How To Get All Hand-to-Hand Arts In Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree (2024)

In Elden Ring, the Tarnished can finally utilize martial arts against their enemies with the release of the Shadow Of The Erdtree expansion. Two new Hand-to-Hand style weapons have been added, those being the Dryleaf Arts and Dane's Footwork. Monk enthusiasts can rejoice, as a monk build is now completely viable at all levels of content.

Fans of Souls games have been begging for a weapon reminiscent of the Bone Fist from Dark Souls 2 to reappear in some way in future titles. Their wish has now been granted, as the new Hand-to-Hand weapons are far better than the Bone Fist ever was. However, in order to get these new martial arts weapons, you must brave the first few challenges in the expansion.

How To Get The Dryleaf Arts In Elden Ring

May The Best Win

In order to acquire the Dryleaf Arts , you must progress through the expansion until you reach the Scadu Altus region. Once at the Highroad Cross Site of Grace, you will find a gesture, 'May the Best Win' alongside a note titled 'Monk's Missive', which will direct you to the east towards Moorth Ruins. Upon reaching the Moorth Ruins Site of Grace, you will find Dryleaf Dane, who you can engage in a duel with by using the 'May the Best Win' gesture.

Dryleaf Dane will employ martial arts and Holy magic in his fight against you. Be sure to watch out for his Palm Blast skill, which can one-shot the Tarnished if you aren't careful. Having high poise will enable you to trade with most of his attacks, allowing you to chain strong attacks and Ashes of War. Upon his defeat, he will drop the Dryleaf Arts and Dane's Hat .

Needle Knight Leda And Her Allies

Getting your hands on Dane's Footwork requires completing the majority of the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion's content, as this weapon cannot be found until the penultimate boss fight of the expansion. The fight against Miquella's Followers will always result in a face-off against Needle Knight Leda and Dryleaf Dane, whereas the other NPCs require quest progression/completion in order for them to be present. Once these NPCs have been defeated, you can loot their bodies for their gear, of which Dryleaf Dane will drop Dane's Footwork.

Dryleaf Dane will have a very similar set of tools to his first fight, except this time he will be using Dane's Footwork instead of Dryleaf Arts. Watch out for Needle Knight Leda's Needle Piercer, which can catch you off guard if you aren't careful. Employing Pureblood Knight Ansbach's summon can help with this fight drastically, so you do not get overwhelmed by the amount of NPCs you are fighting.

Dryleaf Arts Vs Dane's Footwork

Catch These Hands

While both weapons feature martial arts styles, there are some stark contrasts between the two. The Dryleaf Arts is a well-rounded Hand-to-Hand weapon, utilizing both punches and kicks equally for maximum adaptability. Giving this weapon to the player first was an excellent choice by FromSoftware, as it is by far the easiest of the two to use. Dane's Footwork focuses primarily on kicks for its moveset, though can be more tricky to land than the punches from Dryleaf Arts. Due to these differences, there are vastly different builds that can be constructed for the two.

The two Ashes of War for Hand-to-Hand weapons, Plam Blast and Dryleaf Whirlwind , can be used on either of the Hand-to-Hand weapons. However, because Dane's Footwork doubles down on kicks, using Dryleaf Whirlwind makes the most sense, as the Ash of War boosts the damage of all kicking attacks. In contrast, Dryleaf Arts does not get bonus damage on kicking attacks, so using Palm Blast here allows us to dial in on single target damage, which these weapons are notoriously bad at.

Dryleaf Arts Build (Palm Blast)

For Charged Skill Builds

The wonderful thing about these weapons is that they can be offhanded, as you will want to switch to its two-handed moveset anyway, so they can be slotted into any build. As such, the infusion of your Dryleaf Arts will depend entirely on the current build you are running. For example, a Flame Art infusion will add Fire damage and Faith scaling, while a Magic infusion will add Magic damage and Intelligence scaling. Pumping up the base damage of the Dryleaf Arts is recommended, as most of the damage from this weapon will be coming from Palm Blast.

The Shard of Alexander will boost Palm Blast's damage by 15%, while the Godfrey Icon will boost the damage of a charged Palm Blast by another 15%. The Tarnished gets a massive amount of poise when using this skill, which allows for tanking attacks while charging. The Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman will reduce the physical damage taken when charging and the Two-Headed Turtle Talisman will allow you to recover your stamina quicker, keeping you in the fight to unleash more Palm Blasts.

For Consecutive Hit Builds

While both Hand-to-Hand weapons excel in status buildup, Dane's Footwork is a better choice considering the use of Dryleaf Whirlwind, which hits four times in rapid succession while also boosting kick damage. For this reason, a Blood infusion is recommended, as Dryleaf Whirlwind will repeatedly cause blood loss in enemies. This weapon is a fantastic addition to all consecutive hit builds, especially those using Arcane.

The Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman will boost physical damage negation, while the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia will boost all attack power by 13% when at maximum stacks. The Lord of Blood's Exultation will boost all attack power by 20% when blood loss occurs in the vicinity, which will happen on nearly every cast of Dryleaf Whirlwind.

The Shattered Stone Talisman, a new item in the expansion, will boost the potency of all kicking attacks by another 10%. With your newfound martial arts skills, have fun punching and kicking your way through Shadow Of The Erdtree.

Video Credit: RageGamingVideos / YouTube

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Elden Ring

RPG

Action

Platform(s)

PS5 , Xbox One , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , PC

Released

February 25, 2022

Developer(s)

From Software

Publisher(s)

Bandai Namco Entertainment , From Software

Multiplayer

Online Co-Op , Online Multiplayer

Engine

Proprietary

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence