As a hardcore Dark Souls 3 fan with over 500 hours across multiple playthroughs, I live and breathe the grind. And few resources are as precious as the almighty Ember.
Embers grant you full health regen, a 30% max HP buff, unlimited summoning ability, and kindling bonuses to your Estus Flasks. This makes them an extremely valuable tool when facing the game‘s epic and unforgiving challenges.
However, with escasity comes value. Embers don‘t grow on trees in Lothric, which is why dedicated players end up farming hundreds at a time through carefully optimized runs.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll be sharing everything I‘ve learned about maximizing your ember acquisition as efficiently as possible. That includes:
- Secret quirks of the item discovery system
- Min/maxing your stats and gear for farming
- The best routes throughout the entire game
- Estimated embers per hour breakdowns
- Pro-tips and tricks I use myself
If you want to truly master the art of ember farming, this guide has you covered. So equip your best Gold Serpent gear, rally the troops at that bonfire, and follow me through the fog gate as we dive right in!
An In-Depth Look at Item Discovery and Why It Matters
Before we talk specific locations, it‘s crucial to understand exactly how item discovery works in Dark Souls 3. This mechanic can more than double your ember farming efficiency when utilized correctly.
Here‘s a quick overview:
Item Discovery is a hidden stat that increases your odds of enemies dropping loot items like embers upon death.
It ranges from 100 to 800+, with 100 being the base amount.
Increasing this stat boosts farming speeds exponentially due to higher ember drop chances.
Now let‘s break down the key ways to pump up item discovery:
Equipment That Boosts Item Discovery
Several gear pieces directly boost item discovery, including:
- Covetous Gold Serpent Ring – +50 item discovery
- Symbol of Avarice – +100 item discovery
- Crystal Sage‘s Rapier – +50 item discovery
I always have the Gold Serpent Ring equipped while farming. Stacking the Symbol helm pushes discovery up by 150 total. That‘s a massive farming advantage.
You can further stack consumables like Rusted Coin and Rusted Gold Coin for added temporary bonuses:
| Item | Discovery Bonus | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Rusted Coin | +50 | 60 seconds |
| Rusted Gold Coin | +100 | 90 seconds |
As you can see, a loaded item discovery setup with the full gear/consumables can easily grant you +300 or higher. Which leads into the next big contributing factor…
Optimizing Stats For Higher Discovery: Prioritize Luck!
That‘s right – the Luck stat directly correlates to stronger item discovery scaling and better loot drops.
My advice? Invest heavily into Luck whenever farming for consumables like embers.
As a benchmark, aim for 40-50 Luck to maximize drop rates. Every point matters. Equipping Anri‘s Straight Sword in the off-hand adds even more scaling.
The specific breakpoints look like this:
| Luck Stat | Discovery Scaling |
|---|---|
| 10 | +10 Discovery |
| 20 | +20 Discovery |
| 30 | +30 Discovery |
| 40 | +50 Discovery |
| 50 | +75 Discovery |
See how the gains ramp up? Those extra 75 discovery points at 50 Luck are huge.
Combining 50 Luck with the full Gold Serpent setup puts our total Item Discovery stat between 450 – 500. Almost the max possible in the game!
This translates to massively boosted ember drop rates and faster farming.
Now let‘s dive into specific routes and breakdowns.
Early Game Ember Farming Routes
When you first emerge into the High Wall of Lothric, embers feel scarce. But there are a few great options to accumulate them quickly:
Vordt Bonfire – Lothric Knights
Right upstairs from Vordt‘s boss room, you‘ll find 3 Lothric Knights patrolling the courtyard. They have a 3% base ember drop rate.
Equip all your item discovery gear and repeatedly farm this run. With high discovery, you can expect:
- 12 embers per hour
- 2,800 souls per hour
Be strategic in pulling the knights away from each other to avoid greedy deaths. But otherwise an easy early farm.
Dilapidated Bridge Bonfire – 10 Hollow Group
At the Dilapidated Bridge, there‘s a group of 10 basic hollow enemies clumped together right down the slope.
They have around a 1.5% drop rate, which can again add up over an hour run with max item discovery. Expect approximately:
- 9 embers per hour
- 3,000 souls per hour
Pull them carefully up the hill away from the fire bombs. Otherwise, these hollows are fodder enemy levels.
Stack item find gear and go to town!
