Known as being one of the toughest games out there, it’s easy to be intimidated by the Dark Souls series.
I remember the first time I heard about Dark Souls. Those tales came with stories of controllers being thrown and destroyed, rage and salt compilations all over YouTube, and that mocking “You Died” death screen.
It took me a while to get into the series to be honest. But countless frustrating hours and deaths later, I finally did it. I defeated the Lords of Cinder and linked the first flame. No game had ever given me the same sense of accomplishment as Dark Souls III, and I still haven’t found a game to top that experience to this day.
And as the fandom continues to grow, there are a number of mods that enhance the experience even further. For both newcomers and veteran players alike, here are my picks for the absolute best mods you can add onto Dark Souls 3.
It’s also important to note that most of these mods can get you banned so it’s better to enjoy them offline.
For those who are new to the game, it’s easy to get frustrated and turn back. Especially if this is your first Soulsborne experience.
The unforgiving nature of the game can easily be a turn-off to newcomers.
Modder ss7877 has provided a way to make your DS3 playthrough much more relaxed.
By making changes to two of the early game items, the Comfort Mod makes your game… well, more comfortable.
The Life Ring and Covetous Silver Serpent Ring now have updated stats and buffs to help you stay alive through your journey from the beginning all the way to the end of the game.
With buffed max HP, FP, Stamina, souls gained, and HP regeneration, you’ll find that Estus Flasks aren’t as crucial as they would normally be.
If you’re just getting into Soulsborne games and would like to experience what it’s all about, without the infuriating difficulty, well this is the mod for you.
iGP11 is pretty much an essential, almost all graphical mod. Probably the best out there.
Although it gives you total control over textures in the game, most graphics mods are simply presets for iGP11.
You’ll need this one for most of the visual changes on this list so I consider this more like a basic staple: it won’t do much by itself, but definitely good to have.
A lot of PC gamers prefer to use the PS4 controller. Especially for third-person games like DS3.
Whether you’re just used to the DS4 layout or just don’t have an Xbox controller lying around, you probably hate when how must games don’t have DS4 support.
Lucky for us, EASKATER presents us with a simple fix.
The All PS4 Controller Icons mod replaces all the Xbox icons in the game with the correct PS4 icons.
In a game like DS3 no one wants to accidentally hit the attack button when you really mean to dodge. When every move matters, this mod will help keep you alive regardless of controller choice.
Dark Souls has come a very long way graphics-wise since the release of the first game back in 2011.
Though DS3 is arguably the best-looking game of the series, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any improvements to be made.
Almost all games nowadays have that one scene where you’re taken through a mountain path where just over the cliff is a gorgeous view of the world. A chance to take a break from the gameplay and just appreciate the game’s visual design.
As there are multiple moments like this in DS3, Draw Distance Increased improves on the level of detail seen from a distance.
This fixes an issue many gamers had with the game where textures would take too long to load when far away from the character.
Overall a great graphical upgrade that makes the game run smoother and look much better than it already does.
Violence in video games is always a touchy subject. But most gamers would agree that it just adds to the immersive experience of games we love.
Games like Doom and God of War even bank on the goriness they’ve become known for.
Spaghetti Penguin’s Enhanced Blood Mod aims to improve on just that: making blood and splatter effects more realistic. Building on the Red Blood Mod by SniperWolfP, this mod changes the color of blood in the game adding shades of crimson and dark red.
The overly bright spilling effect and environment textures are now more realistic. Just what you’d be looking for, right?
There are many visual presets available for iGP11. But Color Clarity is probably one of the best in my opinion.
Some mods make the game way too dark, while others just take too much away in terms of detail.
Color Clarity is a great mod if you’re just looking to make everything look better. But without completely changing the look and feel of the game.
The default washed-out look is made much warmer.
In effect, colors are now more vibrant making the world look more realistic.
The details in the environment pop more, while gameplay is not affected. Shadows and brightness are not changed so everything is still as visible as in the vanilla version of the game.
A simple mod that adds visual effects to infused weapons.
A huge part of Dark Souls has to be the different weapon builds that you can explore. Making each playthrough interesting, you can choose to maximize different weapon types, as well as explore upgrade paths depending on what best suits your playstyle.
