Bonfire Ascetic

In-Game Description

Tossing this into a bonfire strengthens nearby foes.

Once the Bonfire Ascetic is devoured by
the flames, its effects can never be reversed.
Be prepared before using this perilous ember.

Fire exhibits a connection to the curse,
and when the flames grow stronger,
so does the curse.

Use

Burn at a bonfire to strengthen nearby foes.

• Bonfire Intensity, indicated in the area warp menu, permanently increases by 1.
• Most enemies and items respawn, which makes Ascetics valuable for farming.

What the Bonfire Ascetic resets:

• All monsters in the area, including those who spawn only once and scripted NPC invasions. This resets the "15 kills" respawning counter back to zero. Includes Crystal Lizards.
• All items found on corpses.¹
• Boss opening cutscenes.
• The bosses themselves. All of them in case of multiples.
• Wooden Chests

What the Bonfire Ascetic doesn't reset:

• All opened shortcuts stay opened.
• Special encounters, like the first one with the Pursuer.
• Doesn't respawn dead NPCs, reset their aggression or their inventory.
• Metal Chests
• Souls of a Giant in memories (to farm them, use the Dragon Shrine bonfire)

Some NG+ exclusive loot appears in the world or is dropped by enemies old and new even when a Bonfire Ascetic is used. For example, Gower's Ring of Protection is available in the Shaded Woods if an Ascetic is used on the Ruined Fork Road bonfire. Many bosses also have additional drops.

Bonfire Ascetics may or may not update merchant inventories to include NG+ or NG++ items. For example, Chancellor Wellager will not sell NG++ items until the player is actually in NG++. However, Maughlin the Armourer will sell his new items.

For a full list of Bonfire Intensity 2+ changes and what bonfire causes the change, see the tables below.

Boss Respawning

Boss	Area Bonfire	Additional Loot	Notes
The Last Giant	Forest of Fallen Giants - Cardinal Tower	None	Also respawns The Pursuer.
The Pursuer	Forest of Fallen Giants - Cardinal Tower	None	Also respawns The Last Giant.
Dragonrider	Heide's Tower of Flame - Heide's Ruin	None
Old Dragonslayer	Cathedral of Blue - The Blue Cathedral	None	Bonfire located after the boss room.
Flexile Sentry	No-man's Wharf - Unseen Path to Heide	Possible Suspicious Shadow drops	Gains two Suspicious Shadows, with unique item drops: Malformed Claws, Shadow Dagger, Shadow Set
Ruin Sentinels	The Lost Bastille - McDuff's Workshop	None	Requires Bastille Key or shortcut opened by rolling explosive barrel down stairs.
The Lost Sinner	Sinner's Rise - The Saltfort	Old Witch Soul	In NG+, gains two Black Phantom pyromancers at 60% health. These do not appear with use of an Ascetic in NG (but they do in SotFS).
Belfry Gargoyles	Belfry Luna - Upper Ramparts	Covetous Gold Serpent Ring +2	Bonfire located after the boss room.
Skeleton Lords	Huntsman's Copse - Undead Lockaway	Clear Bluestone Ring +2
Executioner's Chariot	Undead Purgatory - Undead Purgatory	Chloranthy Ring +2	Bonfire located after the boss room.
Covetous Demon	Harvest Valley - The Mines	None
Mytha, the Baneful Queen	Earthen Peak - Upper Earthen Peak	Covetous Silver Serpent Ring +2	Bonfire located behind an illusory wall above the boss room before entering.
Smelter Demon	Iron Keep - Threshold Bridge	None
Old Iron King	Iron Keep - Eygil's Idol	Old King Soul	Bonfire located up a ladder in the rooms leading to the boss room.
Scorpioness Najka	Shaded Woods - Shaded Ruins	Southern Ritual Band +2
Royal Rat Authority	Doors of Pharros - Ordeal's End	None
Prowling Magus & Congregation	Brightstone Cove Tseldora - Royal Army Campsite	None
The Duke's Dear Freja	Brightstone Cove Tseldora - Lower Brightstone Cove	Old Paledrake Soul
Royal Rat Vanguard	Grave of Saints - Grave Entrance	None
The Rotten	Black Gulch - Hidden Chamber	Old Dead One Soul	Bonfire located after a pathway along edge of cliff before the boss room.
Dragonriders	Drangleic Castle - Forgotten Chamber	None
Looking Glass Knight	Drangleic Castle - Central Castle Drangleic	Ring of Steel Protection +2
Demon of Song	Shrine of Amana - Rhoy's Resting Place	None
Velstadt, the Royal Aegis	Undead Crypt - Undead Ditch	Royal Soldier's Ring +2	Also respawns Vendrick.
Vendrick	Undead Crypt - Undead Ditch	None	Also respawns Velstadt, the Royal Aegis.
Guardian Dragon	Aldia's Keep - Ritual Site	None
Ancient Dragon	Dragon Shrine - Shrine Entrance	None
Giant Lord	Forest of Fallen Giants - The Place Unbeknownst	Ring of Giants +2	Respawns all of the Memories of the Ancients.
Throne Defender & Throne Watcher	Drangleic Castle - King's Gate	Ring of the Evil Eye +2	Also respawns Nashandra and Twin Pursuers.
Nashandra	Drangleic Castle - King's Gate	None	Also respawns Throne Defender & Throne Watcher and Twin Pursuers.
Darklurker	Drangleic Castle - Under Drangleic Castle	None
Elana, the Squalid Queen	Dragon's Sanctum - Sanctum Interior	None	?
Sinh the Slumbering Dragon	Dragon's Rest - Sanctum Nadir	None	?
Graverobber, Varg and Cerah	Shulva, Sanctum City - Priestess' Chamber	None	?
Fume Knight	Brume Tower - Lowermost Floor	None	?
Sir Alonne	Brume Tower - The Smelter Throne	None	?
Smelter Demon (Iron King DLC)	Iron Passage - Iron Hallway Entrance	None	?
Aava, the King's Pet	Frozen Eleum Loyce - Outer Wall	None	?
Burnt Ivory King	Grand Cathedral - Grand Cathedral	None	?
Lud, the King's Pet & Zallen, the King's Pet	Frozen Eleum Loyce - Expulsion Chamber	None	?

