Deep underground, in a frigid cave full of vases, I threw down my staff and killed a monkey samurai with a spin kick. It wasn't until my second fight with the half-swordsman Onze during a three-hour session of Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC that I realized my wizard character choice had been a mistake. I wasn't born to use magic, but to use my hands.
I don't usually get hyped up about a new weapon reveal unless it's something particularly ridiculous like Bloodborne's Whirligig Saw, but the original Shadow of the Erdtree trailer had me completely absorbed by the footage of Tarnished soaring into the air and bludgeoning enemies with his fists and feet. Straight Hands wasn't even on my list of potential builds to incorporate into the DLC until I got hands-on with the Sacred Dry Leaf Arts weapons and realized I'd be foolish to ignore them.
Shadow of the Erdtree is meant to be played somewhere around the middle of the base game's journey, so bosses tend to be more brutal and it's a pain to play as a caster. I got beaten up by bosses and knew there was no way to beat them unless I learned when to pack in a spell or two. The three-hour preview didn't give me much time to practice, and I was too lazy to go to Renara to recalibrate, so I changed my approach and equipped myself with both the new martial arts and throwing dagger weapons.
The Souls series has had similar weapons before; Dark Souls 2's Ivory King DLC introduced the Bone Fist weapon, which fought in a similar style to the Sacred Dry Leaf Arts. But the Bone Fist's awkward jabs and uppercuts look weak compared to the way your character leaps and spins into the air with the Sacred Dry Leaf Arts; Elden Ring's version is almost balletic to watch.
What initially attracted me was the weapon art for this move, the Flying Spin Kick (which you can see in the trailer). Not only is it great for punching or kicking enemies in the face to interrupt their attacks, but it also wipes out their health bars. Onze had almost half his health in one full combo, and weaker enemies crumbled before I hit the ground again. The downside is the total lack of range and the amount of recovery time required between regular attacks. After all, this is a FromSoft game. Carefully positioning around walls, making dodge rolls, and praying to be brought back to the Blessed Lands unmolested worked well in the dungeons. In the open world, things get more complicated, but getting on the Torrent can help with that.
I felt like I had a Bloodborne gun in my right hand, ready to fire off any enemies that got too close to my frail, robed form.
The premade character comes with some items and spells that can be used, so I was able to put together an effective build with duct tape with ease. I didn't put much effort into min-maxing, but I did cast the extra attack and defense from the Golden Oath spell and the Fire, Empower Me to power me up even more. It might be overkill for the mesmer soldiers and gravebirds scattered across the first grassy plateau, but it's nice to see that fists can synergize with many of the buffs in the base game. I intend to replace it with a strength and faith (scaling accordingly) build as soon as I find it in the DLC.
But against the poison-spewing scorpions that roam the halls of the first big dungeon, I find them less than ideal. For those, I held a staff and a new throwing dagger weapon (the Sacred Forge Dagger) in both hands. Anyone who has dabbled in magic in Elden Ring knows that awkward moment when an enemy's health gets so low that it's almost not worth casting a full spell. The throwing daggers are great for those times, when, say, 10 tiny scorpions are about to pounce on you and you don't have time to prepare a massive AoE spell. I felt like I had a Bloodborne gun in my right hand, ready to push back if an enemy got too close to my robed, weak body.
It functions just like the Throwing Dagger item in the base game, but without the hassle of worrying about how many you have left. Sacred Smithscript also has a weapon art that lets you throw powerful daggers with some serious stopping power. This is the weapon for anyone who loves the fantasy of throwing daggers, but feels that the existing version in Elden Ring is too weak, and doesn't want to manage a limited supply. I'm sure build freaks will find some crazy combinations with this, but it's already great as a simple tool for a basic caster setup.
Sekiro Mode
Both new weapons were surprisingly well suited for wizards because of their speed. If I wasn't all in on my fists, I would have considered running some kind of spellsword hybrid build as an answer to the DLC's surprisingly agile enemies. The few bosses I saw were just as agile as the ones you'll find later in the base game. The Lion Dancer boss, for example, doesn't politely charge up a big attack while you blast a few spells to stagger him. He attacks relentlessly, and you'll need to counter that speed with precise timing and your own speed using weapons like your fists or throwing daggers.
In fact, speed seems to be a trend for Shadow of the Erdtree and FromSoft in general. It's been years since Dark Souls was a game about trading blows like a turn-based game. Dark Souls sped up more and more with each installment, and Bloodborne sped up even more. Although not technically an RPG or a formal Souls game, Sekiro was a turning point. You can't make a Wolf slower than this game, because the pace of the world and its enemies is all faster than any FromSoft game before it. Sekiro's combat tested the concept of trading a series of attacks instead of individual blows, and the delicate balance of punishment and reward kept the fights from dragging on. I miss the elegance of Dark Souls 1's combat, but I don't think Elden Ring could have incorporated the variety of bosses at such a slower pace. The base game sits somewhere between Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro, allowing you to customize how agile you want to be while still maintaining the combat style before and after the Souls series.
Shadow of the Erdtree suggests that FromSoft is trying to bring Elden Ring to a Sekiro-like fast pace as a finishing touch, as these two new weapons quickly make clear. The fist weapon is the closest thing in FromSoft's games to being able to succeed just by spamming small attacks. I expect the later areas of the DLC will resist this, but not having to think so much about animation lengths felt like Goku dropping his training weights. I feel like I'm playing Devil May Cry in Elden Ring, joining a game dominated by strong, slow-hitting specials like Mare's Executioner Drill and Moonlight Great Sword Blast, it's given me a playstyle I never knew I wanted. There's also some serious synergy with some of the existing Ashes of War. Shield-kicking weapons might finally have more use than just thematic.
You'll be able to experience Elden Ring for yourself, running at 1.5x speed, when Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 20th.
