What's the best Demon's Souls starting gift?

Demon's Souls PS5 starting gift
(Image credit: Sony)

Knowing what Demon's Souls starting gift to take is a big decision. Or at least it feels like it, adding in a Dark Souls feature where you pick an item from a range at the start to give you (hopefully) and advantage when you begin. There's a lot of options to go through and if you're starting out in a Souls game for the first time you probably won't have any idea what's a good thing to have in Demon's Souls. So don't worry, we'rte going to explain the options and, fortunately, there's one obvious answer to all this. So let's go through the choices of Demon's Souls starting gift.

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What is the best Demon's Souls starting gift? 

Demon's Souls ps5 starting gift

(Image credit: Sony)

For the simple reason that it's the only thing that won't run out, the best Demon's Souls PS5 starting gift is the Providential Ring. It promises to "Raise item discovery," which likely means it boosts the luck stat. It certainly seems to boost the drop rate from enemies while you wear it as far as I can tell at least. I picked it and found loads of Pine Resin (which adds fire damage to a weapons) and Fire Bombs in the first 1-1 level of Boletarian Palace. Far more than you would normally get based on playing the PS3 original. Assuming that's the ring's effects and not drop rebalancing in the remake, it's a useful thing to have at the start when you're starting out, and generally throughout the game. If it is directly boosting luck and not just drop rates then it might even provide protection from Plague, as luck affects your chances of catching it from infected enemies. 

All the other items are consumables so A) will be gone in no time, and B) can be bought and found in the world so there's little point in picking them over the Providential Ring.

Here's the full list of items: 

  • Augite of Guidance - "A stone that radiates a guiding light." (Basically a light you can drop to mark the way.) 
  • Grass Jelly - "Recover some of the user's HP Over time."
  • Elixir - "Temporarily increases the rate of stamina recovery."
  • Bright Water - "Recovers some of the user's MP over time."
  • Providential Ring - "Raises item discovery."
  • Kunai - "Poison throwing weapon."
  • Fire bomb "Oil cask. Produces a large flame when thrown".
  • Soul Remains - "Serves as bait for the soul-starved." (You can throw these to attract or distract enemies.)
  • Fire Arrow - "Inflict fire damage when equipped with a bow."
Leon Hurley
Managing editor for guides

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides, which means I run GamesRadar's guides and tips content. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.