Punishing difficulty and fantastic lore are the cornerstones of a good FromSoftware title. These unique RPGs offer a wide range of build options and combat encounters that make them infinitely replayable. Dark Souls 3 is a great example of this.
Players can play melee-only characters, casters, archers, or miracle builds. Miracle builds are typically favored by newer players looking for a leg up in the early-game, yet so many of the miracles in Dark Souls 3 are new-player traps that should be avoided. For a game that is already regarded as being difficult for newcomers, this makes the early-game experience worse. For those looking at playing a faith-based character, here are the five best and worst miracles a new player should keep their eyes on in Dark Souls 3.
10 Best: Lightning Weapon
Obtained during the mid-game in the Irithyll Dungeon, the Lightning Blade is a phenomenal weapon buff that every faith-based character should obtain.
Casting Lightning Blade on a non-infused weapon will grant lightning damage equal to a player's spellbuff value * 0.95. The higher a player's faith and the better their chime or talisman, the stronger the Lightning Weapon buff is. This increase can make fighting lightning-vulnerable bosses such as the Abyss Watchers or Dancer of the Boreal Valley a complete joke.
9 Not Worth It: Homeward
Right after players bring Irina of Carim to Firelink Shrine, she will be able to sell a small variety of miracles to the player for a small fee. Homeward is one of these miracles, and it is easily one of the worst miracles in the game.
Homeward functions similarly to a Homeward Bone, allowing the player to fast travel back to their last rested bonfire or Firelink Shrine proper. The issue is that this costs 30 FP. Players that enter a tough engagement will likely use their FP on other faith-related spells or weapon arts. If that isn't the case, Homeward is still made redundant by how plentiful Homeward Bones are in Dark Souls 3. A player's spell slot can be better used elsewhere.
8 Best: Gnaw & Dorhy's Gnawing
While Gnaw becomes obsolete once players obtain Dorhy's Gnawing at Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, there is no denying that the former has a place in the early-game progression of Dark Souls 3. Gnaw summons a projectile that slowly tracks targets. On contact, the enemy takes 130 of Bleed buildup that cannot be scaled by any means. It also deals a solid amount of Dark damage that scales with the spellbuff stat.
Dorhy's Gnawing is a stronger version that deals 210 points of Bleed buildup and can be obtained in Irithyll of the Boreal Valley later in a playthrough. Both miracles are incredible at causing bleed-vulnerable targets to hemorrhage massive amounts of health. Dancer of the Boreal Valley, the Abyss Watchers, and even Sister Friede are incredibly weak to both miracles.
7 Not Worth It: Caressing Tears
Yet another miracle that Irian can sell straight away, Caressing Tears will cleanse the caster and nearby allies of the bleeding, poison, and frost status ailments. For a mere cost of 14 FP, one would think this is a good miracle.
In practice, Caressing Tears suffers the same issue Homeward does. Moss consumables that cleanse these status effects are plentiful. Some players might use this miracle to make Farron Swamp easier to finish, yet the zone has so many Moss Clumps that Caressing Tears quickly becomes redundant.
6 Best: Deep Protection
If users do not wish to achieve the good quest conclusion for Irina of Carim, purchasing Deep Protection early in a playthrough can be great for newer players.
Deep Protection is a weaker version of the late-game Sacred Oath miracle. While active, Deep Protection provides 5% increased damage, damage resistance, increases all resistances by 20, and grants +3 Stamina regeneration per second. Each buff might be small on paper, yet these enhancements can allow newer players to survive just one more hit or regenerate their stamina faster to get away from an enemy. Replacing this with Sacred Oath when available is a no-brainer, but Deep Protection is a great utility miracle that any faith character can use in the early-game.
5 Not Worth It: Way of White Corona
Newer players might have looked at all of the miracles in Dark Souls 3 and saw this miracle added in the Ashes of Ariendel DLC. Visually, this is one of the coolest miracles in the game, throwing a magical disc that returns to its user after thrown.
Unfortunately, this miracle's damage output is horrendous. A damage value of a player's spellbuff * 0.85 is a third less than what Lightning Spear does, which is already considered one of the worst miracles in the game. Stay away from Way of White Corona at all costs.
4 Best: Emit Force
Any faith build that wishes to deal damage from a distance should take Emit Force over Lightning Spear every single time. Emit Force costs three less FP, requires 18 Faith instead of 20, and does more damage than Lightning Spear.
That's not even all of the pros; Emit Force also deals a substantial amount of Stamina damage to any target that is blocking. If an enemy isn't blocking, this projectile will launch them off their feet, allowing for a swift follow-up attack. This knockdown effect even works on some bosses such as Sister Friede. If there is any miracle that is underrated in Dark Souls 3, it's this one. Players can obtain this miracle by speaking to Siegward of Catarina in Irithyll of the Boreal Valley.
3 Not Worth It: Lightning Spear
Speaking of Lightning Spear, it is easily one of the worst miracles in Dark Souls 3. It is obtained rather early at the Road of Sacrifices, yet its damage output is so lackluster that it demands a high amount of faith, an upgraded talisman, and various miracle-boosting rings to deal anywhere near acceptable damage.
Players are better off using Gnaw or a bow until they get their hands on a better variant of this miracle.
2 Best: Heal
Due to the nature of FP in Dark Souls 3, most players use nothing but Estus Flasks unless they are a caster. In these cases, players typically split it in half or slightly bias Estus Flasks. This can lead to an issue where casters have more FP than they do health.
Heal is the answer to that issue. For a moderate FP cost of 45, players can heal themselves for 300 times their spellbuff stat. This usually equates to three or four hundred health a cast. It can be obtained immediately by Clerics or purchased from Irina of Carim for 1,000 Souls. Keep an eye out for Med Heal as well, a slightly better version of Heal that can be obtained from Irina after giving her the Braille Divine Tome of Carim.
1 Not Worth It: Seek Guidance
Image from u/TorqueLugnut (Reddit)
Many new players jump into the Dark Souls franchise knowing that every game is equally punishing and unwilling to guide them. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that some of these players would turn to the Seek Guidance miracle for some help.
This miracle is downright useless in Dark Souls 3. It will reveal additional summoning signs — which are still unusable unless the player is Embered — and reveal unique developer messages. Thing is, there are only seven developer messages in the entire game, and nearly every message is so vague that new players won't know what they are referring to. It doesn't even notify players of nearby illusory walls like it did in Dark Souls 2. Seek Guidance is easily the largest new player trap in the game that serves no purpose.