- For the Dark Souls II character, see Emerald Herald.
- "A former herald who journeyed to finish a quest undertaken. Wields a sturdy spear and employs a gentle restorative miracle."
- — Character Creation
The Herald is one of the classes in Dark Souls 3.
It is a hybrid class, with a decent amount of Vigor, Strength, Dexterity, and Faith, but a slightly below average Attunement (especially for a class with a starting spell) and Endurance. It seems intended to provide the basis for a build more focused on either one of Strength or Dexterity or a mix of both, that still has the stats to carry some supportive Miracles from its Faith.
Its Spear deals somewhat mediocre damage and is quite short for a polearm, but is actually fairly quick and can attack while still keeping a block up, at the cost of lowering that block's effectiveness (meaning even a 100% block shield will let some damage slip through if hit). Its skill is Shield Splitter, a heavy thrust that partially bypasses blocking.
The Kite Shield it comes with is, along with the Knight's Knight Shield, one of the two starting shields that has 100% physical block, making this class quite sturdy from the start (bear in mind that this defence will lower slightly for a bit if attacking with the Spear from behind a block). It has the ability to Parry with some timing, allowing a follow-up riposte if it lands.
The Talisman is a decent starting tool for Miracles but its scaling is more intended for significantly higher Faith and its skill, Unfaltering Prayer, is intended to let slower Miracles be used in the middle of combat by preventing interruption, something the Herald's starting spell already helps with since it is quite quick-casting, and is probably better of replaced with a Cleric's Sacred Chime from the Shrine Handmaid once at least 1 point has been put into Faith to get its Gentle Prayer Weapon Art for some early, cheap regeneration. It should also be noted that any Miracle-casting tool will only start scaling once at least 19 Faith has been reached.
The only Miracle attuned from the beginning, Heal Aid, is a weak but quick-casting heal that allows for some movement during casting and heals for 150 hp at the start, or about a third of the Herald's starting health. Unlike Heal it only heals the caster, and not any nearby allies.
The armor it wears, the Herald Set, has overall fairly good physical defences and decent elemental defences, but is notably weaker against Strike damage and Lightning damage.
Starting Equipment[]
| Weapons | ||
 [[Spear]] |
 Kite Shield |
 [[Talisman]] |
| Head | Chest | Hands | Legs |
 Herald Helm |
 Herald Armor |
 Herald Gloves |
 Herald Leggings |
| Spell |
 Heal Aid |
Starting Statistics[]
| Image | Stat Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| - | Level | 9 |
|
Vigor | 12 |
|
Attunement | 10 |
|
Endurance | 9 |
|
Vitality | 12 |
|
Strength | 12 |
|
Dexterity | 11 |
|
Intelligence | 8 |
|
Faith | 13 |
|
Luck | 11 |
Trivia[]
- While the Herald doesn't have any direct equivalent class in the Dark Souls series, it does bear some resemblance to the Temple Knight class from FromSoftware's previous game Demon's Souls, another class wielding a polearm (in that case a Halberd) and a strong shield while having access to a healing miracle.
Gallery[]
