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Description

Very important information for understanding this flowchart:

This is not a game progression route flowchart - this is a boss requirement flowchart. What it means is that it only shows the bare minimum (legitimate) requirements needed for attempting each boss. It doesn't show how or through which path certain bosses could be done, just that they can.
The arrows length and direction are purely circumstantial - they don't signify areas or paths but only create requirement correlation between bosses.
When multiple arrows lead to one boss it means that every single one of connected bosses has to be defeated before starting that one.
This flowchart doesn't acknowledge any unintended area/boss skips or glitches. This includes but is not limited to: Ceaseless skip , Sen's Gate Skip , Firesage Skip and Quelaag Skip .
The main purpose of this flowchart is to show just how interconnected and non-linear DS1 can be, especially when compared to DS2 and DS3 where the progression is much more like a series of bosses that only rarely branch out or can be approached "out of order". This flowchart is to be viewed more as a cool curiosity about the game instead of a routing tool or help for new players (and in fact it would be very confusing and maybe even a hindrance for new players, also a spoiler).

This whole thing began with a question that I asked myself - "how many bosses are reachable right after arriving in Firelink Shrine?".

While it was easy to answer that question from memory, I still decided to search if there is some sort of boss flowchart on the Internet and all I could find was an area progression flowchart which wasn't what I was looking for, so I decided to make one myself.

This ended up being harder than I initially thought - I probably went through half a dozen different order iterations until I found the right one (hopefully), and twice as many to arrange it neatly on a flowchart.

At first I thought that this flowchart only works while having the Master Key, and that without it the order at the beginning of the game would have to be changed - Gargoyles, Sif, Moonlight Butterfly and Capra Demon could only be reached after defeating the Taurus Demon. And Quelaag could only be reached after defeating the Gaping Dragon (requires Capra Demon first) and going through "upper" Blighttown down to "regular" Blighttown from where you can access Quelaag Domain.

However it has come to my attention that it's possible to progress this way even without the Master Key - all you have to do to is to go to New Londo Ruins first, kill Ingward to receive the Key to the Seal, drain the water and use the newly opened passage into the Valley of Drakes, from which you can access both Blighttown and Undead Parish (through Darkroot Garden).

Obviously Firelink Shrine is not a boss - but I wanted to include it for a few reasons:

It's the main hub area, and unlike other souls games it's not a warp only nexus - from it you can reach pretty much every area in the game on foot which is why I love DS1 so much.
It serves to divide the Northern Undead Asylum (pretty much a tutorial) from the actual game.
It's a throwback to my original question.

I tested everything in Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, but I don't think boss progression changed in Dark Souls: Remastered.

draw.io was used for designing and rearranging the chart throughout the testing process.

Once I finalized the arrangement I exported it from draw.io to a PDF file and edited the font, colors and background in Adobe Illustrator.

Attached .zip file contains the flowchart in 3 resolutions:

1920x1080
2560x1440
3840x2160
FAQ:

-Shouldn't Kalameet be after Artorias because you need to talk to Gough first?

-No, you don't actually need Gough's help - you can defeat Kalameet with a greatbow - it takes a long time and you need a lot of armor and Estus, but it's possible. Proof

Gough also has unique dialogue if you defeat Kalameet yourself which proves that this is intended and not a bug/skip.

-How can you reach The Bed of Chaos without killing Firesage and Centipede?

-By using the Lost Izalith shortcut (the one that opens after feeding The Fair Lady 30 humanity)

-Then shouldn't you also be able to reach Centipede Demon from Lost Izalith?

-You can reach his Lost Izalith foggate, however you can't enter it. You can only fight Centipede after killing Firesage.

-Shouldn't Four Kings be after O&S?

-No, Four Kings is the only Lord Soul you can acquire before getting the Lordvessel - they're not protected by the yellow fog gate as the other three.

-Shouldn't Gwyndolin be after O&S?

-You can get the Darkmoon Seance Ring from the catacombs which will remove the illusory wall near Darkmoon Tomb Bonfire, enabling you to join his covenant or fight him. This can be done before O&S.

-Shouldn't Priscilla be after the Stray Demon?

-You don't actually have to kill the Stray Demon to get the Peculiar Doll, it's just convenient to do it since you're already there.

-I usually go from boss X to boss Y so why are they not connected here?

-Because your choice to go X and the Y doesn't mean that this is the only path or that X is required to do Y.

