Stance is a hidden enemy-only Stat in Elden Ring. It governs how well an enemy can resist collapsing under your attacks.
See also Poise for the related player-character stat that governs when a player is staggered by incoming attacks. Players often casually refer to 'Poise' and 'Stance' as different terms, but that's technically the same mechanic, although stance normally refers to the PvE or enemy-only version of poise.
Stance in Elden Ring
Stance Basics
Every attack that hits an enemy deals a certain amount of stance damage. How much stance damage is dealt per hit is hidden from players, and isn't always closely related to the amount of HP the attack removes from the enemy. Once an enemy's total stance damage is higher than their Stance stat, they become stance-broken. This usually renders the enemy vulnerable to a critical hit, making a golden glow appear at a spot on their bodies, where you should stand to deliver the critical hit. Other enemies don't provide a critical hit opportunity and instead have a stance-break animation that will interrupt any attacks they're doing and provide you a chance to get in some free attacks.
After some time taking no damage, an enemy's Stance will begin to recover. Different enemies take varying amounts of time to start recovering, but once they do they all recover their stance damage very quickly. If you're trying to break an enemy's Stance be sure to keep the pressure on. Projectiles like Throwing Daggers can help preserve your damage if the enemy retreats.
Although parries generally have the same effect as breaking an enemy's Stance, they have a separate counter and don't actually do any stance damage. Parrying an enemy won't reset its stance damage meter, and stance-breaking an enemy won't reset its parry counter.
Stance Damage From Skills
Skills that deal damage will also deal stance damage. Below are some skills that inflict particularly large amounts of stance damage:
- Nebula (Wing of Astel):
- 13 per explosion; typically hits 3-4 times resulting in 39-52 stance damage
- Thundercloud Form:
- 6 per tick inside cloud (ticks once uncharged, ticks 6 times fully charged)
- 11 (final hit), 33 (final hit when charged)
- Maximum of 17 stance damage uncharged, 69 stance damage fully charged
- Impaling Thrust:
- 30 (w/ Straight Swords, Katanas, Twinblades, Spears, and Halberds)
- 33 (w/ Greatswords, Heavy Thrusting Swords, and Great Spears)
- Square Off: 40 (heavy attack), 30 (light attack)
- Hoarah Loux's Earthshaker: 15 (initial roar), 20 (each successive slam)
- Glintblade Phalanx: 10 per blade, 40 total
- Carian Grandeur: 20, 30 (charged once), 45 (fully charged)
- Stamp (Upward Cut):
- 30 (w/ Axes)
- 33 (w/ Greatswords, Curved Greatswords, Heavy Thrusting Swords, and Greataxes)
- 36 (w/ Flails, Colossal Weapons (non-Hammers), and Colossal Swords)
- 39 (w/ Hammers)
- 42 (w/ Great Hammers)
- 45 (w/ Colossal Weapons (Hammers))
- Lion's Claw:
- 30 (w/ Straight Swords, Curved Swords, Katanas, Twinblades, and Axes)
- 33 (w/ Greatswords, Curved Greatswords, and Greataxes)
- 36 (w/ Flails, Colossal Weapons (non-Hammers), and Colossal Swords)
- 39 (w/ Hammers)
- 42 (w/ Great Hammers)
- 45 (w/ Colossal Weapons (Hammers))
- Unsheathe: 30 (heavy attack)
- Unblockable Blade: 30
- Troll's Roar: 40 (initial roar), 33-45 (follow-up, varies on weapon class)
- 33 w/ Greatswords, Greataxes
- 36 w/ Colossal Swords, Colossal Weapons (non-Hammers)
- 42 w/ Great Hammers
- 45 w/ Colossal Weapons (Hammers)
Since stance damage doesn't depend on your character's stats at all, and Skills don't have any stat requirements beyond those of the weapon they're attached to, they're one of the most effective ways to stance-break enemies.
