Dark Souls is hard. No surprises there. It has become the yardstick against which all other tough games are measured. Any new game that purports to test its players is then judged against this feted trilogy. There's a reason for that, because they aren't just hard. They're not just I Wanna Be The Guy with new skins, they're incredible games that somehow manage to hook players in regardless of their brutal difficulty. Beating the game is an achievement in itself, but if you want to go further, and truly rack up an incredible feat to boast of for the rest of time? Check out these challenges.

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10 10. Knight's Honor

This trophy, from the original game, has earned its reputation as one of the hardest to achieve in the franchise. To get it, you need to find a huge number of weapons and shields. For some of these, you'll have to take a regular weapon, the soul of a boss, and then have these ascended into a legendary weapon by the Giant Blacksmith in Anor Londo. If that was all, it wouldn't be too bad, but the achievement also requires you to find a bunch of rare weapons that can drop randomly, such as the Channeler's Trident. Expect to spend a ton of time earning this one.

9 9. Master Of Rings

Much like the Knight's Honor achievement, earning this trophy takes time. Oh boy, does it. If you want to get it, you need to get every ring in Dark Souls III as the same character. Every single one, except for those added by DLC. That's a total of 106 rings that you'll need to search through the game's world to find, if you want to earn that platinum trophy. Maybe while you're searching, you'll find the one ring to rule them all!

8 8. Lucatiel Trophy

From Dark Souls II, this is one of the easiest trophies to miss. To get it, you need to inherit Lucatiel's equipment. Sound simple? Guess again. You need to exhaust all her dialog options, then summon her for three boss fights, and make sure she survives each one.

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The locations for these summons are Lost Bastille for the Lost Sinner, Earthen Peak for the Smelter Demon, and Black Gulch for The Rotten. If she survives all three fights, you need to talk to her at Aldia's Keep, and then, and only then, will you get her gear.

7 7. Master of Miracles

Another achievement from Dark Souls III, there's one miracle in particular that seems to prove exceptionally troublesome for most players. That's the Darkmoon Blade. To get it, you need to hit rank 2 in the Blades of the Darkmoon covenant. To get that, you need to offer 30 Proof of a Concord Kept. These items, dropped by invaders and Silver Knights. You can expect to have to farm for hours, upon hours, upon hours to get 30 of these.

6 6. Gathering Of Exiles

This one, from Dark Souls II, is easily missed just because it's fiddly. To get it, you need to make all NPCs travel to Majula. Sound easy? Well, if you're a novice player, you might have no idea at all how to make NPCs travel there anyway. To do it, you need to exhaust all of their conversation dialog. You can find two of these NPCs in the Forest of Fallen Giants, another in the Heides Tower of Flame, and others in No-Man's Wharf, Shaded Woods, Harvest Valley, and Earthen Peak.

5 5. Covenant: Darkwraith

Finding covenants isn't usually too hard in this series, but this one is a little different. To earn this achievement, you need to find Darkstalker Kaathe, who you'll find in the Abyss after beating the Four Kings. However, they will only appear if certain conditions are met. You need the Lordvessel, and not to have spoken to Kingseeker Frampt after grabbing it. Talk to him, answer "yes" and he'll take you to Firelink Altar. Put the Lordvessel on the altar, and keep talking to him: you'll then be able to join it.

4 4. Crystal Weapon

All of the achievements that require you to upgrade weapons to frankly silly levels are finicky, but this one seems to prove more troublesome than the others. To acquire the "best weapon" via crystal reinforcement, you'll need a lot of titanite.

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To be precise, the weapon that is recommended for this achievement, the crystal halberd, will require seven titanite chunks and one slab. These are hard to find, and require the player to constantly search the map for them.

3 3. The Usurpation Of Fire

This achievement requires reaching "The Usurpation of Fire" ending in Dark Souls III. To do this, you need to interact with a few NPCs, including some that are easily missable. You'll need to find Yoel of Londor in the Undead Settlement, have him relocate, then level up with him five times. Then you need to talk to Yuria at Firelink, Anri and Horus at Halfway Keep, defeat the Deacons of the Deep, and talk to Anri and Horus again at Firelink. After this it's all about Anri. Talk to them in the Catacombs of Carthus twice, then kill Horace. Talk to Anri next to the bridge in the Catacombs, then once more in the Church of Yorshka.

After this, defeat Pontiff Sulyvhan, talk to Yuria at Firelink, go to Darkmoon Tomb and talk to the pilgrim, then interact with Anri, talk to Yuria, then beat the game. Easy, eh?

2 2. The Nameless King

An achievement for beating a boss seems positively pedestrian at this point. However, The Nameless King is easily one of the toughest fights in the series. An insanely tough two-phase fight that moves from slow and fairly predictable in the first, to a ridiculously tough and chaotic fight in the second.

1 1. The Dark Soul

What better way to round off this list than with the one and only "The Dark Soul" achievement. Unlocked for unlocking all other achievements, it's the version from the original that's the toughest. The achievements for Dark Souls I are some of the most awkward and convoluted in the whole series. If you've got the patience, time, and willpower to get 100% completion in this game, then you've earned every bit of this trophy.

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