Magic in Dark Souls is covered on this page. To use any kind of Magic, the player will first have to learn a spell, and equip a Catalyst that corresponds to the spell's Magic class. After the spell is learned, it must be equipped at a Bonfires with the Attune Magic option. A spell has a set amount of uses, before it is depleted, but resting at a Bonfire will fully replenish it. Some spells can be equipped more than once, if the player has enough slots, and multiple copies of the spell in question
Magic
Sorceries in Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered are a type of Magic and can only be cast if the player has an equipped Catalyst. Sorceries can be cast by the player at any time and each requires a specific number of Attunement slots in order to equip. All Sorceries have a required amount of Intelligence that must be met in order to use, with the highest being 50 and the lowest being 10. This forces players to make tough choices with their Stats, as players opting to use high level Sorceries will have less points to spend on Strength, Dexterity or Endurance, limiting their effectiveness in melee combat.
Catalysts also effect the damage or effectiveness of Sorceries depending on how much Intelligence you have. For this reason, players wishing to optimize their use of Sorceries should look into just which Catalyst to use for their Build. Further information can be found here: Intelligence and Faith Catalyst Magic Adjustment Values
Dark Souls Sorceries
There are 4 pieces of equipment that are known to increase spell damage. (patch 1.05)
- Head: Crown of Dusk+20% (Both)
- Head: Crown of the Dark Sun+10% (Both)
- Ring: Bellowing Dragoncrest Ring+ 20% (For Sorcery and Pyromancy)
- Ring of the Sun's Firstborn +20% (For Miracles)
(combined bonus of rings with: Crown of Dusk = +40%, Crown of the Dark Sun = 30% for sorcery)
Quick Search of All Sorceries
| Icon | Uses | Slots |  |
Description | Acquired From | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Soul Arrow |
30 | 1 | 10 | Fires a magical projectile. Excellent starting spell which does very good damage against most enemies in the early game areas. | Griggs of Vinheim 1,000 souls Big Hat Logan 1,000 souls Blacksmith Rickert of Vinheim 2,000 souls |
Ranged Magic Attack |
 Great Soul Arrow |
20 | 1 | 14 | Stronger soul arrow, same cast time as soul arrow, fewer uses. | Griggs of Vinheim 6,000 souls Big Hat Logan 6,000 souls |
Ranged Magic Attack |
 Heavy Soul Arrow |
12 | 1 | 12 | Stronger than greater soul arrow, longer casting time. | Griggs of Vinheim 2,000 souls Big Hat Logan 2,000 souls Blacksmith Rickert of Vinheim 4,000 souls |
Ranged Magic Attack |
 Great Heavy Soul Arrow |
8 | 1 | 16 | Stronger than heavy soul arrow, fewer uses. Has a slow cast time, but deals a tremendous amount of damage, even against bosses. | Griggs of Vinheim 8,000 souls Big Hat Logan 8,000 souls |
Ranged Magic Attack |
 Homing Soulmass |
10 | 1 | 18 | Fires multiple, homing magic projectiles. Can be successfully cast without an initial "lock on". Multiple soul arrows will hover above the player. Each individual soul arrow will seek the closest target, in the direction the player is facing, when in range. Because the spell can be cast in advance, it has a unique advantage in that, if timed correctly, it can be cast in synchronicity with other attacks. |
Big Hat Logan 20,000 souls Griggs of Vinheim 20,000 souls |
Ranged Magic Attack |
 Homing Crystal Soulmass |
10 | 1 | 24 | Fires multiple, homing crystal projectiles. Can be successfully cast without an initial "lock on". Multiple crystal arrows will hover above the player. Each individual soul arrow will seek the closest target, in the direction the player is facing, when in range. |
Big Hat Logan 30,000 souls | Ranged Magic Attack |
 Soul Spear |
4 | 1 | 36 | Fire piercing soul spear. | Big Hat Logan 40,000 souls Griggs of Vinheim 40,000 souls |
Ranged Magic Attack |
 Crystal Soul Spear |
4 | 1 | 44 | Fire an even more powerful, piercing ranged attack. | Big Hat Logan 50,000 souls | Ranged Magic Attack |
 White Dragon Breath |
20 | 1 | 50 | A straight line of crystals pop out of the ground in front of you, shooting towards your target. One advantage of this spell is that it will take out large groups of enemies if they are lined up one behind the other. It has a medium cast time, but once it fires, it will take out anything in its path. 20 casts make this a great high level replacement for the soul arrow at high levels, as it's not as useful on most bosses. | Big Hat Logan (drop) | Ranged Magic Attack |
 Magic Weapon |
