Dark Souls II 30k Souls Guide

Dark souls 2: SotFS Minimum Soul Memory Challenge,
or
How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Agape Ring.

Section 1: Agape Ring
This is the hardest Part of the run and where most of my attempts died. You cannot lose any souls during this, if you die
before reclaiming your bloodstain, its a reset. Also, DON'T KILL ANYTHING. Not until you have Straid unlocked.

-Knight, Bonfire Ascetic (This is a must have)
-Get Everything from Majula (Lifegems, Health Ring, Souls, Estus, Titanite, etc)
-Head to Heide's Tower of Flame
-Cheese Dragonrider (https://youtu.be/am85wNikw6g)
-Go to Forest of Fallen Giants
-Buy Lenigrast's Key from Melentia
-Unlock Lenigrast, get the shortbow in the chest
-Buy a Mace, Make it +1
-Put ONE level into Strength
-Go to No Man's Wharf
-Summon Bradley of the Old Guard
(Side note. Bradley is Important because enemies in No Man's Wharf have a tendency to fall into the water, which gives you souls.
By having Bradley around you reduce the number of souls gained, which is essential for later.)
-Talk to Lucatiel so you can Summon her later
-Unlock the Shortcut
-Get the Fragrant Branch of Yore in the Chest next to the breakable wall
-Summon up Bradley and Lucatiel
-Kill Flexile Sentry (You summon both phantoms to split the souls gained as much as possible)
-Go to Lost Bastille, get the Exile Holding Cells bonfire
-From here, run to where Lucatiel is, opening the gate with the dogs on your way. Get the Antiquated Key.
-Don't try and unlock McDuff at this point, it will be easier later.
-Above Lucatiel get the Large Titanite Shard
-Go back through the Dog Gate, past the optional pursuer fight, through the breakable wall, through the door, and the next door,
	up the ladder, drop down, and into the dark room with the Pharros' contraption. In the back left is a room with a cage elevator.
-Ride the elevator to the top, go up the stairs, and unpetrify our lord and saviour STRAID OF OLAPHIS.
-The reason this challenge is done with exactly 30k Souls is because Straid will only sell the Agape ring when you have a soul memory
of 30k or above.
-This is the tricky part, use soul items, and kill enemies to bring yourself to exactly 30,000. You should be somewhere around the 22-		23k mark, depending on your No Man's Wharf run. If you are unlucky and have a soul memory ending in 50 you can get a Fading Soul in the breakable wall room in No Man's Wharf. DO NOT KILL THE CRYSTAL LIZARD. They give exactly 1 soul which is just the worst to try and balance out.
-When you have exactly 30k Soul Memory, buy the Agape Ring from Straid. Never take it off.

Section 2: +10 Mace

Now that you have the Agape Ring you can kill enemies without worrying about increasing soul memory. This opens up a lot of options.

-Go back to the elevator cage room, and drop down for a Bonfire Ascetic.
-Go to Forest of Fallen Giants, Cardinal Tower Bonfire.
-Kill the crystal lizard above the Cardinal Tower Bonfire for a Titanite Shard.
-Get the House Key from Cale, and kill him for his hat.
-Get the Estus Flask Shard and Pharros Lockstone in the Majula Mansion, as well as 3 Titanite shards.
-Head back to Forest of Fallen Giants and get the Titanite Shard, Large Titanite Shard, and Life Ring in the Ballista Room.
-Use the Pharros Lockstone in this room for the Chloranthy Ring and a Titanite Slab
-Upgrade the mace to +4
-Unlock the shortcut to Last Giant and get the Flame Arrows by the elevator.
-Kill the Last Giant and the Pursuer.
-Head to Lost Bastille, get the Dull Ember, and the Large Titanite Shard to the left of the bonfire room.
-Use the Shortbow to Lure Enemies away from the Barrel which Unlocks McDuff.
-Run at the Barrel to blast a hole in the wall, shoot it with a flame arrow if it doesn't explode.
-Get all the loot from McDuff
-Back to No Man's Wharf Again, this time back to the Fragrant Branch Room, kill the Crystal lizard.
-You should have enough to make the mace +6 now.
-Go back to Forest of Fallen Giants.
-Bonfire Ascetic the Cardinal Tower bonfire
-Kill NG+ Last Giant and Pursuer (No Problem with +6)
-Bonfire Ascetic the Cardinal Tower bonfire again to make the area NG++
-In the Basement of the Ballista Room, the Trapped Chest which had a titanite shard before now has 3x titanite chunks.
-Make the Mace +8
-Go to Licia of Lindelt, Aggro her, then Run back upstairs.
-Her Force spell will one shot you so be careful.
-She will follow you outside and you can either backstab her or just hit her off the cliff.
-Rest at the bonfire and go back to the room she was in for the Rotunda Lockstone.
-Go to Huntsman's Copse.
-Run through the area to the second bonfire.
-Get the Undead Lockaway Key next to the Merciless Rowena invasion, and unlock Creighton's bonfire room.
-Kill the Skeleton Mages in the Tunnels next to the Bonfire room and unlock the shortcut.
-Kill the Crystal Lizard in the Tunnels for a Titanite chunk
-Kill Skeleton Lords
-In the Poison Gas Pool by Chloanne there are 2 more chunks.
-Head back to Majula and make a +10 Mace

