Getting 100% in Dark Souls 3 is a slog, and you will laugh at some point

Most people who say they want 100% completion in Dark Souls 3 have no idea what they are actually signing up for. The game tracks achievement and collection progress, but it does not actually hold your hand anywhere near that goal. I have done this twice, once speedrun-style and once properly, and the funny moments come from the failures more than the successes. Dark Souls 3 Gameplay Funny Moments 100 Percent Completion is not a single checklist. The game gives you an internal completion percentage in the stats menu, which is entirely separate from achievements or trophies. You need to understand both systems if you want to reach full completion on any platform. The in-game percentage is based on souls collected, bosses defeated, items found, endings watched, and achievements unlocked. It is not transparent about how each factor weights. The game also has a trophy/achievement count that some games report separately. Reaching 100% on the achievement tracker means something different than reaching 100% in the stats screen, and people mix these up constantly.

My First Attempt and the Problem I Hit

On my first attempt I did a full NG+ run and thought I was on track until I noticed I was missing two specific ashen lords trophies and a pair of embers required for certain ending routes. I had to reload an old save from before I burned the Iron Coast with the Fire Keeper. That was a three-hour setback. I ended up doing a second playthrough focused purely on missing content. If you are going for full completion, do not assume one NG+ cycle covers everything. It does not. You need a fresh run specifically reserved for missing items, endings, and trophies that force you into specific choices.

The Actual Workflow for 100 Percent Completion

Start a new game on any difficulty you can handle, but do not use New Game+. Play through until you defeat the Soul of Cinder and watch the default ending. Then start a second playthrough and clear the main path again. This time collect every bonfire, every ember piece, every cinderite, and every boss soul. Finish NG+ and watch another ending by handing the flame to the Fire Keeper. By the end of two full runs plus the NG+ cycle you should be close to the in-game percentage. Achievements require a few more specific actions. You need to get every weapon upgrade path completed, which means visiting every blacksmith multiple times and trading in the right souls at the right moments. You also need to collect every spell and miracle, which means finding every divine ebook or miracle tome before they disappear after certain story points. The co-op invasions and NPC summons are another hidden requirement. Several achievements trigger when you summon or invade other players. There are no guaranteed summon signs in most areas, so you will spend time in certain zones just farming summons. Lothric Castle, Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, and the area around the Dancer of the Boreal Valley bonfire are the reliable spots. I usually farm summons there while waiting for the right sign to appear.

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DARK SOULS 3 FUNNY MOMENTS #4 - YouTube
DARK SOULS 3 FUNNY MOMENTS #4 - YouTube

Items That Force Backtracking

Here is where most people stall out. Yuria of Londor's questline requires you to acquire the Dark Sigils, which are earned by defeating specific bosses in NG+ cycles. If you miss one sigil in a cycle, it is gone until the next. I lost the third sigil because I had already defeated Lothric, Prince of Cinder before realizing I needed another run. I also missed the Lord of Cinder trophy on my first run because I never completed the Pyromancer ritual, which requires a very specific item dropped by a boss in a non-obvious location. Another trap is the Fire Keeper's Estus Flask upgrade path. You need to find five particular items scattered across the world and return them to the Fire Keeper at different stages. If you give them away too early or too late, you lock yourself out of certain ending requirements and some upgrades. I wasted about an hour on my second attempt because I gave the Estus upgrade item to the Fire Keeper before I had finished exploring Drangleic Castle.

Achievements You Will Miss Easily

These are the ones most people overlook. The "To Link the Flame" achievement requires watching the fire ending. The "The End of Fire" achievement requires giving the flame to the Fire Keeper. The "The Usurpation of Fire" achievement requires completing Yuria's questline and then playing through until the very end with that specific ending active. These three endings do not count until you have watched the credits sequence at least once for each. The weapon trophy requires maxing out every weapon type in the game. Some weapons require boss souls that change each NG cycle. I spent roughly forty-five minutes in my third run just hunting down the remaining soul items I needed. The spell trophy requires collecting every spell, which means finding every tome before NPCs leave or die. The sorcerer's sigil tome is one of the hardest to get because it is tied to a specific NPC quest that can fail if you progress too far.

The Stats Screen Percentage vs. Trophy Count

The in-game percentage is not linear. Early in a run it climbs quickly because you are acquiring souls and defeating bosses. Later it stalls. I noticed mine stuck at around 94% for three hours while I chased the last few missing items. The trophy count is easier to track because you can check it online, but it does not tell you which specific trophies are still locked. Check your trophy list after each run and mark the ones you have. Do not rely on the in-game percentage as your only gauge. It is misleading near the end because the remaining items are weighted heavily and take a long time to find.

DARK SOULS 3 FUNNY MOMENTS #12 - YouTube
DARK SOULS 3 FUNNY MOMENTS #12 - YouTube

What This Process Actually Takes

Two complete playthroughs plus NG+ usually takes about twenty to twenty-five hours if you are careful and do not die repeatedly. The summoning and achievement farming adds roughly eight to twelve hours. Total completion time is closer to thirty to thirty-five hours for a methodical player. A rushed player who skips exploration will miss content and need a fourth run, which adds another ten hours minimum. If you are doing this on console, be aware that some platforms count completion differently. The PS4 version shows trophy progress clearly. The Xbox version uses achievement tracking with slightly different criteria. PC players using Steam can see the breakdown in their library stats, but the game itself does not show which items are missing.

When This Approach Fails Completely

This method does not work if you are playing on a shared account or if a previous player has already completed the content. Certain trophies and achievements lock permanently once claimed on a profile. There is no workaround for that. If you are starting fresh on a new account, this guide is useful. If you are trying to finish someone else's save file, you cannot retroactively unlock missing content. Another failure point is when you delete bonfires or destroy key items. The game does not warn you when an NPC dies prematurely. I killed an essential merchant in a random encounter once and had to start over. Always save before entering areas with volatile NPC spawns.

Funny Moments That Actually Happen

The funny part of chasing 100% completion is the sheer number of times you die to the same boss three times in a row while trying to farm a specific achievement. I died to Pontiff Sulyvahn forty-seven times while waiting for a summon sign. The game does not give you any satisfaction for that effort. You just keep trying because the trophy bar does not move otherwise. There is also the moment when you finally finish a run and check your stats, only to realize you missed one minor collectible that requires a fourth playthrough. You sit there and stare at the screen for about twenty seconds. Then you start a new run anyway. Another classic is failing a questline because you entered a New Game+ cycle without clearing all the prerequisites. The game silently drops you from certain quests and never tells you why. I once realized I was missing a trophy because an NPC I thought was gone was actually just moved to a different area due to a quest trigger I missed. That took two hours to diagnose.

Dark Souls 3 Gameplay, Funny moment and Tips. EP.1 - YouTube
Dark Souls 3 Gameplay, Funny moment and Tips. EP.1 - YouTube

Final Practical Notes

Keep a fresh save slot for each major decision point, especially before talking to the Fire Keeper or handing in the final souls. Make a list of every ending, every trophy, and every item you need. Check it after every boss fight. The game will not remind you. If you want the fastest route, do a clean NG+ run focused solely on collecting, then go back for any missed endings or trophies. Do not attempt to do everything in one run. It is not efficient and you will lose progress on multiple fronts. The completion is rewarding in its own way. You learn the map intimately, you understand how the game tracks progress, and you see every corner of Lothric and beyond. It is tedious, but it works. Just be ready for the laughter that comes after you die to the same boss for the fortieth time.