The Effect of Sin
In Dark Souls 2, your character is open to invasions from members of the Blue Sentinels covenant when you have 10 points or more of Sin. They can invade you through the use of Cracked Blue Eye Orbs, and they have the ability to invade you frequently. Sinner status is displayed on the "Player Info" screen, directly underneath the character's Starting Class and Covenant listing.
Causes of Sin
- Killing NPCs = 1 point of sin.
- Invading other players with Cracked Red Eye Orbs and killing them = 1 point of sin.
- It seems also possible to obtain sin by being summoned as a grey phantom in the Grave of Saints area. Members of the Rat King Covenant can summon intruders to this area as a grey phantom into their own world. Killing the host player seems to give at least 1 sin. Further research on sins as a grey phantom would be needed for added details on this page.
Note that each individual point of sin is not accounted for on the "Player Info" screen, as certain values must be passed in order to rank up in sin level.
Sin Levels
Having the option to pay Cromwell the Pardoner for a pardon is not a valid means of checking your sin. You must consult the Player Info screen, which informs the player of the sin level that applies to their character:
| Sin Level | Points of Sin |
|---|---|
| "—" | 0-9 points of sin |
| "Sinner" | 10-99 points of sin |
| "Wretch" | 100+ points of sin |
"—"
- The blank status applies to characters with 0-9 points of sin.
- There is no known adverse effect from remaining in this range.
"Sinner"
- Achieved by gaining 10 points of sin.
- At 10 points and above, you are open to Blue Sentinels invading your world as Arbiter spirits.
"Wretch"
- Achieved by reaching 100 points of sin (permanent).
- With this rank, your minimum HP as a hollow is no longer capped at 50%. It can be reduced all the way down to 5% HP (dying 19 times from human form).
Removal of Sin
Dying to a Blue Sentinel invader will reduce your sin count by 1 point. This means that if you've just reached the sin level of "Sinner" by getting 10 points exactly, the loss will result in having 9 points and returning back to "—" sin level.
However, Wretch status is permanent. This means that once you've reached 100 points of sin, "Wretch" will always display as your sinner level, regardless of how many points you have afterwards. When this happens the player is still able to drop all the way back down to 9 points to prevent further Blue Sentinel invasions, though there's no indication of a change in status from the Player Info screen.
Sin is not erased by progressing to NG+.
Pardoning Sin
Pardoning Sin through Cromwell the Pardoner does not normally remove your sin. It is a separate mechanic for undoing NPC aggression and appears to serve no other purpose. In spite of claiming to remove sin, he is an unreliable source on your sinner status for the following reasons:
- It is possible to achieve "Sinner" status through killing enough players in PvP, yet Cromwell will still tell you that you haven't sinned. This is because the only relevant trigger is if you've attacked an NPC prior to meeting him or not.
- Conversely, it is possible to not have "Sinner" status and still have the option to pay for Pardoning your Sin, because all it takes it having attacked at least 1 NPC, which isn't sufficient for ranking up to "Sinner" status.
Changes with Patch 1.09
Due to a glitch that erroneously caused sin in the Crown of the Ivory King DLC during Patch 1.08, Cromwell was changed to offer 1 pardon for free. Unlike the regular pardon described above, it completely clears all types of Sinner statuses. It can only be done once per character.
Notes
- All NPCs are worth 1 point of Sin exactly, none are worth more or less than others (asides from the Ancient Dragon not counting).
- The following do not count as sin:
- Abandoning covenants, even without Sweet Shalquoir
- Defeating the Ancient Dragon (though requires Cromwell to pardon you if for any reason you want a de-aggro Ancient Dragon after using a Bonfire Ascetic)
- Defeating King Vendrick
- Defeating the Corrosive Ant Queen
- The following events do count as sin:
- Completing the Pate / Creighton questline, even if you don't attack either of them
- Completing the Crushed Eye Orb invasion event
- The Lost Sinner's Sword receives negative damage scaling as sin increases, capping at 30 sin1.
- Going below 50% HP with Wretch status will not further increase the damage of the Dark Pyromancy Flame, Greatsword of the Forlorn or Scythe of the Forlorn.
