Quick Reference
| Boss | NPCs | Notable Loot | Enemies | Enemy Drops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smelter Demon | Steel-willed Lorrie Drifter Swordsman Aidel |
Pharros Mask 7x Large Titanite Shard Simpleton's Spice |
Ashen Warrior Iron Warrior Possessed Armor Fume Sorcerer Astrologist |
Astrologist's Set Caitha's Chime |
Description
A series of tunnels carved into rough, hewn rock. Cramped and restrictive, this area can test your patience.
Even those who don't have the DLC can be summoned here. Place your soul sign in the rooms with white gravestones before the door that requires the Heavy Iron Key.
Connections
Bonfires
- Iron Hallway Entrance
After having received the Tower Key, you can access this bonfire from the giant chamber that contains the Fume Knight.
Walkthrough
Map (Japanese)
Starting from the bonfire, continue through the passageway until you reach a lever in the middle of a room with cells in front of it. Here you will have 2 options to proceed through this area, both being quite difficult if you are unprepared.
Lever Route
If you use the lever in the first room, a gate will open, allowing you to bypass most of the enemies. However, you must get through the gauntlet within 8 seconds after pulling the lever, otherwise the gate will have closed.
After the first gauntlet, there is a single Astrologist. Continuing on you will reach the second gauntlet's lever. Watch out for the Fume Sorcerer that will spawn near it. After pulling this lever, you will have 8 seconds to reach the end of the gauntlet, which is longer this time. After this gauntlet, you will see another Astrologist in the leftmost passage.
Drop down the other passage to access the Possessed Armor, the 3x Old Growth Balm and the 3x Cracked Red Eye Orb in the room that precedes the blue Smelter Demon. If you summon either of the NPC phantoms, they will head for the boss door through the other route.
It is possible to clear the route from enemies before pulling the lever by using Soul Appease. It can hit them through the wall.
Dash Route
This route is accessed by dropping down the leftmost passage in the room with the first lever. This leads to a sequence of caverns which contain multiple enemies, ranged attacks can be useful as there enemies on platforms you cannot reach if you go this route. It is possible to summon the two NPC summons for this route, allowing you to ignore most of the enemies safely as you dash through.
Co-op
If you decide to summon a player phantom there are two good ways to clear out the passage, you can also run through it.
The first involved letting the phantoms through the lever gate and letting them clear out all the enemies on the ledges in the passage. Just pull the lever and let them pass through the grate and then either kill or let the Iron Warriors in the cells reset. This is not recommended if you summon a npc since they can get stuck in the passage by the grate. If you as a phantom decide to block the fireballs to allow the host through note that after blocking three shots the Iron Warriors will start to attack you.
The second involves simply killing everything in the rooms, you can try to run through the rooms but this may cause your phantom to die. If you decide on running you can stop when you have dropped down into the room with the fog door to buff, heal and change equipment.
If you decide to clear the rooms without using the lever this is easily done by shooting the casters with poison arrows and then killing the Iron Warriors. One of you shoots arrows while the other holds a shield in front of him, blocking the lighting spears and arrows. The casters on the ledges often does not recognize that they have been hit if a phantom shoots them, therefore it is best if the host shoots and the phantom blocks. Not activating the switch and killing everything is most likely the best strategy since the others can be difficult to communicate (it is the one I have had the most success with).
Loot
- 7x Large Titanite Shard, found in the third cell on the right in the first gauntlet.
- 2x Crimson Water found on the low ledge in the first room of the Dash route. You must past the first gauntlet of the Lever route to reach the item however.
- Simpleton's Spice and 5x Torch in the second cell gauntlet.
- 2x Wilted Dusk Herb on a ledge.
- 3x Old Growth Balm and 3x Cracked Red Eye Orb found on the ledge in the room preceding the blue Smelter Demon.
- Dried Root on the ground before the boss.
- Pharros Mask, found in the area after the blue Smelter Demon arena.
