Update: Occasionally, when a gravelord servant uses an eye of death, several powered-up versions of the local enemies spawn in infected players worlds (these enemies are referred to as "black phantom enemies"). I will attempt to compile a list of what enemies appear and where. It could take a while though, as these enemies only appear rarely.

Update: It appears a gravelord's covenant rank does NOT factor in to whether or not black phantom enemies appear in other player's worlds. Also, I've fixed a few minor syntax errors.

As of writing this, the "black phantom enemies" are still not spawning all the time. Sometimes the enemies appear in a victim's world, and sometimes they don't. I have yet to find out what triggers this.

The "gravelord messages" are also functioning incorrectly. You'll rarely ever be warned when a gravelord is active in your world. However, when the message "disasters are gone after the defeat of the gravelord servant" appears, the gravelord's influence in your world will end (whether or not the gravelord was actually defeated).
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After poking around this forum, I noticed most of the problems people have with the eyes of death item is that they aren't using them right. As such, I have spent the past 4 days researching, studying, and testing the eyes of death so as to make the gravelord covenant more accessible to everyone. You're welcome.

Be advised that the covenant IS bugged right now, but it is not completely unusable. For now, Eyes of Death only rarely spawn stronger monsters in other worlds (I've seen stories of it happening though, and I'm investigating that). Also, while I can't personally confirm this, it's possible Nito is supposed to give you more rewards past the +1 rank, whereas right now he currently doesn't.

By the by, since I'm only one guy, it's entirely possible I've made some mistakes. If you notice anything wrong or just want to add something, please say so and I'll fix it ASAP. This guide would be useless if it were wrong, ne?
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EYES OF DEATH: What are they?

The Eye of Death is a Gravelord Servant's covenant-specific multiplayer item. In plain english, this is what they need to do terrible, terrible things to you.

However, unlike most other covenant multiplayer items, the Eyes of Death are one use each. In addition to this, a gravelord servant needs eyes of death in order to level up his covenant. So where do they get more eyes of death? By using them to kill you, of course. If they have no Eyes of Death to use, a gravelord can farm them from basilisks, but those have the nasty habit of cursing you.

The Eye of Death mechanic is very interesting, and in my opinion is one of the cooler tricks in this game. Unfortunately, it's not immediately apparent as to what they do or how to even do it, so you may think your Eyes of Death aren't working at all.
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EYES OF DEATH: How do they work?

As previously mentioned, how an Eye of Death works is not immediately apparent, and getting the most out of an Eye of Death requires much experimentation. Unfortunately they are very scarce, and the best way to get more is by using them properly. It can be frustrating, which is why I've done all the hard work for you.

In order to use an Eye of Death in the first place, you must be human, and be in the gravelord servant covenant. If you are not in the gravelord servant covenant, you can't use an Eye of Death. Whether you are or not, you can't use one while hollow. This is important, since using one will make people want to kill you, and if they succeed you'll have to un-hollow before you can use it again.

First, let's go over what they actually do.

When you do use an Eye of Death, you are first asked if you want to use it to lure phantoms by spreading misery. If you choose no, the item will not be used. If you choose yes, then your eye of death will be used up and its effect will be active. When it's active, you cannot summon other players or challenge bosses, but aside from that you can move about freely. The effect will not cease until you die.

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Be warned, the effect of an Eye of Death will also fade if you use a homeward bone or the homeward miracle. Also, since you can still lay down summon signs and be summoned while using an Eye of Death, being summoned will negate an eye's effect. You don't get the eye back, either. You can also invade while your eye of death is active, with the same result.
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While the Eye of Death is active, other players in the same location and level range as you will become 'infected'. They will see a message telling them a gravelord has cursed them, and the only way to stop the ensuing disasters is to find the gravelord and kill him. While infected, a player may not invade other worlds and a special 'gravelord sign' will appear in their world. In addition, the Eye of Death is supposed to spawn horrible, powerful monsters in their world, but this is currently not working.

Where the gravelord sign appears in their world depends on where you are at the moment. When you use an Eye of Death, you essentially become the gravelord sign. As you move about, its location will periodically update in the infected players' worlds. This happens every 10 seconds or so.

Since the gravelord sign follows you, if you move to a completely different location the sign will follow you there. When it updates its location again, the players in your previous location will be released and players in your new area will become infected. As such, you can gravelord different areas without having to use another eye of death.

Gravelord signs have a very unique appearance, and can be distinguished from other signs easily. The 'letters' of the sign are spelled out with white bones, and a black mist exudes from around it. Even if you've never seen one before, you'll know it's a gravelord sign.

The gravelord sign has a number of unique properties aside from moving about. Even if a player is hollow, they can still see a gravelord sign. Especially notable, if a player has killed the local boss a gravelord sign can still appear in that area. They can invade you through your sign even if their boss is defeated.

If a player activates a gravelord sign, the game will inform them they are invading the gravelord's world as a spirit of vengeance. Since a gravelord can be invaded normally even while the Eye of Death is active, it helps to remember that players lured by the Eye of Death will spawn as spirits of vengeance, so if the gravelord wants more Eyes of Death, he'll need to kill the blue players.

It is important to note that as with all invasions, players can only invade a gravelord if he hasn't killed the local boss. If he has, the gravelord sign will not appear in other player's worlds until he moves to an area where the boss is still alive.

When a player invades the gravelord, their goal is to kill him. Expect no mercy, especially if the gravelord mechanic is ever fixed and they'll have to kill you to stop your monsters.

If the spirit of vengeance is killed by the gravelord, the gravelord will receive an Eye of Death along with a very small number of souls. I am not sure what formula this soul reward follows, but the end result is far less than killing a player via other means. As such, it's better to use Eyes of Death to collect more eyes than to farm souls.

When a vanquished player is returned to their world, if they find the gravelord sign again they can invade another time. There is no waiting period for defeated players; they can invade you immediately after dying, so long as they can find the gravelord sign.

In addition to this, multiple players can invade at the same time, up to 3 players at once. Since gravelords can't summon phantoms while using an Eye of Death and they can't escape the invaders by challenging a boss, gravelords must either be especially cautious or especially skilled to collect more Eyes of Death than they end up using.

If the players defeat the gravelord, they will be awarded with an Eye of Death and a paltry amount of souls. I'm not sure if this is what's supposed to happen, but it's what's happening as of now. As well, the Eye of Death's effect will cease, and in order to activate it again the gravelord must unhollow, then use another eye of death.

While using an Eye of Death, a gravelord can still be invaded by darkwraiths and darkmoons. Killing either type of invader will not award the gravelord with an Eye of Death, and since darkmoons also invade as spirits of vengeance this can be especially confusing. The best way to avoid darkmoon players is to not sin, and fortunately killing a player via Eyes of Death does not allow them to indict you.

There is a common belief that if a player dies while under the effects of a gravelord curse, the gravelord will receive half their souls. I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO CONFIRM THIS. Despite all my efforts, the only time I have received new souls by an Eye of Death was by killing invading players.
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EYES OF DEATH: Upgrading your covenant rank

So, what does a gravelord need all these Eyes of Death for? While it is nice to have an ample supply for personal use, what a gravelord really needs Eyes of Death for is upgrading his covenant rank.

By giving Eyes of Death to Gravelord Nito, the gravelord servant covenant can be upgraded. 10 eyes gives you gravelord servant +1, 20 more gives you +2, and 50 after that gives you +3, for a total of 80 Eyes of Death.

As of now, the only rewards for upgrading the covenant at all are an improved covenant-specific miracle at the +1 rank. I have seen rumors that there is supposed to be a suit of armor at +2 or +3, but I have been unable to confirm this.

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EYES OF DEATH: Frequently asked questions

Unlike other FAQ sections where the poster simply adds questions they think will be asked or have already been answered in the original post, I intend to fill this with questions I am actually asked and answer them to the best of my ability. Some questions I will not know the answer to right away, so it might take a while. If another forumite answers the question before I do, I will credit them accordingly. If the question is already answered in the main section, odds are I won't answer it unless asked frequently enough.

Question #1: If I kill Nito, am I kicked out of the gravelord covenant?

Answer:

I have not been able to test this for myself yet, but other, very reliable people here have said no, you aren't kicked out for killing Nito. You do lose the ability to rank up, however. I will test this myself, but it'll take a few days.

Great FAQ. The only contradiction seems to be this: you can infect players who have already defeated that area's boss, and they can't invade you back. Is this true? or is this just a misstep?

That's pretty cool though! I'm thinking I might just sit outside Ornstein and Smough bothering those poor players.

Oh, my bad. They can see your soul sign even if they've defeated the area's boss, and they can invade you through it so long as your boss is still alive.

Thank you, I'll clear that up.

