Human Effigy | Dark Souls 2 Wiki

Human Effigy

"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."

Human Effigy is a type of Consumable in Dark Souls 2. 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 penalities 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. 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. 

Human Effigy Usage Guide

• Restorative item. Reverses hollowing.
• Removes penalties to player's health bar due to death and hollowing, as well as curse.
• 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

• 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 all the way 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:

• Sold by Merchant Hag Melentia in Cardinal Tower later in Majula (5 only, 1500 each).
• Sold by Grave Warden Agdayne in Undead Crypt (13 only, 3000 souls each).
• Sold by Darkdiver Grandahl in either of his 3 locations (3 only, 3000 souls each)
• Sold by Magerold Of Lanafir in Iron Keep (1 only, 3000 souls each).

Human Effigy Dropped by:

• Strowen (6x) and Handmaid Milibeth (3x, SotFS only) in the hut in Things Betwixt (must be farmed as a last resource, since killing them will prevent further level respec for the rest of the current NG cycle).
• Hollow Infantry (NOTE: Very Low Chance With Gold Serpent Ring +1)
• Stray Hounds (3%). NOTE: Lost Bastille has 8 dogs, so it is a good place to farm them. There are some other dogs in No-man's Wharf too. ALSO: Down the ladder at Upper Ramparts Bonfire in Belfry Luna there are 6-7 dogs that can be farmed after you encounter the scripted Vorgel the Sinner invasion.
• Amana Aberration (Lizardman) (5%) in the Shrine of Amana area. A good farming area is right outside of the Crumbled Ruins bonfire. There are 7 of them and also 3 Amana Priestesses which drop Twinkling Titanite.
• Skeletons (2%). Does not apply to Skeletons in Undead Purgatory
• Ironclad Soldiers in Forest of Fallen Giants (1%).
• Spider Drone (People Spiders) in Brightstone Cove Tseldora

Farming Effigies Dark Souls 2

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

• The earliest way to farm these without the need of  Bonfire Ascetics is in Forest of Fallen Giants. Either try to get the from the Ironclad Soldiers or from 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 were. On the right side of this room is a door, which now can opend with the key, which leads down a darkend area, inhabitated by 6 respawning Skeletons.
• Burning a Bonfire Ascetic in Majula allows you to slay the Skeletons below the mansion, each of which guaranteeing 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 an Bonfire Ascetic in Tower of Prayer bonfire in Dragon's Sanctum allows you to farm 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 at 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 owner of world after being summoned by

• Bell Keepers
• Dragon Eye

Dark Souls 2 Human Effigy Videos

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Quickest way to farm Human Effigy's
Best Methods to Farm Human Effigy in Dark Souls 2

Dark Souls 2 Human Effigy Notes and Tips 

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