Two-handing and Power Standing are ways to equip your weapons in Elden Ring. Both options open up different possibilities for your build and playstyle, netting several advantages and disadvantages.
In this guide, we will go over how you can Two-hand and Power Stance in Elden Ring. Additionally, we’ll also discuss the advantages of both of these setups. So, without wasting any more time, let’s get into it.
How to Two-Hand Weapons in Elden Ring?
Almost all the weapons in Elden Ring can be Two-handed, except bows and other ranged weapons. You require both hands to operate those weapons from the get-go.
Hold down Triangle on PlayStation or Y if you’re on Xbox to two-hand a weapon in your left hand. Next, press either L1/LB or L2/LT, and your character will use both hands to equip the weapon. Similarly, to two-hand a weapon in your right hand, press down Triangle/Y, then press either R1/RB or R2/RB.
You must press and hold the E key to two-handed on a PC using a keyboard and mouse. Now, to use your left and right hand weapons, click the Left and Right-click buttons on your mouse, respectively.
How to Power Stance in Elden Ring?
Power Stancing is similar to two handing in that allows you to increase your damage output. However, instead of using both hands to equip the same weapon, in Power Stancing you use both your right and left hand to equip different copies of the same weapon.
For example, if you equip one Nagakiba in your left hand and one Nagakiba in your right hand, then you’re effectively Power Stancing. However, if you equip one Nagakiba with both hands, you’ll be two-handling the weapon.
To Power Stance, you must find two copies of the same weapon, open your gear/inventory menu, and equip one in the left-hand slot and one in the right-hand slot.
Power Stancing isn’t available for every weapon, as some can only be acquired once per playthrough. To Power Stance some weapons, you’ll have to start an NG+ playthrough.
Two-Handing Weapons vs Power Stancing?
The biggest advantage of Two-Handing weapons is that you can use weapons with a higher strength requirement than your current level. Two handing provides you a virtual Strength boost of almost 50 percent. That increased strength will allow you to hold and use the weapon even if you don’t meet the Str requirements.
Two-Handing weapons are extremely useful for the boss fights as you will increase the damage of light and heavy attacks. Dual-wielding is a high-risk, high-reward gamble that, with the right attack combos, can be really useful.
However, the downside to two-handing is that you can’t use a shield, so you must dodge enemy attacks by yourself instead of relying on shields to give extra protection.
Power Stancing, on the other hand, unlocks a whole slew of new combos for your selected weapon. Power Stancing is more favorable over Two-Handing due to this reason alone. Another advantage of this is the fact that if you have an elemental or status effect build (bleed, frost, poison), using two of the same weapons will speed up the build-up of these status effects.
This allows you to significantly increase the effectiveness of your builds. Like with Two-Handing, you won’t be able to use a shield, which puts you at a significant risk.
