Elden Ring: How Stance Break Works

This article is part of a directory: Elden Ring Guide Hub: Weapons, Items, Tips, Tricks, Bosses, & Builds

Stance Breaking in Elden Ring is so much more of a core aspect of its combat than the one tutorial prompt makes it seem. Strength Build players, in particular, have found themselves gravitating toward a "Stance Breaking Build" without often even realizing it.

While it is perfectly possible to play Elden Ring with only a "basic" knowledge of its systems, learning all of its ins and outs can greatly improve the experience. Therefore, let's go over it a bit more in-depth.

A More Concise Explanation Of "Stance Break"

Elden Ring - Stance Breaking Tutorial In Cave Of Knowledge

The "About Stance Breaking" part of the Tutorial Cave just simply mentions that some attacks can break an enemy's Stance, and open them up for a Critical Hit. While this is correct, it's a bit of an oversimplification of the system that's pretty typical of From Software's lack of hand-holding.

Stance Breaking is quite literally the act of hitting an opponent so hard (or so often) that they get knocked to the ground and need to take a breather. It's a mechanic that rewards an aggressive playstyle, which is more similar to Bloodborne, and has a lot of different methods for triggering it. Once an opponent has a Stance Break triggered, players need to look out for the glowing orange spot that should appear somewhere on their body. This is the spot the player has to stand in front of and press the Light Attack input in order to actually unleash the "Critical Hit".

Why Stance Breaking Is Worth It

Elden Ring - Three Different High Stance Bar Damage Attacks Being Used

Again, Elden Ring doesn't mention this, but the Critical Hit location on the opponent can vary wildly depending on the enemy. Some enemies, like Dragons, have it on their eye, while others like the gigantic stone Golems, have it in the middle of their stomach. Try and always look out for yellow "sparkles" coming off of the enemy after a Stance Break, as these particles always give away where the Critical Hit spot is.

But, with all that said, why should someone go for a Stance Break instead of a Backstab or a Parry and Riposte? Well, for one, Stance Breaking is a byproduct of an aggressive playstyle, AKA an added bonus to going in. Backstabs and Parries, on the other hand, don't really allow the player to "attack" while waiting for their opportunity.

Secondly, some enemies (especially in the early game) fall to the ground after having their Stance broken, and they take much longer to get up than they would if Backstabbed or Parried. This can not only open them up to more unavoidable damage, but it also allows players to easily build Status Effects like Bleed or Frost with no fear of counterattack. They can also get a Heal in.

Specifics Of How The Stance Break Meter Works

Elden Ring - Examples Of Three Different Critical Hit Locations On Large Enemies

Now that it's clear what exactly Stance Breaking is and why people should know about it, how does it work? Well, every enemy in the game, including Bosses, has an "invisible" Stance Meter that fills much like all the Status Ailments do such as Poison or Scarlet Rot. Then, once the bar fills, the Status "pops", infecting the player with Poison or, in this case, causing the enemy to Stance Break. Afterward, the Stance Bar immediately drains back to 0, and it's up to the player to build it back up again.

For those who played Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the Stance Bar is a lot like the Posture Meter from that game in some specific ways. But, unlike Sekiro, Elden Ring gives no visual indicator of how close the enemy is to having their Stance Bar filled. And, while the mechanics of how the meter drains are similar, the Stance Meter does seem to drain a bit quicker than Poison, Rot, Bleed, or Frost buildup. So, let's go over what Attacks work best to fill this Meter, how to keep it from draining, and how to play with it in mind.

What Attacks Fill It Best, How To Maintain It, & How To Play Around It

Elden Ring - Three Characters Up Against A Giant Golem Using Different Weapons

There are three main factors that contribute to Stance Damage in Elden Ring: Weapon Details, Type of Attack used, and Location Hit.

Stance Damage Specifics

Each of these factors also has a couple of specific sub-categories that contribute more or less to a Stance Break.

Weapon Details refers to Weapon Weight, Type, and Damage Type.
Type of Attack refers to all the attacks a player has access to while swinging a weapon.
Location Hit refers to specific locations on Monsters that are more susceptible to Stance Bar damage.

Below is a table with each of these subcategories roughly listed from most to least effective at Stance Bar Damage, from top to bottom:

Weapon Weight	Weapon Type	Damage Type	Type of Attack	Location Hit
Colossal	Strike	Physical	Charged Heavy Attack	Head
Great	Standard	Everything Else	Jumping Heavy Attack	Exposed Injury
Standard	Slash		Guard Counter	Everything Else
Other (Staves & Bows)	Pierce		Standard Heavy Attack
			Jumping Light Attack
			Light Attack

There are, of course, some outliers to the data above. For example, Dual-Wielded weapons are generally comparable to two-handing an item, except for their Jumping Attack (using the Dual-Wield specific input) that uses both weapons at once and surpasses almost everything else.

How To Maintain The Stance Bar Level

Remember, the Stance Bar is always slowly draining whenever the enemy isn't being hit. If players back up and take the time to Chug some of their Flasks, there's a good chance the enemy will be back to an empty Stance Break meter by the time they're hit again, especially if their Attack Patterns don't have many punish windows. So, how are people supposed to keep it as high without giving up on healing altogether?

Well, there are a couple of options, but the two most common are the "Go In" tactic and the "mixed damage-type" method:

Go In: Basically just refers to a character built around high Vigor and Endurance who can stick close to the boss and constantly attack without having to stop and heal as often. Usually best for Colossal Weapon lovers.
Mixed Damage: This tactic refers to players with mixed builds that can sprinkle Incantations, Ashes of War, Sorceries, or of course Bows after backing up to heal, so the boss has as little time to recover Stance Meter as possible.

A fantastic method that works for both of these playstyles and doesn't require any Stat distribution is to use throwing knives. Bone Darts, in particular, are easy to craft and inflict the tiniest amount of Stance damage on-hit, stopping the bar from draining for another second or two.