Invasion PvP in Elden Ring is one-sided by design, with almost every instance pitting a single red phantom invader against at least two other players: one host and at least one summoned yellow phantom cooperator. Thanks to a password matching system, it’s possible for a host to summon someone much higher level than they are, so to even the odds, yellow phantoms have their damage and defenses downscaled. It has recently been discovered that if an invader uses the Phantom Finger item to reposition during an invasion, that downscaling disappears entirely.
YouTube user M made a video testing the issue, invading another tester’s world as a level 25 character. To maximize the effects, the yellow phantom summoned was level 621, with 99 in every stat except for Arcane. The phantom, named baba, used three weapons to hit M with a standard R1 attack: a standard Greatsword, a Cold Greatsword, and a Broadsword. The results before using the Phantom Finger were as follows: The downscaled Greatsword damage was 330, downscaled Cold Greatsword damage was 332, and downscaled Broadsword damage was 190.
M then used the Phantom Finger and reran the tests. The results were striking: The Unscaled Greatsword damage became 932, unscaled Cold Greatsword damage was 940, and unscaled Broadsword damage hit 592.
That’s an increase of 280% for the Greatswords and 310% for the Broadsword. It’s unclear exactly why this difference exists, but Peeve, a veteran Soulsborne PvP streamer, posited that it might be because using the Phantom Finger removes all buffs, and invading — rather than reducing summoned phantom stats — applies a buff to the invader reducing cooperator damage. If the downscaling is a simple buff to invader defenses, it’s removed when they use the Finger.
It’s a theory that might hold weight, as M’s tests show that damage by invaders to high-level phantoms is unchanged when following the Finger’s use. In other words, their defenses are not downscaled as players initially thought. It remains to be seen if FromSoftware will address this issue, but it’s been around since Elden Ring’s release. The team have patched the game to balance the game independently between PvP and PvE, so there may yet be hope.
