Online is a gameplay mode in Elden Ring. Bringing in aspects of cooperative, casual competitive play along with Invasions. Multiplayer mainly takes on two distinct forms, there is the standard variant, which is spontaneous and variable in intensity and complexity and then there is Arena Combat.
Multiplayer roles[]
| Role | Description |
|---|---|
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 Host of FingersThe Host of Fingers serves as the anchor-point of the session. They decide when to begin, and the session cannot continue once the host is either dead or has disconnected from the servers. Their primary goal is to defeat a boss; once the boss is defeated, the session will automatically end. Items: Furlcalling Finger Remedy, Finger Severer, Taunter's Tongue, Blue Cipher Ring. |
|
 Furled FingerThe Furled Finger acts as an ally for the host. Their primary goal is to help the Host defeat a boss. Items: Tarnished's Furled Finger. |
|
 HunterWhen an invader has arrived in the world of the Host of Fingers, through the use of the White Cipher Ring, the host can automatically summon a Hunter to assist in the battle against the adversary. The Hunter's mission will be complete when the invader has been vanquished. Items: White Cipher Ring. |
|
   InvaderThe Invader has the ability to forcibly join the Host's session once the host has either successfully summoned a cooperator or used the Taunter's Tongue. The Invader's goal is to defeat the host before the host either defeats an overworld boss or traverses a dungeon boss's mist. Invaders are categorized as either Bloody Fingers or Recusants. Items: Bloody Finger, Recusant Finger, Festering Bloody Finger. |
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 DuelistThe Duelist is willingly summoned by the host. Their goal is to defeat the host in combat. Items: Duelist's Furled Finger. |
Matchmaking[]
For the sake of balance the game will primarily search for guests that are within a certain radius of the Host's character level as well as and the highest upgraded weapon the players has ever obtained. It does not matter if said weapon has been stored or even discarded, even if the player has completely removed access to said upgraded weapon the game will still count that weapon's level to their matchmaking radius.
| Player Level Restrictions | ||
| Host of Fingers | Furled Fingers (Min - Max) | Invaders (Min - Max) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 - 11 | 1 - 1 |
| 2 | 1 - 12 | 1 - 2 |
| 3 | 1 - 13 | 1 - 3 |
| 4 | 1 - 14 | 1 - 4 |
| 5 | 1 - 15 | 1 - 5 |
| 6 | 1 - 16 | 1 - 6 |
| 7 | 1 - 17 | 1 - 7 |
| 8 | 1 - 18 | 1 - 8 |
| 9 | 1 - 19 | 1 - 10 |
| 10 | 1 - 21 | 1 - 11 |
| 11 | 1 - 22 | 1 - 12 |
| 12 | 1 - 23 | 1 - 13 |
| 13 | 2 - 24 | 1 - 14 |
| 14 | 3 - 25 | 1 - 15 |
| 15 | 4 - 26 | 1 - 16 |
| 16 | 5 - 27 | 1 - 17 |
| 17 | 6 - 28 | 1 - 18 |
| 18 | 7 - 29 | 1 - 20 |
| 19 | 8 - 30 | 1 - 21 |
| 20 | 8 - 32 | 1 - 22 |
| 21 | 9 - 33 | 1 - 23 |
| 22 | 10 - 34 | 2 - 24 |
| 23 | 11 - 35 | 3 - 25 |
| 24 | 12 - 36 | 4 - 26 |
| 25 | 13 - 37 | 5 - 27 |
| 26 | 14 - 38 | 6 - 28 |
| 27 | 15 - 39 | 7 - 30 |
| 28 | 16 - 40 | 8 - 31 |
| 29 | 17 - 41 | 9 - 32 |
| 30 | 17 - 43 | 10 - 33 |
| Weapon Level Restrictions | |||||||
| Min Guest Weapon Level | Host Weapon Level | Max Guest Weapon Level | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| +0 | +0 | +0 | +0 | +3 | +1 | ||
| +1 | +4 | ||||||
| +2 | +1 | +5 | +2 | ||||
| +3 | +6 | ||||||
| +1 | +4 | +7 | +3 | ||||
| +2 | +1 | +5 | +2 | +8 | |||
| +3 | +6 | +10 | +4 | ||||
| +4 | +7 | +3 | +11 | ||||
| +5 | +2 | +8 | +12 | +5 | |||
| +6 | +9 | +13 | |||||
| +6 | +10 | +4 | +14 | ||||
| +7 | +3 | +11 | +15 | +6 | |||
| +8 | +12 | +5 | +17 | +7 | |||
| +9 | +13 | +18 | |||||
| +10 | +4 | +14 | +19 | ||||
| +11 | +15 | +6 | +20 | +8 | |||
| +12 | +5 | +16 | +21 | ||||
| +12 | +17 | +7 | +22 | +9 | |||
| +13 | +18 | +24 | |||||
| +14 | +19 | +25 | +10 | ||||
| +15 | +6 | +20 | +8 | ||||
| +16 | +21 | ||||||
| +17 | +7 | +22 | +9 | ||||
| +18 | +23 | ||||||
| +19 | +24 | ||||||
| +20 | +8 | +25 | +10 | ||||
Flasks[]
For the sake of balancing, multiplayer alters how many flasks charges different players have and how these charges are replenished based on what role said player is currently in. The Hosts of Fingers will keep their maximum flask count and guests will have their flasks charges cut by half of what it usually is in their own world. If a guest's flask-count is an odd number in their own world then it will be rounded down to an even number when visiting another host's world, so if a guest wants to maximize their flask-count they should try to allot both of their flasks into an even number whenever possible.
