I sampled 100 low level invaders: results, data, and conclusions

[ressenmacher]

Part 1: Introduction and definitions:

Introduction:
This post contains the results of a project I have been working on for several months now: sampling 100 low level invaders to get data on what proportion are twinked, what they used, how stable the experience was, and various other factors. At 50 invaders, I made a preliminary post and altered my study based on the feedback I received. At this point, I removed two categories (cosplay vs noncosplay and holding back vs not holding back) due to their highly subjective nature, and began to try and take screenshots of the invaders to have as proof that I didn’t simply make the whole thing up. I hope you find my results interesting and/or valuable, so let’s get into it.

Methodology:
I created Samurai starter class character and leveled them and their Uchigatana to SL 30 +3 while staying within Limgrave (you can view my build here). I then used the Taunter’s Tongue to open myself to invaders and fought them, recording information about each invader after the bout finished. I did not summon either phantoms or hunters, and began invasions near (and usually fighting) groups of enemies to give the invader the option of using mobs.

What is a twink? How I defined it:
In general, the Souls community defines a twink as a player who has gone through most of the game/significantly farther in it and acquired later-game items and gear while intentionally maintaining a low level for the purposes of engaging in multiplayer with players who have not progressed as far as them. Obviously, “most of the game” or “significantly farther ahead” is a little hard to pin down in something as freeform as ER. For the purposes of classification, I list any player using equipment, items, or Ashes of War obtained outside of Liurnia, Limgrave, and Caelid as a twink. While it would probably be fair to include late-Liurnia and most of Caelid too, I decided to try and err on the side of caution.

Part 2: Summary and Conclusions

Summary:

General:
Out of 100 invaders, 66 were twinks and 34 were not. I had 139 invasions, of which 94 were twinks and 45 were regular players. I won 16/86 twink invasions (18.6% win rate) and 19/45 nontwink invasions (43.18% winrate), and had 8 matches with a disconnection, draw, or lack of combat where neither party won. Additionally, I’ve long been curious regarding what proportion of twinks were operating at the high end of how powerful twinking can make players. My semisubjective take is that 19 were in the high end range of how powerful twinks could be (invaders 2, 7, 8, 10, 15, 23, 25, 26, 36, 43, 44, 46, 48, 52, 54, 63, 78, 95, and 97), with the mechanical strength to be overwhelming even for groups of level appropriate players. Against this specific subset, I had a winrate of only 3/19 (15.79%), two coming from one player who specifically swapped down to less powerful equipment in later matches.

Weapon and AoW Popularity:
The most popular twink weapon was the Antspur Rapier, with seven users (~10% of the twink population). Other popular weapons included the Godskin Stitcher, Black Bow, and Nagakiba. Of the Ashes of War, Flame Strike, Carian Retaliation, and Poison Mist were most common.

Technical Issues:
Technically, I experienced 12 matches with a player so latent they stopped animating at some point, 7 disconnections, 4 crashes (2 so bad that I had to manually shut down and restart the computer), 1 instance of a softlocking bug that forced me to forcequit and reopen the game, and 1 cheater. In total, in the span of 139 matches I had 25 major technical issues interfere with my experience (that is, about 18% of the time there was a major issue in an invasion).

Invasion Rate:
Time wise, I spent almost exactly 17 hours doing this, with two or so of those spent gearing and exploring. Obviously this is not a great estimate of invasion rates, as I am using the Taunter’s Tongue and tended to get off if activity was very slow, but during active periods this comes out to about one invasion every 7.3 minutes on average. It was incredibly variable, though; there were times when I just sat there and saw no activity for twenty to thirty minutes, and others where it was absolutely nonstop.

Conclusions:
1: Twinks are very abundant at RL 30 +3, and have a significant impact on the balance and experience of multiplayer at this level.