Description

Very important information for understanding this flowchart:

This is not a game progression route flowchart - this is a boss requirement flowchart. What it means is that it only shows the bare minimum (legitimate) requirements needed for attempting each boss. It doesn't show how or through which path certain bosses could be done, just that they can.
The arrows length and direction are purely circumstantial - they don't signify areas or paths but only create requirement correlation between bosses.
When multiple arrows lead to one boss it means that every single one of connected bosses has to be defeated before starting that one.
This flowchart doesn't acknowledge any unintended area/boss skips or glitches. This includes but is not limited to: Ceaseless skip , Sen's Gate Skip , Firesage Skip and Quelaag Skip .
The main purpose of this flowchart is to show just how interconnected and non-linear DS1 can be, especially when compared to DS2 and DS3 where the progression is much more like a series of bosses that only rarely branch out or can be approached "out of order". This flowchart is to be viewed more as a cool curiosity about the game instead of a routing tool or help for new players (and in fact it would be very confusing and maybe even a hindrance for new players, also a spoiler).

This whole thing began with a question that I asked myself - "how many bosses are reachable right after arriving in Firelink Shrine?".

While it was easy to answer that question from memory, I still decided to search if there is some sort of boss flowchart on the Internet and all I could find was an area progression flowchart which wasn't what I was looking for, so I decided to make one myself.

This ended up being harder than I initially thought - I probably went through half a dozen different order iterations until I found the right one (hopefully), and twice as many to arrange it neatly on a flowchart.

At first I thought that this flowchart only works while having the Master Key, and that without it the order at the beginning of the game would have to be changed - Gargoyles, Sif, Moonlight Butterfly and Capra Demon could only be reached after defeating the Taurus Demon. And Quelaag could only be reached after defeating the Gaping Dragon (requires Capra Demon first) and going through "upper" Blighttown down to "regular" Blighttown from where you can access Quelaag Domain.

However it has come to my attention that it's possible to progress this way even without the Master Key - all you have to do to is to go to New Londo Ruins first, kill Ingward to receive the Key to the Seal, drain the water and use the newly opened passage into the Valley of Drakes, from which you can access both Blighttown and Undead Parish (through Darkroot Garden).

Obviously Firelink Shrine is not a boss - but I wanted to include it for a few reasons:

It's the main hub area, and unlike other souls games it's not a warp only nexus - from it you can reach pretty much every area in the game on foot which is why I love DS1 so much.
It serves to divide the Northern Undead Asylum (pretty much a tutorial) from the actual game.
It's a throwback to my original question.

I tested everything in Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, but I don't think boss progression changed in Dark Souls: Remastered.

draw.io was used for designing and rearranging the chart throughout the testing process.

Once I finalized the arrangement I exported it from draw.io to a PDF file and edited the font, colors and background in Adobe Illustrator.

Attached .zip file contains the flowchart in 3 resolutions:

1920x1080
2560x1440
3840x2160
FAQ:

-Shouldn't Kalameet be after Artorias because you need to talk to Gough first?

-No, you don't actually need Gough's help - you can defeat Kalameet with a greatbow - it takes a long time and you need a lot of armor and Estus, but it's possible. Proof

Gough also has unique dialogue if you defeat Kalameet yourself which proves that this is intended and not a bug/skip.

-How can you reach The Bed of Chaos without killing Firesage and Centipede?

-By using the Lost Izalith shortcut (the one that opens after feeding The Fair Lady 30 humanity)

-Then shouldn't you also be able to reach Centipede Demon from Lost Izalith?

-You can reach his Lost Izalith foggate, however you can't enter it. You can only fight Centipede after killing Firesage.

-Shouldn't Four Kings be after O&S?

-No, Four Kings is the only Lord Soul you can acquire before getting the Lordvessel - they're not protected by the yellow fog gate as the other three.

-Shouldn't Gwyndolin be after O&S?

-You can get the Darkmoon Seance Ring from the catacombs which will remove the illusory wall near Darkmoon Tomb Bonfire, enabling you to join his covenant or fight him. This can be done before O&S.

-Shouldn't Priscilla be after the Stray Demon?

-You don't actually have to kill the Stray Demon to get the Peculiar Doll, it's just convenient to do it since you're already there.

-I usually go from boss X to boss Y so why are they not connected here?

-Because your choice to go X and the Y doesn't mean that this is the only path or that X is required to do Y.