5 | 1 | 10 | Enhances the right-hand weapon. Weapon must be standard, crystal, or raw. Some Dragon and Unique weapons can be enchanted too. Adds 0.8x your Magic Adjustment stat (NOT Intelligence) magic damage to your weapon. |
Griggs of Vinheim 3,000 souls Big Hat Logan 3,000 souls |
Weapon Buff |
 Great Magic Weapon |
3 | 1 | 15 | Enhances the right-hand weapon. Weapon must be standard, crystal, or raw. Some Dragon and Unique weapons can be enchanted too. Adds 1.1x your Magic Adjustment stat (NOT Intelligence) magic damage to your weapon. |
Cut Chandelier on the catwalk and pick up in front of Painted World Entrance in Anor Londo | Weapon Buff |
 Crystal Magic Weapon |
3 | 1 | 25 | Enhances and crystallizes right-hand weapon. Weapon must be standard, crystal, or raw. Some Dragon and Unique weapons can be enchanted too. Adds 1.4x your Magic Adjustment stat (NOT Intelligence) as magic damage to your weapon. |
Big Hat Logan 20,000 souls | Weapon Buff |
 Magic Shield |
5 | 1 | 10 | Reinforces the equipped shield or weapon able to block in the left hand with magic. Works on all types of shields (even unique or upgraded to any path) and on all weapons able to block while on the left hand (even unique or upgraded to any path). Halves stamina used on hit deflection (only on shields) and improves the weapon's or shield's magic resistance by 30% (by up to a maximum of 90%). Lasts 15 seconds, 5 casts. |
Griggs of Vinheim 3,000 souls Big Hat Logan 3,000 souls |
Support Defense (Buff) |
 Strong Magic Shield |
3 | 1 | 15 | Reinforces the equipped shield or weapon able to block in the left hand with a stronger magic effect. Works on all types of shields (even unique or upgraded to any path) and on all weapons able to block while on the left hand (even unique or upgraded to any path). Reduces the stamina used to deflect a hit considerably (only on shields) and improves all the resistances of the shield or weapon enchanted to 100%. Lasts 15 seconds, 3 casts. |
Chest in The Duke's Archives | Support Defense (Buff) |
 Aural Decoy |
20 | 1 | 10 | Lures enemies away by creating a sound originating in the distance. | Griggs of Vinheim 1,000 souls | Support Defense |
 Hush |
6 | 1 | 15 | Masks all noises of caster. | Sen's Fortress (treasure) Griggs of Vinheim (drop) |
Support Defense (Buff) |
 Fall Control |
10 | 1 | 15 | Reduces damage and noise from fall. However, terminal falls will still kill you even with this active. | Griggs of Vinheim 1,500 souls | Support Defense (Buff) |
 Hidden Weapon |
3 | 1 | 14 | Turns your right hand weapon invisible. Weapon must be standard, crystal, or raw. Some Dragon and Unique weapons can be enchanted too. |
Dusk of Oolacile 2,000 souls | Support (Weapon Buff) |
 Hidden Body |
3 | 1 | 14 | Masks your presence, making detection harder. | Dusk of Oolacile 2,000 souls | Support (Buff) |
 Repair |
1 | 1 | 14 | Repairs weapons and armor | Dusk of Oolacile 10,000 souls | Support |
 Cast Light |
3 | 1 | 14 | Cast a bright light upon surroundings, and lasts 5 minutes. Particularly useful for Tomb of Giants |
Dusk of Oolacile 1,000 souls | Support |
 Chameleon |
11 | 1 | 14 | Transform the caster into an inanimate object. Generally, the object you become is something common to the area you are in. Could be a vase, or a box, etc. Some strategy must be used, and the most effective is to place yourself in a cluster of similar objects. Once cast, you can move slowly and position yourself. If done properly, an enemy will walk by you and never know you're there. Cannot run when using, any other action breaks the effect. |
Dusk of Oolacile 3,000 souls | Support |
 Remedy |
4 | 1 | 16 | Removes poison/toxic/bleeding build up, and cures poison/toxic status. | Blighttown | Support |
 Resist Curse |
4 | 1 | 16 | Removes curse build up. | Ingward 5,000 souls | Support |
 Dark Orb |
12 | 1 | 16 | After a brief charge, fires a large shot at your target. | Found in Oolacile Township. (AotA Only) |
Ranged Magic Attack |
 Dark Bead |
6 | 1 | 16 | Fires a large amount of small dark orbs that fan outwards—very fast cast time. Excellent against large bosses. |
Found on a corpse behind an Oolacile Sorcerer in the Depths of the Abyss. (AotA Only) |
Ranged Magic Attack |
 Dark Fog |
2 | 1 | 18 | Creates a fog that inflicts poison. The fog is created at the location of the locked target. | Found in Oolacile Township (AotA Only) |
AoE Ranged Sorcery |
 Pursuers |
3 | 2 | 32 | Slow moving dark soul mass, fires and homes in on target when in range. Slower moving than homing soul mass but has much better homing capabilities. | Exchange Soul of Manus with Snuggly. (AotA Only) |
Ranged Magic Attack |
AnonymousSo what magic you want to pick?