2: Twinks are on average significantly more powerful than level appropriate invaders, losing to me only half as often as did nontwink builds. I believe that this is largely due to five mechanical factors rather than twinks being more skilled than nontwinks:
-1: Twinks were more likely to use Scarlet Rot and Poison
-2: Twinks were more likely to buff their weapons or to use self-buffing weapons like the Dragon Halberd or weapons infused with Flame Strike. Due to how flat defense interacts with split damage at low levels, this meant they often dealt widly outsized damage in these cases
-3: Twinks took less damage on average because they had better flat defenses in many cases due to stat boosting talismans inflating their effective level.
-4: Twinks often had more and more highly upgraded flasks, which produced large disparities in how much healing each player had available
-5: Twinks generally had broader weapon and Ash of War selections, and swapped weapons more frequently in combat.

3: Most twinks were not actively rude or malicious, but most also did not make any real effort to try and limit the strength of their build.

4: In general, there was a correlation between how strong the twink build had been made and how rude the player running it was. Put simply, I think that in general the sweatiest twinks were also those who were most clearly twinking to try and grief by picking on easy targets.

5: Elden Ring’s technical and mechanical stability is absolutely awful. I had a major technical issue (crash, disconnect, unfightably latent opponent) that effectively ruined a match around 18% of the time, and this doesn’t even include the cases of fighting extremely latent opponents who didn’t skip animations at some point or dealing with more minor bugs like the backstab issue seen on invader 81.

Part 3: Data part 1:

Notes: If I managed to take a picture of that invader, it’s linked on their number. Yes, I would love to put this all in a table, but I puked just looking at the formatting I would have to do to get that operational. If you can figure it out, I’ll gladly edit the post to include it.

Invader Number 1
Twink: N
Weapon Setup: dual Knight’s Greatsword
W/L: N/A
Occurrences: 1
Notable other: Early into the fight, the game crashed so hard that my PC struggled to recover windows. Worst crash of the entire experience.

Invader Number 2
Twink: Y
Weapon Setup: unknown shortbow with Serpent Arrows, Trina’s/Sleepbone Arrows, Spark Aromatic
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable other: Poison built in 3 shots, sleep in 2/3. Incredibly latent in our second fight.

Invader Number 3
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Bloodhound’s Fang + Samurai armor
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable other: incredibly latent player

Invader Number 4
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: naked with a Jar Helmet. Wielded a Jar Cannon + explosive lightning bolts, and various throwing pots up close.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable other: first teabagging of the experience

Invader Number 5
Twink: Y
Weapon Setup: dual wing of Astel, or WoA + Coil Sheild
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable other:

Invader Number 6
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: dual uchi or uchi + buckler, knight armor
W/L: W (Oc 1)
W/L: Disconnect (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable other:

Invader Number 7
Twink: Y
Weapon Setup: Blood infused Antspur, offhand Pully Crossbow with Sleepbone Bolts. In Blaidd’s armor with the Jar Helmet. Used Lightning and Roped Lightning urns.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable other:

Invader Number 8
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Black Bow lightroller in a dress. Inflicted Scarlet Rot and Poison with pots, used nothing but Sleepbone/Trina’s arrows (procced in 3 hits, so probably sleepbone). Used a Crimsonwhorl Bubbletear. Added Spark Aromatic and Explosive Stone Clumps in second encounter.
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable other: Continually teabagged during the fight and after. In the second encounter, toyed with me and teabagged during sleep procs until I backstabbed them for attempting to use an ESC and then managed to pressure them; at that point, reverted to rot and poison pot stacking.

Invader Number 9
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Lightning infused Nagakiba, Brass Sheild w Carian Retaliation. Wore Omensmirk Mask + Blaidd’s armor. Utilized Spark Aromatics.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable other: Continued to parry spam even after being backstabbed for it.

Invader Number 10
Twink: Y
Weapon Setup: Dual Hoslow’s Petal Whip (cold infused) w RotM, or Nakinaba. Inflicted Scarlet Rot with throwing pots. Used a Grave Scythe (lightning infused) with Determination/RKR + Rot Pots + Spark Aromatic for our second encounter.
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable other: Incredibly latent player in both encounters.

