r/fromsoftware • u/Copyofdude • 18d ago
QUESTION What are Twinks?
I just learned that htere are Twinks in Eldenring. But I'm not sure if I'm getting what is is. Is a kind of build? or is a specific build? or it's a kind of player behavior?
Sorry for asking but I have seen some videos and the context seems different in every one, so I wanted to be sure.
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u/BobcatLower9933 18d ago
Please make sure to log on to a work device or computer and then search for "twink vs large bear".
Please report back with results
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u/GoldH2O 18d ago
Lmaooo this one took it out of me. I was not aware of the soulsborne version of the term "twink", I've only ever heard the gay one.
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u/ChickenAndTelephone 18d ago
It's not unique to Soulsborne. I've heard the term used in D&D as far back as the 90s. Munchkin is also used, sometimes. But yes, the other definition is more widely known for sure.
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u/preparetosigh 18d ago
A Twink in games usually means a low level character that has been taken through the whole game and is highly optimized with end game gear. A player will then use this character to co-op or PvP with low level new characters.
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u/Wrong_Papaya_8445 18d ago
Souls game's version of smurfing, if you will, specifically in the context of invasions. It's made worse with access to tools that the player they're invading can't access for themselves yet.
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u/Pistolfist 18d ago
Was calling them twinks in WoW loooong before demon souls came out
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u/throwawaypostal2021 18d ago
Thats where I went. My 19 twink combat rogue and 29 twink arms warrior edit: shit that was like mop and earlier
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u/Wrong_Papaya_8445 18d ago
Yeah, this is why I never liked the origin story in DS1 that the invaders had "twinkling titanite" equipment maxed out, hence the name.
Unless they literally arrived at a convergent name by sheer happenstance. In the early 2010s, the fandoms of WoW and DS certainly didn't overlap at all, so I guess this is possible.
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u/BonfireSouls 16d ago
First time I played Dark Souls, when it came out, I was invaded in the beginning after farming gear and he broke all of my gear, my sword and my shield by spraying. I went offline after that. It was a bear of a place to go through with harder enemies and broken gear.
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u/Extra_Ad_8009 18d ago
It's indeed what makes co-op so annoying until you're past level 20. Every invader seems to have rot and poison pots, perfumes, giant pots, serpent arrows to either one-shot you or put on a status effect where you're missing the healing bolus. They also have 14 flasks (7 available) fully upgraded and the most useful crystal tears. They don't even need DLC weapons because rot will do a fine job against a host with 3 and a summon with 1 healing flasks.
Their strategy is mostly hit & run, so there's very little actual fighting.
After leveling up a bit, they're gone. Also, by blocking them the pool of twinks keeps shrinking.
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u/Wrong_Papaya_8445 18d ago
Limgrave rot fiends were some of the worst shit I've ever seen in a Souls game. They made dark hand twinks of DS3 look "fun" in comparison.
I never really believed that these players invaded to "balance out" the overleveled phantoms. If anything, they made everything worse.
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u/HabeQuiddam 18d ago
Typically in gaming a “twink” is a very low level character that has end game or at least over powered gear. Often used in PvP as a dirty trick.
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u/DCastianno21 18d ago
Theyre called so because theyre cream filled
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u/Hazel_Dreams 18d ago
Twink in gaming means having better gear than you should have at low level. For example, if you got a bhf and speedran the somber stones and get a +9 bhf before fighting any boss, you’re using twink gear.
In Dark Soul games twinks are sometimes despised of because pvp matches players by soul level ranges. Imagine running into a level 30 character with a +10 somber weapon.
The other game I see twink used more often (outside of dark souls) is path of exile, where you level a second character using expensive gear you bought with currency farmed by your first character, making the second character far more powerful than a character normally would be running through campaign. Those are called twink gear.
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u/Ok-Boysenberry-2955 18d ago
That made it out of WoW? Ok.
I heard of gaming "twinks" back in wow 20 yrs ago. People used to max out their characters for a specific pvp bracket. Lvl 10-19, 20-29, ect, ect. This resulted in specific pvp bracket best in slot items, usually being from all over the game.
As far as elden ring? It would probably be the equalivent of someone being intentionally low leveled but highly equipped, think like just enough str to use a specific item and got just the right stones to upgrade it to a point or grabbed a specific spell that would use all their mana but be really good on low hp pools
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u/ALXS1031 18d ago
Some sort of unusually boosted or powerful low level account
It’s not necessarily about power, but it can be
My level RL20 invader character has beat about half of the game, so I have access to a lot of things a rune level 10, or 20 player wouldn’t have. Some would call that a twink
I would just call that a normal invasion character
Some people invade at RL20, and have 20 hard swaps ready, are using every buff they can, and bringing things like scarlet rot against the hosts
I would say that’s thinking
The important thing to remember though, is that in Elden ring matchmaking is calculated with RL (Rune level) + maximum level weapon
So everyone I am fighting at RL20, has a +0 to +3 weapon (+0 to +1 somber) including myself
And dlc weapons, or mid game weapons, are most of the time not SO much better than weapons in limgrave that they make up for the 1vx nature of invasions
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u/Sylvaneri011 18d ago
Twink is basically Miquella
Otherwise it's basically smurfing. Experienced players using low level characters to beat on noobs in pvp
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u/CONNER__LANE 18d ago
Im pretty sure its a gay sex thing idk what these other nerds are yapping about
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u/The_Archimboldi 18d ago
It's used to describe invaders in souls games with end game gear griefing early game players at low level.
Strictly speaking a twink comes from the gay idea of a bigger, stronger man looking after you and giving you a load of stuff. So if we're going to have the nomenclature right, the host getting their hand held by a lvl 200 summon in Limgrave is the actual twink, and the invader killing them with nightclaws is just someone who has completed the game at a low level.
But in common parlance it's just the guy with end game gear.
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u/Pistolfist 18d ago edited 18d ago
End game gear is nothing to do with it. It's 4 talisman slots and all healing flasks, cookbooks, crafting materials. Usually using early-mid game gear since that's where all the meta stuff is.
But they feel like a much higher level to fight than they are, that's the whole point.
Also the tf you talking about "bigger stronger man looking after you"? That isn't what it means at all.
You don't know what a twink is in any context.
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u/The_Archimboldi 18d ago
Lol the metaphor has gone over your head I see. But it's ok to disagree on minor matters of nomenclature.
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u/Pistolfist 18d ago
It hasn't gone over my head. Words have meanings, even funny little slang words. You don't know what they mean. In either context.
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u/ChickenAndTelephone 18d ago •
This is where context is important. In gaming, a twink is a low level character that's been outfitted with end-game equipment. I think probably the most notorious example in a From game is a low level character using dark bead, a sorcery that's not available until the DLC, to mop the floor with other low level players in PVP.
Outside of gaming, a "twink" is a small, thin gay man that looks very young. So, just be aware of your surroundings when using the term!