Combat in Dark Souls 3 will be covered on this page. Everything from the basics like blocking, rolling, spells, etc; to the more advanced techniques like parrying, iframes and poise.
In addition to basic actions, certain combinations of button inputs can be used to perform a variety of other actions. Please see the Skills page to understand the usage of Battle Skills.
Combat Moves
- Dashing
Push the left stick all the way in a direction and hold the ☓/B button while in motion to dash.
Dashing consumes your stamina. Push down on the left stick (L3 button/LS) while dashing to jump in the direction you're going.
You can set this for either the L3/LS button or ☓/B button in the main menu.
- Rolling
Push the left stick in any direction and press the ☓/B button to execute a roll in the direction you pushed. Rolls have i-frames, which temporarily make the player invulnerable at the beginning of the animation. Most players would advise rolling against attacks to help newcomers get the timing right.
A roll can also be performed while the player is getting up after being knocked down, providing the same i-frames as a regular roll but moving a much shorter distance and using a different animation. This roll can only be perfomed during the start of the getting up animation, which is when the player can be stuck again. This is a better alternative to letting the animation finish.
- Backstep
Press the ☓/B button while you aren't pushing the left stick in any direction to quickly step backward. Backsteps do not have i-frames.
- Using Ladders
Go up to a ladder and press the ○/A button to climb or descend it.
To descend more quickly, hold down the O/B button and push the left stick downward.
While on a ladder, press the R1/RB button to attack upward and the R2/RT button to attack downward.
Attack and Defense
- Target Lock-on
Push down on the right stick (R3/RS button) to target (lock on to) a nearby foe.
If multiple enemies are nearby, move the right stick around while locked on to change your target.
Once you lock on to a foe, you'll continually face the foe as you move around.
If there are no enemies nearby, pressing the R3/RS button will reset the camera.
Locking on requires a minimum distance from the target.
- Right-hand Weapon Actions
Press the R1/RB or R2/RT buttons to use the weapon in your right hand to attack.
Press the R1/RB button for a regular attack, which has a smaller stamina cost and does less damage, and the R2/RT button for a strong attack, that takes more stamina but deals more damage. They also can possibly deal different types of damage, the Estoc being an example.
Hold down the R2/RT button to launch a charged attack, which does extra damage. Holding does not need to be done all the way, and can be dropped earlier to change the strong attack's timing.
If the weapon's strong attack has a 2-hit combo, you can also choose to charge only the first, the second or both attacks.
- Left-hand Weapon Actions
Press the L1 button to use the weapon in your left hand to attack.
If you have a shield equipped, hold down the L1 button to take a guard stance. A guard stance allows the player to tank through hits and reduce their damage by a percentage depending on the shield, at the cost of stamina. How much stamina a shield takes to block an attack is dependent on its stability, and heavier weapons tend to take more stamina to block.
- Dual-hand Weapon Actions
Press the △/Y button, and you'll use the weapon in your right hand to take a dual-wield stance.
Press the △/Y button again in dual-hand mode to return to single-hand mode.
Holding the △/Y button lets the player dual-hand the weapon in his left hand.
Dual-handing allows for the use of new movesets, weapon skills, an L1/LB special attack/block, and multiplies the player's strength by 1.5, allowing him to wield more weapons and get better scaling from them.
Special Actions
- Roll/Backstep Attacks
Immediately after rolling or backstepping, press the regular attack button for a quicker attack.
- Skills
Pressing L2/LT will execute the Skill of a weapon/shield/catalyst two-handed or equipped in the player's left hand. Skills are individual to weapons, though many weapons share Skills, and require focus to be performed. Attempting to perform a Skill without Focus will result in a failure, or in a weakened/partial version of the skill.
- Parrying
Most of the smaller shields, some of the medium sized shields and some weapons share the skill Parry. When seeing an attack coming, the player can choose to parry the attack and, if he gets the timing right, the enemy becomes vulnerable for a Riposte. Many attacks cannot be parried, however.
The parrying animation has startup frames, parry frames, and ending frames. To properly parry, the attack must hit the player during the animation's parry frames.
- Dead Angling
Dead angling is the act of hitting another player with the side of an attack's arc rather than the middle, making the attack un-parriable. Doing this typically requires not locking on, and moving to the side while attacking. Weapons with small attack arcs, such as Thrusting Weapons, cannot dead angle. The other player can still get a partial parry. Like the poise, it's here but work partially.
