Soul Memory in Dark Souls 2 is covered on this page.
Soul Memory
What is Soul Memory for?
Soul Memory is the cumulative total of all the souls gathered on a character. In this game, it is part of the formula that sets minimum and maximum range for interactions between players online (co-op and invasions).
This is, for example, to prevent a player of a certain level that is close to the end of the game from invading/doing co-op with a player of the same level that might be still in the first areas of the game.
If you wish to play with others, you must be within a similar Soul Memory range. Higher Soul Level characters can still be paired with lower leveled characters who have similar Soul Memory ranges.
- Soul items and boss souls you pick up add to your Soul Memory only when you use them.
- You can check your Soul Memory on your Player Status screen, the top right-hand number.
- Souls picked up from your bloodstain after dying won't add up to your soul memory.
- Souls lost upon dying a second time without touching your bloodstain still count in your soul memory.
- It is better to always recover your souls on the bloodstain if you don't want to get "under(soul)leveled".
- A summoning range calculator can be found here.
Notes
- Soul Level does not matter in summoning - it is purely Soul Memory that affects it.
- NG shares the same exact ranges as NG+.
- The Soul Memory threshold flattens out at 45m. Once you pass this threshold, you can summon and be summoned by anyone else past it, regardless of how large the gap! If your SM is 50m and your friends is 400m, you can still summon each other regardless.
Soul Memory Tiers and Exact Ranges for Multiplayer Connections
Note that the specifics may be subject to change in future calibrations, but this appears to be exactly how it works for now. Tested on PS3.
How are the ranges calculated?
- Soul Memory is divided into tiers, but the tiers are not hard boundaries. Instead, different multiplayer items extend across different amounts of neighboring tiers. So there's no direct math involved, it's a question of
- A) What tier am I in? and
- B) How many tiers above and below my own can I pair up with?
- It is NOT anything like +/- 25%, 50,000, etc.
Tiers
| Tier # | Soul Memory |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0 - 9,999 |
| 2 | 10,000 - 19,999 |
| 3 | 20,000 - 29,999 |
| 4 | 30,000 - 39,999 |
| 5 | 40,000 - 49,999 |
| 6 | 50,000 - 69,999 |
| 7 | 70,000 - 89,999 |
| 8 | 90,000 - 109,999 |
| 9 | 110,000 - 129,999 |
| 10 | 130,000 - 149,999 |
| 11 | 150,000 - 179,999 |
| 12 | 180,000 - 209,999 |
| 13 | 210,000 - 239,999 |
| 14 | 240,000 - 269,999 |
| 15 | 270,000 - 299,999 |
| 16 | 300,000 - 349,999 |
| 17 | 350,000 - 399,999 |
| 18 | 400,000 - 449,999 |
| 19 | 450,000 - 499,999 |
| 20 | 500,000 - 599,999 |
| 21 | 600,000 - 699,999 |
| 22 | 700,000 - 799,999 |
| 23 | 800,000 - 899,999 |
| 24 | 900,000 - 999,999 |
| 25 | 1,000,000 - 1,099,999 |
| 26 | 1,100,000 - 1,199,999 |
| 27 | 1,200,000 - 1,299,999 |
| 28 | 1,300,000 - 1,399,999 |
| 29 | 1,400,000 - 1,499,999 |
| 30 | 1,500,000 - 1,749,999 |
| 31 | 1,750,000 - 1,999,999 |
| 32 | 2,000,000 - 2,249,999 |
| 33 | 2,250,000 - 2,499,999 |
| 34 | 2,500,000 - 2,749,999 |
| 35 | 2,750,000 - 2,999,999 |
| 36 | 3,000,000 - 4,999,999 |
| 37 | 5,000,000 - 6,999,999 |
| 38 | 7,000,000 - 8,999,999 |
| 39 | 9,000,000 - 11,999,999 |
| 40 | 12,000,000 - 14,999,999 |
| 41 | 15,000,000 - 19,999,999 |
| 42 | 20,000,000 - 29,999,999 |
| 43 | 30,000,000 - 44,999,999 |
| 44 | 45,000,000 - 999,999,999 |
Multiplayer Items
| Multiplayer Item | Downward Range | Upward Range | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Sign Soapstone | -3 Tiers | +1 Tier | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 17 - 21 |
| White Sign Soapstone with Name-Engraved Ring |
-6 Tiers | +4 Tiers | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 14 - 24 |
| Small White Sign Soapstone | -4 Tiers | +2 Tiers | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 16 - 22 |
| Small White Sign Soapstone with Name-Engraved Ring |
-7 Tiers | +5 Tiers | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 13 - 25 |
| Red Sign Soapstone | -5 Tiers | +2 Tiers | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 15 - 22 |
| Dragon Eye | -5 Tiers | +5 Tiers | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 15 - 25 |
| Cracked Red Eye Orb | none | +4 Tiers | Tier 20 can invade a host in tiers 20 - 24 |
| Cracked Blue Eye Orb | -3 Tiers | +3 Tiers | Tier 20 can invade a host in tiers 17 - 23 |
| Bell Keeper's Seal | -1 Tier | +3 Tiers | Tier 20 can invade a host in tiers 19 - 23 |
Untested
- Abyss Invasions
- Mirror Knight Summons
- Tested by Hirokisugihara & Illusorywall
- All credits go to illusorywall & optic_niko, hellkite_drake, ein death, hiroki sugihara, greensvadhisthana, eur0pa, blade, and necroi!
