The Art of Crushing Hosts: An Expert‘s Guide to Elden Ring Invasions

As a Souls veteran with over 500 hours invading in Dark Souls 3, I was eagerly awaiting FromSoftware’s next evolution of hostile multiplayer. And Elden Ring delivers beautifully, retaining signature invasion mechanics while innovating in cool ways fitting for an open world. There is so much strategic depth if you really want to become a master invader and ruthlessly torment hosts trying to progress.

In this advanced deep dive guide, I’ll share expert insights on optimizing your build, domination strategies and everything in between that contributes to invasion success. PvP might not be for everyone, but for us crazy red phantoms, nothing beats the adrenaline high of crushing groups by yourself. Let’s get into it!

How Elden Ring Invasions Work

If you’ve played previous Soulsborne games, the basics should be familiar. Using Bloody Finger items enables you to invade solo hosts or co-op groups as a dark spirit adversary:

Festering Bloody Finger – Consumable for one invasion

Bloody Finger – Infinite use, acquired from White Mask Varre questline

You’ll be matched to player levels (+/-10) and weapon upgrades close to your own. The goal is to defeat the host by any means. New mechanics like Taunter’s Tongue make opting into solo invasions easier too.

However, dedicated PvP covenants don’t really exist anymore. And while invasions can occur almost anywhere, they tend to cluster around specific zones. Understanding level ranges and hotspots is key!

Where & Who To Invade in Elden Ring

Here are common level brackets and locations to aim for when gearing up for invasions:

I’ve found Level 90 +12 Somber to be my favorite sweet spot. Your fully-optimized PvP build with top tier ashes and talismans prey on PvE builds but avoid truly min-maxed Meta ganks.

And zones like First Step grace or Zamor Ruins offer condensed spaces with great environmental kill potential through falls and scarlet rot. Understanding these nuances takes time but drastically improves success. Now let’s get into more juicy strategy!

Mastering the Mindsets & Tactics for Domination

PvE and PvP require totally different mindsets in Souls games. Most enemies have predictable patterns you can exploit after dying enough times. But human players adapt, think outside the box and gank in deceitful ways. Here are the core philosophical tenants I operate by when embarking on invasions:

Embrace Villainy – Do Whatever It Takes to Win

Don’t approach invasions with a sense of honor or fairness. Use every dirty trick and exploit imaginable without shame. The tools are there to infuriate others, so relish in the darkness! Some of my favorite techniques include:

• Hiding behind PvE enemies so the host agros them
• Sniping with ranged attacks and quick swapping to melee aggressively
• Exploiting terrain and level geometry against lone hosts to easily backstab
• Using Carian Retaliation glitches to one-shot phantoms with invisible projectiles
• Equipping Beast Repellent Torch in offhand to cheese BHS users

I could dedicate a whole separate guide to dirty tricks alone. But the key is analyzing every loss and thinking “how can I be more annoying here”. Throw away integrity and embrace wicked creativity!

Love Fan Mail – Both Praise & Salt Replies

Whether I crush a lone host in seconds or narrowly defeat a 3v1 gank squad through bloody persistence, I make a point to message my victims after. The reactions run the gamut from praise at my skillful tactician playstyle to absolute salt at my lack of honor:

I just laugh while they seethe at my play. Their misery sustains me! But some are also gracious at admitting defeat against a formidable opponent. Just remember invasion psychology – people HATE feeling impeded and losing progress. So expect salt but don’t take it personally.

Persist Through Brutal Loss Streaks

Some nights the Gods bless you with one incredible clutch after another. Other times, it feels like facing twinked gankers over and over, crushing your soul slowly. This illustrates the high variance of invasions – you can quickly alternate between euphoric highs and depressing lows.

During cold streaks, take breaks to untilt mental if needed. Review recordings to see improvement areas. But ultimately, persistence through pain breeds long-term success. The most lethal invaders endured salt and humiliation before reaching glory. You’ll get there too!

Optimized Build Framework For Domination

While the core fundamentals above enable mental domination, we need an optimized character build as the vessel delivering pain to hosts. These are the go-to templates I recommend based on hours of testing:

Level 125 Quality

• Vigor: 60 (1900 HP)
• Mind: 15 (100 FP)
• Endurance: 25+ (100+ Stamina)
• Strength: 40
• Dexterity: 40

Balances damage and survival allowing use of most non-magic weapons. Has poise to not get staggered.

