If you watched any of the promotional trailers for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, you undoubtedly saw the new martial arts weapons. But what if I told you there was another new fist-weapon archetype in the DLC, entirely separate from the punches and kicks? Find out how to find them all here.
Where to Find Hand-to-Hand and Beast Claw Weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
There are two new classes of fist melee weapons available in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree: Beast Claws and Hand-to-Hand. There are two Beast Claws weapons, both of which come with more aggressive, animalistic movesets. The Hand-to-Hand weapons, the ones from the trailers, are as cool as they looked. We’ll start with those.
How to Get the Hand-to-Hand Weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
The two Hand-to-Hand weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree are called Dryleaf Arts and Dane’s Footwork. The first is a more equal combination of punches and kicks, while the second is, as you’d expect, focused primarily on kicks with the occasional punch to even out the attack string. Both weapons come from Dryleaf Dane, and you can get them at different points in the game.
How to Get the Dryleaf Arts in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
The Dryleaf Arts are available almost as soon as you enter the Realm of Shadow. Make your way to the Scadu Altus either via Castle Ensis and through the boss Rellana, Twin Moon Knight, or via the shortcut to the Altus from the Gravesite Plain. either way, you’ll need to make your way to the Highroad Cross northeast of Castle Ensis. There, you’ll find a note from a monk (actually Dane) and the May the Best Win gesture.
From the Cross, head east to Miquella’s Cross at Moorth Ruins, where Dane waits silently. Use May the Best Win in front of him and wait long enough for the screen to fade to black. You’ll be teleported into a bespoke arena where you need to defeat Dane in a straight-up duel. You can use whatever you want, but he’s using the Dryleaf Arts. Defeating him returns you to the Moorth Ruins Cross, and near the small ruined wall will be a loot item containing both Dane’s Hat and the Dryleaf Arts.
How to Get Dane’s Footwork in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Getting Dane’s Footwork will take you much longer than the Dryleaf Arts, as you’ll need to not only make your way to the western end of the Ruins of Rauh but you’ll also defeat Messmer, The Impaler, and Romina, Saint of the Bud. The former for his Kindling to burn the sealing tree, and the latter to access the sealing tree.
Then, with the sealing tree burnt, you need to go all the way to the top of Enir-Ilim, the final dungeon of Shadow of the Erdtree, and fight both Dane and at least Needle Knight Leda, if not one or two additional foes, depending on the choices you made. Once the fight against the NPCs is over, Dane’s body will be at the back of the arena, to the left of the doorway leading toward the final boss. From his body, you can pick up both the rest of his armor set and Dane’s Footwork.
Where to Get Beast Claw Weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
There are two Beast Claw weapons available in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, the, well, Besat Claws and a pair of literal bear arms in the Red Bear’s Claws.
How to Find the Beast Claws in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
For as powerful as they might become in PvP, the Beast Claws are incredibly easy to get. From the Gravesite Plain Site of Grace, the first one you encounter when you first enter the Realm of Shadow, head south to the small forest leading to the cliffside. Wandering around, there is the worst-disguised Wolvering reference in all of gaming: Logur, the Beast Claw.
As an NPC in Elden Ring, he has way too much HP, deals literally impossible damage, and can recover from animations faster than any human ever could. If you don’t have enough Scadutree Fragments, odds are he’ll shred you in a single combo, but if you do defeat him, you’ll automatically get the Beast Claws for your victory.
How to Find the Red Bear’s Claws in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Getting the Red Bear’s Claws is a bit more involved than the Beast Claws. To find them, you’ll need to make your way to the Ruins of Rauh map fragment, reachable via the cave on the eastern edge of the Scadu Altus, where the small pond is.
Follow the cave west through a Miyazaki Poison Swamp (TM) and continue until you reach the Temple Town Ruins, where you’ll find the map fragment. You should have also passed a sealed spiritspring on your left, which you can unseal if you continue south along the cliffside.
Take the spiritspring up, then the second spiritsping further up onto the highest plateau, where you’ll find the Northern Nameless Mausoleum.
Inside is the Red Bear NPC boss fight, who, once defeated, awards not only the boss’s armor set but the Red Bear’s Claws as well.
With the Red Bear dead (supposing you’ve done things in the order presented here), you’ll have all the new weapon archetypes for your fists in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. All of them are fantastic in different ways and are some of the best options for applying pressure in PvP. They also offer some solid damage in PvE.
For more on Elden Ring and its DLC, check out the Elden Ring guides hub.
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