Elden Ring PVP Guide: Everything You Need to Know

After Elden Ring was released last month, the game has been in a state of flux. After all, people are still trying to learn the intricacies of the game that people have been waiting for years. Still, there’s already some player vs. player action happening on a few select worlds. Thus, we’re here to talk about how to PvP and Co-Op on Elden Ring, but also what builds are enjoyable playing on the game’s PvP right now.

What Are Co-Op and PVP in Elden Ring?

In Elden Ring, players can do Co-Op Mode and PvP so long as the player is playing in Online Mode. If that’s not the case, they won’t be able to access any of Elden Ring’s multiplayer functions similar to other Souls Games. However, one thing that the player needs to remember is that PvP and Co-Op on Elden Ring have different ways to activate.

We’ll talk about those in a later part of the article. We’ll also talk about how the player can activate Co-Op or PvP so that they can indulge in fighting or jolly cooperation below.

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How Do You Start Co-Op or PVP in Elden Ring?

All of the items that deal with Elden Ring’s multiplayer can be accessed in the Multiplayer Tab. Inside this menu, they can also set a Multiplayer Password and a Group Password. A Multiplayer Password makes it so that the player can only be matched by other players using the same password.

The caveat is that they can still be invaded by other players that don’t have the Multiplayer Password. Support Multiplayer is also not affected. An example of this is that players who don’t have the same Multiplayer Password can still enter your world if you equip the Blue Cipher Ring.

Lastly, there’s also a Group Password that players can set to give special priority to other players with the same Group Password. Meaning, if you have a group of friends that you want to have a blast with? Simply set up a Group Password and a Multiplayer Password and you’re good to go. The only thing the player needs to do is to use one of the slew of multiplayer items to summon or invade other players.

Can You Turn Off Multiplayer Functions?

Players have the choice to either go online or offline when they start the game. They can change this at any time on the System’s Tab in the Menu. Specifically, the Network section. Do note though that the player needs to restart Elden Ring before the changes will take effect.

What Items Do You Need for Elden Ring Co-Op or PvP?

13 items in Elden Ring are needed to do Co-Op or PvP. Do note that players need to turn on Online play to use these items. The Multiplayer and Group Passwords are there to help players find their friends and Co-Op partners faster. Lastly, players only need one or two of these items to do Co-Op or PvP depending on what they want to do. Without further ado, here are the items in question and where to find them:

Blue Cipher Ring

A Ring that’s the pair of the White Cipher Ring. This ring puts the player in a Ready state to answer the call of a White Cipher Ring user who asked for help. The moment that this happens, they will be summoned to that player’s world to hunt down the invading player.

This ring can be purchased at the Roundtable Hold from the Twin Maiden Husks for a pittance of 1000 Runes.

White Cipher Ring

A Ring that’s the pair of the Blue Cipher Ring. This ring automatically asks for help from any player with a Blue Cipher Ring the moment they are invaded by a player using Bloody Fingers. Do note that players can use the White Cipher Ring even after the invasion has started.

This ring can be purchased at the Roundtable Hold from the Twin Maiden Husks for a pittance of 1000 Runes.

Furlcalling Finger Remedy

The Furlcalling Finger Remedy shows summon signs to summon players from different worlds. Co-Op Summon Signs are colored gold while competitive Summon Signs are red. If the player uses either of the two summon signs they become the Host of Fingers for that session.

This item is craftable by using two Erdleaf Flowers found all around the Lands Between. Do note that players need to purchase the Crafting Kit from Kalé the Merchant before they can do crafting.

Finger Severer

Used by the Host of Fingers to remove a player from a multiplayer session. They can also use the Finger Severer to return to their world if they’re in a multiplayer session on another player’s world.

Players can find this item right after they go outside the game’s starting area.

Tarnished’s Furled Finger

Makes a Summon Sign that allows other players to summon the one who made it as a Co-Op player. They’ll arrive at their world as a Cooperator with the task of helping the one that summoned them to defeat the Area Boss. After that, they’ll return to their world.

Players can find this item in the same place they’ll obtain the Finger Severer.

Duelist’s Furled Finger

This item has the same function as the Tarnished’s Furled Finger except the player will be summoned as a Duelist Adversary. Their job is to kill the world’s host when they’re summoned.