Though adding elemental effects to your weapons has a huge impact in terms of gameplay. It may appear underwhelming as it does not change the weapon designs at all.
Visual Infusion Effects aim to change that.
As you can guess, fire weapons now appear as if they are burning. Poison weapons have a purple glow. And lightning weapons have that electrically-charged appearance similar to the Nameless King’s Dragonslayer Swordspear.
A small mod, but you’ll definitely feel the change when hacking through bosses with a flaming sword.
Continuing on weapons in the Dark Souls series, fans of the older games are probably familiar with the Moonlight Greatsword.
One of the rarest swords in the game, many Dark Souls players were excited to see whether it would make an appearance in the third game.
But many players where underwhelmed, as the appearance of the weapon was drastically changed in Dark Souls III.
Modder zARCADEz wanted to bring back the iconic look of the Moonlight Greatsword from the previous games.
Reapplying the bright green glow, getting the sword in DS3 is now as exciting as it was in the previous games. That color is most likely where it gets its name, after all!
Darkdrift is another hidden weapon in Dark Souls III.
As with most hidden items that aren’t easy to get, you were most likely expecting something grander than what the vanilla version of the Darkdrift looks like: a translucent katana that pretty much looks like every other katana in the game (except this one is see-through).
Obviously, someone felt the same way (or maybe it’s just his favorite weapon and wanted it to look cooler).
This mod makes multiple visual changes to the Darkdrift, adding a black flame when used to strike.
No question, this makes the Darkdrift a truly badass weapon. Which it was meant to be.
Newer fans of the series are probably more familiar with Bloodborne.
One of the newer games by FromSoftware, Bloodborne veered away from the medieval theme of the previous games and took a more gothic, Victorian approach.
With the Hunter’s Combat mod you can merge a Bloodborne experience with DS3, replacing vanilla weapons, animations, and movements with ones found in Bloodborne.
Good fun for fans of the Soulsborne series as a whole.
Invasions are a huge part of online play in Dark Souls III.
If you enjoy the PvP aspect of the game, you’re probably familiar with Red Eye Orbs.
However if you’re focused on PvP right now, you know how difficult it can be moving from area to area just to find someone to invade. Dince Red Eye Orbs only look for players in your current location.
With this mod, players can now purchase a new item called “Wex Dust” from the Shrine Handmaid. Similar to Red Eye Orbs, except this time you’re matched with players from all areas of the world.
A simple fix to avoid the hassle of finding other people to play with.
For the more veteran Dark Souls fans: if you feel you’ve gotten the most out of the game, having played through it so many times that there just aren’t any more builds you haven’t tried before, this is something to look into.
10 New Classes does exactly as it says: adds ten unique classes to the vanilla version of the game.
You can now play through the game as either a Spear of the Church, Thorns Knight, Slave Knight, or Wandering Knight, among quite a few others.
Each class has a different set of starting stats as well as new appearances, so now is the best time to get to your next DS3 run.
There are those Dark Souls fans who love the game precisely because of the challenge. Believe it or not, there are mods out there that actually make the game even more difficult.
If you’re into that kind of thing, check out StraySouls.
It basically randomizes enemies, so the trial and error approach we’re all used to no longer comes into play.
You can randomize everything from normal enemies, bosses, and NPCs.
You can even multiply the number of enemies up to 9x the amount in the vanilla version. Why you’d want this, I don’t know. But if you love a challenge(as if vanilla wasn’t enough) check this out.
The next three mods come in a pack by Zullie the Witch. Known as the Challenge Mods pack, each mod gives the game a different kind of difficulty from the original version.
The first is NPC Stat Modifier, which allows you to change HP, damage, and defenses of the NPCs in the game.
Now when summoning NPCs for boss fights, they’ll have the stats that you chose for them.
Whether this makes the game harder or easier is entirely up to you.
Cinders is probably the largest Dark Souls III mod out there.
A complete overhaul aiming to provide a fresh experience of the game.
Weapons have been rebalanced, making new builds viable and even really fun to test.
You can now even complete the game with a ranger build, focusing on bows rather than swords.
There are additional weapons too, along with new upgrade paths, NPCs, and more.
Basically with Cinders you get tons of additional content from DS gamers themselves, with an unlimited amount of ideas for improving on a game we all love. Definitely give this a try if you can.
