The much-missed power stance mechanic from Dark Souls 2 has returned in Elden Ring. That means there are higher-damage moves you can perform against your enemies, but only when you have two of the same weapon equipped. Strength and Dexterity builds, pay close attention as we cover what you need to know about the Power Stance.
How to Power Stance in Elden Ring
The Power Stance in Elden Ring works a bit differently than you may remember from Dark Souls 2. Before, when equipping a same weapon type in each hand, you were able to swap between normal one-handed attacks and your dual-wielding setup. This time around, Elden Ring takes care of the swapping for you.
Here’s how it works. Normally, when you have a weapon equipped, pressing the bumper button (R1 or RB, for example) will swing that weapon. This works for both hands and both sets of shoulder buttons. However, this changes when you wield two weapons of the same type. When you have two similar weapons equipped, you enter a Power Stance, which adds a new move set. Now, pressing the right-hand bumper uses a standard attack, while the left bumper (L1 or LB) will use an entirely different attack.
Remember that this is distinct from two-handing weapons. Two-handing a weapon is when you wield one weapon with both hands. By contrast, the Power Stance involves wielding two of the same weapon, one in each hand. As such, most players probably won’t be able to take advantage of it early-game. That is, not unless they into put their early Runes into Endurance. This goes doubly so for heavy weapons like Scythes and Greatswords.
So why bother? Easy: Power Stance attacks tend to deal significantly higher damage than their normal attack counterparts. However, it’s not without some caveats. The most obvious: You cannot equip a shield, since both hands are already in use. Just as well, the attack animations are often significantly longer, and the attacks themselves consume more stamina. If you don’t pay attention, you may leave yourself without enough Endurance to dodge away.
This is everything you should need with regards to Power Stance. However, if you’re looking for other informative guides, we have plenty more where this came from:
- How To Open Rennala’s Treasure Chest
- Elden Ring Remembrances | All Trade Items and Sale Values
- Yura Questline | Full Walkthrough
