Hexes are a type of Magic in Dark Souls II. In the original Dark Souls, Hexes were only a subset of sorcery colloquially called dark magic. They have been continuously experimented on and have become their own independent form of magic, as Hexes in Dark Souls 2.
Hexes deal dark elemental damage and offer a good balance of offensive spells and self-buffs. They are divided into two categories: Staff Hexes and Chime Hexes, and are unique in that respect. Dark damage scales with the lower of the Intelligence or Faith stat. The soft cap for dark damage is at 30/30 Int/Fth.
What are Hexes in Dark Souls 2
Hexes are a type of Magic that offer offensive and self-buff spells. Hexes are spells that are somehow difficult to incorporate to some builds as it is unique in a way that it would require both Faith and Intelligence in order to be used, as well as having high stat requirements. Most Hexes would also require more than one attunement slot. The damage of Hexes are influenced by dark elemental damage. You will also notice that if a Hex requires more Intelligence than Faith, you would need a Staff to cast that spell, and if it requires more Faith than Intelligence it would require you to equip it on a Chime.
Hexes that are used on Staves tend to deal more damage while the use of Chimes tend to be passive. There are weapons that are neither Staves or Chimes which can also be used to cast Hexes such as the Mace of the Insolent. The advantage of having spells from Hexes is that most enemies in the game are not resisntant to Dark Elemental Damage, most are vulnerable to these types of spells, but some of the advantages will slowly fade once you go through the DLCs as most enemies have high elemental resistances.
Best Hexes in Dark Souls 2
- Dark Orb - A basic Hex spell that's essential for a Hex Build. It only requires 1 Attunement slot and has excellent damage for a starting spell, it can also be used 20-30 times, perfect for putting pressure on the opponent, or if you just want to take out multiple enemies from afar without them going anywhere near you.
- Dark Weapon - A spell that buffs a weapon with Dark Damage, the duration scales with Intelligence for 57 sec. at 16 Int, and up to 99 sec. at 24 Int. This is arguably the best weapon buff for dark-infused weapons, do note that the Resonant Weapon does slightly more damage (.05, a negligable amount but more none the less) and should not be overlooked for a hexer that focuses on chime based spells.
- Dark Hail - A spell that casts several small dark orbs that shoots in front of you, dealing dark damage to anyone in the way. A single target can be hit by multiple dark orbs if they're close enough, acting like a shotgun. It also works best when you encounter enemies that have larger hitboxes, or when you're having problems with a crowd of enemies.
- Affinity - A spell that casts orbs around you, depending on your Intelligence, it can cast up to 5 orbs above you. It acts as both an offensive and defensive spell. It will automatically lock on and slowly pursue the nearest target.
All Hexes in Dark Souls 2
Quick Search of All Hexes in Dark Souls 2
| Name | Uses |
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Description | Acquired From | Cost | Type |
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| 20–30 | 1 | 12 | 10 | A hex modified from an old sorcery by Gilleah, the father of Hexing. Fires a heavy orb of darkness. To use hexes, equip a sacred chime or staff, and attune a hex at a bonfire. Required catalyst depends on the hex. Catalyst: Staff |
Straid of Olaphis, Felkin the Outcast, Darkdiver Grandahl | 600 Souls | Attack | |
| 8–15 | 2 | 19 | 12 | A hex modified from an old sorcery by Gilleah the Hexer. Fires several orbs of darkness. Hexing is rooted in both sorcery and miracles, but is viewed as a perilous affront to all life, and banned in most lands. Catalyst: Staff |
Straid of Olaphis, Magerold of Lanafir, Darkdiver Grandahl | 1500 Souls | Ranged Attack | |
| 4–8 | 2 | 25 | 14 | A hex that releases a temporary localized mist. Those who breathe in the mist are instantly assailed by poison. This hex is regarded as a poison due to the outward symptoms, but in fact the mist eats away at the target's inner essence. Just the traits that led to the prohibition of hexing. (The poison dealt by Dark Fog ticks much faster than normal poison, draining 30 HP / second.) (Normal poison ticks at 15 HP / half-second for a total of 30 HP / second. Dark Fog simply applies the poison status effect more quickly) Catalyst: Staff |
Straid of Olaphis, The Gutter | 5200 Souls | ||
| 8–15 | 3 | 40 | 24 | An advanced hex based on an ancient sorcery. Creates a dark mass that seems to pursue its target with a will of its own. It appears to be a manifestation of an emotion. Perhaps of hate, perhaps of love. Catalyst: Staff |
