Dark Souls III: The Ringed City Guide: Humanity Riddle, Spears of the Church, Lapp's Armor, and the Purging Monument

A couple parts of Dark Souls III: The Ringed City might leave more than a few players stumped. Near the Ringed City Streets bonfire, you'll come across a wall that has the message "Show Your Humanity". What does it mean? Near Filianore's Church, you'll find a monument tied to the new convenant, but how do you join it? We're here to tell you.

This guide follows up on our two guide pages for the previous DLC, Ashes of Ariandel - tips for survival and a full item guide. Here, we tackle The Ringed City. Note that this guide will spoil a good portion of the DLC so be wary!

Want to know where every new item in The Ringed City is? Check out our separate guide page on where to grab every new & key item.

Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City Riddle: Show Your Humanity

This is behind the riddle wall that says "Show Your Humanity", which left us stumped for a while when working on our review.

To solve the puzzle, go into the nearby water area, and use a White Branch or the Chameleon spell. It may take a couple tries but you will be transformed into a humanity. Go back to the wall with the inscription and it will open a path to a ladder and secret items. Fight past the Ringed Knights and Giant, take the ladder down, and find the Dragonhead Shield on the dead end to the Left, The Purging Monument will be found to the right at the end. Lapp is looking for the monument, so you can return to him to continue his questline after this point. 

Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City: The Purging Monument

So once you've found the Purging Monument, what does it do? It behaves very similar to Velka's statue, and can absolve you from Sin, but it also serves one other crucial purpose: you can spend souls to effectively reset the second boss fight of the DLC where you fight the Spear of the Church. This way, you can farm both Titanite Slabs and Filianore's Ornaments, which are used to level up the Spear of the Church Covenant. Pretty cool huh?

Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City: Spears of the Church

So how do you join the Spears of the Church? It's tied to the optional boss of the DLC, Darkeater Midir. To find Midir, go to the Inner Ring Wall bonfire and take the platform up. Halfway up, step through the path and turn left to a dead end with an Ember and a series of knight statues. The one not wielding a sword is fake, and can be hit to reveal an illusory wall.

From there, follow the path for some items and the arena for Midir. Upon his defeat, you will have the option to fight as a Spear of the Church.

As a Spear of the Church, you will periodically be summoned to take the place of Halflight, Spear of the Church, the DLCs second required bossfight. So in this way, it behaves mechanically similar to the Old Monk or Mirror Knight fights. This is an online way to acquire Filianore's Ornaments for the covenant.

What do you get for ranking up in this covenant? You'll find the Ritual Spear Fragment near the convenant's shrine, which is an unlimited use consumable item that can be used anytime you're summoned as the Spear in place of Halflight. If you turn in 10 ornaments, you'll receive the Young Grass Dew, which offers some minor protection when held. After 30 ornaments you'll receive another consumable item, the Divine Spear Fragment, also to be used when acting as the Spear. So this entire covenant involves strengthening your role as a protector of Filianore, and trying to block other players from easily completing the DLC. 

Dark Souls 3: The Ringed City: The Identity of Lapp

Once you know the location of the Purging Monument, you might remember it is the same thing that Lapp, the amensiac NPC that you encounter early in the DLC, is looking for. If you return to him with this knowledge, he will go off in search of his identity. If you need a reminder of where's he's at, he's above the main large Ringed City staircase. You can get up to him by heading up a ladder in the corner of the water area and fighting past a couple Ringed Knights.

You'd think you find him at the monument, but not quite! Instead you'll find him at the ruined staircase before the Shared Grave bonfire. He will tell you that there is treasure below, and then kick you down. Sound familiar?

He will have remembered that he is actually Patches! After this little scene, he will leave his armor near where he kicked you off, so double back to receive Lapp's Armor Set. You can also now summon him for the 2nd required boss fight in the DLC.