Section 3: Final Preparations

You're over the hardest part of the run! Congratulations! Now you just have to throw yourself at the rest of the game until you beat it. Don't die though, you need every soul you've got.

-Speedrun through Earthen Peak, Kill Covetous Demon and Mytha, the Baneful Queen.
-Buy the 500 soul ladder from Gilligan in Majula.
-Dump the rest of your Souls into ADP.
-If you have any left over you can do what you want with them. It is ok to lose them now, at this point you have bought all essentials for the run.
-Back to Lost Bastille, then to Sinner's Rise.
-Head down, get the Blossom Kite Shield.
-Kill Lost Sinner, 1/4 Lords dealt with.
-Proceed Through Iron Keep.
-Get the Life Ring +1 before the Smelter Demon.
-Skip the Smelter Demon.
-Turn off the fire and kill Old Iron King.
-2/4 Lords dealt with.
-Back to Majula
-Strip naked and wear the Agape Ring, as well as the Life ring +1 and the Blue Seal.
-Use the ladder to fall, you should have just enough health to live.
-Heal up and proceed down the pit to Grave of Saints.
-Skip Grave of Saints, Kill the Royal Rat Vanguard, and Proceed to the Gutter.
-We don't need anything from this area so keep going.
-Get the Fragrant Branch of Yore by Black Gulch.
-Unlock the Second Bonfire in Black Gulch.
-Kill The Rotten, 3/4 Lords dealt with.
-From Majula, Unpetrify Rosabeth.
-Head to Shaded Woods and get the Chloranthy Ring+1 in the fog.
-Kill Scorpioness Najika.
-Straight through Doors of Pharros.
-Brightstone Cove Tseldora.
-Kill Prowling Magus and Congregation.
-Light up a Torch.
-Run through the area and Kill The Duke's Dear Freja, 4/4 lords.
-Don't forget to embrace the great soul.

Section 4: Boss Rush

You Basically Don't Need Anything else for this run, just kill all the necessary Bosses and you're done!

-Head to Drangleic Castle.
-Run Through the Area, Kill Twin Dragonriders.
-Keep speedrunning, get Gower's Ring of Protection.
-Kill Mirror Knight.
-Get the Spell Quartz Ring just after Mirror Knight, very Important.
-Shrine of Amana
-Pray to Straid that your ADP is high enough.
-Throw yourself at the area over and over again until it works.
-I don't have any real advice for this, wear your best magic resist gear and hope.
-Somehow make it out.
-Kill the Worst Boss in the Worst Area, Demon of Song.
-Proceed to Undead Crypt.
-Skip the area, unlock the shortcut.
-Ring Velstadt's Bell, Not too Bad with the +10 Mace.
-Get the King's Ring.
-Head to Aldia's Keep, and Kill Lucatiel's brother in the entrance.
-Get the Secret Bonfire before Guardian Dragon.
-Kill Guardian Dragon.
-Your ADP isn't high enough to roll through the flames so you might find yourself dying here a lot. Took me 6 or 7 tries.
-Get the Aged Feather and Skip Dragon Aerie.
-Dwarf Ahead.
-Equip Gower's Ring and RUN. If Gower's ring breaks its ok, it isn't necessary just helpful.
-Get the Ashen Mist Heart.
-Feather out of there.
-Back to Forest of Fallen Giants.
-Unlock the King's Gate.
-Forget you're on NG++ so there are now red phantom enemies there.
-Get the bonfire, then Kill Giant Lord.
-Easy as long as you don't get hit.
-Get the Giant's Kinship.
-Final Stage.
-Back to Drangleic Castle.
-Throne Watcher and Defender.
-Throne Defender is harder to take down, so kill him first.
-These Guys can Two Shot you.
-You've probably picked up a few extra Bonfire Ascetics on your travels.
-Use them in the first bonfire of Forest of Fallen Giants to respawn the chest in the cave at the start of the area.
-It has 5 Human Effigies, you might need them.
-All that's left is Nashandra.
-Always Assume she's going for a 3 hit combo.
-Play super Defensively, she can one shot you, especially with those curse orbs around.
-Congratulations! You just beat Dark Souls II with a Budget of just 30,000 Souls!