How To Use Magic In Dark Souls
While most players like to stick to traditional melee combat in Dark Souls, magic is an extremely viable option as it allows you to attack from a distance and perform numerous spells. If you’re interested in using magic in Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered but don’t know how to do so, check out our guide right here.
How Does Magic Work In The Game?
There are three types of magic in Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered; Sorceries, Pyromancies, and Miracles. Each of the magic types require a different weapon to cast, attunement slots to equip said magic, and different stats in order to work correctly. They are as follows:
- Sorceries: Requires Intelligence and can only be cast with Catalysts
- Pyromancies: Requires Intelligence and can only be cast with the Pyromancy Flame
- Miracles: Requires Faith and can only be cast with Talismans
Unlike the more modern Souls-like games by FromSoftware, there is no FP bar that designates how many sorceries, pyromancies or miracles you can perform. Instead, each spell has a limited number of uses that can only be replenished by resting at a bonfire.
You can boost the number of spell uses by equipping each spell more than once, although this uses more attunement slots and requires you to purchase spells again.
Equipping And Casting Magic
To use magic, you’ll need to equip a Talisman, Catalyst or Pyromancy Flame as you would a weapon. Once you’ve done that, rest at a Bonfire and scroll down to the ‘Attune Magic’ option. You’ll then see a list of all your magic and can select which to equip to your available attunement slots.
It’s important to note that identical copies of the same sorcery, pyromancy or miracle do not stack with the same attunement slot, they require their own attunement slot.
Equipped spells will appear in the upper slot of the equipped items HUD when playing. You can scroll through your currently equipped spells by hitting the ‘Up’ directional button on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch or the ‘R’ key on PC.
Currently equipped magic will be greyed out if it cannot be cast for any reason, whether that’s due to a lack of levels or not equipping the correct equipment.
With everything equipped, you can cast sorcery, pyromancy or miracles by using the attack buttons as you would with any weapon. It’s important to note that, unlike the more modern Souls-like games, casting magic does not consume stamina.
How To Get More Attunement Slots In Dark Souls
There are two ways of getting more attunement slots in Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered. The first is by finding and equipping the White Seance and Darkmoon Seance rings, which both add one attunement slot each.
The second is by increasing the Attunement stat, which adds a new slot for every few levels up to a maximum of 10 slots. The rate of attunement slots to levels is as follows:
- Levels 10-11: One slot
- Levels 12-13: Two slots
- Levels 14-15: Three slots
- Levels 16-18: Four slots
- Levels 19-22: Five slots
- Levels 23-27: Six slots
- Levels 28-33: Seven slots
- Levels 34-40: Eight slots
- Levels 41-49: Nine slots
- Levels 50+: 10 slots
With the exception of Bandit and Warrior, all Dark Souls starting classes including Clerics have at least one attunement slot, while Sorcerers have three and Pyromancers have two.
It’s a good idea to level Attunement alongside your Vitality (Health), Endurance (Stamina), and Intelligence or Faith when you can in order to keep your available number of spells up, handy as you unlock more magic as you progress through the game.
That’s it! Now you know how to use magic, it’s time to take on the Dark Souls Remastered bosses. While you’re here, take a look at our guide to the best Dark Souls rings.
