1

Table of Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Choosing a Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Player Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Exploration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Resting at the Bonfire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Remnant of Humanity Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Encounter Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Deck Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Enemy Card Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Enemy Activations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Enemy Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Area Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Player Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Player Activations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Attacking Enemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
End of Player Activation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Boss Encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
General Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Vordt Special Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Abyss Watcher Special Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
High Lord Wolnir Special Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Pontiff Sulyvahn Special Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Winning the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Alternate Modes of Play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Custom Starting Decks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Different Bosses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Credits
Dark Souls™ series by Playtesting: Aaron Boyhan, Steamforged Games: Charles Agel, Michael Jenkins, Ronan Kelly,
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. Jessica Carl, Philip Goermann, Christine Agel, Philip Andrews, Adam King, Bryan Klemm,
Game Design: David Carl Scott Hooper-Jones, Michael Archer, Edward Ball, Andrew Lyons, Sherwin Matthews,
Daniel K. Johannson, Tim Jürgens, Ash Beria, Russ Charles, Hussein Mirza, Louis Moore,
Game Development: Bryce Johnston Rhys Philips, Stefanie Schnitzler, Corey Davies, Matt Elliot, Sam Page, Aitch Parker, Jamie Perkins,
Additional Development: Alex Hall, Patrick Vance, Dominic Westerland Jay Finnegan, John Ford, Greg Plail, Firoz Rana, Gareth Reid,
Rich Loxam, Steve Margetson, and numerous members of the William Freer, Jamie Giblin, Zach Stein, Doug Telford, Jak Thraves,
Graphic Design and Layout: Steamforged Games team. Mat Hart, James Hasker, Adam Tudor, Matt Warren,
Tom Hutchings John Hockney, Richard Jennings, Paul Waters, Marc Williams.

Editing: Darla Kennerud

2
 Introduction
Welcome to Dark Souls™: The Card Game! This is a cooperative deck evolution game
for 1–4 players. Players use unique decks of cards to fight the many enemies that
lie within before ultimately confronting the powerful bosses. Using Souls gathered
from vanquished foes, players will expand and evolve their decks, making them more
powerful. But time is of the essence; the spark dwindles. Each time a player dies, you
must return to the bonfire to regroup—and the bonfire won’t burn forever.

Learn quickly, evolve your decks, and prepare to die.

3
 Contents
Every card in this set has this icon to let you know that it’s part of the core game . Future expansions will each have a different
icon for easy identification.

This box contains everything you need to play Dark Souls™: The Card Game, whether you want to play solo or with a party of up to
four players.

Starting Cards – As you explore the world

of Dark Souls™ these cards will represent
your Equipment and Stamina. Use these
cards to defeat your enemies but be warned,
when this deck is depleted, you die.

• 4 Character Data Cards

28 Assassin Starting Deck Cards

28 Herald Starting Deck Cards

28 Knight Starting Deck Cards

28 Sorcerer Starting Deck Cards

20 Remnant of Humanity Cards

Beyond your starting deck there are two types of cards

players can add to their decks later in the game:

Treasure Cards – Common treasures are

improved weapons and equipment you
will find throughout the game to add to
your deck. Transposed treasures are even
more powerful, but much rarer. Evolve
your deck with these Treasure cards to
confront the more powerful enemies and
bosses you encounter.

40 Common Treasure Cards

10 Transposed Treasure Cards

Stamina Cards – As you collect souls,

you will buy improved Stamina cards
making you stronger and more resilient as
your deck evolves.

• 64 2-Soul Firekeeper Stamina Cards

• 32 5-Soul Firekeeper Stamina Cards

Tokens – Use these tokens to track

progress, effects, wounds, and Souls
throughout the game.
Bleed Frostbite Poison Stagger
• 7 Encounter Cleared Tokens
• 20 Condition Tokens
(5 Bleed, 5 Frostbite, 5 Poison, 5 Stagger)
• 18 Wound Tokens
• 16 Soul Tokens
(12 one Soul, 4 five Soul)
Encounter Cleared Wound 1 Soul 5 Souls

4
There are several other types of cards that represent the encounters and enemies you will face during the game.

Encounter Cards – These cards describe

the type and number of enemies you’ll be
fighting in your adventures.

10 Level 1 Encounter Cards

12 Level 2 Encounter Cards

8 Level 3 Encounter Cards

Enemy Cards – These cards describe the

foes you’ll fight in the world of Dark Souls™
as you progress towards the final boss fight.

