Whenever farming for any kind of drop, raising your item discovery stat as high as you can will give you the best results. Equipping either the Covetous Gold Serpent Ring or Symbol of Avarice, and having at least 10 Soft Humanity will raise it to maximum.
If you're able to stock up on homeward bones or cast the homeward miracle, this can also save time by skipping the return trips to bonfires.
There are several available methods for farming humanity, with varying pros and cons. Some methods may be fastest or easiest, while others may offer more souls or other benefits. There are also other methods for gaining Soft Humanity directly, instead of farming for drops that are in item form. They are included further down on this page, however they are typically less efficient and are not considered as primary farming methods (aside from the Duke's Archives glitch).
Farming Rats
Undead Rats are capable of dropping humanity. With Item Discovery of 100, rats have a 5% drop rate, except for small rats in the depths, which only have a 3% drop rate. With 410 ID, this results in drop rates of 17.7% and 11.3% respectively.
The bridge between the Undead Parish and the Undead Burg is a fairly early place to farm, although it is not the best location if you've already reached later-game areas.
First kill the Taurus demon and open up the ladder shortcut to the Undead Burg bonfire. Then climb back up the ladder to go underneath the bridge. After passing the two shielded hollows, you will encounter a group of three rats. If you're able to pass the Hellkite Dragon on the bridge, you can also farm the same group of rats using the Sunlight Altar bonfire as your base instead.
The Depths contains a large number of rats, and has one of the easiest and safest farming routes. After resting at the bonfire behind the locked door, exit and head through the doorway to your right and go further down the corridor. There is a group of five rats here that can be killed. Turn around and continue down the corridor. There will be a rat hiding in a box and then a group of four shortly after, the last of which are huddled in a dead-end. If you turn around, You will see a doorway, Keep going through it to find 4 rats. Go back the way you came, and rest at the bonfire. Rinse and repeat as necessary. Using this method, you'll farm 14 rats per run, meaning that you'll average a little over 1 humanity per run (at 410 item discovery).
As of Patch 1.06, the Depths bonfire is also a warpable location, making it a very easy location to get to if you've obtained the Lordvessel.
Farming Pisaca
The Pisaca in The Duke's Archives drop humanity. There are ten of them at the bottom of the prison area. With Item Discovery of 100, Pisaca have a drop rate of 4%. With 410 ID, this results in a drop rate of 14.6%.
Using the prison bonfire as a base, you will need to pass two Serpent Soldier enemies on the way down. You may also catch the attention of Crystal Hollows, but the cells containing them can be closed and they will not be able to follow you. Triggering the siren to shut it off is recommended, as it makes the Pisaca more docile and reduces their aggro range.
This farming method also yields a decent amount of souls, which may make it preferable over farming rats in The Depths.
Farming Skeleton Babies
The Skeleton Babies in the Tomb of the Giants drop humanity.With Item Discovery of 100, Baby Skeletons have a drop rate of 2%. With 410 ID, this results in a drop rate of 7.72%.
After you've obtained and placed the Lordvessel, you can enter the final cave that leads to the Skeleton Babies. They are located just outside Nito's fog gate in the watery areas.
The benefit to farming the Skeleton Babies is that they will spawn infinitely as the player walks through the water. This allows you to farm uninterrupted for long periods of time, only returning to the bonfire for Estus or repairing gear. However, you'll need a weapon or attack that can target enemies that are low to the ground. Their drops, unlike other drops in the game, will disappear almost instantly as well. When fighting in the water you'll need to rapidly press the appropriate 'action' button quickly, sometimes spamming it, as soon as you kill each skeleton. You can prolong the length of the drops by luring the skeletons out of the water onto land first.
Farming Humanity Phantoms
DLC / Prepare to Die Edition / Remaster
Humanity Phantoms in the Chasm of the Abyss are capable of dropping humanity and twin humanities.
Rest at the Oolacile Township Dungeon bonfire. From here, follow the path towards the humanity phantoms. You will have to kill one Bloathead along the way, but it is waiting in a location where you can easily perform a plunge-attack on it. As you approach the group of Humanity Phantoms, you will also have to kill a Bloathead Sorcerer.
Faster Method-
Farm only the first, large group of Humanity Phantoms for fastest results. There are more located throughout the level, but killing this one group and then warping back to the bonfire with homeward or homeward bone will allow for the most efficient route. You will want to kill the Bloathead Sorcerer who is perched up on a ledge above you. If you prefer to use melee, you can make the sorcerer drop down by running towards it and standing next to it. You will have to be quick and wary of your surroundings, because a portion of the Humanity Phantoms will have already aggro'd. Using a means of stealth, like the Ring of Fog or Hidden Body, will make this route less dangerous.
Safer Method-
Instead of engaging the first, large group of Humanity Phantoms and the Bloathead Sorcerer right away, you can drop down to the hidden path to your left. There are more Humanity Phantoms on this path, and it'll also allow you to approach the Bloathead Sorcerer from behind before finally engaging the large group of phantoms.
