Dark Souls 3 Guide: How to Coop and Use Summoning for Multiplayer

Dark Souls 3 is a game that most people will play all by themselves. Exploring caves, castles, and dungeons. Battling monsters and giant bosses. It’s all a ton of fun, but can be even more fun if you bring other players into the mix. Whether it’s a tough boss, or just because you don’t want to face the monsters of Dark Souls 3 alone, playing coop can really liven up the game. But, like many things in Dark Souls 3, the multiplayer mechanics aren’t totally explained to new players, making it tough to figure out exactly what to do, and how it all works. So, here’s our guide on how to coop and summon other players in Dark Souls 3.

First off, you need to decide on which method of coop multiplayer you are going to use. You can either join someone else’s game, or have them join yours. If you are looking to join someone else’s game then you’ll need a White Sign Soapstone, which can be bought in the Firelink Shrine from the old woman. Once you have it, you will use this item to write white symbols onto the ground. These will then show up in other players’ games, and they can read them to summon you into their world.

There is still something to consider when using this method. If you want to join a specific person, then you can put a password onto your summon symbol. Do this, draw the symbol in an easily seen and agreed upon area, and tell your friend the password. This is done in the menu, not when you actually draw the symbol, so hit Start and go to Settings, then Network, and you can set the password there.

Now, what if you want to stay in your world, and bring someone into it with you? Well, you can always have your friend copy the method above, but the real fun is in finding new friends and summoning them into your Dark Souls 3 adventure. First up, you cannot perform summoning if you have beaten the boss in the area. The major point of summoning and playing coop is to help you in a pinch, so if the boss is dead there is simply no point as far as the game is concerned. In fact, even if you do summon someone for some coop Dark Souls 3, they’ll be sent away after finishing with the boss.

Secondly, you need to be in Ember form. This means that you have either used some Ember or beaten a boss and haven’t died since. If you’re like most players, you spend 90% or more of your time not in full Ember form, so you’ll want to use some Ember whenever you want to pull someone in for some coop Dark Souls 3. Once you are in full Ember form you should start seeing the white summon signs around the world. Just go up to them and read them to pull someone into your Dark Souls 3 session. If you or your friend dies they are sent away and the session ends, so be careful. To do this manually you can use the Black Separation Crystal.

A couple of things to keep in mind though. Your levels and even your weapon upgrades cannot be too far apart to summon each other. This isn’t a huge problem for random players, but for friends, make sure you aren’t way above or below them in capabilities. Also, if you joined a Covenant, that can mess things up if you are in different ones. Remove the Covenant rings you are wearing and see if it helps.

For more tips and tricks for Dark Souls 3, check out our Beginners Guide.