Hello, and welcome to my guide to Dark Souls 2 Etiquette. Hopefully after reading this guide you decide that every rule I outline already applied to you, and don't take offence if I critisize something you do. I too was once a young nublet who tried to backstab someone in te middle of a bow, and I too used to spam the "Well, what is it" back in the original dark Souls days. But now I'm ready to spread what I have learned and hopefully the Dark Souls community will be the better for it.

-When you summon a phantom, it is customary to bow/wave to them when they appear.
-If your party manages to defeat the boss, it is customary to bow/wave again.
-If you summon a caster who runs out of spells, give them some herbs to restore their spells.
-Never leave the summon area while waiting for a pahntom to connect. This can confuse pahntoms and may make them travel away from you searching. (If you don't see the "Summoning failed" message, the summon succeeded)
-Wait for all you low health phantoms to be near you before using any AoE heals.
-Use the sound stones when appropriate.
-If you are tankier than your summon, lead the way. On the flip side, let your summon lead the charge if they can take more punishment.
-Never run and hide to let your summons do the fighting for you. (If you need to heal, that's ok, but remember that you guys a team)
-Its fine to banish rude or unhelpful summons. Just don't abuse your power. (You can banish phantoms with the Black Seperation Crystal)

-It is customary to bow/wave once you appear.
-It is customary to again bow/wave if you defeat the area boss.
-Protect your summoner! If you die you don't lose anything, they would lose souls and humanity if they die. If worst comes to worst, be prepared to absorb a blow.
-If you have AoE heals, be sure to use them on your summoner.
-If you are tanky, don't be afraid to lead the charge. Once you know where your summoner wants to go, you can lead the way into a battle.
-If you summoner misses something, use the "I won't bite" and the "Point" gestures to show it to them.
-Don't stand still being useless. Your job is to fight for your summoner, be sure to do it.
-Never use a tanuting gesture on your summoner or another phantom.
-If you accidentally block the fog wall, roll away from it so that other players understand what's happening.
-Play safe. Your summoner called you to his wolrd because he needed help, so don't die to the first enemy by being greedy.

-Its ok to taunt your victims. Just don't overdo it. :)
-While its tempting to "Mock" or "Decapitate" before a fight, be sure to bow too. Not only is it polite, but its saves you from looking like a fool if you die.
-Do not spam gestures if you win a fight. A single taunt or bow will suffice.
-Do not attack opponents who are gesturing before a fight.
-If your target wants to use buffs before combat, allow them to.
-If the world master has summons, do not attack them. This fight is between you and the master.
-Do not run into hordes of enemies to kill your target, and do not wait around a corner if your target knows you're hiding there. (Ambushes are ok) Remeber, you're are the invader, don't make your target have an unfun fight.
-Don't abuse golfswing/pit kills. We can all see them on Youtube and they are a boring way to die.
-Feel free to use any builds you like. Players may complain about overpowered weapons and tryhards, but every strategy has a counter.
-Don't invade using the Red Eye Orb or Blue Eye Orb on the PvP bridge in the Old Iron Keep. This may disrupt ongoing fights.

-The number one rule for the invadee is to NOT USE ESTUS. I cannot stress this rule enough. The invaders cannot use estus, and it is by far the strongest healing method in the game. Any other healing method is fair game, but estus makes fights become unfun for invaders fast.
-It is customary to bow before a fight. Its ok to do a little taunting too. :)
-Again, if you defeat your opponent, it is 100% fine to taunt them. Be sure to bow to show respect too though!
-If you invader wants to use buffs, allow them to before the battle. They will extend you the same courtesy.
-Don't hide around corners waiting for your opponent to come if they know where you are.
-Only use the Seed of a Tree of Giants if your opponent is fighting in an area with many enemies. Its a balancing item, not to be used on an opponent who may be preparing an ambush.
-Invaders who ambush you are in the right. It is a perfectly fine tactic.
-Don't hide and try to wait out your invader.
-You can banish invaders using the Black Seperation Crystal. There are only two reasons ever to do this. One, your opponent is hacking. Two, you meant to play in offline mode and forgot to turn it on. Invasions are a core part of Dark Souls, abusing this item will harm your experience.
-If you summon an invader from a Dragon Eye, step back and allow them to bow, apply their buff, etc. before attacking.
-Think before you unleash ranged attacks on an invader. If they are approaching you to have a fair fight, allow them to before opening fire.
-Don't summon allies in the middle of a fight. Invasions should be one-on-one battles. (If a Blue Sentinel comes to your aid during the battle, that's another matter. Invaders know about this possiblity and are take that risk when invading. Having allies to overwhelm invaders when they arrive is a whole different matter)

-Do not interfere with figths between invaders and your summoner.
-It is not required by custom, but it is polite to bow/wave to the invader before they engage your summoner. And a little taunting never hurt anyone. :)
-If there are enemies in the area, keep them away from the fight.
-If the invader cannot be found, proceed as usual through the game. The invader is probably waiting in ambush, and when they do appear, step back and allow the fight to proceed.
-Feel free to watch. Remember to get the binoculars off the ledge in Majula to get a better view!

The large bridge by the first Iron Keep bonfire is a PvP hub area. You will often see several invader signs on the ground here, and if you place your own expect to be summoned very quickly. This area has its own unwritten rules as well.

-Don't use Eye Orbs of any color here. Stick to soapstones and Dragon Eyes.
-Some players set up arenas here. While they very from player to player, they will often have several prism stones. If you get summoned here, just kill the phantoms the world master summons. Do not kill the world master of an arena.
-Do not leave the bridge to run in to the keep itself, to go down towards the bonfire, or to go across the lava rocks. What happens on the bridge, stays on the bridge.