With 410 Item Discovery, on average, 1 Small Humanity Sprite will drop 0.233 Humanity, 1 Medium Humanity Sprite will drop 0.376 Humanity and 1 Large Humanity Sprite will drop 0.524 Humanity.
Using Dark Hand on NPCs
It is possible to one-time farm various NPCs for Humanity using the Dark Hand. Most take a few hits to become hostile, so you can just walk up to them and grab them with the Dark Hand's R2 attack, drain their Humanity, then walk back to a bonfire and rest. This will reset the minor damage you've done so far, preventing hostility if you need to perform another R2 attack to obtain the rest of their humanity.
There are over 10 NPCs that offer between 3 to 12 humanity using this method. Consult the Dark Hand page for more information.
Co-op and PvP
In co-op, players who are summoned to help a host will receive a single point of Soft Humanity when a boss is defeated.
In PvP, hosts and Black Phantoms will receive a single point of humanity if they kill their oppenent. The phantom will obtain the humanity automatically as they return to their own world, but they host will have to retrieve the humanity from a glowing red bloodstain.
Neither method is considered efficient for farming humanity, however it is a great method to incidentally increase your humanity while engaging in multiplayer activity. Players who focus on co-op or PvP will inevitably collect a large amount of soft humanity.
Killing Enemies with an Undefeated Boss
In some areas, killing certain enemies before the boss is defeated will eventually reward the player with Soft Humanity. There is an invisible "humanity point" meter that keeps track of enemies killed. Once a certain value is reached, one soft humanity will be obtained immediately and can be seen as a black aura that flies into the player.
- A total of 10 humanity can be received in each area where this method is available.
- Each subsequent humanity requires more points to obtain than the previous one.
- The "humanity meter" is not reset upon dying, quitting, or resting at a bonfire.
- Different areas will sometimes require a different amount of points to achieve a soft humanity.
| Humanity Count | Humanity Points (Needed for Area Type A) |
Humanity Points (Needed for Area Type B) |
Humanity Points (Needed for Area Type C) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 100 | 200 | 300 |
| 2nd | 105 | 210 | 315 |
| 3rd | 110 | 220 | 330 |
| 4th | 120 | 240 | 360 |
| 5th | 140 | 280 | 420 |
| 6th | 160 | 320 | 480 |
| 7th | 190 | 380 | 570 |
| 8th | 220 | 440 | 660 |
| 9th | 255 | 510 | 765 |
| 10th | 300 | 600 | 900 |
- Most humanoid enemies offer points for the "humanity meter", most others do not.
- Different enemies are worth a different amount of points for the "humanity meter".
- Each time a humanity is obtained, the meter's progress for the next humanity is reset to zero.
If only 1 more point is required and 10 are obtained, the extra 9 points do not contribute towards the next humanity.
| Area | Humanity Points | Area Type |
|---|---|---|
| Upper Undead Burg | Hollow - 2 Armored Hollow - 3 BP Armored Hollow - 6 Undead Soldier - 6 BP Undead Soldier - 10 Undead Merchant - 50 |
A |
| Lower Undead Burg | Hollow - 2 Undead Assassin - 3 BP Undead Assassin - 6 |
A |
| Undead Parish1 | Hollow - 2 BP Hollow - 3 Undead Soldier - 6 Balder Knight - 10 BP Balder Knight - 20 Heavy Knight - 20 BP Heavy Knight - 30 |
B |
| The Depths | Hollow - 6 BP Hollow - 10 Butcher - 40 BP Butcher - 50 |
A |
| Blighttown | Cragspider - 6 Infested Ghoul - 3 BP Infested Ghoul - 6 Blowdart Sniper - 10 Infested Barbarian - 10 BP Infested Barbarian - 20 |
C |
| Catacombs | Skeleton - 2 BP Skeleton - 3 Skeleton Wheel - 6 BP Skeleton Wheel - 10 Necromancer - 30 |
A |
| Sen's Fortress | Balder Knight - 10 Heavy Knight - 20 |
A |
| Anor Londo2 | Painting Guardian - 6 | A |
| Painted World | Hollow - 2 Crow Demon - 20 Heavy Knight - 20 |
B |
| The Duke's Archives | Undead Crystal Soldier - 6 | C |
| Oolacile Township | Bloathead - 3 BP Bloathead - 6 Bloathead Sorcerer - 6 BP Bloathead Sorcerer - 10 |
A |
The Duke's Archive Glitch
With Seath undefeated, warp into the Duke's archives from the Undead Parish bonfire by Andre. Kill the nearest Undead Crystal Soldier to quickly obtain 1 Soft-Humanity every time. Warp back out to the Parish and in again to repeat.
The first Undead Crystal Soldier killed after escaping the prison tower is programmed to always reward a soft-humanity automatically.3 This works regardless of the point system above, and is not limited to 10 possible soft-humanities. As of patch 1.06, this can be exploited by warping in and out of the Duke's Archives from the Parish. Warping into the area will trick the game into thinking you've escaped the prison again, causing the first hollow you kill to always award a soft-humanity immediately.