Awesome, good job Tsmp!! I have a Gravelord that I'm getting ready to make soon, so this really makes me glad.

I have heard of people who managed to get the Gravelord Curse to work properly. Somebody said that he got some guy to get it to work on him in the Kiln. This spawned a Black Phantom copy of each Black Knight in the area. This Black Phantom did not replace the regular Black Knight. They had increased aggro ranges and were especially aggressive. They seemed to have identical soul/item drops as the normal versions.

Not sure if it was true, but that's what I was told. If Gravelord works in 1.05, I will be so god damn happy. I've been wanting to play as a Gravelord since before release, but with it being broken, I just couldn't be assed to do it.

This is interesting... I'll try it out and see for myself. It'll take a while to get this character to the kiln, but it seems worth the effort. I wonder if it actually works in some locations? There's only one way to find out.

Thanks!

Something is bothering me in this guy's story. Afaik :

-You need to have Nito's soul to feed the LordVessel and open the gate to the Kiln
-The Gravelord Covenant is gone after you kill Nito, preventing you from using related multiplayer items such as Eyes of Death

So, how could a guy possibly use an Eye of Death in the Kiln ? Unless I'm missing something and there is another way to access the Kiln without killing Nito (maybe through the Darkwraith Cov with the other Snake ?), this is simply not possible.

Also, as a sidenote, the Gravelord Cov doesn't seem very appealing in the current (broken) state it is. i mean we all know that with the connections issues and the Eye of Death not working properly, it drastically reduces the chances of someone actually seeing and willing to invade your world through the gravelord sign. Because some people will always be afraid to invade another player world, your are missing all these people with Nito's Cov. In the current state of the game (pre-1.05 patch), the Darkwraith is the way to go for me, the Darkmoon beeing a decent alternative if you want to play the good guy, with slightly less chances of finding a match.

^^^ You remain in the covenant. You just can't level up in it, or rejoin if you leave.


Thanks OP. This clears up a lot of questions I had.

Ah, thank you. That's an important note I should have mentioned. Good catch.

You're welcome! I wrote this for people who actually want to use the gravelord covenant. When it is fixed, I'm sure the covenant will become more popular, and by then this should be ready.

First off, thanks for the informative post.



This is why people say Gravelord covenant is broken. Since there are no monsters harassing other players, there is nothing driving people to counter invade you. I don't think it's so much that people don't understand how the system works, it just doesn't work as advertised/designed. At the current state, and from your input, it seems that the covenant is no more than a roaming Red Soapstone mark.

Aye, I'm aware of this. I'm working on clarifying vague parts in this monstrosity. It'll take a while though, as I'll have to get back to work in a few minutes...

I use my eyes of death in dark root garden. Don't kill the butterfly or Sif. I place it right infront of the bonfire, and gate leading into the forest and it totally works! I've encountered an issue where the same person gets cursed 3 times. I lay a curse down and I keep getting eyes from them, and I thought it was suppose to curse 3 random players and not the same person 3 times.

Nah, everyone remains cursed until they manage to kill you. If they invade and you kill them, they're still cursed and can keep trying until they finally succeed. It's good for the gravelorder, because if there's someone you can just keep killing you'll get multiple eyes of death from them. I put one down in the blighttown swamp, and I got 5 eyes from this one dude who just wouldn't give up. Got me in the end though, but I made out like a bandit. =D

I'm noticing an odd pattern: I've been invaded by more than 3 different people, so either there's a point where it periodically cycles to new people, or it hits a whole slew of people and only 3 can invade at a given time. I doubt it's targeting 3 people at a time, because the one player I mentioned had been trying for 2 hours to kill me, then he left to kill the boss and came back 30 minutes later, but in the meantime I'd been invaded by 5 completely different people. In that case, it looks more like it hits a whole ton of people, but only up to 3 can invade you. I'll have to test this out more thoroughly, so don't take my word for it just yet.

Aye, the area right before the forest cov door seems to be a good place if you keep the butterfly alive. You won't need to keep sif alive though, as it's possible to skip the butterfly and go directly for sif. The only problem I had with that area is I'd run into the same kinds of people who farm the forest for shits and giggles, so I got gang-raped by all kinds of scary builds. Would not recommend for lower-level toons.

By the by... Hey d0c, if you're reading this does this thread seem like sticky material? Is there any way I can improve it?

Good information on here for would be Gravelords.

