Drangleic Castle (1)

Continue upstairs and the two giant mastodon warriors will come to life. Defeat them and take out the crossbowmen. More enemies will appear. Kill them near one of the golem statues so their souls will activate the statues and make them to hold the stone cup in front of them and turn it. You should do the same to the other statue. Activating both golem statues will make them open the massive door leading inside the castle. Head to the right side of the castle to find a chest containing Great Combustion and Fire Seed.

Enter the castle and go upstairs. Talk to the spectre named Chancellor Wellager. Exhaust his dialogue options and you should be able to buy items from him. You can also learn the This One's Me gesture. The large door behind him leads to the empty throne room so ignore it for now. Go downstairs and head to the right. There are more enemies waiting in that hallway. You funnel them by falling back or if you need to keep distance, you can always fall back to the main door where they'll stop following you.

Once clear, open the door to the right side and take out two more royal guards inside. Climb down the ladder then open the next light-blue door. Open another light-blue door ahead to find the King's Gate bonfire.

King's Gate Bonfire

Head to the next room and fight off the enemies that will come to life. You have to kill them near the blocked doorways so their souls can open the doors. Fortunately, these passages will remain open once you've offered souls to open them before. The one on the middle-right passage will release a sentinel like you fought in Lost Bastille. Open the chest from its room to get a Mastodon Greatsword. The last door near the statue to the right has another sentinel and a Royal Soldier's Ring +1.

The lower-left passage has a sentinel but no treasure, the middle one has a sentinel and skeleton containing a Pharros' Lockstone. The last one near the statue has another sentinel a floor that will cave in if you step on it. This will bring you to an underground cavern. Loot the skeleton nearby to get a Faraam armor set.

Head to the right and you'll find a bonfire. Light it up to find Darkdiver Grandahl if you have met him two time before in Shaded Woods and Black Gulch. He should offer you to join the Pilgrims of the Dark. He also sells some high-powered hexes, some Human Effigies and Bonfire Ascetics. You can travel back to the castle's first bonfire to return back to track.

The one in the lower-right is the correct passage you should open and go through to proceed. You can run back to the bonfire and it will not follow you. You can use this chance to snipe it from a distance or just simply heal up and prepare.

Enter that room to find a chest containing Dark Arrow x15. Loot the skeleton under the stairs to get a Soul of a Hero, Old Radiant Lifegem x3 and Monastery Charm. Continue upstairs and there's an Elizabeth Mushroom that can be looted from the floor with corrosive liquid. There's also a chest in the corner that has Corrosive Urn x3. You can unequip your equipment to prevent them from being broken.

Continue along the path and open the door to the next floor. Be careful of the stone masks on the walls; they shoot poisoned arrows. Loot the body to receive a Large Soul of a Brave Warrior and Twinkling Titanite. There are heavy shielded enemies in the room upstairs and a crossbowman that will snipe you on the far side. You can run past them and exit the room. Run towards the stairs and an invader called Nameless Usurper will also appear from the previous room.

Before engaging them, you can drop by the ledge where the crossbowman is and take him out. Loot the skeleton by the ledge to get a Soul of a Brave Warrior. Climb downstairs and loot the chest to get a Hunter's Blackbow and Iron Arrow x20. Now climb back up the two stairs to reach the ledge after the stairs.

Continue upstairs and you'll have to talk to Queen Nashandra. Follow the path from there to reach the misty door that leads to a fight against two Dragonrider Bosses.

Boss: Dragonrider x2

If you're a ranged character or sorcery/miracle user, you can land a free hit on any of the dragonriders as soon as you enter. The dragonrider on the top of the ledge shoots arrows but has a much lower HP. You can fight defensively and wait for him to drop to the lower ground so you can prioritize attacking him.

Their attack patterns are basically the same; if you have a good shield that can block their attacks without taking damage or losing that much stamina, its quite easy to circle around them and counterattack. They're most vulnerable when they're using their shield bash and when they're swaying their weapons. Concentrate on taking out one target since the battle will become much more easier once one of them is down.