Infusions In Dark Souls 3
In Dark Souls 3, infusions are arguably one of the most important factors. Without the ability to infuse your weapons, the game’s option would have been too less, especially for builds that are not popular. With the use of infusion, a ton of weapons can be altered to fit different styles. For example, the Greatsword can be infused and be fit for a melee pyromancer hybrid.
Key Takeaways
- Infusions are very helpful items in Darks Souls 3. With different infusions, you can get various effects with your weapons and alter them according to your build.
- Raw Infusion replaces your base scaling with a handsome amount of damage. Its best use comes in the early stages of the game. You get this infusion as a drop from Hollow Soldiers in the High Wall of Iothric.
- Bleed Infusion is not highly ranked when it comes to effective infusions in Dark Souls 3. It certainly increases bleed build-up but its not worth it. It is acquired as a drop from the Irithlliyan Slaves.
- Fire Infusion is a decent one and causes fire damage in place of scaling and base damage. Kill the Fire Demon with Seigward of Catarina to get fire clutch ring, which enhances the fire damage even further.
- Poison Infusion is similar to the Bleed Infusion but provides poison damage instead of blood. It favors many weapons. It comes in a drop from the Rotten Slugs and the Elder Ghrus in the Farron Keep.
- Deep Infusion adds dark scaling to the weapon it infuses. It is a decent option for Dark Pyromancers and Dark Sorcerer builds. Acquire it from the deacons of the deep enemies.
- Simple Infusion increases Intelligence scaling and gives FP regeneration. It is recommended with hybrid builds.
- Blessed Infusion adds Faith scaling and provides FP regeneration linked with the level of your weapon. It is dropped by Evangelists.
- Heavy and Sharp Infusions are similar in some way or the other. Heavy Infusion turns a weapon into a strength one while Sharp Infusion turns it into Dexterity one. They can be found scattered all over in the game’s world.
- Hollow Infusion is an underrated one on this list. It reduces base damage and gives Luck Scaling. It also allows you to buff weapons. Farming it through the Corvian Storyteller is the easiest way to get it.
- Lightning Infusion gives lightning damage to your weapon and replaces base scaling with Faith scaling. An easy way to get this gem is by the larger enemies in the Archdragon Peak.
- Dark Infusion is a versatile one as it gives dark damage to the weapon which is preferred by many builds. You can get it from the Pus-Man in the High Wall of Lothric.
- Crystal Infusion is best suited for sorcerers as it provides Intelliegnce scaling. You can get it from a Crystal Lizard on the Road of Sacrifices.
- Refined Infusion is used fro quality build to focus on melee weapons. This infusion helps balance Strength and Dexterity scaling. It is available by killing a red-eyed Knight in the High Wall of Lothric.
- Chaos Infusion gives you unlimited fire paper that is scalable. It favors pyromancers. In addition to that, its qualities are similar to those of a Dark Infusion.
Here is a summary table for the best Infusions in Dark Souls 3. The table includes all the infusions and their description in a sequence:
| No | Name | Infusion | Stone |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raw Infusion | Raw | Raw Gem |
| 2 | Bleed Infusion | Bleed | Blood Gem |
| 3 | Fire Infusion | Fire | Fire Gem |
| 4 | Poison Infusion | Poison | Poison Gem |
| 5 | Deep Infusion | Deep | Dee Gem |
| 6 | Simple Infusion | Simple | Simple Gem |
| 7 | Blessed Infusion | Blessed | Blessed Gem |
| 8 | Heavy and Sharp Infusions | Heavy, Sharp | Heavy Gem, Sharp Gem |
| 9 | Hallow Infusion | Hallow | Hallow Gem |
| 10 | Lightning Infusion | Lightning | Lightning Gem |
| 11 | Dark Infusion | Dark | Dark Gem |
| 12 | Crystal Infusion | Crystal | Crystal Gem |
| 13 | Refined Infusions | Refined | Refined Gem |
| 14 | Chaos Infusion | Chaos | Chaos Gem |
Beyond just altering a weapons base stats, infusion adds tons of replayability to the game. The fact that you can experiment with multiple builds while playing with one weapon of your choice means that you can go through many playthroughs comfortably. For a more detailed guide on weapon upgrades and infusions, check out our Dark Souls 3 Weapon Upgrades Guide. In this article, we will cover the best infusions in Dark Souls 3 and list some of the best weapons available for each infusion.
