Soul Memory serves as a pivotal online and gameplay mechanic within Dark Souls II, playing a crucial role in the interconnected world of online multiplayer. This dynamic feature essentially acts as a ledger, meticulously tallying the total number of Souls a player has acquired throughout their journey. The fundamental principle governing Soul Memory is its role in matchmaking. The system ensures that players with comparable Soul Memory are paired together, fostering in theory a balanced and engaging multiplayer experience. In essence, if you've amassed a high Soul Memory, you'll find yourself engaging with other players who share a similar level of accomplishment in their soul-collecting endeavors.
For those seeking multiplayer adventures, having similar Soul Memory Range becomes imperative. This means that to partake in cooperative or competitive gameplay with fellow souls, your accumulated Soul Memory must align within a compatible range.
Soul Memory Tips in Dark Souls 2
What is Soul Memory used for in Dark Souls 2?
Soul Memory is the cumulative total of all the souls gathered on a character. In this game, it is part of the formula that sets the minimum and maximum range for interactions between players online (co-op and invasions).
This is, for example, to prevent a player of a certain level that is close to the end of the game from invading/doing co-op with a player of the same level that might be still in the first areas of the game.
If you wish to play with others, you must be within a similar Soul Memory range. Higher Soul Level characters can still be paired with lower leveled characters who have similar Soul Memory ranges.
- Soul items and boss souls you pick up add to your Soul Memory only when you use them.
- You can check your Soul Memory on your Player Status screen, the top right-hand number.
- Souls picked up from your bloodstain after dying won't add up to your soul memory.
- Souls lost upon dying a second time without touching your bloodstain still count in your soul memory.
- It is better to always recover your souls on the bloodstain if you don't want to get “underleveled”.
- A summoning range calculator can be found here.
Facts about Soul Memory in Dark Souls 2
- Soul Level does not matter in summoning — it is purely Soul Memory that affects it.
- NG shares the same ranges as NG+.
- The Soul Memory threshold flattens out at 45m. Once you pass this threshold, you can summon and be summoned by anyone else past it, regardless of how large the gap is! If your SM is 50m and your friends are 400m, you can still summon each other regardless.
Soul Memory Tiers and Exact Ranges for Multiplayer Connections in Dark Souls 2
Note that the specifics may be subject to change in future calibrations, but this appears to be precisely how it works for now. Tested on PS3.
How are the ranges calculated?
- Soul Memory is divided into tiers, but the tiers are not hard boundaries. Instead, different multiplayer items extend across different amounts of neighboring tiers. So there's no direct math involved, it's a question of
- A) What tier am I in? and
- B) How many tiers above and below my own can I pair up with?
- It is NOT anything like +/- 25%, 50,000, etc.
Can you Decrease your Soul Memory in Dark Souls 2?
Unfortunately, you can't lower your Soul Memory in Dark Souls II. This is to avoid scenarios such as having low-level players progressing the game equipped with High tier/level equipment from preying on new players. The whole point is to try to keep things balanced between players of Dark Souls II.
How to stop your Soul Memory from going any higher in Dark Souls 2?
You can stop your Soul Memory from going any higher by using the Agape Ring in Dark Souls II. With the Agape Ring, players can now keep their soul memory at a certain point without worrying about it going any higher. Without the ring, your Soul Memory would still go up even though you're not trying to level up to higher tiers.
