Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition is the 2012 PC release and PS3/Xbox 360 re-release of Dark Souls that includes the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. This is not the 2018 Remastered release: many fundamentals carry over, but Remastered-specific claims about dedicated servers, up to 6-player multiplayer, framerate, and technical behavior should not be treated as PTDE facts without checking the version.
Content warning: ESRB rates Dark Souls M for Mature 17+ with Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Violence, and online-interaction caveats. This guide stays non-graphic and focuses on player actions.
Difficulty caveat: this is a beginner guide, not a way to make Dark Souls easy. PTDE still expects careful movement, stamina control, route changes, repeated attempts, and learning from deaths. The goal is to remove avoidable friction before the game teaches the same lesson with lost souls.
This guide covers first-playthrough fundamentals for Prepare to Die Edition. It is not a full walkthrough, exact boss route, PvP guide, achievement guide, DLC route, speedrun route, or optimized build sheet.
Essential Tips
1. Keep the Edition Straight
Prepare to Die Edition includes Artorias of the Abyss, but it is not Remastered.
If you are checking outside advice, confirm whether it is for original Dark Souls/PTDE or Dark Souls Remastered. Use PTDE-specific caution for online claims, PvP population, technical fixes, and any route that depends on version behavior. The DLC is included, but that does not mean Oolacile is an opening-hour destination.
2. Pick a Class for the Start, Not Forever
Starting class decides early stats and gear, not your final identity.
All classes can level stats and eventually use equipment or spells once they meet requirements. Choose a class that makes the first few areas comfortable: sturdy melee gear, a shield, ranged tools, or early magic. Do not restart just because you later want a different weapon type.
3. Stay Under the Right Equip Load Breakpoints
Your roll changes sharply at 25%, 50%, and 100% equip load.
At or below 25%, you get the fastest roll. Above 25% through 50%, you get a medium roll. Above 50%, you get the slowest roll and weaker stamina recovery. At 100% or higher, you cannot roll. For a first playthrough, staying under 50% is a strong default; staying at or below 25% is excellent if your defenses still feel workable.
4. Treat Stamina as Your Real Turn Meter
Attacking, blocking, and dashing all compete for the same bar.
Do not spend your entire stamina bar on one more swing. Leave enough to roll, block, or step away after attacking. If a shield hit empties your stamina, the next moment is usually worse than taking a smaller opening and resetting.
5. Use Bonfires Carefully
Bonfires refill you, but they also reset enemies.
Resting is still worth it when you need Estus, spell uses, leveling, or a route reset. Just remember that pushing one more room and then resting can mean fighting the route again. Open shortcuts before you spend too many attempts on a boss run.
6. Learn Estus, Kindling, and Fire Keeper Souls Early
Healing strength and healing count are separate upgrades.
Kindling a bonfire with Humanity increases the Estus charges you receive there. Fire Keeper Souls improve how much HP each Estus use restores. A well-kindled bonfire and upgraded flask can change an area more than a few extra damage points.
7. Do Not Spend Humanity Automatically
Humanity in your inventory is safer than soft Humanity on your counter.
A Humanity item in your bag is not lost when you die. Once you use it, it becomes soft Humanity, which can be spent to reverse hollowing, kindle bonfires, or support certain systems, but it is lost with your souls on death unless you recover your bloodstain.
8. Upgrade One Reliable Weapon
A focused weapon upgrade usually beats carrying five weak options.
Dark Souls has many upgrade paths, embers, materials, and blacksmith requirements. For a beginner run, first make one weapon dependable before spreading Titanite everywhere. Exact weapon and ember routes need a dedicated route guide, but the principle is stable: damage from upgrades matters.
9. Use Bows and Ranged Tools to Pull Enemies
You do not have to fight every group as a group.
Dark Souls often becomes easier when you turn a room into one enemy at a time. Bows, thrown items, spells, and line-of-sight movement can pull enemies away from ambushes and narrow unsafe fights into readable duels.
10. Change Routes When the Wall Feels Wrong
Dark Souls is non-linear enough that stubbornness can waste hours.
If an area feels impossible, ask whether another route, upgrade, weapon, spell, shield, kindle, or equip-load change would help. The game rewards experimentation; it does not require one perfect first path.
11. Delay the DLC Until You Can Actually Reach It
Artorias of the Abyss is included, but access comes through mid-to-late game conditions.
The sourced access path involves Darkroot Basin, Dusk of Oolacile, the Broken Pendant from The Duke’s Archives, and the Oolacile rift. That makes it a poor early target for a blind beginner. Treat it as included optional content, not a first-stop objective.
12. Expect Online Advice to Age
PTDE online details are more fragile than core combat advice.
