Human Effigy

human effigy consumables dark souls2 wiki guide

Use this item to reverse Hollowing.

Human Effigy is a type of Consumable in Dark Souls 2 (DKS2). This is an important item for a player's restoration. In previous titles, this item allows full regeneration and the ability to interact with Summon signs, but in Dark Souls II, it instead removes any impacting curses or effects that affect the health bar. Any effects or penalties can be undone with this item. The Human Effigy in Dark Souls 2 can be stacked and collected after it is obtained through many different methods. The easiest way to have it at the start of the game is to begin with it as a Starting Gift, which will ensure players will have it at the start of the game in their inventory. Consumable Items grant various effects such as restorative properties for recovering HP, removing certain negative status effects, applying temporary buffs and debuffs, as well as activating various actions and effects.

 

A warm, soft, shadow like effigy. Use this item to reverse Hollowing. It also weakens the links to other worlds, invasions and most cooperation.
Peer closely at an effigy, and one begins to perceive a human form, but whose form it takes depends on the person looking."

Dark Souls 2 Human Effigy Usage Guide

  • Restorative item. Reverses hollowing.
  • Removes penalties to player's health bar due to death and hollowing, as well as curse.
  • The user is turned human
  • Can be burned at the bonfire to limit all direct multiplayer interactions (no summoning/limited invading) for the next 30 minutes.
  • Required to open the portals of the Pilgrims of Dark Covenant until reaching Rank 3.
  • Unlike the counterpart in Dark Souls, it does not replenish health.

 

Human Effigy Locations in Dark Souls 2

  • Can be obtained as a starting gift.
  • One can be found in a chest upstairs in the Seer's Hut.
  • One can be found in the Forest of Fallen Giants from a corpse on the scaffolding outside the Cardinal Tower bonfire.
  • Can be obtained from exhausting Lucatiel of Mirrah's dialogue.
  • Can be found on the molten rock near the first bonfire in the Iron Keep.
  • 6 Can be obtained by talking to Strowen the old Fire Keeper, after getting the King's ring. (It's recommended to gather these before killing them for the other 6)
  • Can be obtained by killing 2 of the old Fire Keepers after character creation. Milibeth drops 3, and Strowen (the witch you can talk with to reallocate attribute points) drops 6. The others drop nothing. However, after killing Strowen, you will need to pay 15,000 souls at her gravestone to be able to re-allocate your points. If you instead talk to Strowen after receiving the King's Ring, she will give you them without having to kill her.
  • In Belfry Sol , you need to pull the lever to open the steel grated door that is located by crossing the large roof, enter the fog gate, and proceed down the stairs. When you get to the bottom of them, turn around to find a corpse with a glowing item which includes a Human Effigy.
  • 1 on a corpse in Dragon's Sanctum on the spike trap staircase.
  • 1 on a corpse in the Shrine of Winter, go through the Shrine then walk down the path and take a left towards Drangleic Castle. Go passed the Heide White Knight and on your right is the corpse.
  • 3 on a corpse in Dragon's Sanctum near the area with The Imperfect.
  • 2 in Frozen Eleum Loyce in the area where you find the Bone Fist.
  • 5 in a chest before Old Dragonslayer boss.

Human Effigy Sold by:

Human Effigy Dropped by:

 

DKS2 Farming Effigies

The following locations provide the quickest ways to obtain large quantities of Human Effigies:

