Elden Ring Co-op: How to Play With Friends Step by Step

Elden Ring co-op lets a host bring up to two other players into their world, and the easiest way to play with a specific friend is to set the same Multiplayer Password, have them place a gold sign with the Tarnished's Furled Finger, and use a Furlcalling Finger Remedy to see and accept it. The session lasts until the area boss dies or the host dies, Torrent is disabled while guests are present, and invaders can still show up. Below are the items you need, where to find them, the exact menu steps, and the rules that catch most new co-op groups out.

We checked this guide against Bandai Namco's official introduction to the multiplayer system, the Fextralife multiplayer page, the Elden Ring wiki on wiki.gg and the latest patch notes in November 2026.

How Co-op Works in Elden Ring

Bandai Namco's own multiplayer guide sets the limits clearly: a host can have up to two cooperative guests at a time, and a single multiplayer session holds at most four players, which leaves room for an invader. Co-op is built around the host's world. Guests arrive as golden phantoms, help with an area or boss, and return to their own world when the job is done. There is no persistent shared campaign where two players progress side by side through the whole story.

That design shapes how you play together. Both players need to be in roughly the same area, near the same Site of Grace, for a sign to show up. A guest keeps full access to their own inventory and can gather materials and enemy drops, but the world and its quest progress belong to the host. If you both want a boss cleared in your own worlds, you take turns hosting.

The game is built for it, though. Nearly every boss arena has a summoning pool nearby, and the official guide describes them as small stone crucifixes. Using a Furlcalling Finger Remedy next to one shows any signs placed there, including signs from strangers who sent theirs out with a Small Golden Effigy.

The Multiplayer Items You Need

All the essential co-op items are in the first few hours of the game. Fextralife lists where each one comes from:

• Tarnished's Furled Finger (reusable). Places your gold co-op summon sign. You find it in the Stranded Graveyard, past the first Site of Grace, so every character has it almost immediately.
• Finger Severer (reusable). Sends yourself home or dismisses a guest. It sits in the Stranded Graveyard alongside the Furled Finger.
• Furlcalling Finger Remedy (consumable). Reveals co-op and hostile signs so the host can summon. You craft it from two Erdleaf Flowers.
• Small Golden Effigy (reusable). Sends your co-op sign to summoning pools across the map so other hosts can call you. Fextralife places it in Limgrave, west of The First Step.
• White Cipher Ring and Blue Cipher Ring (reusable). The white ring asks for a hunter's help when you are invaded, and the blue one lets you answer those calls. Both cost 1,000 runes each from the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold.

Keep a stack of Erdleaf Flowers on hand. The remedy is the only consumable in that list, and running out halfway through a session is the most common reason a group stalls. If you are not sure where your group should start, our Elden Ring boss order guide lists the recommended level for every major region, which helps you pick fights that suit both characters.

Playing With a Friend: The Password Method

Random summoning matches players by level and weapon upgrade, which makes it hard to find a specific friend. The Multiplayer Password solves that. Open the main menu, go to the Multiplayer tab and set a password, and have your friend enter exactly the same one. The official guide notes that it is case sensitive. Once it is set, you only see the golden and red signs of players using that password.

1. Both players set the same Multiplayer Password from the Multiplayer tab of the main menu.
2. Both travel to the same area, ideally the same Site of Grace.
3. The guest uses the Tarnished's Furled Finger to place a gold sign on the ground.
4. The host uses a Furlcalling Finger Remedy, finds the sign and interacts with it to summon the guest.
5. When the work is done, the guest leaves with a Finger Severer, or the session ends on its own after the boss.

The password also removes level and weapon upgrade matchmaking. According to wiki.gg, an over-leveled guest is scaled down to fit the host's world, while an under-leveled guest is not scaled up. In practice, a strong friend can still help a newer player, just without trivializing every fight.

There is a second setting called the Group Password. The official guide says it gives priority to players with the same group password when summoning and invading, then falls back to the general pool if none are available. Wiki.gg adds a perk: when a group-password member defeats a Shardbearer or reaches the credits, others using that password get a 5% rune boost for five minutes.

The Rules of a Co-op Session

Several limits apply as soon as a guest joins, and they surprise players every time:

• No Torrent. The host cannot ride the Spectral Steed while hosting.
• No fast travel. Warping between Sites of Grace is blocked until all guests leave.
• Fewer flasks for guests. Guests arrive with half their usual flask count, rounded down, and refill some by defeating enemy groups, Crimson Tear Scarabs and invaders, per wiki.gg.
• The host is the anchor. If the host dies or disconnects, the session ends for everyone, and the host's death does not refill anyone's flasks.
• Bosses end sessions. Defeating a boss or mini-boss closes the session. Guests need to place a new sign to join again.

Guests do get paid for their time. The official guide lists runes, a Furlcalling Finger Remedy and a Rune Arc as the rewards for a successful cooperative session, which makes helping strangers a decent way to restock remedies and Rune Arcs.

The rules make sense once you see them as the game's way to protect the host's world. Plan your session around one area at a time: travel there solo on Torrent, rest at the closest grace, then summon. And if you are working through the final bosses together, read our breakdown of the six endings first, because only the host's choice at the end counts.

Invasions, Hunters and Keeping the Peace

Summoning a cooperator opens your world to invaders, and a password does not stop them. Wiki.gg explains that an invader can join once the host has summoned a cooperator or used the Taunter's Tongue. The invader's goal is to kill the host before the host beats the area boss or passes a dungeon boss's fog.

If you want help when that happens, wear the White Cipher Ring. After an invader arrives, it calls in a hunter, a player wearing the Blue Cipher Ring, to fight on your side until the invader is defeated. Two cooperators plus a hunter is a lot of pressure for a lone invader. If you would rather fight invaders than avoid them, the Taunter's Tongue from Mad Tongue Alberich in the Roundtable Hold invites them in even without a co-op partner.

Invaders also follow their own rules. The official guide says they arrive with halved flasks, are ignored by monsters and bosses, and get a Phantom Bloody Finger that can be used 10 times to reach the host.

Versions, Platforms and Other Ways to Team Up

As of November 2026, Elden Ring is on patch 1.17.2, released on 20 October 2026 for PlayStation, Xbox and Steam, and Bandai Namco says that update is required for online play. If a friend cannot see your signs, check that you are both on the latest version first. On Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo's listing says online play requires a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership; our Switch 2 Tarnished Edition guide covers that version in more detail.

There is also a reason to summon this month. Bandai Namco is running Community Quests, shared challenges that track large in-game totals such as summoning, collecting or upgrading items. The third questline, Path of the Elden Lord, runs from 2 to 28 November 2026, and the fourth, Path of Shadows, runs from 1 to 28 December. Progress updates are posted in the official Elden Ring Discord server.

Finally, if your group wants something designed from the ground up for three players, there is Elden Ring Nightreign, a standalone game built around three-player co-op runs. Our Nightreign Remembrances guide explains how its character stories work and why they are easier to finish when you invite friends directly.

Topping Up Runes Before a Session

Co-op is more fun when both characters can handle the same areas, and a big level gap is the most common problem in friend groups. If one of you needs to catch up, the store's Elden Ring runes service is an option. Per its product page, the runes are dropped in-game for you to collect, no account information is needed, and delivery is same day after the team emails you.

It covers PlayStation, Xbox and Steam. You can check the details on the Elden Ring runes service page or see everything else in the Elden Ring section of the store.

Frequently Asked Questions