| Sacred Flask Restrictions | |
| Hosts | Guests |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| 1 | |
| 2 | 1 |
| 3 | |
| 4 | 2 |
| 5 | |
| 6 | 3 |
| 7 | |
| 8 | 4 |
| 9 | |
| 10 | 5 |
| 11 | |
| 12 | 6 |
| 13 | |
| 14 | 7 |
Replenishing Flasks[]
Allies can have their flasks replenished from vanquishing enemy groups, killing Crimson Tear Scarabs and defeating Invaders. Meanwhile Adversaries will have their flasks replenished from the death of any other player, whether it be a Furled Finger, Hunter or even a fellow Invader. The death of the Host of Fingers does not replenish flasks however as it will end the session anyway.
Arena Combat[]
- Main article: Arena Combat
- Duel
- United Combat
- Combat Ordeal
- Combat with Spirit Ashes
Passwords[]
Located in it's own designated Multiplayer menu. Passwords are used to isolate potential connections and make it easier for specific players to connect with each other.
Multiplayer Password[]
Hosts who have inserted a multiplayer password may only be able to see the Summon Signs of players who have the same password and likewise the Summon Signs of a Guest with a password can only be seen by Hosts carrying the same password.
This option also completely removes Player-Level and Weapon-Upgrade-based matchmaking, allowing vastly under-leveled or over-leveled guests to join a host's world. Over-leveled guests will have their stats reduced in an attempt of preserving game-balance, though the effectiveness of this down-scaling varies greatly based on the Host's level compared to the guest and what kind of build the guest is using. Under-leveled guests do not get their stats scaled upwards.
Group Password[]
Players can have a total of five active group passwords at a time. They do not influence the matchmaking system in any way and only serve as a means of letting players know that a Player Phantom, Message, Bloodstain or Summon Sign came from someone carrying the same Group Password. Players accomplishing a significant feat of progression in their own game will also let everyone carrying the same group passwords as them know of this feat while at the same time distributing a rune-boosting buff to those same players.
Passive Features[]
Online has a number of passive features that are present at all times and require no direct input from the player to appear. These features include:
Player Phantoms[]
Spectral afterimages of other players exploring and interacting with the world in their own game. The moments captured are mere recent short recordings of their journey and are not quite real-time.
Outside of being a reminder than in some way one is never truly alone in the adventure, these momentary glimpses into the lives of other players may directly assist the person witnessing them in revealing potential secrets such as a seeing a phantom appear just as it walks through an Illusory Wall that the witness wasn't initially aware of themselves.
Messages[]
Players may leave messages comprised of differing combinations of preset words and phrases to either assist, deceive or lighten the mood of any other player who may come across them and read them.
Should a message leave a strong enough impression for the reader to rate them Good or Poor, either option results in the writer (should they be playing at the moment of rating) receiving a decent chunk of their HP healed.
Bloodstains[]
Bloodstains appear at the location of a player's death. They are five second recordings of their last moments before being forcibly sent back to a Sites of Grace.
[]
Should someone with a group password either defeat a Shardbearer or reach the Credits screen in their playthrough, every other player who shares the same group password as them will receive a buff that increases the amount of Runes received from fallen enemies by 5% for five minutes.
Options[]
- Cross-Region Play
- Perform Matchmaking:
Makes it possible to play with other players from across the world with no region-based restrictions. - No Matchmaking:
Disables the user's ability to play with other players outside of the their own designated region. The size of these regions vary greatly, as some may contain several countries at once like America, Europe or Africa, yet the singular country of Japan gets their very own region.
This feature is greatly reduced on PC as it effectively only has two regions it can group players into; Japan and everywhere else.
- Send Summon Signs
- Enable:
Prevents one's own summon signs from appearing in worlds with an Adversary present. - Disable:
Allows one's own summon signs to appear in worlds with Adversaries present.
- Voice Chat
This option is absent on the PC version of Elden Ring.
- Allowed:
Enables in-game voice chat. - Restricted:
Disables in-game voice chat.
- Display Player Names
Controls what name will appear above the health bars of other players. This option absent on the PC version of Elden Ring.
- Character name:
Displays the name that player chose for their character on the in-game Character Creation screen. - Online ID:
Displays the player's PSN or XBOX username/gamertag.
- Launch Settings
This setting controls whether the game automatically attempts to log-on to the official Elden Ring Online servers after crossing the "PRESS ANY BUTTON" prompt on the title screen.
- Play Online:
- Play Offline:
This option is automatically set to "Play Online" at the start of a new profile, meaning players who have a functioning connection but are adamant to play specifically in Offline mode need to manually set it to "Play Offline" then either make a character first then quit to return to the title screen or turn the game off then boot it back up again. Starting the game in Offline mode adds a "LOG IN" prompt amongst the "CONTINUE", "LOAD GAME" and "NEW GAME" options on the main menu.
