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Poison01
For other uses, see Poison (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Toxic (Dark Souls).

Aux Poison Poison is a negative status effect, auxiliary effect and damage type that can be inflicted in Dark Souls.

General information[]

Poison can be contracted from enemies, weapons, projectiles, spells, or environmental hazards. It can be applied directly to weapons on the Standard Upgrade Path, while some other weapons are innately imbued.

Enemies that inflict Poison generally have very high resistance towards it.

Effect[]

When attacked with Poison, the victim's Poison Resist meter gradually fills. The rate at which this fills is dependent on the auxiliary effect or buildup value of the source; and the victim's Poison Resist value.

Once the meter is full, Poison generally deals low damage per second over a period of three minutes and lasts until it is either cured, expired or death occurs.

Notes[]

  • Damage per second is dependent on the source of contraction and is not at all affected by Poison Resist, character level or the game difficulty (New Game, New Game+ etc.).
  • Duration is always 3 minutes and is not affected by Poison Resist.
  • Poison and Toxic have separate Resist meters. This means that both can be inflicted at the same time.
  • In the event that the player is under the attack of multiple sources of Poison, the source that deals the afflicting blow will be the one to deal the corresponding damage.
  • When exiting the game while Poisoned, the meter will appear to refill upon re-entering. Despite this, the timer does not reset to 3 minutes, but takes the remaining amount of time to expire.

Defense[]

Curing[]

Poison and its buildup can be cured with Purple Moss Clumps, Blooming Purple Moss Clumps, and Divine Blessings; through the use of the Remedy sorcery; or by resting at a bonfire.

Stats[]

Investing in Resistance is the only way to increase poison resistance outside of equipping items.

Equipment[]

Armor[]

Light armor sets typically offer the highest Poison resist. Of them, the fully upgraded Painting Guardian Set offers the highest. The Tattered Cloth Set and Gold-Hemmed Black Set also offer excellent Poison resistance.

Medium armor sets are not the best choice when it comes to Poison resist, however, those worth mentioning are the Channeler's Set, Catarina Set and the Paladin Set.

While heavy armor sets generally offer much lower resistance to status effects than their lighter counterparts, the Black Iron Set offers relatively high Poison resist for its weight.

The unique headgear Bloated Sorcerer Head, and to a lesser extent, the Bloated Head have the highest Poison Defense out of any headpiece and do not need to be upgraded.

Individual armor pieces that have the highest Poison Resist when fully upgraded are the Painting Guardian Set's Hood, Robe and Gloves, along with the Gold-Hemmed Black Skirt, totaling 273.6 Poison Resist.

Rings[]

The Poisonbite Ring can significantly raise Poison resistance without the need to switch armor pieces.

Shields[]

Most shields let some negative status effects seep through while blocking, the exceptions being the Spider Shield and Greatshield of Artorias, which both blocks 100% of Poison attacks that aren't area of effect. The Bloodshield is the only shield that raises resistances to negative status effects.

Weapons[]

The Gargoyle's Halberd and Gargoyle Tail Axe offer large amounts of resistance to Poison and are the only weapons to do so.

Utilization[]

The following is a list of items, spells and weapons that can inflict Poison along with the corresponding amount of buildup per hit (or per second when within the influence of area of effect spells), as well as damage per tick and its frequency in seconds that occurs over its 3-minute duration.

Infliction Source Buildup Damage per tick/
seconds
Total Damage
Items
Poison Throwing Knife 55 4/second 720
Rotten Pine Resin 30 3/second 540
Spells
Dark Fog
AoE
16/0.2 seconds 4/second 720
Poison Mist
AoE
20/0.2 seconds 3/0.8 seconds 675
Weapons
Guardian Tail 40 3/second 540
Large Club 30 3/second 540
Oolacile Catalyst 30 3/second 540
Poison Arrow 60 3/second 540

Enemies[]

The following is a list of enemies and environmental hazards that can inflict Poison along with the corresponding amount of buildup per hit (or per second in the case of area of effect spells or environmental hazards), as well as damage per tick and its frequency in seconds that occurs over its 3-minute duration.

Infliction Source Buildup Damage per tick/
seconds
Total Damage
Enemies
Bloathead Sorcerer
Oolacile Catalyst Melee
??? 3/ ??? ???
Bloathead Sorcerer
Dark Fog
AoE
??? 5/0.532 seconds
(approximate)
1690
Giant Leech ??? ??? ???
Giant Mosquito
Blood Spray
??? 4/ ??? ???
Giant Mosquito
Sting
45 9/second 1620
Infested Barbarian 50 7/second 1260
Lesser Sanctuary Guardian ??? ??? ???
Giant Undead Rat 12 4/second 720
Large Undead Rat 12 4/second 720
Small Undead Rat 45 9/second 1620
Tree Lizard 60 10/second 1800
Bosses
Sanctuary Guardian ??? 10/ ??? ???
Environmental Hazards
Blighttown Swamp
AoE
3/0.6 seconds 4/second 720
Lost Izalith Pit
AoE
3/0.6 seconds 4/second 720

See also[]

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