Elden Ring coop and multiplayer allows you to explore and fight bosses with friends, using summon signs and the Golden Effigy to communicate online. This is a different system to the one used for NPC Elden Ring Summon, as it requires a couple of extra hoops to send those invitations and bring players across online.
The important thing to remember is that the Elden Ring coop multiplayer system is somewhat restrictive and certainly focused, designed to direct all the Tarnished towards a specific target, usually a local boss fight. With that in mind, here's how to play Elden Ring coop and multiplayer with friends, what it does, along with penalties and advantages alike.
Playing coop multiplayer with friends in Elden Ring
To play Elden Ring multiplayer with friends, players will need to jump through a few hoops first, as coop has its own limitations to set up. Elden Ring online multiplayer has one player act as a "Host of Fingers," and everybody else then joins their world as a phantom player, effectively assisting the host with whatever it is they're doing.
- To play with friends, you'll both need internet connections on your consoles/computers (and whatever subscription service you need for online play, such as PS Plus).
- Once you do so, you both then need to open the game menu and scroll down to "Multiplayer".
- Once there, select "Settings" and enter a Multiplayer Password. It can be anything, but as long as you and your friends both enter it correctly and it matches, that's all that matters. These passwords effectively ensure that you'll only see each other, not the millions of other players.
- Now this is done, any person who isn't going to be the host should use a special item marked in the multiplayer menu called the Small Golden Effigy. Aka, everybody except the person who needs help with a boss fight or difficult area should do this. This will prompt a message that says "Sending Co-op sign to summoning pool".
- If you don't have the Small Golden Effigy, head back to the very first area just outside the Stranded Graveyard, looking down at the Tree Sentinel. It'll be there leaning against the area's Martyr Effigy. Speaking of which…
- The person who is the host then needs to find a small statue called a Martyr Effigy, specifically in the area they need help with. These are small, common statues with arms outstretched, usually found at the entrances to dungeons or outside boss arenas.
- Interact with it to open the summoning pool, revealing a symbol that'll allow you to summon your friends who have used the Small Golden Effigy with matching passwords. You should now be able to bring them in!
How Elden Ring coop works
Players brought into Elden Ring as coop golden Phantoms aren't quite as powerful as they were in their own world. They have half the number of Flasks that they normally would and their stats are generally weakened so as to stop two high-level players from stomping all over the bosses for their lower-level friend.
Coop also is triggered with a specific goal in mind - aka, the boss of the area. Wherever the Host triggers the Martyr Effigy, that effectively makes the whole thing a mission. For example, if the hosts bring players into Stormveil Castle, the goal is to destroy the Castle boss, Godrick the Grafted. Once this is done, the mission is over and Phantoms are sent back to their own games.
How many people can play coop in Elden Ring?
Elden Ring coop supports up to three players at a time; one Host of Fingers and two golden Phantoms to support them. It's also not cross-platform, so players won't be able to brawl with buddies on other consoles or computers.
How to be summoned by random players in Elden Ring
For players who are happy to be summoned by anybody, they can use a multiplayer menu item called the Tarnished's Furled Finger, right next to the Small Golden Effigy. This simply places down a gold symbol where the player is standing, one that appears in random players' games and can be triggered by them.
However, these symbols can't be seen until the potential host uses an item in that menu called the Furlcalling Finger Remedy - they're invisible and unusable until they do. So if you want to summon allies, use the Furlcalling Finger Remedy and you'll see symbols left by those who used the Tarnished's Furled Finger. Good thing these names are so simple.
How to unlock coop multiplayer in Elden Ring
From what we can tell, Elden Ring coop multiplayer unlocks in Elden Ring upon completion of the tutorial, leaving the Stranded Graveyard into the grassy realm of Limgrave and the Lands Between. However, we don't recommend triggering it yet - multiplayer coop is based around objectives and you should be generally exploring in those first few hours. Still, look around for Martyr Effigies and keep note of them so you know where you can draw upon allies in a pinch.
