Demon's Souls PS5

Tips for Beginners

New to the Souls series? Have no fear, game8 is here! We'll guide you through the basics of the Demon's Souls Remake to get you on your way to becoming a master at slaying demons!

Beginner System Guides

List of Guides
Can You Change Your Appearance? What Are Classes?
Which Class is Best? How Should I Build My Character?
Can You Respec Your Stats? What is Body Form?
What is Soul Form? What is World Tendency?
Where Should I Go Next?

Is It Possible to Change My Character's Appearance?

You Can!
With the Remake, you are now able to change your appearance, for a price. Interacting with the Goddess Statue in the Nexus will give you the option to make an offering of 25,000 souls. Doing so will allow you to change your character's appearance.

What Are Classes?

Classes Just Decide Your Starting Stats and Items
Classes don't function like they do in other games, as in Souls games they simply decide the stats and items you begin the game with. For example, just because you choose a Barbarian doesn't mean you can't use Magic, all you have to do is raise the respective stats. Because of this, the name of the Class can safely be ignored as you can decide based on other factors.

Which Class is Best?

Temple Knight, Royalty, and Knight Are Recommended
We recommend choosing any of the three listed above, albeit with low starting Luck. For more detailed information on why we chose these three, the guide linked below has you covered.
Best Starting Class and Characteristics List

How Should I Build My Character?

Can't Go Wrong With Vitality
If you aren't sure what to put your souls into when leveling, Vitality is always a safe option. If you don't put any points into Vitality then you're really handicapping yourself. A good soft cap to aim for is 30 Vitality, at which you'll be adequately bulky. If you're trying to use a certain weapon or magic, however, then you'll want to put points into the respective stats. There isn't really a right answer here, but as you level up it will require more souls and become more difficult, so having that extra bulk beforehand will help out later.
Best Builds and Stat Explanation

Can You Respec Your Stats?

Everything But Vitality
In Demon's Souls, the only way to redo your stat allocations is by taking a hit from a specific enemy that delevels you or dying in certain online situations. When this happens, any of your highest stats aside from Vitality will decrease along with your Soul Level. Starting in Dark Souls II, it was possible to respec through an NPC, so with the remake there may be a newly added feature to do it more easily. We'll keep this page updated if we find out more.

What is Body Form

When Your Character is Alive
Body Form is when your character has full HP and is not in Soul Form. In most average games, dying would just have you lose a life and try again, but in Demon's Souls you lose your life quite literally. To regain Body Form after you've died you will need to use a Stone of Ephemeral Eyes, defeat a Major Demon, or kill a player online.

What is Soul Form

When You Die
As the name suggests, when you die you lose your body and become a soul. The major downside to being in this form is that you will be at half HP unless you revive yourself or equip the Cling Ring. While in Soul Form you will also be affected by World Tendency.

What is World Tendency?

Depending On the Color, Worlds Change
World Tendency is a system measured on a scale from Pure White to Pure Black. While Pure White, enemies become weaker and areas are easier to traverse. On the other hand, when World Tendency is Pure Black, the opposite occurs, with enemies becoming more powerful. There are other factors and changes involved that we have explained with more detail in the guide below!
What is World Tendency and Character Tendency?

Where Should I Go Next?

Wherever You'd Like!
Once you've cleared the first area, Demon's Souls opens up, allowing you to tackle the remaining areas in whichever order you'd like. This doesn't mean that each location has the same difficulty, however, but you have the freedom of choice from the start. If you still can't decide after defeating Phalanx, we recommend heading over to Stonefang Tunnel.
Best Way to Progress the Game

Beginner Battle Guides

Q&A
Enemies Are Strong Enemies Are Too Strong!!
Why Do I Take So Much Damage? My Rolls Are Too Slow
My Weapon is Weak Why Am I Not Dealing Damage?
What is Weapon Upgrading? I Can't Do a Parry...

Enemies Are Strong

Don't Give Up!
It's a known fact that Souls games aren't a walk in the park, so keep trying until you succeed!

But Really, It's Not Fair

Avoid Large Groups and Try Different Strategies
While there's nothing to be done about the enemy difficulty, our best advice is to avoid large groups of enemies and instead draw them out one by one if possible. Regardless of the enemy, getting trapped in a cluster of them can easily mean the end for you. You can attempt to clear out all the enemies you can or run past them in the hopes you don't get caught. For bosses, there are a variety of ways to handle them, so check out our boss guides and keep trying in Soul Form until you get it right. Dying is learning...right?

Why Do I Take So Much Damage?

Use A Shield With 100% Dmg Reduction
In Souls games you can't rely on the protection provided by your armor and stats alone, so you should get a shield with 100% physical damage reduction to protect you while guarding. You can sprint and guard at the same time so this is helpful when running into our away from packs of enemies.

Why Are My Movements So Slow?