Mid Game Ember Farming Routes
Once you reach Crucifixion Woods, the lucrative farming really ramps up. Here are two extremely efficient mid game runs:
Halfway Fortress Bonfire – Carthus
Right along the Road of Sacrifices toward the Catacombs, you‘ll discover a deadly gauntlet of Carthus Swordsmen and Sorcerers.
These foes guarding the forest drop embers at a 4% rate normally. Here‘s what I average per hour:
- 38 embers per hour
- 12,000 souls per hour
Carthus enemies hit brutally hard, so be cautious and time your rolls. Their ember output is tremendous though.
Dancer Bonfire – Consumed King‘s Garden
Attempting Dancer early allows you to access Consumed King‘s Garden. Here you‘ll meet an iconic foe…
The Winged Knights
These enemies scare players at first sight. But the payoff is worth it. Winged Knights have a 5% ember drop rate, plus insane soul rewards.
Per hour farming the garden yields:
- 42 embers per hour
- 35,000 souls per hour
Just make sure to pull them carefully and avoid fighting more than one at once! For such formidable knights, they reward you handsomely.
Late Game Ember Jackpots
In the later stretches of Lothric, two superb farming spots open up – Archdragon Peak and Untended Graves.
Both areas house monsters with excellent drop rates. Let‘s explore:
Archdragon Peak – Rock Lizards
Nestled high atop the notorious Archdragon Peak, you‘ll discover around 5 chunky Rock Lizards scattered around the cliffs.
These reptilian silver-backs normally have an 8% ember drop rate. But with maxed out item discovery, expect results like:
- 52 embers per hour
- 18,200 souls per hour
Pretty bonkers right? These lizards are extremely weak to lightning and magic too. Just beware their nasty charge grab attack.
Otherwise, equip your best Gold Serpent Crystal Rapier build and go wild!
Untended Graves – Black Knights
In the dark alternate version of Firelink Shrine known as Untended Graves, you‘ll discover an epic gauntlet of 6 Black Knights guarding the way.
These Knights are easily the most dangerous enemies listed so far, but also the most generous:
With a 10% base drop rate, my average per hour farming here is:
- 85 embers per hour
- 112,000 souls per hour
Cha-ching! 💰
As you can see, this earns ENORMOUS quantity of embers and souls in a short window – nearly 15x that of Lothric Knights!
The only catch? Black Knights don‘t respawn, so utilize Undead Hunter Charms on their corpses to loot their embers twice before the bodies disappear.
Also, expect epic fights to the death. These late-game Knights bring the pain.
Come prepared with +10 weapons, fully reinforced estus, and your best combat strategy. The rewards justify the intense battles!
Pro-Tips To Further Accelerate Your Ember Farming
If you follow everything covered already, you‘ll accumulate mounds of embers in no time. But let me share a few last insider pro-gamer tips:
Secret Discovery-Boosting Armor Set
Very few players know this, but the rare Painting Guardian armor set grants bonuses to item discovery AND soul acquisition.
Mixed with the Gold Serpent Ring/Symbol and 50 Luck, this gear combo massively accelerates both ember drops and soul gains simultaneously.
Definitely grind for this set ASAP to amplify your already efficient runs!
Creative Use of Undead Hunter Charms
As mentioned briefly, Undead Hunter Charms can "reset" an enemy‘s loot table upon death.
Normally, foes only drop loot once per life. But using Charms prevents their corpses from fading – allowing you to farm them endlessly.
Whenever an enemy drops embers, pelt it with a Charm before looting to double your haul!
Overlevel For NG+ Cycles
Once you reach end-game and defeat Soul of Cinder, consider taking your character into New Game+ cycles.
Many enemies will hit even harder at this point, but will also have dramatically boosted soul and ember output.
With a few extra levels, you can continue grinding high yield targets like Black Knights for exponentially greater profits each run.
The same routes above still apply, just amplified to even more insane degrees!
Conclusion
And that sums up this epic fan‘s guide to mastering Dark Souls 3 ember farming!
As you can see, with the right prep and strategy, you can easily accumulate hundreds upon hundreds of embers through dedicated farming runs.
No resource is more valuable for hardcore players taking on New Game+ and the endless challenges it brings.
Hopefully these tips help you conquer Lordran with greater power! Now go praising that Sun and show those bosses who‘s boss! \🌞/
Let me know which route worked best in the comments below. I‘m always seeking more efficient paths!
