So this is a big decision which most people would rather keep on, but if you're too uncomfortable with PVP or aren't confident enough for it, you can turn it off. But keep it mind, it will take away important aspects of the game.

To turn it on/off, go into settings upon starting the game, select matchmaking, and make sure it's set to on/off. This will allow for summoning friendly and helpful phantoms, (players), to aid you in progressing and fighting bosses. But beware, it also allows for evil phantoms to invade you occasionally.

However, before doing any of this, go to github/nexus and download the BlueSentinels mod for DSIII so protect yourself from hackers and malicious players since those cùnts are on the rise again for whatever reason.

Yeah so just like always lock on to enemies unless however there's a horde OR multiple players in PVP cuz it gets confusing.

First off, it's pretty much common sense to analyze your enemy and see what your up against. Take note of their weapons, armor, movement, speed, and behavior to determine their fighting style. This applies to enemies, bosses, and players.



Obviously, general combat tip is try and stay behind any enemy to get in a sneak attack critical or to get the jump on them with the first strike to immediately gain the advantage if possible. Any strong heavy attack to stagger will also help to get a bit more damage in before they can heal or retaliate.

If this option is not available to you, attempt to play in a defensive position. Whether you are using a shield or just rolling, keep your distance and only attack when there's an opening. Use this opportunity to understand your combatant's attacks/playstyle and to find their weaknesses and strengths.

For example: Say you're being invaded/invading and your opponent uses a greatsword and swings 2-handed which makes their attacks more vertically oriented. This allows you to flank to the sides and attack to catch them off guard. You can use a smaller, faster swinging weapon to stagger them once they've wasted their stamina attacking or if you've successfully found an opening. Though longer weapons such as greatswords and such have great length, go figure. So long weapons will be equally matched and you'll both have a fair match if you know how to use them.

If you don't have the time to play defensively or your enemy is relentless, you can play offensively. Close the space and don't give your opponent a chance to estus or recover from your attacks. Try rolling and immediately attacking afterwards to counter one of their attacks or use the same strategy with backstepping.

If you want to be annoying and R1 spam, be my guest. Just be aware this can and will get you parried easily. Always try and be spontaneous and throw in some heavy attacks into the mix to confuse and stagger your opponent further. Not letting your opponent know your next move will benefit you greatly and increase your odds of survival.

Feeling weak and can't seem to do nearly as much damage as you feel like you should be? Easy fix. Make sure you never forget to visit the CHAD blacksmith and upgrade your weapons. I recommend you upgrade the main weapons you will be using once or twice and use up those titanite shards and whatever that you get literal hundreds of to give you that nice edge you've needed.

However, try to only invest most upgrades towards 2-3 weapons, as quantity of much more rare materials will become scarce. Things like twinkling titanite and titanite scales are not the easiest to find unless you farm in Archdragon Peak.

A very tricky process that, if done wrong, can make your weapon worse. Certain gems work tremendously well with others, and others are hot trash. Faith and intelligence builds with favor chaos, simple, crystal, and blessed gems. People who love big ass weapons and get up close and personal, just like with your mom, would prefer heavy and sharp gems. If any mistake is made, a shriving stone is all that's needed to reverse the weapon into the state it was in before.

A very crucial way to communicate with friendly and even hostile phantoms, is through emotes. You'll want to keep a good variety of emotes in your quick emote bar to effectively communicate with other spirits and socialize without using text or voice, which the game does not provide. (Technically, the game has voice chat, but nobody ever uses it. So emotes will be your best form of communication.)

I recommend at least a point, sit, joy, and greeting of some sort. These will provide the basic and best communication with other players.

While not the easiest thing to master unless you're religiously playing, a few tricks will take you a long way in Dark Souls 3's PVP.

A very good thing to note is when being invaded/invading, do NOT, and I cannot stress this enough, do NOT use a shield. That is the fastest way to get your shiny ass handed to you on a platter with a side of souls.

It may easily block hits from normal enemies, but in PVP, all it will do is drain your stamina with repeated hits and leave you vulnerable, or you'll get kicked and critical hit, most of the time immediately dying. Not to mention, some may block all physical damage from attacks, but will not fully block elemental damage.

Now unless you are completely precise and feel like taking the time to prefect your parries with a shield that can, you can completely ruin someone's day.


I would personally advise that when attacking in PVP, if you're rocking a greatsword, ultra greatsword, hammer and other large/longer weapons, I recommend 2-handing it for that extra damage if you're only focusing on one person at a time, or a 1v1. With any more players thrown into the mix of your brawl, 1-handing will be useful for a wide sweeping attack. Shorter weapons such as straight swords, axes, spears, etc. should be 1-handed with a shield in the left hand, or a talisman, pyromancy, wand, or whatever the hell you feel like using. 2 handing has different movesets however, and short weapons can still be used 2 handed with more damage, but are often times slower and use more stamina.

Another thing I would recommend is lowering your equip load as low as possible without sacrificing defense as much as to dodge and recover faster. This allows for effective counter attacking and back attacking. Keeping it below 70% will keep your rolls faster and longer. Any over and it will cause you to roll slower and only a short distance. Oh yeah and also having heavier armor on like the knight armor causes your footsteps to be amplified and allows for enemies to hear you easier, so keep that in mind if you're trying to be a sneak.

In-game footage of having negative equip load:

Unless you are God himself, fighting certain bosses can be a major pain in the ass, especially to do alone. This is why we will need to summon some phantoms to help with this task. (amogus)


To find phantoms, (friendly or hostile), you must first be embered. You can become embered through killing a boss, purchasing embers from the handmaiden at the shrine and other vendors, looting embers from enemies, killing a host, or by finding them around the world. Use the ember to increase your health and open your world up to players.

You can have up to 2 other spirits in your world, not including invading spirits. You can increase this limit by 1 for both friendly/evil phantoms by using the dried finger, which can be bought from the handmaiden for 2000 souls, (assuming you haven't killed her on accident or on purpose.) You can have up to 2 invading spirits the wiki says, but I've had up to 3 at times.

Once you have them all with you and accounted for, you, (the host), must enter the arena first through the fog wall to allow the others to follow and assist you. Like I said before, some bosses can absolutely wring you out with no effort, so I advise staying behind or under them at all times.

Some phantoms may be absolute braindead morons who jump off a cliff and die before you even enter a boss arena. Not to mention, when you summon phantoms, a boss will have increased health, increasing more and more with each phantom you summon. So do keep this in mind if even your strongest attacks don't seem to be doing much to the bosses.

I hope this helped you out a bit cuz I wrote this at like 2 in the god dayum morning and yeah ik it was short I'll add more if i feel like it or if anyone adds anymore useful info

Kanye West

If someone can kill the Demon Prince alone with nothing but Siegward's Shield I will send you $500 in robux.
what the f̶̰̅̕͝ṳ̷̇̓̒̄̉ͅc̴̫͖̦͒͂̄̄͝k̶̳̿̌̉ someone actually did it