  • The earliest way to farm these without the need for Bonfire Ascetics is in Forest of Fallen Giants. Either try to get them from the Ironclad Soldiers or the Skeletons, reachable after defeating The Last Giant and getting the Soldier Key. If you go down the ladder at the Soldier's Rest bonfire, take a turn to the left. Going through the doorway on the left side, you get into the room where the mist to the rooftops was. On the right side of this room is a door, which now can opened with the key, which leads down a darkened area, inhabited by 6 respawning Skeletons.
  • Burning a Bonfire Ascetic in Majula allows you to slay the Skeletons below the mansion, each of which guarantees a Human Effigy. The amount of Skeletons is equal to the bonfire intensity. (This may not be 100%. On a farm of an intensity 7 fire, only 6 effigies dropped from 7 skeletons.)
  • Burning a Bonfire Ascetic at the first Bonfire in Forest of Fallen Giants allows you to re-open the chest in the cave located at the start of the forest, collecting 5 Human Effigies.
  • Burning a Bonfire Ascetic  at the first Bonfire in Brightstone Cove Tseldora allows you to re-open the wooden chest in the secret area beyond the well, collecting 5 Human Effigies.
  • Killing Amana Aberrations (Lizardmen) in Shrine of Amana. They have a 7% chance of dropping humanity (Tested with Jester's Cap, Prisoner's Tatters, and Covetous Gold Serpent Ring +1 : drops pretty often). When they don't spawn anymore, burning a Bonfire Ascetic or joining the company of champions will respawn them.
  • Burning a Bonfire Ascetic at the Tower of Prayer bonfire in Dragon's Sanctum allows you to farm an infinite amount of Human Effigies at the spike trap staircase as well as Twinkling Titanite, Petrified Dragon Bone, Focus Soul.
  • AFTER PATCH 1.10 Human Effigies now drop from defeated Red Phantom players (either players who have invaded you using a Cracked Red Eye Orb, or opponents you have summoned from their Red Sign Soapstone). Invading NPCs also count for this. Defeating an Abyss Spirit (invading or summoned player in the Dark Chasm of Old) or defeating a host you have invaded or been summoned by in a Chasm will also yield a Human Effigy in addition to a Bonfire Ascetic. Belfry invaders, Dragon Spirits, Arbiter Spirits, and players summoned via the Rat Ring do not award Human Effigies on death. Defeating a player you have invaded will not give a Human Effigy except for when invading in the Dark Chasm of Old.

 

Negating the Loss of Humanity

If you wish to bypass the penalty of losing Human Effigies, you can simply equip the Ring of Life Protection or the Ring of Soul Protection. By doing so you can now die and keep all of your souls and your state of Humanity without using a Human Effigy. You can then repair the ring at the blacksmith of your choice for 3000 or 6000 souls (14000 souls each in SOFS).
Additionally, you will never hollow once you obtain all 4 crowns and receive Vendrick's Blessing, effectively nullifying the need for Human Effigies.

 

Becoming Human without Human Effigy

In the Shrine of Amana (4th bonfire), there is an altar you can pray to and you can become human. After you defeat the boss, proceed to the right instead of entering the Undead Crypt and follow this path to the fourth bonfire (in Scholar of the First Sin you will also need a Fragrant Branch of Yore to enter the bonfire location as the way is blocked by a statue). Take the staircase and you will come to the door. It only becomes unlocked if you're hollow. Follow this path and you will come across an altar with the last Milfanito sitting in front of it. You can pray in front of the altar and become human if you satisfy the following requirements:

  • You have talked to the 'ghost Milfanito' woman before the boss
  • You have zero Human Effigies in your inventory and your item box (dropping them on the ground and activating the shrine won't work, tested in Scholar of the First Sin with "-" Sin level)
  • You have not killed any of the Milfanito
  • You mustn't have a high Sin level (needs more testing)


Another way to become human without the Human Effigy is to assist other players in their worlds by being summoned as a Phantom or a Shade. You will need to fully assist the host before becoming human by either killing a boss as a Phantom or by helping the host for a certain amount of time as a Shade. As well as earning a set amount of souls as a Shade.

Also seems to occur after killing the owner of the world after being summoned by

 

Dark Souls 2 Human Effigy Videos

(Links only, no embeds please)
Quickest way to farm Human Effigy's
Best Methods to Farm Human Effigy in Dark Souls 2

 

Human Effigy Notes and Tips in Dark Souls 2

  • Notes and Tips go here
  • Other Notes and Tips go here.

