So, you’ve probably noticed your character is starting to look like a piece of overcooked beef jerky. It happens to the best of us in Lothric. One minute you're a fresh-faced Unkindled, and the next, you're looking at a shriveled husk in the mirror. In the world of Dark Souls 3 hollowing is a bit of a weird beast. If you’re coming from the older games, you might be panicking, thinking your HP is about to tank or that you’re locked out of multiplayer.
Relax. It’s not like that this time. Honestly, the system is way more forgiving than it used to be, but it’s also hidden behind some cryptic NPC dialogue that most people just skip.
Why are you turning into a prune?
Unlike the first two games, you don't actually hollow just by dying. You’re "Unkindled" now, which is basically a fancy way of saying you’ve already been burned to ash and came back. You’re technically immune to the standard undead curse.
So how does it happen? It starts with a guy named Yoel of Londor. You find him whimpering among a bunch of dead pilgrims at the foot of the High Wall. If you’re nice enough to let him come back to Firelink, he offers to "draw out your true strength."
Basically, he gives you a free level. Sounds great, right?
Well, that free level comes with a side of Dark Sigil. This is a key item that sits in your inventory and basically drills a hole in your soul. Once you have a Dark Sigil, every time you die, your Dark Souls 3 hollowing stat goes up. The more sigils you have, the faster you rot. If you have five sigils and die a few times, you’ll hit the 15 hollowing threshold, and that’s when the "hollow" look really kicks in.
The mechanical truth: Does it actually hurt you?
Here is the big secret: Hollowing in this game has almost zero negative impact on your stats.
It won't lower your health.
It won't stop you from summoning friends.
It won't make you take more damage.
The only real "penalty" is cosmetic. Your character looks like a corpse. If you spent three hours in the character creator making a masterpiece, it’s gone. But from a gameplay perspective, being hollow is actually a buff for specific builds.
If you’re running a Luck build, hollowing is your best friend. When you're hollow (at least 15 points) and you hold a Hollow-infused weapon, you get a flat bonus to your Luck stat. If that weapon is fully upgraded to +10, you get +5 Luck. If you hold a hollow shield in the other hand? That’s another +5. That extra Luck directly increases your attack power on those weapons and makes your Bleed and Poison effects proc much faster. It’s why those "Bleed builds" you see in PvP are almost always rocking the beef jerky skin.
How to fix it (and why it costs a fortune)
Maybe you hate the look. I get it. You have a few ways to handle it, but they range from "quick fix" to "financial ruin."
- Purging Stones: These are your best friends. You can buy them from Yuria (who replaces Yoel) or the Shrine Handmaid. Using one resets your hollowing to zero. You look human again! But—and this is a big but—it doesn't remove the Dark Sigils. If you die again, the hollowing starts coming back immediately. It’s a temporary facelift.
- The Statue of Velka: Tucked away in the Undead Settlement (behind a locked door in the sewers), Velka offers "Dissolution." It’s basically a Purging Stone in statue form. It resets your hollowing for a soul fee, but again, the sigils stay.
- The Fire Keeper Soul: This is the big one. If you find the Fire Keeper Soul in the tower behind Firelink (requires the 20,000 soul key), you can give it to the Fire Keeper. She will then offer to "Heal the Dark Sigil."
This is the only way to permanently stop the hollowing process. But be warned: the cost is astronomical. She charges you the equivalent of what your last five levels would have cost. If you’re level 100, we’re talking hundreds of thousands of souls. Also, doing this will piss off Yuria. She’ll leave, and you’ll be locked out of the "Lord of Hollows" ending for that playthrough.
The Lord of Hollows: Why you might want to stay ugly
There’s a reason people stick with the Dark Souls 3 hollowing process despite the aesthetics. It’s the only way to get the "Usurpation of Fire" ending. This is widely considered the "true" or at least the most complex ending of the game.
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To get it, you need to:
- Get all 5 sigils from Yoel before he dies.
- Follow Anri of Astora’s questline perfectly.
- Complete a... let’s call it a "wedding ceremony" in the Darkmoon Tomb.
- Obtain 3 more sigils during that ceremony, bringing your total to 8.
If you heal your sigils at any point, the Londor faction decides you aren't worthy and the questline fails. You’re choosing between being pretty and being the King of an entire race of undead. Personally? I usually just wear a helmet.
Summary of Actionable Steps
If you're currently dealing with hollowing and aren't sure what to do, follow this logic:
- For the Story: Keep the sigils, stay hollow, and finish Yuria’s quest. Use the Untrue Dark Ring (sold by Yuria) to look human while keeping your hollow status.
- For the Build: If you use Bleed or Luck, stay hollow. The +10 Luck bonus from two hollow items is too good to pass up for optimization.
- For the Fashion: If you don't care about the secret ending, wait until you've gotten your 5 free levels from Yoel, then heal the sigils via the Fire Keeper. Just do it early before the soul cost becomes unbearable.
- The Budget Option: Just wear armor that covers your face. The Elite Knight set or the Fallen Knight set are classics for a reason.
Hollowing is a tool, not a punishment. Use it to get your free levels and your secret ending, then decide if the cost of "beauty" is worth the millions of souls the Fire Keeper wants.