Company of Champions

The Company of Champions is a covenant in Dark Souls II. This covenant increases the difficulty of the game and is used to provide players with a bigger challenge.

Requirements

There are no requirements to join the Company of Champions.

How to join

The player can join this covenant as soon as they arrive to Majula. Going between the houses of Lenigrast and Shalquoir, a ledge extending from the cliffside can be found which leads to the Victor's Stone. Upon interacting with the stone, the player must confirm multiple times that they are certain about joining the covenant.

Benefits

• Joining this covenant offers a higher degree of difficulty to the game and disables friendly summoning (including NPC summoning) and being summoned, although it is still possible to summon hostile spirits and be invaded. All enemies deal more damage and have increased defenses, although they won't actually have more health.
• Defeating an invading red phantom will reward the player with an Awestone. Defeating red phantoms summoned through a Red Sign Soapstone won't yield Awestones. Certain enemies can also, rarely, drop Awestones. These Awestones can be offered to the Victor's Stone to rank up in the covenant.
• Enemies gain higher tactical intelligence, as they will retreat when at low health and attack at the same time, making fighting multiple enemies much more dangerous.
• Respawning enemies will continue to respawn indefinitely while the player is within the covenant. As such, this makes the Company of Champions ideal for farming items from respawning enemies. This effect doesn't affect enemies that do not respawn normally.

Cons

Player can't have any online interactions.

Rewards

Awestones are offered to the Victor's Stone to gain ranks in the Company of Champions.

Rank	Stones Offered	Rewards
+0	-	Champion's Tablet
+1	10	Great Magic Weapon
+2	25	First Dragon Ring
+3	50	Vanquisher's Seal

Notes

• Contrary to playing in NG+, joining the Company of Champions will only make enemies harder but they won't yield more souls when defeated.
• If the player is in NG+ or beyond, the damage received while in the Company of Champions can become so high (due to enemies already being stronger) that even weaker enemies can kill the player within only a few hits. As such, every encounter should be met with utmost care, as letting one's guard down can very easily result in death.