Tiers and Multiplayer Items in Dark Souls 2
| Tier # | Soul Memory |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0 - 9,999 |
| 2 | 10,000 - 19,999 |
| 3 | 20,000 - 29,999 |
| 4 | 30,000 - 39,999 |
| 5 | 40,000 - 49,999 |
| 6 | 50,000 - 69,999 |
| 7 | 70,000 - 89,999 |
| 8 | 90,000 - 109,999 |
| 9 | 110,000 - 129,999 |
| 10 | 130,000 - 149,999 |
| 11 | 150,000 - 179,999 |
| 12 | 180,000 - 209,999 |
| 13 | 210,000 - 239,999 |
| 14 | 240,000 - 269,999 |
| 15 | 270,000 - 299,999 |
| 16 | 300,000 - 349,999 |
| 17 | 350,000 - 399,999 |
| 18 | 400,000 - 449,999 |
| 19 | 450,000 - 499,999 |
| 20 | 500,000 - 599,999 |
| 21 | 600,000 - 699,999 |
| 22 | 700,000 - 799,999 |
| 23 | 800,000 - 899,999 |
| 24 | 900,000 - 999,999 |
| 25 | 1,000,000 - 1,099,999 |
| 26 | 1,100,000 - 1,199,999 |
| 27 | 1,200,000 - 1,299,999 |
| 28 | 1,300,000 - 1,399,999 |
| 29 | 1,400,000 - 1,499,999 |
| 30 | 1,500,000 - 1,749,999 |
| 31 | 1,750,000 - 1,999,999 |
| 32 | 2,000,000 - 2,249,999 |
| 33 | 2,250,000 - 2,499,999 |
| 34 | 2,500,000 - 2,749,999 |
| 35 | 2,750,000 - 2,999,999 |
| 36 | 3,000,000 - 4,999,999 |
| 37 | 5,000,000 - 6,999,999 |
| 38 | 7,000,000 - 8,999,999 |
| 39 | 9,000,000 - 11,999,999 |
| 40 | 12,000,000 - 14,999,999 |
| 41 | 15,000,000 - 19,999,999 |
| 42 | 20,000,000 - 29,999,999 |
| 43 | 30,000,000 - 44,999,999 |
| 44 | 45,000,000 - 999,999,999 |
Multiplayer Items in Dark Souls 2
| Multiplayer Item | Downward Range | Upward Range | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Sign Soapstone | -3 Tiers | +1 Tier | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 17 - 21 |
| White Sign Soapstone with Name-Engraved Ring |
-6 Tiers | +4 Tiers | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 14 - 24 |
| Small White Sign Soapstone | -4 Tiers | +2 Tiers | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 16 - 22 |
| Small White Sign Soapstone with Name-Engraved Ring |
-7 Tiers | +5 Tiers | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 13 - 25 |
| Red Sign Soapstone | -5 Tiers | +2 Tiers | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 15 - 22 |
| Dragon Eye | -5 Tiers | +5 Tiers | Tier 20 can send their sign to a host in tiers 15 - 25 |
| Cracked Red Eye Orb | none | +4 Tiers | Tier 20 can invade a host in tiers 20 - 24 |
| Cracked Blue Eye Orb | -3 Tiers | +3 Tiers | Tier 20 can invade a host in tiers 17 - 23 |
| Bell Keeper's Seal | -1 Tier | +3 Tiers | Tier 20 can invade a host in tiers 19 - 23 |
Notes & Tips about Soul Memory in Dark Souls 2
- ???
- Other Notes, Tips, and Trivia go here.
- Tested by Hirokisugihara & Illusorywall
- All credits go to illusorywall & optic_niko, hellkite_drake, ein death, hiroki sugihara, greensvadhisthana, eur0pa, blade, and necroi!
AnonymousJust met someone max level on the arena niga had 3096 hp! Also whats the point of using hidden weapon? Clearly you try hards using the thrust moveset either rapier or lances which is the most annoying attack type ever!
- Anonymous
This game is kid of shitty. if you only can kill 10xs and thats it for farming. This and ds3 kind of a piece of **** in my opinion. Ds1 is the best ever made out of the dss games. I like how in Elden Ring you can jump non of that hold whatever button and tap it. Is a bs **** move to jump.
- Anonymous
This and ADP are my two reasons I can’t bother to replay this game. After I got all endings on one character I never touched it again.
- Anonymous
if ds2 ever gets remastered this feature for online play needs to get removed instantly.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This is an asinine idea and the game would be better without it.
It only works as intended if everyone are min-maxers who never lose their souls and never feel the need to grind to purchase or improve equipment outside of their build. You want to try out a new weapon? You're already at a disadvantage now.
Who thought of this? And Why?
- Anonymous
This should have been souls SPENT, as opposed to souls GAINED.
- Anonymous
There's no reason not to level up if you're doing PvP in DS2. Only vitality should be kept as low as possible so you can take advantage of Flynn's Ring.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I understand their logic but I don't think twinking was such a big problem that it needed such a dramatic solution.
