Forest Hunter

Description

The Forest Hunters, led by Alvina, protect the grave of Sir Artorias and the surrounding forest graves. They do it by invading the intruder's own world and hunting them down. Members are like family, betraying one of them means betraying the entire family. Their organization seems to be divided by clans. Shiva is a captain of one of such clans.

Overview

This covenant is focused for players who want group PvP. Joining the covenant allows players to invade others in the Forest area of Darkroot Garden by using the Cat Covenant Ring. Two Forest Hunter members may invade at the same time and team up to battle the world's host and their summoned phantoms.¹ The fixed invasion area and easy, early-game access results in a high concentration of online players and frequent multiplayer activity. Successfully killing an intruding host will award a random upgrade materials and a couple miscellaneous items. A merchant and a couple items from Alvina will become accessible to members of the covenant as well.

Requirements

Alvina is accessible and not hostile.

How to Join

1. Gain access to Alvina's location in Darkroot Garden:
   • Purchase the Crest of Artorias: from the Crest gate, past the Clan of Forest Protectors, enter the ruined building behind the Bandit
   • Alternatively, without the Crest, the area can be accessed from the Hydra in Darkroot Basin, climb the tall ladder, to the area with Great Felines, to the area with Mushroom Parents and Mushroom Children, then enter from the other side of the ruined building, passing through a bridge.
2. Talk to Alvina and answer "Yes" to all of her questions to join the covenant.

Benefits

• Invade the Darkroot Garden (only the area between the Crest gate and the ladder to Hydra) of a forest intruder with the Cat Covenant Ring. This invasion doesn't need the player to be in human form. Multiple Forest Hunter members invading at the same time is possible, raising the chance of killing the host.

• Killing the intruder nets Souls and a set of randomized items:
  • Titanite Shard (10% chance)
  • Large Titanite Shard (25%)
  • Green Titanite Shard (25%)
  • Titanite Chunk (10%)
  • Blue Titanite Chunk (10%)
  • White Titanite Chunk (10%)
  • Rubbish (5%)
  • Pendant (5%)

• Access to merchant Shiva of the East in Blighttown.

Covenant Level

Level up in the covenant by killing the intruders of Alvina's forest

Level	Number of Invaders Killed	Reward
+0	0	Cat Covenant Ring
+0	1	Divine Blessing
+0	3	Ring of Fog
+1	10	None
+2	30	None
+3	80	None

Betrayal Penalties

• The next time Alvina is interacted with, she will scold the player and then disappear for the rest of the playthrough and will add +1 Sin in the Book of the Guilty - to prevent this from happening, pay a visit to Oswald in the Bell Tower and request Absolution.
  • Requesting Absolution from Oswald of Carim will cause her to return and allow for rejoining the covenant, undoing her disapproval
• Shiva of the East and his bodyguard becomes hostile
• Clan of Forest Protectors become hostile once more

Notes

• The Cat Covenant Ring has the same level range as the Red Sign Soapstone: co-op range (10+10%) beneath, and unbounded above. This means that a level 100 player can invade levels 80-713
• When speaking to Alvina for the first time, answering "No" to her first prompt will count as a betrayal, and afterwards she will refuse to talk - this can be resolved by requesting Absolution from Oswald
• Killing one of the Clan of Forest Protectors will count as a betrayal for covenant members
• Unlike Blade of the Darkmoon invaders, Forest Hunter invaders can get indicted
• As an invading Forest Hunter, players do not lose any souls if their phantom is vanquished ( either by host or environment)
• If the host is killed by another invader after you have died, but not yet disconnected, victory is still counted
• Being able to invade while hollow anywhere in the Darkroot Garden or Darkroot Basin area enables players to engage in invasions without ever spending Humanity to become human, thus not being vulnerable to invasions themselves
• Killing all Clan of Forest Protectors and then joining the covenant will not make them hostile once they've respawned.
• If a member of the Forest Hunters gets summoned as a phantom by another player, they will not incur a betrayal penalty for killing covenant members or NPCs
• Be ready to face any kind of situation: 1v1, 1v2, or 2v2. It is even possible for 1v1v1, 1v1v2, or a free-for-all, given that encountering Red Phantoms in other player worlds is also possible
• Some players tend to "farm" the souls that Forest Hunter invaders award when killed. These players usually summon a phantom to help them and are well prepared ("gankers"), so be careful and remember to be prepared before invading. When facing these gankers, try to hide until backup arrives but only if there's still an invasion slot open (i.e. only two gankers)
• Only Covenant that cannot be leveled up exclusively offline
• Answering Alvina's questions, (also joining the covenant regardless of abandoning an existing covenant or not being in a covenant when doing it) counts as sin (reasons unknown):
  • • Walking away without answering the first question will not result in a sin,
    • Answering "Yes" to both questions and thus joining the covenant results in a sin,
    • Answering "No" to Alvina's first question results in a sin,
    • Answering "Yes" to the first question and "No" to the second one results in a sin as well.
    • Note that these are all forms of PvE Sin, merely resulting in Oswald telling you that you have sin (and allowing for absolution). There is no negative result to having it so it can be ignored.

Footnotes

1. Other Black Phantom invaders may be engaged for PvP as well.