Death’s Door Spell Upgrades (and Where to Find Them)

The little reaper eventually has access to 4 spells, and while the spells themselves are found as part of your natural progression through the game, the upgrades to those spells are all hidden. With that in mind, here’s how to find them all!


What you need: Ironically, the first spell in the game requires that you find the other 3 spells before you can upgrade it.

What it does: The upgraded bow spell can be charged up to deal more damage on release.

Go through the door to the Lost Cemetery, and once there, head south and enter the nearby doorway. Use your flame spell to clear the cobwebs on the doorway there, then jump down the hole. Go down the stairs, then fight your way east through the eggs and up the stairs. Head through the next set of eggs, then go stand on the end of the wooden walkway and light the brazier. Drop down and head around the coffins to reach the doorway in the northwest of the room, and head through.

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Fight through the eggs to the ladder in the next room and climb it. Light the braizer across the room with your flame spell, then hop down and exit through the now-open gateway to the northwest (use a Life Seed in the pot before you go through if you need some hp, there’s an arena fight coming up.

You’re a pro reaper with all your spells, so this arena fight should be easy. Once you finish, head up the stairs to the west and light the brazier, then climb the ladder that drops and exit via the doorway to the southeast. Go up the stairs and then through the wide doorway to the northeast.

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In the next room, stand on the western side of the room and use your bomb spell to break the wall in front of the firepit there. Then make sure you have at least 2 energy (there’s a pot in the corner if you need more), and then use your flame spell to light the firepit you just revealed. Then quickly switch to your hookshot and hook to the middle ankh, then to the southeastern one, and swap back to flame spell to light the 2nd firepit. Then head through the gate this opened.

You’ll find a doorway with a bow icon above it. Entering will begin a mini-boss fight, which will upgrade your bow ability if you win. This is the hardest Silent Servant fight, so don’t feel bad if it takes you a few tries (and you can always come back after you’ve grabbed a few stat upgrades).

What you need: You can access this upgrade once you have the flame spell.

What it does: The upgraded flame spell will set enemies alight, burning them for extra damage over time.

From the Estate of the Urn Witch door, head southwest down the stairs, and then southeast through the estate’s entrance. Take the elevator back up to the Masoleum. Exit the elevator room, then go southwest through the doorway, and you should see a cobweb covered doorway.

how to find the flame spell upgrade doorway

Use your flame spell to open it, then head inside. You’ll find an open doorway with the flame spell icon above it — enter, defeat the Silent Servant and earn your upgrade!

What you need: You can access the bomb spell upgrade once you have the bomb spell, which seems reasonable.

What it does: The upgraded bomb spell will no longer damage you, allowing you to cast it on nearby enemies without fear of harming your crow bod.

To get to this upgrade, you’ll need to get to the Lost Cemetery, and then make your way to the path you took to reach the Overgrown Ruins in the Frog King’s domain. The upgrade is below the bridge you get on after lighting the brazier. Here’s how to get there:

From the Lost Cemetery door, head northeast up the stairs, then go due east from the top of the stairs, and up the next staircase. Continue north east until you reach the lit brazier. The doorway we need to get through is just below you — reach it by dropping off the bridge. Then you can use your bomb spell on the doorway to open it, and head on in!

how to find the bomb spell deaths door guide

You’ll see an open doorway with the bomb spell icon above it. Head in, win the fight, earn your reward!

What you need: Naturally, you’ll need the hookshot spell.

What it does: The upgraded hookshot lets you attack while you’re flying around on the hook. Doing so will deliver a wide, powerful slash.

Go through the door to the Stranded Sailor, then head northeast up the long staircase and into the caves. Once you go down the first set of stairs in the caves, go due south and stand on the gap in the rocks — you’ll see an ankh just south of you. Hookshot over and push the lever.

how to find the hookshot upgrade deaths door guide

Hookshot to the eastern ankh to cross the water again, then enter the now-open doorway and you’ll find the door leading to the hookshot upgrade inside. Defeat the Silent Servant beyond, and earn your upgrade!


