There are a plethora of players experiencing the vast world of Elden Ring and with that comes many different weapons. One of the most important things to learn about during the game would be the various different weapon arts tied to different armaments. All of the many weapons in the game have their own different attack tied to the left trigger.
Following from the idea of Dark Souls 3's weapon arts, Elden Ring uses an FR meter or focus meter allowing players to use the special techniques tied to weapons. As long as there is blue energy in that bar, weapon arts can be performed by consuming an amount of focus. These different skills can give the tarnished an edge against the many bosses throughout Elden Ring. Using weapon arts is possible even at the start of the game as every weapon has one including bare fists.
The easiest way to use weapon arts is to hold the weapon with both hands. PC players would press E and right-click, and console players would hold the triangle or Y buttons then press the left trigger to enter the two-handed stance. The art can then be performed by pressing the left trigger or shift and right-clicking.
What kinds of Weapon Arts are there in Elden Ring
Weapon Arts vary from weapon to weapon, wielding nothing but bare fists in the right-hand grants the kick weapon art for example. With a greatsword, the skill becomes a focused stomp forward that can be tied into an attack that launches enemies upward with a powerful rising strike. Even bows in Elden Ring have specific arts, like barrage which lets archers fire arrows rapidly at the cost of ammo and damage. There are also the katana-type weapons which have a little easter egg for fans familiar with Sekiro. The tarnished perform a very similar motion to The Wolf's when using some katana abilities like unsheath. Most shields come with the basic parry and the Great Turtle Shell comes with a barricade shield as a default art but even they can have different arts when combined with an ash of war.
What Elden Ring does differently compared to some of the past Fromsoft games is the addition of Ashes of War. These can be equipped with certain weapons to change the original weapon art and the stats the weapon provides. Still, even without these Ashes of War, weapons can add a very interesting twist into some of the battles throughout the game.
There are unique skills for certain armaments, like the Reduvia Blood Blade which is used on Elden Ring's Reduvia dagger that shoots out a slashing projectile of blood. This projectile also builds bloodloss on enemies hit. Unfortunately, this skill is only used on the Reduvia dagger and can't be paired with another. More than that, some skills can't be paired with some armaments at all as they require a certain type of weapon. The art of war determination, for instance, can't be put on a bow or shield for example.
Figuring the best weapon art depends on personal playstyle and respecing level paths for character growth is a great way to make Elden Ring more personal. With all the different skills available players can find a fitting style, and potentially pass it down to other weapons with the use of an ash of war. Mastering these skills will make dealing with the various hostile mobs of enemies that are waiting for the tarnished substantially easier to beat.
Elden Ring is available on PC, Playstation, and Xbox