- Anonymous
Good idea for offline, just shows how many souls you get in your journey, +1000000 SM allows you skip 4 great souls requirement at shrine of winter,
in online, pure joke, what's was wrong with soul and weapon level matchmaking. Basically, at SL1 I can be invaded by SL150 guys. That's a shame, because PVP in DS2 is great, only soul memory mechanic completely ruined it.
- Anonymous
So let`s say I`m having a bad day, am tired after work, sit down to play a bit, get a little careless and slip on a ledge ending up losing big numbers of souls.
According to the developers, this is punishable by having to delete your entire character instantly because for this godforsaken unforgivable mistake, now you`re not allowed to play with others or gather covenant rewards for ranking and unlocking gear. Seems completely reasonable and not like a fever dream of some lunatic who just broke out of a mental hospital.
- Anonymous
The best thing is how if you die and lose a lot of souls you basically just have to delete the character because the game hates you :)
- Anonymous
What they need to do is introduce a system where every weapon and armor piece in the game is tiered. So if you start the game with a basic +1 long sword, you can not match with anyone else who doesn’t just have a basic +1 long sword. Meaning you can’t get a bunch of end game equipment and dunk on people who haven’t gotten that far. “Hey look at me with my spoiler gear! Lightning Laser sword in the starting area!”
No. +1 Long sword vs +1 Long sword. Perfectly balanced low level PvP. Anyone who disagrees just wants to dunk on noobs.
- Anonymous
I just completely ruined my low tier coop Charr with 2 cristal soul spears spiced down to 10 int requirement. I popped some souls to level my soul memory to gear up a bit, and my monkey brain forgot to use the feather instead of the dark sign to go back to the bonfire. +1 tier, 20k souls to the bin. Almost **** myself in angst.
- Anonymous
Interesting but too convoluted. The new games have done it right just relegating fair pvp to coliseums. If you can’t do it right don’t even bother.
- Anonymous
Thank you for this info so make me and my friend can play together
- Anonymous
Cuantas almas costaría subir un nivel 1 a nivel 100 sin gastar en nada más
- Anonymous
não pode mudar? em vez de contar a "souls memory", mude para "Souls" para aumentar o nível do personagem. exemplo: nível 13 para o nível 14 gasta 900 almas.
- Anonymous
"Unfortunately, you can't lower your Soul Memory in Dark Souls II. This is to avoid scenarios such as having low-level players progressing the game equipped with High tier/level equipment from preying on new players."
This happens anyway.
"The whole point is to try and keep things balanced between players of Dark Souls II."
It has failed and should've been left the same as DS1.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Just finished an achievement run of DS1 in which I had a lot of fun invading/being invaded along the way. Soul memory makes that experience pretty much impossible in DS2, because going for achievements means spending souls on miracles/sorceries/hexes/pyromancies. All of the souls invested in these spells influence the range of matchmaking, despite me not actually using any of them, and it means players I'm matched against could feasibly be 30-40 levels higher than me. And given that some of the spells required for the achievements are locked behind multiplayer covenants (or ng++ as an alternative for some of them), wanting to pvp and wanting to grab achievements aren't mutually exclusive. This system is so fundamentally flawed that it trips over itself, and there's a reason it wasn't carried over for DS3.
- Anonymous
i'm not a major pvper myself, but it's always been strange for me that there's a derogatory term for a person who beats the game under leveled.
unless i am way off base, if you're getting help from a sunbro, they've probably already beaten the area you're fighting. meanwhile, if you're being invaded, the point is for it to be difficult. they're getting help from pve as it is. sure, it shouldn't be easy for the invader either (and if they're getting ganked, which is also actually supposed to happen, it surely won't be. although if the invader is just a good player, there's no way for matchmaking to account for that because there's no mmr system or anything like that. same goes for if the host is a good player, or the phantom).
recently in ds3 i actually made a "twink" build primarily for the sake of (hopefully) helping new players, whether that be by co-oping against pve, or thwarting the inevitably overpowered invaders they're bound to face. the fact of the matter is though that a lot of the time i'm not getting summoned to help a new player. in fact even as a sunbro i've been summoned by people just to duel their invader friend disguised as a host of embers, or to participate in fight clubs. like.. i'm literally a sunbro. that's obviously not what i'm trying to do lol. but that's how the online community is for souls games. the online players are the ones who can't put the game down, and they want to find people to play with. it's not easy to find people to duel, especially at certain SL. i totally get it.