 

Dark Souls 2 Consumables
Alluring Skull  ♦  Amber Herb  ♦  Aromatic Ooze  ♦  Blackweed Balm  ♦  Bleeding Serum  ♦  Bonfire Ascetic  ♦  Brightbug  ♦  Charcoal Pine Resin  ♦  Common Fruit  ♦  Crimson Water  ♦  Dark Pine Resin  ♦  Dark Troches  ♦  Divine Blessing  ♦  Dragon Charm  ♦  Dried Root  ♦  Elizabeth Mushroom  ♦  Estus Flask  ♦  Estus Flask Shard  ♦  Flame Butterfly  ♦  Fragrant Branch of Yore  ♦  Gold Pine Resin  ♦  Goldenfruit Balm  ♦  Green Blossom  ♦  Homeward Bone  ♦  Items  ♦  Lifegem  ♦  Lloyd's Talisman  ♦  Monastery Charm  ♦  Old Growth Balm  ♦  Old Radiant Lifegem  ♦  Petrified Something  ♦  Pharros' Lockstone  ♦  Poison Moss  ♦  Prism Stone  ♦  Radiant Lifegem  ♦  Red Leech Troches  ♦  Repair Powder  ♦  Rotten Pine Resin  ♦  Rouge Water  ♦  Rusted Coin  ♦  Silver Talisman  ♦  Simpleton's Spice  ♦  Skeptic's Spice  ♦  Small Blue Burr  ♦  Small Orange Burr  ♦  Small Smooth & Silky Stone  ♦  Small Yellow Burr  ♦  Smelter Wedge  ♦  Smooth & Silky Stone  ♦  Soul Vessel  ♦  Sublime Bone Dust  ♦  Triclops Snake Troches  ♦  Twilight Herb  ♦  Vine Balm  ♦  Wilted Dusk Herb

 




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    • Anonymous

      so how much health exactly do you lose per death?
      there doesnt seem to be a separate page for hollowing and this page does not seem to have this information

      • Anonymous

        On the path between Heide and No Man's Wharf, the Old Knight wielding UGS dropped me an effigy. I have Traveling Merchant set equipped when the effigy dropped.

        • Anonymous

          You can also farm Human Effigies along with farming Giant Lord, if you release Royal Sorcerer Navlaan. He will invade just after the bonfire, and defeating him provides 1 Human Effigy per run.

          • Anonymous

            The farming strat with the 6 skeletons should be Cardinal Tower not Soldiers' Rest. Both could be used but tower is faster and easier.

            • Anonymous

              Is there any other place beside Shrine of Amana where being human is required to open a door or acess an area?

              • Anonymous

                Early farming:
                Take covenant champion
                go to Mcduff blacksmith fire
                farm the 6 dogs
                It's really fast, dogs are just next to the fire, it's way more faster than the skeletons in giant forest

                • Excellent farming strategy:
                  1) Join the Covenant of Champions so enemies keep respawning
                  2) Equip your best item discovery gear
                  3) Go to the Shrine of Amana - Crumbled Ruins bonfire and kill the lizardman next to the bonfire (faster and higher drop chance) AND/OR go to Belfry Luna - Upper Ramparts bonfire and kill the 6 dogs at the bottom of the ladder (lower drop chance but there are 6).
                  4) Go back to the bonfire and repeat from step 3

                  • Anonymous

                    best farming method i've found (i found it to work best with a sorcery build, but it can be done with other builds, however, it won't be as fast):

                    -start from the first shrine of amana bonfire
                    -equip all your best item discovery gear (gold serpent ring, prisioner clothes, symbol of avarice, etc), a magic staff of wisdom +5, a clear bluestone ring and a sorcery clutch ring
                    -attune as many great heavy soul arrows as you can (also attune unleash magic if you aren't able to kill the enemies in one hit)
                    -drop down from the tower (if you jump into the cracked wall and jump off from there, you'll take much less damage) kill all the amana aberrations before the first house and use the aged feather to repeat the process

                    overrall, it almost always drops 1 to 2 effigies per run and each run takes less than a minute

                    • Anonymous

                      Says the skeleton in undead Purgatory don't count.. That's not correct, I just got 3 Human Effigy drops from the 7 Skeletons that are in the boss fight circular tunnel

                      • Anonymous

                        Started ds2 but can’t see the damn npc summons signs for some reason even when I used a human effigy amd have my humanity restored

                        • Anonymous

                          So many of these drop from the "little ones" in the shrine of Amana.

