How to Stay Alive in Dark Souls 3

Dark Souls is one of the hardest series in recent memory. Find out a few useful tips to stay alive!

The Dark Souls series began as a bit of a niche title. People played Demon’s Souls and they raved about, then more people played the first Dark Souls game and that trend continued. However, it wasn’t until the release of Bloodborne on the PlayStation 4 that people really started to highly anticipate the next Dark Souls game. That’s not to say people didn’t highly anticipate the last few games, but Bloodborne caught the attention of a new audience. The PS4-exclusive was faster-paced than Dark Souls, and a bit easier for the average gamer, while still offering a considerable challenge.

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With no sign of Bloodborne 2 in the works, and words from From Software President, Hidetaka Miyazaki, indicating this could be the last installment in the franchise, anticipation for Dark Souls 3 is at an all-time high. This also means there are a lot of new people who will be getting into Dark Souls with the upcoming release, so we’re going to cover a few quick tips to help you stay alive. If you’re coming from Bloodborne, we’ve already discussed how Dark Souls 3 is similar to the PS4-exclusive, so check that out to familiarize yourself with the new game.

Take Your Time

One of the most important ways to stay alive in Dark Souls 3 is to simply take your time. One thing that’s different about Dark Souls 3 compared to previous entries in the series is that enemies will ambush you from behind as soon as you enter a room or round a corner. While this happened occasionally in previous games, it occurs far more frequently in Dark Souls 3. Every time you go through a doorway, be ready to defend against a surprise attack.

Manage Enemy Numbers

While you’ve always had to fight multiple enemies at once, it wasn’t until Bloodborne in which it was common practice to engage a group of enemies. In most cases, players would engage one enemy at a time in Dark Souls games, or risk quick and gruesome death. You could still get overwhelmed in Bloodborne, but you had the tools you needed to take on multiple enemies at once.

Dark Souls 3 offers faster combat than previous Dark Souls games. While it’s not quite as fast-paced as Bloodborne combat, it’s probably faster than what most Dark Souls players are accustomed to. With this faster combat comes new weapon techniques that allow players to deal with multiple enemies at once, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to take on a room full of enemies. Move around to separate them so you only have to engage a few enemies at a time. This is especially important if you’re using a weapon that isn’t well-suited for attacking multiple enemies at once.

Level Up Often

It’s a common fact in Dark Souls games that dying means you lose all of your souls (or Blood Echoes in the case of Bloodborne). You use these souls to level up your character, and while you can still get them back if you find them before you die again, it can be a daunting process to not only get back to where you were, but do so without dying again. If you use the fast travel system all of the enemies respawn, but sometimes it’s better to fast-travel back to where you can level up instead of taking a chance and losing all of your souls.

This is an article on how to stay alive, and while turning in your souls frequently is more akin to simply not losing them, the higher level you are the easier it will be to take on enemies and the less likely you are to die. If you’re having a hard time with an area, you may even want to grind a bit and kill easier enemies until you have enough souls to level up a few times. Grinding can be boring to some, but gaining as many levels as you can makes a bit difference in a game such as Dark Souls 3.

Dark Souls 3 is scheduled to release in the US on April 12, 2016. Stay tuned to Prima Games as we offer a free walkthrough and guide for the game once it’s been released. For now, check out our first look at Dark Souls 3 or find out everything we know about the upcoming title.


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Author
Bryan Dawson
Bryan Dawson has an extensive background in the gaming industry, having worked as a journalist for various publications for nearly 20 years and participating in a multitude of competitive fighting game events. He has authored over a dozen strategy guides for Prima Games, worked as a consultant on numerous gaming-related TV and web shows and was the Operations Manager for the fighting game division of the IGN Pro League.