it's even worse for blue sentinels/blades of darkmoon. i literally never get summoned to help an actual new player wearing a way of blue, no matter what level i am. it's always some kind of fight club or "honorable duel" or reverse gank. makes it pretty annoying to get those achievements/items, i have to say. but guess what, nobody really complains that the covenant items don't put you into the situations that they're supposed to based on the descriptions. these are just normal ingame items anyone can equip, without any knowledge of esoteric pvp rituals and culture. yet nobody says "fromsoft needs to step in and match me with the right people!!" because only obsessive tryhard fans give a **** about these issues to begin with. if you want to know what i think fromsoft intends, it's not for people to make new accounts over and over again. it's to keep playing thru the ng+ and keep leveling your 1 character. that's how you get all the items, that's how you get all the achievements, that's how everyone winds up co-oping/pvping with people they "should be." they cannot anticipate the various emergent scenarios that will crop up when millions of people get their hands on the game, and are not balancing for any other scenario.
the funniest thing is that there are so many comments highlighting how this soul memory system interferes with players using consumables, trying out weapons, trying to play with friends, etc. and the responses are people who sound much more full of themselves and overly aggressive saying things about how other people need to "get good" (not sure how this even applies here) or "stop whining" or whatever else. what is there to be so defensive about?? there are even comments (which make perfect sense to me) explaining how soul memories don't prevent twinks from ruining your day at all, but actually help them, because they know better than anyone what their build path should be and how to get their without picking up unnecessary souls.
lets be real. the people who don't want to fight twinks are other experienced players who don't want to (or can't) grind to get equipment. equipment aside, it seems like they really just don't want to get embarrassed by players who can beat the game at a low level (not that this actually makes you good at pvp anyway, mind you. i actually suck at pvp :^) ). as a "noob" i did not know or care what equipment my invader was using. getting invaded is just frustrating and a bit anxiety inducing either way when you are struggling to even get thru pve. how am i supposed to know at what point in the game they can get certain weapons or armor? it just doesn't make a difference. who is the one who really needs to stop whining and get good? try beating the game at SL25-35 or something. there are reasons there are early paths to endgame areas in every game. if you're not cheating to get the equipment, it seems fair game to me, and plenty early game equipment is strong.
the same thing goes for the arguments about agility as a stat. it's not a matter of getting good, it's literally a stat you can invest in in the game. it's not some kind of exploit or workaround, nor some kind of crutch. is investing in str a crutch? or leveling up your weapons? if you're not investing in it you're investing in something else. having iframes on your rolls and being able to heal quicker will make using certain tactics and weapons just actually viable instead of worthless. it's not equally valuable for all builds. it's not a sheer matter of skill or not skill. again, i'm saying this as a person who has taken a shot at low dmg/low level runs and found success. the more you limit yourself, the fewer viable builds there are, but there are still strats for every boss that will make them very beatable, if not straight up easy if you actually know the strat.
the people who complain about the differences in DS2 seem to just feel that they are quality of life issues. personally, i don't mind that you have to level up a stat to roll as effectively as before and heal quicker at all, i just wish i actually KNEW it was tied to a stat before i got to the belfry gargoyles and tried to beat them with just "proper spacing" using powerstanced longswords. you know, as opposed to a weapon that can kill them in a few hits each with good range, which is what a "good player" would do i guess. it also might be nice if they weren't BOTH tied to that stat, maybe. could just be a skill issue, but while i can see why tying rolling or other movement mechanics to a stat makes sense, i don't get why it should have anything to do with how fast you can drink an estus. in any case, it seems to me like you get ample souls in this game from bosses to make up for the fact that there's another stat you're EXPECTED to level up.
anyway rant over. I just don't get why so much meaningless posturing and false representation crops up in discussions that are simply about how practical or impractical certain game mechanics are.
