Dark Souls Humanity Farming: The Best Spots and Setup

The best Dark Souls humanity farming spots are the rats in the Depths early on, the baby skeletons outside Gravelord Nito's arena once you reach the Tomb of the Giants, and the humanity sprites in the Chasm of the Abyss if you own Artorias of the Abyss, which is included in Remastered. Before any of them, equip the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring and hold 10 soft humanity, which together push your item discovery to its maximum of 410. With that setup, the Tomb of the Giants alone can get you to 99 humanity in roughly an hour and a half.

We checked every location, drop rate and mechanic here against the Fextralife Dark Souls wiki's Humanity, Humanity Farming, Bonfire and enemy pages in November 2026. The figures apply to both Dark Souls Remastered and the original release.

What Humanity Actually Does

Humanity comes in two forms, and mixing them up is the most common beginner mistake. Soft humanity is the counter in the top-left of your screen. It boosts several stats while you hold it, but it drops to your bloodstain with your souls when you die. Item humanity is a consumable in your inventory that you can store indefinitely and never lose on death; using one adds a point to the counter and also restores some health.

Here is what that counter is good for, according to the wiki:

• Reversing hollowing. One humanity at a bonfire returns you to human form, which you need to summon help, be summoned and kindle.
• Kindling. Each kindle costs one humanity and raises how many Estus a bonfire refills, up to 10 before you own the Rite of Kindling and up to 20 after.
• Item discovery. Your base of 100 rises to 150 at one humanity and 210 at ten.
• Curse resistance and defenses. Curse resistance climbs from 30 at zero humanity to 120 at ten and 153 at thirty, and your elemental defenses rise with it.
• Chaos weapons. Chaos-upgraded weapons and spells scale with humanity and reach full effect at 10.

Two covenants also take humanity as their offering, the Darkwraiths and the Chaos Servants, which is why players often farm far more than ten. Our Dark Souls covenants guide lists the rank rewards they unlock.

Set Up Before You Farm

Item discovery decides how often enemies drop humanity, so a few minutes of preparation pays for itself many times over. The wiki's numbers are simple: holding up to 10 soft humanity adds up to 110 points, and equipping the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring adds another 200, for a maximum of 410. The Symbol of Avarice gives the same 200, but the two do not stack, so wear the ring and skip the cursed helmet.

The Covetous Gold Serpent Ring is in Sen's Fortress. Find the lever that aims the giant boulders and set it to the west, let a boulder roll until it fills the hole, then follow the west path to its end. The ring sits on a corpse in a window near the room with the first mimic chest.

The ideal loop is to farm with 10 soft humanity showing on the counter and every extra one sitting in your inventory as an item. Item humanity cannot be lost, while anything above 10 on the counter adds nothing to discovery and is at risk every time you die. If you started with the Twin Humanities gift, use them to get your counter up early; our Dark Souls class and gift guide covers that choice.

Early Game: The Rats

Rats are the first reliable source. The large rats in the Depths each have a 5 percent chance to drop humanity, and smaller rats in the Undead Burg and the Painted World of Ariamis share the same 5 percent rate. A large Depths rat also gives 1,000 souls on New Game, so these runs double as early leveling.

The wiki describes two routes:

1. Depths bonfire loop. Start at the Depths bonfire, clear the giant and smaller rats along a short circuit and return to rest. The wiki puts the average at about one humanity per run.
2. Undead Parish quick run. From the Sunlight Altar bonfire under the Hellkite Wyvern, drop down and kill the three rats below. Each run takes about 30 seconds with an estimated 50 percent chance of humanity.

The Parish route is the better one before you have the ring, simply because it is so short. Once the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring is on, the Depths loop becomes worthwhile as well.

Two mistakes waste more farming time than anything else. The first is farming while hollow with an empty counter, which leaves your item discovery at its base value and makes every drop rarer. The second is consuming humanity as soon as it drops. Keep the counter at ten, bank the rest as items, and rest at the bonfire between runs so the enemies respawn for the next loop.

Mid Game: Pisacas in the Duke's Archives

The blue, tentacled Pisacas in the Archives prison are another source. Rest at the prison bonfire, shut off the alarm so they stay inside their cell, and burn them down. The wiki notes they are very vulnerable to fire, so Fireball and other pyromancies make quick work of them, Wrath of the Gods can clear most of the cell in one or two casts, and the Ring of the Sun's Firstborn adds extra damage for miracle users. Pisacas also drop soft humanity directly at a listed 4 percent rate.

This spot suits Faith and pyromancy characters best. Melee builds can farm it too, but the cell is cramped and spells that hit several targets at once are simply faster.

Late Game: Baby Skeletons in the Tomb of the Giants

The wiki calls this the fastest method before the expansion. In the large cave just before Gravelord Nito's arena, alongside several Pinwheel enemies, baby skeletons respawn endlessly and drop humanity. The page estimates you can farm up to 99 humanity in about an hour and a half.

• Bring Blooming Purple Moss, because the babies inflict toxic.
• Wear enough poise that their swarming does not stagger-lock you.
• Use a weapon with a wide sweep: a battle axe, spear, ultra greatsword or claymore all work.
• Grab drops quickly. A humanity on the ground disappears if the baby that carried it respawns.

Since the Tomb of the Giants is near the end of the recommended route, you will usually reach it with a strong character. Our Dark Souls boss order guide explains when you arrive and why you need a light source to get there.

Best Overall: Humanity Sprites in the Chasm of the Abyss

If you own Artorias of the Abyss, which Remastered includes, the Chasm of the Abyss beats everything else. Start at the Oolacile Township Dungeons bonfire and kill the humanity sprites below, along with a mage across the area. With the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring on, the wiki reports that a two-minute run can net 0 to 8 humanity plus 0 to 4 Twin Humanities, each worth two.

The sprites drift through walls and through one another, so a sweeping weapon or Firestorm works better than precise thrusts. Use something with range for the mage. On New Game each run also yields about 1,400 souls, which is a nice bonus. The sprites come in three sizes, and the large ones have the best drop rate at just over 9 percent.

Other Sources Worth Knowing

Every area also hides soft humanity in its enemies, as long as the area boss is still alive. You can absorb up to 10 per area this way, with each enemy carrying a "humanity worth": a Hollow Soldier in the Undead Burg is worth 6, a Butcher in the Depths 40 and a Necromancer in the Catacombs 30. The first humanity drops at 100 accumulated worth and the tenth at 300.

• Buying. The female Undead Merchant, Trusty Patches and, in the expansion, Marvelous Chester sell humanity.
• The Dark Hand. Darkwraiths can drain humanity from NPCs with it. The wiki tallies 84 humanity across NPCs who carry it, such as Reah of Thorolund with 12.
• Not viable: getting votes on your soapstone messages. A rated message gives its writer nothing.

Chaos weapons are where a full counter pays off most, since their damage scales with humanity, and the Chaos Weapon achievement asks you to take a fire weapon down the chaos upgrade path. Our Dark Souls Remastered trophy guide lists every upgrade path you need.

If You Would Rather Not Farm It

Farming is relaxing for some players and tedious for others. If you would rather skip the loops entirely, the store's Dark Souls Remastered modded starter save gives you three fresh characters, two of them at level 1 with all items, all weapons and all magic, and every character holding 999,999,999 souls, per the product page. The third character also adds infinite health and stamina.

It works on PS4 and PS5 only, and it requires your own copy of Dark Souls Remastered. You can find it on the Dark Souls Remastered modded save page, alongside the rest of the Dark Souls store section.

Frequently Asked Questions