20 Level 1 Enemy Cards

20 Level 2 Enemy Cards

10 Level 3 Enemy Cards

Boss Cards – These cards represent the final

bosses themselves and their actions through
Behaviour Cards. Defeating these bosses is
how you win the game.

• 4 Boss Data Cards

• 4 Additional Boss Cards

(Two Wolnir’s Hands,
Two Undead Legionnaire cards)

8 Abyss Watcher Behaviour Cards

8 Pontiff Sulyvahn Behaviour Cards

8 High Lord Wolnir Behaviour Cards

8 Vordt of the Boreal Valley Behaviour Cards

Bonfire Cards – Each time you rest at

the bonfire, it burns down a little more.
If all the bonfire cards are flipped before
you defeat the bosses, you lose the game.

5 Bonfire Cards

Playing Boards – The battle boards allow

you and your enemies to manoeuvre.
The exploration board shows you where
you can go and which bosses you’ll be
attempting to defeat.

• 1 Enemy Battle Board

• 1 Character Battle Board
• 1 Exploration Board Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.

Inc. Dark Souls™,

oftware, Dark Souls™
Inc. / ©FromS II, Dark
Entertainment Souls™ III
& ©BAND
AI NAMCO AI NAMCO
& ©BAND
Souls™ III Entertainment
II, Dark Inc. / ©FromS
Dark Souls™ oftware,
Dark Souls™, Inc.

5
 Choosing a Character
There are four playable characters to choose from in Dark
Souls™: The Card Game. Each character starts with a unique set
of strengths and weaknesses as defined by their heroic ability
1 10 Knight
and Starting Deck. Heroic abilities are special talents that the
characters can use during the game, but only once between rests
at the bonfire. Each character also has a taunt value. Characters
with a higher taunt value are better at drawing enemy attention
their way.

The noble Knight is the best at blocking and defending against

vicious blows, while the spellcasting Sorcerer trades defense for
a more powerful and varied offense. The underhanded Assassin
can use a sneaky backstab to inflict more damage on his foes,
while the spiritual Herald can heal other players and encourage
them to fight all the harder!

At the start of the game, players simply choose the character

card and Starting Deck for the character they wish to play. Stand Fast
Flip this card over to Block 3.
2

1. Taunt Value
2. Heroic Ability

6
 Setup
To set up a game of Dark Souls™: The Card Game, take the Take the enemy cards and split them into three decks (Levels 1,
character battle board and the enemy battle board and put 2, and 3), shuffle each deck and put them face down next to the
them in the middle of the play area, a short distance apart exploration board.

Each player puts their character card on an empty space on the Find the boss cards and behaviour cards for the two bosses
character battle board (with the side with the heroic ability text face shown on the exploration board. Put them somewhere within
up) to represent where they are standing. Note: only one character easy reach for when you reach the boss fight.
card can ever be on a space at once. Each player then shuffles their
character’s Starting Deck and puts it face down in front of them. Find and shuffle the Common Treasure Deck and put it face
down within easy reach. Do the same with the Transposed
The exploration board has two sides to explore. Each side has Treasure Deck.
two boss icons printed on it, showing which bosses you’ll be
fighting on this playthrough. For your first game we recommend Sort the Bonfire Deck into order (with 1 on the top and 5 on
the side with Vordt and Pontiff Sulyvahn (shown below). Put the the bottom) and put this deck face up within easy reach.
exploration board on one side of the play area.
Finally, take the Stamina Cards, sort them into eight separate
Take the Encounter Cards and split them into three decks decks (sorted by Stamina type and cost). You should have four 2
(Levels 1, 2, and 3). Shuffle each deck and deal a card face down Soul Stamina decks and four 5 Soul Stamina decks. Put these
into each encounter space on the exploration board (so put a decks face up within easy reach to form the Stamina Market.
level 1 Encounter Card on each space marked with the level 1
icon, and so on). Put the remaining Encounter Cards back in the
box; they are not needed for this game session.

Enemy decks Treasure decks Exploration board Stamina market

Enemy battle board Character battle board

Player area Player area

Boss behaviour deck and data card Bonfire deck

Tokens
Player area Player area
Loot pile Inventory

7
 Player Area
Each player will need some space in front of them for their Deck In addition, the party as a whole will need space for the following:
and Discard Pile:
• The Loot Pile, which will include Souls and Treasure cards
• Deck - Players are free to count the number of cards remaining from the most recent encounter.
at any time but may not look at the front of the cards. • The Inventory, which will include Souls and Treasure cards
• Discard Pile – Players discard cards here when they use from prior encounters.
them in game. Players can freely look through their own
discard piles.