Players can find this item on a corpse in Stormhill, directly north of the Warmaster’s Shack. There’s a Site of Grace there that players can use as a starting point.

Tarnished’s Wizened Finger

Allows players to leave messages for others to read. Of course, don’t believe all the messages because they tend to troll players to their deaths.

Found on a corpse on the Chapel of Anticipation, the game’s tutorial area. You won’t miss it.

Festering Bloody Finger

Used as a way to invade other players as the invader. Once the invasion is successful, the invader’s task is to defeat the world’s host to return to their world. This is the consumable version of the Bloody Finger. We’ll talk about how to obtain the Bloody Finger below.

There are several ways to get Festering Bloody Fingers but we’ll show the two most accessible methods:

1. 5 on Limgrave’s Nomadic Merchant for 1000 Runes each.
2. 5 on Patches if he’s spared on his boss fight. After this is done go back to his boss arena on Murkwater Cave to gain access to his shop. He also sells several good items like 3Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot, 1 Sacrificial Twig, and a Parrying Dagger. There’s also an item there that might be useful in a particular situation.

Bloody Finger

Used as a way to invade other players as the invader. Once the invasion is successful, the invader’s task is to defeat the world’s host to return to their world.

This is the non-consumable version of the Festering Bloody Finger and can be obtained by completing White-Faced Varre’s quest. He’ll task you to invade three players and then kill a maiden before wiping a White Oath-Cloth in her blood. After that, return to Varre and the player will get the Bloody Finger.

Note: There’s no need to kill a Maiden to complete this quest, but we’ll leave that to the player to discover.

Taunter’s Tongue

Taunts Invaders (Bloody Fingers) to come into the host’s world. Normally, players can only be invaded if they have a Co-Op Player with them. With this item, that’ll no longer happen, and will allow two Bloody Fingers to invade the Host’s world. Do note that if two invaders are in the Host’s World, only one Co-Op Player can be summoned.

Can be found after defeating Mad Tongue Alberich inside Roundtable Hold.

Recusant Finger

Same as the Bloody Finger except it’s found on Volcano Manor. The only difference is that your title wouldn’t be Bloody Finger, but Recusant instead.

Small Golden Effigy and Small Red Effigy

Has the same function as the Tarnished’s Furled Finger and Duelist’s Furled Finger respectively. However, these items send the player’s Summon Sign to the nearest summoning pool. These items require the Effigy of the Martyr to be activated in the place they want to co-op.

The Small Golden Effigy west of the First Step Site of Grace. Meanwhile, the Small Red Effigy next to the Frustrated Spirit on Limgrave.

Step-by-Step Guide to Elden Ring Co-Op

Doing Co-Op in Elden Ring is pretty simple. Simply use the corresponding item that we’ve talked about in an area and it’s pretty much done. Do note that the player needs to enable Online Play to do Co-Op. In addition to this, setting up a Group Password and Multiplayer Password is a good idea if you have specific Friends you want to do Co-Op with.

Placing Your Summon Sign Using Tarnished’s Furled Finger:

1. Go to the area where you want to place your Summon Sign.
2. Use Tarnished’s Furled Finger.
3. Wait for people to summon you.

Placing Your Summon Sign Using Small Golden Effigy

1. Go to an area where you want your summon sign to be placed.
2. Use Small Golden Effigy.
3. Wait for people to summon you.

Step-by-Step Guide to Elden Ring PvP

In terms of PvP, Elden Ring gives the player multiple methods to fight other players. They can either use invasions or Dueling. This is how:

Placing Your Summon Sign Using Duelist’s Furled Finger or Small Red Effigy:

1. Go to an area where you want your summon sign to be placed.
2. Use Small Red Effigy or Duelist’s Furled Finger.
3. Wait for people to summon you for PvP

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Using the Festering Bloody Finger, Bloody Finger, or Recusant Finger to Invade:

1. Open your menu and go to your inventory or go to the multiplayer section.
2. Select either the Festering Bloody Finger, Bloody Finger, or Recusant Finger to use.
3. Wait for open worlds to invade.

Using Taunter’s Tongue to Draw Invaders to Your World:

1.  Open your menu and go to your inventory or multiplayer section.
2. Select the Taunter’s Tongue and use it.
3. Wait for Bloody Finger or Recusant invasion.

What Are the Rewards When You Win in PvP?