While each Silent Servant fight is somewhat different, they all use the same move-set. We’re going to use the hardest fight as our example here, since they have the moves of every servant that came before them (there may be a few exceptions, but they shouldn’t be major differences). Here’s all of the Silent Servant attacks, how to avoid them, and when it’s safe to do some attacking of your own:

Slam/Swing – This is the most common attack you’ll see — the Silent Servant slams his weapon down towards you, then after a brief delay, he’ll swing it in a circle around him. He won’t always do the second part, but you should just assume he is and stay out of it’s range. If you want, you can sneak in an attack in between the two parts of this move, but it’s safer to simply wait until you’ve seen the wide swing, then move in and attack a few times.

silent servent spell upgrade guide slam swing gif

If you stand in front and to the left of the Silent Servant, he’ll do a thrust instead of a swing for a follow-up — this can be easier to dodge if you’re struggling to avoid his swing. Thanks to EIP user Matt Bo for this tip.

Projectiles – Sometimes the Silent Servant will launch a single bomb while doing the Slam/Swing. You’ll know it’s coming if their head sinks down into their body.

silent servent spell upgrade guide bomb gif

Other times, it will be a series of projectiles. You’ll get an indicator on the ground just like the single projectile, so keep an eye on their path and otherwise you can fight him like normal.

Slo-mo – This is definitely the most annoying part of fighting these guys. Sometimes, the Servant will slam his weapon into the ground and make you unable to roll or swing your weapon. You can still use spells, so feel free to get some damage in that way, but focus on staying out of the path that the Servant would take to the 3 platforms. Once you’re safely out of his path to the platforms, spam the dodge roll button — the window to dodge his attacks is basically non-existent. If he just hookshots to a platform, consider yourself lucky.

You can also mash the attack or roll button after he slows time on you in order to break free from his spell sooner. Credit for this tip goes to EIP users Rudy A. and Scas .

silent servent spell upgrade guide slo mo hook gif

Artillery Attack – After hookshotting to one of the platforms, the Silent Servant will launch some projectiles at you. Run in a circle, dodging occasionally, and they should all miss. Be ready for him to leap at you from the platform once he finishes his ranged attacks — dodge roll when he lands and he won’t hit you. If you position near him, you can attack him a few times after he lands.

silent servent spell upgrade guide ranged attacks gif

Your dodge roll will be your best friend in this fight, since once they’ve taken a bit of damage, the Silent Servant will spawn swirling orbs that protect them and damage you on contact. You’ll generally want to roll into and out of range to avoid getting hit, though you can avoid them just with positioning as well.

silent servent spell upgrade guide ball avoidance gif

That should cover all of the moves you need to know to take down the Silent Servants. Good luck!

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DanielD
DanielD

Unabashed FromSoftware fanboy still learning to take his time with games (and everything else, really). The time he doesn't spend on games is spent on music, books, or occasionally going outside.

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Justin conner
Justin conner
3 years ago

Well detailed guide. Thanks for the time and effort it must’ve taken to make this. Most helpful.

@void
@void
3 years ago

thanks mate

Matt Bo
Matt Bo
3 years ago

I found the Silent Servant will only do the large sweeping second attack if you are on his right side, or behind him after his first attack. If you stick to the front left he’ll only ever do the thrust attack after as his second attack and its a lot easier to dodge.

Evarika
Evarika
2 years ago

The Hookshot’s upgrade attack damage doesn’t appear to be affected by your weapon choice, but also appears to be affected by your melee damage upgrades rather than your ranged upgrades. Thus, it is a decent choice for all builds, as the attack itself recovers magic charges like a melee attack (good for ranged builds), and deals more damage for melee-based builds.

Evarika
Evarika
Reply to  Evarika
2 years ago

I did some testing, but it was by no means exhaustive. Anyone is free to refute it.

Evarika
Evarika
Reply to  Evarika
2 years ago

After further testing, I have concluded that the hookshot attack is indeed affected by melee upgrades. Its range and damage were both affected, allowing me to one-shot a greater number of enemies and hit in a wider area. Weapon damage and range do not affect the attack, though-in the process of my testing-I found that the Thunder Hammer’s chain lightning attack still applies, and the damage is calculated based on the hookshot attack’s damage rather than the hammer’s.

Player
Player
1 year ago

You left out where you fi d the flame spell

Tuesday
Tuesday
1 year ago

Is it a glitch if the flame spell upgrade door isn’t there? I have upgraded all other spells, but this door isn’t there. I thought perhaps I missed something, but was told all doors should be there once you have the original spells? Please help.

Last edited 1 year ago by Tuesday