Square Off |
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This Skill starts with a horizontal sword stance.
Slash up through enemy guards with a normal attack, or run and thrust with a strong attack. |
Square Off is a Skill in Elden Ring. Square Off is a regular skill that can be found in Ashes of War and applied to compatible weapons. Square Off has a Quality Affinity and uses straight swords
How to get Square Off in Elden Ring
- Default skill of Broadsword, Cane Sword, Longsword, Lordsworn's Straight Sword, Noble's Slender Sword, and Weathered Straight Sword, as well as Stone-Sheathed Sword from the DLC.
- Ash of War: Square Off is dropped by a Teardrop Scarab found rolling around at the edge a the cliff in Siofra River. Elden Ring Map Link.
Elden Ring Square Off Guide, Notes & Tips
- This is an Ash of War Skill, associated with the Ash of War: Square Off.
- Light Attack FP Cost: 6
- Heavy Attack FP Cost: 8
- This Skill is not Chargeable
- This Skill's Light and Heavy attacks can be Parried
- Upon activation, the user will hold their armament (weapon) in a horizontal sword stance.
- This does not cost FP
- The user must keep holding the Weapon Skill button to mantain this stance.
- Stamina regeneration is reduced by approximately 80% while this stance is active.
- This skill activates and benefits from Rellana's Cameo talisman.
- Inputting a light attack while in the stance will cause your character to do a upward swing in front of them.
- This attack inflicts a large amount of stance damage (30), and heavily damages stamina to enemies that are blocking, usually breaking their guard.
- The attack is effective at making blocking enemies susceptible to guard breaks. The player can capitalize on this with different talisman loadouts if they wish.
- The attack is effective at making blocking enemies susceptible to guard breaks. The player can capitalize on this with different talisman loadouts if they wish.
- This attack inflicts a large amount of stance damage (30), and heavily damages stamina to enemies that are blocking, usually breaking their guard.
- Inputting a heavy attack while in the stance will cause your character to do a running forward thrust in a single direction.
- This attack deals a considerable amount of damage, almost equivalent to two heavy attacks while two handing from the same weapon.
- Be wary of the windup and tracking, as it can be hard to land to enemies extremely close to you. The player does not stop moving until the actual thrust is made.
- The attack also heavily damages stance(40), making stance breaking enemies extremely easy and effective.
- As it counts as a thrust attack, this attack benefits from the Spear Talisman.
- This can also catch people rolling away after a riposte if timed well in PVP.
- This attack deals a considerable amount of damage, almost equivalent to two heavy attacks while two handing from the same weapon.
Videos & Builds for Square Off in Elden Ring
AnonymousIt's weird, other ashes of war I feel bad for over using but not this one... I used to think that it is because it's a stance skill, but unsheath I feel bad for over using, so now I think it's because the light square off animation is so fluid, doesn't spend much fp, and you can do a light attack right after it that feels natural. Even if it did 5 less stance damage I would still love it, simply because of how much damage it does for one straight sword.
This was the skill that I used on my second playthrough and after more than 20 replays with other weapons, I can say with confidence it is my favorite skill and weapon type.
- Anonymous
I miss the Dark Souls 3 itteration of this. While this one is probably still great - DS3 one was borderline OP.
The R2 thrust charges had so much poise on them - you could trade hits with almost anything. Now... Not so much. I think Godrick's knights casually knock me out of it. Laaaaame!
You also used to combo the both attacks, i.e. do the R1 shield-lift and then immediately follow it up with R2 thrust. It was stylish, it was effective, it felt good...
This itteration feels... I don't know how to put it. Just feels wrong. The second i realized you can't combo anymore and have to akwardly re-apply the stance - i was heartbroken.
- Anonymous
rusty owes this weapon skill an apology, this does an incredible 30 poise damage on the light attacks and 40 on the heavy attacks respectively, and unsheathe on a katana does around 15 for the light attack and 30 for the heavy attack, which is significantly weaker even if it's faster
- Anonymous
This + two handed sword talisman + shard of alexander + rellana's cameo
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it takes so many skill uses for this to break any bigger knight's poise that you'd be better of playing with no armor, no spells and just a club with the deflecting hardtear
- Anonymous
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when two handing in the square off stance, does the strength bonus apply like it does when you regularly 2 hand a weapon?