Anonymous14 Jul 2020 14:18
this is legit the worst mechanic to exist in a souls game. they shoulda just made it level based and added the password system.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
18 Jun 2020 04:54
My friend and I just partied together like an hour ago fine (I summoned him). Now we're doing the exact same thing, in the exact same spot, and in the exact same way, and his sign isn't shown up. Neither of us advanced tiers with the last boss, so we should still be good (there's actually a tier to spare, so we should be fine). Any known issues or bugs that mess this up?
- Anonymous
31 May 2020 13:08
At the end of the day, just be glad they'll never implement this system in a future soulsborne game
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
16 May 2020 17:10
I've farmed a lot of souls to upgrade a lot of weapons cause i like the swapping, now i'm underleveled :D
- Anonymous
13 May 2020 05:51
Im using the ring that absorbs souls currently at SM7 and I just beat the Sinner, I'm trying to get top tier gear to drop for newbies in the cathedral. I guess helping fresh characters is a benefit to SM in a way, Souls games always did encourage some of that jolly cooperation.
- Anonymous
30 Apr 2020 05:12
If I see blood stains, does that mean they are within my summoning range or is there no limit to the range of blood stains?
- Anonymous
22 Apr 2020 13:01
So If i cheated and got lv 839 while my soul memory is still tier 1 means i ll get easy pvp?
- Anonymous
26 Jan 2020 09:20
You'd be surprised at how many new players there are on this game on xnox1. like, brand new. - currently on my sl25 tier 4 char with agape and the GreatSword (ultra) and a +5bandit axe that i created shortly after agape was added. got all the max tier rings that i want too. - just helping people wreck the bosses at the start and every now and then wreck a couple of hosts X'D
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
23 Aug 2019 06:30
It’s like people forgot victors stone allows enemies to inifinitely respawn with only a minor difficulty increase especially considering you’d have to have repeatedly defeated the enemy for it to get tougher. I only mention this because a lot of comments say that SM and limited enemies are the two worst mechanics. Also if an enemy stops spawning and you can bring it back anytime you want or make it stop spawing again it makes it possible and much easier to do with places where you get ganked or an enemy is hard to pass every time. It also makes hollowing a thing that actually makes a difference and not just hear about or something that changes your appearance.
- Anonymous
11 Aug 2019 18:36
The most dumb mechanics ever created in soul series, so dumb that people will boycott the series if this stupid system ever return again
- Anonymous
20 Jun 2019 16:38
If they could just remove this mechanic the game would've been much more active and fun, tired of fighting turtle havels or jack of all trades master of everything
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
19 Apr 2019 03:44
If you remove this factor from multiplayer formulas, the game becomes more fun! I only ever play the game solo if I ever play this game anymore, otherwise with friends. Even that's annoying if they need to farm weapons and outclass your soul "memory". Of course I haven't bothered touching the updated ones for PS4/Xbone. This still a thing in that release?
- Anonymous
24 Jan 2019 00:15
At what tier do most players cap? Or more specifically, at what tier are you able to fin the most people, both on coop and PvP?
19 Jan 2019 12:45
i'm on my first ever run of DS2 and i'm almost at soul memory tier 31 and i'm level 136 (i'm not good, i grind). the tables seem to suggest that soul memory doesn't reset on NG+. on NG+1 in order to open the shrine of winter, you need a soul memory of 2m. what if i reach 2m before going to NG+1? do i need to collect 2m more souls, or is it static?
- Anonymous
02 Jan 2019 14:50
I like the SM mechanic tbh. It prevented the DS1 issue of new players walking into Undead Burg only to have a much more experienced player invade them at SL 4-8 and assblast them with fully upgraded endgame gear.
- Anonymous
02 Oct 2018 05:13
Don't actually have xbox live for 360 rn...wondering if it's worth so I can play online.
- Anonymous
03 Sep 2018 17:02
I decided to play my old tier 44 save... it has been two months and still I found no one pvp.
21 Jul 2020 01:57
Best mechanic ever... praise the sun!
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