No-man's Wharf | Dark Souls 2 Wiki

No-Man's Wharf Walkthrough

Reaching the Wharf from Heide's Tower of Flame

From the area above where you defeated the Dragonrider, exit straight onto a walkway and into another tower with a spiral staircase. Descend down and hidden behind the staircase is a corpse with a Monastery Charm. Go through the doorway and down the hall.

On your right the hallway opens up and you meet an Old Knight guarding a doorway. Kill the Old Knight and continue straight to the end of the hall where you find a corpse hanging over the railing with a Human Effigy and a Dark Troche. Close by are two corpses with a Soul of a Proud Knight and an Old Knight Halberd. Go back down the hall and into the doorway the Old Knight had been guarding.

Down the flights of stairs brings you to the next level down. Going left leads to a dead end where a Royal Guard protects a metal chest that contains 1x Sublime Bone Dust. To the right is a hallway which leads to a round room with a pressure plate elevator in the center. Stand on the plate and descend to the next level down.

At the bottom, head out into the flooded corridors, passing the first small alcove to find a larger area to your left. This area holds a Basilisk and a few Hollow Infantry that rise up from the waters. There is a doorway behind these enemies that is blocked by a petrified enemy. If you unpetrify it and go up the stairs you will find a Primal Knight and a corridor. A body hang on the railing and it holds 1x Estus Flask Shard, going left leads to a dead end at an iron door. Going right to the end of the hallway brings you to an iron chest in the alcove to the right which contains the Knight Set of armor. 

Continue and at the end of the hallway, a knocked out hole in the wall leads to path and a bonfire. Continuing on from here will bring you to No-Man’s Wharf. That being said, No-Man's Wharf could be considered an "optional" area as players can opt to take the large eagle behind The Pursuer instead of taking the boat to The Lost Bastille.

From the Bonfire

As soon as the title prompts, letting you know you've arrived the No-Man's Wharf, you will be greeted by a Stray Hound and a Hollow Infantry. Be careful here, as there two archers, one on the dock straight ahead and the other on the far right, who will continue to shoot fire arrows at you until you kill them, which is made more dangerous by the Hollow Varangian in this area that will try to douse you with thrown oil bombs. When they get it right, it hurts. In any case, if the archer hits you, take a step back until his arrows no longer reach you. From here you can snipe him with a bow and arrows. You may want to clear the immediate bottom level of enemies by luring them back to the bonfire, and light the multiple fire torches to give you better visibility of the area.

Head through the hole in the wall to enter a room with two more Hollow Infantries. After dealing with them,  head up the stairs where there is a chest containing a Titanite Shard, and deal with the Varangian on the balcony to claim a Soul of a Proud Knight from the corpse hanging off the ledge. Head back down and left. You should see a small shade sign of  Bradley Of The Old Guard a bit in front of you and an item in the water to your left, which is a Large Soul of a lost Undead and a Lifegem. Climb up the steps next to you, and before you proceed left, beware that you'll be engaged by another four Hollow Infantries.

After clearing these, there are three ways you can go:

• Heading right will bring you to a seemingly inaccessible room, blocked by some crates. Destroy these then attack the neutral torch wielding hollow, who is targetable but will not attack. You'll be attacked by another Varangian shortly after. Pick up the 10x Iron Arrows here too.
• Heading into the building on the left, you'll find a body holding 3x Dark Pine Resin.Go up the stairs, kill the enemies that approach you and enter the building on the left.
• Go up the stairs in the middle, which continues with the rest of the walkthrough.

You will be attacked by a Varangian, and a Hound. Deal with them then break the carriages on the right and proceed. Here you should find the archer from earlier, as well as 3 Hounds and a Hollow Varangian in front of the building. Once you got rid of those and the Hollow Varangian hiding inside the building, go to where the archer was. You should see a stone face (Pharros' Contraption) on the ground, if you use a Pharros' Lockstone here, the overhead lantern will light and the Darkdwellers will be largely confined to building interiors. This makes travel significantly easier through No-man's Wharf. The rest of this walkthrough assumes you have lit this lantern.
Enter the building on your left to dispatch 4 Varangians, some of them sleeping. There's a chest here containing Brigand set and a Bandit Axe. Dash up the stairs and take out another: if you're too cautious here, the bandit will hit you with a plunging attack on the stairs. In the room at the top of the stairs is a chest with a Repair Powder and a Titanite Shard. Outside this room are two more archers. Dispatch them and note the locked gate here -- we'll open this later for a handy shortcut.

Go back to where the Pharro's Contraption was and go a bit further onto the ledge, then turn left. There, you can find a Large Soul of a Proud Knight, and a Small Smooth & Silky Stone. Grab these, drop down, and go up the stairs. On your way up, a Hollow Infantry will wake up in the alcove on the right side wall of the stairs, further up, another Hollow Varangian and Stray Hound will wait for you. In the room on the left, you will find Lucatiel of Mirrah. If you have already met her at Lost Bastille before (by flying there with the giant crow after the fight against the Pursuer in The Forest of Fallen Giants), she will share a bit more of her story and give you a Human Effigy. 
On the left of the doorway, destroy the wooden structures to reveal a little alcove with a body holding Human Effigy. Outside 2 Varangians wait. Ahead, another 2 Hounds and another Varangian also wait. At the very right of the area, you will find a set of stairs up, and there will also be an archer, and a Oil Urn-tossing Varangian. This combination is no bueno. So either take them out quickly using ranged attacks, or run up the stairs. This will lead to the Darkdwellers area.

