4 Kings speedrun challenge

So I was messing around the other night and came up with what I thought would be an interesting challenge for players who enjoy testing their skills. Simple premise really; From a fresh game and without using any glitches, how long would it take you to kill the 4 Kings? Sounds simple on paper but far more difficult in execution. Out of all the bosses, the 4 Kings are the only ones that require a minimum amount of DPS to successfully take them out and that itself is the challenge. Essentially you only have to take out Sif and then make your way to the 4 Kings, but along the way you have to acquire enough firepower to pull it off while basically making no major mistakes.

What weapon will you use? Will you take the time to upgrade it? What path will you use to reach Sif? Will you risk fighting the Kings with the RT ring where a single mistake will end your attempt? How and where will you get souls to even use the weapon? What bonfires will you use, or will you risk only use the Firelink to be able to warp back to it? Will you bother with armor and waste the time needed to grab it? So many little things to figure out and on top of it all you will have to do it at a low level with the meagerest of gear all while under a time limit.

Speed runs are a great test of skill but they require a huge time investment so players that may have the skill to attempt it won't usually bother. Low level runs are great as well, but given enough time can be overcome with sheer determination and upgraded items. This challenge combines both and requires you to move through the areas very quickly and not waste any time, as well as killing two higher level bosses at relatively low levels with weaker gear.

I've completed this at what I think is a respectable time and will eventually upload a video of it on my channel, but I'd like to wait and see if others are interested in trying it out and seeing what methods they come up with without watching mine. There are so many possible methods I'd love to see what other tactics people figure out. Note this is not a thread to discuss possible tactics, I'd hope people would want to figure that out their own, I just wanted to throw out the idea and see if any others are down for trying it. I'd say anything under 30 minutes is a good start, anything over is wasting too much time trying to level up and upgrade. Anything closer to the 20 minute range is much more difficult and respect-worthy.

A bug thing I would consider is getting enough faith and SLB. We know DMB destroys them but that requires a catacombs trip.EDIT:Nvm getting to anor londo would be too wasteful.

I once killed the four King's alone with a black knight sword + 3 with a character that only killed Sif and Four Kings. One lizard from undead burg, another in forest. No master key, went threw new Londo and drained it. Took elevator up. Got Firekeeper soul from new Londo and undead church. + 2 Estus plus 10 glugs.

Did it with first try. Two handed, R1 only with r2 for all but one finishing move against four King's. Only have dark hand for other weapon, for blast attack. Had warrior and elite knight Armour combined (helm and gloves of elite knight with rest warrior... Looked good).

Killed the the three King's each, and usually after the one after spawned. The fourth king came about 15 seconds after third. Again, beat on first try.

Was fun. Learned to do it with Gravelord before. Stay close, and roll only when necessary. Level up, and only upgrade sword when need be. Get minimum at least for one hand, and the rest was endurance to allow more rolls and swings... Greatswords take good amount of stamina low leveled.

Vageta is throwing down the gauntlet! Sounds like a fun challenge. I've been meaning to redo my speedrun... I'll have to decide whether I'll do my entire run, or this instead.

My only problem is I have no good form of capturing video. I can setup my phone, but it's very encumbering (has to be right in front of the screen to get a decent image, so it actually blocks part of my field of view) and affects my gameplay. If need be, I could just quit the game when I'm done, take a snapshot of the time, then film a quick little snippet in the Abyss to show they're dead...

First I need to decide whether I do my run or this, though!

Sounds like it would be extremely difficult to make 30 minutes, at least for me anyway, I enjoy taking my time through the game.

I think maybe I'll try to beat the game on NG+ first XD

Even if some people couldn't record it I'd still take their word provided the method sounded legit. I'm really interested in what other paths and tactics another person would use.

Also there are ghetto methods to video capturing if someone has the items necessary. You can split your video output from the ps3/xbox and record it directly to a vcr or camcorder, then once you have recorded what you need you can play it back and record with your phone or something.

To the last guy, this definitely isn't a challenge for a new player. It takes a really good knowledge of the game and the boss fights to be able to complete in a short time.

Also Blaine, you could think of this as practice for a full speed run. A lot of the same strategies would work for both, and since it's short it wouldn't take as long to be successful.

Well, I would follow mostly the same route anyway... I would just be killing a few less bosses! Maybe I'll give it a try tomorrow.

Acidic_Cook wrote:I once killed the four King's alone with a black knight sword + 3 with a character that only killed Sif and Four Kings.

Black Knight Sword +3 is pretty much the quickest way I can imagine. I was trying to beat them pretty early on once so I could Darkwraith and actually had one of the easiest battles I ever had against them (would have to literally wait for the next King to spawn I killed them so quickly).

JohnnyHarpoon wrote:

Acidic_Cook wrote:I once killed the four King's alone with a black knight sword + 3 with a character that only killed Sif and Four Kings.

Black Knight Sword +3 is pretty much the quickest way I can imagine. I was trying to beat them pretty early on once so I could Darkwraith and actually had one of the easiest battles I ever had against them (would have to literally wait for the next King to spawn I killed them so quickly).

The boss's damage is actually scaled with your level.

^Vageta said that.