Dodging is a Combat mechanic in Elden Ring. It allows you to evade enemies' attacks or even pass through them without getting hurt. Dodging will be one of your main reactions or maneuvers to any incoming attacks in Elden Ring since there is a larger window for it that some other combat reactions and can be regularly done. Dodging encompasses all types of evasive maneuvers to avoid an incoming attack. Players new to the Combat system in the game can likely go through a whole encounter against the large Bosses or opponents by dodging through each attack and waiting for an attack opening. Dodging also allows players to gain a better position for a successful attack. A more advanced maneuver with a smaller window of opportunity is Parrying which grants players the opportunity to deal a Critical Hit. Below are all the basic tips, tricks, information related equipment and skills on Dodging in Elden Ring.
Dodging in Elden Ring
Dodge Basics Elden Ring
Backstep | ⭘ | B | Space |
---|---|---|---|
Roll | Move + ⭘ | Move + B | Move + Space |
Rolling is the most common way to dodge, since it allows you to cover a fair amount of distance in the direction of your choice. Not only that, it gives you a large number of invulnerability frames, also called "i-frames". During these frames, you can't be damaged by incoming attacks—they'll just pass harmlessly through you. Making good use of i-frames is crucial to getting comfortable with combat in Elden Ring.
Backstepping is less common, because it covers less ground than simply rolling backwards and doesn't provide any i-frames. However, it's much quicker and can be followed up with a Lunge Attack, so it's worth keeping in mind.
Dodge Details Elden Ring
The precise details of your dodge roll and backstep depend on your Equip Load. (All frame data below is for 30 FPS.)
Weight Ratio | Roll | Backstep Recovery | |
---|---|---|---|
I-Frames | Recovery | ||
≤ 29.9% | 13 | 8 | Fast |
30.0% - 69.9% | 13 | 8 | Medium |
70.0% - 99.9% | 12 | 16 | Slow |
≥ 100.0% | Cannot roll or backstep |
See also Recovery Frames and Dodge Distance below.
How to Dodge Better in Elden Ring?
There are also a couple items that add additional i-frames after the normal ones. These don't stack with one another, nor do they apply to dodge skills.
- Crucible Feather Talisman: +3 i-frames, -3 recovery frames
- Windy Crystal Tear: +3 i-frames, -3 recovery frames
- Your Equipment Load also affects the speed of your dodging with heavier load at 70-100% full capacity being the slowest reaction time.
- Having less equipment will also mean that you drain less stamina, which allows more dodging.
- Dodging and gives you time while avoiding damage until you see an opportunity to begin your offensive actions.
- Have your new position in mind since dodging will reposition your character. You can even dodge while approaching to get in range for your next melee attack. When you are close enough, you can roll forward through an attack to get you in an optimum position for a backstab.
Effective Dodging Elden Ring Tips
Dodging is a powerful tool, but it can take practice to get the most you can out of it. Here are some tips to get the most out of your dodges:
- Roll In: When you're in danger, it's always tempting to dodge away from the enemy. After all, you're dodging to avoid danger and the enemy is the source of that danger! But it's often better to dodge towards the enemy instead. Not only will this put you in position to land a few attacks, it'll often naturally avoid follow-up moves that are intended to punish people who roll away.
- Roll Through: It may seem counterintuitive, but when you see an attack incoming it's usually best to roll into the attack (in other words, roll in the opposite direction of the attack's movement). The attack won't hurt you as long as you have i-frames for every frame you intersect with its hitbox, so you want to overlap with it for as few frames as possible to ensure that it's not still touching you once your i-frames expire.
- Be Patient: Many bosses in Elden Ring wait just long enough to let their attacks fly that, if you roll when you first see them winding up, the attack will actually land when you're out of i-frames. This is known as "roll catching", and it's there to teach you patience. Don't roll just because you feel threatened, roll when you actually see an attack flying down towards you.
- Born to Run: Once you're comfortable dodging, you might want to use it for all your get-out-of-danger needs. But don't forget that you can hold the button to run as well! Although running doesn't give you any i-frames, it's faster and consumes much less stamina than repeated dodges. Once you're out of an enemy's range, running is a much more effective way to put distance between you than dodging.
Jump Dodging Elden Ring
You can also dodge some attacks by jumping over them.
