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For the Dark Souls variant, see New Game Plus.
For the Dark Souls III variant, see New Game Plus (Dark Souls III).

New Game Plus, also known as New Game+ or NG+, is a gameplay mechanic in Dark Souls II.

Upon receiving an ending, NG+ can be entered at any time from the Far Fire bonfire in Majula.

Overview[]

The story and events in New Game Plus are identical to New Game. The player keeps all weapons, armor, rings, and consumable items that they have acquired, unless said items are plot-critical. They also retain their soul level, stats, and covenant standings. The primary differences are an increase in game difficulty, in the form of more powerful enemies, and greater soul gains from defeating these stronger enemies. New enemies are also introduced, often in the form of black phantom versions of enemies that normally appear in that area. Additionally, some corpses and chests contain different items, certain bosses gain additional drops, and some fights are changed through the addition of new mechanics, attacks, or additional enemies.

Burning a Bonfire Ascetic increases the New Game cycle by one stage in the location the bonfire is linked to, with all the effects that entering NG+ normally would have. The local New Game cycle is represented by "bonfire intensity," which can be viewed while resting at a bonfire, and is increased by both entering NG+ and burning ascetics. Increasing the global New Game cycle by entering NG+ will increase the intensity of all bonfires by one stage, regardless of their individual intensities, until the difficulty cap at NG+10.

Items lost[]

In the original release of Dark Souls II, the keys that grant access to The Lost Crowns downloadable content are not lost upon entering New Game Plus. In the updated Scholar of the First Sin version they are lost, however.

New Game+ and beyond[]

Once the player reaches the end again, they will start with an even harder difficulty and an increase in souls received from enemies. Upon entering New Game+, enemies gain two, three, or four times the damage and the souls they grant on death are increased by a similar amount, while health is usually doubled. On later New Game cycles, the increase is minute, and new enemies are only added in specific spots, such as the basement of the mansion in Majula. The difficulty stops increasing at New Game+10.

Additional changes[]

Along with the general changes, the following changes also occur:

Note: Some changes may be inconsistent depending on if the original release of Dark Souls II or the updated Scholar of the First Sin version is being played.

Things Betwixt

Majula

Forest of Fallen Giants

Heide's Tower of Flame

No-man's Wharf

The Lost Bastille

Sinners' Rise

  • During the fight with The Lost Sinner, two pyromancer phantoms will spawn.
  • A red phantom Undead Prisoner spawns near the stairs to the left side of the flooded area.
  • A pair of red phantom Undead Jailers guard the doors to light the boss arena.
  • In Scholar of the First Sin, two Enhanced Undead spawn at the beginning of the flooded area.

Huntsman's Copse

Undead Purgatory

Harvest Valley

Iron Keep

Shaded Woods

Brightstone Cove Tseldora

  • Large boar enemies will spawn with the Enslaved Pigs at the Royal Army Campsite. They always drop a Divine Blessing.
  • The Duke's Dear Freja will climb over the cliff after the rolling boulders and attack the player by surprise. It will retreat after a while, but any damage done to it will carry over to the actual boss fight.
  • Additional red phantom Parasite Spiders will spawn alongside regular ones.
  • A Blue Flame-wielding phantom will spawn close to the Pickaxe-wielding phantom, on the opposite side of the path leading to the spike pit.

Grave of Saints

Drangleic Castle

Shrine of Amana

  • A red phantom wielding the Butcher's Knife spawns past the second bonfire, near the first Ogre.

Undead Crypt

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