Humanity | Dark Souls

Humanity Dark Souls Wiki is a game mechanic that controls various aspects of the game, both offline and online. Humanity is a rare resource that turns your character from hollow back into a human. Being human allows you to summon other players for help, but it also opens your world up to enemy player invasions. You can also spend Humanity at bonfires to kindle them, which permanently increases how many healing flasks you get. See also Humanity Item and Scaling for weapons.

A black sprite that was birthed from the original Dark Soul. It represents the tiny piece of the Dark Soul living inside every human, giving them their true form and sanity.

Dark Souls All Humanity Effects and Mechanics

• The amount of Humanity held by the player is represented by a number in the top left corner of the HUD. Usually referred to by the community as "soft" Humanity.
• "Holding" Humanity - that is, having any amount of "soft" Humanity - puts those points at risk. Upon death, your held Humanity will be left with your bloodstain in addition to your Souls, thus making dying twice in a row more punishing.
• Humanity affects the damage of weapons that are upgraded with Chaos Upgrades and spells that are considered to be "Chaos" related. Maximum at 10 Humanity.
• Humanity increases the player's Physical and Elemental Defenses (not Bleed and Poison Resistance), similarly to leveling up.
• Humanity increases the player's resistance to being Cursed. Maximum effect is reached at 30 Humanity.
• Humanity also increases the player's Item Discovery rate, which determines the likelihood of enemies dropping items. Maximum effect is reached at 10 Humanity.
  • At 10 Humanity, the item discovery rate (no other enchantments or buffs) is increased by 110, from a base of 100 points up to 210 points.
  • Maximum Item Discovery rate is 410 and is achievable by holding 10 Humanity and using either the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring or the Symbol of Avarice.
• Holding Humanity is not the same as being human - recovering your Human form will cost you one Humanity point from your "soft" Humanity.

Dark Souls How to Use Humanity

• Humanity is used to revive to Human form.
  • Regaining Human form costs 1 Humanity point, which can be spent at a Bonfire.
  • Human form will allow players to summon Phantoms for help and guidance on their journey.
  • Human form will allow players to invade another player's world.
  • Human form will also leave the player open to invasions by hostile Black Phantoms.
• Humanity is used to kindle Bonfires.
  • Kindling a Bonfire increases Estus (re)gained at that Bonfire.
  • For Kindling beyond 10 Estus the Rite of Kindling is required.

Ways to Earn Humanity in Dark Souls

• Humanity can be earned by playing as a Phantom and helping to kill an end-level boss.
• Humanity can be earned by killing Bosses.
• Humanity can be earned by killing Black Phantoms (invading players), or by invading and killing a player in another world.
• Humanity can be earned by killing a large number of monsters in one area if the boss is alive (up to 10 Humanity).
  • Dying, using the bonfire, or leaving the area does not reset your monster kill count for that area.
• Consumable Humanity can be bought from Undead Merchant (Female), Trusty Patches, and Marvelous Chester.(AotA Expansion Only).
• Consumable Humanity can be found from some killed enemies.
  • These consumables can be stored, just like other items, and will not be lost if the player dies.
  • Rats, Pisacas and Skeleton Babies as well as Giant Humanities (enemy) drop Humanity items.
  • Consuming a Humanity item will also restore the player's health.
• The three consumable Humanity items are:
  • Humanity (Acquire one Humanity).
  • Twin Humanities (Acquire two humanities), dropped by the Humanity Spirits in the Chasm of the Abyss (AotA Expansion only).
  • Firekeeper Soul (Acquire five humanities), not dropped by regular enemies. (This will void it from the ability to upgrade your estus flask).

Dark Souls Losing Humanity Mechanics

• Humanity is lost upon death, with one chance to retrieve it if the player can reach the bloodstain where death occurred.
• However, even though a player can lose their Humanity after death, this can easily be prevented if the player has a Ring of Sacrifice equipped. He will keep his human form and all his Humanity.
• If the player dies in Human Form, they will also respawn in Hollowed form, or as an undead.
  • Hollowed form does not decrease maximum health.

