Bonfires | Dark Souls 3

Bonfires in Dark Souls 3 serve as checkpoints within the game, providing players with a safe haven that allows players to rest, recover HP, replenish Esus Flasks, and repair equipment. Bonfires also enable fast travel to other lit bonfires, making exploration and backtracking more accessible. Do note that resting at one also resurrects most defeated enemies.

Dark Souls 3 Bonfire Information

The "Begin Journey x" option only becomes available once an Ending has been reached. The value of "x" is based on the current New Game Cycle +1.

Undead Match is a Multiplayer feature that becomes available once the Champion's Bones are burned in the Bonfire, similar to an Undead Bone Shard. Upon burning, the Hollow Arena becomes available for use, enabling organized PvP matches between other players.

The Bonfire in Firelink Shrine can be upgraded using Undead Bone Shards, thus increasing its level and the amount of health regained per Estus Flask drink. You can additionally reinforce the Flask by giving an Estus Shard to Blacksmith Andre to increase the number of drinks available. Once ten Bone Shards have been burned (all ten can be acquired in a single New Game Cycle), selecting the option will only give the message 'Cannot kindle further'. However, Bone Shards picked up in further New Game Cycles can be burned if the Bonfire is not already level 11.

In addition to Bonfires, there are three healing stations along the journey called Estus Soup where you can drink from a cauldron to restore your HP and FP gauges.

Regarding Multiplayer, you may occasionally see small Embers to the right of a Location name. This indicates the presence of a Host of Embers. The location tabs in the travel menu also highlight themselves with a faint glow around the edge if there is any Hosts of Embers there also.

All Bonfires in Dark Souls 3

Cemetery of Ash

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High Wall of Lothric

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Undead Settlement

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Road of Sacrifices

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Cathedral of the Deep

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Catacombs of Carthus

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Irithyll of the Boreal Valley

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Irithyll Dungeon

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Lothric Castle

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Archdragon Peak

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Kiln of the First Flame

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The Painted World of Ariandel

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The Dreg Heap

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The Ringed City

General Bonfire Notes, Trivia and Tips

A mechanical difference in Dark Souls 3 is the absence of Bonfire Ascetics. In previous titles, the Ashen One could burn these items at a bonfire to raise an area's difficulty to the next cycle, respawning defeated bosses and refreshing rare loot. This mechanic does not exist in Dark Souls 3. The only way to respawn a defeated boss, acquire variant rings, or increase the Soul yield of enemies within a zone is to advance the entire world into the next new game plus.

The ability to interact with a bonfire is disabled while any form of multiplayer session is active. If the Ashen One has summoned friendly phantoms for cooperative play, or if an aggressive dark spirit has invaded the world, bonfires lose functionality. The Ashen One cannot rest to restore Estus Flasks, attune new magic, or fast travel until all phantoms are defeated, sent home using the Black Separation Crystal, or the area boss is vanquished. Cooperative groups must rely on current Estus charges and healing miracles to survive between encounters.

Unlike earlier entries in the series where individual bonfires could be independently kindled to provide healing items for a specific zone, Dark Souls 3 utilizes a global upgrade system tied to a single location. The Ashen One cannot upgrade or alter the intensity of standard bonfires found throughout the world. To increase the restorative power of the Estus Flask, the Ashen One must retrieve Undead Bone Shards and burn them at the Firelink Shrine bonfire. Burning a shard permanently increases the healing yield of the flask globally, meaning all bonfires across every region provide the upgraded healing potency without requiring individual kindling investments.