8
 Exploration
Following any of the paths from the Bonfire on the exploration Move the indicated number of Souls and Treasures into the
board, players simply choose a direction and then flip the next Loot Pile after first moving any Souls and Treasures already in
Encounter Card on that route. Note: the encounter icon shows the Loot Pile to the Inventory.
how challenging that encounter will be so choose your route
wisely (Level 1 is easy, Level 3 is very difficult). The Encounter
Card remains in this space for the entire game. Step 1

Encounter rewards Loot pile Inventory

Level 1 Encounter Level 2 Encounter Level 3 Encounter
Step 2
When players move into a space, they must fight the encounter
as described in ‘Encounter Setup’ on p. 11, before they may
continue to explore further along the route.

Encounter rewards Loot pile Inventory

Once an Encounter Card has been defeated, leave the card face
up on the encounter space of the exploration board and place an
Encounter Cleared token on top of it. Players do not reshuffle
After this, shuffle all enemy cards back into their respective decks.
their Decks. Cards which have been discarded stay discarded
until the players return to the Bonfire.
The contents of the Inventory are safe, but don’t count on the
Souls and Treasures you’ve just moved to the Loot Pile just yet!
Each Encounter Card shows the
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.
The players can now choose either to rest at the Bonfire (as
High Wall amount of Treasures you find
of Lothric
described in the next section) or to press on and risk the current
(based on the number of players
Loot Pile in another fight.
in the game). Each encounter
provides these Treasures each time
1 2 3 it is defeated, not just the first.
If the players decide to continue, choose another encounter.
1 2 - 1 - This encounter must be either next to the Bonfire or next to an
Draw and put these cards into the
encounter which has already been cleared. Flip the Encounter
2 2 - 2 - Loot Pile. Additionally, each enemy
Card on this encounter and follow the same process as last time.
3 2 3 2 - defeated gives up a number of Souls
(as shown on their Enemy Card).
4 2 3 3 - During an encounter, if a player needs to draw a card from their
Deck and cannot, all players are defeated. The encounter ends
and players must immediately rest at the bonfire.
1. Number of Players
2. Treasure rewarded
3. Enemy numbers

©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

1
Winged Corvian 2

1. Souls rewarded

9
 Resting at the Bonfire
When the players rest at the bonfire—whether by choice or
because they were defeated—flip the top bonfire card face down.
Remnant of Humanity Cards
If the fifth bonfire card is flipped face down, the players lose.
The embers fade away, and the First Flame gutters and dies,
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Remnant of
leaving the world in darkness. Humanity

1 1. Name
2. Number
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

2 3 Glowing Logs
3. Max Deck Size
4. Text Effect

Draw a card.

When Revealed
3 Gain a 2-Soul Stamina Card
4 Players may face a situation in which there are not enough cards
34 available in the Inventory to reach the maximum deck size on
the current Bonfire card. In this case, Remnant of Humanity
cards are always in the Inventory, and may be used to fill out any
If at least one bonfire card remains face up, resolve the text effect player’s Deck.
of the new top card. Remove all Encounter Cleared tokens from
the Exploration Board (except from Cleared Boss Encounters);
those encounters must be fought again before players can
progress. If any characters have used their heroic ability, flip their
cards so that the heroic ability text is face up again.

If the players were defeated, then discard all Souls and Treasures
from the Loot Pile. Shuffle any Treasures back into their
respective decks.

If the players chose to rest at the Bonfire, move any Souls and
Treasures from the Loot Pile into the Inventory.

Players can then buy new Stamina cards for the cost in Souls
shown on each card and add those to the Inventory. To pay a ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc. 1 1. Soul cost
cost in Souls, reduce the number of Souls in the Inventory by Stamina 2
that amount.

Put each player’s discard pile and hand back into their Deck.
Then, using cards in the Inventory, players can freely swap cards
and add cards to their Decks, up to the max deck size limit
shown on the top Bonfire card. When a card is removed from a
player’s Deck, that card enters the Inventory and can be added to
another player’s Deck.

Players should work as a team to buy improved Stamina cards

and upgrade their Decks. Once all players are satisfied with the
cards in their Decks, they shuffle them and place them face down.

