Elden Ring features some of the toughest challenges From Software fans have faced yet. You're going to need all of the help you can get. Spirits and Ashes of War will certainly help, but nothing can top the sheer power of jolly cooperation. Conversely, few things are as exhilarating as invading other hosts to ruin their day.

Elden Ring's multiplayer component supports cooperative play, PvP invasions, and gives the community tools to ease the summoning woes present in previous installments. In this guide, we'll be going over how to summon allies for co-op, invade other players for some PvP action, and use Elden Ring's plethora of multiplayer items to enhance your experience.

Updated December 22, 2023, by Sean Murray: Looking for all the rules of Elden Ring's multiplayer and coop play? This guide has you covered with improved formatting, more breakout tips, and additional links to other helpful Elden Ring topics.

Differences From Previous From Software Titles

If you're keenly familiar with how multiplayer works in Dark Souls or Bloodborne, here are the most notable differences between those titles and Elden Ring:

• You cannot be invaded by other players while playing solo. Players need to opt into invasions by using the Taunter's Tongue item.
  • AI phantoms can still invade solo players during certain sections of the game.

• Elden Ring borrows most multiplayer elements from Dark Souls 3.
  • Summoning band is based on your character level and most upgraded weapon.
  • Invasion matchmaking biases hosts with co-op phantoms.
  • Phantoms have half as many flask charges.

• You cannot use your mount while phantoms are in your world, friendly or otherwise.
• Summoning pools have been added to certain dungeons, making summoning signs easier to find.
• Passwords return from DS3, and group passwords have been added to make community events easier to organize.

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How To Play Co-op

Newer players should skip to the next section.

Elden Ring has a strange way of handling co-op when compared to other RPGs. Cooperative play requires two things:

1. A summoning sign.
2. Someone to activate your summoning sign.

Right after you activate the first Shrine of Grace in the tutorial, you'll find a corpse with a Tarnished's Furled Finger. Using the Tarnished's Furled Finger will create a summoning sign, allowing other players to summon you to their world. Hosts will then need to activate your summoning sign in their world to summon you. Once you're summoned, you should be good to go.

Gold summoning signs are cooperative players. Red summoning signs are players looking to PvP.

There are a few caveats to playing co-op in Elden Ring:

• Once you defeat a boss, all summoned phantoms return to their worlds. You'll need to resummon them if you wish to play co-op again.
• While you have allied phantoms in your world, there's a chance that an enemy player will invade you. Invasions are PvP encounters with other players.
• You cannot use your mount or spirits while playing multiplayer.
• Phantoms have their flask uses cut in half, rounded down.
• You won't always find your ally's summon sign when it's placed.
  • You can fix this by having both players use the same password.

• Large level disparities between players can prevent summoning signs from appearing.
  • You can fix this by having both players use the same password.

You can have two allied phantoms present at any moment. Beyond that rather lengthy list of restrictions, playing co-op works as you'd expect. Phantoms can use buff spells to affect their allies, draw attention from enemies, and assist with killing bosses.

Using Passwords

Normally, the summoning signs you find in the world are pulled at random. To ensure that your friends can see one another's summoning signs, you can use passwords. Setting up a password is trivial:

1. Press Escape (PC) or Start (consoles) to open a menu selection screen.
2. Select "Multiplayer."
3. Press "F" (PC), "Y" (Xbox), or "Triangle" (PlayStation) to open an advanced settings menu.
4. Enter your multiplayer or group password.

Passwords do not impact invasions. You can still be invaded by players without a matching password.

Your password will remain active until you change it, even if you restart the game. Elden Ring also has group passwords meant to help community members organize events with one another. Should you enter a group password, you'll be more likely to encounter summoning signs, messages, and bloodstains from players with the same group password.

Martyr Effigies

Certain dungeons and zones in Elden Ring feature Martyr Effigies that congregate all summoning signs into a unified pool. You can interact with these statues to display summoning signs from that pool.

Players can add themselves to this pool by using the Small Golden Effigy item in their inventory. Use this item a second time to withdraw your summoning sign from the Martyr Effigy.

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How To Invade (PvP)

Invading another player's world is much simpler than playing co-op. Use a Blistering Bloody Finger consumable to invade another player's world. Once in their world, your objective is to kill the player host; you don't need to kill their accompanying phantoms.

Similar to co-op, PvP does have some restrictions:

• All players (including invaders) can't use mounts or spirits.
• Phantom flask charges are halved.
• AI enemies won't attack invading players.
• Invading players cannot enter boss arenas.

Remember, solo players must opt-in to invasions. You'll almost always be outnumbered. Plan accordingly.

You won't have as much healing as the host, but you will have the element of surprise. Use every tool at your disposal to defeat the host. Should they defeat the boss of the area, you'll be sent back to your world.

Countering Invasions

If you like to play co-op and want to counter enemy invasions, you can use a White Cipher Ring to summon other players to your aid when invaded. Only one player (denoted by their blue phantom glow) can be summoned this way.

Should you wish to help other players fend off invaders, you can use a Blue Cipher Ring to automatically be transported to worlds that are currently being invaded.

Both items can be obtained at Roundtable Hold, a hub area unlocked a few hours into your playthrough.

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Writing Messages

You might have noticed some strange messages scrawled on the floor throughout your adventure. These are messages left by fellow players. Messages allow you to combine multiple words and clauses into a short string, allowing you to denote danger or troll fellow players. And just like summoning signs, you can create your own messages for others to find. Players can also rate messages they find in the world.

Creating a message requires the Tarnished's Wizened Finger consumable, a mandatory item you'll find in the Chapel of Anticipation. Use this item to create a short message at your current location.

Players can then read your message and choose to rate it positively or negatively. The message has to be made from predetermined choices, but you have quite a few options. Use messages to warn players of danger, inform them of a nearby item, or trick them into falling off the map. Your messages can be as informative (or malicious) as you see fit.

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Multiplayer Items

There's more to multiplayer in Elden Ring than summoning signs and invasions. There's a whole myriad of items you can use to interact with other players in the Lands Between. Let's go over each multiplayer item in Elden Ring and their purpose:

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Summoning Ranges

To prevent late-game players from stomping on newcomers, Elden Ring has a summoning range system that ensures that players will match with players around their current power level. Elden Ring uses two criteria to determine who you can play with (or against) you:

1. Your character's current level.
2. The highest weapon upgrade you've used.

As you increase your character's level, your potential band of players you can matchmake with shifts higher. Players that are level 100 won't match up with level 13 players and vice versa. The same applies for weapon upgrades; someone with a +10 sword won't be in the same pool as new characters.

However, players can use passwords to bypass both summoning restrictions for co-op lobbies. Overleveled characters that use passwords will have their stats lowered to match the weakest player in that lobby.

The summoning range formula for cooperative gameplay is 10 percent of the host player plus or minus ten levels. The level range for PvP is 10 percent of the host player plus 20 levels.

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