- Pushback Attack (Kick)
Press the R1/RB button as you push the left stick forward to execute a kick that deals stamina damage on opponents using shields. The stamina damage is affected by the shield's stability and may or may not guard break, allowing a Critical strike.
According to quite a few Forum users, the amount of stamina damage a kick deals is dependent on the weapon equipped.
- Jump Attack
Press the R2/RT button as you push the left stick forward to execute a jump attack.
- Plunging Attack
Press the R1/R2/RB/RT buttons while falling to attack your enemy from above.
•The plunging attack is the most reliable move in the game
- Ripostes
Ripostes are special attacks performed on enemies that have been guard broken or parried with the R1/RB button. They deal special damage and are influenced by a weapon's critical multiplier. Many enemies cannot be Riposte'd.
- Backstabs
Backstabs are special attacks performed from behind enemies with the R1/RB button. They deal special damage and are influenced by a weapon's critical multiplier. Many enemies cannot be backstabbed. Backstabs take a moment to begin after the R1/RB button is pressed - you become unstaggerable during the very end of this animation, allowing you to make trades via backstabs if positioned and timed correctly.
- Using Sorceries/Miracles/Pyromancies
In order to use magic (sorceries/miracles/pyromancies), you must have the corresponding catalyst (Sorcerer's Staff/Talisman or Chime/Pyromancy Flame) equipped.
Use the directional buttons (up) to select a magic, and use the regular attack of the hand in which the catalyst is equipped to cast it.
Using magic consumes your focus. Magic cannot be done without focus.
Hold down the button while casting various spells, such as "Heal" or "Sacred Oath" miracles to remain in casting mode, delaying the magic until you're ready.
- Sweet Spots
Sweet spots are the concept that some weapons deal more damage when attacks hit with a certain part of the hitbox. Emphasis on Halberds. Sweet Spots may have influence over stagger.
Hyper Armor, Poise and Stagger
Stagger is when a weapon's hit allows for a follow up. Whether or not a weapon can stagger or for how many hits it can stagger is dependent on the weapon. As of now, poise hasn't been confirmed to have an effect on stagger. As a special note, equip load seems to affect whether or not the player can be staggered at the ending of a roll animation.
Bigger weapons in Dark Souls 3 have Hyper Armour towards the ending of their attack animations. Hyper Armor makes the player immune to stagger temporarily, making their attacks uninterruptible. The amount of Hyper Armor an attack has is influenced by the player's poise, so equipping heavier armor when using bigger weapons is recommended, while it won't make much of a difference for players using lighter and faster weapons.
Special thanks to Juutas1988 for providing a great deal of the info compiled here.
Anonymous
- Anonymous
I've only ever played with an Xbox controller... is sprinting/rolling really the X button by default on Playstation controllers? That's so weird.
Does anyone know if the shield pushing attack makes you block while pushing and if not is there a certain ammount of poise to it? And how much poise damage does it do?
- Anonymous
Hello DS3 player, I am come to you for a little favour, and I will carry this message to everywhere in DS3 community.
There is a glitch that allows you to summon white sign mad phantom in Gael’s Arena (Credit to Dashingsaint), if you keep Shira alived while she invade you (you can escape her simply sprint out her aggro range), you won’t trigger gael boss cutscene, and then you could put down you purple summon white sign or summon other white purple.
Thus, a new fight club is founded, an arena in a long lost dessert under the sunset sky which sprinkle with fainted galaxy.
If you’re watching this, kindly please help me share this and invite any ds3 enthusiast you known to this new fight club, your little effort would be much appreciated.
SL25+2, SL40+4, SL60+6, SL72+8, SL90+10, SL125 Meta, SL 351++, all SL range are acceptable.
Welcome to the Gael’s Sunset Arena, the most beautiful map in the entire series, the last arena at the End of World.
I will await you there, in the End of the World, and we shall fight eternal, shiny and incandescence.
LONG MAY THE DARK SOULS COMMUNITY LIVE
- Anonymous
i miss being able to actually L1 with any weapon from ds2... if there are any weapons that can do this (besides paired ones obv) lmk
"Holding ∆/Y lets the player dual-wield the weapon in their left hand"
…Huh. Today I learned.
