Dark Souls: Remastered

Tally your opening hours as you go. Items marked ↔ shared also live on the Full Progression tracker — tick them in either place and both stay in sync.

Two choices at character creation set the tone for your whole run: your class and your gift. For a survival-focused min-max start, the answer is Pyromancer + Master Key.

Pyromancer begins at Soul Level 1 — the lowest starting level of any class. Because leveling cost scales with your current level, starting low means every early level is cheaper, so your souls stretch further and you power-spike faster. Its stats are balanced (no dumped stat to fix later), it comes with a reliable Hand Axe, and its Pyromancy Flame deals fire damage that scales off upgrading the flame, not Intelligence or Faith — a free ranged/burst option you can grow without spending a level on a casting stat.

The Master Key opens most basic locked doors for free. Early it cracks the door to Havel the Rock's tower (Havel's Ring + armor), opens the Valley of Drakes gate for a gear run (§02), and skips padlocked detours. No other starting gift comes close for a knowledgeable solo run. Master Key (wiki)

In Elden Ring you skipped Margit and ran deep to gather gear and runes, then came back stronger. Dark Souls has its own version — and the Master Key is the whole key to it. From Firelink you can reach Valley of Drakes almost immediately, loot free gear and souls, and even punch a shortcut straight into Blighttown. Do as much or as little as your nerve allows.

• Dragon Crest Shield — near the drakes; 100% physical block with excellent fire resistance. A great "oh no, Blighttown" shield.
• Free souls — a couple of Large Souls of a Nameless Soldier on corpses here. Easy early levels with zero risk if you keep moving.
• Astora's Straight Sword — by the Undead Dragon. A superb early divine weapon, but it needs 14 Faith — great for Cleric/quality builds, a poor fit for a pure Pyromancer. Grab it only if you might pivot toward Faith; otherwise lean on the Drake Sword.

From the first small bridge in the Valley, turn right into the green-hued tunnel — it drops you into the Blighttown swamp, skipping Lower Undead Burg, the Depths, and the upper half of Blighttown. This is how you can rush the second Bell (Quelaag) early. Powerful, but Blighttown is brutal without upgrades, so most first-timers grab the Valley gear now and save the dive for later. Valley of Drakes (wiki)

Where a smart route separates a smooth run from a miserable one. Shop the caged Male Undead Merchant for a Short Bow + 50–60 arrows and the Residence Key (frees Griggs).

The Hellkite Dragon perches on the bridge. Stand on the stairwell landing (out of its fire), aim up at its tail, and shoot — roughly two stacks of arrows. The tail drops the Drake Sword: fixed high damage, low requirements (16 STR / 10 DEX), and it massively out-damages anything else this early. It carries you through the first several bosses.

At the top of the Burg, run to the tower, climb the ladder, and plunge-attack onto its head — repeat or finish with the Drake Sword. Watch for the optional Black Knight on a side path; he hits like a truck, so skip him until comfortable. Undead Burg (wiki)

• Andre of Astora reinforces weapons with Titanite. Pour early Titanite Shards into your intended main — +5 is a cheap, big jump.
• Grab the Fire Keeper Soul in the Parish to reinforce your Estus later.
• Rescue Lautrec if you want (Master Key) — but he's treacherous; many deal with him later.
• Fight the Bell Gargoyles on the roof and ring the first Bell of Awakening.

Tick each breakpoint as you hit it. Items marked ↔ shared also appear on the First Hours startup checklist — tick either and both stay in sync.

Survival in Dark Souls is mostly Vitality (HP) and Endurance (stamina + equip load). For a Pyromancer, everything else is need-based.

Here's the trick that makes Pyromancer so strong for min-maxing: your Pyromancy Flame's damage scales with the flame's upgrade level, not with any stat. You pay souls to the trainer, not levels, so your fire damage grows for free while your levels go entirely into survival.

• Laurentius of the Great Swamp (freed in the Depths) ascends the flame up to +15.
• Quelana of Izalith (Blighttown swamp) then performs the Ascended upgrade and teaches the strongest pyromancies (Great Combustion, Great Fireball, Power Within).
• Slot damage spells like Fireball → Great Combustion for burst, and Power Within later for a big buff.

Attunement grants spell slots at set thresholds. Level to a breakpoint, then stop — points between breakpoints do nothing for slots.

For a survival-first pyro, 10–16 Attunement (1–4 slots) is plenty. Go higher only if you want to lean hard into spellcasting.

Rough SL bands to aim for as you progress. If you're comfortably inside the band, you're not under- or over-levelled. These mirror the zone bands on the Full Progression page.

The Drake Sword is a crutch, and a good one — but it has fixed damage and never scales, so it falls off by mid-game. Around Sen's/Anor Londo, pivot to a weapon you'll actually reinforce.

• Best pyro synergy: an elemental weapon (Fire or Chaos, or Lightning via the Crystal path) — these deal split damage that ignores stat scaling, so they thrive on a low-STR/DEX pyro. Chaos weapons even scale with Humanity.
• Quality option: if you invested some STR/DEX, a reinforced +14/+15 physical weapon scales with those stats.
• Feed Andre Titanite (and the Large/Very Large Embers you find) to push your chosen weapon to its cap.

By the Kiln, a comfortable solo Pyromancer looks roughly like: Vitality 40–50, Endurance 40, Attunement 12–16, weapon requirements met, and an Ascended Pyromancy Flame. That lands you around SL 80–120 — plenty for Gwyn on a first run.