Dark Hand

The Darkwraiths, incited by Kaathe, use the power of the dark soul to absorb humanity, an art shared by this weapon, which also acts as a special shield. The ancients, particularly,

could sap the humanity of even a replete saint in the blink of an eye.

Dark Hand as a shield

Attacking

Stealing Humanity

Availability

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Join the Darkwraith Covenant

Dropped by the Darkwraiths in New Londo Ruins (1% drop rate)

General Information

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This weapon cannot be upgraded.

The Dark Hand can be used multiple times without making NPCs hostile, as long as no damage is done.

To absorb humanity from sitting NPCs like Patches at Firelink Shrine, make them stand up by hitting them with very weak attacks (barehanded punch, Pyromancy Flame punch, kicking, using Force, etc.)

Beware that using the drain attack in tight spaces or with a seated target (or other non-standing posture) does a glowing punch rather than the drain. Ensure ample space or make them stand prior to draining to avoid making NPCs hostile.

When equipped as a shield, a right hand catalyst can buff it with Strong Magic Shield for much better stability, but there will be no visual effect. The upside of this is that it can trick players in PVP.

The amount of maximum Humanity absorbed per attack scales with the player's Darkwraith covenant rank.

Darkwraith covenant level	Max. Humanities absorbed per use
0	1
+1	3
+2	5
+3	10

Image	Name	Damage	Critical Bonus	Durability	Weight	Stats Needed Stat Bonuses	Damage Reduction %	Stability	Aux Effects	Frampt Souls
	Dark Hand	200/0/0/0 (Strike)	100	999	0.5	0/0/0/0 -/-/-/-	80/80/80/80	30	0 / 0 / 0 / 130	1

Move Set

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+ Show Move Set - Hide Move Set

R1 — R1	Right hook punch into backhand blow.
R2	Grab.
Roll — R1	Backhand blow.
Backstep or Run — R1	Running backhand blow.
Forward + R1	Knee kick.	Same effect as a regular kick.
L1 (left hand)	Guard.
L2 (left hand)	Parry.

• When equipped in the left hand slot, the weak attack (block button) will spawn a blackhole-like shield with no deflection. The strong attack will parry.
• When equipped in the right hand slot, the strong attack will do a grab attack, similar to the Darkwraith enemy, that can absorb (soft) Humanity from invading online players and some NPCs.

Humanities Absorption on NPCs

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Depending on the player's Darkwraith covenant rank, one may need to use the Dark Hand several times to fully drain an NPC's Humanity. Some NPCs may end up Hollowed if their quests are finished or when all their items are purchased. Hollowed NPCs yield no Humanity when the Dark Hand is used on them.

For the sake of completion, the list below also contains NPCs that have no drainable Humanity, but can be targeted by the drain move of the Dark Hand.

NPC Name	Max. Drainable Humanities	Notes
Lord's Blade Ciaran	none	-
Crestfallen Merchant	none	-
Crestfallen Warrior	none	-
Domhnall of Zena	none	-
Dusk of Oolacile	none	-
Griggs of Vinheim	3 Humanities	Will become hollow if all his Sorceries are bought
Ingward	4 Humanities	-
Lady of the Darkling	none	-
Laurentius of the Great Swamp	5 Humanities	Drain him at Firelink Shrine, after being saved from Depths Will become hollow if let go to seek Quelaana of Izalith
Dark Spirit Kirk, Knight of Thorns	none	-
Knight Lautrec of Carim	8 Humanities	May become lost; see his page and Anastacia's for more details
Big Hat Logan	none	-
Dark Spirit Maneater Mildred	8 Humanities	Refer to Phantoms on how to spawn her
Oswald of Carim	none	-
Oscar, Knight of Astora	none	Initial meeting in Undead Asylum.
Patches	7 Humanities	-
Petrus of Thorolund	2 Humanities	-
Quelaana of Izalith	none	-
Rhea of Thorolund	12 Humanities	Drain her in Undead Parish, after being saved from Tomb of the Giants See her page for more details
Sieglinde of Catarina	10 Humanities	-
Siegmeyer of Catarina	4 Humanities	See his page for more details
Solaire of Astora	5 Humanities	May become lost; see his page for more details
Vince of Thorolund Nico of Thorolund	5 Humanities 3 Humanities	Drain as soon as met at Firelink Shrine
Darkmoon Soldiers	6 Humanites (3 each)
Forest Hunters	none	-