Fastest route to Anor Londo

Hi all,

I've decided to make my NG+++ in a speed run to Anor Londo and figured the following route to be the fastest to reach it (with masterkey):
Firelink Shrine - Undead Burg - Darkroot Basin - Undead Parish - Gargoyles - New Londo Shortcut to Blighttown Swamp - Queelag - Sens Fortress - Anor Londo

What do you think, is this the fastest route to get to AL or is there even a quicker way? I skipped the Taurus Demon and the whole Undead Parish part simply because it takes a good time with little reward. Once I've the Lordvessel I'll come back for the Capra Demon and probably the Taurus and Dragon too, I just want to be able to warp between bonfires as soon as possible.

Also, what are "Crags Dwellings" and "Unknown" mentioned in the Game Progress Guide?

have fun

Crag Dwellings are I guess the Cragspiders, the fire-breathing mudbug things in Blighttown. Don't rightly know what an Unknown is.

it's marked as a place not a "thing" on the Game Progress Guide found on this site, same for the place labeled "Unknown". The place where the firebreathing bugs dwell is Blighttown Swamp, though maybe Crag Dwellings was a developer name for it? The graphic in the guide seems to be from the early days.

Maybe it's Demon Ruins? It's the closest area I can think of...

I thought about that route Dibsville but there's one problem: first the water needs to be drained from New Londo (I think?) and passing the drakes with Darkwraiths in the back requires alot of fighting. I think that in the time I'd reach the elevator to the bassin I've rung both bells with "my" route. But that's probably because I really suck in not-drained New Londo, I usually die 2-3 times before I make it through, hate the ghosts (and the need to be constantly cursed) and rushing it is something I would fail too I think.

But yes I will give it a try on my next NG and compare for myself where I proceeded faster. My route seems just to be easier because almost no fighting is needed, save for a few hollows.

I just realized my mistake and wanted to edit my post, you were faster (as probably your route is ). Had 5 Kids here today and my head is still spinning, guess I wasn't thinking clearly, hehe.

Just curious about your last sentence, why would a speed runner need the tearstone? I'd guess slumbering and fog are the rings to have.

before I forget again: thanks for the faster route

Yeah well I (as a sorc) seldom go down to 20% health, most boss fights are over in 15 sec as I posted in another thread. Killed S&O today on NG+++ in 10sec for S and 15 for O (those 5 sec more were only because he was on the other side of the room). 3 pursuers with TCC and Power Within are just badass . And with grass crest shield, slumber and fog ring I can outrun almost every common enemie so I don't need to fight at all in most cases, at least before Anor Londo - from AL and beyond, crystal soul masses blow away every common enemy, even with logans catalyst.

Out of curiosity, do you know what's the (on video recorded) speed record to reach Anor Londo and/or to finish the game?

Though I must say I think I'm not ready yet to beat a record, I still need 2 soul of magnus for a total of 6 pursuers with TCC or at least 2 more crystal spears. On this playthrough (and probably all following) I just wanted to get the lordvessel as quickly as possible, then continue to explore a bit. I want to bring faith up to 30 (15 right now) for PvP which will cost me a lot of souls @SL172.

Optimal route depends on the run. BKH is different from pyro runs, gravelord sword runs, and so forth.

Keep in mind that in NG+ you can probably 1 shot or nearly 1 shot the Taurus demon, and with dark magic you can do so easily (even crystal soulmass would do that). I'm not 100% sure that elevator --> VoD --> basin --> parish is actually faster than burg --> parish across bridge, especially because you can make the dragon jump down immediately if you hit him with something, too, which in NG+ you have (any bow, even a short bow w/o requirements would do).

There's also the path through havel's tower. Since that runs into VoD also you'd want to time it to see.

If you don't have the master key, then you definitely want to do taurus, but then rest at the parish, kill the gargoyles, bone back, run the basin to VoD --> Quelag (you can still skip depths w/o master key), then bone back to parish and run into sen's.

If you are willing and able to just run past everything and don't mind the risks, distances aren't as far as they seem. Getting from taurus to gargs if you don't rest anywhere probably wouldn't take that long. I point this out because it's actually faster for speedrunners to kill demon fire sage + centipede demon on a lot of runs (!) because donating 30 humanity takes longer than killing them + charging into lost izalith from the front ^_^. Insta-gibbing taurus might be a similar situation in a NG+ environment.

TheMeInTeam wrote:
There's also the path through havel's tower.  Since that runs into VoD also you'd want to time it to see.

Yepp that's the route I described in my initial post. But I think the route through VoD is even faster because only 2 Drakes and a Dragon are in the way which are easily out-runned with fog and slumbering ring and no Havel has to be killed (although he doesn't take any longer than the Silver Knight in the basin). Plus one comes out in the middle of the basin instead of the bottom.

I'm also not sure that I count myself as a complete speedrunner, I only want to get the Lordvessel as quickly as possible. For the next 3 playthroughs I am going to kill Magnus too for his soul and probably will free Logan also. Both together take almost as much time as speedrunning only what you must to finish the game, seriously spoiling any record attempt.

But I'd still be interested in knowing what's the fasted time recorded to finish the game

BTW I wont take the shortcut to Izalit because I do not want to switch covenants, Darkwraiths are too much fun

I googled it myself, the official record is 29:27 by the guy who also holds the official (as in entered in the Guiness Book of Records) record for Demon Souls:
http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/18/dark-souls-speedrun/

He also gives some valuable insides in the interview

[EDIT]: I just watched his whole run and was kinda disappointed at the end to see that he "cheated" his way into the Kiln of the firstflame without getting any of the lordsouls. That puts things really into perspective. I don't know what the rules for speed run records are, does it have to be on a NG or does a run on NG++++ still count? If so I'd gladly take the challenge on With Dibsvills route and my sorc I think I can beat the game even quicker, given that the cheat at the end still works, simply because I can kill Queelag, the Iron Golem, S&O and Gwyn in way less time.

Though I'm not sure I have his evading skills, this guy bareley gets hit by anything which requires very accute timing. But I'm gonna try

[EDIT2]: I tried at least a dozen times to enter the Kiln like the guy but it doesn't work. Either it's because I'm on xbox, From has fixed the bug or I'm just too stupid. Though I think I did the jump and the timing exactly as in the video. I hope that it just doesn't work anymore, for setting a record by a cheat is kinda salty in my book.

Yeah I just watched it and I get it now why you said, the RTS is the runners choice. I don't think I will ever be able to play as flawless with my life constantly on the edge and never getting hit, the time to practice is too short until DS2 comes out and then I doubt I will continue to play DS1