While most players think of Dark Souls 3 as primarily an action RPG meant to be fought with big bad weapons, there is a Magic mechanic to the game. Avery powerful one, too. Some players can go the entire game utilizing mostly Magic in fights and even the most devout sword wielder will find a few spells (or Miracles) to be very helpful in their efforts.
Not all Miracles apply to all play-styles, and some will find better use in the beginning or end of the game, but there’s no denying the power and utility Miracles have in Dark Souls 3. Let's take a look at some of the very best, in ascending order.
Updated by Michael Connor Smith on July 2nd, 2020: In the fantastical lands of the Dark Souls series, humans and beasts alike roam the land with gigantic weaponry, powerful sorcery, and holy miracles to help them survive in such a cruel and unforgiving world. Miracles take advantage of the Faith stat and harness the power of the Gods themselves.
This list was updated to include five additional Miracles that we thought were fitting enough to be on a list of the very best, as Dark Souls 3 has 38 miracles in total, so there are much too many to leave out some truly useful and fun ones.
15 Divine Pillars Of Light
Spells and Miracles don't necessarily have to be fast to be useful, and the Divine Pillars of Light is a perfect example. While its startup and recovery are quite long, anyone caught in it is going to take a massive amount of damage.
This is great to use against opponents with big, slower weapons, as a sort of reversal move to use when someone is being just a little too punishable with their approaching. It's not something you're going to be using often during a fight, but having it in your back pocket at the cost of only one attunement slot is a nasty little trick.
14 Blessed Weapon
This Miracle is more useful in the beginning of the game than towards the end, so players often trade it out for something stronger or simply ignore it. Early on, though, it can be fantastic. Blessed Weapon grants the player a health regeneration that can scale up to five health per second (with the right gear) for 45 seconds, meaning a total of 225 health restored. The Miracle also boosts physical damage by 7.5% and prevents skeletons from resurrecting.
Again, other spells provide better healing and better damage boosts, but this will keep struggling players alive in the beginning of the game.
13 Vow of Silence
Vow of Silence has lots of uses, both in the PvE and PvP of Dark Souls 3. Essentially, this Miracle, once cast, prevents all Magic from being used for 15 seconds. That doesn’t sound like much, but it can be enough to prevent bosses from unleashing devastating magical attacks and stop opposing players from healing severe injuries.
Unfortunately, it also prevents the player from using Miracles, so anyone with a Miracle-focused build would be unable to really include this in their repertoire. Still, for players looking for a simple spell to give them an edge against magic users, this is it.
12 Deep Protection
This is another Miracle that sees more use in the beginning and is phased out in the mid game, but it’s cheap and gives a distinct edge in combat. Deep Protection provides the player with a 5% boost to weapon damage, 5% reduction in damage received, boosts resistances by 20, and raises stamina regeneration by +3 per second.
Those little bonuses can give players the edge they need to survive bosses or cut through enemies just a little faster. Again, there are better Miracles, but it’s a cheap spell that beginners would be fools to ignore in the beginning.
11 Lightning Blade
Infusing your weapon of choice with magic is definitely one of the most rad things in all of Dark Souls, and the Lightning Blade miracle allows the addition of coursing electricity to it.
There are a few different types of weapon infusion spells and miracles within Dark Souls 3, and Lightning Blade, while not the best, still has its variety of uses. It ends up being far more useful in PVE rather than PVP since lighting defense is pretty common, but the extra damage boost given from it is still nothing to scoff at.
10 Force
This is a very basic spell that has a lot of utility in most forms of combat. It creates a small shockwave that will send close enemies flying away and stun enemies on the edge of its range. This is great for giving yourself some breathing room if you get swarmed, or to temporarily stun a more difficult opponent. Devious players can also use this to send enemies and other players hurtling off cliffs for an instant kill. It even can be used to block incoming arrows.
It doesn’t rank higher because there are ways to disrupt this with shields (and many bosses are immune to it), but for a starter spell given automatically to the Cleric class, it’s handy.
9 Dark Blade
The miracles Dark Blade and Darkmoon Blade are both strikingly similar in appearance and functionality, so it's difficult to determine which one is the better miracle. Dark is a great affinity to use in PVP, and the damage will be relatively similar between the two.
The damage on Darkmoon Blade might be slightly higher in a lot of cases, but it is far more painstaking to get than Dark Blade, so it largely comes down to personal preference in the end as a good player will be able to get just as much usage out of Dark Blade.
