Do dead enemies ever respawn?

[Thomas Devlin]

I've noticed that if I kill an enemy enough times in a row it stops respawning, even if I travel to a new area and teleport back they stay dead, will they ever come back or is this permanent? It makes boss run backs much more convenient, but at the same time it makes me a little nervous because it means there's a finite number of souls you can collect. Realistically it won't matter, but if I kill all the enemies in an area I won't ever be able to use that spot to farm souls again, I lost like 11K souls once trying to grind for that silver cat ring because they were on the floor and I didn't realize I missed them when I tried to grab them, that was allot for the starting area and I could easily see myself depleting all the little hallows in the area trying to get them back

[Krucznik]

They don't but there is Covenant of Champions.
This covenant makes this game harder but it also makes the enemies still respawn after killing them too many times. Also blocks co-op.
Location description from wiki:
"In Majula, take the path along the coast to the right of the doorway leading to Heide's Tower of Flame to find the Victor's Stone monument. Pray to it and you will be asked to join the Company of Champions covenant."

[Willheart]

Originally posted by Krucznik:

there is Covenant of Champions.

Yep, Company of Champions is the go-to for farming.

Just remember to to abandon covenant at the cat in Majula or join another like Way of Blue at the Crestfallen guy at Majula monument after you've finished farming or else you might forget and end up playing half the game on extreme difficulty without co-operative summons.

[Thomas Devlin]

Good to know that there is still a way to farm if I need to, it felt a little wasteful losing those couple hundred souls at a time when I die to a boss

[Stalker Fairy]

As mentioned, there's the infinitely-respawning Covenant of Champions.

The other way is apparently to use something called a "Bonfire Aesthetic" which resets the respawn cycle for the area of the bonfire.
But it apparently also makes the area in "NG+", so enemies may be stronger, or bosses have new patterns to adapt to. But only for the area.

Pick your poison.

PS.
Random question about CoC: if you use the Covenant to respawn the enemies for an already cleared area, once you switch/leave covenant, does the clear area...return to clear? Or does the respawn cycle reset?

[Willheart]

Originally posted by Stalker Fairy:

"Bonfire Aesthetic" which resets the respawn cycle for the area of the bonfire.
But it apparently also makes the area in "NG+", so enemies may be stronger, or bosses have new patterns to adapt to. But only for the area.

I opted not to mention, but you are correct. The initial jump to NG+ is also pretty significant, but it also increases the souls you get for each kill so for farming it can be worth it.

The other benefit is that it resets any items (that aren't metal chests) and bosses (if you use it on the correct bonfire just before the boss). Some items and boss rewards will change if you're on NG+, so Ascetics are a way to get them in your first playthrough (I always use Ascetic for the Gargoyles at Lost Bastille, since NG+ they give Gold Coveteous Serpent Ring +2, so enemies drop items more frequently).

It's also a permanent change, unlike Company of Champions. And when you enter NG+, it remembers your Ascetic, so that zone will be NG+2.

Originally posted by Stalker Fairy:

PS.
Random question about CoC: if you use the Covenant to respawn the enemies for an already cleared area, once you switch/leave covenant, does the clear area...return to clear? Or does the respawn cycle reset?

It will be clear if you've despawned enemies already, joining the covenant will only keep them as long as you are part of it, it won't reset the counter.

What I don't know for certain is if being in CoC actually pauses the cycle, I think it does. That is to say - if you enter an area first as CoC and kill everybody in the zone 15+ times, I think if you abandon covenant than enemies will still spawn the default 12-15 times.