Messages, bloodstains, co-op, invasions, and the Battle of Stoicism are part of the game’s design, but player activity and platform behavior can vary. Use online systems when available; do not build your first clear around them.
PTDE and Artorias Notes
| Topic | Beginner Takeaway |
|---|---|
| PTDE scope | PC release plus PS3/Xbox 360 re-release of Dark Souls with Artorias of the Abyss included |
| Remastered scope | Separate 2018 release; do not import Remastered-only online, server, or technical claims into PTDE |
| DLC access | Included but not immediate; follow a PTDE route guide for exact access |
| New DLC areas | Oolacile areas are part of Artorias of the Abyss, not the original launch route |
| DLC bosses | Sanctuary Guardian, Knight Artorias, Manus, and Black Dragon Kalameet are DLC-scope bosses |
| PvP arena | Battle of Stoicism exists in the Artorias content, but activity can vary |
| Steam availability | PTDE’s old Steam app is retired from sale; ownership/download details should be checked outside this gameplay guide |
Combat and Survival
| Situation | Safer Habit | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Entering a new area | Walk, listen, and check corners | Prevents ambushes from becoming group fights |
| Fighting one enemy | Block or dodge first, then punish | Enemy recovery windows are safer than trading hits |
| Fighting groups | Back through a doorway or pull one enemy | Reduces overlapping attacks and camera pressure |
| Low stamina | Stop attacking and create space | You need stamina to survive the next hit |
| Heavy equipment | Remove armor or swap weapons until below a breakpoint | Roll speed and stamina recovery matter more than one armor piece |
| Low Estus | Return to a kindled bonfire or open a shortcut | A better runback is safer than forcing one more attempt |
| Repeated deaths | Spend souls, use a different route, or change equipment | The game often gives progress through preparation, not raw persistence |
Progression and Resources
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Spend souls with a purpose: Level, upgrade, repair, or buy supplies before carrying a large soul pile into unknown territory.
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Prioritize survivability early: Vitality and Endurance support learning because they give more HP, stamina, and equipment flexibility.
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Avoid early Resistance investment: Spend those levels on stats that directly improve survival, stamina, equipment use, damage, or spell access unless a build guide gives a specific reason.
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Read weapon requirements: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Faith requirements decide what you can use effectively. Meeting requirements matters before chasing scaling.
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Keep useful consumables in reserve: Humanity, Homeward Bones, moss, arrows, and repair tools are most valuable when they solve a specific problem.
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Talk to NPCs and revisit hubs: Vendors, trainers, blacksmiths, Fire Keepers, and route hints are easy to miss if you treat every NPC like background scenery.
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Use death as scouting: After each death, identify the cause: stamina greed, equip load, bad heal timing, wrong route, enemy group, missing shortcut, weak weapon, or unspent souls.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
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Do not wear armor past 50% equip load by accident - Heavy rolling can make ordinary attacks feel impossible to avoid.
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Do not spend all stamina on offense - A final greedy swing can leave you unable to block, dodge, or escape.
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Do not consume Humanity just because you picked it up - Keep it in item form until you need to reverse hollowing, kindle, heal, or support a specific plan.
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Do not kindle every bonfire equally - Prioritize bonfires that support hard areas, boss runbacks, or long routes.
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Do not ignore weapon upgrades - A familiar upgraded weapon is usually better than a new unupgraded weapon with a tempting name.
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Do not assume your starting class locked your build - Level requirements and equipment choices decide the build over time.
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Do not keep pushing one route while broke and underprepared - Leave, upgrade, kindle, explore elsewhere, and come back stronger.
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Do not follow Remastered-only advice blindly - Multiplayer, server, technical, and performance details can differ from PTDE.
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Do not rush Artorias of the Abyss access on a first run - The DLC access path and bosses belong later than the opening route.
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Do not attack NPCs to test reactions - A first playthrough benefits more from vendors, trainers, dialogue, and services.
Summary
| Category | Top Tip |
|---|---|
| Edition Scope | Treat PTDE as Dark Souls plus Artorias of the Abyss, not Remastered |
| Difficulty | Use deaths to adjust route, equipment, stamina, and upgrades |
| Movement | Stay below 50% equip load, or at/below 25% if you can afford it |
| Combat | End attacks with stamina left for defense |
| Healing | Kindle key bonfires and upgrade Estus strength separately |
| Humanity | Keep Humanity in item form until you have a plan |
| Builds | Pick a comfortable start, then shape the character through levels |
| DLC | Save Oolacile for a later route |
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8 checked for this guideEvery factual claim in this guide was checked against at least two independent sources before publication. These are the references used for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition.
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