10
 Encounter Setup
To begin an encounter, put each character card on an empty space After enemies have been set up, all enemies activate. Once this
on the character battle board. This means that if players have activation has been resolved, then all characters activate. Then
just won an encounter, they can reposition their characters. At all enemies activate again. Activation continues in this way until
the start of any encounter where players don’t have cards in their either all enemies are destroyed or the players lose the encounter.
hand, each player draws six cards. If any player has no cards with For more on activation, see ‘Enemy Activations’ on p. 16 and
attack actions in hand, they can choose to shuffle their hand back ‘Player Activations’ on p. 18.
into their deck and draw a new six-card hand, but they must keep
the new hand. Players have a hand size of six.

After this, draw the number

of enemies shown on the
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Winged Corvian 2
Encounter Card and put
them on the enemy battle
board. Each enemy card must
be put in the space indicated
1
on its card; this is that card’s
1 spawn location.

3
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.
If an enemy card has a spawn
Firebomb Hollow 2
location and that space is
already filled by another
enemy card, put the enemy
card on an unoccupied space
on the same row. If the whole
row is full, just put the enemy
card anywhere on the enemy
1 battle board.

3Say the first enemy drawn for an encounter has

a spawn location of: ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc. ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc. ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Firebomb Hollow 2 Skeleton 2 Hollow

Manservant 2

0
1 0
1
1 3 2

This means that the enemy card would go in the 3 4

Front Left square on the enemy battle board. If Reanimate: The first time each Encounter
this card is killed, it is not removed from the
Encounter and regains its full HP.

the second enemy spawned should also go in the

same space, then the players can choose to put
it in either of the remaining two empty Front ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Silver Knight 5
spaces on the enemy battle board. If all three Swordsman

Front spaces already have enemy cards on them

and a fourth enemy spawns with a Front spawn 1

location, just put the enemy card anywhere on 3

the enemy battle board. 3

Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.

11
 Deck Basics
Cards in Decks come in two types, Equipment cards and Cards with two Stamina types separated by a slash can be
Stamina cards. Equipment cards have actions on them which discarded for either type of Stamina (not both).
allow players to fight their enemies. Stamina Cards provide the
resources needed to pay for Actions on Equipment cards. Each ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

action has a cost in Stamina (which can be 0). Stamina 2

©BNEI / ©FS, Inc. ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Knight Armour Stamina

Cards with multiple Stamina types with no slash generate 1 of

Equipment card Stamina card
each type of Stamina shown.

Different equipment needs different types of Stamina to use.

Using a knightly Longsword requires completely different skills
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Stamina 5
to using a Longbow, for instance!

There are four different kinds of Stamina:

Dexterity Intelligence

Faith Strength

To perform an action, simply discard an amount of Stamina

If a Stamina icon on an Equipment card is
equal to the action’s Stamina cost, and then resolve the action.
‘colourless’, any type of Stamina can be discarded
If the action is a quick action , return the Equipment
to pay for that cost.
card to your hand after performing the action. If the action
is a standard action , discard the Equipment card after
performing the action.

12
 ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc. ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Long Sword Sorcerer Robes

2 2

Let’s look at the Knight’s Longsword. To make a quick action ,  The Sorcerer’s Robes are very different. The quick action
this card requires the player to discard 1 Strength Stamina , requires the player to discard 1 Intelligence Stamina .
1 Faith Stamina and 1 Stamina of any type . Once this Once this Stamina is discarded, the player can block 2 damage
Stamina is discarded, the player can perform the action and inflict inflicted by an enemy card.
2 damage on an enemy card.

13
14
 Enemy Card Basics
Enemy cards contain all the information you need to know 1. Enemy Level – This is also on the back of the card, and
about that enemy. shows how powerful the enemy card is.

1 ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

2
Irithyllian
Slave Warrior 2
Level 1 Enemy Level 2 Enemy Level 3 Enemy

4
1 2. Souls – This is how many Souls the players will gain if they
defeat this enemy card.
5
2 3. Attack value – This is how much damage the enemy card
inflicts when it attacks.
3
2 8 4. Defense value – This shows how resistant the enemy card is
to damage.
6
7 5. Hit points – This shows how many wounds the enemy card
can take before being defeated.

Invisibility: This card cannot be attacked while 6. Weakness – This shows the type of attack the enemy card is
there are non-Invisible enemies in play. 9 weak to.

