The ABSOLUTE BEGINNER'S GUIDE To Elden Ring Invasions

[@wellawoods1660]

dont hit your teammates

[@wellawoods1660]

and if you do, don't do it again

[@caveformations1337]

What teammates? Soon as I enter the world, I see the host already turning off taunters.

[@phantom_boii]

Unless they’re absolutely useless and by useless I mean constantly hitting you/no awareness of their surroundings or contributing absolutely nothing. They work as an eats restock

[@amberhernandez]

If I ever get a teammate, I'm switching to poke moveset weapons. More often than not, we'll end up chasing the host down, which means having the running thrusts of a katana or halberd is a serious advantage. Pokes also have less hitboxes to the side of where you're aiming, which means less hitting your ally.

[@Crit-Multiplier]

@@amberhernandez beeing a good coinvaders starts with just that. theres an old ds3 video series about coinvasions that holds up to this day for the most part.

[@LedzQQ]

An absolute must for any invader build is the ballista/jar cannon. I usually go for the ballista because it's easier to get, then get the explosive bolts in mt gelmir. You can just dash there without killing anything from Altus. He also sells the volcano pots recipe. Very useful stuff for grace campers and area denial.

[@Plz8662]

What’s a grace camper again?

[@SleeplessTVgames]

Maybe I'm just stubborn but I just make my PVP builds to look cool and play a "character". I don't win frequently but I have fun trying.

[@terrycruise-zd5tw]

winning is fun, being able to beat 3 man cheese gankers is pinncale of fun. you can only do that with meta builds that let you swap to multiple weapons for every situation. this guys video and guide suck lol

[@YarnhamBrainsucker]

@@terrycruise-zd5twwell that’s pretty disingenuous. He gives a lot of tips. Those tips will be pretty obvious to the average invader that hasn’t put the game down since release. But you gotta understand that there’s a lot of new players that want to try invasions with the dlc.

[@Lorenzo_I.]

​@@terrycruise-zd5tw If you can only win with meta builds, then you suck at the game.

[@Plz8662]

@@Lorenzo_I.Finally someone speaks the truth

[@flurb3285]

​@@Lorenzo_I.He said a "cheese gank" so it s a 1v3 without pve and they all have meta weapons and range spam/status etc. You need a good weapon for that, or maybe you are a god idk.

[@nothingness217]

Two reds in a world need to realize that they SHOULD NOT focus on one target, that'll only result in friendly fire. Don't worry, dividing the gank's attention already makes the invasion a lot easier, so no need to rush down one phantom.

[@lukaogadze5071]

how is that gank if tt is on?

[@nothingness217]

@@lukaogadze5071 Gank, host with phantom, potato fucking potah to. Someone's giving too many shits about arbitrary terminologies.

[@lukaogadze5071]

@@nothingness217 ok 2 vs 2 = gank ty

[@terrycruise-zd5tw]

@@lukaogadze5071 a gank is 3 people waiting for invaders

[@lukaogadze5071]

@@terrycruise-zd5tw yes. i know that unlike comment author.

[@humanratteler9760]

Ya. My win rate increased a lot once I came to understand not just how to make an invasion build, but how to make a build in general. Something with true focus.

[@TheAzul_Indigo]

You gotta get the blessed dew talisman in weeping. It’s worth it! Edit: always try to catch the second roll.

[@jonathancastillo6433]

Thanks for the information! I’m getting wins in the colosseums, but outside of a duel, I’m overwhelmed

[@Crit-Multiplier]

fighting multiple enemies can be really tough. if you get overwhelmed easily i got you two tipps. first positioning. watch where you stand relative to your opponents. every group has a "deathzone" called the blender and if you go into that range it's loadingscreen time. avoid at all costs. learn to space enemy attacks(which you can do easier in the arena). never get surrounded. this means a lot of running around and never get cornered too. all of these mean death unless they fuck up and we dont want to make the win up to them. seccond tip: know your build!(or weapon if you dont yet swap.... which you should.) know your damage gates: this means how much dmg you can realisticly expect from either a hyperarmour trade, melee combos or wa burst. if you dont know what dmg you pop out with every attack, you dont know what situation arises( for example low hp-> a chasedown or heal punish would be a good play) but if you dont know what your build does, then you cant predict future outcomes. and this is also really important. reading your enemies and knowing what dmg you put out lets you focus on reaction roles or swaps, prediction punishes or fancy stuff etc. while doing all the math in the background. gl😊

[@jonathancastillo6433]

That’s some great insight, mainly knowing the bursts my weapon can deal. I do hard swap often, although it’s not always to the tool I wanted. I was surprised to see the inventory cannot be organized like ds1

[@Crit-Multiplier]

do you know how to sort them? i just use the inventory function that sorts them by aquisition. (left stick while inside inventory i think)

[@jonathancastillo6433]

So I have to drop everything, pick it up in the order I want it, then sort it by accusation?

