Souls are what makes the world go round in Dark Souls 3, and the player is going to need a lot of them. Between leveling up, replacing certain consumables, and buying better gear, players will need to dedicate some time to farming souls in addition to progressing through the game.
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This is a general guide for players to follow if they want to maximize their soul farming efficiency. Maximizing efficiency will depend on the player’s skill, class, playstyle, and patience, but this will help anyone get started on the right foot.
10 Farm In NG+
![Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (1) Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (1)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dark-Souls-3-Soul-of-Cinder-NG.jpg)
The best way to farm souls is to progress as far as possible in the game through New Game +. The game technically has an infinite number of NG+ cycles, but enemies will cap off at NG+7 making it the best cycle for farming.
Of course, the player should go as far as they can comfortably before stopping to farm. Too far and the player will struggle to defeat enemies quickly, but too low and defeated enemies won’t drop as many souls. For a better idea of that sweet spot pay attention to the later sections about possible farming locations.
9 Prioritize DPS
![Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (2) Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (2)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dark-Souls-3-Ringed-City-Boss-DPS.jpg)
The key to soul farming quickly is to kill the enemies quickly. While many players enjoy builds that can cheese bosses or bring down enemies in unique ways, these are largely inefficient for farming. The best way to farm is to do the most damage possible in the shortest time possible, one hit killing enemies is the goal in most cases.
That being said it’s important that the player builds for their preferred playstyle. Some players are good at backstabbing and others are better with sorceries. The player should identify their preferred playstyle and maximize DPS through that playstyle.
8 Items To Equip
![Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (3) Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (3)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dark-Souls-3-Symbol-of-Avarice.jpg)
The player will want four items on hand to farm souls; the Symbol of Avarice, Covetous Silver Serpent Ring, Mendicant’s Staff, and the Shield of Want. These items boost the number of souls that are obtained from enemies and are key to maximizing efficiency.
Its important to know that the bonuses from the ring are best when its obtained from NG+3. The bonuses will only occur if the player has them equipped at the time they receive the Souls. It’s important to quickly switch to these items when the enemy dies or use them during the fight to get the 237.6% bonus to Souls.
7 Farm Items And Sell
![Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (4) Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (4)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dark-Souls-3-Covetous-Gold-Serpent-Ring.jpg)
Souls can be obtained from selling the items that drop from an enemy. While it is far more efficient to grind enemy kills, snagging the occasional item can be a good way to nudge up soul gains.
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For this the player should also have the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring and consume a Rusted Coin prior to farming. It’s up to the player whether replenishing Rusted Coin stocks is worth the effort. The Symbol of Avarice also provides a bonus bringing the total Item Discovery bonus to 265.
6 Where To Get The Gear
The Symbol of Avarice is a rare drop from killing Mimics or from throwing Undead Hunter Charms at them. Mendicant’s Staff can be farmed from the Man-Serpent Summoner near the Great Belfry Bonfire and is a rare drop. The Shield of Want is on a corpse in the Smouldering Lake near the Giant Worm. Rusted Coins are purchased from Unbreakable Patches at the Firelink Shrine for 200 Souls each.
The Covetous Silver Serpent Ring is the only item that increases its bonus if found at higher NG+ levels. For the best bonus it should be obtained in NG+3 near the spot where the Great Soul Dreg is obtained in The Dreg Heap. The Covetous Gold Serpent Ring is similar and should be obtained in NG+3 in the Ringed City on a corpse near the NPC Lapp.
5 Co-Op: Pros & Cons
![Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (6) Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (6)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dark-Souls-3-Co-Op-Fight-Dancer.jpg)
Running Co-op to farm souls is a bit of a toss-up. The souls obtainable do increase because the boss is stronger, but this is only helpful if the player can take it down just as quickly with friends as they would solo.
It also relies upon friends willing to soul farm and act as efficiently as the player when doing so without getting bored. Because of this solo farming may often be more efficient alone, with the possible exception of joining a dedicated farming co-op with stronger players.
4 Route Vs. Rush
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Another consideration is whether to route or rush when farming souls. Routing has the player map out a specific route from bonfire to bonfire killing enemies along the way before teleporting back to the beginning and doing it over again.
Rushing involves ignoring all enemies to reach a specific target and farming that target over and over again. Generally speaking, Rushing is more efficient while Routing is more interesting. Which is best comes down to the player’s patience and which one they’re more likely to commit to long-term.
3 Fun Route
![Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (8) Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (8)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dark-Souls-3-SLave-Knight-Gael-Fun-Route.jpg)
For the most amount of souls per kill the player should farm bosses. This a routing method that tasks the player with rushing through the game to kill the mandatory bosses before moving to the next NG+ cycle.
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It does require either a powerful character or intimate knowledge of how to kill each boss to be effective. Players can amass millions of souls in a matter of hours while endlessly raising their NG+ level. It’s the most interesting method of farming souls though it is typically reserved for the late game.
2 Easy Farming
![Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (9) Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (9)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dark-Souls-3-Lothric-Bonfire-Easy-Farm.jpg)
For players who struggle with bosses or need to farm souls in the mid game to make progress than farming the Lothric Castle Knight is probably their best bet. It does require triggering the Lothric Castle bonfire before the player can start.
Once the player reaches this point it is a matter of killing the nearby Knight, resting at the bonfire, and killing the Knight again. It is one of the easiest spots to farm that can generate a few hundred thousand, possibly even low million souls per hour.
1 Best Farming Spot
![Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (10) Dark Souls 3: A Step By Step Guide To Soul Farming (10)](https://i0.wp.com/static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Dark-Souls-3-Man-Serpent-Summoner.jpg)
For players looking to maximize their time efficiency then the best enemy to farm is the summoned Knight at the Dragon-Kin Mausoleum in Archdragon Peak. Near the bonfire is a Man-Serpent Summoner who will summon a Knight to battle the player.
If the player keeps their distance from the Summoner it won’t attack and will rely on the summon to do the job which can be killed in a never-ending cycle. No resting at the bonfire, no routing, and the player can time their backstabs to kill the summon as soon as it appears. This is arguably the most efficient way to farm souls netting between one and two million souls an hour depending on the player and NG+ level.
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