In the firstDark Souls, players start with a total of five Estus Flasks and may recover more due to particular conditions relative to how many times a bonfire has been kindled, up to a maximum of 20. Playersstart with only one Estus Flask inDark Souls 2from the Emerald Herald, and more are received with every Estus Flask Shard offered to her.
Likewise,Dark Souls 3’s Estus Flasks can be increased with Estus Shards. But in addition to starting with three Estus Flasks, players also retrieve an Ashen Estus Flask. InDark Souls 3, players may allocate flasks to either replenish the player’s HP or FP. Flask allocation is one of themany considerations players must make inDark Souls 3.
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Twitter user @Eight8249 shares a hilarious interpretation of the “perfectly balanced” Thanos meme inspired by a scene fromAvengers: Infinity War. In this scene, Thanos balances a double-bladed knife on the tip of his finger as a metaphor for how all life in the galaxy should be quantified and balanced equally. Its meme has since taken off with people ascribing their own weights to each blade’s scale, such as how Eight8249 places zero allotted Ashen Estus Flasks on one end and all 15 Estus Flasks on the other to create what, in their opinion, is the “perfect balance” inDark Souls 3.
Players commonly value the standard HP Estus Flasks because they will heal the player, and the more health replenishes the player has the more likely they are to survive an encounter. If players prefer to allot flasks into Ashen Estus Flasks for FP, it means they will ultimately have less resources to replenish their health with. However, Ashen Estus Flasks' FP replenishment can be necessary for certain players' builds, especially if they involve a lot of FP consumption. It is this min-maxing that createscontroversial RPG decisions inDark Souls 3.
Of course, FromSoftware fans will notice how this mechanic has been reprised forElden Ring’s own action-RPG features.Elden Ring’s Flask of Crimson Tearsand Flask of Cerulean Tears operate identically toDark Souls 3’s own Estus Flasks and Ashen Estus Flasks, and players allot how many of each they would like similarly as well. It is ultimately up to each player how many of each they would prefer, but players who do not use any FP or want more of a safety net in their journey may likely allot all of their flasks into HP replenishment, as did Eight8249 inDark Souls 3.
Dark Souls 3is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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