains 1x Sublime Bone Dust. Follow the tunnel out, and go back up the hill on your right, into the far hut. Another Rogue will drop down, kill him, and pull the lever to lower the bridge and now you can get across.

As soon as you exit the hut you're in, you may be attacked by a Stray Dog and a couple of Rogues. The third bonfire is in a cell across the bridge, but its locked. To get the key, cross the stone bridge next to the pile of burning bodies, more Rogues await.

In this dark canyon with narrow ledges, its important that you take your time. Continue down and the path will split. The upper path leads to a scripted NPC invasion, Merciless Roenna, a Great Moth up in the tree and a corpse with the Undead Lockaway Key (NG+ only: Two sickle giants will appear at a certain point before being invaded and after the key pickup). Once you've dealt with her, look off the cliff edge to find a small ledge. On the ledge, a corpse holds Flamberge. This is also a convenient spot to snipe the Rogue below. 

Return to the locked bonfire for now and use the key to unlock it to access it and be able to interact with the NPC Creighton of Mirrah inside. He teaches the 'Fist Pump' gesture and tells you how he got locked up inside. Killing him results in him dropping his mask and Melentia will sell the rest of his set. After unlocking this bonfire, head back to the intersection after the bridge. Go back up where Merciless Roenna was and take care of the Great Moth. Looking down, you will also notice an item near the entrance to a cave, as well as a Necromancer. Snipe her from here to reduce your trouble for later, then head back and take the lower path. On the right side, you will notice a wooden bridge, which leads you into a cave with Skeletons and Necromancers; don't go there yet, instead continue down the path and there will be three more Rogues to deal with, one archer is in front of the cell and a melee one and another archer inside, as well as 2x Undead Prisoner and a corpse with 2x Flame Butterfly. Continuinging the path, you will find yourself in front of a building.

The path straight ahead is blocked by bolders, so turn to the right and follow the path behind the waterfall. After a bit you will se a few stairs to your left leading to a fog gate, this is the fog gate to the boss, which we will ignore for now. Instead, move along the right hand path near the waterfall into a cave, inhabitated by a Necromancer (which we already sniped from the area where Merciless Roenna spawned) and 3 Skeletons. Careful when dealing with the Skeletons, as the floor here is missing in some places. Move forward and take the path to the right first. This leads to a broken bridge with a corpse holding Combustion pyromancy spell and 3x Titanite Shard. Going back, you will notice a corpse with items in front of you, jump over the gap to claim the Human Effigy, 40x Lacerating Arrow and 3x Prism Stone waiting there. Jump back and go through the little path on your left. At the end of this path is the lever to a closed gate, guarded by another Skeleton as well as a corpse holding 1x Estus Flask Shard, a Crystal Lizard and a summon sign for Creighton of Mirrah.

Pull the lever and go through the gate to deal with another Necromancer and 3 Skeleton. Carefull though that you dont get too close to the jar with a face on it, which not only emits a strange laughter, but also a cursing fog. Destroy this jar with a strong ranged attack (a magic attack seems to be enough, bow and arrow not). Further down the path, there is a split, with another Skeleton waiting in the path to the front. This way leads outside to the wooden bridge we ignored before. The other path leads to a seemingless empty room, with another laughing curse jar on the left, as well as a corpse with a Magic infused Mace, and a Titanite Shard. Be carefull when approaching it though, as another Skeleton will rise near where the cursed jar was. Following the path on the other side of the room brings us back to the bonfire, offering an alternative root to the fog gate. You will also notice a Hollow Prisoner running in cycle between the bonfire and the wooden bridge, this one drops a Repair Powder.

After finishing your preparations, head back to the og gate to face the boss of this area, The Skeleton Lords.

BOSS FIGHT: The Skeleton Lords

Once defeated, the player is rewarded with the Skeleton Lord's Soul. Continue through the big doorway and corridor until you reach a bridge you can lower by pulling a lever on the right. Continue onwards, down the ladder, until the title prompts to notify you of your arrival at the Harvest Valley.