DARK Souls 3 Archthrones: Demo, Combat & Setup Guide

What Is Dark Souls: Archthrones?

Knowing where the next bonfire should be can get you into trouble in DARK SOULS 3 Archthrones. This total overhaul rebuilds the adventure around five worlds, 17 boss fights, and combat mechanics that give you more ways to defend yourself. You play the Emissary of Embers, the Fire Keeper’s champion, in a fan-created story set before Dark Souls III.

Archthrones brings together reimagined locations from across the trilogy, new equipment, fully voiced NPCs, and encounters drawing on other FromSoftware games. Its central hub, the Nexus of Embers, uses a throne-based travel structure inspired by Demon's Souls.

The demo launched on March 15, 2024. Version 1.1.3 is a demo release, so approach it as a substantial adventure within a larger project.

Official page: DARK SOULS™ III (bandainamcoent.com)

Five Worlds and How Progression Works

The thrones let you explore different branches instead of following the base game’s route through Lothric. There is an opening restriction: version 1.1.0 introduced a required visit to the Bountiful Queen throne before visiting the other thrones.

Image: Steam / FromSoftware, Inc.

After that opening requirement, explore the branches in your preferred order. Their challenges differ considerably, so return to the Nexus and try another destination when an encounter stops your progress.

War-Torn Village

The Undead Settlement becomes a battlefield with winged knights, siege weapons, changed enemy placements, and several boss routes. Familiar landmarks remain useful, but bonfire locations and shortcuts have changed.

The stables serve as an important checkpoint. A nearby ladder provides a shortcut toward the Pus-Ridden Beast, while other paths lead toward the Angelic Siege Golem, Angel of Gertrude, and Omen of the Eclipse.

Explore outward from the stables and open connecting routes before committing to repeated boss attempts.

Phoenix Tower, Irithyll

Architecture recalling Heide’s Tower of Flame returns under rain and gloomy skies. Knights guard the approaches, and the route extends into a tower with additional checkpoints and encounters.

The Heide Phoenix has a specific activation requirement: obtain the Phoenix collar horn and use it at the platform near the beginning of the area.

Carthus of the Sands

Carthus opens into a desert populated by warriors, large enemies, and sandworms. Its open spaces give you room to move around encounters instead of fighting everything along a narrow corridor.

A crypt contains bells tied to Necromancer Obediah. Ringing them summons the boss, making exploration part of finding the encounter.

Eleum Loyce of the Boreal Valley

Eleum Loyce revisits the frozen kingdom with changed occupants and a frozen Heart of Chaos. Its encounters include Janara One-Eye, Kremmel, God of Struggle, and Captain Erdan.

Save this branch for later if its enemies overwhelm your character. The nonlinear structure lets you gain equipment and levels elsewhere before returning.

Cathedral of the Deep

The Cathedral shifts toward a more unsettling atmosphere, with a quiet exterior and an interior occupied by strange creatures and corrupted inhabitants.

Pay attention to its fog statues. Their curse effect reduces maximum HP by 3%.

Combat: Perfect Blocks, Guard Counters, and Powerstance

Archthrones adds several defensive and offensive systems to Dark Souls III:

Image: Steam / FromSoftware, Inc.

• Perfect blocking: rewards precisely timed guarding.
• Guard counters: adds counterattacks following a block.
• Deflection: introduces another timing-based defensive option.
• Powerstance: expands dual-wielding combat.
• Backstep guard cancelling: adds another way to manage defensive movement.
• Weapon-class adjustments: changes movesets, attack behavior, and balance across much of the arsenal.

These mechanics give blocking a larger role, but timing still matters. Do not treat perfect blocking as protection from every hit or expect every attack to reward the same response.

Version 1.1.0 shortened perfect-block activation timing to 0.092 seconds while improving its stamina and chip-damage negation. That update also increased guard counters’ stamina and poise damage and added missing hyper armor to several weapon classes.

Practice timed guards against an enemy whose attacks you can read. Keep rolling available for unfamiliar sequences, and wait until a combo finishes before committing to a counterattack.

Powerstance received fixes in version 1.1.1 so its attacks use the correct parameters and benefit from buffs and auxiliary buildup. Experiment with compatible weapons rather than assuming your familiar base-game setup behaves identically.

Boss Encounters Worth Preparing For

The demo contains 17 boss fights, with encounters ranging from large creatures to heavily armed duelists. Several balance changes directly affect how you should approach them.

Image: Steam / FromSoftware, Inc.

Angelic Siege Golem

The golem’s fallen animation was extended to provide more time to attack its head weak spot. Its falling hitbox and several attack effects were also adjusted.

Move toward the head when it falls and use that opening for damage. Preserve enough stamina to disengage when it recovers.

