Amongst the various elements and types of magics that you will encounter in FromSoftware’s epic Dark Souls 3, the usage and influence of fire have always been one of the strongest factors in any build.
Pyromancy has been a constant in the ever-changing Dark Souls world. So we decided to conjure up a guide for the Dark Souls 3 Pyromancer build.
This guide will let you in on the kind of destruction you can wreak on the hapless enemies and mighty bosses that you encounter in Dark Souls 3.
With our guide for the best Dark Souls 3 Pyromancer build, you’ll get rid of your enemies in the darkest way possible – burn them!
Let’s begin.
How To Build A Pyromancer In Dark Souls 3?
The Pyromancer in Dark Souls 3 deals a heavy amount of fire damage, whether directly or through his toolset, to weaken and defeat enemies.
For this to work, you must invest heavily in DS3 Pyromancy scaling, especially Intelligence and Faith stats, and level yourself up to 25 to use the vast majority of Pyromancy spells in the game.
Additionally, you can learn or acquire Pyromancy flame spells from either Cornyx or Karla. Both of them appear in the Firelink Shrine once you find out where they are in the game world.
Both specialize in different forms of Pyromancy; Cornyx caters to the basic form, while Karla is a master of Dark Souls 3 Dark Pyromancy Flame.
However, to learn these spells, you’ll have to acquire Tomes of Pyromancy scattered across the game.
Best Dark Souls 3 Pyromancer Builds
There are a lot of ways that you can use these spells, all according to how close or far you want to be in combat. Every DS3 Pyro build listed here is versatile and will work for almost all engagements, but be wary as some enemies can manipulate the gap between you and them.
Naturally, casting in the game is pretty slow, and getting hit while casting will cancel your spell animation and subsequently the spell.
So, be careful while timing your spells. We all know that Dark Souls can take all your health away in a flash.
Additionally, we recommend locking on to your enemy before you cast a spell on them to make sure that it connects.
1. Dark Souls 3 Pure Pyromancer Build
The best Pyromancer build in DS3. This is a build for those of you who want to make damage with fire spells their primary asset.
The Dark Souls 3 Pure Pyromancer build actually places little importance on direct weapon combat and requires you to keep your distance and exploit the Pure Pyro build in DS3 to the fullest.
Obviously, you must start with the Pyromancer DS3 class. Your Intelligence, Attunement, and/or Faith stats should be at 40, but levels near there will do just fine.
And to maximize damage, we recommend a couple of fantastic items, namely the Great Swamp and Witch’s Rings which boost your fire spell damage by 12% and 20%, respectively.
For armor, you can honestly go with any that you fancy, because Pyromancy is not an armor-dependent skill, and can even be used with your Loincloth on (we don’t recommend it).
Then there are the spells. We would ideally go for the Black Fire Orb, Chaos Bed Vestiges, Warmth, and the Great Chaos Fire Orb.
Each of these spells is powerful in its own right and brings something new to your arsenal. Warmth is the most basic of these. It gives you a little bit of health back, which is very important if you’re not big on armor.
The Great Chaos Fire Orb is an upgraded form of the Fire Orb and deals some AOE damage when deployed near enemies, while the Chaos Bed Vestiges are balls of fire that deal a ton of damage, actually the most out of all 4.
Lastly, the Black Fire Orb spell is the dark counterpart of your regular Fire Orb, and if the stats mentioned above are high enough, you can easily one-hit most low-level enemies in the game.
2. Dark Souls 3 Melee Heavy Pyromancy Build
Now, if you don’t think that your Pyromancy has much use apart from being an auxiliary get out of jail free card, then this is the perfect build for you.
The Melee Heavy Pyromancy build in DS3 is, as you can guess, focused around the usage of melee weapons such as swords to deal most of the damage and fire spells to either buff your weapons or get you out of a bind.
Although this does not depend on projectiles as much as it does on passive buffs to melee weapons, you do need a set of spells to maximize your damage. These are the Iron Fresh, Carthus Flame Arc, Warmth, and Power Within.
Warmth is especially important if you decide not to invest in armor whilst at the same time going for melee heavy movesets, as this will help you get a breather whilst constantly being on the move.
Carthus Flame Arc, meanwhile, will help you deal better damage through your primary source, your melee weapon. And since it scales along with your Intelligence and Faith, you are almost invincible if you are of a high enough level.
The Power Within spell is tricky because it gives you increased and varied damage options, but costs health. And since health is a priority, you should use this only when it is a make-or-break situation.
Finally, Iron Flesh also has an interesting concept. It gives you increased base resistance to damage at the expense of weight. So the lighter you are, the tankier you become. And since you carry little to no armor, you can get an idea of how indefatigable you are going to appear.
For weapons, we recommend anything in line with the Greatsword. The active and passive buffs you will be applying to yourself will go great with the high base damage of any strong melee weapon.
Additionally, something like the Greatsword will add little to your weight, making Iron Flesh better.
3. Dark Souls 3 Pyromancy Melee Build
In case you can’t put enough faith in the abilities of Pyromancy, there is an answer to that. The Dark Souls 3 Pyromancy Melee build caters to players that like to balance their casting and weapons to deal heavy damage and make themselves unpredictable at the same time.
For this DS3 Pyro build, you will need at least level 30 Faith and Intelligence each. We recommend leveling up Attunement as well, and to wield your weapons effectively, your Dexterity and Strength will need considerable boosting, to about 20 each.
To make this particular Pyro build in DS3 work, you will need the following spells in your arsenal – Warmth, Carthus Flame Arc, and Fire Orb. As a plus, you could also include the Chaos Bed Vestiges.
Warmth does not need an introduction. It heals you and will be necessary in case you run out of Estus Flask charges and need some health immediately.
The Carthus Flame Arc, however, works as mainly a buff for your equipped weapon, which scales according to the amount of Faith and Intelligence stat points.
The Fire Orb is pretty basic with a decent amount of damage, and it will serve you adequately in case you need to attack at the same time as putting some distance between you and the enemy.
Some of the weapons that you can pair this with are the Claymore, Falchion, or the classic Broadsword. And that’s our guide for the 3 best DS3 Pyromancer builds.
Although Dark Souls 3 has a lot of unique and interesting ways to clear out your enemies, Pyromancy is by far one of the best when it comes to having control of your range and playing your boss fights like chess.
As long as you are careful, your ranged attacks help you keep your field of view wide and your frail body intact. And if you don’t fully trust the results of such a DS3 Pyro build, you can always experiment with a hybrid build and then build your muscle memory from there.
Do share your Dark Souls 3 Pyromancer build stats with us in the comments.