Here is a mini PSA for new(ish) invaders.
Invasion goals
Simplified: your goal as an invader is to kill the host of the world or at the very least halt their progress. Simple as that.
How to recognise who is your enemy
Phantom colors often lie in this game, as there are rings that let you assume the white and the host appearance.
So how to recognise the true enemy?
When you spawn in someones world, game tells you "you have invaded the world of host of embers xy" xy being the name of the host. Keep this name in mind, and when you lock onto someone, check if the name is that of the host.
If yes, kill.
If no, let's analyse the name some more.
You can lock onto someone. This means you can hurt them and they can hurt you.
Are the letters of the namewhite? If yes, the phantom was summoned by the host. So not on your team. And will most likely protect the host.
Is there a blue symbol next to the name? Then the person is password summoned AND out of normal matchmaking range. Meaning either waaay below or way above the SL. And or with weird weapon upgrade level.
Be wary of password summoned phantoms. Their damage and poise is unpredictable. They often can at least medium roll while wearing very heavy armor sets. If they are mages, their buffs might be extremely dangerous and will probably have many advanced spells.
Sometimes you will get hundreds of thousands of souls if such a phantom dies. Indicating they are a very high SL one. For example I once got 350 k souls for killing a SL 650 password summoned phantom at SL 50. Souls you get from such phantoms are 1-5% of their next level up cost. (depending on your covenant)
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Are the letters red? If so it's an invader. Or a summoned red. Or a purple. They can hurt the host, but there is no guarantee they won't choose to hurt you. Normally invaders should team up as their goal is the same. But there are cases of anime betrayals, so be wary.
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You are invading as a watchdog or an aldrich faithful. Check the left side of your screen, is there a red name? If so, it's your fellow watchdog/faithful. You can't hurt them and they can't hurt you. You can't lock onto them. And their colour is originally mauve.
What does being a mad phantom invader change in my goals?
The Mound Maker invaders also called mad phantoms or the purples, get a slightly different message when they spawn in into other worlds:
Kill the host of the world OR [amount of] phantoms.
Meaning you can get your covenant reward + ember by killing random phantoms in the world instead of killing the host. Mind though, that npc phantoms/npc invaders do not count towards the goal. Only other players. And you HAVE to deliver the finishing blow to the phantom for his death to count as your kill.
If you spawn into the world with a solo host, the amount of phantoms you have to kill instead is "1".so you could either kill the host, or if the host summons a phantom, kill the phantom. Or maybe even another invader.
If you spawn into a world with 2 phantoms there already, the message will tell you to kill 2 phantoms or the host. And so on. Sometimes it's easier to go for the host than to farm the necessary amount of phantoms.
The police
The blue sentinels and the blades of the darkmoons get rewards if a red eye orb invader dies while they are present in the world. They get summoned in, if a red eye orb invader is present and the host has way of the blue equipped.
Nowadays more likely than not two blues get summoned at the same time. Sometimes the game bugs and 3 blues spawn in at the same time. And if you kill them off, a few min later two new blues will spawn in.
But at least you get 2 estus refills for every blue dying. If you are a red eye orb invader, that is.
Why am I so alone?
There will be few coop invasions unless you are in the swamp or post pontiff, where the watchdogs and faithfuls thrive.
If the host uses dried fingers AND has either a phantom or wob equipped, there will be a second red invader, but there aren't many people, who dry finger.
Why do I rarely invade solo hosts but lots of co-opers?
The game prioritizes worlds with phantoms in it for red eye orb invasions.
The more phantoms the host has, the more likely he is to be invaded. Dried fingers also reset the invasion timer and raise the hosts priority.
If you invade someone over and over, they are most likely using dried fingers and want to be invaded.
Why are there random lag spikes during invasions?
The way the net code works in ds3, it's not uncommon for the host to lag out (no animations, floating, can't hurt them) whenever a new person spawns in or out of the world. It's often referred to as summoner or death lag.
Even when there is no summoner or death lag, there will be still latency, no matter how good your or the hosts internet connections are. If you are in different countries, the signal has to travel for some time. So sometimes you have to think a few seconds into the future to reliably hit an opponent.
Is just gaem
Either way, never forget that ds3 is a game and it's okay to not be too rigid with your rules. You can find your own goal for invasions once you are more in touch with the game mechanics and the community.
You could for example use invasions for mini pvp practice challenges without a real "kill that person" goal or maybe even play Santa Claus and give everyone presents then bc. Maybe even invade as a red and kill everyone besides the host, just so the host is bound to do pve solo. There is lots of creativity that can go into invasions and invasion goals. Experiment. Have fun. Don't burn out.
Why can the pve hurt me?
Some mobs in pve can hurt other pve mobs. They can also hurt the invaders if the invader comes under their attacks. They don't specifically aggro at invaders tho.
For example:
- Pus of a man
- Giant crabs
- Giants
- Grave wardens
- Skeleton balls
- Giant rats
- a back knight in demon ruins, he even aggros at you.
