Skeptic's Spice | Dark Souls 2 Wiki

Skeptic's Spice
A spell demands devotion from the caster, but using this spice makes a chosen spell attainable with 1 less faith. Will only work with the assistance of a certain person.

Skeptic's Spice is a type of Consumable in Dark Souls 2 (DKS2). Skeptic's Spice, an aromatic spice. While a spell demands devotion, using this spice makes a chosen spell attainable with 1 less faith. Requires assistance from a specific individual, and though it doesn't boost faith, it only obfuscates the requirement.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 spice exuding a peculiar aroma.
A spell demands devotion from the caster, but using this spice makes a chosen spell attainable with 1 less faith. Will only work with the assistance of a certain person.
The spice does not raise one's faith, but only obfuscates the requirement.

Dark Souls 2 Skeptic's Spice Usage

• Lowers FTH requirement for a miracle by 1, to a minimum of 10. (Similar to Simpleton's Spice for spells)
• You can use spice multiple times on the same spell.
• Can be used to lower the FTH requirement for hexes.
• Affects all scrolls of a given spell. For example, it would lower the cost of all your Lightning Spear scrolls if you had more than one. (Does not affect spell variants such as Great Lightning Spear; this point simply means that it affects all copies of the same spell acquired through additional playthroughs or purchases.)
• Talk to Magerold of Lanafir in the Iron Keep to use.

Skeptic's Spice Notes and Tips in Dark Souls 2

• You can use as many spices as you want on one spell until the spell only requires 10 Intelligence and/or Faith.
• Reducing the requirements of a spell does NOT reduce its damage in and of itself. You will, however, have less faith, so the spells will do less damage than normal because your chime will have less damage coming from faith scaling.

Dark Souls 2 Skeptic's Spice Location

• 1 in Heide's Tower of Flame, near the door at the first lever. (NG+)
• 1 in Lost Bastille on the ledge below the torture prison elevator's upper platform.
• 3 in Belfry Luna one up the first stairs and on a corpse on the railing, one on the first floor in the area which you can reach by dropping through the holes in the second floor, and the final one on a corpse behind a column where you ring the bell.
• 1 in Harvest Valley In the area with multiple Artificial Undead, and 1 in the small notch with the lone Poison Beetle before the Covetous Demon.
• 1 in Shaded Ruins in the broken towers before the path to the boss.
• 1 in Brightstone Cove Tseldora just before the second bonfire in the room with Cromwell the Pardoner.
• 3 in Shrine of Amana. The first is at the end of the path where you cut the branch with the Twinkling TItanite, in a chest. The second is on a corpse near the house at the first bonfire, and the third is in the water clearing after the third bonfire.
• 1 in Dragon Shrine, on the body before the door leading to the spiral staircase which leads to the Petrified Egg.
• 1 in Brume Tower after activating the elevators. From the Foyer Bonfire, take the elevator down and follow the path to the snowy ledge. It is near where you find the Tower Key.
• 1 in Memory of the Old Iron King near the first corpse in the main hall.
• 1 in Frozen Eleum Loyce on a corpse past the area where you obtain the Eye of the Priestess.
• Drops from the white hollow mages in Brightstone Cove Tseldora (uncommon).
• Drops from Leydia Witches in the Undead Crypt (uncommon).

Spice Farming with Bonfire Ascetic

• 3 can be farmed in Belfry Luna but you must defeat the Gargoyle boss each time making this not only difficult but also time-consuming.
• 2 can be farmed in Harvest Valley via "The Mines" bonfire but you will have to defeat the Covetous Demon each time. You will also net 2 Simpleton's Spice, making this the most Bonfire Ascetic-efficient route in the game if you need both types of spices. (1 is located before the boss fog.)
• 2 can be farmed in the "Tower of Prayer" bonfire in Shrine of Amana and only requires you to defeat the Demon of Song once. It is possible to do this without drawing aggression from any of the enemies if you move slowly in light armor to not produce sound. This is arguably the best and most efficient route to farm Skeptic's spices.
• 1 can be perpetually farmed via the first bonfire in Brightstone Cove Tseldora but you will need to defeat the Magus Congregation each time. The spice, as well as a Bonfire Ascetic, is found after the boss near Pardoner Cromwell's area.