Memory of the Old Iron King
The Memory of the Old Iron King is an optional area that can be entered by interacting with the glowing armor near The Smelter Throne Bonfire.
This memory is fairly straight forward. You will begin by entering a large chamber full of Alonne Knights and Fire Lizards. We suggest taking the time to lure the knights out one at a time, or sniping them with an arrow to draw their attention. Once they are dead, if you want you can go through the side passageways to kill the Fire Lizards, although most of them can simply be avoided if you simply wish to skip them.
Once you clear the chamber, you will need to deal with the Greater Alonne Knight and his Fire Lizard friend. Once you have, jumped down the hole he was guarding. This will lead to another large chamber.
Here you will need to go through the same process. Lure out the knights one at a time, or lure them back to the room you jumped down from. They will try walking away when you do this, which allows you to rush them for an easy kill. This chamber does have a nasty secret though, the knights in the back have archers, and there is a Fire Lizard underneath the grate floor who can hit you with fireballs.
If you get near the archers, they will switch to their sword and you can lure them that way, or of course you can snipe them to lure them in close. After dealing with them, there is only one tunnel that leads out of the chamber. You can also go beneath the floor, to kill the Fire Lizard and a few more knights if you like. There are also a few miscellaneous items down there that can be picked up. Exit the chamber and you will find a fog door that leads to the optional boss Sir Alonne.
Shortcut
While not exactly a shortcut, it is possible to dodge every single enemy
in this area without a scratch, but it does require a fast character with
lots of stamina and some impeccable timing.
Before beginning the dash, add as many stamina boosters as possible--
at the very least, use a Green Blossom for an extra boost--because a
a lot of rolling will be involved. From the entrance to the first Hall, turn
left and stick to the left side of the hall. While dashing forward, Alonne
Knights will aggro toward you, and there are three on this route. If an
Alonne Knight gets close get ready to roll to dodge an oncoming slash;
also, use the jump to skip up the stairs quickly. Upon making it to the
third landing, wait for the Alonne Knight to come to you, dodge its slash,
then move to the exit. Stick to the left or right side: this will direct the
fireballs from the Salamander into the wall. Beware the Alonne Captain
here: just wait for him to draw and then dodge at the last second. If
the timing is right, there will be a clear way to the second floor and the
connecting hallway. This transition area is a good place to quickly heal
and re-apply Green Blossom, but keep in mind, enemies from the first
floor will still come after you.
The second floor is a lot trickier, but can be easily traversed with well-timed
rolls. The route through the second floor is a zig-zag between the pillars,
which will protect against the Greatarrows of the archers (just in case,
equip a medium shield with 100% protection against physical attacks).
First veer to the right, and dodge the Alonne Knight with a roll to the left
between the first pair of pillars. Watch out for the two gaping holes on
this floor: if you fall through, either try getting back upstaris or just
restart from the beginning (this option is recommended on higher
difficulty). By weaving in and out of the pillars it is possible to dodge
all attacks from the Knights. After the last pillar, watch out for the
Alonne Captain. Let him draw and attack, then roll into the exiting
hallway. Move all the way to the fog door and take the opportunity
to quickly heal. Keep in mind, a couple of the Alonne Knights will
follow all the way to the fog door, so save any buffs after entering
the arena, since Sir Alonne takes about 10 seconds before launching
his first attack.
While this route takes some practice, learning it is a real timesaver,
as it only takes a couple of minutes as opposed to a half-hour clearing
the level just to enter the fog door Even on higher difficulty, it is possible
to make it through this Memory and to the Boss Fight without a scratch.