Straid of Olaphis, Prowler Hounds | 11500 Souls | ||
| 10–20 | 2 | 22 | 20 | Hex that casts a dark flame upon corpses, causing them to combust violently. Hexes such as these, that tamper with life itself, are particularly abhorred. Catalyst: Staff |
Stone Trader Chloanne Razorback Nightcrawlers | 4000 Souls | ||
| 4–8 | 1 | 16 | 14 | Felkin the Outcast applied his art to transform Magic Weapon into a hex. Adds dark damage to the types of damage the weapon already inflicts. Those who choose the path of dark are admonished by all manner of sorcerers. But this does not stop the curious from being drawn to this strangely alluring craft. (Gives weapon +50 dark damage, and gives you an overall 30% increase to dark damage for 90 seconds.) Catalyst: Staff |
Felkin the Outcast | 2700 Souls | ||
| 2–5 | 1 | 24 | 18 | A hex that releases verbose darkness. The darkness echoes words of despair, reducing the defense of opponents. The Dark blankets the world in black. A thing of tranquility, a thing serene. (Casts a slow moving skull that lowers the target's defense by 100 for 30 seconds on impact. Can use at long range.) Catalyst: Staff |
Grave of Saints | |||
| 4–8 | 3 | 35 | 27 | A hex that distorts local space. For a brief moment, no damage can be inflicted. The hexer Gilleah took no apprentice, and it is unclear how his spells were passed down. It is even possible that hexes originated from another source altogether. (Gives you complete invulnerability for 1.5 seconds after the initial cast.) Catalyst: Staff |
Straid of Olaphis | 5000 Souls Giant Lord Soul |
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| 2–5 | 2 | 38 | 25 | A hex that distorts local space. For a brief moment, spells are deflected. Hexer Gilleah never took an apprentice, making it unclear how his spells were passed down. It is even possible that hexes came from another source entirely. (Deflects spells for 1.5 seconds after cast.) Catalyst: Staff |
Doors of Pharros | |||
| 3–6 | 2 | 42 | 30 | Reduces all incoming damage by 35% for 20 seconds, however it will give the player tunnel vision by darkening the sides of the screen. Catalyst: Staff |
Straid of Olaphis | 5000 Souls Old Dead One's Soul (NG+) |
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| 4–8 | 1 | 8 | 12 | An esoteric spell created by Navlaan, the infamous exiled sorcerer. Awakens the souls of the long-buried dead. The heretic Navlaan was executed along with his entire village, and the mere utterance of his name became a crime. Some say it was because he sought to restore the banned art of resurrection. (Soul pillars erupt at random from the ground in a large area, and continue to erupt for 8 seconds. Knocks most enemies prone on hit. Movement is possible before the duration of the spell subsides.) Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
Cromwell the Pardoner, The Black Gulch | 2200 souls | ||
| 3–6 | 2 | 12 | 21 | An esoteric spell created by Navlaan, the infamous exiled sorcerer. Creates a local vortex of dark flame. The heretic Navlaan was executed along with his entire village, and the mere utterance of his name became a crime. Some say it was because he sought to restore the banned art of resurrection. (Deals heavy damage and immobilizes the caster for much of its duration.) Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
Magerold of Lanafir, Buy for 4700 souls from Darkdiver Grandahl |
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| 20–30 | 2 | 10 | 18 | A hex that distorts the power of life. Emits a dark mass at the cost of souls (up to 100 souls). Can be used even without souls, but at greatly reduced strength. Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
Buy for 1100 Souls from Felkin the Outcast, Acquired from Pilgrims of Dark (Rank 1), Found in a chest |
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| 4–8 | 2 | 13 | 26 | A hex that distorts the power of life. Emits a large mass of dark at the cost of souls. (Fires a dark orb at the cost of up to 500 souls. Damage dealt scales with souls sacrificed.) Can be used even without souls, but at greatly reduced strength. Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
Buy for 3400 Souls from Felkin the Outcast, Acquired from Pilgrims of Dark (Rank 2) |
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| 3–6 | 4 | 30 | 47 | Fires a dark orb at the cost of all your souls. Damage dealt scales with souls sacrificed. Deals maximum damage at 5000 souls sacrificed. Has the highest base damage of any spell in the game when at full power. Can be used even without souls, but at greatly reduced strength. Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
Acquired from Pilgrims of Dark (Rank 3) | |||