"Holding ∆/Y lets the player dual-wield the weapon in their left hand"
…Huh. Today I learned.
- Anonymous
Does anyone know if all players in a double or triple riposte deal damage? If they all hit, does everyone get the crit modifier? or does it choose just one?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Power stance would have been a solution to split damage problem, wielding 2 weapon with different elements being more or less effective on certain enemies instead of multiple elements on 1 weapon that barely amounts to anything.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Does the plunging attack do more damage the higher you start from or is it a fixed damage?
- Anonymous
Dual weapons have a dual attack penalty so you don't just deal double damage with l1 combos. But that mechanic doesn't seem to apply on weapon buffs like carthus flame arc or darkmoon blade.
- Anonymous
"•The plunging attack is the most reliable move in the game" I know it's a meme from a Dunkey video, but it really is very reliable compared to past games. It automatically orients you to face an enemy, and you can press it any time in the air instead of just before you land. I don't think I've ever gotten Asylum Demon with a plunging attack, but I've never missed a plunging attack in Dark Souls III.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Is jump attack similar to DS1 in that it can't be parried? If so, probably worth mentioning here :)
- Anonymous
I rarely see people pulling off true roll backstabs in this game even though it’s the one that needs them most because you have a window to land one rather than it being instant. Most players are familiar with rolling around someone doing a fully charged attack and back stabbing them while keeping lock on however if you break lock on mid roll and turn your character at the first frame once the roll ends you can pull off a much faster back stab, you won’t even see your character turn they’ll be immediately into the animation after the roll. Hard to pull it off and it always feels like your gonna do a rolling attack but if you get it it’s very satisfying and it can be used on someone doing as little as a greatsword R1 before trying to escape.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I'm wondering how to do one shot ripost, because I've always seen enemies having long, deadly ripost on me, but when I'm doing it it is short and mostly weak. Is it some ring or something? I've tried riposting enemies with many weapons and I hadn't that "long" ripost animation. Can somebody help me?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Whoever edited the Plunging Attack bit is a dunkey fan lmaoo
Keep in mind, kicking can be almost directly countered if you use any 60+ stability shield w/ 100 phys absorb and great magic shield cuz stamina just doesn't drain then
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Why is it that when i use the left trigger for xbox one it uses part of my MP but the attack is weaker than my tighg trigger attack?
- Anonymous
I did not know how to run until the dancer after 3 lords an now I still don't run I just roll
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
For those struggling with kicking on PC, and assuming you're using a controller and not suffering through personal hell with keyboard/mouse, there is a major difference between how easy it is to kick and the controller you use. I was using a Logitech controller for months and kicking was always about 70% luck, even after practicing quite a bit. I switched to a PS4 controller the other day and immediately I was able to kick every single time I tried. A legitimately drastic difference, and if I'd known that earlier I would have changed controllers immediately since reliably kicking when you want to is a major benefit in both PvP and PvE.
- Anonymous
This isn't specific enough for a wiki site.
The roll doesn't start when you press the dodge button, IT STARTS WHEN THE BUTTON IS RELEASED.
You have a brief window for holding down the button (literally half a second) but this allows for extremely precise dodging.
The format is as follows: preload the dodge button when you know you need to dodge. Wait for the impact point to come, release dodge as soon as the impact point comes.
It becomes so much easier to dodge when you realize this.
- Anonymous
I've found the most reliable way to kick is to not want to kick.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I've found out that not meeting the stat requirements will cause your kicks to do nothing. All you need is a weapon that you do not have the stat requirements for.
I tested these on the wooden shield Hollows outside of Vordt's boss room.
With 13/11/10/10 (STR/DEX/INT/FTH), I was wielding the Long Sword (with one hand in my right), and kicked the Hollow while they had their shield up; their guard was broken.
Next I was wielding the Zweihander (with one hand in my right), and kicked the Hollow 3x while they had their shield up; their guard was not broken. I was sure I was making contact with their shield because they would be pushed back a bit.
I also tested kicking with shields (not meeting the stat requirements does not seem to make a difference).
Kicking with the shield is actually bashing with the shield.
You can only "kick" with the shield, while two handing the shield.
Attempting to kick while holding it with only your right hand results in just a regular shield attack.
Attempting to kick while holding it with only your left hand results in an actual kick.
When two handing the shield, and kicking with the shield, it lacks the ability to guard break.