Stance Damage in Melee
Heavier melee weapons usually inflict more stance damage, and different types of attacks with a given weapon deal different amounts of stance damage. The precise details vary from weapon to weapon (see below for a full table), but in general:
- Fully charged heavy attacks and guard counters deal the most stance damage.
- Jumping heavy attacks deal a very large amount of stance damage.
- Uncharged heavy attacks deal a large amount of stance damage.
- Light attacks deal the least stance damage.
Running attacks typically deal the same stance damage as their corresponding standing attack. However, the running heavy attacks on Greatswords, Great Spears, Greataxes, and Great Hammers will deal less stance damage than their standard heavy attack.
Stance Damage From Magic
Any spell that deals damage also inflicts stance damage, and some are particularly effective at it:
- The flame of frenzy: 56
- Dragonmaw: 45
- Aspects of the Crucible: Tail: 13 (first swing), 39 (second swing); 52 total
- Aspects of the Crucible: Horns: 17 (uncharged), 30 (charged)
- Dragonclaw: 30
- Rock Sling: ~10 per rock, 29 total
- Gavel of Haima: 23
Stance Modifiers
- Enemies who haven't noticed you take 20% more stance damage.
- Wielding a weapon with both hands generally increases stance damage by 30% for light attacks and 10% for heavy attacks and guard counters. This does not apply to skills.
- The charged heavy attacks on the Duelist/Rotten Greataxe, Dragon Greatclaw, Axe of Godfrey, and Troll's Hammer do not benefit from two-handing. This is likely a bug, since guard counters do receive this bonus.
- Certain enemies have weak points that take extra stance damage. For example, Golems' ankles take double the amount of stance damage than other parts of its body do.
- Bosses take 40% less stance damage if you summon another player or an NPC. (Spirit Ashes don't impose a Stance penalty.)
- Stonebarb Cracked Tear: +30% stance damage.
- Starting in NG+2, all enemies take reduced stance damage. See New Game Plus page for details.
Stance Damage by Weapon Type
Note: These are averages. Values are slightly inaccurate due to rounding, and some weapons have different values from the rest of their class. This table provides a general idea of how much stance damage you'll be dealing.
These values are for one-handed weapons. Remember that two-handing increases the stance damage of light attacks by +30%, and heavy attacks/guard counters by 10%.
| Weapon Type | Light Attack | Jumping Light | Heavy Attack | Jumping Heavy | Charged Heavy | Power Attack | Jumping Power Attack | Guard Counter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colossal Weapons (Hammers)* | 18 | 18 | 15 | 28 | 42 | 22 | 33 | 42 |
| Colossal Weapons, Colossal Swords | 15 | 15 | 15 | 24 | 36 | 18 | 29 | 36 |
| Great Hammers | 13 | 13 | 17 | 26 | 40 | 16 | 31 | 42 |
| Greatswords, Curved Greatswords, Greataxes, and Great Spears | 11 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 33 | 13 | 27 | 33 |
| Halberds and Reapers | 9 | 9 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 12 | 15 | 30 |
| Flails and Hammers | 6 | 9 | 12 | 24 | 36 | 8 | 29 | 36 |
| Heavy Thrusting Swords | 6 | 9 | 11 | 22 | 33 | 7 | 27 | 33 |
| Straight Swords, Curved Swords, Axes, Spears, Twinblades, and Katanas | 5 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 6 | 15 | 30 |
| Fists | 5 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 6 | 9 | 30 |
| Thrusting Swords | 4 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 5 | 12 | 24 |
| Whips | 4 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 16 | 5 | 12 | 30 |
| Daggers and Claws | 3 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 6 | 9 | 18 |
| Small Shields | 5 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 30 | - | - | 30 |
| Medium Shields | 6 | 9 | 11 | 22 | 33 | - | - | 33 |
| Greatshields | 12 | 12 | 12 | 24 | 36 | - | - | 36 |
* Applies to Giant-Crusher, Prelate's Inferno Crozier, Great Club, Troll's Hammer, Watchdog's Staff, Staff of the Avatar, Rotten Staff, Envoy's Greathorn, and Fallingstar Beast Jaw. These weapons deal notably more stance damage than the rest of their class, and are thus separated.
