"Dark Souls 2" - Drangleic Castle Online Trivia

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. As soon as the player emerges from the Shaded Woods cave and is informed they're on castle grounds, they'll notice the weather has greatly changed and it is now pouring rain. This isn't just an aesthetic change however, as all friendly and hostile units under rain will take more damage from Lightning, and less damage from a different element. Which element is effectively nerfed under rain?

Answer: Fire

Lightning gains a 1.5x damage boost while Fire is lessened to 0.75x its usual damage. As soon as the player approaches a gateway into the castle, two hollows with crossbows will fire Lightning bolts at the player to showcase this.

2. The Emerald Herald somehow made her way to Drangleic Castle faster than the player. Here, she may tell the player "your soul is frail and pallid." and will warn them not to advance. She will only tell the player this if they've done what?

Answer: Come here without all four Old Great One Souls

It is possible to come here without all four of these. However, the only alternative way would be to grind until reaching one million Soul Memory, and if this way is chosen to reach the castle, the Emerald Herald will tell the player to turn back. In truth, the journey to acquiring all four of these souls will not bring the player to one million Soul Memory on an ordinary, casual playthrough, so if the player reaches one million Soul Memory, they are most likely adequately equipped for Drangleic Castle and can confidently ignore the Emerald Herald's advice.

3. The front door to Drangleic Castle is locked. There isn't a key that will open it either, so thinking outside the box is needed. How can the player get inside?

Answer: Kill enemies near the front door

There will be two stagnant statues of giants resting by the front door, both two-handing what appears to be their own separate giant bowls of sorts. Here, the player will be attacked by Royal Swordsmen who will respawn infinitely until two have been killed near the front door.

When this is done, instead of receiving souls for the kill as per usual, these souls will fill the giant bowls and the statue giants will stand, powering the front door and causing it to open.

4. Right from the front door, the player can access the Drangleic Castle throne room. There won't be anybody here at all, but this will change on New Game Plus 3 and onward. On NG+3 or beyond, the player will gain a very rude awakening as an old rival shows up for the last time here. Who is it?

Answer: The Pursuer

This time, it isn't just one Pursuer- it's two! Two powered up Pursuers will arrive, and these are both by far the strongest iterations the player will have faced yet. If the player toughs it out and manages to put them down, they'll drop the Ring of Blades +2, Washing Pole katana and Twinkling Titanite.

5. The very first bonfire, appropriately dubbed "King's Gate", is positioned right next to a King's Ring Gate. Can the player access this gate upon arrival?

Answer: No

To access these gates, having the King's Ring is necessary. This can only be done by getting to the end of the Undead Crypt, an area locked behind the Shrine of Amana, which is the area directly after Drangleic Castle.

6. As the player progresses, they'll eventually bump into a new NPC: Nashandra, the formal Queen of Drangleic. Here, Nashandra will tell the player to visit King Vendrick, but her rationale for them doing so is quite ominous. What does she tell the player her reasoning is for wanting them to see Vendrick?

Answer: "We have no need for two rulers"

This line is as ominous as it is vague and confusing if you aren't particularly familiar with the game's lore. The line implies that a second person either has or is going to challenge Vendrick's title as ruler of Drangleic. As it would later happen, this 'second person' is Nashandra herself, who later appears as a boss fight.

7. As the player progresses, they'll be invaded by the NPC "Nameless Usurper". Upon further examination, this NPC is a 'friend' from Majula attempting to disguise themselves. Who is this actually?

Answer: Licia of Linheldt

The Nameless Usurper wears the same cosmetic set as Licia and is also female. It also wields the same exact dagger she does. Because we know Licia is a con artist disguising herself as a prophet, this type of behavior hardly seems beneath her.

8. Our first boss fight in Drangleic Castle recycles an early game boss, simply throws in a second iteration in the same room, and calls it a boss fight. What two enemies appear here?

Answer: Dragonrider

Even the greatest of great games have their flaws, and this one is no exception. This is a fight against an early game boss, and the 'innovation' was just slapping a second Dragonrider in and calling it a day. The only bread crumbs of actual creativity here are that the second Dragonrider starts the fight off out of reach of a melee weapon perched on a platform above the boss room, shooting the player with a Dragonrider bow. Both of them have meagre healthpools, especially the archer, and have the same slow, lazy move sets as the Old Knights from Heide's Tower of Flame. Simply put, this is one of the laziest boss designs in the game, but it is thankfully very easy to win, so you can just blow it through and go about your playthrough.

9. Our second and final boss of Drangleic Castle, The Looking Glass Knight, is unique for one thing: because of one mechanic, this can either be the hardest or easiest boss fight in the entire game. Which of the following is true about this fight?

Answer: Real life players can assist the knight

This is a PvP boss fight, or so to speak. After reaching half health, the knight will lug its shield up and drop it facing horizontally. Here, it will attempt to summon any real life player who has a summon sign down in Drangleic Castle and has an identical Soul Memory. Of course, the difficulty of this fight changes drastically depending on the player summoned, or if a player is even summoned at all. If you get a well seasoned player, especially one with heal spells they can use to actually heal the knight, you're in trouble. If you get a brand new player who has never played this part of the game before and has a very mistaken-ridden build, the fight will be predictably much easier.

10. The Looking Glass Knight's soul can either be converted into his sword, the Thorned Greatsword, or his shield, the King's Mirror. Unfortunately, the King's Mirror is a less than stellar reward. Which of the following about this huge greatshield is true?

Answer: It does not have 100% physical absorption

The King's Mirror is awful. This is a Greatshield only slightly lighter than the Havel's Greatshield, the heaviest shield in the game, yet it has simply abysmal stats. It has a laughable 90% physical absorption, merely average elemental absorptions, and merely average stability.

It's niche is supposed to be that it can parry spells cast at the player, but the 'parry' simply involves the spell being shot into the ground, making it realistically less useful than simply rolling while having a vastly superior shield equipped. Either get the Thorned Greatsword, or simply consume the boss soul, as this Greatshield belongs in the trash, or at best, only equipped if the player wants to cosplay as The Looking Glass Knight.

Source: Author cavalier87

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

"Dark Souls 2" - Drangleic Castle Quiz

The climactic stronghold of all of Drangleic awaits. See what you know about it here, for the PS4, XBox One and PC.

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