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Falling down is one of the easiest and most embarrassing ways you can get killed in battle.
Not only will you need to learn how to dodge and roll away from attacks, but it’s also important to be strong enough to withstand those hits when you fail
One word you’ll hear a lot in the Souls games community is Poise. Players have considered it as a mechanic that will make or break you during combat, which is why many others work towards improving this stat.
From its art style to its gameplay mechanics, you can tell that Elden Ring is truly a FromSoftware game.
Poise is something that has been in their previous games for a while, however, they weren’t always the same. In this guide, we’ll explain how the base stat works in Elden Ring and what you can do to upgrade it.
So, what does Poise do in Elden Ring?
In simple terms, Poise is the threshold a player can take until they stagger. Once you get staggered, you won’t be able to move until you get up.
Staggering is a great method of taking down enemies and bosses in Elden Ring as it gives you an opportunity to make critical attacks. But when you’re on the receiving end, it’s not really a fun thing.
This is where Poise comes into play. The higher your poise is, the longer it takes for you to get knocked down and the more chances you get of landing your attacks.
If you’re still confused about how poise works, you’ll need to understand how staggering works. There are three types of staggering: weak, heavy, and a knock-down.
Each type is caused by a specific weapon class. The weak staggers are caused by standard weapons such as Straight Swords or daggers, and the heavier staggers are produced by great weapons like the Greatswords and Colossal Swords.
There are certain poise thresholds for every weapon class, though we can only speculate which are the limits for each one as it requires a lot of community testing.
| Weapon class | Poise |
| Dagger light hit | 31 |
| Dagger two-handed light hit | 34 |
| Standard light hit | 51 |
| Standard two-handed light hit | 56 |
| 2 dagger light hits, 1 curved sword running light hit | 61 |
| 2 dagger two-handed light hits | 67 |
| 2 standard weapon light hits | 101 |
| Great weapon two-handed light hit | 111 |
How do I increase my Poise in Elden Ring?
Unlike other base stats, your poise is mainly upgraded by wearing armor, talismans, and applying buffs. Unfortunately, the highest poise you can get from armor is 100. Still, it’s always good to have that extra poise for when you need it.
These are the armor sets that have the greatest Poise:
| Armor set | Poise | Weight |
| Bull-Goat set | 100 | 63 |
| Omen set | 86 | 55 |
| Fire Prelate set | 86 | 58.8 |
| Veteran’s set | 79 | 45 |
| Lionel’s set | 79 | 50.7 |
| Banished Knight set | 60 | 41.6 |
| Beast Champion set | 60 | 41.6 |
| General Radahn set | 60 | 41.6 |
| Tree Sentinel set | 60 | 45 |
Take note that even when you wear armor with the highest Poise, it’s important to wear one that is compatible with your build. You’ll have to consider its weight and your equipment load to make sure it isn’t too heavy for your character.
Others have found that increasing their Endurance improves their poise in some way, which is a stat that affects your stamina and equipment load.
When you have better endurance, you get to wear heavier armor which is great as the Bull-Goat set is actually one of the heaviest armor sets in Elden Ring.
Besides armor, you can wear this talisman you can wear to increase your Poise:
- Bull-Goat’s Talisman (+33% Poise).
You can also consume these items for more Poise:
- Baldachin’s Blessing (+52% Poise)
- Radiant Baldachin’s Blessing (+52% Poise)
- Ironjar Aromatic.
You can also add Crystal Tears to the Flask of Wondrous Physick for temporary added Poise:
- Leaden Hardtear.
Conclusion
That’s all we can say about Poise in Elden Ring! It’s one of the trickiest things to explain because the game doesn’t give you many details and fans are left with the task of discovering it on their own.
Thankfully, a lot of players have worked together to share the results of the experiments they did. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to make this guide.
There’s still more to learn about the game’s complex mechanics, but until then, we’re here to give you guides to help you navigate the Lands Between with ease.
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