Spells in Dark Souls III are items that unleash various magical effects when cast. They can be bought, sold, and found throughout the world, much like other, regular items. Spells can be:
Attuning Spells
All spells need to be attuned (i.e. equipped) at a Bonfire, before they can be used in combat. Attuning a spell requires free Attunement Slots, which can be unlocked by raising the Attunement attribute when leveling up.
Casting Spells
Casting a spell requires an appropriate Spell Tool, as well as sufficient Focus Points, Intelligence and Faith.
As of version 1.80 each spell Stamina cost is 10% of their FP cost (i.e. Farron Flashsword has a 100 FP consumption cost, therefore it will consume 100 FP and 10 Stamina per cast).
Casting and Movement
Certain spells can be cast whilst moving. These are:
- Blinding Light [*]
- Farron Dart [*]
- Scattering Soul Orb [*]
- Scattering Crystal Orb [*]
- Farron Flashsword [*]
- Soul Wave [*]
- Twisted Wall of Light [*]
- Fire Surge
- Cataclysm
- Earthfall
- Floating Chaos
- Iron Flesh
- Power Within
- Profuse Sweat
- Rapport
- Rockflesh
- Sacred Flame
- Warmth
- Heave Earth
- Lightning Arrow
- Force
- Perseverance
- Way of White Corona [*]
- Wrath of the Gods
- Deep Barb [*]
- Surging Deep
- Dreg Torrent
- Recollection
- Black fireball [*]
- Nibble [*]
- Gnaw
- Dorhys' Gnawing
- Devouring Swarm
[*] Unique animation while walking including sprinting and rolling attacks.
Casting Speed
Casting Speed in Cinders starts from 1 Dexterity and caps at 99. Some equipment may help boost this, these are:
- Witchtree Branch - Staff that grants +25 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Saint-tree Bellvine - Chime that grants +25 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Charred Bone - Grants +50~80 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed whilst below 25% HP.
- Sage Ring - Grants +25~40 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Hunter's Ring - Grants +5/10/15/20 Dexterity.
- Vine Balm - Grants +10 Dexterity for 5 minutes.
- Black Witch Veil - Grants +20 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Demon Cleric Mask - Grants +20 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Desert Pyromancer Hood - Grants +20 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Black Hand Hat - Grants +5 Dexterity.
- Grave Warden Hood - Grants +5 Dexterity.
- Porcelain Mask - Grants +5 Dexterity.
- Sellsword Helm - Grants +5 Dexterity.
- Varangian Helm - Grants +5 Dexterity.
- Pilgrims of Dark - Grants +15 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Bestial Wrath - Grants +50 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed for 15 seconds.
- Velka's Grace - Grants +50 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed for 15 seconds.
Spell buff
Spell Buff is a multiplier applied to your spell's base value. The easiest way to see this in the healing miracles, where the base value is unaffected by other variables.
Consider the miracle Heal Aid. It has a base value of 200. Let's say you are using a Talisman with a Spell Buff of 150.
To apply your Spell Buff, divide the value by 100 and then multiply the base value of Heal Aid with your result.
$FinalValue = (SpellBuff / 100) \cdot Base Value$
For our example, this would be (150 / 100) * 200, resulting in 300 HP healed.
Using battle art abilities like Steady Chant, Chant from the Depths and Awakening will benefit spells casted from another catalyst. e.g. Crystallization from the Sage's Crystal Staff and then casting spells with a Crystal Chime will increase the damage of Crystal Soul Spear.
Ascended Spells
Most Spells are considered 'Ascended' when they are casted with a Max Ascended Spell Tool. This grants them additional effects or attributes over the base version.
Spell Hold
As of 1.69, most spells can be put on hold while pressing the cast button similar to how it happens when casting Great Heal.
The player can also run while holding a spell, and it's compatible with the Dashmaster's String.
Information here is accurate for version 1.84.