[@Crit-Multiplier]

@@jonathancastillo6433 yes but DO NOT drop it on the ground! use the inventory function at a site of grace to store your items.

[@octahedronlover]

For those who want to put in a little extra work for more of an edge, you can actually get all 14 flask charges before fighting Golden Godfrey, just find a guide for all golden seeds and plan it out accordingly. And if you opt for the golden seed starting gift, you don't have to kill Kenneth Haight to do it. I do this on all my builds because I kill Golden Godfrey anyway for the 4th talisman slot. You would be surprised just how much of a difference it makes, and all it really requires is killing Godrick, Renalla, and the Draconic Tree Sentinel for access to Leyndell. It'll take some practice if you aren't used to playing with a lower level and weapon upgrade, but again, it pays off big time to have access to 6 red and 1 blue flask...which also makes the learning curve less intense in the actual invasions. Additionally, the upgrade level of spirit summons does not apply to matchmaking. Therefore, you can take a level 10 summon to help take the pressure off as you go deeper into the game.

[@THE_MOONMAN]

Damn, locking yourself out of an ancient smiting stone just for a flask one boss fight earlier is so not worth imo(unless speedrunning ofc)

[@GenghisGunt]

The Chad pick golden seed AND kill Kenneth height 🗿

[@GenghisGunt]

​@@THE_MOONMANdon't need ancient smithing stones if you're staying at a certain level/upgrade tier for invasion

[@amberhernandez]

I keep forgetting people fight DTS because I just skip it on almost every playthrough lol

[@TheSkyfolk]

@@THE_MOONMAN I don't need or want +10 weapons on my RL67 build lol

[@liamconnelly3115]

Rip to the lost footage. It was fun chilling in the stream. Im gonna make a 40 +7 mage when I get the free time. Cool video!

[@justincase6683]

Worth mentioning that Carian retaliation turns any medium shield parry window into a better Buckler. Golden parry does it at a distance but you pay FPs whether it works or not while CR only charges you for effective parries.

[@xx_i_am_jah_xx6992]

Watching this even though ive been invading since ds2 lol Much love!

[@ryanvandoren1519]

Ds2 invasions at the belfry is where i got my start. The invasion mechanic took hold of me and ive never looked back. I miss ds2.

[@sophomorphia]

Don’t invade much but have wanted to get better at it and this build is ace! Been winning at least half the worlds I invade. I opted for flaming strike instead of spinning slash

[@Plz8662]

The best thing I learned is to use your environment & don’t be afraid to run away to heal or get an AoW or spell off because if you just run up to the 3v1 gank like he said it’s a wrap there’s nothing you can do, especially with all the cheese builds most co op players use. But if you can learn to duck around a corner for a quick heal or 2, boiled crab or even an attack that can go through the wall or hit them from around a corner invasions become a lot easier. That’s what I learned anyway Also this is really good advice because I didn’t even start trying to invade until my character was almost level 200 with full upgrades so obviously that was far more difficult than learning to invade at level 40 which in hindsight I wish I did but it’s too late now

[@TheSkyfolk]

When you were editing in those items into to your sections with missing footage, you should have flashed a map with a marker up on screen too. Otherwise I think this a solid way to introduce people to invasions, I might send this to a few people I know from work. Edit: While the bloody finger is easy to acquire, I think the recusant's finger is actually easier, and you can grab it without killing anything. It's worth having both of course, since you can use them one after the other to speed up invasion connections.

