Elden Ring gives you three kinds of help in a fight: other players, NPC cooperators who appear as golden summon signs, and spirit ashes. Each one changes a boss fight in its own way, so learn the rules before you ring a bell or touch a sign.
Summoning other players
Online play runs on finger items and Summoning Pools. The item you’ll use most is the Furlcalling Finger Remedy, which you can craft from Erdleaf Flowers (see our crafting guide). Our Summoning Pools guide explains how to activate the pools, find signs and place your own.
These are the other multiplayer items to know. Each item page explains what it does:
- Co-op: Tarnished’s Furled Finger, Small Golden Effigy, Finger Severer
- Duels and invasions: Duelist’s Furled Finger, Small Red Effigy, Bloody Finger, Festering Bloody Finger, Recusant Finger, Taunter’s Tongue
- Help against invaders: Blue Cipher Ring, White Cipher Ring
Invasions
Other players can invade your world. White Mask Varré even gives you five Festering Bloody Fingers and asks you to use them to invade other players. There are plenty of scripted NPC invasions too. Mad Tongue Alberich, for example, invades you at the Roundtable Hold. The Volcano Manor questline turns this around and sends you to invade NPCs such as Juno Hoslow.
NPC summons (cooperators)
Lots of named characters will help you with a boss if you find their golden summon sign near the arena. A few things to know:
- Their signs show up without a Furlcalling Finger Remedy.
- If you’re the one who killed a character, their sign won’t appear. If the boss kills them, they aren’t gone for good.
- Once the boss is dead, they go back to their own world and their sign stops appearing.
- Summoning an NPC gives the boss more HP and cuts the runes you get for the kill by 25%.
| Cooperator | Boss | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Sorcerer Rogier | Margit, the Fell Omen | None |
| Nepheli Loux | Godrick the Grafted | Exhaust her dialogue in Stormveil Castle |
| Old Knight Istvan | Demi-Human Chief | None |
| Blaidd | Bloodhound Knight Darriwil | Exhaust his dialogue at Mistwood Ruins |
| Yura | Flying Dragon Agheel | Talk to him, make the dragon appear, then talk to him again |
| Castellan Edgar | Leonine Misbegotten | Deliver Irina’s Letter to him at Castle Morne |
| Alexander | Fire Giant | Free him from the ground twice |
| Millicent | Godskin Apostle | Give her the Valkyrie’s Prosthesis |
| Melina | Morgott, the Omen King | Bring her to the Erdtree |
| Great Horned Tragoth | Draconic Tree Sentinel | None |
| Many characters, including Patches and Finger Maiden Therolina | Starscourge Radahn | Depends on the character |
| Redmane Freyja | Divine Beast Dancing Lion | None |
| Needle Knight Leda | Rellana, Twin Moon Knight | None |
| Sir Ansbach | Promised Consort Radahn | Progress his questline |
Spirit ashes vs. player summons
Spirit ashes are the offline option. You need the Spirit Calling Bell and you have to be near a Rebirth Monument. Those are mostly placed next to boss arenas and areas packed with enemies. Most ashes cost FP or HP to call, only one can be out at a time, and you get one per fight: if your spirit dies, you can’t call it again.
The big plus is that, unlike players and NPC cooperators, spirit ashes don’t raise the boss’s HP or make the fight harder. The catch is that you can’t use them in multiplayer. To make your ashes stronger, read Upgrading Spirit Ashes, and for Shadow of the Erdtree, Revered Spirit Ash.
Messages
Even when you play solo, messages keep you connected to other players. You write them with the Tarnished’s Wizened Finger, and every time someone rates one of your messages, you get some HP back.