Uploaded July 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
A lot of new Dark Souls players look at invaders as just another enemy that they probably can't kill. Every enemy they approach they approach with fear and high uncertainty. Instead of embracing the phrase “Prepare to Die” they look at it as just another death in a likely long list of deaths. Some people go on to beat the game and never return, others become gankers, a few become the invader, and sometimes they become angry Reddit posters demanding the most unique feature of the game be removed.
When I hear the phrase “it’s like Dark Souls” the first question I have is how does the invasion system work and then moments later I am disappointed at the response as no other developer has made such a feature. Fromsoftware made this unique feature and while I didn’t directly enjoy it until Dark Souls III it was a standout feature that gave the game a very notable amount of depth over other games. Personally, I would love to see other developers attempt to implement a similar feature in their games just to have a point of comparison, new thoughts on how to possibly evolve and refine the formula, and to just have more variety.
To any new player, be it your first in the series or just in general, who is disconnecting when an invader arrives there are a few things you should know.
1st - Disconnecting too frequently will get you soft banned and unable to play online at all until a very large timer (days to weeks) expires.
2nd - When you die while an invader is in the world (even if it wasn’t the invader that killed you, even if they were no where near you) a cool down timer of several minutes is started and during this time you will be very unlikely to be invaded again. Specific actions, such as summoning a phantom afterwards will cut off several minutes from said timer.
3rd - Do not use the Dried Fingers item, it may allow you to summon an extra phantom but it also allows you to be invaded by 2 invaders at once. It also completely removes the cool down timer between invaders entering your world until you die or warp somewhere new.
4th - If you really don’t want to be invaded at all the simplest solution is to play offline or never go unhollow.
5th - Dying in this game may feel cruel but know that you really shouldn't place as much value on acquired souls as you probably do. Leveling with souls you gather by just going through an area isn't too difficult until you pass SL 100 or so (and there are plenty of areas that you can farm in if you need to). The game's difficulty is more about learning animations and possible weaknesses.
6th - Level up Vigor, I cannot stress this enough. You will not dodge every attack, you will get hit (in pvp and pve). Having high damage output and low hp will only be beneficial if you play perfectly, we're all bound to make mistakes, plan accordingly.
If you must play online than just take the time to understand how and where you’ll be invaded. If you’re the type to say that you just want uninterrupted co-op with your friends than I implore you to question why you’re playing a game known for it’s difficulty in the first place when what you really want is clearly just an easier game. If your summons put in more work than you did, just who among you beat the game?
Also, as a side note, I don’t like setting up ambushes but if I see an opportunity to ambush someone in the moment I'll likely take it. However, if I see just a lone host fighting npc enemies I'll generally wait until they kill said pve. This isn't something I do out of honor, I invade looking for a unique kind of challenge and using pve support is something I don’t like relying on. It’s invasions like the one in the last clip though, where I wait for the guy to kill the enemy while staying out of the way only for him to DC, that a lot of other invaders will take any opportunity to attack.
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🎵 Music Credits
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"I'm Sorry" by c h r i s g a l a c t i c ( soundcloud.com/chrisgalactic/im-sorry )
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
============================
🔍 Other Places You Can Find Me
============================
Twitch: twitch.tv/rkirby808
Twitter: twitter.com/RKirby808
More Dark Souls: Remastered PVP videos
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvvPcTvcY2_3LomgH4jDdokvb_KlVhaq4
A lot of new Dark Souls players look at invaders as just another enemy that they probably can't kill. Every enemy they approach they approach with fear and high uncertainty. Instead of embracing the phrase “Prepare to Die” they look at it as just another death in a likely long list of deaths. Some people go on to beat the game and never return, others become gankers, a few become the invader, and sometimes they become angry Reddit posters demanding the most unique feature of the game be removed.
When I hear the phrase “it’s like Dark Souls” the first question I have is how does the invasion system work and then moments later I am disappointed at the response as no other developer has made such a feature. Fromsoftware made this unique feature and while I didn’t directly enjoy it until Dark Souls III it was a standout feature that gave the game a very notable amount of depth over other games. Personally, I would love to see other developers attempt to implement a similar feature in their games just to have a point of comparison, new thoughts on how to possibly evolve and refine the formula, and to just have more variety.
To any new player, be it your first in the series or just in general, who is disconnecting when an invader arrives there are a few things you should know.
1st - Disconnecting too frequently will get you soft banned and unable to play online at all until a very large timer (days to weeks) expires.
2nd - When you die while an invader is in the world (even if it wasn’t the invader that killed you, even if they were no where near you) a cool down timer of several minutes is started and during this time you will be very unlikely to be invaded again. Specific actions, such as summoning a phantom afterwards will cut off several minutes from said timer.
3rd - Do not use the Dried Fingers item, it may allow you to summon an extra phantom but it also allows you to be invaded by 2 invaders at once. It also completely removes the cool down timer between invaders entering your world until you die or warp somewhere new.
4th - If you really don’t want to be invaded at all the simplest solution is to play offline or never go unhollow.
5th - Dying in this game may feel cruel but know that you really shouldn't place as much value on acquired souls as you probably do. Leveling with souls you gather by just going through an area isn't too difficult until you pass SL 100 or so (and there are plenty of areas that you can farm in if you need to). The game's difficulty is more about learning animations and possible weaknesses.
6th - Level up Vigor, I cannot stress this enough. You will not dodge every attack, you will get hit (in pvp and pve). Having high damage output and low hp will only be beneficial if you play perfectly, we're all bound to make mistakes, plan accordingly.
If you must play online than just take the time to understand how and where you’ll be invaded. If you’re the type to say that you just want uninterrupted co-op with your friends than I implore you to question why you’re playing a game known for it’s difficulty in the first place when what you really want is clearly just an easier game. If your summons put in more work than you did, just who among you beat the game?
Also, as a side note, I don’t like setting up ambushes but if I see an opportunity to ambush someone in the moment I'll likely take it. However, if I see just a lone host fighting npc enemies I'll generally wait until they kill said pve. This isn't something I do out of honor, I invade looking for a unique kind of challenge and using pve support is something I don’t like relying on. It’s invasions like the one in the last clip though, where I wait for the guy to kill the enemy while staying out of the way only for him to DC, that a lot of other invaders will take any opportunity to attack.
============================
🎵 Music Credits
============================
"I'm Sorry" by c h r i s g a l a c t i c ( soundcloud.com/chrisgalactic/im-sorry )
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
============================
🔍 Other Places You Can Find Me
============================
Twitch: twitch.tv/rkirby808
Twitter: twitter.com/RKirby808
More Dark Souls: Remastered PVP videos
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvvPcTvcY2_3LomgH4jDdokvb_KlVhaq4
