Gravelord Servant Covenant – Dark Souls – FAQ, Secrets, Answers!

This article answers the following questions and more:

How do you curse other players worlds as a Gravelord Servant? How to PVP as a Gravelord Servant? Why does it take so long to initiate PvP as a Gravelord Servant? What are the benefits of joining the Gravelord Servant covenant? Do other players see a Gravelord Servant summoning sign? Why don’t I see a sign after using an Eye of Death as a Gravelord Servant? How do I join the Gravelord Servants? How do I get Eye of Death items?

Upon initial reading about this covenant, I was pretty excited – it sounded like this would be a fun way to initiate PVP while maintaining the home advantage of using estus flasks. However, you will likely come to see below that the Gravelord Servant Covenant is not an ideal choice.

How do I start PVP and/or curse others as a Gravelord Servant?

In order to PVP, you will need to first join the Gravelord Servant Covenant (see below). Once you are a servant, you will need to be a human. Some websites claim you need to be in an area where you have not defeated the boss, but I found this was not the case — I used the Eye of Death in the Depths long after killing the Gaping Dragon.

Effects of Using the Eye Of Death

When you meet the above criteria, you will be able to use the Eye of Death item. Once used, you will see a cool smoky black aura around your character. This indicates you have cursed the worlds of 3 other players (note–this is the advertised effect, though it may not be working properly, even in the new 1.05 patch in 2012).

What happens to a player cursed by a Gravelord Servant using an Eye of Death?

Those cursed players now have extra, stronger “black phantom” enemies appear in their world. For example instead of one Black Knight, there will be two, and one will be extra strong. I have read that if one of the players you have cursed dies in their world, you will receive half of their souls (and they will only be able to regain half when they retrieve their bloodstain). I have not seen this happen however.

Also of note is that these extra black phantom mobs DO drop items, so I believe that some players actually want to be cursed and use this to farm items and souls more quickly–in which case they would not come to your world and fight you to end the curse.

Do cursed players see any sign in their world that they can use to invade you?

Yes, a player cursed by a Gravelord Servant will see a sign similar to a summoning sign. It will be white with black smoke and will say “Touch the Sign of the Gravelord Servant”. The cursed players can use this to come into your world and fight you. The sign will appear in their world where you used the eye of death, just like other signs (note that the Gravelord Servant who used the Eye of Death does not see any sign or marking, however).

It also appears that other players may see your sign without being cursed at all. The extra powerful black phantom (BP) enemies may not have appeared in their world at all. I have seen been on the receiving end of this and also seen reports on forums of this being the case.

Where do I get the Eye of Death items?

There are several locations where you can pick up or purchase about 9 of these items without doing any PvP. 3 are located in the Catacombs, 3 are located in the Tomb of Giants, and 3 can be purchased from Patches after defeating Gravelord Nito (back in Firelink Shrine). See the Dark Souls wiki for here for details on finding these.

The best way to get Eyes of Death is to farm them from the cursed frogs found in the lower parts of the depths. After patch 1.05, they now drop quite regularly. I would recommend using the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring and a few humanity, then farming them. You can run a circle through the Depths and farm Humanity from the rats and Eyes of Death from the frogs at the same time. You should get 1-2 of each (at least) on each run.

Why does it take so long to PVP as a Gravelord Servant? / Why doesn’t anything happen when I use an Eye of Death? / Why doesn’t anyone invade me as a Gravelord Servant?

Very good questions. Unfortunately PVP for Gravelord Servants is extremely slow or completely broken. There are a number of possible reasons, all of which likely contribute to this problem. People have reported (and I have also experienced this to be true) that you will only get a couple of PvP fights per hour as a Gravelord Servant. Obviously this would be extremely boring, so it is not a very popular covenant. Here are some possible reasons for this:

• Server issues that were never fixed — possibly you are not even successfully cursing anyone at all when using the Eye of Death.
• Some players may want to be cursed, and thus not fight you, because it speeds up farming
• Some players may not want to PvP at all, and also not understand that the extra powerful enemies in their world are related to you cursing them.
• Players may not understand how to use your Gravelord Sign that appears in their world.
• Players who are cursed by you may just give up and quit, or possibly restart their game to remove the curse.