- Anonymous
Probably should note that if the dead angle-angle isn't wide enough, you can still get parried.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
For fellow PC players, here are the M+K controls:
.Dodge- space + direction of movement
Backstep- tap space
.Dashing- holding space while moving
.Slow walking- holding Alt while moving
.Jumping- tap space in middle of dashing
.Right hand weapon light attack- left click
.Right hand weapon strong attack- shift + left click (you can hold this for a charged attack)
.Two hand your right hand weapon- tap F
.Two hand your left hand weapon- hold F
.Use a weapon skill-
While two handing, tap/hold (depends on weapon) Ctrl and (if needed), use light attack and/or strong attack.
.Light attack with left hand weapon/parry with left hand weapon- tap Ctrl (while one handing)
.Block with left hand weapon- hold right click
.Aim while two handing a ranged weapon- hold right click
.Use secondary arrow/bolt- shift + left click (holding shift is not recommended)
.Dash while going down from a ladder- hold space + down
Notes:
Usage of your weapon skills, depends on your weapon.
Some weapons when held in left hand have a different behavior, see for yourself.
Combinations of running/jumping/backstepping etc. attacks, stay the same.
- Anonymous
Even the wiki has Console contorls. WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE PC PLAYERS?!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Whenever I play the controls for the x button and o are switch.
- Anonymous
The combat in this game is a mess!
Its so *****ing ridiculous!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
It usually takes me 2 kicks to guard break lothrick knights with greatshields but I've noticed that when playing naked with just a dagger it only takes me 1 kick. Would someone please explain this? Do I deal more stamina damage when I'm lighter?
- Anonymous
For some reason I can't do backstabs. either im doing it wrong or everything but the undead with broken straight swords can't be backstabbed. Help?
- Anonymous
I would love for some one to clarify whether or not crit rating and crits proc when not backstabbing or riposting.
- Anonymous
Neat little tip but if you do a jump attack 1 handed and quickly follow with and R1/RB you will actually perform a roll attack, this only works while 1 handed but can be super useful in baiting out people in pvp.. i find it especially useful on UGS like fume roll attack as it is fairly quick.
PEACE!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
mh... "Hyper Armor, Poise and Stagger" section is awfully outdated.
- Anonymous
If u fall off a ledge and smash some one with r1 does it count as a critical? If so can it be affected by the hornet ring
- Anonymous
Has anyone figured out the damage multiplier for the r1, r2, etc?
- Anonymous
Maybe its me but I miss the backstep from DS2, I used it quite much in my PVP experience but now in DS3 I only feel that it is useful when your holding long range weapon or whips.. Does the backstep actually have Iframes in DS3?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Even though having hyper armor is great, the weapon balance when it comes to hyper armor is a huge mess. Axes and maces have almost no noticable hyper armor, making them inefficient in trading with lighter weapons. Great-type weapons have amazing hyper armor but it kicks in way too late, given that they are also incredibly slow, they are at huge disadvantage when dealing with faster Greatswords. Speaking of greatswords, they too have great hyper armor but it kicks in super fast when compared to heavier weapons.From are dumb enough not to include hyper frames priority when it comes to trading.The balance is a huge mess in this game.
- Anonymous
good advice thank you im getting dark souls 3 and i havnt even played bloodborne or a souls game
- Anonymous
So, I discovered recently that you can roll into a jumping attack (Circle/B + Forward, Forward + R2). I've found limited use for this outside of a lucky killing blow in PvP, but since it was impossible in DS1 (Haven't had a chance to check in DS2 or BB) I feel it should be noted somewhere. This seemed like the best place.From the small amount of testing I did it seems you can only perform the jump attack from a forward roll (away from the camera) but if you roll in any other direction and attempt to jump attack you'll perform a standard R2.
- Anonymous
Sometimes i spontaneously made stabs in front instead of back, I even managed to do it to Lorian in front.
- Anonymous
Please make a list of the attacks that can't be parried, like the 2h ultra great attacks, or whips... I'm looking for a source that can tell me if you can or cannot parry dual wielded L1 attacks, like the gotthard rolling L1, or the whatever dual curved sword L1.
- Anonymous
The normal Rapier is capable of parrying when equipped in the left hand. In combination with its quick staggering ability, it is an effective shield replacement and is arguably a better substitute for the parrying dagger, given that it is a fully fledged weapon.