How Infusions In Dark Souls 3 Work
In order to infuse a weapon, you may or may need to bring a coal to Andre the blacksmith. For Dark Souls 3 infusions that do not require a coal, just provide Andre with the required stone, and he will infuse your weapon. For weapons that do require a coal, give Andre that coal, and he will then accept stones for the infusions that coal has unlocked (for example, a fire infusion requires the Farron Coal).
Best Infusions In Dark Souls 3
There are many infusions in Dark Souls 3, from fire infusions to magic infusions to Dark infusions. All come with different perks and features, be it added elemental damage or added scaling. Here are all the infusions in Dark Souls 3, ranked.
Raw Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Raw | Raw Gem | Significantly increase the base damage of the weapon but removes all scaling |
While in no way bad, Raw infusions are not of much use outside of early game. Raw infusions remove base scaling from your weapon and add in a ton of damage. Your weapons also retain their ability to be buffed. While there is not much use of a raw infusion late game, it can be extremely effective for the early game uses. The added damage will mean that you will be crushing through early-game enemies with ease.
Raw infusions are also good for caster type builds that want a viable melee weapon on the side without having to care about upgrading it through a non-caster stat (for example, a sorcerer using a raw straight sword as a side weapon) but honestly, such people will be much better off with alternatives like a melee weapon fit for their build or infused to suit their build.
You can find the Raw gem as a drop by hollow soldiers in the High wall of lothric. The best weapons for the Raw Infusion are the straight sword and the broad sword.
Bleed Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bleed | Blood Gem | Adds a bleed build effect to the weapon but reduces its base physical damage and physical stat scaling |
While the blood gem looks cool and bleed infusions in Dark Souls 3 sound very powerful, the reality is not so. While bleed infusions can be viable at times and the bleed effect does cause a lot of damage, the loss in overall damage and scaling just is not worth it.
In PvP, most physical damage weapons will fare much better than a blood-infused weapon. In PvP, while bleed sounds like something that will be extremely effective, it is largely just a gimmick. While bleed infusions do cause a lot of damage over time, the buildup is slow, and the weapon hits do reduced damage. It is mostly just a small annoyance for your opponent. On top of all this, bleed buildup scales with luck which isn’t exactly the most useful stat in Dark Souls 3. Read our Best PVP Dark Souls 3 Weapons.
You can acquire the blood gem as a drop from Irithyllian slaves. To use this infusion, you will first have to provide Andre the Farron Coal. The best weapons for the bleed infusion are the dagger and Manikin Claws. Much like the raw infusion, while the bleed infusion is not bad by any means, it is far from being one of the best Dark Souls 3 infusions. You can get more on Bleed Weapons through our in-depth info.
Fire Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | Fire Gem | Adds Fire damage to the weapon but reduces its base physical damage and removes all scaling. |
Not to be confused with the Chaos infusion, the Fire infusion is another underwhelming yet decent Infusion in Dark Souls 3. Fire infusions remove scaling and reduce base damage from your weapon while adding some fire damage to it. While this may sound useful, the reduction in base damage and scaling means that you will be outputting very low amounts of damage with this infusion. To offset this, we recommend the fire clutch ring by the use of which your fire damage will go up.
You can acquire this ring by killing the fire demon with Seigward of Catarina in the undead settlement. While this infusion won’t give you much, It will pose as an annoyance to PvP enemies and get you through most early-game enemies. Fire damage will also add stagger for most enemies, which will be an added bonus. The best weapon for this infusion is the straight sword.
Poison Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Poison | Poison Gem | Adds a Poison build-up effect to the weapon but reduces its base physical damage and physical stat scaling |
Similar to the bleed Infusion, the poison infusion too makes the list of underwhelming Dark Souls 3 Infusions. This infusion gives your weapons poison damage that builds up over time. The tradeoff for the added poison damage is that you lose base damage and scaling for your weapon.
While the Poison gem is very similar to the blood gem, there are some benefits to this Dark Souls 3 infusion. There are many weapons that go well with Poison infusions and the overall net damage effect of the Poison gem is usually greater than that of the blood gem.
One popular method is to go with the poison gem and focus only on upgrading vigor and endurance. While this method is not the most effective method in Dark Souls 3, it is suitable for most enemies in PvE and will often lead to rage quits in PvP.