                          Covetous Gold +1 and nil else for item find and it's not an unusual drop.

                          • Anonymous

                            My first time playing this, I think I'd pretty much only use effigies to survive falling into the pit, and I didn't even know about summons, and how they could have made my experience much easier. Hoarding them can make your life hard, but to use them, you have to have the confidence it won't be totally wasted.

                            • Anonymous

                              Imo the health reduction in this game is much better than in Demon’s Souls. When you die and begin to see your health degrade you realise something is going on and dying again becomes more fearful but in Demon’s Souls you’re reduced to 50% HP instantly and it can really be a shock and throw you off rather than get you nervous of what’s to come. You could just argue that the DS2 team wanted it to be easier for new players but I think it works in the games favour far beyond that. I personally remember getting a very ominous vibe from it when I first started playing DS2 and I knew I had to take things more seriously which added a lot to the experience.

                              • Anonymous

                                There are also 5x Human effigies available in an iron chest right before the old dragonslayer boss fight in Heide's Tower of Flame.

                                • Anonymous

                                  I love it when Humanity goes from being one of the most common items in the game, to becoming as rare as a goddamn Titanite Slab.

                                  • Anonymous

                                    "Use this item to reverse Hollowing. It also weakens the links to other worlds, preventing invasions and most cooperation." "Can be burned at the bonfire to limit all direct multiplayer interactions (no summoning/limited invading) for the next 30 minutes." I dont get it, I have to be in human form to be able to summon but the description says that using it prevents most cooperation. Do i need to stay alive for 30 minutes after using the effigy to be allowed to summon or what the *****??

                                    • Anonymous

                                      Can someone 'gift' me some effigies? I wasted all mine on ancient dragon because his aoe is stupid. Now i dont have any to kill darklurker with and i dont want to start ng+ till i have got everything i can. My ign is Maddash1 with an sm of 4 million.

                                      • Anonymous

                                        So, do you need to be human to see summon signs still? Does it still increase the item drop rate? This particular wiki doesn't have much information on the advantages of being in human form (compared to the DS1 and DS3 wikis).

                                        • Anonymous

                                          If you want a bunch of these its very easy, just buy a ton of prism stones from the cat in majula (only 300 each) and trade them all to dyna and tilo, if you get other stuff than human effigies just sell that and repeat

                                          • Anonymous

                                            In Brightstone cove, BEWARE OF THE MIMIC CHEST. I'm not even sure if it's the mimic that drops said 5 human effigies, but the damned wiki doesn't say sh*t abt a mimic

                                            • Anonymous

                                              Farming the Hellhounds just outside Mc,Duff's bonfire in Lost Bastille is a very easy way to get them. With only a Covetous gold serpent ring +1 and a Merchants hood, I was getting about 20-25 per hour. The farm only takes about 12-20 seconds each run. The Dark Scythe 2h R1/LMB attack is perfect to use for this, as would be any weapon with a similar down-striking move-set.

                                              I joined the Company of champions covenant to get infinite respawns and had no problems at all. Definitely recommend this farm.

                                              • Anonymous

                                                Attack the sisters in Things Bewtixt and the one with the ladle will drop 3x Humanity (SotfS) and the one that lets you respec drops 6x.

                                                I did this at the very end of my game to bulk up.

                                                • Anonymous

                                                  Effigy Farming: McDuff Shop attack dogs drop 1 effigy per 26 dogs on average while wearing +240 item discovery gear, human form, joined to Covenant of Champions. Have yet to try Shrine of Amana

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