- For other uses, see Poison (disambiguation).
- Not to be confused with Toxic (Dark Souls).
Poison is a negative status effect, auxiliary effect and damage type that can be inflicted in Dark Souls.
General information[]
Poison can be contracted from enemies, weapons, projectiles, spells, or environmental hazards. It can be applied directly to weapons on the Standard Upgrade Path, while some other weapons are innately imbued.
Enemies that inflict Poison generally have very high resistance towards it.
Effect[]
When attacked with Poison, the victim's Poison Resist meter gradually fills. The rate at which this fills is dependent on the auxiliary effect or buildup value of the source; and the victim's Poison Resist value.
Once the meter is full, Poison generally deals low damage per second over a period of three minutes and lasts until it is either cured, expired or death occurs.
Notes[]
- Damage per second is dependent on the source of contraction and is not at all affected by Poison Resist, character level or the game difficulty (New Game, New Game+ etc.).
- Duration is always 3 minutes and is not affected by Poison Resist.
- Poison and Toxic have separate Resist meters. This means that both can be inflicted at the same time.
- In the event that the player is under the attack of multiple sources of Poison, the source that deals the afflicting blow will be the one to deal the corresponding damage.
- When exiting the game while Poisoned, the meter will appear to refill upon re-entering. Despite this, the timer does not reset to 3 minutes, but takes the remaining amount of time to expire.
Defense[]
Curing[]
Poison and its buildup can be cured with Purple Moss Clumps, Blooming Purple Moss Clumps, and Divine Blessings; through the use of the Remedy sorcery; or by resting at a bonfire.
Stats[]
Investing in Resistance is the only way to increase poison resistance outside of equipping items.
Equipment[]
Armor[]
Light armor sets typically offer the highest Poison resist. Of them, the fully upgraded Painting Guardian Set offers the highest. The Tattered Cloth Set and Gold-Hemmed Black Set also offer excellent Poison resistance.
Medium armor sets are not the best choice when it comes to Poison resist, however, those worth mentioning are the Channeler's Set, Catarina Set and the Paladin Set.
While heavy armor sets generally offer much lower resistance to status effects than their lighter counterparts, the Black Iron Set offers relatively high Poison resist for its weight.
The unique headgear Bloated Sorcerer Head, and to a lesser extent, the Bloated Head have the highest Poison Defense out of any headpiece and do not need to be upgraded.
Individual armor pieces that have the highest Poison Resist when fully upgraded are the Painting Guardian Set's Hood, Robe and Gloves, along with the Gold-Hemmed Black Skirt, totaling 273.6 Poison Resist.
Rings[]
The Poisonbite Ring can significantly raise Poison resistance without the need to switch armor pieces.
Shields[]
Most shields let some negative status effects seep through while blocking, the exceptions being the Spider Shield and Greatshield of Artorias, which both blocks 100% of Poison attacks that aren't area of effect. The Bloodshield is the only shield that raises resistances to negative status effects.
Weapons[]
The Gargoyle's Halberd and Gargoyle Tail Axe offer large amounts of resistance to Poison and are the only weapons to do so.
Utilization[]
The following is a list of items, spells and weapons that can inflict Poison along with the corresponding amount of buildup per hit (or per second when within the influence of area of effect spells), as well as damage per tick and its frequency in seconds that occurs over its 3-minute duration.
Infliction Source | Buildup | Damage per tick/ seconds |
Total Damage |
---|---|---|---|
Items | |||
Poison Throwing Knife | 55 | 4/second | 720 |
Rotten Pine Resin | 30 | 3/second | 540 |
Spells | |||
Dark Fog AoE |
16/0.2 seconds | 4/second | 720 |
Poison Mist AoE |
20/0.2 seconds | 3/0.8 seconds | 675 |
Weapons | |||
Guardian Tail | 40 | 3/second | 540 |
Large Club | 30 | 3/second | 540 |
Oolacile Catalyst | 30 | 3/second | 540 |
Poison Arrow | 60 | 3/second | 540 |
Enemies[]
The following is a list of enemies and environmental hazards that can inflict Poison along with the corresponding amount of buildup per hit (or per second in the case of area of effect spells or environmental hazards), as well as damage per tick and its frequency in seconds that occurs over its 3-minute duration.
Infliction Source | Buildup | Damage per tick/ seconds |
Total Damage |
---|---|---|---|
Enemies | |||
Bloathead Sorcerer Oolacile Catalyst Melee |
??? | 3/ ??? | ??? |
Bloathead Sorcerer Dark Fog AoE |
??? | 5/0.532 seconds (approximate) |
1690 |
Giant Leech | ??? | ??? | ??? |
Giant Mosquito Blood Spray |
??? | 4/ ??? | ??? |
Giant Mosquito Sting |
45 | 9/second | 1620 |
Infested Barbarian | 50 | 7/second | 1260 |
Lesser Sanctuary Guardian | ??? | ??? | ??? |
Giant Undead Rat | 12 | 4/second | 720 |
Large Undead Rat | 12 | 4/second | 720 |
Small Undead Rat | 45 | 9/second | 1620 |
Tree Lizard | 60 | 10/second | 1800 |
Bosses | |||
Sanctuary Guardian | ??? | 10/ ??? | ??? |
Environmental Hazards | |||
Blighttown Swamp AoE |
3/0.6 seconds | 4/second | 720 |
Lost Izalith Pit AoE |
3/0.6 seconds | 4/second | 720 |