by galen666 Sun Apr 15, 2012 3:30 pmNote: This is in NG+ (my second playthrough), in which the souls gained per mob is quite a bit different than NG but the relative results should be fairly similar to NG.
These are four spots that seemed to be worth staying for a while just to gather souls. Usually they are close to a bonfire.The data below is a comparison of time taken and souls gained in these spots - your mileage may vary. In all spots I'm wearing the Covetous Silver Serpent ring (addnl souls) except for #2 where I changed to the Bellowing Dragoncrest ring (sorcerty boost). I currently can't wear both these rings because I have the Ring of Favor and Protection equipped.
#1. Tomb of the Giants: Baby skeletons. Lots of people farm here. I use an Occult Club exclusively. Of course a benefit to farming here is that you also get lots of humanity. It can be difficult to pick up, but I only missed picking up one in this short run and managed to get exactly 1 humanity per minute (17 in 17 minutes) with 210 item discovery.
#2. Tomb of the Giants: 4 Skeleton Dogs + 1 Giant Skeleton. The starting point here is the last bonfire in Tomb of the Giants before you get to the baby skeleton farming location (#1 above). The bonfire is hidden around a corner and you do need to be careful not to fall when getting back and forth from it. Cast light is absolutely necessary. There is 1 giant skeleton dog and 1 giant skeleton next to the bonfire and then three more giant skeleton dogs if you head just a little further (down) toward the baby skeleton room. The most effective method to soul farm here for me was using the homing crystal soulmass with the Tin Crystallization Catalyst and (as mentioned above) the Bellowing Dragoncrest ring. This allows me to one-shot everything so that most of the time is just running back and forth to the bonfire.
#3. Anor Londo Giants. This is the first bonfire you get to in Anor Londo, located between the two temples that each have three giants. My preferred method for farming here is with a bow. I used a Composite Bow +15 with standard arrows (cheap) which allows me to take out the giants in 10 shots. If you stand far enough away the giants do not attack. Killing them in a fair fight isn't hard, but takes more time. I find that I can kill all three in 30 seconds with a bow.
#4. Anor Londo Knights and Giants. The bonfire I used here is the closest to the Ornstein & Smough room. The main targets here are the enhanced giants in the large hallway outside the O&S room because they give double souls compared to normal giants. There are two knights that are unavoidable here and I didn't try just running past them although that might be a quicker way to farm souls. Instead, I just killed them with a sword along with two other knights that are on the way and wouldn't normally attack you (in the room across from the bonfire and the second knight in the room with the stairs and chests. There is also a knight shooting arrows in the big hall that I killed because I have an easy location to snipe him. Anyway, my run involved killing the first four knights on the way to the main hall, then sniping the two enhanced giants and the dragonbow knight in the main hall, then sniping the two regular giants just outside the main hall. The enhanced giants take 15 shots from high on the stairs in different locations. The regular giants take only about 5 shots in the back.
Results:
The last three are fairly similar. Obviously #1 is not the best location for souls, but is more of a humanity farming location. I think perhaps I could improve the results for #4 if I just skipped the knights and ran straigt through to the giants.
These are four spots that seemed to be worth staying for a while just to gather souls. Usually they are close to a bonfire.The data below is a comparison of time taken and souls gained in these spots - your mileage may vary. In all spots I'm wearing the Covetous Silver Serpent ring (addnl souls) except for #2 where I changed to the Bellowing Dragoncrest ring (sorcerty boost). I currently can't wear both these rings because I have the Ring of Favor and Protection equipped.
#1. Tomb of the Giants: Baby skeletons. Lots of people farm here. I use an Occult Club exclusively. Of course a benefit to farming here is that you also get lots of humanity. It can be difficult to pick up, but I only missed picking up one in this short run and managed to get exactly 1 humanity per minute (17 in 17 minutes) with 210 item discovery.
#2. Tomb of the Giants: 4 Skeleton Dogs + 1 Giant Skeleton. The starting point here is the last bonfire in Tomb of the Giants before you get to the baby skeleton farming location (#1 above). The bonfire is hidden around a corner and you do need to be careful not to fall when getting back and forth from it. Cast light is absolutely necessary. There is 1 giant skeleton dog and 1 giant skeleton next to the bonfire and then three more giant skeleton dogs if you head just a little further (down) toward the baby skeleton room. The most effective method to soul farm here for me was using the homing crystal soulmass with the Tin Crystallization Catalyst and (as mentioned above) the Bellowing Dragoncrest ring. This allows me to one-shot everything so that most of the time is just running back and forth to the bonfire.
#3. Anor Londo Giants. This is the first bonfire you get to in Anor Londo, located between the two temples that each have three giants. My preferred method for farming here is with a bow. I used a Composite Bow +15 with standard arrows (cheap) which allows me to take out the giants in 10 shots. If you stand far enough away the giants do not attack. Killing them in a fair fight isn't hard, but takes more time. I find that I can kill all three in 30 seconds with a bow.
#4. Anor Londo Knights and Giants. The bonfire I used here is the closest to the Ornstein & Smough room. The main targets here are the enhanced giants in the large hallway outside the O&S room because they give double souls compared to normal giants. There are two knights that are unavoidable here and I didn't try just running past them although that might be a quicker way to farm souls. Instead, I just killed them with a sword along with two other knights that are on the way and wouldn't normally attack you (in the room across from the bonfire and the second knight in the room with the stairs and chests. There is also a knight shooting arrows in the big hall that I killed because I have an easy location to snipe him. Anyway, my run involved killing the first four knights on the way to the main hall, then sniping the two enhanced giants and the dragonbow knight in the main hall, then sniping the two regular giants just outside the main hall. The enhanced giants take 15 shots from high on the stairs in different locations. The regular giants take only about 5 shots in the back.
Results:
- 103,462 souls in 17:35 (+ 17 humanity) = 5884 souls/min (6850 souls/min if you turn humanity in to Frampt)
- 168,000 souls in 12:17 = 13677 souls/min
- 129,600 souls in 13:05 = 9906 souls/min
- 102,960 souls in 10:15 = 10045 souls/min
The last three are fairly similar. Obviously #1 is not the best location for souls, but is more of a humanity farming location. I think perhaps I could improve the results for #4 if I just skipped the knights and ran straigt through to the giants.