- Anonymous
A sword with this skill, the lightest greatshield you can find (Wooden, Lordsworn) with NoSkill, Curved Sword talisman, Dagger Talisman, Assassin and Cerulean Crimson Dagger and you have a poor man's tank which can stance break and guard counter like crazy. Despite not being 100% the greatshields are better than Brass because of the higher bounce back attribute.
- Anonymous
People were no joking, this break posture of enemies easily, no joke.
- Anonymous
I said to myself I wasn't gonna abuse this for the DLC. I just was lying to myself, I used this on every boss and beat the DLC with it, truly L2 Ring.
- Anonymous
Killed the DLC final boss with this after failing non-stop with a bleed build.
- Anonymous
are there no KBM players in this game? how can i perform the light version of this attack with KBM? heavy attack is shift + right click (to prepare) and left click to execute. But so far I am not finding the way to perform the light version on the worldwide web wtf
- Anonymous
ohh.... i am but a ye honest knight.... please do not nerf....
- Anonymous
Strong attack is easily S tier in early game. 1. Very cheap and spammable against normal enemies even with low mind. 2. Stance damage is significantly bigger against bosses compared to most options like Unsheathe. 3. Swords have low requirements so you can just put points in vigor. 4. Running crouch poke dodges some attacks and have good range. Mid and late game there are obviously better options and then it's maybe tier A in mid and B in late game.
- Anonymous
The fact that this does more stance damage than Lion’s Claw with almost every weapon except great hammers is CRAZY. You can stun Elden Beast with just 4 of these. Fromsoft really loves making the basic weapons with the starting weapons and skills the best in the game.
- Anonymous
Tried with Lordsworn SS(+3) on Fire Affinity(22STR), Square Off R1 actually has insane guard break power(hammer talisman may be rquiered for more powerful shield), bc it's Lordsworn SS that has 110 crit, 3 people destroyed this way today during invasion.
- Anonymous
That's an awful nice colossal sword you have, now see what my average sized sword can do.
- Anonymous
Being serious when I say this, this is the best thing to have if you're doing a poise break build. Consistent, quick, animations make you dodge attacks. Shields don't stand a chance. Or, at the very least. If you don't like slower weapons like I.
- Anonymous
They ought to either nerf this AoW in PvE or buff the other stance-damaging ones. A straightforward thrust from a longsword does as much stance damage as an uppercut from a colossal weapon or great hammer?? Wot???
- Anonymous
Why can't we put this on greatswords From? This and stamp horizontal. I miss the glorious horizontal sweep the claymore had in DS3. That was stylish af
- Anonymous
Do the straight sword normally does standard damage. The light attack of this ash does slash damage, and the heavy attack does pierce damage. That's so sick, it has like 3 different damage types?
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I really wish this AoW wasn’t stuck on straight swords
Ds3 you can find it on some greatswords but in ER you can’t put this AoW on any of the greatswords
And we should’ve been able to put this on katanas too
- Anonymous
A lordsworn's straight sword and the heater shield. Level 18. The red and blue dagger talismans, curved sword talisman. Square off, guard counters, and the occasional saucy parry. Literally a hundred hours of co-op at Stormveil Castle. Godrick kneels before me on a daily basis. You say I have no life, I say, you're right.
- Anonymous
Redmanes flame deals 40 poise damage and it got nerfed into oblivion, Square off R2 deals the exact same poise damage and cost half of amount of FP, basically the same casting speed, and From haven't touch it for 2 years... won't complain tho, Redmanes flame got way too much nerf and I hate to see From touch Square off with its "balancing skill".
- Anonymous
Sword and board knight cosplayers with this slapped on their longsword are straight up the most gigachad players in the game.
- Anonymous
Wild to think that this hasn't been touched since launch. Was great day 1 and is still a great way to trivialize boss fights with constant stance break. Just use dagger talisman and infuse misercorderie with whatever gives you the highest damage. I even stance broke elden beast two times with this during a fight.
Only real gripe is it's so powerful it almost overshadows every other good thing about straight swords in pve.
- Anonymous
Remember when this had hyper armor in DS3? Really needs that now that hyper armor is relevant and r1 spam is stronger than ever
- Anonymous
Makes straight swords into monsters, even at 0 FP the heavy thrust deals damage close to a fully charged heavy attack.
- Anonymous
You merely adopted the square off as your ally. I was born in it. Raised by it. I didn't see the straight sword exclusive until I was already a man
- Anonymous
Unsheathe not only deals 15/30 stance damage but also costs like double the FP. Lion's Claw on a Colossal Sword deals 30 stance damage. Like, you genuinely have to be out of your mind to think that Square Off is balanced lol. This and Glintstone Phalanx definitely deserve the Redmane treatment
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I'm really hoping for the nerf hammer to fall on this thing honestly.