- Anonymous
just got invaded by a guy with SM of 330k and my is 97k
tough enemy ahead
- Anonymous
if the Agape ring wasn't available at SL 29 /SM 30592 and was like SM200 or 300k noone would complain about twinks
if the bracket stopped at 7-10million (roughly 50 levels in 5 skills, level 220-250)and not 45million noones would notice
IMO
- Anonymous
People complain alot about this but when the game first came out I pvp 70-80% of playtime without barely paying attention to this and by the time i did it didnt matter cause the one thing about fight club is you always fight everyone
also did not know dex and ADP invc frames was a thing at all till coming back and it also is not that big of deal either, i just assumed they made rolling harder cause thats what the game is.
Vitality was/Vigor is a dump stat, and I played with the same mindset about ADP
That being said, soul memory wasnt thought out and ADP changing frames(basicaly difficulty slider bar) was a bad idea. even though it makes building chars more in depth so i dont even want to complain,
I'm glad all 3 games are different in their own way.
- Anonymous
this must have been horrible when the game first came out but now that people found every single sm level it's just a very simple math to see if you can play with someone. just count with your fingers to +5 or -7 and find out if you can play with your friend and stop complaining.
- Anonymous
What? You want to "play with your friends"? First. That's every gonker's excuse, despite how useless it turns out to be. Second, you have more fromsoft games for that.
- Anonymous
People who are still having problems with this system for coop with friends needs to look at the name engraved ring. I played this game with friends since the first dlc’s release and have never had an issue with soul memory just from the name engraved ring. It’s one less ring slot but you don’t need to worry about agape and still better than the two in ds1 lol.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Everyone just max out your characters and get to tier 44. Make friends with the giant lord for a few days and we'll be together again :(
- Anonymous
Literally the best system to ever exist in the entire soulslike series.
What an idiotic system, if they at least implemented a password system to bypass all this mess it would be fine, but now it’s impossible to coop with my gf like we normally do in all souls games since demon’s souls. No wonder fromsoft yanked that clown naotoshi from any future projects.
- Anonymous
When you buy a bunch of stones and upgrade a bunch of weapons just to try them out and ditch them, then you find out this is a thing
- Anonymous
Thanks to this system there's barely any low level twinks or ganks, and the if you want to twink anyway you re gonna sweat blood to get a proper twink build.
You might not share my opinion, but ds3's pvp gankfest being worse than ds1's invasions by lvl 150s in undead burg is a damn fact, and the fact that ds3's broken ass pvp was the "people's favorite" speak volumes about how sometimes the majority of players doesn't even know what they want and they only repeat what they like to gear like mindless sheeps.
Ds2 is here and it is like we all know. You have 5 other similar games to play if you don't like this one, so spray your tears elsewhere.
- Anonymous
I think it's a good system. In theory, each soul you gather is a little bit better you get at the game, no matter what level you're in. Then it's a matter of leveling up, if you can. Also, Souls games (since Demon's Souls in PS3) have MANY elements that are almost out of reach of the player to willfully manage, or are really tedious to manipulate. Not everything is at the user's control, so keep playing and reach further levels, use Agape, or make a new character.
- Anonymous
Fear not maggots... They will remake this game and hopefully without soul memory
- Anonymous
This has got to be the dumbest most convoluted nonsense multiplayer system. Just ridiculous
It really tickles me that they made the multiplayer for these games so difficult to actually do. There are so many layers as well as just plain rng weather you can see other players or not. Not to mention split communities between consoles.
I guess it does make those times when you do get some online action all the more special.
Doing a fight club in the Iron Keep in 2022 feels great.
- Anonymous
Good for dedicated builds, bad for players like me that uses a lot of weapons and armor just for fun and fashion and aways carries a bow. Since ds2 has the best weapons and fashion, it sucks to play trying to control your sm (like in a dedicated build).
Anyway, after all this years, i've still found some online activity, still have my fun and still don't mind trying to stay at a specific tier.
And F*CK agape ring.
- Anonymous
JC! Im tier 36 :O that explains why I dont get summon much on later levels
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Recently did my first playthrough of the game with pvp in mind (at last had good internet). I didn't understand how matchmaking works, and when did, I had to restart the game because my SM was too high. I fIrst time played the game being careful of Soul Memory. No buying items in shops that can be otherwise farmed. No buying titanite. Only buy armor and weapons you are gonna need. Never losing souls. Limited purchase of ammunition. Upgrade only couple of weapons. 1/3 of game played with agape ring. Etc.