You can acquire this gem as a drop from Rotten Slugs and Elder Ghrus in the Farron Keep. You will have to provide the Farron Coal to Andre to use this infusion. The best weapons for such Dark Souls 3 Infusions are fast weapons like twin daggers and katanas.
Deep Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Deep | Dee Gem | Adds Dark damage to the weapon and scaling with both Intelligence and Faith. Reduces base physical damage but does not affect scaling. |
Much like how the fire gem adds fire damage to a weapon but removes scaling and reduces damage, the deep damage adds dark scaling and does the same. The benefit here is that Dark Scaling deals more damage in PvE and has fewer enemies that are less prone to it.
The issue with gems like Deep and Fire is that while they are viable to an extent, they have better counterparts that add the same kind of damage but allow for scaling that increases that damage as you level up the scale that boosts it.
For what its worth, the deep gem is a decent option for caster-type builds who want a weapon on the side and just do not want to go with a raw gem for aesthetic purposes. The deep gem deals dark damage, which is more in line with caster-type builds. This build is especially nice with Dark Pyros and Dark Sorcerer Builds (check out our pyromancer and sorcerer build guides). Much like the fire gem, Dark Souls 3 Infusions also add in stagger which means they will work fine against most PvE enemies.
While there are quite a few of these scattered throughout the map, one of the best ways to acquire it is as a drop from the deacons of the deep enemies, try killing them with boosted item discovery for a better chance of success. The best weapons for Dark Dark Souls 3 Infusions are early game weapons like the broad sword and the long sword.
Simple Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | Simple Gem | Adds Magic damage to the weapon, as well as scaling with intelligence. Reduces base physical damage more severely than the Crystal infusion but does not affect scaling. Also, it adds a slow FP recovery effect while the weapon is in use. |
Don’t get me wrong, the Simple Infusion is one of the best Dark Souls 3 infusions. The Simple infusion has its uses and it excels in what it’s made for, but the Best crystal infusion In Dark Souls 3 is far superior if what you care about is damage only. The simple gem infusions adds in intelligence scaling, although the scaling is underwhelming. In exchange for the low scaling, you get FP regeneration which can be crucial for builds focusing on intelligence.
While the Crystal gem is a clear option for intelligence dependant builds, the Simple Infusion is one of the best Dark Souls 3 infusions for hybrid builds or builds that use intelligence to an extent but do not have it as their primary stat. Builds such as a sorcerer strength hybrid that focuses mainly on strength can use such an Infusion very effectively for such builds often have low Ashen Estus flasks, to begin with. The FP regeneration the simple Dark Souls 3 Infusions offers will come in handy for players who will be refilling their FP bar as they go through the game.
Blessed Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Blessed | Blessed Gem | Adds a slow HP recovery effect while the weapon is held and scaling with Faith. Reduces base physical damage and physical stat scaling. It prevents skeletons from reviving. |
Blessed infusions are another very underutilized type of Dark Souls 3 Infusions. What Blessed Infusions do is that in exchange for base damage and scaling, they add faith scaling and add in HP regeneration (similar to Simple Infusion’s FP regeneration). While the scaling is not very high, the HP regeneration gives the blessed gem a ton of uses and puts it amongst the best Dark Souls 3 infusions.
The ability to regenerate your health can be crucial in a game like Dark Souls 3, which is known for its difficulty. The regeneration is not even linked to your faith level, but rather the level of your weapon. A +10 weapon will give 3 hp every 1.5 seconds. All this gives this gem even more use.
One very popular way of using the Blessed Infusion is to use it with an off-hand weapon, purely for its regeneration. In PvE, this will save you tons of Estus, for you will be reaching full health almost every time before you face off with an enemy.
You can acquire the blessed gem as a drop from the Evangelists in the Irithyll Valley, undead settlement, and the cathedral of the deep. You can use it with any weapon if you plan on using it as an off-hand hp recovering weapon; we recommend something like the dagger that has low weight. All in all, the blessed gem, if used correctly, is easily one of the best infusions in Dark Souls 3.
See also: Best Dark Souls 3 Mage Builds
Heavy and Sharp Infusions
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy | Heavy Gem | Bolsters a weapon's scaling with strength, but reduces the weapon's base damage and removes scaling with Dexterity |
| Sharp | Sharp Gem | Bolsters a weapon's scaling with Dexterity but reduces the weapon's base damage and scaling with Strength. |
The only reason I am ranking these together is due to their similarity. The heavy gem basically turns any infusible weapon into a strength weapon and the Sharp gem turns any infusible weapon into a dexterity weapon, making them both excellent Dark Souls 3 infusions.