[@PoisonJarl71501]

I highly suggest doing a melee build first if you’re new. There’s a reason you see a lot of sweaty players running around with guts, sham shit, great katana etc , It’s definitely the easier route than a caster or spell blade who needs to manage and cycle through spells. With melee you can just use Ash and r1/r2 and practice spacing, dodge times etc. when you get a better hang of it you can run a caster build which imo is 10x more fun if you’re not just desperate for an empty victory. Solid video

[@egos630]

Just got into elden ring on ps5, didnt want to pay 60 dollars for save editor. This video is amazing and helpful with its short invasion prep route. And build is a good start for any changes if i want to put more time in future. ty :)

[@flurb3285]

Grab flaming strike and sacred blade, easy to get right from the start and very strong. Poison mist too at low lvl

[@Rain1]

See I want to learn how to invade proper, but at the same time I don't because it's so annoyingly stacked against the Invaders. The P2P connections are often quite bad so you can't strafe proper you have to roll everything. Gankers

[@Crit-Multiplier]

@@Rain1 there arent actually that many strafeable attack out of neutral. i dont think you understand what youre talking about sorry unless youre talking about spacing? on which case it be even more misguided. so probably youre talking about latency. this means the difference in location impacts your connection to each other. any attack can be avoided by spacing your character relative to your opponents hitbox. what a big distance between 2 players means then is simple. whatever you did for example 2 sec ago will happen right now on your opponents screen. this lets you literally walk into attacks on your scream while still avoiding dmg.

[@Rain1]

@@Crit-Multiplier yeah I meant spacing. Because if I wasn't fighting somebody on 200 ping I wouldn't have to roll everything just to be sure I dodge it. Instead I could properly space and Dodge it based off of that then come back in with a running attack

[@Crit-Multiplier]

@@Rain1 if you get into a position in which you have to role you dont understand spacing. that has nothing to do with their or your connection. in invasions you spawn in with s and in duels you spawn in opposing locations.

@@Crit-Multiplier well of course connection has influence on spacing. If you are lagging to your opponent, and you try to bait attack and outspace it, with bad connection you will get phantom range much more often. While it is possible to play around it somewhat, its much harder and eventually almost impossible, instead just betting on luck.

[@Crit-Multiplier]

you dont even know the difference between lagg and latency.

[@09jesusm]

Idk if u can get it right away but u can u do Rya quest to get boiled crab.. that item is very usefull on pvp and if u dont do the quest u cannot get that item the more u progress in the game

[@whathitwonder4037]

Oh shit, let's go!

[@ralonnetaph6450]

