Trying to find out what weapons arts do in Elden Ring? Most of the armaments in Elden Ring feature a unique weapon art – these function the same as skills in Dark Souls III. Weapon arts give players an additional action on their armament, which can range from performing a lunge attack, to summoning lightning from the sky to attack nearby enemies. The only armaments which don’t typically have dedicated weapon arts are sacred seals, staves, and shields, though there are exceptions.
Though Dark Souls III players often pick weapons based on their weapon arts, even if that particular weapon doesn’t suit their build. Elden Ring is much more flexible by comparison, giving players the option to customise their armament skill using Ashes of War. It’s important to note that certain Ashes of War can only be used on specific types of equipment.
Picking the correct weapon art is vital to perfecting your build, giving you the upper hand against Elden Ring bosses. These skills can drastically affect how you approach enemies, and the weapon scaling can be altered to match your most used stat points. Here’s everything you need to know about Elden Ring weapon arts, including how many there are, what they do, and more.
ELDEN RING WEAPON ARTS LIST
Unlike the weapon arts found in our Ashes of War locations guide, most of these skills are exclusive to specific weapons. Here’s the list of all the exclusive weapon arts we know about in Elden Ring:
- Blood Blade (Reduvia Dagger) – Fling a dagger made of blood towards an enemy, damaging the opponent and forcing bleeding damage.
- Brace War Cry (Club) – Shout into the distance to increase your attack power. While this buff is active, heavy attacks transform into unique repeated attacks
- Buckler Parry (Buckler) – Perform a parry at the exact moment an enemy hits you with a melee attack to break their stance
- Charge Forth (Winged Spear and Lance) – Grab the lance with both hands before charging forward, damaging enemies along the way before ending the attack with a thrust
- Firing Position (Shortbow) – Break enemy armour with a charged attack using the shortbow
- Frenzy (all axes) – Swing your axe wildly until your stamina runs out. You can follow this up with a normal or heavy attack
- Hailstorm Sword (Dragon Scale Blade) – Temporarily imbue your sword with ice and lightning to deal elemental damage
- Ordovis’ Vortex (Ordovis’ Greatsword) – Swing your sword to charge up a powerful energy strike, dealing area of effect damage to nearby enemies
- Parry Skill (some shields) – Perform a parry at the exact moment an enemy hits you with a melee attack to break their stance
- Sorcerer Hunter (Carian Glintstone Shield) – Create a temporary magical barrier capable of reflecting magical attacks back as glintstones
- Spinning Slash (Scimitar and Twinblade) – Spin around with your sword to deal continuous damage, can be cancelled into a heavy attack
- Square Off (Longsword) – Prepare your sword by gripping it with two hands before performing a range of thrusting attacks
- Step In (Bastard Sword) – Step forward and lean into the ground before launching your sword towards the sky
- Torch Attack (all torches) – Burn nearby enemies using the fire from a lit torch
- Viper Bite (Coil Shield) – The snake laying on the shield bursts forwards, inflicting poison damage from a distance
ELDEN RING WEAPON ARTS LOCATIONS
- Reduvia Dagger – Hidden inside a chest located in an underground cellar within the Dragon-Burnt Ruins
- Club – Merchant Kate sells Clubs at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave for 300 Runes
- Buckler – Merchant Kate sells Bucklers at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave for 300 Runes
- Lance – Merchant Kate sells Lances at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave for 500 Runes
- Shortbow – Merchant Kate sells Shortbows at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave for 300 Runes
- Battle Axe – Merchant Kate sells Battle Axes at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave for 400 Runes
- Dragon Scale Blade – The Stonedigger Troll drops the Dragon Scale Blade in Limgrave Tunnels
- Ordovis’ Greatsword – Held within the guarded carriage that moves along the main road leading to Gatefront Ruins
- Leather Shield – Merchant Kate sells Leather Shields at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave for 200 Runes
- Carian Glintstone Shield – Starter item for the Enchanted Knight
Twinblade – Located inside the Groveside Cave - Longsword – Merchant Kate sells Longswords at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave for 300 Runes
- Bastard Sword – Merchant Kate sells Bastard Swords at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave for 500 Runes
- Torches – Merchant Kate sells torches at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave for 200 Runes
- Coil Shield – Hidden inside a chest between Stormgate and the Gatefront Ruins
That’s all there is to know about weapons arts in Elden Ring so far, but keep an eye on this page as we’ll add more information following the Elden Ring release date. In the meantime, if you’re doing some research on the upcoming game, we recommend our guide on how to unlock the horse in Elden Ring – plus, it’s definitely worth finding out where all the map fragment locations are to keep track of your location in The Lands Between.
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