Two-handing a weapon in Elden Ring has its benefits, such as increased strength and reduction of equipment weight – worth doing if you can time your attacks well!

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How do you two-hand in Elden Ring? The game doesn’t make it clear (unless you take the plunge into the tutorial area – what tutorial area, right?) so we’re here to tell you how to equip one weapon to both hands.

It’s worth pointing out that when you two-hand a weapon, you can still block with it, but you’ll take a small amount of damage when you’re hit while blocking.

In case you didn’t know how, we’ll let you in on how to dual-wield weapons in Elden Ring, so you have something equipped to both hands.

Read on to find out how to two-hand in Elden Ring and how to dual-wield.

How to two-hand in Elden Ring explained

To two-hand a weapon in Elden Ring, you need to hold down the Triangle or Y button and press R or L to equip left or right.

It will work differently depending on what platform you play the game on, so here are the methods of two-handing a weapon in Elden Ring on PlayStation, Xbox and PC:

  • PlayStation: Hold Triangle and press L1 or L2 to two-hand the weapon in your left hand/press R1 or R2 to two-hand the weapon in your right hand
  • Xbox: Hold Y and press LB or LT to two-hand the weapon in your left hand/press RB or RT to two-hand the weapon in your right hand
  • PC (mouse and keyboard): Hold E and left-click to two-hand the weapon in your left hand/right-click to two-hand the weapon in your right hand

You can two-hand any weapon – including shields and rods. Remember, you deal increased weapon damage when two-handing, so it is worth it!

Repeat the process to go back to the equipment setup you had before two-handing a weapon.

This helpful YouTube video from YourSixGaming shows you the process in-game if you think you can follow a video better:

How to dual-wield in Elden Ring explained

To dual-wield a weapon in Elden Ring, you need to head into the equipment menu and select to equip the same weapon into both your left and right hands.

Dual-wielding a weapon type correctly is known as the Power Stance in Elden Ring.

While you can equip a different weapon of different types into both hands, it’s best to equip a weapon of the same type in both hands so you can earn Power Stance benefits.

Dual-wield correctly and you’ll unlock new attacks and potentially attack more quickly. You’ll find you should be dealing more damage while dual-wielding, too.

Just as with two-handing a weapon, though, there is a trade-off when it comes to defence but it’s entirely up to you how you prefer to play the game!

Read more on Elden Ring:

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Authors

Toby Saunders
Toby SaundersFreelance Writer

Toby Saunders is a freelance writer specialising in Video Game journalism. He has a wealth of experience in the field and is published on many different websites including PCGamesN, Nintendo Life and Pocket Tactics. He has a degree in Film Studies (he gets to write about Film and TV occasionally, too).

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