Dark Souls III

Game Page | Setup | Items | Locations | Enemy Randomization

What do I need to do to randomize DS3?

See full instructions on the setup page.

How do I set options?

The DS3 client download includes an example YAML file which includes documentation for every option Dark Souls III supports. Use this to customize your experience.

What does randomization do to this game?

  1. All item locations are randomized, including those in the overworld, in shops, and dropped by enemies. Most locations can contain games from other worlds, and any items from your world can appear in other players' worlds.

  2. By default, all enemies and bosses are randomized. This can be disabled by setting randomize_enemies: false in your YAML.

  3. By default, the starting equipment for each class is randomized. This can be disabled by setting randomize_starting_loadout: false in your YAML.

There are also options that can make playing the game more convenient or bring a new experience. Check out the example YAML file for more information!

What's the goal?

By default, your goal is to find the four "Cinders of a Lord" items randomized into the multiworld and defeat the boss in the Kiln of the First Flame.

You can customize which bosses you fight by setting the goal option in your YAML. For example, if you want to make both DLCs mandatory in addition to the main game, you would use: 

Dark Souls III:
  goal:
  - Kiln of the First Flame Boss
  - Ringed City End Boss
  - Painted World of Ariandel End Boss

Do I have to check every item in every area?

Dark Souls III has about 1500 item locations, which is a lot of checks for a single run! But you don't necessarily need to check all of them. Locations that you can potentially miss, such as rewards for failable quests or soul transposition items, will never have items required for any game to progress. The following types of locations are also guaranteed not to contain progression items by default:

You can customize which locations are guaranteed not to contain progression items by setting the exclude_locations field in your YAML to the location groups you want to omit. For example, this is the default setting but without "Hidden" so that hidden locations can contain progression items: 

Dark Souls III:
  exclude_locations:
  - Small Crystal Lizards
  - Upgrade
  - Small Souls
  - Miscellaneous

This allows all non-missable locations to have progression items, if you're in for the long haul: 

Dark Souls III:
  exclude_locations: []

What if I don't want to do the whole game?

If you want a shorter DS3 randomizer experience, you can exclude entire regions from containing progression items. The items and enemies from those regions will still be included in the randomization pool, but none of the locations there will be mandatory. For example, the following configuration just requires you to play the game through Irithyll of the Boreal Valley: 

Dark Souls III:
  # Enable the DLC so it's included in the randomization pool
  enable_dlc: true

  exclude_locations:
  # Exclude late-game and DLC regions
  - Anor Londo
  - Lothric Castle
  - Consumed King's Garden
  - Untended Graves
  - Grand Archives
  - Archdragon Peak
  - Painted World of Ariandel
  - Dreg Heap
  - Ringed City

  # Default exclusions
  - Hidden
  - Small Crystal Lizards
  - Upgrade
  - Small Souls
  - Miscellaneous

I'm sending too many items into the multiworld!

Because Dark Souls III has so many more checks than most Archipelago games, it also sends many more items into the multiworld. If you're playing in a small group, this may mean that most players' games are mostly full of items from DS3. That's not ideal!

You can mitigate this by forcing certain item groups to be local, meaning that those items will only ever be placed in your game and not anyone else's. For example, the following configuration substantially limits how many items you'll send out into the multiworld: 

Dark Souls III:
  local_items:
  - Shields
  - Armor
  - Rings
  - Spells
  - Miscellaneous
  - Small Souls
  - Upgrade

Where can I learn more about Dark Souls III locations?

Location names have to pack a lot of information into very little space. To better understand them, check out the location guide, which explains all the names used in locations and provides more detailed descriptions for each individual location.

Where can I learn more about Dark Souls III items?

Check out the item guide, which explains the named groups available for items.

How can I change what enemies get randomized?

The enemy randomization guide explains how to further customize enemy randomization for challenge runs or convenience. You can target specific enemies or entire categories and even remove annoying enemy types outright.

What's new from 3.x.x?

Version 4.0.0 of the Dark Souls III Archipelago client has a number of substantial differences with the older 3.x.x versions. Improvements include:

In addition, 4.0.0 supports several new features. Some of these require using the new dark_souls_3.apworld that's bundled with the 4.0.0 client in place of the one that's included with Archipelago by default.

In general, 3.x.x YAMLs are compatible with 4.0.0. However, the auto_equip and lock_equip options have been removed, and if they're set in your YAML they will no longer have any effect.