Black Phantom | Dark Souls Wiki

Black Phantoms
Location	Multiple
Health *	See Below
Souls *	See Below
* Recorded in PATCH 1.05

Black Phantoms in Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered are Mini-Bosses.

Black Phantoms Information

In addition to human-controlled invaders, there are a number of NPC Black Phantoms that are scripted to invade the player upon reaching certain areas of the game. Their invasion is always preceded by a warning, and share the black and red glow on the invader, as with human-controlled invaders of the Darkwraith Covenant.

To enable the invasion of a Black Phantom NPC, the player must reverse their hollowing (be in human form) and not have killed the area's Boss. Some BP NPCs however, require additional prerequisites, such is the case for Paladin Leeroy; the player needs to have obtained the Lordvessel to access the area he invades.

Tomb of Giants and Demon Ruins, require the Lordvessel to unblock the golden fog gates. Otherwise the area is typically locked against PvP (may also be missing bonfires), even if the player is in human form. Similarly, the player will not be able to see any summon signs for co-op play, and the complete absence of such signs can be a good indication that the area is not open to PvP.

While you need to be online to be invaded by players, it is not required for the NPCs.

NPC Black Phantom Invasions

Black Phantoms vs NPCs

There are also various other instances of NPCs that are hostile to the player and will attack on sight, but those NPCs do not appear as invading Black Phantoms, and more importantly, will not trigger a warning message to the player they are invading. These include, depending on the player's progress through the storyline and game areas:

• The Crestfallen Warrior in New Londo Ruins.
• Prince Ricard in Sen's Fortress.
• Numerous NPCs in Darkroot Forest.
• Way of White Clerics in the Tomb of Giants.

The only real difference between these NPCs and Black Phantom NPCs is that, in addition to the lack of a resemblance, the non-invading NPCs can be encountered even if the player is Hollow.