Dark Souls is one of those games that can be unforgiving at times. One massive part of the game is the use of a mechanic called Humanity. If you don’t know how it works, you might have some trouble knowing what to do with it or where you find the consumable version. A lot of people might ask, how to get this Humanity and what to do with it?
You can get Humanity through defeating certain enemies and bosses, found on corpses around the world, and sold by specific merchants.
We will go over each one and let you know the general locations on where to find Humanity. Some will be found by just playing through the game so you don’t have to worry too much. Just don’t waste them because they aren’t as sparse as other consumables.
What is Humanity in Dark Souls?
Dark Souls is a game where you are pretty much an undead person. This Humanity is the only way to become as close to human as you possibly can, but it does only last until you die. Once you have 2 Humanity in the top-right counter next to your health and stamina, you can use those to become human.
When you are human, you get some extra bonuses like higher luck and more resistance to let’s say poison or curse. As we said before, you can only be human until you die, and then the Humanity you used is wasted. For most of the game, you will probably not be human with the number of times you die in the game.
You can lose Humanity even when you aren’t using it to restore your Humanity so make sure you aren’t wasting it. You can even use Humanity to boost the amount of Estus Flasks that you start with at a specific bonfire as well. It is a very important part of the game so make sure you know what you are doing.
1. Dropped by random enemies
There are a lot of enemies that drop Humanity. The best thing to get is the consumable version because you can save it for later. If you get some added to the counter, you might end up losing it the next time you die. Probably the best place to farm for Humanity is from the Humanity Sprites in the Chasm of the Abyss.
They are literally giant Humanity ghosts that you can defeat and you have a pretty good chance at finding some. Just keep in mind that this area is at the end of the Artorius of the Abyss DLC and it will take a while to get there.
Here are all the enemies that drop Humanity in Dark Souls:
- Drops from Small Rats (5% Chance – Undead Parish, Depths or Firelink Shrine; 3% Chance – Depths or Painted World of Ariamis)
- Drops from Large Rats (100% – Depths)
- Drops from Snow Rats (5% Chance – Painted World of Ariamis)
- Drops from Skeleton Baby (2% Chance – Tomb of Giants)
- Dropped by Pisacas in Duke’s Archive (4% Chance)
- Dropped by Humanity Sprites in Chasm of the Abyss (AotA) (Small: Single 4.44%, Twin 1.11%; Medium: Single 8%, Twin 2%; Large: Single 9.09%, Twin 4.55%)
- Dropped by several NPCs
Related: How to Access and Start the DLC in Dark Souls
2. Gained by defeating certain bosses
There are a lot of bosses in the game, 27 to be exact. Each one is unique other than a few reskins. You do get Humanity from bosses, but not all of them. 21 of the bosses drop Humanity and the other 6 don’t. If you want a more in-depth look at which bosses give what, check out this Reddit post we found detailing which bosses give what.
If you are worried about losing Humanity, only use it on certain occasions or right before you kindle a bonfire. There are a lot of bosses so you don’t necessarily lose anything if you try to fight the boss without Humanity.
3. Found on corpses
There are actually not that many found in the world. If you do a few NG+ runs and you don’t use any Humanity, you might find a ton of them in your inventory. Oh, and rekindling a bonfire transfers over into NG+ so you can get the most out of the flasks if you do it to every important bonfire.
Just try and keep as many as you can and don’t waste them, because you might need them later on when the game gets pretty difficult. Wait till you can farm for them quickly and then you can use them however you like.
Here are the locations of Humanity found in the world:
- Firelink Shrine: On the corpse hanging over the well
- Undead Burg: On top of the sewer canal, beside the entrance from Firelink
- Undead Parish: On a corpse in a barrel inside the church, close to Lautrec’s cell
- New Londo Ruins: At the end of the walkway along the raised wall, close to the Valley of Drakes entrance
- Valley of Drakes: In a small cave, beside the lone Drake who blocks the narrow path
- Painted World of Ariamis: One on each of the two hanging corpses, cut chains to gain access
- Tomb of Giants: On the ledge at the end of the last slide, right above the first bonfire
- Crystal Cave: Through a narrow passage with invisible floor, after the first Golem
4. Sold by random merchants
There are only a few Merchants that sell Humanity and those are detailed below. It is difficult before you get the Lord Vessel because you can’t fast travel anywhere you want just like in the other Dark Souls games. These Merchants are relatively close to the beginning though and are not hard to reach.
Here are all the Merchants that sell Humanity in Dark Souls:
- Sold by Undead Merchant for 5,000 souls (one time only)
- Sold by Patches the Hyena for 10,000 souls (only sells 3)
- Sold by Marvelous Chester for 10,000 souls (only sells 13)
- Bribe from Patches if you talk to him before the first incident, and don’t forgive him after