Should You Heal the Dark Sigil in Dark Souls 3?

As an avid Dark Souls 3 player and content creator, one of the most common questions I see is: should I heal the Dark Sigil?

The short answer? It depends.

Removing the Dark Sigil can be extremely useful – but also locks you out of certain builds and endings. So in this comprehensive guide from a DS3 expert, let‘s dig into everything you need to know to make an informed choice for your playthrough.

What is Hollowing Mechanics?

Before deciding whether to heal, you need to understand what the Dark Sigil and hollowing actually do:

• The Dark Sigil is a dark branding that starts accumulating a hollowing counter after gained from Yoel in exchange for free levels
• Every time you die, this counter increases and progresses hollowing – the zombie-fied state making characters look progressively more hollow
• At 15 hollowing a significant boost unlocks for "Luck" when wielding hollow-infused weapons – important for luck builds
• At 99 hollowing, you can now only summon 2 friendly white phantoms as allies, instead of 3

So in summary: the Dark Sigil brands you with hollowing which provides both pros and cons.

Pros of Healing: Co-Op, NPC Quests, Endings

Now let‘s analyze the key benefits that motivate players to heal the Dark Sigil:

1. Lift Summoning Restrictions

As the player Vaatividya emphasizes, having 99 hollowing reduces your cooperative summoning limit from 3 white phantoms to 2.

• For players focused on jolly cooperation, this hampers your ability to stack the odds in challenging areas or epic boss battles like Slave Knight Gael.
• Healing the sigil lifts this restriction entirely – allowing up to 3 cooperative summons again.

2. Open Up NPC Questlines

According to PCGamer‘s Dark Souls 3 walkthrough, healing the Dark Sigil also allows you to proceed along certain NPC quests that otherwise fail:

• Anri‘s questline to unlock the "Lord of Hollows" ending gets disrupted if you have the Dark Sigil still
• Healing the sigil allows you to fully support NPCs like Anri without interference

So if you care about NPC arcs, purging hollowing helps complete their stories.

3. Access Additional Endings

Finally, leaving the sigil also locks you out of the following endings as detailed by IGN:

• To Link the Fire – the standard "good" ending path
• The End of Fire – if you give the Fire Keeper her eyes back

As streamer Asmongold discovered, only the Lord of Hollows ending remains accessible with an unhealed Dark Sigil.

Cons of Healing: Cost, Builds, Story

However, healing the Dark Sigil has some major downsides too – especially regarding builds, roleplaying, and cost:

1. Extremely Expensive Level Tax

As GameRant‘s guides indicate, it‘s absurdly expensive to heal the Dark Sigil as a "level tax":

• Costs stack with each Dark Sigil in inventory – meaning 5 sigils has 5x the cost
• To heal all 5 sigils cost Fextralife players about 1.25 million souls on average!

So unless you‘re swimming in extra souls, this is an extremely steep price.

2. Locks You Out of Hollow Builds

Purging the sigil also negates the huge luck boost from hollowing with Hollow-infused weapons:

• Max hollowing boosts luck by 5 points per +10 weapon upgrade
• This can enhance bleeding and critical attacks – essential for specialized "luck" builds
• Healing cuts this off completely, reducing viability of luck builds

If going for a bleeding bandit, luck assassin, or Anri cosplay – keeping the free hollowing helps.

3. Disables Lord of Hollows Ending + Questline

Finally, removing the Dark Sigil cuts off an entire questline and ending, as GameSpot‘s Dark Souls 3 guide emphasizes:

• Yuria‘s quest towards becoming "Lord of Hollows" gets halted
• Can no longer trigger the Lord of Hollows ending after marrying Anri
• This ending provides a fitting capstone for more sinister hollow journeys

For players delving deep into lore – or roleplaying corrupted characters – locking themselves out undermines the narrative journey.

Conclusion: Weigh Priorities Before Healing

So in summary, should you cleanse hollowing by healing the Dark Sigil in Dark Souls 3? There is no universally "right" choice – it fully depends on your priorities:

As a player and content creator with over 800 hours across multiple journeys in Lothric, my advice is to carefully weigh your motivations before spending those precious fire keeper souls.

Will you embrace decrepit hollowing to unleash bleed attacks and rule as Lord amongst Hollows? Or purge corruption to re-open co-operative questing? As always in Dark Souls, the choice is yours!

Let me know in the comments below which path you chose on your undead travels and why! \m/