8 Darkmoon Blade
This weapon infusion adds magical damage to the given weapon, and the amount of damage dealt after the buff is applied can be pretty insane due to a lot of players having lower magic resistance. Obtained through the Blades of the Darkmoon Covenant, this miracle requires much more commitment than most.
At an FP cost of 50 and a Faith requirement of 30, the player will have to grind quite a bit to obtain it in the first place. This is one of the most difficult and frustrating miracles to get your hands on, and you'll need to have your build planned out beforehand because of just how much time it takes to acquire.
7 Soothing Sunlight
It should go without saying that even the best players die a lot in Dark Souls 3, and the player will take damage at some point. This is what makes self-healing Miracles like Soothing Sunlight so important, as those Estus Flasks only go so far even fully upgraded.
Soothing Sunlight puts other healing Miracles to shame: with the right equipment, it can heal a whopping 1,725 health points to you and allies within 15 feet! It doesn’t rank higher because obtaining this Miracle requires killing the difficult boss Dancer of the Boreal Valley. For a late-game healing Miracle, it’s definitely worth it.
6 Wrath of God
An improved version of the Force Miracle, the Wrath of God delivers a powerful shockwave that not only knocks opponents down, but deals a good amount of physical damage and damages stamina. It’s great for blasting weaker enemies or giving an edge against groups.
The downside is that with a character at max casting speed the Miracle still takes almost two seconds to cast. Still, for players with good timing, it can be a great way to blast groups of enemies that come rushing at you.
5 Tears Of Denial
Any kind of enduring ability in a game, whether it be Endure in Pokémon, a fairy in Zelda, or Second Chance in Kingdom Hearts, ends up being quite an invaluable tool. Tears of Denial functions similarly, as it allows the user to survive an attack that would otherwise kill them.
Once HP reaches 0, the player can endure another attack without dying, although the FP cost is extremely high at 100. This costly spell is well worth it when it saves you an entire fight, however, so it's a fantastic tool to have in your back pocket.
4 Dorhys’ Gnawing
This frightening Miracle is incredibly useful in the game. Dorhys’ Gnawing summons forth two spinning projectiles of swarming insects at opponents. These biting critters will deal Dark damage and, more importantly, cause Bleed buildup. In fact, this Miracle applies the most Bleed damage in the entire game, at 210 points of Bleed.
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It’s also worth mentioning that some tough enemies and bosses in the game are susceptible to Bleed, making these encounters much, much easier when using this Miracle. Granted, you’ll still have to fight the enemy, and many enemies are resistant if not outright immune to Bleed, but you’ll be glad you have this one.
3 Lightning Storm
Like Dorhys Gnawing, this spell sees more use in specific encounters, but it really shines in those moments. This Miracle will summon forth waves of sparks, which remain until they dissipate or strike an enemy, dealing Lightning damage.
This is a great spell for handling groups or when you have enemies cornered, as the more sparks that hit, the more damage is done. There are few feelings in the game as sweet as standing in the center of a room, raising your fist to the heavens, and watching the bodies hit the floor after casting this Miracle a few times.
2 Lightning Arrow
It could be argued that this Miracle should be number one for being the most powerful miracle in PvP, but that spot is reserved for a PvE-based Miracle. With Lightning Arrow, the player summons a bow that casts a Lightning-imbued arrow at the enemy to deal (you guessed it) Lightning damage.
What makes the Lightning Arrow so powerful in PvP is that it’s a very strong ranged attack that can be held indefinitely before releasing. It’s also incredibly cheap for such a powerful Miracle, using only 19 Focus points.
1 Sunlight Spear
Standing supreme as the best Miracle in the game (at least for PvE) is the Sunlight Spear. This Miracle was wielded by Gwyn, the First Lord, who killed the immortal dragons and started the first Age of Fire. As if the lore behind the Miracle wasn’t enough, it's hugely damaging. As a ranged attack with the right gear, stats, and buffs, it deals an impressive 600 points of damage or so. If used at very close range, it creates a second hitbox which brings the total damage dealt to about 1,000.
Players with this Miracle will breeze through many engagements and feel like the Lord Gwyn himself in battle. The one major downside is that this Miracle is exclusively reserved for New Game Plus, as the player obtains it by killing the final boss, the Lord of Cinder. For players who press on to NG+, however, this Miracle is beastly and absolutely recommended for survival.