Dark Souls 3 Multiplayer Guide: Co-op and Invasions Tips

Dark Souls 3 multiplayer guide walks you through how to join your friends game, how to host, how to invade and how to survive invasions.

Multiplayer is not something a whole lot of Dark Souls 3 players look forward to, but it is unique and fun nonetheless. If multiplayer is not your cup of tea, you can play the game offline, however, do note that you will encounter AI invasions and messages from the developers.

If you are connected to the Internet, the game is Always Online although you will not see other human players running around in your world all the time. Dark Souls 3 has a system where players can interact with one another via messages left in various places.

For more help on Dark Souls 3, read out our Dark Souls 3 Items Trade Guide, Dark Souls 3 Illusory Walls Locations Guide, and Dark Souls 3 NPCs Questline Guide.

Dark Souls 3 Multiplayer Guide

Aside from this, you can also start a co-op session by summoning other players or get summoned to their worlds in the hour of need. This guide details how to set-up online co-op multiplayer in Dark Souls 3.

Dark Souls 3 Online Co-Op

How to Join Someone’s Game
The first thing you will need is a White Soapstone from the Shrine Handmaid for 500 Souls. With SS in your inventory, you will be able to use it to leave a message on the ground, allowing other players to summon you into their worlds. You can also set-up a password if you do not wish everyone to be summoned.

Dark Souls 3 supports upto 4-player online co-op and offers rewards for successfully helping out your other Undead buddies. One more thing to note here is that your friend – whose world you wish to be summoned to – must not have defeated the area’s boss or the session will fail.

How to Host
In order to host a game, you need to be in Ember form which will allow you see summon signs on the ground. Embers are scattered all around the in-game world and can be purchased from Shrine Handmaid.

Once this is done, find your friend’s summon sign, click it, enter the password – if there is one – and summon them to your world. As simple as that!

When it comes to ending the session, it automatically ends once you have successfully defeated the area’s boss or one of the players die. In order to manually terminate an online co-op session, simply use an item called the Black Separation Crystal and each of the players will teleport to their respective worlds.

Online Co-Op Limitations
If you are meeting all the conditions mentioned earlier, but are unable to find a game, check the following:

  • Your covenants are not against one another – for example, Rosaria’s Fingers and Sunless Realms
  • You do not possess 3x upgraded weapons than theirs
  • Your character must not be +10 levels above or down theirs

It is a good idea to double-check these things if you are having some difficulty in finding online players.

Dark Souls 3 Multiplayer Invasions

Invasions can be carried out by anyone who is in possession of a Red Eye Orb, Cracked Red Eye Orb, or a Red Sign Soapstone. A Red Eye Orb provides unlimited invasions while a Cracked Red Eye Orb is a one-time use item. Red Sign Soapstone, on the other hand, only succeeds in invasion once the other players accept invader’s invite.

Invaders do not attract regular enemies in the area and are only concerned with the host of the world. Due to this fact, it is a good idea to find a suitable location and ambush your opponent. In case something goes sideways, you can always run around through the enemies without worrying about the host to follow.

After you get the invasion notifications, head towards the area which you have already explored and hide so that you are not easy to ambush. In case you are not excited about the battle, you can simply hide and let the invader search around the area which may force them to leave. In addition to this, you can also use a Seed of the Giant Tree to force monsters to attack your invader.

This is all we have on Dark Souls 3 Multiplayer Guide. If there is something else you would like to know, make sure to let us know in the comments section below!

Haider is a freelance contributor, who loves video games, playing guitar, and aviation. He is a competitive FPS player and also enjoys exotic RPG games like Diablo and Xenogears (his favorite game of all time) ...