In DS3, there’s a ton of tools for you to use to increase efficiency. Whether you’re farming for souls, items, or rare weapon drops! In this guide I’ll be going over a quick run-down of the best gear to use for farming, as well as the best routes for some of the highest soul gain and most sought-after items!
Best Farming Gear
The correct setup is near-essential for ensuring you get the stuff you want as fast as possible. Bear in mind, all boosts stack! So have as many of these items as you can for maximum effect.
Covetous Serpent Ring (Soul Gain)
The CSRing grants a flat bonus to souls gained, ranging from 10% at base to 35% at +3. You’ll want this, period. Hell I even keep it on when not farming most of the time! How to get (base): For the base level of this ring, you can get it right at the start of the game. Get on top of Firelink using the tree jump glitch (guide) and head to the end of the rafters, the ring is in a chest behind an illusory wall. How to get (+3): Interestingly, you can get the +3 version of the CSRing without having to go into NG+ and beyond! It’s in the ringed city DLC, just past the first angel, on a balcony you can reach through a door on the right.
Shield of Want (Soul Gain)
Another flat percentage-booster, the shield of want grants around 20% extra souls. This can be in your offhand slot constantly whilst on farming routes, or quickly switched into right after a boss kill! How to get: In the smouldering lake, on a corpse near the sand worm.
Mendicant’s Staff (Soul Gain)
This illusive staff grants another flat 20% soul bonus. Being a fairly weak staff, however, it is recommended to have this in a mainhand slot and swap to it right after kills, though it can be used on a late-game intelligence build with decent effectiveness. How to get: Extremely rare drop from man-serpent summoners in archdragon peak.
Symbol of Avarice (Soul Gain AND Item Discovery)
The symbol of avarice is a helmet which turns your head into a ghastly mimic. It is incredibly powerful, granting 50% more souls and 100 item discovery at the same time. However, greed comes at a cost, and this helmet will drain 10 HP per second from you whilst equipped. If you plan to use this for farming enemies, you’d better be confident in your combat ability- or you could be left in a sticky situation! How to get: Dropped by mimics. Even though mimics don’t respawn, it can be farmed provided you have a mimic left alive in your game. Throwing an undead hunter charm at a mimic will cause it to open and make it lootable. Each time this happens it counts as a new roll, so do it over and over until you get one!
Crystal Sage’s Rapier (Item Discovery)
The CSRapier is an intelligence-scaling weapon that boosts item find by 50 while equipped (can be off-handed or even on your hip whilst 2-handing another weapon). It actually deals decent damage on sorcery builds, and also stacks with itself- allowing intelligence users to dual-wield them for +100 item discovery! (Requires NG+). How to get: Soul transposition with crystal sage boss soul.
Covetous Gold Serpent Ring (Item Discovery)
The CGSR is the item discovery equivalent of the CSRing. It boosts item discovery ranging from +50 at base level all the way to +115 at +3! How to get (base): Found in at the bottom of Irithyll dungeon, just before the profaned capital. Go to the church in the swamp and jump over to the cell where Siegward gets trapped during his questline- the ring is on a corpse in the corner. How to get (+3): Like the CSRing, you can get the +3 version of the CGSR without going into NG+ and beyond. It’s found in the ringed city, up the tall ladder on the left at the start of the swamp. Go across the bridge to the room where you meet Lapp, and it’ll be on a corpse there.
Rusted Coins (Item Discovery)
The rusted coins are consumable items which boost item discovery for around 60 seconds. 2 types of rusted coins exist- copper and gold. Copper gives 50 points, gold 100- but they do not stack together! How to get (gold): It is highly likely you’ll be using copper coins basically exclusively, as there are only 7 gold coins in the game- beyond this, they cannot be purchased, and are an extremely rare drop from the handmaids in the profaned capital. Use them for super rare items, but just be wary they’re limited. How to get (copper): Copper coins, on the other hand, can be purchased in unlimited quantities from Patches, once he’s a merchant, for a measly 200 souls each!
Best Farming Spots
Ok, so you’re all geared up. Now what? There are a ton of options for all the souls/items you could want, so we’ll list through some of the best here!
Soul Routes
Soul farming in DS3 is forgiving. Provided you have high soul-boost equipment, you can farm basically anywhere you feel comfortable at any given stage of the game- though as a rule, tougher enemies typically drop more souls. You can then make your own routes based on this, but if you want some tried-and-tested ones, check out these:
From the grand archives bonfire, head up the elevator shortcut leading to the bridge towards the twin princes. Head up the stairs, and kill all 3 winged knights, then homeward bone and repeat. Each run nets around 90,000 souls per run, depending on your soul boosters. From the ‘ringed inner wall’ bonfire in the ringed city, full clearing mobs as far as you can grants fantastic souls, upwards of 30,000 souls per run. The white-robed handmaids in front of Yhorm’s arena are a fast and low-risk farm that gets you around 20,000 souls per run, and could net you some sought-after rusted gold coins in the process. Repeatedly killing NPCs summoned by man-serpent summoners in archdragon peak is a popular strategy, though rates vary based on how good you are at backstabbing. Boss co-oping using your summon sign is another popular strategy, with rates varying on the boss killed.
Item Farming
There’s a lot of unlimited item stocks in DS3, thanks to the ash shop system provided by the shrine handmaid. Eventually, most items can be purchased from her, after giving her certain ashes. To this end, soul farming is recommended late-game, allowing you to simply purchase the items you need. For the early-to-mid-game however, it’s not so simple, so we’ll list off some ways to get the most sought-after items here!
Embers
Embers are in limited supply in the world of Dark Souls 3, so if you end up dying enough, you’ll find yourself running low! Thankfully, embers can be quite easily farmed from Lothric knights on the high wall and in Lothric castle- or, if you fancy a challenge, from the ringed knights in the ringed city!
Titanite Shard
Titanite shards are important early-game, especially if you like changing around your weapons a lot. To get more, you can farm them from hollows by running routes on the high wall, undead settlement, and road of sacrifices. They can be purchased infinitely once giving the shrine handmaid the dreamchaser’s or grave warden’s ashes.
Large Titanite Shard
For higher-tier weapons, you’ll need large shards. These can be farmed from fire witches and silver knights in the Irithyll, most enemies in the smouldering lake, and serpent men in archdragon peak! They can then be purchased infinitely from the shrine handmaid after giving her the Easterner’s ashes.
Titanite Chunk
Chunks are the highest tier titanite farmable, required to get most gear to +9. These are dropped by some of the hardest enemies, namely cathedral knights and pus of man in the consumed king’s garden, Corvian knights in the painted world, as well as ringed knights and Harald legion knights throughout the ringed city (Harald knights being capable of dropping up to 4 at a time!) They can be purchased infinitely from the shrine handmaid once giving her the dragon chaser’s ashes.
Twinkling Titanite/Titanite Scales
Required for upgrading unique and boss weapons, twinkling titanite and titanite scales are highly sought-after. There are a quite a few to be found in the game, though both can be farmed relatively effectively from rock lizards in archdragon peak (the fire-breathing enemies that look like big, stony crystal lizards). Outside of this, you can buy them infinitely (albeit expensively) from the shrine handmaiden once giving her the dragon chaser’s ashes.