Defeating an Invader, killing the host, or defeating your duel enemy, grants runes based on the defeated player’s level. In addition to this, they’ll also gain Rune Arcs, which can be consumed to power Great Runes. Simple enough.

What Are the Community Standards in PVP?

As of right now, the Elden Ring PvP community doesn’t have a set community standard for PvP yet. The game’s still new after all and people are still discovering builds and combinations for PvP. However, it’s usually a good idea to follow the already established unspoken rules on previous Souls Games. These are created so that everyone can have a sort of enjoyable time invading or being invaded. Hopefully, these still apply on Elden Ring, but here are 3 of the rules in question:

1. Don’t gank invaders with your summons: It’s true that some players just want to get on with their Elden Ring life and don’t want to get invaded. However, it’s a bit rude to just up and gang on the invader either. Especially since they’ll be on their own against 2 or 3 of your friends. Anyhow, if you’re invaded, just go at them one by one. Eventually, they’ll run out of Crimson and Cerulean tears and you can kill them easy.
2. Use a gesture before and after your fight with an invader: It’s just common courtesy. People in Souls PvP usually have a code of honor on them that they follow. Usually. Still, it’s a good idea to do a gesture, usually a wave or a bow, before a fight to show you’re there to fight fair. In Elden Ring’s case, this is especially relevant since Duelists are now a thing due to the Duelist’s Furled Finger.
3. Don’t hit players while they’re buffing: Like Rule #2, it’s just common courtesy. You want to give the enemy player a fair chance at the fight after all. And besides, this also gives you the chance to buff your character for the fight. Fair’s fair.

Suggested Level Before Doing PvP

First off, Elden Ring is still coming out of its first month. Thus, the game’s weapon meta is still young and forming. Although, there are a few things that seem to be pretty strong for their current levels and we’ll talk about those later. For now, though, we need to talk about recommended levels.

When playing Elden Ring PvP, it’s usually a good idea to have your preferred stat at the Soft Cap. This means that a stat needs to be at a minimum level of 55 if you want to do optimum damage. For example, in most of the games, katanas use Dexterity. Thus, if the player wants to run the Uchigatana weapon, they need to have, at minimum, 55 Dexterity for the soft cap scaling. The same is true for the rest of the game’s offensive stats like Intelligence, Strength, and Faith.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you have to neglect your other stats. If the player’s Vigor stat is low, they’ll have less HP. But, if their Mind stat is low, they’ll have less FP, meaning they can’t spam Weapon Arts or spells more frequently. If they have low Endurance, they can’t equip heavier armor. In addition, their Stamina will be low, meaning, fewer actions are done.

Another thing to take note of is the current level of the player’s weapon. Players can improve a weapon’s level by spending some runes and smithing stones on a Blacksmith. Specifically, either Smithing Master Hewg on Roundtable Hold, or Smithing Master Iji near Caria Manor. Iji is of particular interest as he also sells unlimited Smithing Stones. This allows the player to buy as much as they want to improve a lot of their weapons for either PvE or PvP.

6 Most Enjoyable PVP Builds

Now that we’ve talked about how you can Co-Op and PvP on Elden Ring, let’s talk about the best builds to use to do PvP. 3 of these builds emphasize status effects, one deals with magic, while the last 1 is just mean. Without further ado, let’s start.

Bleed Build

The Bleed Build is pretty simple in practice: You want to bleed your enemies to death. Bleed, alongside Scarlet Rot, are two of the greatest status effects in the game when it comes to PvP. In Bleed’s case, it’s because of the instant percentage damage when it procs.

There are several ways to do this build, but the best way is to abuse katanas. Any katana would do, but Hand of Melania and Moonveil (which is a beast of its own) are the top contenders. The Uchigatana is a good offhand weapon to have because players can infuse it with another Ash of War to combine with the other two weapons. In particular, putting Bloodhound’s Step on the Uchigatana gives players incredible evasion due to it being Shunpo from Bleach.

PS: Combining Bleed with Poison or Scarlet Rot through the use of the Serpentbone Blade or the Rotten Crystal Sword respectively is evil. Don’t do this, only villains do this.

