Hosting in the Forest

Every playthrough, I always host in the Forest for souls. I do not farm, I do not gank, I literally host matches. Here's how it goes: I summon a phantom. We kill all the Forest Hunters, and go to the open area. I stand in a certain area, I can not get backstabbed here, nor can I be knocked off, as there is a small wall that you can only get on top of by rolling. I use Dried Finger 3 times, and wait. When in invader comes, it's a 50-50 shot that they'll actually fight the phantom. If they do, the phantom normally dies because let's face it, almost everyone who gets summoned in the forest is garbage. Anyway, if they kill the phantom, I fight them. If they kill me, great. If the phantom kills them, I heal the phantom, and we repeat. I only do 1v1's.

But then... there are people who do not realize I'm doing 1v1's...
First of all, they immediately run away to the Treemen and wait for help. Then, if they actually kill me, they point down. Now, I've literally gotten people to send me messages saying how terribly bad I am because I can't fight with out phantoms. I ALWAYS send them messages that I'm hosting 1v1's and that they are complete idiots. It's really refreshing when someone is so dumb that they think everyone in the Forest with a phantom is a ganker.

Anyway, I do actually help me phantom only if one of two things happen:
1. The person runs to the Treemen. Me and my phantom normally hunt him down, and I just spam point down. It's quite saddening.
2. We get in a 2v2 situation. I do not ACTUALLY help my phantom, but instead, I fight the other invader, so it's still a 1v1. But people STILL send me messages saying how garbage and trash I am that I can't fight alone. It's rather funny.

Now for the question. How do you feel about people hosting in the Forest? Do you run from EVERY invasion just like these trash people, or do you face the gank like a normal person should?

Whenever I invade in the Forest, if I see a phantom, I just assume it's a gank team. It is really the only thing you can do, as the majority... and I mean 90% at least.... are doing just that. When I first started, I died in all the sucky ways you can think of looking for a 1v1. But you can't trust them bowing, or standing far apart, or even if it looks like they are fighting a red invader. Trust means failure in the Forest. When I host in the Forest, I do so alone. There is less confusion that way.

When I invade, I go for the host as best I can, and hope I can end it before the phantom backstabs me to death. I will use the mobs whenever I can. If it looks like a fighter/mage team, I try to wait for help.

Here's a typical experience from my forest hunting days of glory that might give you some invader insight. Kirk-Barb's 90% estimate is likely very accurate by the way.

Anyway, I invaded a duo once and like most hunters wanted it more fair. I can't count on another hunter usually so I love having my trees back me up. This group had killed the trees but at least I have an arena that I have more practice at than the typical ganker. I can actually move around pretty decent backwards in the wooded area. Anyway, they chase me down and I end up closer to the phantom. We start fighting and I'm looking for the host to jump in and therefore not paying my full attention to the phantom like I should be. Totally my mistake. I die to the phantom never once having an aggressive movement from the host. I think, oh crap, they wanted 1v1. Next time.....

So I invade them again almost immediately and I know they have dead trees so I do head to that arena again. They should remember me too and everything should be swell. This time I know I'm in for a 1v1 so I pair up with the phantom, a rapier user. He chips me a couple times and he's moving fast and hard to hit. Not a bad player by any means. I get a parry. He is not vitality jacked so my Great Scythe is not so friendly to his health. The host starts attacking almost immediately seeing I'm likely to win.

WHAT....THE....HELL?!? Luckily, apparently there had already been another hunter hiding out that they either thought was afk or had run off. I never saw a message saying someone came after I did. The host, not seeing a translucent blue guy hiding in the trees was the lucky recipient of a backstab and the blues won the day that time.


My advice if you're hosting completely honorably is that we've all seen the "hey look how honorable we are" tricks. My story is a small tip of a glacier let alone an iceberg. If you want to convey the 1v1 adequately I would hike off to another area completely or direct the phantom to separate from you. Basically, you see an invader come in and you head for the hills when the phantom engages. Have them fight in the woods when you stand on the hill.

Or do something completely unexpected or unusual to demonstrate you're different. I hosted one night to see what the typical Darkwraith or forest hunter acted like. I waited in the Rolly Cat arena and messaged any invaders where I was. Just me, in a spot where no one thinks of placing a white sign down. If you want a phantom to help you just modify this and have the phantom in the arena and you on the bridge or something similar. If there's any ambiguity you will be considered a ganker. I don't agree with you receiving hatemail though. Hunters should know by now what to expect when they put that ring on.

The Forest has no law and no law should be impressed on it. It is a lawless place, where anything goes.

skarekrow13 wrote:Here's a typical experience from my forest hunting days of glory that might give you some invader insight. Kirk-Barb's 90% estimate is likely very accurate by the way.