Anonymous
- Anonymous
i had to get chatgpt to make me a script to automatically change the word "poise" to "stance" on here and reddit cuz yall CANNOT stop getting them mixed up oh my god
- Anonymous
lol the sudden realization that this and poise-damage are kinda just two different status-effect adjacent systems based around "stunning" & "flinching" is nuts.
its the same "invisible bars where you benefit from consistent attacks due to the built-up status dwindling over time while resetting if you succeed in procc'ing it" concept but its also understandably convoluted in explanation due to the little differing knacks between these systems and something like a hemorrhage proc. Wow.
- Anonymous
Do passive damage effects like poison prevent an enemies stance from recovering?
- Anonymous
What mechanism governs whether a boss's movement gets interrupted? Instead of staggering, I'm talking about just interrupting their attack so they flinch and have to restart the movement if they wish to attack again. Some bosses get interrupted (especially when they are human sized and when I'm wielding a heavier weapon) by my attacks as well but they are not staggered.
- Anonymous
the stance break mechanic is basically fromsoft's way of fixing the infamous DS3 roll R1 spam combat and i like it.
- Anonymous
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This mechanic trivializes the game to be honest. I'm halfway through the game and I haven't died to a single boss since I changed my weapon to the large club. On the other hand I was struggling pretty hard with the initial longsword. Spirit ashes are also pretty cheesy but you always could have summoned helps since the first game in the series, so that's whatever.
- Anonymous
This mechanic trivializes the game to be honest. I'm halfway through the game and I haven't died to a single boss since I changed my weapon to the large club. On the other hand I was struggling pretty hard with the initial longsword. Spirit ashes are also pretty cheesy but you always could have summoned helps since the first game in the series, so that's whatever.
- Anonymous
Ngl The stance break is funny when you consecutively do it.
- Anonymous
Stance damage in the table for "power attack" is for weapon in each hand or both combined??
- Anonymous
A visible stance bar similar to Sekiro's would have been a game changer.
- Anonymous
A visible stance bar similar to Sekiro's would have been a game changer.
- Anonymous
The stance amounts are significantly different than what is listed here now. They nerfed it hard
- Anonymous
From my experience fist weapons like the ball fist and spiked fists are insane at stance breaking. Their charged up attacks do as much or almost as much stance break damage as a colossal weapon, except they come out very fast. I don't know if the numbers here are counting per fist, but also claws have way less stance break damage than fists.
- Anonymous
if I see one more person call it "poise damage" istg to god I'm going to lose it
- Anonymous
whats the difference of stance break of Glintblade (AoW) vs the Glindblade (Spells)
- Anonymous
Where can we view a detailed list of stance damage for each weapon and attacks as stated above?
- Anonymous
Damn I though thrusting swords were on the same tier as straight swords, axes, katanas and twinblades but they actually do half the stance damage on a charged heavy, on the same tier as whips. I guess is to balance the speed of the R1 but still...
- Anonymous
the amount of people still calling 'stance-breaking' as 'poise-breaking' irks me
- Anonymous
Say if I’m attacking a godrick knight if I hit him even with a heavy attack with a dagger he won’t be stun locked and can still attack even though I’m hitting him. Now I take a solider and light attack with a dagger it will stun lock him preventing him from attacking. Why is this if I hit the knight even with a light attack of a great sword he is stun locked and can’t attack back until I’m done attacking? Very confused it’s as if I may as well use a great sword or higher to always stun lock him so he can never attack back. Why would I want a weapon that can’t stun a weak godrick knight I mean I can easily kill him with the dagger but I don’t think weak mobs like him should not be stun locked by daggers he’s not a huge mob like fire giant.
- Anonymous
The game does a pretty poor job at explaining this mechanic, and I think that's why a lot of people find certain enemies unfair.
- Anonymous
So, as far as Colossal Weapons go, which ones exactly count as hammers?