Related: Best Dark Souls 3 Heavy Armor Sets
Since Strength and Dexterity builds are some of the most used builds in all of Dark Souls 3, these infusions are some of the most popular infusions in the game. While there is not much to say for these infusions are some of the simplest infusions in the game, they do remove base scaling. To maximize the effectiveness of these Dark Souls 3 Infusions, we recommend a Strength (for heavy gem) or a Dexterity (for sharp gem) level of at least 45 each. These Dark Souls 3 Infusions let weapons be buffed, which makes them all the better.
The best weapons for the Heavy gem are greatswords and ultra greatsword with a quality scaling and/or dexterity weapons like katanas and rapiers, whereas for the sharp gem the best weapons are strength weapons that you would like to use with a high dexterity, such as the Greatsword. Both these gems are common gems and can be found scattered throughout the world of Dark Souls 3.
Hollow Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hallow | Hallow Gem | It adds Luck scaling to the weapon and grants the player additional Luck based on their level of Hollowing. Reduces the weapon's base damage less severely than the Heavy and Sharp infusions. |
Hollow infusions are arguably the most underrated and one of the best infusions in Dark Souls 3. Hollow Infusions in Dark Souls 3 reduce your weapons base damage but add in scaling with luck which goes a long way. On top of this, hollow infusions in Dark Souls 3 allow you to buff your weapons with items and/or spells, which can make for devastating outputs of damage.
While it is true that luck may not be the most used skill in Dark Souls 3, it can still be very useful and tons of fun. Firstly, luck increases the chance of finding rare items drops by a lot. Luck also increases bleed buildup. With a build that uses hollow infusion, you are forced to have a high luck level and while the infusion alone may not make it worth it, the aforementioned perks certainly do. You can read about Luck Build here.
While the Hollow gem is scattered throughout the map of Dark Souls 3, the easiest way to pick it up is to farm it through Corvian Storytellers in the Road of sacrifices. While not necessary, being hollow while using this infusion will give you bonus luck. Hollow infusions go great with curved swords and Katanas.
Lightning Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Lightning Gem | Adds Lightning damage to the weapon and scaling with Faith, but reduces base physical damage and scaling with Strength and Dexterity. |
Anything beyond this point can be interchanged, for it was very tough for me to rank. Anyway, the lightning infusion is easily one of the best Infusions in Dark Souls 3. This infusion adds lightning damage to your weapon and makes it scalable; how cool is that?! With the lightning infusion, your weapon loses base scaling and gains faith scaling.
Lightning damage, especially at a high faith level, can be devastating. Many enemies, including arguably the hardest Miyazaki boss to date, Darkeater Midir, are weak to lightning. Plus, lightning damage is the coolest-looking elemental damage in the game.
While there are multiple ways to obtain this gem, one of the simplest ways is to acquire it as a drop from the larger enemies in Archdragon peak, just make sure you go in wearing everything that enhances your item discovery. While Lightning infusion can buff up any weapon, we recommend weapons like great hammers and ultra greatswords. Make sure you have a faith level of at least 45 the maximize the utility of this Dark Souls 3 Infusion.
Dark Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Dark | Dark Gem | Adds Dark damage to the weapon and scaling with both Intelligence and Faith. Reduces base physical damage but does not affect scaling. |
Similar to the Lightning infusion, the Dark infusion is also another infusion that makes weapons scalable while giving them elemental damage. Except, the Dark infusion is a lot more viable due to the many more uses it has.
Firstly, Dark damage is something many builds, from Pyros to mages to sorcerers to melee builds utilize, it is also something that is scaled with both intelligence and faith, making it very versatile. On top of all this, this infusion also adds faith scaling to weapons with lightning damage built-in and intelligence scaling to weapons with magic scaling.
Where the Dark gem varies from the Deep gem is with its ability to add scaling to a weapon, and its variety. While you can stumble upon the Dark gem in the World of Dark Souls, it is a rare drop. One of the best ways to acquire the Dark Gem is as a drop from the Pus-Man in the High Wall Of Lothric. All in all, the Dark Infusion is one of the best Dark Souls 3 Infusions. While this Infusion can go with most weapons, a personal favorite is the Dark Zweihander.