Sorcery is best pick for PvE since sorceries have many casts, long range and heavy damage. Main problem is the slow casting speed of most spells making them less usefull in PvP since is fairly easy to see casting animation and dodge projectile on time (there are like 3-6 spells than can be dangerous on PvP but only if your opponent doesn't pay attention). Additionally sorceries have some really nice and much needed utility spells and buffs but again most of them is mainly for PvE.
-> Pick sorceries if you want to enable "easy mode" playtrough since most enemiest and bosses can be cheesed with safe distance magic attacks.
Pyromancies deal decent aoe fire damage and do not require big stat investment (thus then can be utilised on any build) but they usually have small range and small ammount of uses. 3 of them are deadly short range bursts god for PvP and PvE alike and rest is mainly for PvE. We also have some buffs and aoe debuffs with situational uses.
-> Pick pyromancies always if you have some spare attunement slots since they can boost your other abilities without big investment.
Miracles are most varied branch of magic with spells good for PvE and/or PvP alike. Because of this there is very limited ammount of damaging spells but they are usually good. In return miracles provide only way of healing other than using consumables/equipment. And they offer some best buffs and tactical aoe debuffs allowing to turn tables in many sticky situations. Main flaw of miracles is the fact that 1/3 of them require covenants to get and some even require to be in covenant to be used (and their power might depend on covenant rank). Miracles are also only branch of magic that can offer lightning damage spells in addition to magical damage.
-> Pick miracles if you want all around spells good for many different situations but keep in mind that they might be not enough as only source of damage.
- Anonymous
So what magic you want to pick?
Sorcery is best pick for PvE since sorceries have many casts, long range and heavy damage. Main problem is the slow casting speed of most spells making them less usefull in PvP since is fairly easy to see casting animation and dodge projectile on time (there are like 3-6 spells than can be dangerous on PvP but only if your opponent doesn't pay attention). Additionally sorceries have some really nice and much needed utility spells and buffs but again most of them is mainly for PvE.
-> Pick sorceries if you want to enable "easy mode" playtrough since most enemiest and bosses can be cheesed with safe distance magic attacks.
Pyromancies deal decent aoe fire damage and do not require big stat investment (thus then can be utilised on any build) but they usually have small range and small ammount of uses. 3 of them are deadly short range bursts god for PvP and PvE alike and rest is mainly for PvE. We also have some buffs and aoe debuffs with situational uses.
-> Pick pyromancies always if you have some spare attunement slots since they can boost your other abilities without big investment.
Miracles are most varied branch of magic with spells good for PvE and/or PvP alike. Because of this there is very limited ammount of damaging spells but they are usually good. In return miracles provide only way of healing other than using consumables/equipment. And they offer some best buffs and tactical aoe debuffs allowing to turn tables in many sticky situations. Main flaw of miracles is the fact that 1/3 of them require covenants to get and some even require to be in covenant to be used (and their power might depend on covenant rank). Miracles are also only branch of magic that can offer lightning damage spells in addition to magical damage.
-> Pick miracles if you want all around spells good for many different situations but keep in mind that they might be not enough as only source of damage.
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I feel stupid for asking this but I'm on NG+ and I still haven't used a magic...: does "uses" mean for the entire game, or just until you rest at the bonfire? I'm trying to get all the achievements and I don't want my spells to disappear.
- Anonymous
I like to make builds that use spells like fall control or hush to sneak to the enemy and then attack with my buffed weapon. And if they have to much health (PVE and PVP) i use darkbead or soul spear, like some kind of warmage or the assassin from ds3
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So this mentions the billowing dragoncrast ring which doesn't actually boost spell damage but spell duration also it should mention the Manus catalyst which halves spell casts in return for more damage
- Anonymous
Can we just go back to here the good old day where we can spam spell without having to worry about Focus point?
- Anonymous
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I wish there was one that made all enemys target you, making a tank build just to help people out
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Daffy Duck the Wizard
o mago é implácavel
Sorcery >>>>>>>Melee
I wish Rickert sold better spells
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