Jump | ✖ | A | F |
---|
Jumping only gives you partial i-frames: you're invulnerable from the waist down, but your head, chest, arms, and even hands can still be hit by attacks. This makes it useful specifically for dodging attacks that slash horizontally or erupt from the ground. In exchange for only giving you partial invulnerability, this invulnerability lasts much longer, covering 25 frames of the jump animation with only 5 frames of recovery afterwards (at 30 FPS).
Other I-Frames Elden Ring
Various other actions you can perform provide i-frames as well. While these won't be your primary means of dodging, they can be very useful in a pinch.
- Opening doors and chests.
- Activating switches.
- Mounting and dismounting Torrent.
- Parrying an attack.
- Performing a critical hit.
How do you Dodge Effectively Elden Ring?
Now that all the different types of dodging, and i-frames have been laid out, this needs to be applied against some Boss. Elden Ring is a game where you are encouraged to improve your combat abilities and familiarize yourself with each maneuver in order to face the numerous Bosses and enemies in the game. Get an idea of which attacks you are able to roll through. Especially since this is not the common reaction, it is important to know when to roll forward and away since tolling forward and through attacks would benefit your character by repositioning them closer to the opponent and potentially opening an opportunity for your next attack. As stated above, when you roll through, the attack won't hurt you as long as you have i-frames for every frame you intersect with its hitbox, so you want to overlap with it for as few frames as possible to ensure that it's not still touching you once your i-frames expire, which means you also have to consider your weight load. Start light so you have the quickest movements possible if you want to focus on effective dodging. This will be one of your main maneuvers to get out of pesky corners and different ranges of attacks against the Bosses. You will need to rely on your evasive capabilities in between your offensive counters or otherwise risk taking in big hits to your HP levels.
Dodge Skills Elden Ring
Several Skills found throughout the Lands Between provide alternate ways to dodge, at the cost of a modest amount of FP.
- FP indicates how much FP is consumed when you use the skill.
- Delay measures how many frames (at 30FPS) elapse between pressing the skill button and becoming invulnerable. Lower is better.
- I-Frames measures how many frames (at 30FPS) you are invulnerable to damage after the delay. Higher is better.
- Recovery measures how many frames (at 30FPS) elapse after the i-frames end but before you're able to roll again. See also Recovery Frames below. Lower is better.
Name | FP | Delay | I-Frames | Recovery | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | 0 | 15* | 6 - 12 | Dash in a direction, or circle around a locked-on enemy. | |
5 | 0 | 16* | 5 - 11 | Dash a long way very quickly in one direction. Repeated Bloodhound's Steps are the fastest way to move on foot. | |
20 | 4 | 30 | 1 | A standing dodge that grants the longest continuous i-frames in the game, as well as a very short recovery window. | |
6 | 0 | - | - | Unlike other dodge skills, this doesn't grant you i-frames. Instead, it automatically dodges the next single attack that would hit you. | |
12 | 58 | 20 | 25 | After using the skill, press Heavy Attack to dash forward for a follow-up attack. You're invincible only during this dash, but when used effectively it can dodge through incoming attacks. | |
5 | 0 | 20 | 9 | The first activation dodges backwards, which you can then follow up with one or two additional attacks. |
*: If you use Quickstep and Bloodhound Step multiple times in a row, uses after the first have 2 fewer i-frames (unless you're using Quickstep and you have a light Equip Load, in which case it's only 1 fewer). Also, if you're out of FP, they only ever have 5 i-frames.
Recovery Frames Elden Ring
Different actions take more or less time to perform after a dodge, and sometimes even depend on which direction you dodge in or your Equip Load.
Name | Roll | Skill | Attack | Guard | Quick Item | Item | Walk | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Right | Left | ||||||||
Roll | Light | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
Medium | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
Heavy | 16 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 18 | |
Quickstep | Forward | 10 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 14 |
Back | 8 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 12 | |
Side | 7 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 10 | |
Quickstep (Repeated) |
Forward | 12 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 9 | 14 | 16 |
Back | 10 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 14 | |
Side | 7 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 10 | |
Quickstep (Repeated, Light Load) |
Forward | 12 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 9 | 14 | 16 |
Back | 8 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 12 | |
Side | 9 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 12 | |
Bloodhound Step | Forward | 9 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 13 |
Back | 7 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 11 | |
Side | 6 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 11 | |
Bloodhound Step (Repeated) |
Forward | 11 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 13 | 15 |
Back | 9 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 13 | |
Side | 8 | 13 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 13 | |
Vow of the Indomitable | 1 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 10 | |
Bloodhound's Finesse | 25 | - | 30 | 34 | 36 | 29 | 34 | 39 | |
Dynast's Finesse | 14 | 9 | 19 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 22 | 23 |
Dodge Distance Elden Ring
Different dodges can also cover more ground, allowing you to more easily get out of the way of incoming attacks. How far you roll frequently depends on your Equip Load. The numbers below measure in-game meters covered during the invulnerable portion of a dodge.