- Anonymous
I don't know if anyone else has tried this, but in my experience, if you dual-wield any two weapons that are not paired, then the left-hand weapon blocks when you use L1/LB, and uses light attack when you use L2/LB.I've tried this with everything from daggers and broken straight swords to Smough's Hammer, so I think it applies to everything but I may be wrong.I think this go-around From has tried to reduce the amount of options and unpredictability gained from wielding two weapons with varied movesets, like people were doing with Santier's and Yorgh's in DS2.I feel as though this should be reflected in the article so people can see it when they look for it.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The PS4 buttons are wrong on this pageInteract (objects / Ladder) = X Dash / Jump / Roll / Descend = O (double tap to drop off ladder)
- Anonymous
Idk if this is the right page for this, but is there any page that compares how the different damage types (strike, slash, thrust, regular, whatever else) work against armor? I understand that probably takes a lot of time testing, but I'm just curious if that's something in the works, or if ppl know the gist of it offhand.
- Anonymous
There is no poise, it does nothing in this game as it is turned off, it does not affect you in anyway.
Bloodbornes Combat Mechanics are.. Superior. I even miss the simple blood splashes and the amazing hit detection. Any version of the quickstep mechanic besides the Battle arts exclusive for would of been ALL this game needed. SO MANY games end up like this. With one missing or one flawed or un successful mechanic, dynamic, or concept. One small detail absent or just executed poorly (IMO the quickstep or quickdodge is like sprint roll jump or attack and shouldn't need a special skill. Sure backstabbing would of been an issue but this isn't Bloodborne and I'm not talking about the exact mechanic but atleast the idea and implementation of it. Making it work to the tune of poise, armor and carry weight, agility, perhaps requiring you to hold down the block/guard (or L1) and pressing dodge. replacing the need to lock on and adding the ability (giving the devs the responsibility to make iframes and dodging mechanics work based on timing, iframes. etc of course but also which dodge they use... diveroll or strafe dodge based on attack angle not to mention the dead angling affect) quickly switch or choose to dive and roll or quickstep. The quickstep having its distance. speed, and effectiveness like the diveroll has a fat roll, normal roll, and fast.In bloodborne the quickstep was used more than the diveroll (atleast by me while locked on) but for taking on hoards to test myself againt a lynch mob or using offensively to dodge and attack in swift succession. IN dark Sou;s id expect the quick step to be dummed down a bit so youre not just a blur and making it less sensitive and more of a tactical choice/maneuver. Without even a simple quickdodge ability were back to spamming dodge rolls instead of STAYING IN THE FIGHT rather than running in and running out, attacking and retreating and repeating. Its more like a Duel and you have more control over you character.... Now FROMSOFT could of brought in all the various weapons, armor, battle arts, magic, and I was even thinking of a battle arts system that worked like spells or miracles were you attuned them, switched between them, and they changed your offensive defensive priority, aggressiveness, method, tactics, s weel s stance and bringing in an element of footwork and even PVP fights where weapons and shields both clashed against each other as one fighter blocks or parries (I don't believe a parry is a ability to stun stagger and critical attack someone. Its the deflection of an attack in a way that lets you follow up with a riposte on the exposed defense after a successful parry IF timing and the right move is made OR maybe its countered etc etc if the hit detection is good enough attacks would even bounce oof each other while one weapon hits another, both aiming opposite directions but colliding in the melee. IF you have two early knights fight with longswords and both presss R1 at the same time attacking each other then hit detection might show clashing swords (if players position is right for the possibility). Dead angling, using non lock on attacks (maybe something where instead of having to line up directily behind someone for a backstab, just to miss - mostly in the original dark souls - or it being to easy, maybe doing the same button combo as a kick could make it less easier then landing behind someone and, despite the lack of or lesser 'magnent' effect but that coupled with a specific and slgithy more complex button press istead of R1 at right place, right time.I pray Miyazaki Keeps making these types of Games Maybe he'll make two more Bloodbornes as I have a theory on the meaning of a Spirtual Succesor as the term is used when referring to Dark Souls 1 as being a sequel or not to demon souls , and the same with DS2 with Bloodborne. Maybe BloodBorne told its story but id like Miyazaki to do more of Darkborn Bloodsouls games deepening the