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.
Casting and Movement
Certain spells can be cast whilst moving. These are:
- Blinding Light [*]
- Farron Dart [*]
- Scattered Farron Dart [*]
- 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
- 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:
- Rakuyo - Increases +1 Dexterity per hit for 60 seconds.
- 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.
- Sage Ring - Grants +25~40 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Ring of Londor - Grants +40 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed whilst at 100% HP.
- Violet Tearstone Ring - Grants +50 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed whilst below 25% HP.
- Hunter's Ring - Grants +5/10/15/20 Dexterity.
- Black Hand Set - Grants +6 Dexterity.
- Grave Warden Set - Grants +10 Dexterity.
- Hexer Set - Grants +30 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Lord's Blade Set - Grants +8 Dexterity.
- Lothric Knight Armor Set - Grants +6 Dexterity.
- Old Sorcerer Set - Grants +30 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Sellsword Set - Grants +10 Dexterity.
- Varangian Set - Grants +8 Dexterity.
- Crab Helmet - +40 to all Primary Attributes whilst below 25% HP.
- Demon Cleric Mask - Grants +10 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed.
- Wolnir's Crown - Grants +1 Dexterity.
- Vine Balm - Grants +10 Dexterity for 5 minutes.
- Soul of Sister Friede - Grants +50 pseudo-Dexterity to improve casting speed for 60 seconds.
- 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 Scaling
These are the general rules of spell damage scaling for spell types:
- Sorceries scale with Intelligence.
- Miracles scale with Faith.
- Pyromancies automatically obtain 30% of the total Spell Buff by default, and the remaining 70% is equally scaled with both Intelligence and Faith.
- Dark Sorceries, Dark Pyromancies and Dark Miracles scale equally with both Intelligence and Faith.
Refer to the Spell Tools list for their scalings.
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.
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 100. 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) * 100, resulting in 150 HP healed.
However, your actual Spell Buff value is not just the Spell Buff listed for your weapon. It is modified by the amount of INT/FTH you have (depending on the tool) and by the level of reinforcement the tool has.
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 1.71.
