Demon’s Souls’ most obscure quest can be very easy to miss by most players. To complete it, players must first find the equally elusive NPC, Mephistopheles. Mephistopheles will appear in the Nexus when certain “nefarious” conditions are met.
To complete these conditions players will need to manipulate their Character Tendency towards pure black. To achieve this, players can invade and defeat hosts as Black Phantoms or kill harmless NPCs. Many different Demon’s Souls NPCs can be killed without overly disrupting the game, such as the merchants in the various worlds, like the Dregling Merchant or the Filthy Man.
Additionally, players must also find, release, and kill Yurt, the Silent Chief. He can be found in Upper Latria, by following the colorful stones. It is imperative that players kill Yurt immediately after releasing him, as killing a single boss in Demon’s Souls after he is free will have him essentially start Mephistopheles’ quest himself and rob players of the rewards.
How to Complete Mephistophele’s Quest in Demon’s Souls
After obtaining pure black Character Tendency and killing Yurt in Demon’s Souls, players will be able to find Mephistopheles on the second floor of the Nexus. She will be to the left of the memorial. Mephistopheles will ask players to kill NPCs in the Nexus in exchange for rewards.
The targets in order and their respective rewards are as follows:
- Saint Urbain, the Worshipper of God and the Acolyte of God – Stone of Ephemeral Eyes
- Sage Freke and Freke’s Apprentice – Stone of Ephemeral Eyes
- Patches, the Hyena – Colorless Demon’s Soul
- Biorr, of the Twin Fangs – Colorless Demon’s Soul
- Ostrava of Boletaria – Talisman of Beasts
- Yuria, the Witch – Foe’s Ring
If any of these NPCs are already dead or have disappeared by the time players obtain the quest, Mephistopheles will skip them, and the reward associated with that target will not be obtainable. After defeating the last target, and receiving the final reward from Mephistopheles, she will attack the player. Most of the NPCs can be defeated relatively safely with Soulsucker or Death Cloud if players are patient enough. Otherwise, these are some simple Demon’s Souls strategies that could prove helpful.
In the first encounter, defeating Saint Urbain should be the priority as he is the strongest of the three. He will attempt to heal himself after taking some damage but become somewhat passive once he is stuck in a corner. If players do not go near the Acolyte after engaging Saint Urbain, he will not move to help his friends, making this fight much easier. Saint Urbain will drop the Saint set as well as the Ring of Devout, which provides one Miracle slot.
The second encounter benefits greatly from having the Thief ring, which lowers players’ detection radius. With this ring equipped, players can focus the Apprentice without provoking Sage Freke. Both of these NPCs are magic vendors in Demon’s Souls and will cast high damaging spells, something players should attempt to avoid. Other than that, both of them can be fought one versus one and staggered against a corner. Sage Freke will drop the Venerable Sage set, the Baby’s Nail dagger, and the Ring of Magical Sharpness, which increases magic damage done and taken.
Patches can be one of the hardest NPCs in the quest chain to take down. An effective strategy that once again uses the Thief Ring is to kite him. Players can backstab him when they first engage and then run to the second floor of the Nexus. As long as the ring is equipped, Patches should get stuck in a loop of falling off the ledge and going up the stairs. Players can use any ranged option to slowly but safely whittle him down. Patches, the recurrent Souls games easter egg, will himself drop a Thief Ring.
How tough Biorr is will depend highly on how comfortable a player is with riposting. Biorr has very good armor and is resistant to most magical and ranged attacks. However, his melee attacks are very slow and easy to parry. Players should aim to click the parry button as soon as his right hand reaches forward. Biorr will drop the Brushwood set, the Brushwood Shield, and the Ring of Great Strength, which increases equipment capacity by 50%.
Ostrava can be very tricky because he keeps shifting locations. Although he can be found in the Nexus, players will most likely find him more often out in the world. The last chance players will have to kill him will be on the steps in the King’s Tower. Get past the dragon spewing fire and find Ostrava sitting on the stairs. Players should take care to one-shot him and not talk to him, as it might lead to him killing himself and locking players out of the quest reward. Ostrava will drop the Mausoleum Key.
Although Yuria is a powerful spellcaster in Demon’s Souls, she can be the easiest fight in the questline. Yuria has very little health and can be staggered into the corner quite consistently. If done correctly, Yuria should not even have a chance to make a single attack. Yuria will drop the Old Ragged set and the Ring of Magical Nature which, provides one Magic slot.
Finally, after defeating all targets, Mephistopheles herself will turn on the player. She is very fast but does not have a lot of health. She also has the Soulsucker spell which has very little range but will one-shot players. Using a shield to deflect her attacks is effective, as well as magical ranged options. Mephistopheles will drop a Parrying Dagger, an Epee Rapier, a Gold Mask, and the Ring of the Accursed, which makes the wearer the priority of enemy attacks.
During their playthrough, players should take special care with Biorr and Ostrava as both can become unavailable as targets before even obtaining this quest. Ostrava will appear in the world multiple times as players progress it, and leaving him on his own can often lead to his death. Biorr, on the other hand, can be very helpful in Demon’s Souls, as he will try to kill the Blue dragon. However, even if he survives he will disappear the next time players leave the Nexus.
Demon’s Souls Remake is available on PlayStation 5.