Invader Number 11
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Blood-infused greatsword (couldn’t tell which) with Bloody Slash. Wearing Scale Armor.
Occurrences: 1
W/L: W
Notable other:

Invader Number 12
Twink: N
Weapon Setup: Uchi with Spinning Slash, wearing Knight armor.
Occurrences: 1
W/L: W
Notable other:

Invader Number 13
Twink: N
Weapon Setup: Zweihander. Wearing a mix of godrick knight and soldier pieces.
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable other: Refused to fight initially, just stood there and turned their back to me. Very odd.

Invader Number 14
Twink: Y
Weapon Setup: Godskin Peeler with Lightning Slash. Wearing Fia’s dress.
Occurrences: 4
W/L: W (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
W/L: L (Oc 3)
W/L: L (Oc 4)
Notable other: The lightning buff on the four-hit GSP running light attack resulted in something insane like 300-400 damage.

Invader Number 15
Twink: Y
Weapon Setup: Antspur (poison infused) + Pulley Crossbow (rotbone bolts, shot even when affected by rot already, which suggests duping to me given how much of an asspain butterflies are to farm). Wearing Mausoleum Knight set.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable other: very rude, pointed down post-fight and threw ♥♥♥♥

Invader Number 16
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Vyke’s + scaled armor (Istvan’s stuff, not the Scale Armor set that can be accessed early)
Occurrences: 1
W/L: L
Notable other:

Invader Number 17
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Soldier of Godrick cosplay (LSGS, Arbalest, Brass Sheild, etc.)
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable other:

Invader Number 18
Twink: Y
Weapon Setup: Halberd (Flaming Strike), after I healed dual Antspur Rapiers.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable other:

Invader Number 19
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: broadsword and some bad medium shield. Confessor gear.
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable other:

Invader Number 20
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Katana, lighning pots, jar hat, Blaidd armor
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable other:

Invader Number 21
Twink: Y
Weapon Setup: shortbow w serpent arrows, trina’s/sleepbone arrows, Spark Aromatics. Maybe also crab.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable other: This is the third person with more or less this exact build.

Invader Number 22
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Snow Witch Hat + Deathbed Dress. Perfumer’s Sheild w Carian Retaliation + Misericordé, swapped to Claymore w Flaming Strike. Used paired Scavenger’s Dual Swords (frost infused) in second encounter, swapping to Nagakiba upon beginning to lose.
W/L: W (Oc 1)
W/L: W (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Other notable: incredibly latent player

Invader Number 23
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: dual fire-infused Spiked Spears, Uplifting Aromatic, Rot Pots
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Other Notable: Incredibly latent player

Invader Number 24
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Marika’s Hammer, Golden Order Seal
W/L: L
W/L: L
Occurrences: 2
Notable Other: projectile-summoning hacker; just about crashed my game while instakilling me. Did not do so in our second encounter, and did not heal when we both got low on HP either. Bizarre player; I wonder very much what was going through their mind.

Invader Number 25
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Mushroom Crown, Antspur (blood infused) + Frozen Needle.
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable Other:

Invader Number 26
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Banished Knight Helm + unknown armor, dual Antspur (one blood, one Frost). Switched out entire armor set to Greathelm + I think Scaled Armor, and weapons to Great Epe/Rift Sheild in our third encounter. Wielded a Zamor Curved Sword in fourth encounter.
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
W/L: W (Oc 3)
W/L: W (Oc 4)
Occurrences: 3
Notable Other: pointed down on me in our second engagement, probably because I had gotten the better of them at the start. Then in our third engagement, swapped out entire equipment set to be less powerful and refused to heal against me (though I also did not chug). First invader to have visibly swapped down to less powerful weaponry.

Invader Number 27
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: BHF, Claymore with RotM
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 28
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Vyke’s + Royal Remains. Seal with Frenzied Burst.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: Just based on the damage difference, I strongly suspect this player was a twink. Erring on the side of caution though.