Stickied as per request

I love the idea of this covenant and joined it as soon as I found it. Got my favorite weapon for joining. Unfortunately the covenant wasn't working to well so I decided to leave. Can't wait for it to be fixed with 1.05 (which is what I'm most excited about).

I don't remember it being said in the guide but you have to be Human to use the Eye of Death. It should be obvious to most players (which is probably why it wasn't in there) but I'm sure there are some people who wouldn't be able to figure it out.

Oh yeah... I suppose I should add that. There are covenant items that can be used while hollow (dragon eye), so that's important. Good catch!

About a week ago the Undead Burg was infested with black phantoms. As youhollowed said they were just copies of the lame hollow enemies already there, but black phantom versions (well Red Phantoms really) Then after a while I got a message saying something like 'Gravelord left the area' and they were gone.
I want to do that to people.

Patch 1.05 is out now, and while I deleted my would-have-been Gravelord character when I restarted the game, I can confirm that the drop rate on Eyes of Death in The Depths is averaging 2 items per Basilisk farming cycle. Even if 50% of the time your Eyes do nothing at all, you'll still be able to rank up in the covenant and harass players with ease now. Assuming the item actually functions as it's supposed to, Gravelords may be popping up all over the place soon. It's about damn time!

Oh, yeah... I'll make a note of that.

Alright, in that case for the time being all information in this guide is outdated. I'll have to rework everything. No rest for the wicked...

Now that the patch is out dose anyone know if black phantoms appear in other worlds?

great post! you make me want to try it NOW!

God i want to be invaded so bad lol. Sounds so awesome hehe

Keep us updated on new information. Maybe use a different color, as it's tough to pick out new info in that first post.

My next charicter will be a Gravelord for PVP if it's working.

Note: If you warp from a bonfire, you will lose your eye of death's effect, and you will not be compensated for it.

That's a good idea. So far I haven't found anything new, and monsters still aren't spawning in the worlds I've infected, but I am getting more people. Sometimes. It's iffy.



This is true, I have done this. Definitely worth adding.

I started farming the depths a bit to see if droprates were better after 1.05 and guess what, no more pointless soulfarming in the covenant as two hours of farming netted me 55 humanity, 75 eyes of the dead, 34 titanite shards, 46 green titanite shards and enough souls to bring me from level 150 to 154 and it is fun fun fun.

I am human (not hollow) with 16 humanity in my counter and the golden serpent ring, droprate 410 (check out how much humanity you use because 410 is reached pretty fast and it won't rise or it might be bugged)

The best droprate I experience with the eyes. Pretty regular I have runs with 3-4 eyes drops and barely a run without a single drop. Worst droprate humanity then the shards.
As a purely casting build it is a fast run shooting my balls of homing soulmass left and right to kill the mob.

Now if From software would fix that bug where killed mice fall down the floor it would have been 59 humanity (damn shame to see those mice drop through the scenery).

it deffo works it's just as the servant you won't know if someones world is in trouble, then they have to decide to invade you or not.

The item find rate isn't bugged, it just maxes at 10 now instead of 30. Loving that new patch, myself. =D

I haven't tried farming basilisks on the new patch yet, but by all appearances it should be much easier. Their drop rate has been dramatically increased, and with humanity maxing your item find much earlier it should actually be doable. This is good news, since the people who've been invading my character via gravelord sign claim they didn't have extra monsters running around. That lack of incentive probably cost me a few eyes...

Oy, but if you think the mice are bad try farming the baby skellies. There's only 10 actual skeleton babies, so the game just recycles the corpses when they respawn, item and all. =D

You guys got to see this, proof of the gravelords black phantoms in kiln.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEzPqu4q ... ideo_title

I went in NG++ and down to catacombs to become a member of Gravelords. I have noob question. I cleared the area before fog and I used eye. I have notised two white circles (they look like golden circle in iron golem boss area which transportes you in Anor Londo) in the coridor with two skeleton archers just before entering area with wheel skeleton. You can not trigger or used them for transport, they are just there. What are those two white circles and are they connected with Gravelord? And yes, two BP did invade me and I got an eye.

Those are miricle resonance circles. If you use a specific miricle on or near one of those circles it will get extra power. I'm not sure but I belive you will only see them if your active spell is the miricle that will be effected by the circle.

I have seen them but I did not use any miricles. Are those resonance circles new in the game or just in NG++?

They were always in the game but we couldn't see them until 1.05

over an hour.. maybe two.. still no heads or tails if gravelord invasion is succeeding or not

^^Don't we need a special ring to synergize with them though?