7. Spawn Location – This shows where the enemy card spawns

on the enemy battle board.

8. Attack – This shows where the enemy card will attack, as

well as any additional effects inflicted.

9. Special Rules – Some enemy cards have a special rule which

takes effect during the encounter. Be sure to read enemy
cards carefully to make sure you don’t miss any special rules!

15
 Firebomb
Hollow Soldier
Hollow

1
Enemy Activations
During an encounter, all enemies activate at the same time.
Area Attacks
When the enemies activate, they each perform the action shown 1
on their card. This is usually attacking a single character. Enemy Some enemy cards will attack a specific area of the character
cards activate and resolve their actions in this order, referring to battle board instead of one space. If an enemy card attacks
the spaces on the enemy battle board: front left, front middle,
front right, back left, back middle, back right.
3 multiple spaces on the character battle board, then all characters
in those spaces will be hit by the attack. However, if there are no
characters in those spaces, the attack misses entirely.
1 2 3
4 5 6

Enemy Attacks

Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.
Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.
1. Each enemy that attacks will attack the character in the

This damage ignores the target’s defense.

enemy card in the same column as this card.
Flip this card over to inflict 1 damage to an
Backstab

or another character 3.
Flip this card over to Heal yourself
Perseverance

4
8

3
target space shown.

Silver Knight
Spearman
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.
Assassin

Herald
2. If there is no character in that space, the enemy attacks the

4
1

2
character with the highest taunt value in the target row.

Flip this card over to Block 3.

Stand Fast

10
3. If there are no characters in the target row, the enemy attacks

Knight
the character with the highest taunt value in the other row.

Enemy cards attack their target for an amount of damage equal

The Silver Knight Spearman attacks all cards in the middle
to their attack value.
column. As a result, the attack will hit both the Herald and
Assassin and inflict 4 damage on both.
this symbol:
stamina cost of an attack with
Flip this card over to pay the
Spell Fury

5 Sorcerer

Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.
Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.

Flip this card over to Block 3.

Stand Fast

10
Knight

this card is killed, it is not removed from the

Reanimate: The first time each Encounter
Encounter and regains its full HP.
Skeleton
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

3
0
1

Knight
10

ast lock 3.
Stand F card over to B
F lip this

The Skeleton has a target of the front-right space. There are

no characters in that space, so the Skeleton will attack the
character with the highest taunt value in the front row. There
are no characters in the front row, however, so the Skeleton
will now attack the Knight in the back row, since the Knight
has the highest taunt value.

16
 10 Knight

Player Reactions
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

A player can use one quick action or standard action Crossbow Hollow 2
to react to an enemy’s attack. The player simply pays the required
Stamina and performs the action.
Inc.
I / ©F S,
©BNE

• Block actions reduce the damage by the listed amount. er Robe

s 1
Sorcer
• Dodge actions allow the player to avoid all damage and
1
effects from the attack.
• Some heroic abilities allow the character to respond to an 3
attack, for example the Knight’s heroic ability. This uses the
character’s defensive action but does not cost any stamina.

Stand Fast
Flip this card over to Block 3. 2

Players may choose not to defend themselves, or they may not

For example, the Sorcerer has been attacked by this Crossbow
be able to Block or Dodge all damage. The player must discard
Hollow and is about to suffer 3 damage. The player chooses to
one card from their hand or from the top of their deck (player’s
pay 1 Intelligence Stamina to use the quick action
choice) for each point of damage remaining.
on their Sorcerer’s Robes to Block 2 of the damage. This leaves
1 damage left over, which means the Sorcerer player must
Once all enemies have activated, players draw until they have
discard one additional card from either their hand or the top of
six cards in their hand. Remember, if any player needs to draw a
their deck, as they choose.
card and cannot, the encounter immediately ends and the players
must rest at the bonfire.

17
 Player Activations
After the enemies have activated, all players will activate their Each character can perform one or more of the following
characters. Players can act in any order they choose, switching actions, but each action may only be performed once per
between players freely. Remember to work together as a group character during each player activation:
for the best results!
• Discard one or more cards to draw an equal number of cards.
• Move their character card one space to the left, to the right,
forwards, or backwards. Each character can move only one
space per activation, so players should plan their positioning
carefully. If there is another character in the space a character
wishes to move to, swap the cards’ positions. This takes up
both characters’ movement for this activation. Characters
and enemies can only move onto spaces on their own
respective battle boards.
• Make 1 attack action.
• Use one non-attack action on an Equipment card
(such as Heal or Search).
• Use a heroic ability.

