For those who don't know Yoel is a merchant located under the bridge down to the
left of the 'Foot of the Highwall' bonfire. Save him and he will appear in Firelink Shrine.
Tip: You must take 5 'free' levels before killing Abyss Watchers (This is only requirement that
you need to watch out for)
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Why do l use air quotes on 'free'? Because after those 5 levels you have to pay more souls
for next level equal of its value. For example if you are level 20 going to level 25 then level
26 will cost as much as it does. If levels were completely free it would cost as much as going
from level 20 to 21 in this example. The difference is counted by subtracting your next level price from your new next level price. For example new level (20-21) is 5000 souls and (25-26) is 7500 souls then 7500-5000 = 2500 souls difference (not exact numbers)
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1. Kill Gundyr
2. Kill Vordt
3. Save Yoel!
4. Kill Greatwood normally
5. Get items from swamp (estus shard/bone shard)
5.1 Kill the Demon miniboss on the top of the Farron tower.
6. Kill Crystal Sage
7. Kill Deacons
8. Kill Dancer (You should have +4 for this, 2 larges are across Demon from part 5.1)
9. Farm Lothric Knights for larges (100% drop) and get to +6
10. Get Chunks from Lothric Castle and get to +9 (trade with the Snuggly crow)
11. Snatch the Slab from Ariandel for +10
12. Kill Oceiros
13. Kill Champion Gundyr
14. Kill Dragonslayer Armor
15. Kill Sister Friede
16. Kill Gravetender Duo
17. Go to Dreg Keep from Friede and kill Demon Prince
18. Kill Midir
19. Kill Halflight (or your pvp boss enemy)
20. Kill Gael
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Now take your free 5 levels.
Easy profit.
The reason of this is because you want those 5 levels as late as possible because that makes them worth more. I went from level 84 to level 89 and saved around 250k souls. Also stop this progress at any point if you are satisfied with your SL. For example if your goal is SL60 and you are SL55 you already have to stop and go take those levels. Good luck!