- Anonymous
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rock sling,,,
ah yes, 10 stance damage per rock, 3 rocks (10×3) =29 stance damage
- Anonymous
fists guard counter do the same stance damage as great/colossal hammers (tested on 1.09)
- Anonymous
so every weapon of the same class deals the same poise damage then?
Spectral lance on a lance provides 55 stance/poise damage at range before Deenh's 20%, two handed 10% bonus, unaware 20% bonus, and 30% physick.
So basically the spectral lance skill has low damage because it can deal 100 stance/poise damage easily.
- Anonymous
What about running attacks and crouch atttacks? Do they share category with standing light/heavy attack?
- Anonymous
why is Flame of Frenzy listed under skills? It's a spell, not a skill
- Anonymous
"Note: These are averages. A detailed list of poise damage for each weapon and attack can be found"
Ok, but where can this list be found?
- Anonymous
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Why isn't Wing of Astel's Nebula skill listed as dealing lots of stance damage? Each explosion does a lot (I don't know how much), and if you hit a big enemy with some or all of them, it can almost instantly break their stance in my experience.
- Anonymous
I'm wondering if poison can keep the stance damage up for each tick of the debuff
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Hammers, Great Hammers and Colossal hammers got a buff in 1.07 and a nerf in 1.08 revolving about stance. Please update those values.
- Anonymous
So what exactly is the difference between stance and poise? is it poise that takes damage and the stance being broken is when poise takes enough damage, or are they two completely different stats / mechanics?
- Anonymous
These stance damage values are wrong colossal weapons (hammer) (at least the giant crusher and prelate's ) breaks stance faster than any colossal sword I tried, using only standing light attacks, even though it says the value us higher on colossal swords
- Anonymous
If these values are correct then this is utter nonsense and completely unbalanced. Colossal Swords/Weapons Standing Light, Jumping Light and Standing Heavy are all the same while all other weapon types get increased values? How does that make any sense? Also a jumping heavy of a Colossal Sword is only 4 more stance damage than a straight sword??? Why do Colossal Weapons/Hammers do less stance damage than colossal sword? Shouldn't it be the opposite/the same? Why do Straight Swords etc get 4x the stance damage from a Standing Light to a Jumping Heavy? That is an absolutely insane increase. From 5 to 20?? While a Colossal goes from 15 to 24?! HUH? So a 400% increase VS a 60% increase. Yeah, totally fair and makes sense.
- Anonymous
The 'stone of gurranq' incantation should be on that list of spells. Also, some mention of certain enemies where From Soft have moved the goal posts to ramp up difficulty in the laziest and cheapest way possible. Crucible knight duo boss fight at Auriza hero's grave don't so much as flinch when hit by the weapon art on a +10 blasphemous blade. The sword slamming down hit AND taker's flames and the c**t poised right through it and took 3 / 4 of my HP with one f**king hit.
- Anonymous
I think stats might have a role for stance breaking. I don't know which stats but I tried it on Golems at Mountaintops using +19 Heavy bastardsword. Without Godrick's rune, it took 2 full charge attack and 1 light attack to stagger. With great rune, it took 2 full charge attack. Currently lvl 110.
Stats (Godrick's Rune activated)
vigor 45
mind 16
end 30
str 54
dex 19
int 23
faith 35
arc 12
- Anonymous
I hope this is not a stupid question, but I read on the 1.07 patch notes that poise damage when using 2 handed normal attacks was increased. Does this have any effect on stance?
- Anonymous
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It seems to me that the warpick doesnt count as Mace (anymore). Because it needs substantially more Guard Counters to break Radagons stance, than the other maces I own.
- Anonymous
And how much stance do you need to break? Does it differ on different NPCs? What about players?
- Anonymous
Once you fully realize how the posture system works and how you can use throwing daggers to bait out aggression from bosses and keep the posture damage high, the game becomes so much quicker and more enjoyable, since you can start seeing how the boss chooses what attack they will do at which time and how much you can punishe them DURING their combos.
