In Dark Souls II, there is a pretty good chance that at some point you will be invaded by another player. This can be a difficult challenge to overcome. Dark Souls II, as of me writing this, is over 10 years old, and PvPers have years of experience reducing innocent PvEers like you to your base particles. The sad reality is, most of the time, getting invaded will result in your death. However, there are ways to defend yourself against invaders and keep yourself alive. In this guide, I will be shedding light on some of the ways you can be prepared to defend yourself against the inevitable.

This is my first guide. If you have and questions, comments, concerns, suggestions or any other feedback, feel free to let me know via DM, or in the comments.

This is a bit of a given, but the best deterrence against getting invaded by another player is to simply play offline. This will disable all of the game's multiplayer functionality. This includes messages (not counting developer messages), co-op, and PvP. You also will not be able to see shades of other players. Obviously, this means that it will be impossible to max out most of the game's covenants, as they tie directly into the game's multiplayer. If you're really against getting invaded, you'll just have to play offline.

To go offline, go into Steam and click the Steam tab in the upper left. Click "Go Offline", and you will be offline. You can repeat this process to go back online. Note that going offline will take you offline for all Steam community and gameplay functions.

Cheaters are an inevitability in any online game. There are pretty much always scrubs out there with the express purpose of ruining your day. Fortunately, there is a tool to assist with this. A mod called Blue Acolyte (which I beta tested for) is a community anti-cheat with some additional features to make PvP a smoother experience, including but not limited to infinite use of multiplayer items, a built-in WEX Dust feature with WEX dust shuffle and more. This tool will automatically block certain gamers on a global blocklist who are known to be extremely malicious cheaters. It also creates a log of every player you connect to, their Steam ID, and the Steam ID of their family sharing account if they're using one. This will allow you to easily locate the cheater's account and block them, so you'll never have to worry about them again. It also automatically creates backups of your save before every connection to another player, so if someone were to ruin your save data, you will have a backup handy at all times. It's an invaluable tool that anyone looking to play DS2 online should have.

The page for the Blue Acolyte mod can be found on the Nexus here: https://www.nexusmods.com/darksouls2/mods/998?tab=description

So, you have decided that you are open to being invaded, whether because you enjoy it or because you want access to the other multiplayer functions of Dark Souls II. Most invaders are not cheaters, or at least not in a way that will negatively affect you (some use save mules, saves that have every item in the game, as it hastens the process of making new builds). There are many things to learn to help you defend yourself in an honest and fair fight, and your familiarity with these things can be the key to your victory.

It is worth noting, many of the things in this guide do not apply to NPC invaders, as they have modified stats, and cannot be fought the same as a player invader.

Fundamentals are very important to fending off an invader in PvP. The PvE experience of Dark Souls II does not prepare you in any way for how PvP functions and plays out, and what gets many hosts killed is treating an invader like an NPC enemy. Always remember, the invader is another human, and they have tactics and strategies that no other enemy in the game will utilize

When you are invaded in Dark Souls II, you will receive a message at the bottom of the screen stating that a "Dark Spirit" has invaded. This is the another player invading you as a red phantom with the goal to slay you. While being invaded, you will not be able to access any bonfires until either you or the invader is defeated. You can still summon white or yellow phantoms to assist you. When you see this message, that means it's time to wrap up whatever you're doing and get ready to take on the invader. Getting away from NPCs is a good idea, so that you don't accidentally strike them during combat, and making sure your health is topped off will help as well. DON'T try to run back to the bonfire with enemies chasing after you, as this will make the coming encounter with your invader much more difficult. Keep calm and try to defeat the enemies before retreating to a good spot.

It is worth noting that when you see the invasion message, and you are not occupied at that moment, you can use the item "Seed of a Tree of Giants". This will make all enemy NPCs hostile towards the invader. Be cautious using this item, as you can still be hurt by the enemies, and can still draw their aggro by damaging them.

A very important aspect of engaging with an invader is knowing what tools are best for the situation. Common tools such as the Greatsword (or GUGS), Crypt Black Sword, and many common PvE casting tools may prove to be quite ineffective against an experienced invader. Large weapons such as Ultra Greatswords, Great Hammers, and offensive casting spells such as Dark Orb, Soul Arrow, or Lightning Spear are very predictable and easy to punish, and a good invader will be very experienced dealing with these, as they are among the most common tools used in PvE.

"But Margaret", you ask, "My build is specced out to use these tools! What do I do?" Well, fortunately for you, there are tools available extremely early in the game that will be more than capable of evening the odds against your red phantom foe.

In the Forest of Fallen Giants, there is a weapon below the scaffolding before the Cardinal Tower bonfire, the Fire Longsword. The Longsword is a top tier PvP weapon, and it's quite easy to use. It has fairly fast strikes with quick recovery when one handed, as well as a good running attack when two handed. The rolling attack is pretty decent as well, and this one comes with a fire infusion. Elemental infusions are incredibly valuable in PvP due to how physical and elemental defense calculations work. More often than not, you're going to want an infused weapon to take on an invader, so it's quite fortunate to have access to one so early.