- Pontiffs beasts
- Herald Knights in trc
- some others
If the host activates a seed, every mob in the game can aggro at you for 45 seconds. Run around a bit, then lure the mobs to the host when the timer is close to running out.
SL matchmaking for invasions
It is asked so often, that I have to include it here.
SL matchmaking according to patch 1.13:
- The hosts you can invade as a dark spirit:
Upper limit:
your SL + 20 + (your SL * 0.1 )
Lower limit:
your SL - ( your SL * 0.1 )
Meaning at SL 60 you can invade hosts in the SL range 54-86
- Mound Makers can invade up even more:
Upper limit:
your SL + 20 + ( your SL * 0.15 )
Lower limit:
Your SL - ( your SL * 0.1 )
- For covenant invasions:
Upper limit:
Hosts SL + ( hosts SL * 0.1 )
Lower limit:
hosts SL - 20 - ( hosts SL * 0.2 )
Meaning a SL 120 host can be invaded by watchdogs/faithfuls in the SL range: 76-132
Weapon upgrade matchmaking
Since patch 1.13 the matchmaking has been changed to:
- 0 matches with 0 and 1
- 1 matches with 0, 1 and 2
- 2 matches with 1, 2 and 3
- 3 matches with 2, 3 and 4
- 4 matches with 3, 4, 5, 6 (so 3-6)
- 5 matches with 4-7
- 6 matches with 4-8
- 7 matches with 5-9
- 8 matches with 6-10
- 9 matches with 7-10
- 10 matches with 8-10
Twinkling and boss weapon upgrades count as x2.
Meaning a +1 boss weapon is a +2 for the matchmaking.
The maximum upgrade ever done, counts for matchmaking. Once you upgrade a weapon, the game will remember it forever. Even if you discard the upgraded weapons, your matchmaking level is sealed. You can't downgrade weapon upgrade matchmaking level or your sl in ds3!
The "liveliest SL ranges" for invasions
- Sl 1-10 with max upgraded weapon ever +1 - high wall (no blues at this SL range, but lots of people with muled advanced gear; also a hacker hotspot on pc) if you can run through the game without leveling and upgrading weapons, but get all the estus upgrades, this might be the easiest invasion SL range.
- Sl 15-20 + 1 - undead settlement - first sign of blues appears here.
- Sl 35 +3 - farron (best watchdogs SL). Very chaotic and fun for invasions.
- Sl 40-45 +4 - cathedral and catacombs, early ashes of Ariandel and high wall again for the dancer coopers. Very versatile and fun to invade areas. Don't forget to bring a catring though.
- Sl 50-60 +6-8 - irithyll, demon ruins, dungeons, anor londo, castle (best aldrich faithful SL), once again, high wall for all the dancer coopers. And extremely fun SL range to invade at.
- Sl 70-75 +8 - Castle, archdragon Peak, ashes of ariandel, the archives, the kiln
- Sl 90 +10 - endgame, both dlcs. The ringed city dlc at the mausoleum lookout is often free wins. Ringed city walls bonfire has lots of challenging pve too, to protect you.
- Sl 120+10 - called the meta SL. This is where the main ganks reside. And most builds are complete. Quick deaths await thee here. Absolutely not (!) newbie invader friendly. Do not recommend.
The ringed city dlc has some activity. Mostly pvp in arena at the SL, invasions, fight clubs.
Mind that sl 120+10 past pontiff is a hacker hotspot on pc. To deal with hackers, learn to back up your save files, don't pick up items, and find the hacker via recent players, then block all communication with them.
- On ps4 SL 140-150 is pretty active too and is known as higher lvl meta. To get "both metas", SL 133 is the way to go.
Everyone points down and claps at me. How do I deal with it?
You should never EVER feel bad or ashamed for losing an invasion. The hosts are always embered and often have an estus advantage over you.
It's OK to lose in 1v1s under such circumstances. Even more so is it OK to lose in 2v1s or 3v1s (or worse).
Invasions are very challenging in ds3. Don't take the losses personally. Happens to the best invaders.
Invader Youtube Uploaders or how to win invasions
Maybe have a looksy at this pvp guide This guide includes various links to pvp guides, strats, techs and builds.
Here are some, not all , of the invader YT uploaders you should check out. They all use different commentary and invasions styles. So give them all a try.
- Saint_Riot - he has also made a lern2nvade series, where he explains many strategies and tactics for invasions. Streams on twitch often and uploads invasion videos with entertaining commentary very often. (PS4)
- Thest1ckyband1t - probably the most easy going and joyful invader out there. Also a streamer. (PS4)
- Nyff - a former tryhard but forever an invader. (PC)
- ThePlatinum_7 - applying advanced techs in invasions. Has a very chill approach to pvp. A twitch streamer as well. (PS4)
- Rehvion - experiments with different builds and approaches in invasions. (PS4)
- Pincognito - post commentary style invasion videos, very newbie invaders friendly and chill. (PS4)
- Michael Stack - post commentary style invasion videos. (PS4)
- Raven of Ash - invasion videos and guides (PS4)
- Project Goof - advanced techs in invasions and memes. Is very easy going and chill in pvp. (PS4 and PC)
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