Elden Ring: Combat basics Elden Ring guide, walkthrough
On this page of the Elden Ring guide, you will learn about how to properly fight your opponents and what mistakes to avoid when undertaking it.
Last update: 23 February 2022
This page of the Elden Ring game guide explains how to properly fight enemies, what to do and what mistakes to avoid in order to win all the battles you take part in.
To survive in the world of Elden Ring, you must constantly fight for your life. Virtually everyone wants to kill you, only a few characters are neutral or friendly towards you. For this reason, it's worth learning how to fight your opponents correctly.
How to succeed in fights
Combat is an integral part of Soulsborne games, and Elden Ring is no different. Despite exploring a vast in-game world, you will be forced to fight for your life over and over again. Here are a few tips that will definitely aid you in battle against your opponents, making subsequent combat encounters much easier:
- Avoid large groups of enemies. You should try to face as few opponents as possible at once instead of the opposite, even if you are using powerful area spells or AoE weapon attacks. The more enemies, the greater the chance that one of them will attack you, preventing you from being able to defend yourself, and once the first one attacks you, the rest of them will finish the job and kill you.
- Observe the enemy's movements. This is very important, because encountering a new enemy on your way is an opportunity to learn a different fighting style. It's a good idea to approach the enemy with a defensive stance, at least until you learn the enemy's moves.
- Be patient and observe the terrain. This is important, as you will encounter many pitfalls in Soulsborne games. For this reason, if you see an isolated enemy who appears to be an easy target, first make sure to survey the nearby area. It may turn out that the huge giant standing over the cliff will end up surprising you to no end only because you forgot to look up.
- Using Torrent. There is a new mechanic that lets you summon a mount. Fighting while mounted can be helpful in many situations due to its high flexibility and agility. You might want to consider using Torrent if you can't manage to defeat an opponent using your usual strategy.
- The dodge - attack rule is great for beginners. Instead of attacking before your opponent can strike, let them attack, then dodge, parry, or block, and finish it up with an attack. This strategy results in breaking the enemy's poise and allows you to carry out more attacks instead of taking hits.
- Get used to the controls. This may seem trivial, but it turns out that many novice players, rather than learning which button does what, continue playing without fully grasping the controls. By following this tip, you will avoid situations where you accidentally swing your weapon or use your skills or spells instead of healing yourself in battle.
Most common mistakes
When taking on Soulsborne games, you should approach them differently from other genres. Approaches that work in RPGs, Hack'n'Slash games or other genres might do more harm than good in Elden Ring.
- Constantly attacking your opponent. First of all, most of the enemies either can dodge/attack quickly or strongly resist your attempts to break their poise. By attacking all the time, you run the risk of being counterattacked or being hit at the same time by an opponent with high endurance. The usual strategy is to either perform one strong or several fast attacks, depending on the enemy you are facing and the weapon you're wielding.
- Taking on too many enemies at once. This mistake is especially common among new players. Soulsborne games are not like MMOs where the more enemies you face, the better. Each opponent adds additional difficulty to an encounter and even advanced players might falter against them.
- Ignoring weaker enemies. In Soulsborne games, literally anything can kill you. An opponent might give the impression of a weakling, but that doesn't have to turn out to be true. This is why you should approach each new enemy from a distance and with respect. This way, you will avoid foolish deaths.
- Attacking everything in sight. Sometimes it's better not to attack certain opponents. They may turn out to be too strong, be part of an ambush, or killing them isn't worth it in the end. For this reason, sometimes it's better to ignore enemies instead of attacking them and potentially wasting your health and mana flasks.
- Learning nothing from battles. Although enemies can be sorted into regular mobs, mini bosses and bosses, each enemy type follows a certain archetype. Learn from each battle, both won and lost, and memorise the behavioral patterns followed by specific enemies.
- Constantly locking the camera on the enemy. This is an advantage as well as a disadvantage. Locking the camera on the enemy should be used in one-on-one encounters or against small groups of enemies. On the other hand, when you're dealing with a huge enemy or multiple enemies at once, it's not a good idea to lock the camera on the enemy and instead it's better to focus on using the free camera. This allows you to keep up with what is happening behind you or at the side. When it comes to giant enemies, the camera won't always show everything, making it difficult to read the opponent's attacks.