| 2–4 | 1 | 11 | 19 | A hex developed independently by Outcast Felkin. Transforms a certain number of souls into HP over a period of time. Something gained, something lost. (Temporarily increases HP at the cost of souls. At its full, it uses 2000 souls and gives you 20% HP increase for 60 seconds. The spell doesn't stack on top of itself, but it does stack with equipment/item buffs.) Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
Felkin the Outcast | 3400 souls | ||
| 2–5 | 2 | 15 | 24 | A hex developed independently by Outcast Felkin. Transforms a certain number of souls into attack power over a period of time. Something gained, something lost. (Gives weapon dark attack at the cost of souls. For maximum effect at the cost 2000 souls, it will buff dark element damage 30% and give your weapon +50 dark attack for 60 seconds. With no souls, it gives 10% to dark damage and +50 dark attack to weapon, but only lasts 10 seconds.) Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
Felkin the Outcast | 4000 souls | ||
| 3–6 | 1 | 20 | 35 | Consumes up to 3000 souls to create a damaging sphere of darkness that lingers where you cast it for several seconds. Damages enemies nearby every half second. Damage dealt scales with the number of souls sacrificed. Deals very high damage per second at maximum power. Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
Straid of Olaphis | 5000 souls Darklurker Soul |
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| 2–5 | 2 | 20 | 42 | A hex created by an ostracized cleric. Blocks the spells of nearby casters. This hex, born of jealousy and humiliation, is a locus of dark thoughts. The very things that reflect the true essence of life itself. Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
Darkdiver Grandahl | 13000 souls |
Dark Souls II DLC Hexes
| Name | Uses |
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Description | Acquired From | Cost | Type |
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2 | 2 | 30 | 40 | A hex created from an ancient miracle of unknown origin. Slows the walking pace of its caster and those in the vicinity. To stand and glare at one another, steaming with ire and wrath, but without making a move. Such is the nature of peace. Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
DLC Crown of the Sunken King, in Shulva, Sanctum City | - | Support |
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2 | 2 | 55 | 29 | Hex adapted from an ancient sorcery. Brandish Dark like a sword. By its nature Dark is normally tranquil, but this hex releases a focused blade of Dark in an uncharacteristic flash of brilliance. Catalyst: Staff |
DLC Crown of the Sunken King, near the Priestess' Chamber bonfire | - | Attack |
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7 | 1 | 35 | 30 | Fire multiple Dark orbs that seek their target. Catalyst: Staff |
DLC Crown of the Old Iron King, in the Brume Tower | - | Attack |
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2 | 2 | 22 | 60 | Hex that converts souls into a large mass of Dark. This momentous mass to signal the joy of its own release, or perhaps merely to taunt foes as it veers towards them. Hexes are an expression of human depravity, of which this dance is a perfect example. Emit a shockwave and unleash between 1, 3 or 5 Dark masses depending on the amount of souls consumed, which simultaneously get fired at the target shortly after. Catalyst: Sacred Chime |
DLC Crown of the Ivory King. On a corpse near the second bonfire. |
5000 Souls | Attack |
Hex Showcase
AnonymousImagine if hexes return in some way in Shadow of the Erdtree it would be so awesome. Especially because we wouldn’t have goddamn soul memory
- Anonymous
I do NOT care what anyone says, dark orb will always and forever be the GOAT of all DS2 spells. :3
- Anonymous
Soul memory. The only thing that truly hurt chime based hexes. Though if your only playing solo, these things will be your best friend for ever.
- Anonymous
Hexes are great, but I think soul memory ruins the ones that use souls quite a lot :(
- Anonymous
Promised walk of Peace: Petrify Statue Clusters in Cave of the Dead might drop it and maybe only with coop summons.
- Anonymous
Not only is it strong, it is also fun as a lot of spells are great. Just make sure to prepare for enemies strong against dark
- Anonymous
me playing elden ring and complaining how terrible hex spells are....looking at this page makes me cry
- Anonymous
To get the trophy do you just have to have them in the inventory or do you need to have the right atributes for all of them to get the trophy
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Resonant Soul says it can be found in a chest, is this in SOTFS? If so, where is this chest? It is not mentioned in the spell's page.