Name | Light Load | Medium Load | Heavy Load | Overencumbered |
---|---|---|---|---|
Roll | 4.09 | 3.21 | 2.66 | 0.51 |
Quickstep | 4.09 | 3.77 | 3.77 | 3.77 |
Bloodhound's Step | 5.27 | 4.77 | 4.77 | 4.77 |
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I've recently took a puppy off the street that is some kind of terrier mix. I also have another dog (a german pinscher, I think) that has been living with me for about a year now, and is about 14 months old.
So, the older dog, when he is in his mischievous mood, often runs around in the grass like crazy and rams the puppy.
But, the puppy quckly figured out that because he is small rolling gives him iframes. So every time he sees an incoming attack he starts panic rolling. A beginner move, obviously, but sometimes it works.
What's crazy, he also learned to take advantage of the iframes he gets after being knocked down, when he does take a hit, so he doesn't try to roll away immediately.
All in all, I think he has potential.
- Anonymous
Interesting note: Medium equip load allows you to queue 2 backsteps by double-tapping the dodge button. Your second backstep comes out on the first available recovery frame -- tap left stick as it begins for a quickturn in any direction. When not locked on, you can chain opposite directions together, e.g. backstep (away) --> backstep (toward). This maneuver is useful for applying pressure to large enemies while avoiding their stomp attacks.
- Anonymous
Just like Dark Souls 3 it feels almost impossible to roll catch on more than 200 ping because you're still invincible for most of the roll
- Anonymous
I just wanna know this: On light load, why does the backstep have a way longer recovery than on medium load?
- Anonymous
One topic I'd like to see mentioned is the Dodge Rolling input delay.
Since DR happens on release of O/X button you can either release it ASAP or time it a bit (given that you release it befor you start to run).
When I realised this I started implementing it in my game style and it's a game changer. I'd really love to see some data on this like time/frame based delay and the running mode threshold, which should be useful for blitz running attacks too.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I can't make sense of the Recover Frames table
What the hell do all the numbers mean?
Is it the time you have to wait to perform said action after the dodge happens?
But if that's the case, why are some of the numbers higher for light loads than heavy loads?
About Recovery Frames, Quick Item is talking about items in the pouch, or about items used by square buttons. The writer didn't explain so I couldn't distinguish Quick Item and Item.
- Anonymous
Shame BHS doesn't add momentum damage to your attacks like jumping
- Anonymous
One thing I can't find documented in Power Stancing or Bloodhound Step is that you get a unique attack. If you BHS backwards when locked onto a target and press LB you perform a running 1 - 2 charging attack. If you BHS forward you activate a crouching LB power stance attack. But if you BHS forward, then backwards straight away to hit LB you do the crouching LB. If you BHS forward, BHS backwards, pause a moment before going in that second time with BHS you do that charging 1-2 attack. Is there any other way of accessing this power stance running charge or just with BHS? If so then BHS has a unique attack as part of it's AOW which should in theory also use Shard of Alexander. That is if it has not other way of being activated.
- Anonymous
Does anyone know how to counter invaders who spam this? I swear, I don't know if it's just me, but I just cannot hit enemy invaders. They spam dodging constantly, and I can never hit them because they just either I-frame through it or move far away enough that my attacks miss.
- Anonymous
Let me start off by saying I am not a part of the bloodhound ultra hate train but damn it makes me sad. I love using it and prefer quicker, dodge-centric play styles in general.
The thing is though is I can never shake the "dominant strategy" voice in the back of my head. Its not just the I frames it has but also the superior distance, the recovery speed, that oh so sweet blood borne aesthetic and arguably one of the best (and most slept on) aspects of it being acess to the far superior backstep attack movesets.
I don't even think it really needs to be nerfed ( in PvE ). There's so many incredibly strong ashes of war that dominate every major play style buts that a different topic.
The issue with bloodhounds step is that there is hardly a viable alternative. You can sacrifice so much to be light weight and use the talisman that increases your I frames at the cost of 30% more damage taken and still not even measure up to BH step.
Level Vigor? Nah, I can dodge that.
5
+10
-1