Invader Number 29
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Dual-Uchi (fire infused + Flame of the Redmanes), Land of Reeds Set
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 30
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Carian Knight set + sword, iirc Carian Scepter
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 31
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Uchi, Banished Knight Helm, Beast Crest Shield
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 32
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Crescent Axe (Determination) and crossbow w Sleepbone Bolts + Exile garb. Used Poisoned Stone Clumps, Sleep Pots, Sleep Grease, and rot pots.
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 33
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Nomadic Merchant garb + Frenzyflame Seal. Uses Shabriri’s Howl, Unendurable Frenzy, and Inescapable Madness.
W/L: N/A (win?)
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: Cosplay character I actually encountered in a TT run prior to this testing. This time, I took a hint from the name “buy my wares” and dropped runes, at which point the player dropped items and severed out. Prime example of twinking used to facilitate build creativity.

Invader Number 34
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Nagakiba (lightning), Beast Champion Gauntlets and Greaves. Naked otherwise.
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 35
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Fia’s Dress, Reduvia
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: I was doing 40-odd damage with a standard light katana attack. 40. Even without the bleed I was losing a trade against a dagger while using a katana. Utterly bonkers how strong stacked flat defense + probably meeting someone on the upper end of your bracket can be at low levels.

Invader Number 36
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: dual Naginata (frost infused, Spin Sweep), Banished Knight Helm + Scale Armor. I strongly suspect a Soreseal + a +5 talisman based on how pathetic my damage was.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 37
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Beast Champion armor, pike, sword and Magma Roundshield
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: Draw (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable Other

Invader Number 38
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Boggart’s mask, Commoner garb, Blaidd’s Leggings and Gauntlets. Bloodhound’s Fang w Bloodflame Blade
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: incredibly latent player

Invader Number 39
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Godskin Sticher (poison), Fungal Crown
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 40
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Istvan’s set, lightning Uchi + offhand Falchion.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: Very interesting weapon setup.

Invader Number 41
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Scale Armor, Hookclaws, some seal (buffed claws with Poison Armament)
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 42
Twink: Y (used Recusant finger)
Equipment Setup: Vyke’s + Royal Remains
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: Not the same player as 28.

Invader Number 43
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Jar helmet + unknown armor, dual Banished Knight Halberd w Flaming Strike
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: A prime example that a player limiting themselves in some respects does not necessarily make a fight fair. Though they didn’t heal, I was doing about ½ to 1/3rd of their damage at a rough health parity.

Invader Number 44
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Halberd (Storm Assault), Finger Seal (Catch Flame), armor with Bullgoat Greaves, Crimsonwhorl.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 45
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Bloodhound’s Claws, Black Wolf Mask + Blaidd’s Armor
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 46
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: dual dragon halberd, Alberich’s Robe + some pieces I didn’t recognize. In occurrence 2, used the same until they began losing, at which point they rapidly swapped between dual Scavenger’s, dual Naginata, and a spear (probably a mistaken hardswap). Also began using Spark Aromatics.
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable Other: Did the “neither of us heals” quasi-duel until I got the upper hand in our second engagement. Then the gloves came off. Also, very latent in second encounter.

Invader Number 47
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Miquellan Knight’s Sword, Buckler (Carian Retaliation), Misericordé, Nox Mirrorhelm, some armor I forget. Also used a seal with Gurranq’s Beastclaw once.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: parried something like 8 times over the course of the fight. Finally landed one and dealt 70%ish (750-800) of my 33-vig health bar in one hit, killing me instantly.

Invader Number 48
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Godskin Sticher (Fire infused, RKR or Determination), Okina Mask + Veteran Armor
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: It’s easy to forget how much standing poise matters until you can’t tank a hit and your opponent can.

Invader Number 49
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Claymore (Storm Blade), Ruler’s Mask, All-Knowing Armor
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 50
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: dual Reduvia, black mask, some light armor
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

(Note: because the list is so long, I need to attach the second portion as a comment)

[ressenmacher]

Data: Part 2:

Invader Number 51:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Partisan, Black Sun Sheild, seal with Catch Flame, Blackflame Monk armor + altered Nox helm.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 52:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Omensmirk Mask + unknown armor. Wielded a Rotten Duelist’s Greathammer (stamp: uppercut), threw volcano pots.
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: severed out after I drained five Estus + dispatched some mobs that got involved. I think the only example so far where the skill difference was enough to overcome someone truly twinked to the hilt.

