The Firelink Shrine serves as the primary rest spot for Dark Souls 3. You’ll find yourself coming back here over and over throughout the game to level up your character, buy and sell items, improve your weapon stats or your flasks, learn about the game lore, and so on. As you encounter more NPCs in your travels, some of them will take up residence here and help you through your journey in some way. Initially, you’ll have access to the following NPCs to interact with.
Fire Keeper: Standing by the Firelink Shrine Bonfire is the Fire Keeper. You can trade souls to level up your character with this NPC. It’s wise to keep coming back to her to level your character as you collect more souls, rather than hoarding a lot of souls, only to lose them after a death.
Hawkwood: He’s sitting on the stairs close to the bonfire. Talk to him to acquire the Collapse gesture.
Shrine Handmaid: Sitting on a chair in a hallway, you will find this NPC selling items for souls. She will also buy your items with souls. You can find items such as weapons and armors, as well repair powders, embers, homeward bones, and so on. You will also notice she has the Tower Key that costs about 20,000 souls. You don’t have to worry about that for now.
Blacksmith Andre: The blacksmith is toiling away down the corridor past the Shrine Handmaid. You will have the option to Reinforce (improve damage) your weapons by using Titanite Shards and Infuse (add elemental effects) them with Gems. He can repair your items, and Reinforce Estus Flasks (increase number of Flask uses). You can also Allot Estus Flasks, that is, you can turn Estus Flasks into Ashen Estus Flasks or vice versa. This may be helpful if you seem to need more of one type of Flask depending on your playstyle. Talk to him a few times to obtain the Hurrah! gesture.
Ludleth of Courland: He’s sitting on a throne in the upper level. You’ll have to go up the stairs and walk around his throne in order to talk to him. Talk to him to learn some lore.
Firelink Shrine Bonfire: From here, you can Travel to the other bonfires you’ve lit in your journey. This shrine itself will be available as a destination from other bonfires and is the primary bonfire you will often return to. You can access your storage box from this shrine (don’t want to carry too much weight) or Attune your spells. The Firelink Shrine Bonfire also allows you to burn Undead Bone Shards that you collect throughout the game; this improves the efficiency of the Flasks, increasing the amount of HP or FP replenished with each use.
Once you’ve talked to the NPCs, use the Firelink Shrine Bonfire to Travel to the High Wall of Lothric and continue your journey.