Another weapon available early on is the Rapier. This weapon becomes outclassed by the Ice Rapier MUCH later in the game, but until then, the standard Rapier will get the job done. It can be obtained by unlocking Lenigrasts shop in Majula. You need to purchase the key from Malentia at the Cardinal Tower bonfire, and the Rapier can be purchased for a small fee of 1500 souls. It is worth noting that the Rapier is also one of the best PvE weapons in the game, having very fast attacks with fast recovery, as well as dealing thrust damage, which many enemies are weak to. If you get your hands on a Boltstone or Darknight stone from the crow in Things Betwixt, it would be worthwhile to infuse your Rapier with either, though Boltstone is better if you use it in PvE as well.

Both of these weapons are available before fighting any bosses, and when used in tandem, you have one of the most powerful setups in the game at your fingertips. If you do not wish to use either of these for PvE (Fire Longsword is notably very poor for PvE), simply swap to them when you see that you are invaded, and swap back to your PvE weapon when that battle is done.

As for armor, most things are viable in an invasion setting, but try to prioritize gear that has high elemental resistances.

Dark Souls II is unique to most other Souls games, in that it is often more worthwhile to have a weapon in your offhand than a shield, or even two-handing. This is because in Dark Souls II, an offhand weapon can compensate for the weaknesses of the mainhand weapon. For example, if you were using the Heide Lance, you would realize that it is quite slow outside of its very good running attack. Since it's running attack is it's best asset, an opponent who is hounding you and not giving you space can be quite problematic. So what do you do? If your opponent does not appear to have poise, you can run a dagger in the offhand. Daggers are an excellent offhand weapon, because it turns your L1 into a quick "Get off of me!" button. This is an example of weapon synergy, and recognizing the weaknesses of a weapon and how to compensate for them is a big part of being successful in a PvP encounter.

To bring this back around, I mentioned in 3.1b that the Fire Longsword and Rapier work well in tandem. What I mean by this, is that these two weapons together have a unique synergy that is incredibly powerful. The Longsword has fairly broad horizontal strikes, and an R2 that can chase and rollcatch, punishing opponents who panic roll. Most notably, a Longsword R1 will combo directly into two Rapier L1s when you have the Rapier in your offhand. This will allow you to not only deal substantial damage, but also put pressure on your opponent, forcing them to make mistakes that you can punish. In PvP, Straight Sword/Thrusting Sword is one of the most powerful setups in the game, sitting comfortably alongside the notorious Warped Sword/Ice Rapier setup. And you can get this before fighting a single boss!

As a final note on this, not all setups are rigid. Dark Souls II is quite flexible, and there are hundreds of thousands of mainhand and offhand combinations that are very viable. If you like using the Longsword, but maybe the Rapier isn't your cup of tea, you can swap the Rapier out for a Dagger, or an Axe. Axes such as the Battle Axe and Bandit Axe have an R2 with incredibly good tracking, being able to hit almost directly behind you. You can force an opponent to roll with your Longsword, and if they roll behind you, you can press R2 to catch them at the end of their roll. The possibilities are endless, so experiment and see what works best for you!

It is important to note that dual wielding setups do not work nearly as effectively in PvE, as you will not have opportunities to capitalize on the strengths of an offhand weapon against an AI.

The Dark Souls community Discord has a tier list of the best PvP weapons in the game, so you can use that to decide what you want to carry on you. As aforementioned, you don't have to use these weapons for PvE, you can just swap to them as needed.

This is something that is honestly true for the PvP in all FromSoftware games, but staying locked on all the time is never good. In Dark Souls II in particular, staying locked on to your opponent has many downsides. When locked on, you have a movement penalty when moving backwards or strafing to the sides, and your turn speed is limited as well. This is crassly referred to as "Poopwalking", and it is very easy to exploit. If you are locked on to your opponent, they can very easily just run behind you and get a backstab, which leaves you at a severe disadvantage, as they can follow up with walking pressure (simply walking towards you to force a panic roll, giving them a stamina advantage, as well as giving them a change to rollcatch you), or okizeme (FGC term for attacks done to a downed opponent on wakeup, common oki being a jumping attack if they predict a roll on wakeup, or Scraps of Life/Heavenly Thunder immediately after the backstab animation finishes to trap you in AoE damage).

You may find that an opponent who is not locked on to you is much harder to hit. This is because they have roughly full 360 degree mobility, whereas yours is more limited. They will be able to cleanly space your attacks and follow up with a punish, usually a running attack.

So, it's bad to be locked on all the time. So what do you do?

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Top PvP players generally spend most of a fight unlocked from their opponent, only locking on in certain situations, such as locking on immediately after pressing an attack to allow the lock on tracking to follow the opponent. It can be a bit difficult to get used to, but learning how to play with full mobility will drastically increase your ability to defend yourself against other players, and it's even useful in PvE as well! Many bosses have attacks that can simply be walked away from if you're not locked on!