Invader Number 53:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: started with the Red Branch Shortbow and Sleepbone Arrows, switched to dual Noble Slender Swords (lightning infused) when that failed, switched then to Great Epé. Wore Black Mask and Raptor’s Black Feathers.
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: Very latent player.

Invader Number 54:
Twink: Y
Cosplay/Creative: N
Held Back: N
Equipment Setup: dual Pike (frost infused w Carian Arch) + Omensmirk Mask and Draconic Tree Sentinel armor.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: A great example of the sort of “unintentionally destructive” twink: this player wasn’t rude and bowed after we finished fighting, but because they healed in addition to their standard advantages they were essentially insurmountable as an opponent.

Invader Number 55:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Albinauric set + dual curved greatclubs (Flaming Strike)
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader Number 56:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: naked save for the prisoner’s helm, used a broadsword with Storm Stomp and a Brass Shield with Golden Parry
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 57:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Halbed with Flaming Strike or Great Epé, Commoner’s Garb, Lightning Pots
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: didn’t get a picture of this one; fight too hectic.

Invader 58[http//58]:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Greatlance (determination), Scaled Armor, Crimsonwhorl.
W/L: W (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable Other: began faffing about with a two-handed shield after I was reduced to very low HP, which ended up getting them killed. Unsure if overconfident and trying to get a cool kill or intentionally going easier. Did not use Crimsonwhorl in the second fight, and swapped down to maiden set, though began dual wielding greatlances.

Invader 59[http//59]:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: dual Chainlink Flails, Veteran Armor
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen a flail in PvP

Invader 60:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Haligtree soldier helm, scaled greaves, unrecognized armor. Uchigatana with Flaming Slash, fire infused.
W/L: W (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable Other:

Invader 61:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Uchigatana + Marred Leather Shield. Imp Mask (wolf) + unknown armor
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 62:
Twink: Y
Cosplay/creative: N
Held Back: N
Equipment Setup: Zwei (Lightning Slash), Tree Sentinel armor, Rotten Breath
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: might have won this one if I hadn’t knocked my mouse off the desk and spent the whole fight trying to pick it up.

Invader 63:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Initially a shortbow with rot/sleep arrows, then a pulley crossbow with rot bolts, then nightrider glaive, then dual spiked spears. Armor was Raptor’s Black Feathers + Scaled Greaves + Black Mask.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: most infuriating invader of the experience. Also, fourth person to be running this build.

Invader 64:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Twinned daggers (poison + bleed), leather armor with Black Mask
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: highly latent player

Invader 65:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Twinsage Glintstone Crown, Buckler (Carian Retaliation), Zweihander
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: from the name, they were RL 9 +0.

Invader 66:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Scaled Armor, Guardian’s Treespear (fire infused), Dragon Communion Seal w Catch Flame
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable Other:

Invader 67:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Kaiden Helm, Godrick Soldier chest, Beast Crest Shield, Uchigatana
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 68
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Twinned Helm, Hoslow chest and other pieces. Black Knight Glaive w Lightning Ram
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:


Invader 69:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Shamshir and Scimitar, Reduvia, Crimson Hood, naked otherwise
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 70
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Knight set with Dragon Halberd
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 71:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Black Wolf Mask, Troll’s Sword (Lion’s Claw), Zamor Set.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: really enjoyed this fight

Invader 72:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Okina’s Mask, Nagakiba, Tree Sentinel Armor, max flasks
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 73:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Jar Helm, Jar Shield, Godskin Sticher (Poison Mist) into Grave Scythe
W/L: Draw (technically, they died before I did, but the damage got sent through a few seconds later and killed me too)
W/L: L (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable Other: Extremely latent player. Barely animated at all over the course of the fight.