Once all players have completed all the actions they want to take,
all players draw until they have six cards in their hand again.

18
Attacking Enemies
A player can only attack an enemy card that is in the same After making the attack, place wound tokens on the enemy card
column as their character card. A player can only attack an equal to the damage left after Defense. If that number equals or
enemy card if there are no other cards in the column between exceeds the enemy’s hit points, the enemy is defeated. Remove
their character card and the enemy card. the enemy card from the enemy battle board.

©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Winged Corvian 2

Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.
Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.

This damage ignores the target’s defense.

enemy card in the same column as this card.
Flip this card over to inflict 1 damage to an
Backstab

Inc.
8

I / ©F S,
3

2
©BNE

Winged Corvian
Peasant Hollow

rrow
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Assassin

Soul A
2

3
1

1
1

In this example, the Assassin wants to attack the Winged

1
Corvian, but cannot because the Peasant Hollow is in the way.
The Assassin will have to kill or move the Peasant Hollow 2

before being able to make attacks on the Winged Corvian. 3

The player chooses the attack they want to make on one of For example, the Sorcerer pays 1 Faith Stamina and 1
their equipment cards, then discards Stamina and makes either Intelligence Stamina and uses the quick action on
a quick action or a standard action . The enemy takes the Soul Arrow to attack the Winged Corvian for 1 damage.
an amount of damage equal to the number shown on the attack Since the Winged Corvian has 1 Defense, normally this would
action. The damage is reduced by the enemy’s Defense value .  result in nothing happening. The Soul Arrow’s attack type
matches the Winged Corvian’s weakness , though, so the
Most attacks have one of four types: attack ignores the Winged Corvian’s 1 Defense. This means
that the attack does 1 wound to the Winged Corvian, which is
enough to defeat it!
Heavy Precise

Skilled Magical
End of Player Activation
At the end of the characters’ activation, if all enemies have been
defeated, the players can choose to immediately rest at the bonfire.
Many enemies also have a weakness, which will match one of Otherwise, all players draw until they have six cards in hand.
the four attack types. If an attack’s type matches the enemy’s (Remember: If a player has to draw a card and can’t, the character
weakness, the attack ignores the enemy’s Defense value. dies and the players must immediately return to the bonfire.)

19
 Boss Encounters
General Rules Abyss Watcher Special Rules
Bosses are especially big, powerful enemies which follow some When the Abyss Watchers fight, they fight as one. At the
different rules to normal enemies. A boss is always placed in the beginning of this encounter, put the Abyss Watcher card in
front middle space on the enemy battle board at the the front middle space as normal. Then place the two Undead
start of the encounter. If the boss card has two sides, Legionnaire cards in the front right and front left spaces. Players
put the side with the Fog Gate symbol face up. can attack the Undead Legionnaires just like ordinary enemies.

The boss has a deck of behaviour cards that determine what

it does each activation. After placing the boss card (and any
additional cards that take part in the Boss Encounter), shuffle its ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Undead Legionnaire
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Abyss Watcher
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Undead Legionnaire

behaviour deck and place that deck face down in easy reach.

Each time the boss activates, draw the top card of the boss 1 1 1 1
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
4 2 6 7 9 11 4
As One Brotherhood of the Abyss As One

behaviour deck and place it face up. Each behaviour card will show
This card attacks each time the Both Undead Legionnaire cards begin This card attacks each time the
Abyss Watcher draws a behaviour card. in play on the front row of the enemy Abyss Watcher draws a behaviour card.
This card’s target is the space directly battle board. This card’s target is the space directly
opposite it on the player battle board. opposite it on the player battle board.

where the boss moves, how it attacks for that activation, and its
weakness for the upcoming character activation. Resolve the move
then the attack shown on the behaviour card. If the behaviour
deck has no cards left, flip the pile of discarded behaviour cards
without shuffling it to form a face down behaviour deck.

Some cards need to be flipped over once a certain amount of

damage has been inflicted. If this happens, any excess damage
Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.

inflicted on the first side is not carried over to the second side

While the two Undead Legionnaires are in play, each time

the Abyss Watcher resolves a behaviour card, each Undead
S, Inc.
4 ©BNEI / ©FS, Legionnaire will attack the space on the character battle board
of the
I / ©F Inc.
©BNE

Vordt Valley
Vordt of the
Boreal Boreal Vall ey 4 directly opposite it and inflict 1 damage. If the Abyss Watcher
1

1
would move into a space occupied by an Undead Legionnaire,
swap the position of the two cards.

