Introduction

In Dark Souls 2 SotFS, souls serve two purposes. The first purpose of souls is as experience points. The more souls you have in your soul counter, the more times you can level up by means of the Emerald Herald. At various points in your playthrough, you might find that levelling your character a few times prior to a boss fight can make the boss a bit easier because you now have more HP, more stamina, more Adaptability, or your weapon hits harder than previously.

The second purpose of souls is to serve as currency. Souls allow you to purchase various consumables, weapons, armour pieces, upgrade materials, ammunition, and services from various merchants scattered throughout the game. The consumable item you probably purchase the most often is Lifegem. Prior to visiting a new area, farm souls to help you stock up on Lifegem and restock your inventory of elemental resins for buffing your weapons. Each of the two blacksmiths in the game charges a certain amount of souls to upgrade your weapon to a particular level. The blacksmiths also charge souls for repairing broken weapons, armour pieces, and rings. Cromwell the Pardoner charges souls to absolve your character of any sins committed, the amount varies with the soul level of your character.

Enemies in the game randomly drop various items upon defeat. These items include consumables, covenant items, armour pieces, weapons, and ammunition. The dropped items can be sold to Gavlan for extra souls.

Armour set for soul farming, Dark Souls 2: SotFS

In NG+0, the best setup for farming souls includes:

• Nahr Alma Hood. Dropped by Titchy Gren upon death. Unfortunately, you must kill Titchy Gren for this head piece.
• Nahr Alma Robes. Can be purchased from Melentia for 5,000 souls after killing Titchy Gren.
• Jester's Gloves. Magerold sells this for 2,600 souls.
• Tseldora Trousers. Dropped by Maughlin upon death. Don't kill Maughlin. You can farm the Tseldora Trousers from the Parasitized Undead and the Parasite Spider at lower Brightstone Cove Tseldora, unlocked after defeating the Prowling Magus and Congregation. Equip these to raise your Item Discovery: Watchdragon Parma, Covetous Gold Serpent Ring+1 (the +2 version is available from NG+1 onward), Jester's Cap, and Prisoner's Tatters. Pop a Rusted Coin if you have any.
• Covetous Silver Serpent Ring+1. Gifted by Melentia after spending at least 10,000 souls in her shop. The +2 version is available from NG+1 onward.

Drink from your Estus Flask as many times as possible. Avoid popping a Lifegem unless absolutely necessary. Each Lifegem costs 300 souls. You don't want to lose souls while farming for souls.

Unlike other games in the Dark Souls trilogy, most non-boss enemies stop spawning after being killed a certain number of times. You have two options for spawning such enemies infinitely many times. The first option is to burn a Bonfire Ascetic. This respawns all nearby enemies and bosses, and raises the difficulty of the game. The spawning limit still applies to most non-boss enemies near the bonfire where you burnt a Bonfire Ascetic. The second option for having non-boss enemies spawn infinitely many times is to join the Company of Champions covenant. Joining the covenant does not re-spawn any boss, but your membership of the covenant does increase the difficulty of the game. Regular enemies now spawn infinitely many times without raising the bonfire intensity.

Some enemies in the game spawn infinitely many times without requiring you to burn a Bonfire Ascetic or being a member of the Company of Champions. Such enemies include:

• The Stone Soldiers near the King's Gate bonfire at Drangleic Castle.
• The Leydia Pyromancer at Undead Crypt. Those found in areas with gravestones can stop spawning once the gravestones are broken. The ones found in front of the arena of Velstadt continue to spawn as long as you ring a nearby bell.