How to Power Stance Your Weapons in Elden Ring

Of all the combat mechanics in Elden RIng, the kind of return of power standing from Dark Souls 2 is one of the best. It opens up entirely new build options, comes with unique attack animations, and can make applying status effects or dealing consistent damage much more consistent. Here’s how you do it.

How to Power Stance in Elden Ring

The power stance mechanic in Elden Ring is much simpler than the one you find in Dark Souls 2. In Elden Ring, there are no additional stat requirements and no additional inputs needed, though there are a few things that need to be the same. In short, to power stance your weapons in Elden Ring, you must:

1. Have two weapons of the same class (straight sword, spear, colossal weapon, etc.) in each hand.
2. Have the stats to actually use each weapon one-handed (if you want actually to do damage).
3. Have enough equipped load that you aren’t completely weighed down by your weapons.
4. Press the L1 or left bumper with both weapons equipped to use the power stance move set.

That’s really all there is to it. Unlike Dark Souls 2, you don’t need to have one-and-a-half times the stat requirement per weapon here. You don’t need to press and hold Triangle or Y to activate the stance. And there’s no change of stance signifying the new move set. Just equip the same weapon type in both hands, use the left bumper, and profit.

There are a few big caveats to power standing in Elden Ring, though. The first is the increased stamina cost. Almost every power-stanced move set costs quite a bit more stamina to use, so you’re trading the number of attacks you can get off per stamina bar to make those attacks more powerful.

Second, in many cases, you need to hit your enemy with both of your weapons if you want anything approaching good value for the cost. Power standing cuts into each weapon’s damage output a touch, though you’ll feel the difference more at lower levels than high.

Third, and this is more an inconvenience than anything, using two of the same weapons in power stance cuts into their ability to apply status effects. In other words, using two Scavenger’s Curved Swords will do a bit less Bleed buildup than swapping out one Scavenger’s for a Bandit’s Curved Sword. The end result is effectively moot as if you’ve invested heavily into Arcane and are at least level 90 or so, and the status buildup reduction is minimal enough that you’ll hardly feel it. Things will be a bit better with two different weapons, but usually not in any way that really matters.

You will, of course, need to upgrade both weapons to have usable damage, and several weapons in Elden Ring appear only once per playthrough. If you want to use the Legendary Armaments or other unique weapons in a power stance, you’ll either need to enter New Game Plus or have another player drop you a second version.

It should go without saying that you won’t be able to use a shield in most cases where you power stance a weapon unless you’re using one of the two new Dueling Shields from the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Of course, if you’re dual-wielding weapons, you should be playing much more aggressively anyway, using a playstyle that runs directly counter to using a shield in the first place.

Oh, and I should mention that, as you’d expect, two-handing your weapon also removes power stance, though that’s kind of the point of that ability. You can, however, easily swap between both your weapons’ Ashes of War. Instead of pressing the right trigger to two-hand your right-hand weapon, press the left trigger with Y or Triangle held, and you’ll use your left-hand weapon with both hands. This opens up even more options for your build.

That’s everything you need to know about how to power stance in Elden Ring. For much more on Elden Ring and its enormous DLC, our Elden Ring guide hub has plenty more.