Double Check Your Equip Burden
All Souls games employ a weight mechanic that determines various things. If you have too much equipped at one time, your rolling and movement will become slower and more sluggish, so it's recommended you try to keep your Equip Burden below 50%. Equipping heavier armor to increase your defense can have the opposite effect as you will have a harder time avoiding attacks and get hit more often.
What is Equipment Burden?

My Weapon Is Weak

Look At Your Stats
If you feel like your weapon is too weak, you should look at your stats first, as each weapon has different requirements and scaling. If you don't meet the stat requirements you won't be able to fully utilize a weapon. Try raising your stats in order to meet those requirements.

I've Raised My Stats But My Damage is Still Low

Upgrade Your Weapon
Raising your stats is important in Demon's Souls, but if you really want to see results then you will need to upgrade your weapon. Not only will your attack power raise, but the scaling with your own stats can improve as well. The only issue is that getting all of the materials required to fully upgrade a weapon can be difficult depending on the upgrade, so you should choose the weapon you want to stick with sooner than later.

Should I Change My Weapon's Upgrade Path?

Depends On Your Playstyle
Changing the upgrade path means that the scaling or bonus effects of the weapon will change rather than just the damage. For example, the Crushing attribute will make it so a weapon only scales with the Strength stat. We do recommend trying out these upgrades, but depending on your own stats, which path to choose differs. For more on which upgrades we recommend, check out the link below.
How to Upgrade Weapons

I Can't Parry

Practice Makes Perfect
The only way to learn how to parry is to keep trying. Each enemy has different parry timings as well so practice and learn the timing to get better. Keep in mind that parrying isn't absolutely necessary to deal damage to enemies, as you can get on perfectly fine blocking and waiting for openings to attack. Parrying provides a level of satisfaction and deals quite a bit of damage so if you can learn it, go for it.
How to Parry and Riposte

Beginner Exploration Guides

Q&A
I Can't Hold Anymore Items This Wall Looks Different
There Are Objects in My Way I'm Out of Healing Items
I Saw a Lizard Run Away! -

I Can't Hold Anymore Items

Make Sure You Haven't Hit Your Item Burden Limit
Just like there is Equip Burden, there is also Item Burden that limits the total amount of items you can carry. If you hit the limit then you will no longer be able to carry anything, so send whatever you don't need to Thomas' storage.

This Wall Looks Different

Try Hitting It
As you explore the world of Demon's Souls, you will likely come across more walls like this. These are illusory walls that when struck will reveal a path. These often are hiding rare items or strong enemies so you should be on the lookout for them.

There Are Objects in My Way

Roll Into or Attack Them
There will be times where your path is blocked by various objects, but if you roll into or attack them they will break easily. There are some stronger objects that rolling won't work on, so try hitting them instead.

I'm Out of Healing Items

Buy More or Farm Them in Boletarian Palace
No matter what you do, you will likely be hit and take damage at some point or another, causing you to use up your healing items. In the event that you run out, farm some souls and buy them from whichever merchant is most convenient for you, or you can farm them in Boletarian Palace near the Tower Knight Archstone from the Blue Eyed Knights.

I Saw a Lizard Run Away!

That Was a Crystal Lizard That Drops Stones
In most areas in the game you'll spot what are known as Crystal Lizards. They will run away almost immediately so you need to hit them quick before they disappear. If they disappear they will respawn the next time you enter the area. If you manage to fell one, they will drop a variety of stones to help you in upgrading your weapons. They will respawn time to time after their defeat as well.

Demon's Souls Related Links

Tips and Tricks

Helpful Guides for Demon's Souls

Which Starting Gift Should You Choose? How to Upgrade Weapons
What Carries Over in New Game Plus? Best Way to Progress the Game
Trophy List and Guide Best Places to Farm Souls
Tips for Beginners How to Get Pre-Order and Digital Deluxe Bonuses
List of Unique Weapons Best Way to Use Demon's Souls
All Ring Locations All Spell and Miracle Locations
Can You Change Your Appearance? How to Level Up
How to Open the Secret Door Best Rings
How to Obtain An Additional Magic Slot Where to Find Upgrade Stones
Where to Find Crystal Lizards Where to Find Primeval Demons

Where to Find Characters

List of Characters and Merchants Where to Find Saint Urbain
Where to Find Yuria, the Witch Where to Find Sage Freke
Where to Find Sparkly the Crow Where to Find Biorr of the Twin Fangs
Where to Find Scirvir, the Wanderer Where to Find Yurt, the Silent Chief
Where to Find Mephistopheles

Demon's Souls Game Mechanics

What Does Soul Level Do? What Does Intelligence Do?
What Does Strength Do? What Does Endurance Do?
What Does Vitality Do? What Does Faith Do?
What Does Dexterity Do? What Does Luck Do?
What Does Magic Do? What is World Tendency?
What is Equipment Burden? Online Multiplayer Guide
Parry and Riposte Guide What is Fractured World?
List of Controls

Author

    Walkthrough Menu

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