Items of Interest at Bonfire Intensity 2+

Item	Area Bonfire	Additional Loot	Notes
Moon Butterfly Set	Majula - The Far Fire	None	Sold by Maughlin the Armourer. Also have to spend 16.000 souls in his shop before he sells the set. Hat is sold at Bonfire Intensity 3+.
Moon Butterfly Shield	Majula - The Far Fire	None	Up the ladder in Maughlin the Armourer's house, inside a chest. Bonfire Intensity 3+ only.
Catarina Set	Forest of Fallen Giants - Soldier's Rest	3x Cracked Red Eye Orb	Kill the Catarina Knight for a chance to get his set.
Shadow Set Malformed Claws Shadow Dagger	No-man's Wharf - Unseen Path to Heide	Titanite Chunk Ring of Life Protection (Dark Souls II only)	Kill the Suspicious Shadows for a chance to get their equipment. Do not kill the boss or they will not respawn.
Gower's Ring of Protection	Shaded Woods - Ruined Fork Road	Heide Knight near Shrine of Winter has a chance to drop parts of the Heide Knight Set; this is the only Heide Knight you can get the Heide Greatlance from.	Replaces an item on a corpse, follow the right wall.
Dragonrider Set	Iron Keep - Threshold Bridge	Bonfire Ascetic on the lava rocks	The set is sold by Magerold of Lanafir. The Dragonriders have to be dead.
Black Witch Veil	Belfry Sol - Belfry Sol Approach	3x Skeptic's Spice	Kill the Bell Keeper Mage for a chance to get the rare Black Witch Veil.
Black Witch Domino Mask	Belfry Sol - Belfry Sol Approach	3x Skeptic's Spice	Kill the Dual Avelyn Bell Keeper for a chance to get the rare Black Witch Domino Mask.
Ring of Blades +2	Drangleic Castle - King's Gate	1x Twinkling Titanite Washing Pole (Bonfire Intensity 3+)	Kill the left Pursuer for the ring.
Durgo's Hat	Drangleic Castle - King's Gate	Ring of Blades +2	Rare drop from the Greatbow Phantom.
Monastery Set Monastery Scimitar	Aldia's Keep - Ritual Site	Soul Geyser Soul of a Hero	Kill the Painting Guardian Phantom for a chance to get her equipment.
Aurous Set	No-man's Wharf - Unseen Path to Heide	-	Kill the Aurous Knight for a chance to get his set.

Bonfire Intensity

Using a Bonfire Ascetic will irreversibly change the corresponding area's difficulty into the same as the next New Game Plus cycle². All bonfires in the first playthrough start with the intensity of "1". Entering NG+ increases all bonfires by an additional point (all become "2" if no Ascetics were used), however using one Ascetic during the first playthrough will change that one specific bonfire to "2". Upon entering NG+, while normally all bonfires would change to "2" that bonfire will now change to "3".