The result is that you will be spending a LOT of time waiting to fight people, and you may not even be cursing anyone successfully–there’s no way to know what is happening in other player’s games. I would instead suggest joining just to get the Gravelord Sword and the 2 miracles (farm the cursed frogs in the depths to get 10 eye of death for the upgraded miracle). Then join another covenant that is better for PvP.

What do I get by joining the Gravelord Servant Covenant?

You get the powerful Gravelord Sword, which is upgraded with Demon Titanite. Using your strong thrust attack, this often inflicts toxic status on enemies. You also get the Gravelord Sword Dance miracle, which is an area attack that makes ghostly red swords pop out of the ground and deal damage. After turning in 10 Eye of Deaths to Gravelord Nito, you will be given the Gravelord Greatsword Dance miracle, which is a stronger version. Note that these miracles have no stat requirements to use! Using different talismans, you can make the damage scale of either Intelligence or Faith. These spells do look pretty impressive, but as with most of the area of effect spells, they take a very long time to cast and are not very effective in PvP.

How do I join the Gravelord Servant Covenant?

You will need to have at least 1 Eye of Death in your inventory. See the Dark Souls wiki for here for details on finding these. Then, go to the Catacombs to where the Titanite Demon (also called Prowling Demon) is, in the long hallway near the blacksmith / spiked wheel skeletons. You will see an open coffin in this hallway on the left, and when you approach, you will be able to lay down in the coffin. Wait about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and you will be transported to Nito (who will not be hostile). There, you can join the covenant–very easy way to get a powerful sword.

Note that you MUST join the covenant before killing Gravelord Nito in the Tomb of Giants. Also note that you can’t turn in any more Eyes of Death after killing him, so make sure you get the second miracle before proceeding on. Keep in mind that once you get to the end of the game, you wont be able to switch back and forth between this covenant like you can with most other covenants.

What happens in a PVP fight with a Gravelord Servant?

From the perspective of the Gravelord Servant, you will get a message that a Spirit of Vengeance has invaded your world. Note that they may not appear at the place where you used your Eye of Death, especially if you have been moving around different locations in your world.

After successfully defeating the Gravelord, you receive the message “Disasters are gone after the defeat of the Gravelord Servant”

Conclusion & Recommendations / Strategies:

As mentioned above, it appears the Gravelord Servant Covenant is one step away from being completely broken and pointless. This is current as of the Dark Souls 1.05 patch in 2012, and it does not appear it will ever be changed.

I’d recommend just joining the covenant, getting the Gravelord Sword and 2 miracles, then joining another covenant. Don’t waste time trying to PvP as a Gravelord because you will probably be waiting 30 minutes to an hour before seeing any sort of action. I have tested this at a number of locations and levels and this has been what other people around the internet have also reported.

If you really want to try to PvP as a Gravelord, I’d suggest using your Eye of Death in the main PvP locations: Anor Londo: around where Ornstein and Smough were, Darkroot Garden: in the forest (through the door with the Crest of Artorias, use the eye at the bottom of those stairs), and in the Kiln of the First Flame: right after walking down the white/foggy stairs (this is where most people PvP and farm). Good luck and prepare to wait a long time!

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Using a Homeward Bone will remove the Eye of Death aura from you. Most likely this means your curse of other people’s worlds has ended and you will never be invaded by them. You would need to use another Eye of Death, which means this is a bad covenant to use while you try to farm.
• If the Gravelord Servant dies or disconnects from their game, any players who they had cursed will receive a message similar to “Disasters have been removed” and their world will return to normal without needing to fight.

Feel free to leave a comment with any new information or experiences with the Gravelord Covenant!