How to two-hand in Elden Ring and its benefits

24.06.2024 14:02

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Like most FromSoftware games, especially the Souls titles, you’ll either be told how a game mechanic works once, or simply not at all. Of course, Elden Ring follows in this tradition, with most of the

Two-handing weapons can aid you massively in your playthrough of the game since it offers benefits that simply going one-handed cannot give you.

Below, we’ll teach you how to two-hand in Elden Ring, no matter what platform you’re playing on, as well as detailing exactly what two-handing does so you can decide if it’s the best thing for your build.

How to two-hand in Elden Ring

As promised, here are each of the ways you can two-hand in Elden Ring, whether you’re using mouse & keyboard or a controller:

PlayStation – Hold Triangle and press R1 or L1
Xbox – Hold Y and press either RB or LB
PC – Hold E and press left or right-click

What does two-handing do in Elden Ring?

Obviously, two-handing allows your character to place both of their hands onto the weapon you are wielding but what are the actual benefits of this?

Well, right off the bat, you’ll be gaining additional attack power through a +50% to Strength scaling. Technically, this means that it’s not improving your damage output, it just improves your power via your Strength stat.

Moreover, another huge upside to two-handing is that you’ll be able to use some weapons effectively that you weren’t simply one-handing. This means if you want to equip a Colossal Sword for example, and require 30 Strength that you don’t have, you can two-hand, and be able to use it effectively with just 20 Strength. Essentially, you’ll get a 1.5x boost.

The final side effect of two-handing also means that your attacks will be slightly different. Instead of the horizontal slashes, you’ll be doing overhead ones which may take a bit of getting used to. Some weapons will give you another of its kind on the other hand once two-handing too such as Claws, so test some out and see if they’re to your liking.

All of this does come at the cost of being able to use both a sword and a shield at the same time for example, but if you’re looking to maximize your build and would rather just evade attacks by rolling anyway, there’s no downside here.