The Black Knights in Undead Asylum are kicking my ***! WTF!

im at sl40 at this point, have killed quelaag, moonlight butterfly, titanite demon with no problem. I get back to the undead asylum and these guys are killing me in two hits! what gives? also, my drake sword only takes off about 40 hp
. very confused as to why all of a sudden i'm so underpowered. HELP PLEASE?!

I always die a LOT of times to the one guarding my old cell

What gear are you using? This can easily solve the problem.

They can be hard since the corridor limits your movement. I either do 1 of 2 things. I parry them or wait for them to attack, back away from the attacks and attack.

After killing Quelaag you should abandon the drake sword. It become useless at that point look at your stats and pick a new weapon and then upgrade it. Black Knights can be parried if that helps

You can also lead the black knights to areas that make them easier. The one guarding your old cell will not leave the hall though, However, it will eventually turn around to walk back down the hall, you could always arrow it if you are patient. I'm pretty sure I managed to roll behind and get a backstab off, but I agree that these are some of the harder black knights I have faced.

yes, I have been leading them into more open areas. I'm using the Crimson Robe and mostly other Crimson stuff since they have the highest DEF that I can equip without being burdened. In regards to weapon upgrades... Andrei unfortunately is hostile (accidentally slashed him DOH!) but I could still go to the guy in New Londo Ruins... I unfortunately still don't really get how weapon leveling works, but it's worth a shot... can I get my other weapons that much higher than 200 (drake sword) that it's useless? why is it so useless all of a sudden? ahh i'm confused!

The Drake sword is beaten by scaling and elemental weapons which do more damage. Also, if you go to the bell tower next to where you fought the Gargoyles you can absolve your sins, meaning Andrei will be your friend again. As for gear you will need some better upgraded weapons, but with a Drake sword you can manage them. Your armor though is a bit weak, do you mean you will medium or fat roll if you equip anything else?

doesn't it cost like hundreds of thousands of souls to absolve my sins... i'm at level 40. i don't know how to grind long enough to get that kind of soulage... and yes, i'm not as agile as I want to be if I equip anything else... guess i need to upgrade my armor too because the Crimson stuff has basically the best stats... I've tended to spend most of my souls on leveling as opposed to gear... big mistake i guess.

It should be exactly 20,000 souls to absolve. And yes, you need to start upgrading your gear. But, the Crimson set requires Twinkling titanite, so until you get further in you won't want to rely on that set. Also, with the medium rolls you can actually dodge them very easily. I just might advise practising heavier rolls on weaker enemies until you think you get it down.

You can easily get some souls by helping people beat quelaag. Put your summon sign down at the bonfire in the swamp and you should get summoned pretty frequently. Check if they have beaten Maneater Mildred, if they haven't, help them beat her for some easy souls (a little over 4000 I think). Each victory against quelaag I think is around 10000 souls, plus whatever you get for beating enemies and possibly Mildred each time .

I was wearing Crimson set at around that soul level too but you'll probably wanna know how to use a shield well and use that speed to your advantage. If you're still getting tagged with the faster speed then it might be worth heavy armor for damage reduction.....if getting hit is inevitable, make it as painless as possible. If you really dig the speed then I'm with Reim on these guys. Try to make them whiff and then attack. Don't be greedy, they recover from their swings fast and the drake sword isn't gonna prevent that from happening. If you're comfortable two handing, the one in the corridor can be managed with the drake's special attack. Draw him in with an arrow (if you have a bow) and use the special attack when he's close. He can block some of the damage if he wants so I recommend getting him while he sprints at you. Then you can run up the ladder and wait for him to return to his post and repeat.