Weapons: Bandit Curved Sword, Nagakiba w/ Seppuku, spears

Ashes of War: Quickstep, Bloodhound Step, Sword Dance

Armor: Bull Goat Set or combo w/ poise >51

Level 150 Mage

• Vigor: 40 (1400 HP)
• Mind: 60 (300 FP)
• Dexterity: 18
• Intelligence: 80
• Endurance: 25+ (100+ stamina)

Glass cannon caster with high damage spells, faster cast speed and FP pool. Still packs a melee punch.

Weapons: Darkmoon Greatsword, Bastard Stars

Spells: Stars of Ruin, Rennala’s Full Moon, Ancient Death Rancor

Armor: Twinsage Glintstone Crown, Raptor’s Black Feathers

Advanced Tactics to Dominate Ganks

Facing multiple opponents requires expert spacing, target prioritization and psychology exploitation. Here are some next level techniques I employ in group invasion scenarios:

Create 1v1 Scenarios: Constantly break line of sight using the environment and tight corners. Even briefly isolating one phantom builds advantage.

Kill Summons First: Phantoms tend to be overconfident in groups. Punish reckless attacks then eliminate them early.

Obscure Ring + Hidden Body: Turns you invisible to get the drop on teams. Combine with rapport pyromancy for chaos.

Mine Terrain: Master level geography intricately. Funnel groups into enemy packs or environmental kill zones.

Exploit Fear: Holiday once an opponent flees at low HP. Others often panic-chug estus or misposition when separated.

Look Completely Helpless: Sometimes I strip down naked and act like a clueless hollow. Groups get cocky and reckless which enables comebacks.

Capitalize On Overconfidence: No matter how coordinated groups seem at first, they eventually make mistakes. Stay vigilant for that one punish opening you need.

Tank & Spank: If outnumbered by ultra weapons, sometimes tanking hits while relentlessly attacking works shockingly well. Just don’t get staggered.

And while not always reliable, having a pocket madness build ready for ganks is an absolute blast. Getting a 3-man sleep proc and following up with unseen form + taunter’s tongue is maximum disrespect!

Through long practice, you develop an intuitive feel for how to systematically break down groups. Creativity rules the day. And even if you don’t fully succeed, making co-op squads panic and cripple their flasks makes victory bittersweet.

Why Players Love & Loathe Invasions

As mentioned earlier, people feel strongly on both sides of the invasion debate. But we all owe thanks to FromSoftware for pioneering such brilliant hostile multiplayer integration.

The Host Perspective

For solo or co-op focused players, invasions force anxiety and feel like disruptions hindering real progress. It’s easy as a veteran to dismiss this frustration. But remembering what it was like as a clueless noob changes this outlook.

In a sense, invasions feel unfair because the odds can feel stacked against hosts unprepared for PvP. And if they lack technical skills or knowledge themselves, a skill gap creates misery instead of fun competition. Dying to environments or bosses feels more justifiable since those challenges stand static and learnable.

Of course, this inflames emotions and causes salt. Looking underneath the toxicity though, fear and wounded pride usually lie underneath flare ups. Great invaders learn to brush harsh reactions off while sympathizing at core human drives causing them. You’ll enjoy the experience more this way.

The Invader Perspective

Contrast the above against the sheer Euphoria skilled invaders feel crushing groups alone. tops anything AI fights deliver. Outsmarting real thinking opponents through skillful play and dirty tricks provides a rush and sense of power unmatched in cooperative play.

And because humans adapt in ways mobs never can, it forces growth from us red phantoms as well. Innovation becomes mandatory, preventing stagnation over hundreds of hours. This cycle promoting creativity and quick thinking is why PvP has incredible retention year after year.

There is also great camaraderie among faithful invaders who connect online or at fight clubs. We share our most glorious victories along with our most humiliating defeats. Bonds over bloodshed unify us in unique ways.

Ultimately FromSoft’s invasion integration provides tremendous replay value incentivizing mastery across multiple dimensions. I wouldn’t still be playing without this essential threat keeping the Lands Between feeling dangerous!

Parting Words Of Encouragement

If you feel intimidated about trying invasions yourself or hit walls of frustration, know that we all went through it. Fear and doubt plague each of us at times even after hundreds of hours invested. Mastery comes slowly at first.

But gradually the mechanics click, creative boldness displaces hesitation and you start persevering through any challenge hosts can throw at you. Let every loss fuel your motivation towards greatness.

Soon you‘ll stand triumphantly over bloodied co-op squads who once mocked your feeble attempts. Relish in the hatred flowing from defeated groups. And most importantly, have FUN!

Now get out there, become the monsters that haunt host nightmares and LEARN the art of invasion devastation! See you sinister phantoms in the blood-soaked Lands Between…