Anyway, I invaded a duo once and like most hunters wanted it more fair. I can't count on another hunter usually so I love having my trees back me up. This group had killed the trees but at least I have an arena that I have more practice at than the typical ganker. I can actually move around pretty decent backwards in the wooded area. Anyway, they chase me down and I end up closer to the phantom. We start fighting and I'm looking for the host to jump in and therefore not paying my full attention to the phantom like I should be. Totally my mistake. I die to the phantom never once having an aggressive movement from the host. I think, oh crap, they wanted 1v1. Next time.....

So I invade them again almost immediately and I know they have dead trees so I do head to that arena again. They should remember me too and everything should be swell. This time I know I'm in for a 1v1 so I pair up with the phantom, a rapier user. He chips me a couple times and he's moving fast and hard to hit. Not a bad player by any means. I get a parry. He is not vitality jacked so my Great Scythe is not so friendly to his health. The host starts attacking almost immediately seeing I'm likely to win.

WHAT....THE....HELL?!? Luckily, apparently there had already been another hunter hiding out that they either thought was afk or had run off. I never saw a message saying someone came after I did. The host, not seeing a translucent blue guy hiding in the trees was the lucky recipient of a backstab and the blues won the day that time.


My advice if you're hosting completely honorably is that we've all seen the "hey look how honorable we are" tricks. My story is a small tip of a glacier let alone an iceberg. If you want to convey the 1v1 adequately I would hike off to another area completely or direct the phantom to separate from you. Basically, you see an invader come in and you head for the hills when the phantom engages. Have them fight in the woods when you stand on the hill.

Or do something completely unexpected or unusual to demonstrate you're different. I hosted one night to see what the typical Darkwraith or forest hunter acted like. I waited in the Rolly Cat arena and messaged any invaders where I was. Just me, in a spot where no one thinks of placing a white sign down. If you want a phantom to help you just modify this and have the phantom in the arena and you on the bridge or something similar. If there's any ambiguity you will be considered a ganker. I don't agree with you receiving hatemail though. Hunters should know by now what to expect when they put that ring on.

This is nice.
I used to send messages to Forest hunters, as I also used to host alone. I started summoning phantoms because I had just got done hosting in 4-1 in Demon's, and I summoned someone out of habit. I decided it would be pretty mean to BC him because I used to gank too, and I know it can take a long time to get summoned. So, from that point on, I always summoned phantoms when I hosted.

What I do if I am hosting with a phantom, is I wait for the blue to arrive, and then I bow, and run -far- away from the area they are battling in. When I'm more then 100 spear lengths away, people are more likely to trust you.

Your other alternative is to summon a phantom, and tell the PHANTOM not to attack unless a second blue shows up and attacks. If compliant, you're the one whom duels and you only have to fight if another blue shows up.

Alternatively, and the best option, you can host alone and get good at fighting the occasional gank. Summon a phantom expressly if a blue runs to the tree's.

I try lone hosting in the forest all the time.I stand way back from spawns,bow as soon as they start moving and allow plenty of time for buffs,not moving foreward until they do.Then I get backstab fished or ganked 9/10 times anyway.It makes me realise how crap forest invaders are.
While invading,I'd also assume you are ganking if you have a phantom but knowing WHY you need one,I can't argue with summoning.Forest invaders gank just as much as sunbros these days,it makes me sad.

when i'm forest hunting, i don't even trust that when i see the host is by themselves that it's going to be a 1v1.

as a forest hunter, i trust dark wraiths even less. it's impossible to tell which side they are on, if any at all, until they stick a rapier in either your back or the hosts.

as a host, i will summon another phantom if i'm on my way to fight sif. if any invaders show up, i will turn my phantom around and we will both go after any invaders. either they will die or we will. if we win it's back on track towards sif.

if i go into the forest and don't intend to kill sif, i will chill at the stairs near the bonfire by myself until the invader decides to come after me (i don't bother chasing them around).

though i may be by myself in the forest, i'm not looking for a fair fight or a 1v1. if there are two invaders i won't try to summon help, i'll take them both on myself. though i don't mind if one decides to hang back either, which they sometimes do when you are alone.

if an invader bows before the fight, i will throw a poison knife in their face to let them know i'm not playing by those rules.

if i'm looking for a duel, i go anywhere but the forest and look for summons to fight or leave my own sign (dragon, gravelord, red soapstone).

random invaders never get any special treatment from me, and i don't expect any sort of honor if i happen to be a random invader myself.

As a forest hunter, I try to bow before every fight- even if they are obviously gankers... I also let them or at least one of them, clear out the mage, cleric, bandit and thief if they are already aggro'd... If a host is alone and is already fighting another blue- I will make myself visible and expose my back- letting them know I won't gank them...

I suspect a lot of hosts summon phantoms less because they like ganking- and more because their experiences fighting the forest hunters have been frustrating... I want to try to communicate to the host that I respect and understand them- and will give them an opportunity to duel me honorably if they wish... I just want fun PVP- I don't care if win or lose...