UPDATE:

A new tweak to the Bleed Build is by using the Godskin Peeler. This weapon is dropped by a boss and is twinblades that have the ability to have their ashes of war changed. Equip both weapons with the Seppuku Ash of War. Then for the armor, you’ll need the White Mask and the Raptor’s Black Feathers chest piece. Then for Talismans, you’ll need the Winged Sword Insignia, Claw Talisman, and Lord of Blood’s Exultation. The main strategy of this build is to buff both weapons via the Ash of War and then due to the peeler’s insane power stance jump attack, you’ll be able to hit your opponents 4 times in one go. The Talismans and armor pieces increase jump attack damage, damage via blood loss in the vicinity, and successive attacks. One or two jumping L1 or LB attacks can cause a massive bleed proc.

Scarlet Rot Build

Next on the list is the Scarlet Rot build, which is the very definition of Evil. Scarlet Rot is a status effect that deals damage over time based on enemy HP. There are many ways to proc this, but depending on your style of play, the Rotten Crystal Sword, Antspur Rapier, or the Rotten Breath spell can do the job. The Scarlet Rot build can also be combined with other status ailments like Bleed or Poison for even more damage.

Do note though that Scarlet Rot can be cleansed by using Preserving Boluses and the Flame, Cleanse Me spell. As per usual, leveling up your weapon to until +10 or +15 in addition to having good talismans is essential to victory.

Icerind Hatchet Build

The Icerind Hatchet is one of the best weapons in the game primarily due to its Weapon Art: Hoarfrost Stomp. The Weapon Art gives the Frostbite status ailment, which not only deals a huge amount of damage but also reduces their stamina recovery and damage absorption.

The last two are especially important due to stamina dictating what actions the player can do. Reduce stamina recovery, and the enemy player wouldn’t be able to counter your moves effectively. Meanwhile, the damage absorption reduction can increase the damage you deal with them, killing them faster. Of course, proper talisman and Great Runes can elevate this to a whole new level.

Take note that due to the latest patch, this build has been weakened due to nerfs to hoarfrost Stomp, however, it is still viable.

Intelligence/Faith Build

The next thing on this list is the Intelligence/Faith Builds, which makes a massive comeback after being almost nonexistent on previous Souls games. In Elden Ring though, these builds are pretty viable, with even the basic spells like Glintstone Pebble having good damage and cast speed. Meanwhile, Faith builds now have incantations like Greyoll’s Roar, and Placidusax’s Ruin as their greatest weapons.

Combine this with talismans and a good weapon like the Sword of Night and Flame? And you’ll have a strong build for PvP. Well, you can also just spell sling in general. It may not be meta, but it’s a really fun time all told.

Moonveil Build

Last is the Moonveil, which is one of the earlier weapons you can get in Elden Ring if you know where to look. However, the sheer power that it has makes it one of the best builds for PvP. For one, it’s a katana, and thus, deals Bleed and Blood Loss when enough hits are dealt. In addition to this, it also has some scaling with Intelligence a bit of Strength. A combination of Dexterity, Intelligence, and a bit of Strength in the stats can lead to great things happening.

However, its greatest use is on its Weapon Art: Transient Moonlight. This Weapon art makes it so you can fire a magic slash towards your enemy. A really big note here: the sword slash that fires the magic slash can also deal damage in combination with the magic slash. Meaning, if the player is close enough, they can deal double the damage in addition to a pretty hefty addition to the posture meter. Once the enemy posture is destroyed, you’ll leave them vulnerable to a critical hit.

Overall, the Moonveil is one of the best weapons not only in the base game but also if you’re fighting on PvP. Just watch out for players that have the rest of the builds here. Although, you can combine Moonveil with Bleed builds as well.

Try Out PvP in Elden Ring Today!

Overall, Elden Ring’s PvP meta and community are still forming due to the game just coming out last month. Thus, everything hasn’t been scaled down yet. From Software went with the adage “If they’re all overpowered, nothing’s overpowered” when designing some of the weapons. It makes sense if you’re looking at the game from a player vs. enemy perspective, but on player vs. player, this often leads to shenanigans.

However, the game has a good base on the PvP system. In addition, it’s a certainty that a system similar to Dark Souls 3’s Fight Club will form within Elden Ring. After all, Duelists are now a thing, so a system where the Duelist will defeat 2 other players before they fight the host can be done. It’s all pretty exciting seeing this unfold, and hopefully, it’ll continue developing in the months, and even years to come.