Invader 74:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: leather armor, Misericorde (lightning infusion)
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: very sporting

Invader 75:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Torchpole, some headrags, naked otherwise
W/L: W (and thank God, because I’d be damn embarrassed otherwise)
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

[ressenmacher]

Data: Part 3:

Invader 76:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: rags, great epé (Poison Mist), Volcano Pots
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 77:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Guilty Hood, Warpick (Beast Roar), Glaive
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: Strongly suspect they had gear dropped. Came apart like wet paper, no flat defense or strong heals to speak of.

Invader 78:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: naked with Jar Cannon, switched to Dragon Halberd in third encounter
W/L: N/A (opponent severed out) (oc 1)
W/L: N/A (opponent severed out again) (oc 1)
W/L: L (oc 3)
Occurrences: 3
Notable Other: Severed out the first two times after taking one shot at me. Very rude in third encounter, continually pointed down after victory. I get the impression that this is one of the twinks specifically looking to smash in new players. Took astonishingly low damage despite a complete lack of armor (70ish from Uchi 2H lights).

Invader 79:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Scav curved sword (Quickstep), I think Blaidd’s armor, Silver Tear Mask, Staff of the Guilty, Dragon Communion Seal. Cast Bloodboon and thorn sorceries
W/L: L (oc 1)
W/L: L (oc 2)
W/L: N/A (oc 3) (got disconnected instantly upon loading in)
W/L: N/A (oc 4) (“”)
W/L: N/A (oc 5) (“”)
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: very impressive at quickstep backstabs

Invader 80:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Prisoner Helm + Scale Set. Glintstone Staff and some straight sword.
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 81:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Godskin Stitcher + offhand Rapier. Black Knife armor.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: had two infuriating cases of a bug where this invader hit me just as I landed a backstab on the Godrick Knight, which caused the damage to fail to register.

Invader 82:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Preceptor’s and Alberich’s mix, Moonveil, some staff
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 83:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Scale Armor with Banished Knight’s Greatsword (Storm Stomp)
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 84:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: unknown armor, Scaled Greaves, Morningstar (Flame Strike), seal with Catch Flame
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 85:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: leather armor, dual Broadswords (lightning infused)
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 86:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Ensha’s Set, Grave Scythe (cold infused), Misericordé (lightning infused).
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 87
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Regalia of Eochaid + Lordsworn Straight Sword. Knight set.
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 88:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Dragonscale Blade, naked otherwise
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: Incredibly latent player. Took more than a minute to successfully spawn into the world.

Invader 89:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Glaive (Stormcaller), Fingerprint Set
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 90:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Twinsage Crown, unknown spear (maybe Clayman’s or Death Ritual?), Banished Knight Shield (Carian Retaliation), Glintstone Staff
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 91
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: unknown, save for Recusant’s Finger
W/L: N/A (disconnected instantly upon loading in)
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 92:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Hero set with Omen Cleaver (Flame of the Redmanes)
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 93:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Hero set with Dragonscale Blade, some other katana, Meteorite Staff. Used Volcano Pots.
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 94:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: foot soldier armor + Glintstone Staff and an unknown shield
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 95:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Malenia’s Set + Anstpur (cold infused)
W/L: L (Oc 1)
W/L: N/A (returned to their world shortly after loading in) (Oc 2)
Occurrences: 2
Notable Other:

Invader 96:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Maiden robes/dress + Duelist Greaves?, two daggers (lightning infused, BHS)
W/L: W
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: Highly latent player

Invader 97:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: Kaiden set + Black Hood, straightsword with Flaming Strike, Giantsflame Take Thee
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other: very rude player

Invader 98:
Twink: Y
Equipment Setup: dual falchions (Bloody Slash), then dual thrusting swords (Raptor of the Mists). Knight armor.
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 99:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Meteorite Staff, Deathbed Dress, Renalla’s hat, unknown shield
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable Other:

Invader 100:
Twink: N
Equipment Setup: Mausoleum Knight set, Grave Scythe (Sword Dance), Opaline Bubbletear
W/L: L
Occurrences: 1
Notable other:

[Fineous🔥]

And not a single eclipse sotel or Fia mist was given this day....pathetic.