Dark Souls Humanity All General Information

Dark Souls Humanity's Effect on Item Discovery and Curse Resistance

Notes:

• The increase for Item Discovery is most significant for going from 0 to 1 hold Humanity. (50 extra item discovery, compared to between 8 and 6 extra for 2-10 hold Humanity).
• The increase for curse resist is most significant for 1-10 hold Humanity. (8-10 resist per from 1-10 Humanity compared to 1-2 resist per from 11-30 Humanity).

Dark Souls Humanity's Effect on Resistances

Holding Humanity will increase the defenses of any player, up to 99 Humanity. Defenses from increasing your Humanity count by 1 is identical to leveling Attunement or Vitality 1 point, but without the benefits of more health or spell slots. Holding a high Humanity count gives a huge increase in defenses for low-level characters, but high-level characters will benefit less because of diminishing returns.

The numbers below are the increase in defenses for a Level 1? character, from 0 to 30 Humanity.

Notes:

• Defenses increase steadily from hold Humanity.

How much "Soft" Humanity is right for me?

• If your primary concern is getting as much physical, magical, fire and/or lightning defense as possible, keep as much hold Humanity as you can easily replace. (Extremely early, that might be quite low, but once a player is able to farm the depths rats, 10 or more is recommended).
• If your primary concern is item discovery or curse resist, 10 Humanity is recommended. (Though especially paranoid players could stack to 30 for a smidgen of extra curse resist).
• If you expect to die and are worried about losing Humanity, holding 1 Humanity is still recommended. (The 50 extra item discovery is very noticeable, and one Humanity is easy to replace).
• Playing with 0 Humanity is only a good idea if you die constantly and have no desire for loot from the area you're in. (Even it is questionable, because the extra defenses from holding Humanity should help you survive better).

How to Farm Humanity?

• It is possible to farm both Held Humanity and Humanity Items, although Held Humanity must be farmed while the area boss is still alive.
• You can also farm Humanity in The Depths, and it can be obtained by killing the rats who dwell there.
• Drops from Moonlight Butterfly (Guaranteed drop - Crystal Cave).
• Drops from Snow Rat (5% Chance - Painted World of Ariamis).
• Drops from Pisaca (4% Chance - The Duke's Archives).
• Drops from Minor Capra Demon (Guaranteed - Demon Ruins).
• Drops from Minor Taurus Demon (Guaranteed - Demon Ruins).
• Drops from Corpse Wielder Infested Ghoul (1% chance - Blighttown).
• Drops from Giant Humanity (9.09% chance for Large, 8% chance for Medium, and 4.44% for Small Humanity - Chasm of the Abyss, AotA DLC only).
• Drops from Vagrants, specifically the White Evil Vagrant.

Dark Souls: How to Use Dark Hand

By utilizing the Dark Hand's R2 attack, you are able to sap Humanity from NPCs and online players. (Joining the Darkwraith Covenant and progressing through the covenant will allow you to steal more Humanity).

• See Humanity Farming for a list of NPCs who hold Humanity.

Humanity Increase in Dark Souls

In some areas, before the boss is defeated, certain enemies will increase your Humanity count after many of them are killed. These enemies usually have one thing in common: they were once human, but are now undead and hollow.

• A total of 10 humanities can be absorbed in one area while the boss is still alive, though this is only viable in certain areas.
• Different enemies are worth different amounts. A Humanity will be rewarded after a specific value is reached in a point system that is hidden to the player. After a Humanity is received, the next Humanity obtained will require more kills / points.
• See Humanity Farming for a list of target enemies, locations, and their worth.

Dark Souls: Consumable Humanity

Humanity items can be farmed from a variety of creatures throughout the game world:

• (Undead Burg/Depths/Painted World of Ariamis) Rats drop consumable Humanity items (5% chance).
  • The Rats have poisonous attacks, and the snow rats in Painted World of Ariamis will inflict Toxin, so use the Spider Shield and take out one at a time.
  • The Pisacas are vulnerable to fire, so ranged Pyromancy or fire weapons will decimate them.
• (Tomb of Giants) Skeleton Babies drop Humanity items just before Nito, and also infinitely spawn (appears to be a max of 8 out at one time).
  • Be sure to quickly pick up the item drops from the Skeleton Babies, as they can disappear very quickly (seems to be caused by new Skeleton Babies spawning, and items can easily disappear in the time of a single weapon swing if you continue to kill after an item shows up)
• See Humanity Farming for detailed strategies.