IT SUCKS.
This is most hairbrained matchmaking system i have ever seen. I cannot comprehend how some people can defend this mess. I cannot comprehend why FROM never backed off and changed it into something sensible. Agape ring? Are you kidding me? Add to that cracked red orbs that need to be farmed or bought for 5000 and later 10000 souls and lack of uncracked orb, multiple places in game where you have to spend souls to progress, extremely narrow SM tiers.. Managing SM is a nightmare! In DS3 you can get covenant invasions in both Crucifiction Woods and Pontiff on every level from 50 to 120 and higher. Here? My favorite spot is Belfry Luna which is busy on its appropriate SM tier, but after that gets nearly completly empty. If you like PVP in one spot, you must stop progressing the game or you won't be able to use it anymore.
Yes, I'm salty. A game with fantastic pvp combat has absolutely terrible pvp mechanics.
- Anonymous
I feel like this is such an easily fixable system.
Instead of Soul Memory being the number of souls aquired , make it the number of souls spent
- Anonymous
In theory it seems like a good idea, stop people from staying at a certain level to gank newbies while having a **** load of health and any weapon/spell combination. The bad news is that this actually rewards better players, which generally speaking are the pvpers. I can run through the entire game, skip more AI, stick to bosses, upgrade my specific weapons/spells and when ready, invade someone 100 levels lower than me. Also just generally it rewards better players, you can have two players at different parts of the game, 30 levels apart and they can still invade/coop one another because one is better at the game. Overall the SL system worked much better than this one, this one actually ended up rewarding better players with easy pvp, which I actually dislike so please fix.
- Anonymous
Never before had a single souls mechanic generaetd such a volume of crying babies.
Dumbasses, dumbasses everywhere complaining about how this system makes the old meta inviable(which was definitely intentional) instead of looking at what it's good for.
This system is only a "problem" if you want to stay at a fixed tier and never go up, which... why should you? just keep playing and keep going up.
The sheer number of tiers and how large the gap gets at higher tiers ensures that you won't end up isolated.
Twinks using the agape ring? not so many people will be actually going for that, specially this late, and the ones they do will be further diluted across the numerous early tiers. You soon won't face them at all just plainly by going past their tier, just playing naturally.
By the point where your soul level is high enough that you can softcap one playstyle's stats and actually put enough points into others to have a funtional sub-build, the gap between one tier and the next is so humongous that non-leveling soul usage/deathloss will be a drop in the bucket for your soul memory tier, yet there's still enough high-level tiers that whoever you find online will *actually* be around your level.
The exponential increase in leveling costs after you hit 200 makes it so that lightweight havel mages that "break the game" won't actually be a thing until you hit the final tier.
And if you actually do play long enough to hit that final tier? at that point the only limit is your equipment slots, so just go bonkers. Your PvP advantages won't be how well you can min-max, but how much power can you draw out of the theoretical limits.
Y'all be crying about "muh meta!" over a system that was specifically designed for "don't worry, just keep leveling if you want, don't think about it too much".
SMH can't appreciate what it is and instead bashing for not being what it isn't.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I'm SL160 with a soul memory of 36 (~4,15m souls) I've seen ONE player's mark in my entire run. Am I f-ed for being invoked in someone's world as a sunbro?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Easy soul memory fix that fromsoft's lazy ass didn't apply for some reason:
make it so that soul memory increases when you SPEND souls, not GAIN them.
- Anonymous
Most players: this system is so terrible! my matchmaking is fckd, i can't summon dudes to defend me or invade with all the advantages possible!
Me, with over 75 millions of souls: MY HUNGER IS INSATIABLE
- Anonymous
Now I see why this community likes this game the least on average. I came here looking for the meta range. What a dumb system.. Real gamers wanna make their ideal build and put themselves against other players, not NPC they learn to predict. Twinks are dumb I agree but the trade off is nowhere near worth it, just a bad idea.. Every other aspect is ok imo. Sad, the pvp is more than half of why the communities last. Glad this didn't last. You can't really have a meta like this. Enjoying the game regardless, loving my playthroughs.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Since there's no uncracked eye orbs in ds2, the only ways to maintain low and mid level invasion scene is to use agape ring, and periodically farm mobs for the orbs (can't buy them since you cant get souls), or cheat them in. This means only the most dedicated players will bother at all and it kills any sense of normalcy throughout the playtime.