4
2
3
7 10
1
5 6
1 1
turn in 1 5
2
6
3 4
h r starts
Icy Touc player characte ostbite.
Fr
its
7 10
W hen a row, it suffers Chilled to the
the front Bones Inc. ©BNEI / ©FS, ©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.
©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

When a player Abyss Watcher

Undead Legionnair Undead Legionnaire
character suffers e
from Frostbite, dam
it suffers 1 addition age
al DMG.

2 3 4
11 1 1
4 2 3 1 1
4 2 3 4
1
1
6 7 9 4
1
2
As One

Vordt is at 1 HP. A character inflicts 2 damage to him.

the Abyss As One
Brotherhood of naire cards begin
This card attacks
each time the This card attacks each time the
Both Undead Legionrow of the enemy Abyss Watcher
draws a behavio Abyss Watcher draws a behaviour card.
front This card’s target ur card.
in play on the is the space directly This card’s target is the space directly
battle board. opposite it on
the player battle opposite it on the player battle board.
board.

This reduces Vordt to 0 HP, and the additional 1 damage is lost.

The players flip the Vordt card to his Heat Up side and continue
to fight Vordt until they or Vordt are defeated.

Vordt Special Rules

Vordt is the simplest of the bosses included in the game, and is a Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.

good choice for the first boss you fight.

When Vordt reaches 0 HP, he is not defeated like a normal When the Abyss Watcher is reduced to 0 HP, remove any
enemy, he instead Heats Up. Flip the Vordt card over. The remaining Undead Legionnaires from the enemy battle board.
players must now continue to fight Vordt’s Heat Up side The Abyss Watcher now Heats Up as described in the Vordt
(identified by the Heat Up symbol: ). Once the players have section. Once the players have reduced the Heat Up side to 0
reduced this side to 0 HP, they have finally defeated Vordt! HP, they have defeated the Abyss Watcher.

20
High Lord Wolnir Special Rules Pontiff Sulyvahn Special Rules
High Lord Wolnir sets up in the back middle space of the Once Pontiff Sulyvahn has suffered five wounds, flip his card
enemy battle board. Then place Wolnir’s Right Hand in the back over. Set the five wounds tokens aside and fight Sulyvahn’s
right space and place Wolnir’s Left Hand in the back left space. Clone. Once Sulyvahn’s Clone is reduced to 0 HP, flip the card
back over and place the wound tokens on Pontiff Sulyvahn’s
card. Continue to fight Pontiff Sulyvahn until he has suffered
five more wounds. Then flip the card over and fight Sulyvahn’s
Clone once again. Once Sulyvahn’s Clone is reduced to 0 HP,
flip the card back over, place any wound tokens back onto Pontiff
Sulyvahn’s card and continue to fight.

Each time Sulyvahn’s Clone is flipped face up, it has the amount
of HP printed on the card.

©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Wolnir’s Left Hand

©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

High Lord Wolnir 6

©BNEI / ©FS, Inc.

Wolnir’s Right Hand Pontiff Sulyvahn is defeated when he is reduced to 0 HP.

1

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
1 7 8 12 14 Undying Will
Wolnir’s Hands begin in play. 1 4 4 6 7
This card can only be attacked if it is in This card can only be attacked if it is in
the front row, unless the attack has the the front row, unless the attack has the
symbol. symbol.

Dark Souls™, Dark Souls™ II, Dark Souls™ III & ©BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. / ©FromSoftware, Inc.

Wolnir himself cannot be moved or attacked. Wolnir’s Hands

will move as shown on Wolnir’s behaviour cards. The Hands can
only be attacked when they are in the front row unless the attack
is Ranged .

When a Hand is reduced to 0 HP, remove it from the enemy battle

board. This has no effect on any of Wolnir’s attacks. When both
Hands are removed from the enemy battle board, Wolnir is defeated.

21
 Winning the Game
When a Boss Encounter is Cleared, it remains Cleared for the rest of the game. The boss does not respawn. When all Boss
Encounters on the exploration board are Cleared, the players win the game!