combat and fine tunning it each game. The kind of combat I'm trying to explain is not all that complicated from what ive seen games even on Ps2 or 360 do.I have a vision of PVP and PVE with a story that has PVP combat deeper, funner, fully capable, and never having to make ridiculous button combinations work but simply understanding whats easy to learn, getting to know the deeper end and then being challenged to master a mear e-sports level of equal competition. (not that I want a Dark SOuls E-sports arena Versus game.. hell no but if Dark Souls was recognized as being real full dimensional swords, sorcery, melee, etc. PVP compatible game. Imagine even more than having 5 ataacks in a r1 moveset plus r1 and r2 combination attacks plus the movement contextual attacks from dodge, backstep, and dash (all original attacks instead of backstep and dash being the same or r2 not having a dodge roll attack) and then every kind of attack from any kind of angle while any possible movement I capable and not limited to the order the attack come when pressing the attack button 4 ties in a row. Skipping a 'beat' and attacking ay skip to the third attack as attacks would come in 2s like cross slashes left to right to left and then tronge or aggressive R2 attacks that come in ones after a specific R1 attack and twos if you alternate. Then you can also double press, use timing like in Lords of the Fallen did nicely, press and hold double pres and hold the second press (and any combination of timing, specific button used, and type of pressing plus order and any contextuals that are obsviou like from above or wihile dashing dodging backstepping jumping, ri[osying, charging, attacking behind shield. ***** I don'tknow ifDark Souls Creators really recognize the potential to be all the For Honor is trying to be, that Kingdom COm is trying to be in a purely mechanics/dynamic perspective towards combat and gameplay. Place a decent storyteller alongside Miyazaki and wed probably get the first academy award winning FANTASY sotry epic )jk) but yeah I'm that confident in the storytelling possibilities of the next 6 generations. ANother discussion but I'm not confident in the Game developers being focused on the right vision if that makes sense and doesn't sound smug or something. I just want to escape hack N slash Enough to where I don't need to look forward to my next sword or armor fashion and beating the game to get into good PVP or NG plus and lore hunting. I want all that plus the combat and adventure and gameplay and story (stay subtle even if you decide to animate NPC faces or any NPCs that aren't engaged in battle and just idle in a single animation and change their postions everytime you do something specific in the world and return to find them doing something else in another part of the room but standing or sitting or being still while juggling instead of dribbling a basketball up and down.
Dead angle has been removed, tried today several time. Now, PvP is *****ing useless, no poise, no dead angle, and worst netcode ever.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
the last paragraph is demonstrably false. and has been for every single dark souls game. poise does not decrease the amount of time you are stunned. the time the stun lasts is dependent only on the type of weapon you get hit by. and having more poise does not prevent you from getting stunned unless you are attacking. in all dark souls games, poise provides a small amount of hyper armor for non heavy weapons that don't already have hyper armor. idk about ds3, but in ds2 hyper armor just effectively doubled your poise meter during the critical frames of an attack. it does not decrease your "stunability" in any other frames. but in ds3, poise makes it harder to stun you during attack animations, and during roll recovery animations. if you're not attacking or rolling, ANY weapon will stun you, REGARDLESS of your poise stat. you could use cheat engine to get infinite poise, and if you're just standing or running, not attacking or rolling, and you get hit by a dagger or an arrow, you WILL be stunned.so that means poise doesn't allow you to "get away after one or two hits." if i have 100 poise and you have 3 poise, and neither of us is in an attack animation, and we get hit by any weapon's R1, we will both be stunned long enough for the opponent to get another attack. it doesn't matter what weapon you get hit with, or what your poise stat is, you are always susceptible to a 2 hit R1 combo. some weapons can do a 2 hit R2 combo as well, and many dual wield weapons can do a 2 hit L1 combo. if your attack can 2 hit combo someone with no poise, it can 2 hit combo someone with high poise.poise only prevents you from getting stunned and comboed if you're in an attack or roll animation. if you are attacking at the same time as your opponent, and you have high poise and he has low poise, his hit will not stun you but your hit will stun him. thus you get to hit twice and he only gets to hit once. but in ds3 poise is pretty weak, so if your weapon has no hyper armor, it's unlikely that poise will get you through much. even with havel's armor and