In Elden Ring, understanding the difference between "dual wielding" (often referred to as Power Stance) and "two-handing" a single weapon is crucial for optimizing your combat style. While distinct, both mechanics allow for powerful attack options and strategic advantages.
Dual Wielding (Power Stance)
Dual wielding in Elden Ring, commonly known as Power Stance, involves equipping a weapon in each hand. This automatically unlocks unique, powerful attack animations when you press the dedicated attack button for your left-hand weapon.
How to Activate Power Stance
You don't "activate" Power Stance with a button combination. Instead, it engages automatically under specific conditions:
- Equip Two Weapons: Place one weapon in your right-hand weapon slot and another in your left-hand weapon slot.
- Matching Weapon Types: Both weapons must typically be of the same weapon type (e.g., two straight swords, two katanas, two daggers, two greatswords, etc.). There are rare exceptions, but for most builds, stick to matching types.
- Sufficient Stats: You must meet the minimum stat requirements for both weapons to wield them effectively.
Once these conditions are met, your L1 (PlayStation) / LB (Xbox) button will no longer perform a standard left-hand attack. Instead, it will trigger a combined attack using both weapons simultaneously, often dealing significantly higher damage and stagger.
Benefits of Dual Wielding
- High Burst Damage: Power Stance attacks hit with both weapons, often resulting in massive damage, especially against larger enemies or bosses.
- Increased Stagger: The combined hits from dual-wielding attacks can more quickly break an enemy's poise, opening them up for critical attacks.
- Unique Movesets: Gain access to specialized attack animations not available when using a single weapon.
- Status Effect Buildup: If both weapons apply status effects (like Bleed, Frost, Poison), Power Stance attacks can apply these effects much faster.
Two-Handing a Single Weapon
Two-handing a weapon means gripping a single weapon with both of your character's hands. This is useful when you want to maximize the power of one specific weapon, whether it's in your right or left hand. This action is performed via a button combination.
How to Two-Hand a Weapon
The process for two-handing a weapon depends on your gaming platform:
Two-Handing Controls
| Console | Action | Button Input |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation | Two-hand left-hand weapon | Hold Triangle + Press L1 or L2 |
| Two-hand right-hand weapon | Hold Triangle + Press R1 or R2 |
|
| Xbox | Two-hand left-hand weapon | Hold Y + Press LB or LT |
| Two-hand right-hand weapon | Hold Y + Press RB or RT |
- PlayStation: To two-hand the weapon currently equipped in your left hand, hold
Triangleand then pressL1(for light attacks) orL2(for heavy attacks/weapon skill). To two-hand the weapon in your right hand, holdTriangleand then pressR1(for light attacks) orR2(for heavy attacks/weapon skill). - Xbox: To two-hand the weapon currently equipped in your left hand, hold
Yand then pressLB(for light attacks) orLT(for heavy attacks/weapon skill). To two-hand the weapon in your right hand, holdYand then pressRB(for light attacks) orRT(for heavy attacks/weapon skill).
Note: When two-handing a weapon, your character effectively gains a 1.5x strength modifier for that weapon, meaning you only need 2/3 of the weapon's strength requirement to wield it effectively. For instance, a weapon requiring 30 Strength only needs 20 Strength to be effectively two-handed.
Benefits of Two-Handing
- Increased Damage (Strength Scaling): Two-handing boosts your effective Strength, leading to higher damage output for weapons that scale with Strength.
- Enhanced Poise Damage: Attacks often deal more poise damage, making it easier to break enemy stances.
- Access to Weapon Skills (Ashes of War): While dual-wielding, your left-hand weapon skill is usually overridden by Power Stance attacks. Two-handing ensures you can always use the Weapon Skill of the two-handed weapon by pressing
L2(PlayStation) /LT(Xbox). - Guard Counters: Many shields are designed for one-hand use. By two-handing your weapon, you remove the shield from active use, but you gain access to the weapon's unique two-handed moveset and can still perform Guard Counters if you successfully block an attack.
Choosing Your Combat Style
Both dual wielding and two-handing offer distinct advantages. Your choice should depend on your build, the enemy you're facing, and your preferred playstyle. Many Tarnished find success by swapping between these modes on the fly to adapt to different combat scenarios.
For more information on combat mechanics and strategies in Elden Ring, consider consulting resources like the Elden Ring Wiki.