Good read.

[Koala 4peace]

Man/woman/both , i do respect your dedication for research.

[Dr.Abscondus]

Nicely done. Fromsoft should pay you for this study, but I don't think they care that much about invasions.

[Fineous🔥]

Originally posted by KaifWizard:

This is what happens when you refuse to go outside to touch some grass. :3079o_o:

Well i guess you go a lot outside but no grass to touch near your bridge, just rocks. Following that logic you touch and eat rocks.....yay?

Sucking as intended.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2887589481

Didnt wanted to kill him, now now picture doing this to a human, after sleeping him. They just dont know what Fia mist is and the eejits will try to block the sotel ha.

[vaanomega]

Is it a new "study" or is it the same as the older one ?

[Majrick]

Exhaustive study and exhausting to read, now I only have to remember how to identify the guy while he is beating the crap out me.

[ressenmacher]

Originally posted by vaanomega:

Is it a new "study" or is it the same as the older one ?

It's the same study with additional data and some changes to the methodology I used.

[vaanomega]

Originally posted by ressenmacher:

Originally posted by vaanomega:

Is it a new "study" or is it the same as the older one ?

It's the same study with additional data and some changes to the methodology I used.

Ok, i though it was exactly the same because a lot of things reminded me of the older one, especially part 3, now i know why

[CazadorDeLobo]

Technical Issues:
Technically, I experienced 12 matches with a player so latent they stopped animating at some point, 7 disconnections, 4 crashes (2 so bad that I had to manually shut down and restart the computer), 1 instance of a softlocking bug that forced me to forcequit and reopen the game, and 1 cheater. In total, in the span of 139 matches I had 25 major technical issues interfere with my experience (that is, about 18% of the time there was a major issue in an invasion).

My conclusion is this: ♥♥♥♥ that. This is a joke. 2022 and we're playing like it's 2007 PS2 online.

[ressenmacher]

Originally posted by CazadorDeLobo:

My conclusion is this: ♥♥♥♥ that. This is a joke. 2022 and we're playing like it's 2007 PS2 online.

It will forever to amaze me that FROM multiplayer has survived this long without basic industry-standard features like ping filters, region-based matchmaking, or dedicated servers.

[zero]

cross platform would save the multiplayer of soulsborne

[vaanomega]

Originally posted by ressenmacher:

Originally posted by CazadorDeLobo:

My conclusion is this: ♥♥♥♥ that. This is a joke. 2022 and we're playing like it's 2007 PS2 online.

It will forever to amaze me that FROM multiplayer has survived this long without basic industry-standard features like ping filters, region-based matchmaking, or dedicated servers.

if internet access continue to evolve like it is doing right now, region based would be almost useless for some games, the Ping between France and the US is already half of what it was years ago
When i was using a modem in the early 2000's in france, i had around 50ms for EU servers, and 120 for US server
Today from france, it's more like 5 to 10 ms in EU, and between 50 to 80 ms US servers, and 50 to 80 ms is pretty playable, it became annoying at 100+, especially in action games

But we will need that all countries are equiped in the same way to have a stable connection between everyone

[CazadorDeLobo]

Originally posted by ressenmacher:

Originally posted by CazadorDeLobo:

My conclusion is this: ♥♥♥♥ that. This is a joke. 2022 and we're playing like it's 2007 PS2 online.

It will forever to amaze me that FROM multiplayer has survived this long without basic industry-standard features like ping filters, region-based matchmaking, or dedicated servers.

Because nobody wants to argue for better netcode and we're in a toxic, defeatist community of fanboys, more than likely IMO. Except for me! I'll say what needs to be said. I can only hope that people can commit more than 2 brain cells to what I have to input and can get behind the idea that this is among the WORST multiplayer experiences(without seamless mod) out of all of the modern big titles containing multiplayer, and is especially worse than previous entries due to the inclusion of EAC.

Particularly, the netcode present I believe hasn't been vastly upgraded in any way since 2001.