Icons
Dark Souls™: The Card Game uses icons to help players recognise
abilities and effects across different card types.
Conditions
Some attacks inflict conditions on the target of an attack. When
the condition is applied, put the relevant condition token on the
Area – Area attacks hit all opposing cards in the
card to mark the effect. Condition tokens are removed after the
indicated spaces. If there are no opposing cards in the
condition takes effect, but the same condition can be reapplied
listed row or column, the attack misses and has no effect.
to the same card later. A card can’t have a condition applied
while already suffering that condition; if a subsequent attack
Block – The action reduces the amount of damage from
1 an attack by the amount shown. Any additional effects of
would reapply that condition, ignore that part of the attack and
apply all other effects.
the attack, like inflicting a push or a condition, still apply
even if the damage is reduced to 0.
Bleed – The next attack against this card gains +1
Damage – The attack does the indicated amount of damage.
1 damage to the target.
Frostbite – This card suffers 1 damage the next time it
Dodge – The action causes the character to avoid all moves.
damage and effects from an attack.
Poison – This card suffers 1 damage at the end of its
Heal – The targeted character moves the number of next activation.
1 cards indicated from the bottom of their discard pile to
the bottom of their deck, face down. Stagger – This card suffers 1 damage the next time it
makes an attack.
Shift – The character who performs the action may
1 move a number of spaces equal to the number shown,
following the normal movement rules.

Push – The target of the attack is moved one space in

the direction indicated, unless there are no more spaces
in that direction. If there is another card in the space the
target is pushed to, the two cards swap positions.

Ranged – The attack can target an enemy even if there

are other cards in the column between the character and
the intended target.

Search – The character can look through their discard

1 pile and choose the indicated number of cards. Those
cards are placed face down on top of the character’s deck
in any order the player chooses.

22
 Alternate Modes of Play
Once you’ve played through Dark Souls™: The Card Game a few times and have gotten a feel for it, you may wish to use the rules
presented here to further enhance your gameplay experience. These rules particularly benefit more experienced players looking for
more options to add to the game.

Custom Starting Decks Different Bosses

This option provides players with the option of building their The exploration board comes printed with our suggested boss runs
own starting decks instead of using the four prebuilt starting for your first few times playing the game. However, you should
decks. At the start of the game, choose characters as normal. feel free to mix and match various different boss options. We’ve
Instead of taking their characters’ starting decks, players deliberately split the bosses up into slightly easier bosses (Vordt,
construct their own 28-card starting decks using any of the High Lord Wolnir) and harder bosses (Abyss Watchers, Pontiff
cards in the four starting decks and the Remnant of Humanity Sulyvahn). It’s our advice to use one boss from each of these
cards. Once everyone has created their custom starting decks, categories when choosing your opposition, but feel free to mix this
play proceeds as normal. This option is best used by those players up! You could choose to face Vordt and High Lord Wolnir for
who’ve already played the game several times, and want to delve an easier game, or truly challenge yourself and take on the Abyss
deeper into the options available in true Dark Souls™ style. If Watchers and Pontiff Sulyvahn on the same playthrough!
you want to play a spell casting Knight, or a tanky Assassin, this
is the option for you!

23
 Reference
Equipment & Attacks Conditions Player Card Types
Area attacks hit all opposing Inflict Bleed: Assassin Starting Card
cards in the indicated spaces. Next attack against this
card gains +1 damage Herald Starting Card

Inflict Frostbite: Knight Starting Card

1 Block this much damage
Suffer 1 damage next time
card moves Sorcerer Starting Card

1 Inflict this much damage

Inflict Poison: Common Treasure Card
Suffer 1 damage at end of
next activation Transposed Treasure Card
Dodge all damage and
effects of attack
Inflict Stagger: Remnant of Humanity
Suffer 1 damage next time
card attacks
Heal: Move this many cards
1 from bottom of discard pile Enemy Card Types
to bottom of deck Stamina
Level 1 Encounter
Dexterity
1 Shift this many spaces Level 2 Encounter
Intelligence
Level 3 Encounter
Push target one space in Faith
direction shown Level 1 Enemy
Strength
Level 2 Enemy
Ranged: This attack can Any
target cards behind other Level 3 Enemy
cards
Attacks & Weaknesses Abyss Watcher Boss Card
Heavy
Search: Select this many Pontiff Sulyvahn Boss Card
1 cards out of discard, place
Precise
on top of your deck High Lord Wolnir Boss Card
Magical
Vordt Boss Card
Skilled
Boss Starting Side
None
Boss Heat Up Side

24