Both the Rat King and Bell Keepers covenants have some special PvP interactions. While I won't spoil them for people who haven't played the game yet, know that you may be summoned to another world forcably or invaded by multiple players at certain points. While all the normal invader/invadee rule apply, the PvP in these areas in fast and in close quarters. Expect to be ambushed often in these instances, but don't get mad at the invaders. This is simply how PvP works in these areas.

The Blue Sentinels is the friendly PvP covenant that protects new players. Here is how to get their protection and how to protect others.

Get protection:
1. When you go to Majula, head to the statue with the sad-looking warrior.
2. Go through his dialoge until he asks if you want to join his covenant.
3. Say yes.
4. Equip the ring he gives you.

When you are invaded, there is now a chance that a Blue Sentinel will come to your aid and help you kill the invader.


Protect others:
1. Arrive in Heide's Tower of Flame.
2. Proceed to the large open area with three old knights in it.
3. Take the exit that was to your left when you entered.
4. Defeat the drake. His fire does alot of damage and knocks you down and back. I reccomend you use summons for this part.
5. Pull the lever that appears after you defeat the drake.
6. Enter the fog wall at the Cathedral of Blue.
7. Defeat the Old Dragonslayer. He moves fast nad has a high dark resist, but is a fairly easy boss.
8. Talk to the man on the balcony after the boss.
9. Go through his dialoge until he asks if you want to join his covenant.
10. Say yes.
11. Equip the ring he gives you.

Now you have a change to be summoned to protect players who are being invaded as a blue phantom. If you want to rank up in the covenant and inprove your PvP skills, go to the Cathedral Basement (Where the bonfire is) and use one of the three statues. If you have a Token of Fidelity, it will be consumed and you will duel another Knight of the Blue.

Rather be the agressor than the defender? Well don't worry, Nahr Amal and Titchy Gren have your back. To join the dedicated invading covenant, follow these steps:

1. Rech the Huntsman's Copse.
2. Head to the large structure with the rope bridge going to it. If you enter the canyon via the flat stone bridge, you're going the wrong way. You have to make a right immedatly after the arched stone bridge.
3. Defeat the boss. It has an interesting gimmick, so I won't spoil it.
4. Talk to the short man in the bonfire room.
5. Go through his dialoge, saying yes to every question.

Titchy Gren will now sell you hauls of Cracked Red Eye Orbs, that can be used to forcibly invade other worlds. You can also buy the Red Sign Soapstone from him. This item works like a regular soapstone, except that it summons you as a hostile red sprit. Note that you won't spawn right on top of the soapstone, so don't worry about immedatly dying to an ambush there. If you want to rank up in this covenant and improve your PvP skills, go to the bonfire where you tlk to Gren. Activate one of the statues with a Token of Spite in your inventory, and you can duel other members of the Brotherhood of Blood.


The Dragon Remnants are very similar to the Brotherhood of Blood. They are much harder to find, however. To join the ranks of the dragons, follow these steps:

1. Reach the Dragon Shrine.
2. Find the Petrified Egg. Its a fun secret to find, so I won't spoil its location. :)
3. Bring the egg to Magerold of Lanafir in the Iron Keep.
4. Say yes to his question.

You get the Dragon Eye for free. This is basically a Red Sign Soapstone for the Dragonbros. Defeat your opponents to ears scales, which are then used to rank up in this covenant. Note that the Dragon Eye has no use if you aren't a member of the Dragon Remnants.

There is no formal trading system in Dark Souls. If you want to trade, you should probably set it up before summoning your trading partnet, unless you want to give away items for free. By "Leaving" and item on the ground, any player in your world can pick it up. (Do not "Discard"! This delets the item!) You can find plenty of people looking to trade on forums though.

First, see if you are in offline mode. If you aren't check your covenant. The members of the Company of Champions cannot summon allies. Finally, check your soul memory. You may be too high or too low. The bonfire warp screen places orange borders around the area where you are moslt likely to find online matchups.

Dark Souls uses "Soul Memory" for its matchmaking. You can see your Soul Memory in the top right corner of your stats screen, by the little vortex icon. Every time you get a soul, except for when you recover your bloodstain, your soul memory goes up. To prevent this (And stay in the same matchmaking area) you can wear the Agape Ring, which is purchased from Staid of Olaphis in the Lost Bastille. You will need a Fragrant Branch of Yore to revive him, and 5000 sould to purchase it. While it is equipped, you cannot gain souls, and thus you cannot gain Soul Memory. To see what range of Soul Memory you can mathmake with, use this calculator:

http://darksouls2.wiki.fextralife.com/Summon+Range+Calculator

Input your Soul Memory in the box, and then hover over the matchmaking item you're using to see the soul memory range you can interact with.

If you buy and equip the Name-Engraved Ring for 5500 souls from Shalquoir in Majula, your summon range is increase. The bottom left two icons represent this in the calculator. Note this increase only applies to players with the same god chosen on their ring.

Thanks for reading my guide! And thanks too to the wonderful people who run the Dark Souls 2 wiki, the numbers they save and the spellings of the items and characters were very helpful in creating this guide. Thanks to my friend Duncan Wood for getting me in to Dark Souls PvP. Finally, my heart goes out to all my Sunbros out there, I'm sorry I left for the Knights of Blue but my heart is still grossly incandescent. Leave any comments below and I'll be sure to check them out. Good luck out there! :)