- Anonymous
I was thinking of doing a miracle only run, but since they've been nerfed quite a bit I decided to do a mixed run of Miracle&Hexes
Weilding both Light and Dark, should be fun
- Anonymous
So there is 0 healing spell for hex. That kind of sucks wouldbhave liked to use that instead of having to use other healing magic to heal
- Anonymous
Fun alternative hexer is skipping attunement and going to Shulva early to get Wrathful Axe and both Sanctum Crossbows; thats basically a Dark Orb, a dark version of Soulspear Barrage, and a dark Wrath of the Gods. Best get repair spell asap also. At any rate you can put more points into something other that attunement. Get a lot of darknight stones and enough stats to use and carry atleast the polearm and one cross bow and upgrade dark q lot. Its pretty effective and fun. If youre into polearms. Im sure Velstadts hammer will do otherwise but you cant get it as early.
- Anonymous
I mean yes hexes have best dmg but i wouldnt csll em broken. They cost more slots to attune, resonant hexes cost souls to cast, they scale with lowest of 2 stats. You have to sacrifice a lot to make a pure hexer, especially a chime hexer, any item that amps damage has a draw back: domino mask, blue dagger, dark clutch, abyss seal; all makes your squishier in some way. Especially going with all as a pure chime hexer. It helps if youre comfortable with melee first because most enemies will be in your face. But when you make it work, oh boy. I dont call that OP or broken, thats a trade off. Damage is broken sure but survivability is lowest out of all non-challenge builds.
- Anonymous
I didn't get the trophy when I got all the hexes in SotFS (Yes, all the hexes, i checked many times [Yes, even the DLC ones]), the only two explanation I could come up with is that spicing down my dark weapon made it not count, or the game is totally broken. I haven't tried getting them all on another character.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
people say various magics are overpowered however, i find this is not the case. they require -much- heavier stat investment to set up and around 90% of the enemies use melee. (which you have squishy physical defense) if you want to consider it anything it is more like a glass cannon, rather than overpowered.
- Anonymous
I think its so stupid dark is limited by low uses and high attunement req Im not using spells that take multiple slots
- Anonymous
How does dark magic scale? Does both my int and faith need to be equal? Or does it scale with the lowest of the 2
- Anonymous
Quick question:how much damage would climax do to lost sinner on NG+5
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
It's too op, even in soft cap, it's good yes but if u spam climax it's just cancer
- Anonymous
Easy hex build early: Start as Cleric with Bonfire Ascetic. Go to Heides tower of Flame and light the first bonfire. Kill dragonrider and light the next bonfire. Kill the priest lady. USE the ascetic at the first bonfire. Kill dragonrider again. Go to majula and use both dragonrider souls. Level up INT and FTH to 21. Go to dark mage teacher and chose the "talk" option. Do not forget to buy dark orb. Congratulations! You have a viable hex build at the start of the game!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
RIP hexes in DS3. The pale imitations you got in that game are more than disappointing. As much as DS3 did well, they really messed up by not taking MORE from DS2. As it stands, DS3 feels less like a sequel and more like DS1.5: Final Mix.
- Anonymous
Even after all these years, I still cannot believe they got rid of this family of spells in DS3. Sure, the "dark" miracles and pyromancies mirror the sentiment, but they're no real substitute, especially with how they are split in their classification; hexes, an intertwining of magic w/ Dark to amplify or pervert effect, are distinct enough to be a branch of spells in their own right. Alongside powerstancing, which they also scrapped for DS3 and replaced with the arbitrarily-combined paired weapons, hexes are probably one of the best innovations in DS2 - it was an asset to the gameplay. I will never have a firm understanding on their decision to disregard the progressions DS2 pushed. It was completely counterintuitive. I'd prefer a game that experimented to expand its features and failed doing so rather than a game that plays it safe to the extent of being lackluster.
- Anonymous
are hexes still a viable route? i know anything is viable in dark souls just want to know if its powerful enough to even consider seeing as many people say that miracles and hexes got nerfed.
- Anonymous
there is a hex I have seen like a homing soul mass? what the heck is that?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Resonant, Greater Resonant, Climax
The icon is obviously a sperm and climax is well, CLIMAX.
It was intentional. Thank you, FromSoft.
- Anonymous
I've noticed my resonant weapon uses refill sometimes, haven't verified with other hexes, anybody know why?
- Anonymous
don't all hexes also mess up your stamina if you get hit by them?
i'm softbanned so someone needs to test this
If you want an easy playthrough just play hexer with dark infused rapier/mace/longsword and dark weapon. Turns the game into easy mode. It’s that strong. I love doing it every time now, it’s just too strong. Seriously Hex just works in everything but 1 base game bossfight. But by that time I just swapped to a lightning infused since my faith stats were naturally high. Seriously Hexes are just so good in this game.
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