How to two-hand in Elden Ring Nightreign

Guides
By published

Behold, two-handing in Elden Ring Nightreign!

Elden Ring Nightreign two-handing great axe and swinging at banished knight
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Knowing how to two-hand in Elden Ring Nightreign is important as it can help you maximize weapon damage for melee-oriented characters like Raider and Wylder. Similar to activating your Character Skill and Ultimate Art, you need to hold Triangle or Y and then press the attack button to change your grip. Elden Ring Nightreign does mention this in its tutorial, but it's quite easy to miss, so I don't blame you for needing pointers.

Two-handing is also not without penalties. You'll have to put up with a slower attack speed or movement speed depending on the weapon type you're using and will lose defensive power since you can't use a shield at the same time. I've explained everything you need know about how to two-hand in Elden Ring Nightreign below, including its best use cases.

How to hold a weapon in two hands in Elden Ring Nightreign

Elden Ring Nightreign two-hand weapon tutorial tooltip

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

To two-hand a weapon in Elden Ring Nightreign, you need to hold Triangle/Y and then press R1/RB. This is assuming you're holding the weapon you want to two-hand in your right hand, but if you want to grab your left-hand weapon, just press L1/LB instead. Press the same inputs again to switch back to a one-handed grip.

Two-handing a melee weapon in Elden Ring Nightreign increases the damage of every strike, which also makes breaking an enemy's stance for a critical hit easier (useful against Elden Ring NIghtreign bosses!), but each attack is also slightly slower and consumes more stamina. You also can't block as effectively as when using a shield.

For some Elden Ring Nightreign classes, mainly the Raider, this isn't really a problem, and you'll just have to a adapt to a dodge-heavy playstyle and rely on some help from your teammates. Furthermore, with nothing in your other hand, two-handing allows you to freely use your weapon's Skill which might be essential if you're using one of the best weapons in Elden Ring Nightreign as they come with some excellent Skills.

If you're using a bow, likely as Ironeye, two-handing it lets you use a precise free-aim mode by holding L1/LB, but your movement speed is reduced and you can't use the R2/RT heavy attack option. Two-handing staves and seals does nothing aside from let you block and use them as a melee weapon, but they are woefully ineffective at both compared to other weapons and shield.

Elden Ring Nightreign emotes are also buried in menus and aren't explained, so we've got a guide on using those too to celebrate with your team. And if you're trying to assemble a team in the first place, our guide on how to play Elden Ring Nightreign with friends will help you out.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Will Sawyer
Will Sawyer
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Will Sawyer is a Guides Editor at GamesRadar+ with over five years of experience in writing online guides, news, and features, and has a BA (Hons) in Journalism. Starting as a freelancer, Will contributed to startmenu and Game Rant before joining the GamesRadar+ team in August 2021. Since then, he has written hundreds of guides about a huge range of games, with shooters and action games being his areas of expertise. Outside of writing about games, Will hops between multiplayer shooters with friends, such as Darktide and Helldivers 2, and delves into whatever has been on his backlog for far too long. He also tries to get through his never-ending Warhammer pile of shame of grey Tyranids, Aeldari, and Chaos Space Marines.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.