Another benefit to playing unlocked is that you can more easily aim your attacks by pivoting and then pressing an attack.There's no softlock in Dark Souls II, so this is a skill you will have to hone yourself.

A good way to tell if your opponent is dangerous is to see how they move. On first contact, an invader will typically size up their opponent before engaging. If your opponent immediately locks onto you, it is very likely that they are very inexperienced, and have obvious weaknesses that can be exploited. If your opponent does what I call the "PvP wiggle" (the player will be walking in circles, or on high latency, wiggling in place), that is a sign that they are experienced, and you will be in for a tough fight.

In a PvP scenario, you may find it difficult to hit your opponent at times. Regardless of experience, even the worst players will know you're going to try and running attack them if you've done it 5 times in a row. If they don't manage to adapt, your best bet is to keep exploiting that weakness for as long as they have it. Once they show they have adapted, switch strategy. Many experienced players will be quite aware of how to deal with many common strategies from PvEers; rolling attack spam, R1 spam, running attack spam (any kind of spam in general really), turn and burn (more common in DS3, basically walking away from the opponent, and turning around to surprise attack them when they get too close). Keep a cool head, play it safe, and mix up your offensive and defensive strategies. There are too many to list here, but the basic gist is: Do what works, and if that stops working, do something else.

Healing in PvP scenarios has a lot of nuance. This is not a joke. Healing can be used to not only restore your health, but it can also function as an offensive strategy, but more on that one in a bit.

As a major note, red phantoms cannot heal with Estus or Life Gems. White and yellow phantoms can heal with Estus and Life Gems, but these are both disabled when the host is invaded.

Common mistakes when healing in invasions are quite simple. You healed right in the invader's face (did you think they were just gonna let you heal they're like a foot away from you why are you mashing square), healing with your back turned to your opponent (leaves you open to backstabs, try to put your back against a wall when healing, but don't corner youself), and healing in a bad spot (sometimes this works in tandem with other bad healing practices, such as rounding a corner to heal, but still leaving your back exposed).

These are very easy mistakes not to make. Don't try to heal just because you took a little bit of damage. If you're only taking about 10% of your life bar per hit, for example, do you really need to use a Life Gem right now, risking getting punished and taking more damage you might not be able to heal off fast enough? Are you sure you're in a position to sip that Estus, when your opponent is in range of hitting you with a running attack? A smidge of thought goes a long way to ensuring your survival. Keep a cool head, play it safe, don't panic.

Other notes about healing: Don't use miracles if you have Estus. These take way too long to cast, leave you extremely vulnerable to backstabs, and have long recovery. Use these as a last resort. Warmth is a healing pyromancy that is extremely interesting in a PvP context. It heals not only you, but any enemy or ally that gets near the light. This invaluable point you have created becomes a space to be contested. You and the invader will fight over this space, trying to force each other out of it, like king of the hill. Since invaders cannot heal themselves outside of miracles, the Warmth pyromancy, and through a few very slow regen items, so once you set up Warmth, they will be drawn to it like a moth to a... to a Warmth.

If you're feeling confident, you can do something really funny. When the invader first approaches you, make sure to do a Bow gesture before you engage. Fight them as normal, but when your health gets low, heal with your Estus (Estus specifically). This breaks the unspoken rules of dueling, which you have tricked your invader into thinking your were both following. There is a good chance this will upset them, which can cause them to become aggressive and make mistakes you can easily punish. This is also considered dishonorable, but what is honor worth, really, in the lawless wasteland of Drangleic?

Casters are a unique case in PvP. Despite their large selection of spells, pyromancies, hexes and miracles, very few of these are very good in PvP. In general, casters have a higher skill floor and ceiling than melee users, as the best spells, miracles, pyromancies and hexes are used mostly for utility. Spell spam isn't very good unless you have a phantom to keep the invader's attention, so things like Dark Orb are typically quite poor.

It is very important that you do not over-rely on casting. It isn't too hard for an invader to just dodge forever until you run out of casts, and then you're out of luck. Pure casters simply will not survive, you will need to combine the strengths of your melee weapons and casting tools to find success.

Casting overall can be beneficial, and a good number are equally as good in PvP as in PvE, such as Crystal Soul Spear.

Dark Souls II's online isn't perfect. That can be said for all FromSoftware games. However, the way latency works and affects multiplayer gameplay in Dark Souls II is something we have managed to learn much about. Rather than explain it myself, here are two videos from joby and Scott Jund explaining latency in Dark Souls II.

These are some tips and strategies you can use to defend yourself against invaders in Dark Souls II. There are more things to learn, but this will help to give you a good understanding of the basics. I hope this guide was helpful to you, and I look forward to seeing you when I inevitably invade you. It will happen.

Invasions can be incredibly fun and engaging, and not nearly as unfair as some say. Game knowledge will get you very far in Dark Souls.

Did I miss anything? If you have feedback, feel free to let me know via DM, or leave a comment.





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