funny this just got uploaded and popped up for me, like 2 weeks ago I spent the whole week trying to learn invasions (seamless co-op tho so keep all flasks but there can be a TON of players on the other side, though the most I saw was 4) but I wanted to do it in a funny way, named myself SoldierOfGodrick at low level so I picked Vagabond for vigor and farmed the armor to set everything up at base level and stick to only +3. I did stuff from my usual pve setup, grab axe talisman, claymore, flamestrike, and the free charged attack tear, radagon's scarseal, then go kill the duo cleanrots for the gold scarab. kill the putrid avatar for the fire damage tear. Normally from there for pve I'd also grab flame grant me strength but this build didn't fit the faith for it so I just rawdogged the bosses. Even only at +3 with base vagabond stats+scarseal the axe talisman/fire tear/charged attack tear/flamestrike buff is really enough to easymode margit Godrick Renala all the avatars, prettymuch all the limgrave weeping and liurnia bosses, a handful of the caelid and altus bosses, and get most anything you need. the faith talisman may not get you to 15 for grant me strength but it gets you high enough for poison mist to cheese your way into leyndel. For the soldier of Godrick build I also included a light crossbow, and I always liked stormblade so I threw it on the lordworn greatsword and got to invading. It was going mostly very well, but I kept wanting to see just what else I could improve on, I didn't want to do anything too overpowered for low level players though, I was doing this for fun not to ruin people's days, and once I started looking into what I could access, I found some real treats. You can get 19 of the 20 cracked pots without fighting anyone besides Margit to get into stormveil, the 20th is in leyndel but easy to grab. The volcano pot makes a continuous fire cloud hitbox, and only takes to volcanic stones to craft, the recipe is sold by a merchant between long ladder climbs over by the west altus volcanos, I also killed him for his ball bearing since he sells infinite explosive crossbow bolts. The volcano pots were amazing for keeping me from getting ganked, if 2-3 people started to charge at me or were clearly trying to strafe and surround me while I looked at 1, I could lock off and throw a pot down at my feet, the cloud doesn't hurt me and with my higher vigor I often did far more damage to them than their running attacks did to me, and then they'd run away so I would be safe from gank stunlock. Also with crossbow hidden by emptying hand and twohanding greatsword, it makes a good surprise the first time you swap it back in, especially since it can be preloaded, just tap left on the dpad and L1 for a sudden explosive bolt. I also considered what I could do for people who didn't attack me on sight, grabbed the golden foot recipe from patches, if you spawn in the sewing needle cave and run north past the big block instead of up it, there's a bunch of penguins sitting on rubble, 1-5 feet per run even with the 7 arcane. The grace right next to Kenneth is also right next to a bunch of respawning gold fireflies, just south in the pond with a sleeping bear. Very easy farm, if I do a wave to get a hosts attention and they don't instantly start swinging I can drop gold feet for them. I also considered getting a list of perfume bottles and ritual pot locations, and seeing if there was an extra easy craft there I could use like volcano pots, but figured that might be too much. Next time I gotta remember warming stones though, right. However I was still struggling with part of my goal, I wanted to invade inside stormveil as often as possible because most people in there will have the early game version of their build online, but I wasn't sure how high I should push my numbers. For now, I'm still unsure, and with that amount of prep I really don't want to accidentally overdo it, but I did eventually start pushing my level up a bit, mostly just vigor cause red bar good, end because I wanna carry my load without scarseal if possible, and mind for stormblade uses. Ultimately, I have found stormblade just as fun as I expected, it's amazing for catching panic rolls away after you land an r1, interupts several reactable casts, and if you ever expect someone to drink it's a free hit. Sometimes I swap name to 1/1WSoldierToken and don a Leyndel soldier armor instead, allowing me to swap to claymore, I always loved the way lordsworn looks, but the claymore r2 is really close to getting my beloved square off on a greatsword. piercing fang and impaling thrust are also similar, but claymore r2 means I can have that and stormblade. My favorite move has been landing r1>instant uncharged claymore r2 catches roll away>stormblade catches roll away again. I seem to be at my most powerful when just slowly walking forward, something about that must psych people out I think, cause that's most often when they throw a random attack that I can just outzone with a greatsword r1 for small damage and make them panic and run away, multiple times over. A stormblade or crossbow bolt, even if it doesn't hit keeps them panicking too which just means more mistakes for me to lightly tap until they die. I think my very favorite overall invasion, I was still at base level not pushing it up a bit trying to get into stormveil yet, 3 guys in gatefront. One person saw me and responded to my wave, while 2 in the distance behind the carriages were fighting the last soldier. A wretch, with only pants a helmet and a shield to his loot so far. We bowed, and almost instantly he tried to block a fully charged greatsword swing, broke his stance, crit, and killed. I turned back towards where the other two were before and one was watching now, a samurai. We bowed, he did very little damage, maybe luck, maybe I just had the read on avoiding his attacks, it only took a few vigor checks, and he died. The third guy came out, another samurai, I dropped 3 gold feet for him to share with his friends, win or lose, for facing me with such a level of honor. We bowed, and after a long drawn out fight he eventually wore me down, I just couldn't land very many clean hits on him to keep up with his flasks. A great fight through and through, but I do hope, they realized I never healed once during the fight with the second or third guy, and I hope they remember long the day they tested their mettle against the SoldierOfGodrick and just managed to come out the other side alive.

[@darkspiro6467]

I once got in a unwinable situation at the mogh elavator against a gank I reinvaded there so many times trying to figure out how to defeat them I eventually gave up and decided I would not give them no more fights I would waste their time i even changed my characters name to GankTimeWaster to taunt them I would not fight them and run away if they were just gonna sit there and give people unfair unwinnable fights I was gonna make sure that I was the only person there so that noone else had the deal with there bullshit Id say I wasted like 2 hours of their time

[@sp4st1337]

it takes ages to find invasions at lvl 40 or 50... went back on my lvl200 and got instant invasions

[@danielnava1210]

Would I consider 200 more active than 150/125/139? And what platform

[@glinteastwood]

This is it.