- Anonymous
A Reddit user created an impressive spreadsheet for detailed stance damage per weapon https://libreddit.hu/r/Eldenring/comments/uftvei/updated_comprehensive_stance_damage_spreadsheet/
Wing of Astel really shines here
- Anonymous
Does "Power Attack" mean 2x (since you swing with 2 weapons of the same class)?
Because it makes no sense that Halberds' Jumping Power Attack deal half as much as Maces for example.
- Anonymous
The one thing not explained here is whether the dual wielded jump-attack differs from a 1h jump-attack
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Is the amount of stance an enemy has equivalent to their poise?
- Anonymous
Stance damage may be my favourite new system in Elden Ring, but how it works is just super unsatisfying.
It feels like they wanted R1/R2 stance damage to be an average, but it makes it so that even weapons that should feel weighty end up feeling less powerful than expected.
There's already little reason to use maces/flails and their powerstance is awful, extremely so in ways I cannot describe and on top of that they don't even stance break while losing out on DPS.
So in the end the only way to interact with stance in a dedicated build for it, in a very Elden Ring fashion is to just exploit the hell out of it with goofy jumping attack spam with random arts of war.
Or you can just spam moonveil and get free staggers for days, since an elequent and intellectual spellblade tool is exactly what I'd go for when I want to knock my opponent out.
- Anonymous
did i read that correctly? colossal hammers deal LESS stance damage???
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The amount of stance damage that lion's claw does depends on the type of weapon it is infused upon. E.g lion's claw on a colossal does more stance damage than on a great weapon which in turns does more stance damage than on a straight sword.
- Anonymous
Two questions:
1. In the case of multi-hits (powerstance columns, as well as "two-handed" weapons that hit multiple times like claws, fists, Radahn's swords, etc) is the listed number per hit, or is it the total assuming everything hits?
2. Where do sprinting heavy attacks fall on this table?
- Anonymous
Based on the phrasing used in tutorial messages and descriptions, stance is not a stat so much as it is a state. Breaking an enemy's poise (the actual stat) will break their stance, but so will parrying or guard breaking them. The internal values for enemy poise are one-tenth of what they are for poise damage, but so is the the player's compared to what's displayed in menus. It's just multiplied by 10 to be represented to the player without decimal values. Basically, the information on this page should be moved to Poise with the values multiplied by 10 to match. Dividing the two concepts like this just causes more confusion, especially when it runs contrary to how the game itself describes it.
- Anonymous
so poise applies for other players whereas stance applies to in-game enemies?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This is just describing Poise. This page is useless and incomplete and should just redirect to the Poise page.
- Anonymous
Parrying adds to stance damage greatly. The reason some bosses take multiple parries to be broken is because they're tied to the same mechanic. They don't actually take multiple parries to be broken, just that a single parry is not enough to fill the whole bar like with most normal enemies. So for example, a combination of jump attacks, charged R2s and a single parry can be enough to break Malenia's stance, as opposed to just doing 3 parries in a row.
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More... details...
I would like a list with various sorting functions if possible.
- Anonymous
what i've seen:
weapon class>attack type>weight
each weapon class seems to have a base line stance damage number
obviously jump/charge attacks have higher stance damage
weapon weight seems to have a modifier to the class, anyone using a Beastman's Cleaver will likely talk about how easily it breaks stance over the other Curved Greatswords. on the other hand Lucerne can drop a golem in two charged hits and a light with minimal weight for it's class (7.0)
- Anonymous
This needs much more info. Need a table for everything like the Poise page has
- Anonymous
Does poison or scarlet rot damage ticks prevent stance from recovering passively?
- Anonymous
How do you guys know, how much stance damage weapons deal. All your tables display it, yet I can't find a single indicator in the actual game. Like, kinda mega ultra stupid, because weapons in the same weapon class deal different amounts of stance damage
honestly imma stop using this mechanic. its like optimized-bleed-build levels of good and its making the game a lil boring
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