Talk:Bonfire Ascetic/@comment-4120705-20140319183418

''This is my response to a comment below asking for effective first run farming locations and enemies. I'm currently lvl 170 so I think I know my stuff but feel free to add to or denounce my findings :D''

- Before you farm -

First, kill or spend 10,000 on (then talk to) the vendor at the second bonfire in The Forest of Fallen Giants to get the Silver Serpent Ring +1 which increases your soul gains by 20% (pretty big deal XD)

Second, be aware that using a bonfire astetic as mentioned above will spawn Dark Phantoms which can be a pain to fight so just be mindful of that (Heide's tower spawned 4 Phantoms for me 0_0)

Third, use the Gold Serpent Ring in conjunction with a gold coin to maximize your item drops so that you can sell stuff to Gavlan for even more souls

- Farm Locations - 

*Souls values have the 20% increase applied from the Serpent Ring already and are assumed to be at NG+ level through the use of a bonfire astetic (There is a +2 ring but I'm doing this from a first run pespective since the +2 serpent ring can only be acquired from NG+)*

Old Knights - Heide's Tower of Flame - First Bonfire

- Will give you 960 souls each

- They're easy to kill even on NG+ (Murakumo +10 will 5 hit a Knight after you dodge their combo with no chance for them to retaliate)

- There are 9 that respawn. 8640 souls per run. Takes around 5 minutes to run.

- Bonfire after Dragonrider allows for faster runs :)

- The first mace wielder will give you a sublime bone dust for that much needed Estus recovery boost

- Dragonrider is an incredibly easy boss so if you don't want to make NG+ plus too hard on yourself Heide's is a solid choice boss wise.

Alonne Knights & Knight Captains - Iron Keep - First Bonfire

- Knights give 1680 souls each

- Captains give 3600 souls each

- I believe 16 Knights (4 Captains, 12 Regulars) will respawn if you use the first bonfire

- They can be kited, backstabbed and aggroed into single fights fairly easily.

- If you try to kill all the Captains the runs can get pretty long since 2 Captains are pretty out the way so expect to only kill 14 Knights per run so save time. Approx. 27,360 souls per run.

- You get two bosses (Smelter Demon and The Pursuer) for one bonfire astetic I believe.

Dark Stalkers - No Man's Wharf

- 888 souls each

- Long Reach and bleed on their attacks can be a problem

-Not easily staggered for chained combos

- Long runs back to the bonfire can be a hassle unlike in the Iron Keep or Heide's if you choose to go all they way to the Flexile Sentry fog gate.

- There's alot of smaller enemies to kill as well.

- Varangarians will give 480 souls each (Can be 2 hit for sure or potentially one shot)

- Dogs will yield 240 souls each

- Ruin Sentinels & Llewellyn Statues - Drangleic Castle - First Bonfire

- Ruin Sentinels give 6000 souls each

- The Stone Spearmen give 840 souls each

- Six Sentinels and six Spearmen will yield 41,040 souls (enough for one lvl up at my level :D) so this yields the biggest returns in one run and has the shortest distance from a bonfire but can be time consuming.

- Takes patience since the Sentinels aren't easily downed

- Takes careful aggroing to avoid unmanageable fights

- Hallway next to bonfire is a safe zone to heal

- There are other enemies to be fought in the castle that respawn due to the Astetic but this room stands out due to it's proximity to the bonfire (it's right friggin there) and the amount of souls you get from the Sentinels.

''Hope this helps! Happy farming guys.''