Dealing with the Darkdwellers

The Darkdwellers are not very hard unless you are impatient or over encumbered. The best way to go about this is to activate the Pharros contraption to raise the lantern, then bait them out one by one. Either way, as long as you avoid fighting multiple at the same time, they are still quite manageable:

• Wielding your torch will cause them to cower for a upon initial contact. This gives you enough time to take them out, but if you're not quick enough, they will find their composure and ignore the torch.
• Lightning or Fire are effective against these enemies.
• If you don't have access to these or you're a melee build, try wearing light armor (25-50% load for the most agile rolls) and a reasonable shield (tested using Crimson Parma & Large Leather shields). Simply move within range of their attack and then immediately retreat several steps.
• As with most enemies, they will telegraph their attacks. When you see them hunching their shoulders before a swing, roll away then jump in and swing for one hit.
• If they stagger, which they generally will, continue to swing until your stamina is low or they die, then repeat. Watch your stamina to be sure you have enough stamina left to roll back and NEVER take on more than one at once. If you do, they will essentially stunlock you by trading off attacks and you'll be helpless against the cumulative Bleed damage.
• Every single one of them can be baited out on their own. Standard practice applies: If a second follows, simply back up until the second returns to their hidey-hole. If the target returns too, re-aggro it via melee or long-range attack. Arrows are useful for this.

Note: Engaging the lantern will confine the Darkdwellers to the shadowy rooms allowing you to bait them out one at a time! See above for details.

Past the First Dweller

Passing the first three Darkdwellers, you'll find an item on a small cliff on the right. Pick it up (1x Large Soul of a Lost Undead, Emit Force) then head into the room through the hole. You will find only a door in here, which you should open and then immediately roll away as a  Darkdweller destroys the wall to reveal a two Darkdwellers in the room, with another set to jump down through the hole in the ceiling. Once dealt with, head upstairs and take care of the final Darkdweller in this building. The door in here will lead to a room with a hole in the wall on the right, and two chests on the left. Of the two chests, the one on the right contains a poison trap, which you can trigger by opening it then rolling away to avoid damage. Within in, find 2x Silver Talisman. The chest next to it is a lot more straightforward, and contains the Greatsword. Drop down the hole and continue to the end of the path. Head up the stairs dispatch the 2 Varangians here. Go out the doorway, then left up a set of stairs to a platform. There's a bell here with a lever. Pulling the lever will cause the bell to ring and the ghost ship in the harbor to move towards the dock, so that you can eventually access it, and ultimately the Flexile Sentry boss.

Continue on, dropping down the gap to the left of the bell. There's a corpse here with 2x Lifegem, and a Homeward Bone. Drop underneath the platform you just dropped from, and then again and kill the Varangian standing directly below you, and the one hanging off the side on the left. Open the door and head into the small room with containing two more Darkdwellers. Halfway up the stairs is a corpse with 10x Fire Arrow.  Head back out the room and down the ramp to trigger a Suspicious Shadow  to drop from his hiding place near the door. At the bottom of the slope, you'll get jumped by another so keep your guard up.

Head down the rock ramp and drop down to the stone-paved yard. Head straight past the brazier on your right, to an archway leading to a door and a room. Opening the door, go straight ahead to an Illusory Wall. Inside are two chests with a Large Titanite Shard and 3x Firebomb. Head back out and up the stairs to fight a waiting Varangian then continue up to the NPC Lonesome Gavlan; you can sell gear you don't need to him for some extra souls.

Continue behind him, and raise the shortcut portcullis by pulling the chain, which leads back to a ledge above the courtyard with the Pharros' Contraption. Now backtrack to the ground floor and head back to where you originally dropped down. Just past here on the left is a small room with two sleeping Varangians, and a bunch of urns filled with poison. Another Shadow will show up when you get near the door. Lure the Varangians outside, and dispatch them. Once back in the room, don't break any urns unless you do so from a distance with a long spear or such. Entering the room, on the left are two urns blocking a corpse with Throwing Knife x7 and a Flame Butterfly. In the right corner, behind some other urns is a chest with a Fragrant Branch of Yore. To the left of the chest is an unstable wall which you can shatter with a strong leaping attack or a spell. Behind the wall is a Crystal Lizard, so move quick. There's also a chest in here with a Royal Soldier's Ring.

Yo Ho! A Pirate's Life for Me

Head back out of the room and right to a stone stairway heading down. As you near the bottom, you'll see to Darkdwellers with their butts sticking out of a large hole in the wall. Past the room, continue straight onto a dock. You'll see notice a corpse hanging off a boat to your right. Head past that for now, and turn right. There are two more Varangians hiding here, hanging off the side of the dock. Take care with them but with caution, as falling off the far side of the dock is instant death. Once they're gone turn right back towards the beach; there's another Varangian playing dead in the water here. Take him out, and you're clear to loot the corpse hanging on the dinghy, for Lifegem x2 and a Human Effigy.

Continue on, pass where the Varangians were hanging to find a summon sign for Lucatiel of Mirrah. Continue left down a narrow dock and kick the wooden platform to open a shortcut to the starting area. Now head left and up some stairs to reach Carhillion of the Fold at the top, and if your intelligence is 8 or above, he'll sell to you. Exhausting his dialogue will send  him to go to Majula. Head back the way you came, but this time head down the dock towards the ghost ship. Once you board the ship, head immediately left and up onto the raised platform on the bow, and take out the Archer here quickly. A Varangian and a Gaoler will come running from the other end of the ship. Deal with them, and then head toward the ship stern. Head through a small doorway and down the stairs into the hold to the boss mist.

BOSS FIGHT: Flexile Sentry

After defeating the boss proceed to the next room and up a ladder to find a chest and a strange contraption; the chest contains a Pyromancy Flame and a Fireball, while examining the contraption triggers a cinematic showing the player sail the ship to the next area, Lost Bastille.

Map

by Chris Brandt

Click to enlarge