It also doesn't solve twinking problem, it distills twinks to the best and most dedicated players. They'll get to agape ring deathless and pump all their points into levels; you'll get some cool armours and die a few times. Suddenly they're the same soul memory as you, but while you're SL 40, they're SL 80.
Blue covenant is dead. Red invaders are very rare. Dried finger + Delicate String playthroughs are moot. Consumables are extremely limited. Coop grants no souls, or you go up in brackets. Want to test a different weapon and upgrade it - you go up in brackets. Want to stay at SL 150 without wearing agape ring? Eventually you'll end up playing with and against SL 250+, you'll feel bad. Want to get Outcry so you can cast one cool spell per rest? That's two levels you just lost if you're around SL 120; that other guy leveled up and got stronger instead. It's miniscule with 2 levels, but it all adds up to one trainwreck of a system.
It's a shame, because DS2 is the best souls game to coop due to it's enemy placement and sheer amount of bullshit, and would be most fun to invade and Delicate String + Dried Finger run, due to the variety of zones.
- Anonymous
Its a good idea on paper, but too much stuff gets in the way of it working to prevent gank, ppl having high weapon etc.
Consumables arrows and all the stuff you buy but dont use and the the souls lost to dying punish you very hard
Being forced to level character as much as possible and the need to be carefull of weapon selection and upgrading because if the guy that invades has put everything into a dedicated build and didnt wasted anything will destroy anyone who dies and plays around too much with gear at same/similar soul memory
there is no perfect solution for pvp and for pve its way worse especially when you help as a phantom alot
- Anonymous
Let's be honest here... you only hate soul memory because it doesn't let you gank anymore.
You coward f*cks
- Anonymous
This might be crap, but at least we don't have to fight people with end-game content at lvl 10 *cough* dark souls 3 *cough*
- Anonymous
Is Soul Memory a bad mechanic? It sure is horrendous and ruins the game a lot for me and many other players who would much prefere to have a level-based matchmaking rather than this bs where you HAVE to spend all of your souls on leveling unless you want to be in constant disadvantage to other players who did so. SM murdered any meta SL one should stop at. Every lifegem, every arrow, every set of armor and weapon bought for collection purposes now make your character weaker. Forever! It's like an unending falling into the abyss... And the only solution to this flaw is a ring which takes up a precious ring slot and leaves you not only weaker, but also unable to repair your broken gear and buy stuff (RIP archer builds). Terrible!
Now, is there a way From could fix it?.. Yes, I can see one very clearly. For example, SM could only count the souls you spend on character levels and weapon reinforcements. Simple, right? Basicly, only add to SM souls spent to make your character stronger. And never the souls you have gathered, the souls you have lost, the souls you spent on trinkets, buying things you don't need just to have 1 of everything and then some arrows and lockstones just in case. Now that would be a wise solution.
- Anonymous
F u c k whoever thought this was a smart idea
Completely ****ed pvp outside of the covenant system , hated for a good reason. Hopefully never again to be seen
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Wow. Looking thru these comments is like watching a war playout. Can confirm that the dark chasm invasions go atleast 6 tiers up. Did some at tier 26 (1mil) & got a dude at tier 32 (2mil) mirror squire invasions seem to be based off of cracked red eye ranges but im still not sure.
Soul Memory brought more balance and fairness to the game. Dark Souls 2 punishes you for having wasted your souls on consumables (remember that in Dark Souls 1 there was no such a thing as Lifegems).