It is exactly as broken as how Redmane's Flame was, but no one talks about it because it is "Melee".
If for melee you mean sliding for 3km with the heavy thrust attacks.
Justice for Redmane's Flame.
- Anonymous
Amazing on Broadsword for a Str or Star/Fth run. It staggers most bosses on horseback in 2 hits making tree sentinels actually fun to fight. I also tested on Malenia. Usually 3 will break her posture. If you want to go for a build that ignores bleed, this is an excellent choice.
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This ash of war allows straight swords to break stances like colossal weapons. If you are using straight swords make sure to have at least one with this WA so that you can get those sweet poise breaks for days. Now that flame of the redmanes is nerfed into the ground this is a great alternative
- Anonymous
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From logic: Colossal swords breaking poise too easily is op, but straight swords breaking poise too easily is perfectly balanced.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want them to nerf this ash of war, I just want them to stop letting every other weapon outclass Colossals; especially in situations where no other weapons should even come close to Colossals (poise breakage for example).
- Anonymous
If you like melee, this AoW is so good due to damage, poise damage, R1 speed and R2 range, it situationally turns any straight sword into a greatsword. Sets up crits. Blasts through shields. IMO the only reason to use a GS instead of a SS with this is if you want some broken AoE “skill” on your GS.
- Anonymous
Literally can take you from the beginning to the very last boss. One of the most basic ass Ashes is one of the best.
- Anonymous
Not to be confused with Ash of War: Square Up, dropped by a Teardrop Scarab in the Walmart parking lot
- Anonymous
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Incredibly powerful weapon art that's probably slept on due to how boring it is. "Stabbing really REALLY hard" doesn't exactly wow the player but you basically get greathammer poise damage for a pittance of FP making it super easy to get a knockdown and then critical with an already S-tier weapon type. As a bonus you get on-demand shield break and the lunging thrust will let you duck under certain attacks since you stoop down low while sliding forwards.
Really the only downside with straight swords is nerfing yourself out of boredom to try out other weapon arts when Square Off will easily carry you through the entire game.
- Anonymous
This and flame of the redmanes are the best ashes of war to break poise, bothe dealing 29 poise damage. If you use the poise breaking crystal tear both will deal 38 poise damage, that's the biggest poise damage currently available in the game. It's great for stunlocking bosses and swapping to a misericorde for highest crit damage possible. Really really good and satisfying to use.
- Anonymous
I saw a dude swinging the Banished Knight sword with this ash, I thought it might have been a stealth buff but sadly I think he was just cheating
- Anonymous
I wish this could be used on greatswords.. I wanted to put it on the flamberge. Flamberge has square off in ds3 :(
- Anonymous
For inexperienced Tarnished new to weapon Skills, Square Off is a fine introduction to the system, both in basic mechanics and in how disgustingly strong the vast majority of them are. Like most Skills, Square Off deals more damage than even a mighty critical riposte or backstab, while simultaneously being far less time and resource-intensive to pull off. There is little reason not to throw out this move again and again in place of normal attacks, if you have the ability to get away with it.
As for comparing this Skill to others in its class, Square Off is tied with Kick for having the strongest poise damage of any attack. It excels at interrupting foes out of attacks, and can slot itself right at home in any warrior's arsenal.
— Courh the Explorer
Does anyone else think maybe this is a reference: You find the ashe of war right next to a hill looking at a waterfall. This could be a reference to many "sword training" montagues in movies where the character takes the stance. I believe Highlander was the movie that popularized the trope?
- Anonymous
A fantastic skill, and a sleeper for sure. With how strong it is, it might actually be a good thing it isn’t on a greatsword, for instance. The damage to posture is immense, and the lunge range on the R2 follow up is further than you’d normally expect.
- Anonymous
Imo, sleeper amazing AoW for PVP. Both R1/R2 do surprisingly high poise and fatigue damage. R2 works well like a mini Giant's Hunt, hits nearly as hard and can roll catch with it. R1 hits decently hard and comes out fast.
-You can also dodge and backstep out of stance while holding down L2
-Benefits from Shard of Alexander and Spear Talisman
-Does NOT benefit from Axe Talisman
- Anonymous
This ashe of war has really amazing stance damage and damage on its heavy attack, the light attack is amazing against guarding ennemies. You can easily stance break large ennemies and bosses in 2 heavy, its really nice.