wolf ring +2, a longsword 1h R1 will stun you unless you're using a greathammer, UGS, greataxe, or halberd. there might be other weapons that give you hyper armor but these are the ones i'm aware of so far. and to make matters worse for poise, if you're using a greathammer or something like that, you get so much hyper armor that you don't NEED havel's armor or wolf ring +2 to out trade opponents with light weapons. you could have 5 or 10 poise and your hyper armor would still get you through it.the only thing i've noticed poise help with is trading with other heavy weapon users. if my opponent and i both use black knight greataxe, 2 handed, and he has 20 poise while i have 42 poise, and we R1 each other simultaneously, both our hits will go through, but he will be stunned immediately after hitting me, and i won't be, so i can hit him again. that means i do twice as much damage. but if he starts using a longsword while i keep using the greataxe, i will out trade him whether i wear wolf ring +2 or not.but personally i think this is a pretty big deal. out trading heavy weapons is really important if you're using heavy weapons. it lets you turn fights around, since a single hit does so much damage. if i get hit 3 times and he's only been hit 2 times, there's no way i can kill him by trading equally with him. a hit for a hit will just kill me. but if i can trade with him and get 2 hits while he gets 1, i can turn the fight around. so i personally use wolf ring +2, since it's the item with BY FAR the best poise to weight ratio. it only weighs 0.5 units, and the only other way to get so many poise points is to equip like 40+ units worth of armor, which means i can't use it with something as heavy as morne's great hammer or fume UGS unless i have really high vitality, even with havel's ring +2. and if i have really high vitality, i can't have really high overall stats.
- Anonymous
Sometimes I accidentally dual wield the shield on my left hand but I have no idea how to do it. I'm playing on Steam PC version.
- Anonymous
Many weapons in the game have a stance bound to L2 (PS4). For instance, the Uchigatana (katana) stance puts the sword back into the sheath, giving your next R1/R2 additional effects. Many of these stances aren't cut out when a shield is equipped, rather, using L2 when you have a shield on will momentarily place the shield on your back, then automatically throw it back on when you've completed the attack. Weapon rules/laws are not universal in DS3. Many weapons, even of the same weapon type, will perform differently and have different skill sets under different circumstances - ie. shield on/off, single/2h etc. Play around with the game, different types of weapons, shields etc and find what you prefer. Mostly everything is viable - there are people clearing the game using dual wield shields. Sorry for the lengthy response, take it easy.
- Anonymous
Just wondering if two handing still causes you to have 1.5x strength and also wondering if dual wielding weapons like the drang twinspears and twinhammers give the same bonus when dual wielding.
- Anonymous
Some enemies can be attacked during certain animations to trigger a Riposte style stun state during which you can perform a Bloodborne style Visceral Attack. Try experimenting!
- Anonymous
Can someone please confirm to me that they didn't just throw the *****ing Power Stance out of the Game ? I loved that, it was the best part in Dark Souls two and it's abstinence was a huge dissappointment for me in Dark Souls one (Holding two swords basically pointless back then). Did they reall throw it out again ? O.o
- Anonymous
Does two handing a weapon increase your effective strength by 1.5 times like in DS1, or by 2 times like in DS2?
- Anonymous
I thought the O bottom was to dash dodge and the X bottom to interact. If it's the same as the previous games they should edit that.
- Anonymous
OK wait a minet 2601 I say ther will be was to get ur magic back easyer ways then going to the bomfier or poshen may be their will be like weapon effect s so on I hope these boss weapons argon
- Anonymous
Nachtrag: Wenn ein Gegner durch mehrere Schläge ins straucheln gerät, kann er frontal gefinisht werden.
- Anonymous
So... Parry is a special skill, and special skills consume FP, FP is increased by attunement... That means there is a limit to how many times you can parry/riposte before you run out of FP? I really don't like that if it's true. Seems character stats are more important than individual skill in this iteration.
- Anonymous
have you ever played dragon age inquisition it was a bit obscure and not everyone would have noticed it but there was a spell and at the touch of a buttuon the player could do a perfect melee block if they were skillfull enough, l do kendo and this had very realistic timing, your block with a sword in dark souls 2 is too precise like the one in darksiders and unfun ,maybe for dark souls four hey. l could throw away the shield .
Problem with fight club' . Very few honor rules of a fight club...always taking life bobbles during a session, will get you KILLED. PERIOD...
To many players that apparently can"t Read.
3
+11
-1