[@KaedNinescarred]

Incredible video! Great advice and really easy to follow. Do you only pick up 2/3 of the sacred tears in Weeping Peninsula on purpose? I always grab the one at the frenzy village as well

[@DJIronChef]

idk how to get past the visuals not hitting me but I still take damage despite watching the enemy miss. even in low latency.

[@sadrerman]

what do I do if I spawn somewhere where I can't reach the host?

[@info_mercial]

there's rarely a situation where its impossible to reach a host, but often you'll spawn waaaay out of the way in the open world. just gotta hike to em. jar cannon/balista is nice if they're up in a weird spot to afk rune farm too. the bloody fingers you get when you spawn in will teleport you around to random spots too so that can help

[@sadrerman]

@@info_mercial I see, thank you! Guess I'll journey to the host then

[@valianttoast1822]

Comment for the algorithm Have a blessed week!

[@pouca_sombra97]

I'm trying this build but my weapons are +8 not 7 since I already had a low level character, is that a big deal on matchmaking or not that much?

[@GenghisGunt]

Your invasion queue is based on level/weapon upgrade level. If you're "out of optimal range" then your invasion queue times are theoretically lengthier. Not a huge deal and these are not necessarily set in stone either. If you find yourself having a difficult time finding an invasion, you would just want to level your character about 10 times to match your highest weapon level.

[@pouca_sombra97]

@@GenghisGunt so if I am at +8 it should be ok if I level up to 50 instead of 40 in terms of matchmaking?

[@GenghisGunt]

You could try level 40 at first before you level up. Might as well test the waters before you commit to a higher bracket. I find lower levels more entertaining personally. And since you can't un-level, make sure you're certain how you want to proceed before you do it, or you'll have to start over.. Now if you do decide to level to 50, your weapon levels for regular/somber would be +10/+4 respectively.

[@info_mercial]

Nah, +7-10 would be fine for this level

[@pouca_sombra97]

@@info_mercial yeah it does not hinder the range as I thought. I've adapted this one to use Soreseal so I can have 20 str to use the hand Ballista for some range option, so I saved 5 points from vigor and put them on endurance so I don't heavy roll when using a Halberd to chase people, I get those points back from the crimson Amber Medallion+3 I'm rocking now: 40 vigor (Soreseal) 10 mind 25 Endurance(Soreseal) 20 Strength (Soreseal) 18 Dex (Soreseal) 10 Faith Full Raging Wolf set Erdtree's Favor+2 Radagon's Soreseal Crimson Amber Medallion+3 Winged Sword Insignia (swap with the two fingers heirloom for buffs or dagger/hammer talisman for parries and shield turtles Weapons are two lordsworn's straight sword one fire infused and one lighting infused (might keep one standard), cleanrot rapier for some fast pokes when the are too passive, misericorde for crits the 110 on the swords almost leaves them one shot, the banished Knight's halberd for chase down with flaming Strike if they gang, and the wolf shield with carian retaliation What do you think of this mix up on it buid, would love to hear

[@khaq4960]

110 crit modify is why lordsworn ss good

[@Crit-Multiplier]

@@khaq4960 for all the shortsword vinheim assassins out there

[@lexclouds7562]

don't treat your teammates as enemies

[@camfrog79]

Invasions are just hard man.. you are usually outnumbered and pressured hard. My win rate for invasions is like 3/10 lol. Dueling is much easier.

[@Zweihandermain]

PvP is like Pve just with more idiots

[@AilesDeLumiere]

>And then the dragon kills me. This is a huge problem with Elden Ring Invasions. PvE should not damage the invader at all. Ever.

[@smmk88]

Nah, they can friendly fire other npcs, so it's fine. It's not like it's a common thing, and hardly a game breaker.

[@YarnhamBrainsucker]

I can understand the bosses also hurting invaders, but stuff like trolls and bigger enemies like the omens damaging you is so infuriating 😂

[@draugnaustaunikunhymnphoo6978]

Needing to put this much effort just to play online is frustrating. God no friends, all I got is PVP and I don't wanna lose my life.

[@Crit-Multiplier]

@@draugnaustaunikunhymnphoo6978 this much? 2 hours bro i have finished 125 builds in 10h including everything from the dlc(weapons talis cookbooks etc ) i think the speed here is a you problem. yes my first playthrough took 150h but youll get faster each time. and if you prep your route youll be even faster than me.