Crystal Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal | Crystal Gem | Adds Magic damage to the weapon and scaling with intelligence but reduces base physical damage and scaling with Strength and Dexterity. |
The Crystal gem is akin to the simple infusion, but with intelligence scaling and no FP regeneration. The reason it ranks so high up on the list is because of the versatility it offers to Sorcerers in Dark Souls 3. The ability to have your favorite weapons and heave them scale with intelligence translates to a world of possibilities for Sorcerers. Such Dark Souls 3 Infusions will allow sorcerers to experiment with different weapons and cause devastating amounts of damage. This is also excellent for melee sorcerers.
Since sorcery is very popular and sorcerers compromise a large chunk of Dark Souls 3’s population, this Dark Souls 3 infusion is useful for a lot of players. While some can argue the FP regeneration the Simple gem offers make it better, the scaling this gem offers makes it almost objectively better for those who focus on sorcery, for they have more than enough ashen Estus’ to never run out.
One of the easiest ways to acquire this gem is to pick it up from a crystal lizard on the road of sacrifices. Since this gem gives intelligence scaling to most weapons, you can use any weapon that you can not normally use as a sorcerer.
Refined Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Refined | Refined Gem | Equalizes the weapon's scaling with Strength and Dexterity but reduces the weapon's base damage more severely than the Heavy and Sharp infusions. |
Most Dark Souls 3 veterans agree that quality builds are some of the most viable and fun builds to go through Dark Souls 3. But what if you happen to be someone who wants to try a quality build but can not let go of one favorite weapon? This is where Refind infusions in Dark Souls 3 come in. Refined infusions give quality scaling to weapons while taking away their base scaling.
Quality builds/scalings are builds that utilize a mixture of strength and dexterity scaling and focus on melee weapons. These builds have some of the most versatility in the game, primarily due to their weapon variety and damage output. Most strength and dexterity weapons in Dark Souls 3 prioritize or only focus on one of these 2 scalings, what the Refined Dark Souls 3 infusion does is make sure the scaling is balanced, and if you are someone with high strength and dexterity, your damage is being maximized.
While there are many ways per playthrough to acquire this gem, one easy early game way is going to the high wall of lothric, then taking a left-right before the Emma room and killing the red-eyed knight there; this will guarantee at least 1 Refined gem per playthrough. Some of the best weapons for a refined infusion are the Astora Greatsword, the Uchigatana, the Greatsword and we recommend a strength and dexterity level of at least 40 each.
Chaos Infusion
| Infusion | Stone | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Chaos | Chaos Gem | Adds both Fire damage and scaling with Intelligence and Faith. Reduces base physical damage but does not affect scaling. |
Many were probably assuming this, and this might have some bias to it, but the Chaos gem is easily one of the best Dark Souls 3 infusions and is just tons of fun to play with. As a beginner, fire paper is something every new Dark Souls player considers sacred and the holy grail to killing a boss. What this infusion does is essentially give you unlimited fire paper that is scalable.
The Chaos gem gives you fire damage, much like the fire gem, but this gem makes it scalable with intelligence and faith. This gem is perfect for pyromancers and dark pyromancers. The ability to have fire damage that scales with your primary stats means your weapon of choice will be outputting insane amounts of damage.
Since many enemies in the game are weak to fire, that makes this gem all the more useful. Much like the Dark gem, the Chaos gem adds Faith scaling to weapons with lightning damage and Intelligence scaling to weapons with Magic scaling. Chaos infusions in Dark Souls 3 can go with any weapon of your choice; we recommend an intelligence and faith level of at least 40.
FAQs
As mentioned in the article, for infusions you need coals and gems. Coals basically unlock the ability to use some gems. You provide blacksmith Andre with your coal and gem, and he will do the infusion for you.
While in some scenarios infusions can enhance the damage output of a weapon, it is not always the case. In most scenarios infusions just add scaling to a weapon alongside elemental damage, and it is up to your level of that scaling that ultimately determines the damage output.
All Dark Souls 3 infusions are useful and what is best comes down to personal opinion and use. For example, for a pyromancer, the chaos gem or the dark gem will probably be the most useful infusion, whereas for a strength build, the heavy gem will be the best. I personally had the most fun with the lightning and chaos Dark Souls 3 Infusions.
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