Pus-Ridden Beast

The beast is weak to fire following the version 1.1.0 balance changes. That update also reduced portions of its hitboxes and the duration and damage of its body-fluid attack.

Bring fire damage and resist the urge to chase every opening. Its aggressive movement makes overcommitting costly.

Necromancer Obediah

Obediah is found through the bells in the Carthus crypt. The encounter encourages switching between evasive movement, defensive timing, and attacks that pressure his guard.

Learn individual responses instead of trying to solve the entire fight with repeated rolls or repeated deflections.

Heide Phoenix

Balance changes increased recovery after several attacks, extended cooldowns on certain aerial sequences, and adjusted the AI to spend longer on the ground.

Use its recovery periods to attack. Avoid exhausting your stamina pursuing it through the arena.

Kremmel, God of Struggle

Kremmel combines melee pressure with elemental attacks. Updates adjusted hitbox duration, knockback, attack timing, and audiovisual cues; version 1.1.2 also corrected icicle damage and changed parts of his combos.

Watch the fire cues alongside the weapon animation. Leave room to react when a sequence changes.

Weapons, Shops, and Character Adjustments

New weapons come from enemy drops, NPCs, and boss-soul transposition. Keep boss souls until you have examined their transposition options rather than immediately consuming them for levels.

The arsenal includes additions such as the Carthus Pike.

Several shop changes make equipment progression easier to plan:

• Ebrius sells 4 Titanite Shards for 800 souls each with default access.
• Giving Ebrius Archtree Dew unlocks 4 Large Titanite Shards for 4,000 souls each.
• Archtree Dew also unlocks unlimited standard arrows at 10 souls each and standard bolts at 30 souls each.
• The Uchigatana costs 1,500 souls following the version 1.1.0 adjustment.

Check shops again after handing over relevant items. Their expanded stock can support upgrades or a ranged option without relying entirely on drops.

The Nexus laboratory’s Mirror of Self Reflection allows appearance changes and attribute reallocation. Use it to adjust your character when a newly discovered weapon calls for a different stat distribution.

Return to NPCs and exhaust new dialogue as you progress. The mod includes its own quests, so base-game quest routes will not guide you through every interaction.

Requirements and Installation

Archthrones requires the PC version of Dark Souls III and both DLC packs: Ashes of Ariandel and The Ringed City.

Its minimum hardware requirements are an Intel Core i5-9400F, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, and 4 GB RAM. Allow 12 GB of additional storage beyond the base game.

The mod supports Windows and Linux, including Steam Deck. Linux and Steam Deck installation involves Proton configuration.

Windows Installation Checklist

1. Install Dark Souls III and both DLC packs. Begin with a clean base-game installation.
2. Back up your existing saves. Keep the backup separate from the installation.
3. Get the demo through the Archthrones team’s download channel. Read the readme included with the package.
4. Find the game’s Game directory. This is the folder containing DarkSoulsIII.exe.
5. Place the loader files as instructed. The automatic loader downloads the mod’s content when launched.
6. Follow the manual-install instructions if using the large content archive. Manual content supplements the loader files; extracting content alone can leave you launching ordinary Dark Souls III.

Follow the package readme for folder nesting. The loader files and the large content archive have different roles.

Linux and Steam Deck

The installation instructions include this Steam launch option:

WINEDLLOVERRIDES="dinput8.dll=n,b" %command%

They also specify Proton 7.0-6. Apply those settings alongside the mod files when following that installation method.

Multiplayer and Save Separation

Archthrones uses a private server running DS3OS to connect its players. You can play with friends using the mod, but you cannot connect to people playing vanilla Dark Souls III.

Keep everyone on the same mod version when setting up a session. Private-server stability can suffer under a large player count.

Keep Archthrones saves separate from vanilla saves. The mod uses its own save location and routes connections away from FromSoftware’s servers. Moving an Archthrones character into the vanilla save folder and taking it onto vanilla servers risks a ban. Moving a vanilla character into the mod’s save folder can also cause problems.

Create a character within the mod and maintain separate backups for both games.

Fixing Crashes and Vanilla Launches

The Game Launches Without the Mod

Check that the loader files are installed alongside DarkSoulsIII.exe. The large manual content download does not replace those files.

Then compare the extracted folder structure with the package readme. Content placed at the wrong directory depth will not give the loader the layout it expects.

The Game Crashes on Version 1.15.2

Archthrones supports Dark Souls III application version 1.15.2, but that version has documented stability problems on some systems.

If repeated crashes persist, follow the team’s downpatching instructions to move DarkSoulsIII.exe to version 1.15. Downgrading is a troubleshooting option for affected installations, rather than a required step for everyone.

The Automatic Content Download Fails

Use the manual-install alternative and retain the required loader files. Follow the readme’s extraction instructions, then launch again after the content is in place.