Bonfire Intensity can be increased to 99, though enemy stat increases max out at 8 (NG+7).
You can still burn Bonfire Ascetics after you reached Bonfire Intensity 99, everything will respawn as normal. Just the number won't go up anymore.

Scaling

Enemy Souls Dropped

Bonfire Intensity	Souls
1	x * 1
2	x * 2
3	x * 2.5
4	x * 2.75
5	x * 3
6	x * 3.25
7	x * 3.5
8	x * 4

Example: if an enemy drops 100 souls at Bonfire Intensity 1, they will drop 200 souls at 2 and 400 souls at 8.

Enemy HP

Early testing indicates that it will differ from enemy to enemy. Though the values found so far have either been equal to (or less than) the souls dropped multiplier.

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Availability

Where to Buy

Merchant Sold By	Price	Stock
Stone Trader Chloanne	7,500 souls	1
Royal Sorcerer Navlaan	7,500 souls	10
Darkdiver Grandahl	7,500 souls	10

Chest and Corpse Locations

• One in the last tower in the Lost Bastille before Sinner's Rise, there is a door to your right as you go up the steps to enter. Open this and enter the room with the cage lifts, and roll onto the ledge below.
• One at the end of a path of lava rocks near the first bonfire of Iron Keep. (Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin: three Bonfire Ascetics instead of one, along with a Simpleton's Spice)
• Exit the Prowling Magus boss room in Brightstone Cove Tseldora and turn around to face the building, look for a ladder which leads to the attic with various items, including a Bonfire Ascetic.
• Three in a chest after the Looking Glass Knight in King's Passage.
• Found in a chest at the bottom of the shrine after the Demon of Song.
• In a chest up the stairs from the second bonfire of Undead Crypt, near the Leydia Witch.
• Two in a chest on top of the main stairs of Aldia's Keep, to the right.
• Three in a metal chest in Dragon Shrine. First door to the right of the first knight.
• Memory of Jeigh, first platform to the left after entering the fog gate. (Have a very rare chance to pick up 2 Bonfire Ascetic (for me it happend ones on 113th walkthrough from about 400)).
• Memory of Orro, three in a metal chest found by knocking down a wooden platform and jumping into the hole in the wall.
• Memory of Vammar, behind the two giants on the roof.
• One inside a trapped wooden chest in the hallway full of ambushing Sanctum Soldiers early in Dragon's Sanctum.
• Three inside a metal chest in Cave of the Dead.
• Two inside a metal chest on the roof of the tower where Maldron the Assassin invades in Brume Tower.

Enemy Drops

• Dropped by all enemies in Dark Chasms of Old. (uncommon)
• Dropped by Scorchers in the Brume Tower. (very rare)

Other Sources

• Take one as a starting gift.
• Reward if you invade in Dark Chasms of Old and personally kill the host player or another invader.
  • Also rewarded if the host kills an invader personally.

Most Reliable Source

Using a Fragrant Yore Branch on the leftmost Petrified Hollow facing the Giant Basilisk in Aldia's Keep (SotFS Only) will yield 2 Bonfire Ascetics on kill.
By using 1 of the two on the outside bonfire, you can respawn this Hollow (already unpetrified) for an additional 2 Bonfire Ascetics, repeatable ad-infinitum.

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Notes

• Be warned, as any area you enhance with a Bonfire Ascetic WILL carry over to NG+. This means an area that you have made NG+ level on regular playthrough will then be NG++ on your NG+ playthrough and so on and so forth. Exercise caution when using Ascetics due to this reason, especially in areas you find particularly difficult for yourself.
• No loot is accumulated upon burning an ascetic; it is all replaced. Because of this, it is recommended you get all the loot from the area which you may want in the future before burning an ascetic.
• Using a total of 8 Bonfire Ascetics on each of these bonfires will turn their flame on the map in the Majula Mansion to blue.
  • Forest of Fallen Giants - Cardinal Tower
  • Sinner's Rise - The Saltfort
  • Iron Keep - Eygil's Idol
  • Black Gulch - Hidden Chamber
  • Brightstone Cove Tseldora - Lower Brightstone Cove
  • Drangleic Castle - King's Gate
  • Undead Crypt - Undead Ditch
  • Dragon Shrine - Shrine Entrance

Footnotes

1. Special items, like the Drangleic Set and most Fire Seeds, do not respawn either.

2. Select NG+ specific events will not occur while the player is still in the first playthrough, regardless of Ascetics used.