[@YarnhamBrainsucker]

If you’re on PlayStation, there’s plenty of group chats with 100 people, they will drop you things on smurfs and mules. There’s options for console, in fact if you’re on PlayStation I can add you into like 4 group chats for that

[@IliumGaming]

How to get into invasions: Step 1 - Don't

[@jasongriffin1517]

I've been playing over and over since launch, and I only invade for Varres quest. It feels like an annoying chore and not a fun and exciting game mode. My second character ever, I won a 3v1 because they summoned a blue guy. I felt more relief that it was over, than thrill of victory. Chasing randoms around for no reward feels like a waste of time. I'd rather just beat the game over and over with new builds and challenge runs than find out if my skills, build, or internet speed is better or worse than anyone else's. I don't care how anyone else plays. It's basically a single player game for me. I always play offline so I don't even have to see ghosts, messages, or bloodstains. I'm a Fromsoft noob, so all these Dark Souls essentials are annoying and immersion breaking to me.

[@vennicerunnos]

I'd say you just don't get it but... if I may, allow me to try and explain the appeal... for me playing thru the campaign is a fun adventure, but once it's done the adventure is over. PvP is getting to play with your action figures against other people's action figures using the adventure world as a sandbox environment. (Almost) every invasion has the potential to be a unique and interesting encounter demanding it's own tactics, strategies, heroic moments on both sides, last ditch efforts and random unpredictable events. it's a DnD versus match that can happen anywhere along the grand adventure that everyone is playing. literally an experience not available in any other game. for better or worse.

[@jasongriffin1517]

@@vennicerunnos I understand the chaos and randomness that comes from being outnumbered and having less flasks. I just don't care about competition or bragging rights. I've been playing almost non-stop for two and a half years, and have invaded over a hundred times, and it's always just like this: wait to invade, go find them, chase, spam, roll, spam, roll, chase. It always feels more annoying and irritating than fun or challenging. I know PvP used to be better, and if there were actual rewards, I'd grind co-op, invasions, and coliseums until I got everything. I hope they continue to improve it because I realize it's what keeps these games alive. It's just not for me.

[@Crit-Multiplier]

@@jasongriffin1517 then it's not what keeps these games alive for you. btw what are you doing here? you certainly arent looking to get into invasions with that mindset are you? edit i read your comment again and it seems you just want to win without the effort it takes. and yes invasions can be described as JUST run, dodge, attack rince and repeat untill either you or host dies. a car race is just a bunch of humans turning wheels and stomping on pedals. yes but also no. and now please actually read the first comment...

[@jasongriffin1517]

@@Crit-Multiplier Elden Ring was my first Fromsoft game, so nothing is keeping them alive for me. I just understand the history of multiplayer in Dark Souls. Not really, but my feed has been nothing but ER for two and a half years, so I see tons of PvP videos all the time, I don't discriminate on my content. I'm not interested in multiplayer at all, but it's cool to hear people talk or complain about it occasionally.

[@jasongriffin1517]

@@Crit-Multiplier It's not that I want to win without effort, it's that I don't care to extend the effort to win against a stranger for no reward. I use whatever PvE build I'm using as soon as I get to the Rose Church. I'm not actually trying to win, I'm just trying to get it over with because I prefer playing offline.

[@lukaogadze5071]

i know it's beginner's guide but damn... it's very painful to watch for someone who knows pvp. anyway good video but terrible build 😂

[@terrycruise-zd5tw]

this guy a noob, you need overpowered meta stuff for invasions, espeically when you run into gank squads to even stand a 1% of winning since invaders are at such a disavantage

[@lukaogadze5071]

@@terrycruise-zd5tw i don't think that he is a noob. he put good amount of effort in video and touched many important topics. it's hard to make video and include every thing that you need for invasions. but yes build was awful.

[@Abdullah-cj2mh]

@@terrycruise-zd5twTrue but you need to go even beyond the meta for an invasion build and find things that deal high damage to multiple people at once. For melee I usually use the greatsword for its length and moveset, but I’m trying a mage build and I’m basically doing a putrescent nuke build with the new spells lol.

[@krautsurfa]

i'm lvl 300+ so the build topic is obsolete for me. i rather just can't choose the right weapons and spells

[@danielnava1210]

Thanks this is what I need 🫡🤝💅