- Anonymous
imagine making a mechanic so god awful that you needed to add a new item to fix it thus making the mechanic irrelevant because now players can just use said item to bypass this and Harass as many new players as they want
- Anonymous
what's that ran out of life gems but are on meta sm welp sucks to be you guess you don't get to have anymore gems or else you're gunna get pushed out of your level have fun
- Anonymous
Da due giorni a questa parte non riesci più a giocare in co-op con un altra persona, il mio lvl corrisponde a 98 mentre l'altra persona è al 100. So che ci sono determinate zone in cui non è possibile fare evocazioni, ma visto che la differenza di lvl è minima, perché non riesco ad evocare o ad essere evocato? E'la prima run
- Anonymous
This mechanic is really good and FromSoft should add it into DS3. It really balances players beyond the character level. If you want to keep certain tier just buy the Agape Ring from straid
- Anonymous
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- Anonymous
this comment section is full of whiners and complainers get good kiddies
- Anonymous
i wish there was only 4 tiers that would be nice and that you could only summon one tier lower or higher
- Anonymous
i used to think that you have to be in the same tier as the person you want to play with but when i use the name engraved ring i can go up to 6 tiers down so it works for me
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
this is legit the worst mechanic to exist in a souls game. they shoulda just made it level based and added the password system.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
My friend and I just partied together like an hour ago fine (I summoned him). Now we're doing the exact same thing, in the exact same spot, and in the exact same way, and his sign isn't shown up. Neither of us advanced tiers with the last boss, so we should still be good (there's actually a tier to spare, so we should be fine). Any known issues or bugs that mess this up?
- Anonymous
At the end of the day, just be glad they'll never implement this system in a future soulsborne game
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I've farmed a lot of souls to upgrade a lot of weapons cause i like the swapping, now i'm underleveled :D
- Anonymous
Im using the ring that absorbs souls currently at SM7 and I just beat the Sinner, I'm trying to get top tier gear to drop for newbies in the cathedral. I guess helping fresh characters is a benefit to SM in a way, Souls games always did encourage some of that jolly cooperation.
- Anonymous
If I see blood stains, does that mean they are within my summoning range or is there no limit to the range of blood stains?
- Anonymous
So If i cheated and got lv 839 while my soul memory is still tier 1 means i ll get easy pvp?
- Anonymous
You'd be surprised at how many new players there are on this game on xnox1. like, brand new. - currently on my sl25 tier 4 char with agape and the GreatSword (ultra) and a +5bandit axe that i created shortly after agape was added. got all the max tier rings that i want too. - just helping people wreck the bosses at the start and every now and then wreck a couple of hosts X'D
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
It’s like people forgot victors stone allows enemies to inifinitely respawn with only a minor difficulty increase especially considering you’d have to have repeatedly defeated the enemy for it to get tougher. I only mention this because a lot of comments say that SM and limited enemies are the two worst mechanics. Also if an enemy stops spawning and you can bring it back anytime you want or make it stop spawing again it makes it possible and much easier to do with places where you get ganked or an enemy is hard to pass every time. It also makes hollowing a thing that actually makes a difference and not just hear about or something that changes your appearance.
- Anonymous
The most dumb mechanics ever created in soul series, so dumb that people will boycott the series if this stupid system ever return again
- Anonymous
If they could just remove this mechanic the game would've been much more active and fun, tired of fighting turtle havels or jack of all trades master of everything
- Anonymous
5 years and I still can’t comprehend the existence of this mechanic
- Anonymous
If you remove this factor from multiplayer formulas, the game becomes more fun! I only ever play the game solo if I ever play this game anymore, otherwise with friends. Even that's annoying if they need to farm weapons and outclass your soul "memory". Of course I haven't bothered touching the updated ones for PS4/Xbone. This still a thing in that release?
- Anonymous
At what tier do most players cap? Or more specifically, at what tier are you able to fin the most people, both on coop and PvP?
i'm on my first ever run of DS2 and i'm almost at soul memory tier 31 and i'm level 136 (i'm not good, i grind). the tables seem to suggest that soul memory doesn't reset on NG+. on NG+1 in order to open the shrine of winter, you need a soul memory of 2m. what if i reach 2m before going to NG+1? do i need to collect 2m more souls, or is it static?
- Anonymous
I like the SM mechanic tbh. It prevented the DS1 issue of new players walking into Undead Burg only to have a much more experienced player invade them at SL 4-8 and assblast them with fully upgraded endgame gear.
- Anonymous
Don't actually have xbox live for 360 rn...wondering if it's worth so I can play online.
- Anonymous
It’s Always Sunny at FromSoftware, S2E1, The Gang Ruins Online Features
I decided to play my old tier 44 save... it has been two months and still I found no one pvp.
System that ends up punishing players for using chime hexes, among all the other things wrong with it
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