- Anonymous
This deals so much posture damage that I am afraid of what would came off if it could be used by heavier weapon types
- Anonymous
The heavy attack from using this ash knocks rune bears down in 2 hits and dragons in 3. For instance humble straight sword it's pretty good. It is also good at knocking off mounted units.
- Anonymous
This AoW is pretty good for early game, I managed to destroy the Warden Duelist in Murkwater with no upgrades on my broadsword and any stat investment because of this AoW, the Heavy Thrust Attack covers a good distance and has a lot of poise damage.
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Opinions re: Square Off vs. Flame of the Redmanes for breaking stance? Compared to Square Off R2, FotR deals the same poise damage, only costs 2 more FP, and is much easier to land. I think Square Off R2 comes out quicker but does that outweigh the advantages of FotR?
- Anonymous
Lmao you can put BHS on any weapon class but can't put square off on greatswords which was in ds3. Cool
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Regular R1s for weak enemies, weapon art R1s for stance break, weapon art R2 for a surprisingly good range roll catch and/or stagger... this ash of war makes the straight sword the best weapon class in the game as long as you have FP. Most versatility of any weapon and damage and stagger that rival even colossals.
- Anonymous
I liked this ash of war, but it's sadly locked to straight swords - personally feel if this ash of war was available for other weapon types, they'd open up some interesting builds for PVE/PVP.
- Anonymous
Does anyone know if it can do stamina damage to the great fingerprint shield when used with the guard-boosting talisman?
- Anonymous
Heavy attack does far more posture damage than i thought. Two of these as a starting vagabond's unupgraded longsword will stagger the tree sentinel.
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Underrated ability for PVP, overshadowed by all the crazy weapon arts and bleed builds right now. Really easy to catch people off guard with this and it's a massive nuke on an otherwise fairly fast weapon. It can even trade with some things very well.
- Anonymous
Underrated ability for PVP, overshadowed by all the crazy weapon arts and bleed builds right now. Really easy to catch people off guard with this and it's a massive nuke on an otherwise fairly fast weapon. It can even trade with some things very well.
- Anonymous
The R2 on this absolutely SHREDS enemies' posture. Even bosses. Makes my Longsword feel like a greathammer
- Anonymous
What a let down that this cannot be applied to great swords.
- Anonymous
What a let down that this cannot be applied to great swords.
On early-game weapons like the "Lordsworn's Straight Sword", which has Square Off by default (and) 110 Critical for poise-broken stabs (and) an enjoyably flexible moveset, you'll be crushing poise like no tomorrow while flitting between the quick (light) AoE swipe, the long (heavy) precise thrust-poke, and everything inbetween, without forgetting the usual jumping attacks, good guard-counter swipes, and charged R2 lunges. A joy to play during the early game while working towards you weapons of choice.
- Anonymous
This skill was a HUGE letdown once I got the Ash of War version, the fact that it can be used on Greatswords was a HUGE blow to the skill (the Claymore and Flamberge had it in DS3), plus it's not the guaranteed PvE guard-break that it was in DS3.
Part of the reason that I considered the Claymore the best general purpose Greatsword in DS3 was because it had the Stance Weapon Art, which is what Square-Off is.
The fact that it's a Strait Sword exclusive skill was such a dumb idea when in the previous game it was also available on select Greatswords as well.
- Anonymous
Still one of my favorite arts for the sheer versatility it offers
- Anonymous
What is the best sword to have with square off? I dont wanna commit to leveling up lordsworns straight sword if there is one that is better.
- Anonymous
The reason, no matter the effort, I can't pick another weapon over the longsword since DS3. From breaking the guard of a shield user to closing the gap, nothing beats the versatility of this skill. Does good damage, too.
- Anonymous
Really sucks yout can't use this with any greatswords. Would rather his this than stomp on all of them.
- Anonymous
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The heavy attack from the Square Off stance is an excellent boss-fighting skill. It does an incredible amount of additional damage. It's also effective at damaging enemy poise. This skill carried me through Margit by not only being the single most damaging attack in my arsenal, but also breaking his poise several times, setting up several critical attacks.
I pretty much use it all the time now. It was particularly useful in Stormveil Castle against Banished Knights where you can use its reach and heavy damage to deal with them safely.
- Anonymous
Remember when Rusty put this low in his Ashes Of War tier list video, funny
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