Stance break seems weak?

[Warscream]

It is a legit question, i created a new character, and i'm level 23, and i swear, i had to hit margit 10 times with fully charged strong attacks from my ultra greatsword for him to finally stagger. So... what is going on? I remember it being much better before. Did they nerff it to the ground, or is margit supposed to be almost impossible to stance break?

[nfinite.recursion]

He's a boss.

His poise is higher than normal and his (invisible) poise meter recovers faster than normal.

Also, use jumping heavy attacks instead.

[Warscream]

I know he's a boss, but i remember it being way easier to do before, so they must have changed it... and yeah, i'll go for the jumping heavy then, thank you.

[Clail]

I haven't noticed any changes, can stance break him with a one handed weapons within 5-6 charged attacks generally as long as he doesn't get time to recover.

[Warscream]

Originally posted by Clail:

I haven't noticed any changes, can stance break him with a one handed weapons within 5-6 charged attacks generally as long as he doesn't get time to recover.

That's really good. I must have been doing something wrong then XD

[Sabaithal]

His stance does regen, so you do need to keep up the pressure.

Also I've found that, while charged heavies are effective for breaking stance, certain weapon arts are even better. For colossal swords, namely anything with "(stomp) <name of attack>"

Now the actual crit attack itself is a different story. Its honestly much weaker than it needs to be against many enemies and bosses. It really does need to do much more damage to be worth using "Stance breaking" as a main strategy, because even with the Misceriode it barely does anything to most enemies.

[Nibbie]

Originally posted by Warscream Tano:

Originally posted by Clail:

I haven't noticed any changes, can stance break him with a one handed weapons within 5-6 charged attacks generally as long as he doesn't get time to recover.

That's really good. I must have been doing something wrong then XD

I'm guessing

Originally posted by Clail:

as long as he doesn't get time to recover.

Is likely 'what you are doing wrong'. If you've played Sekiro before, it works similarly to the stance meter in that game, its just harder to tell in this game because it is hidden. The meter refills over time when they aren't taking damage, so being able to stick to them and stay on the aggressive is important for stance breaking. Ranged attacks or summons can also help preserve and continue to stack the stance damage during times you couldn't normally attack. When I did Margit I used the demi-human ashes, and there were enough of them swarming him that I was able to break him multiple times, even with just a straight sword.

[Aldain]

Honestly the stance break system is something that just feels so...not well implemented imo.

With speed like Sekiro it made sense, but Elden Ring is significantly slower and more plodding and the fact that the best way to go about it is to fight like you're on a pogo stick with jumping heavy attacks...it just doesn't feel good to me.

Just makes everything feel like it has hyper armor unless you go about it in a very specific way, it feels like it clashes with the more souls-esque system the player has to use.

[Koala 4peace]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

His stance does regen, so you do need to keep up the pressure.

Also I've found that, while charged heavies are effective for breaking stance, certain weapon arts are even better. For colossal swords, namely anything with "(stomp) <name of attack>"

Now the actual crit attack itself is a different story. Its honestly much weaker than it needs to be against many enemies and bosses. It really does need to do much more damage to be worth using "Stance breaking" as a main strategy, because even with the Misceriode it barely does anything to most enemies.

I find that a lot of time is better to just do a chain against a stunned boss than a critical.

[Mills]

Enemies recover poise over time, they recover it even faster if they are attacking. Margit is pretty easy to stagger. should only need 3 charged heavy attacks with a colossal weapon, or even easier use 2 square offs from broadsword.

[wendigo211]

I've been finding this game a bit more like the Witcher than DS, It seems every boss has a "silver sword" that works well against it, you just have to find it. That said, I find doing a combo against a stance broken boss usually does more damage than a crit. You just need enough stamina and a fast enough weapon to exploit the opening.

[Michael]

Originally posted by Warscream Tano:

It is a legit question, i created a new character, and i'm level 23, and i swear, i had to hit margit 10 times with fully charged strong attacks from my ultra greatsword for him to finally stagger. So... what is going on? I remember it being much better before. Did they nerff it to the ground, or is margit supposed to be almost impossible to stance break?

Enemies start to recover their poise after 6 seconds of not taking damage, and they recover it rapidly. Doing any poise damage will stop it from recovering, so you could for instance just throw a dagger at the 5 second mark and give yourself another 6 seconds before the poise starts to recover.

The issue with bosses is that they usually have a larger pool of poise and there are certain transitional animations during which you can't break their poise. Like Mohg's countdown, for instance. So you can 'waste' a poise break by hitting the threshold in certain animations.

[WumboWise]

Enemies and bosses recover poise after a couple of seconds. It's important to be relentless and get attacks in between his delayed swings while making sure to keep your stamina from getting too low.

Usually the boss gives me plenty of openings for non charged R2s which are still great for lowering his poise. Sprinkle in some rolling r1s. Then use charged R2s to counter his big combo finishers with the long recovery time.

I can poise break Margit 4-5 times in a fight with a fairly new Vagabond character with the non upgraded two handed halberd and a few points into HP. It's nerve wracking but it can be done, I promise :)

I can provide a video too if that would help anyone here.

[Aertes]

Enemies have a "recuperation period" so to say. If you hit them but the next hit happens a while after that, they recover and you need more staggering attacks to finally stun them. If you only use charged heavy attacks, they take a time to happen, specially if you have to dodge between them. I've found that jumping heavy attacks with powerful two handed weapons are quite effective at stunning enemies and even bosses, and they are faster to perform.

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by Koala 4peace:

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Now the actual crit attack itself is a different story. Its honestly much weaker than it needs to be against many enemies and bosses. It really does need to do much more damage to be worth using "Stance breaking" as a main strategy, because even with the Misceriode it barely does anything to most enemies.

I find that a lot of time is better to just do a chain against a stunned boss than a critical.

Which is disappointing honestly. Its just the whole "R1 spam" thing again, whereas triggering and going for a crit takes more effort and SHOULD be the superior option...

[nfinite.recursion]

Depending on my status when I make a boss stagger, if I need to heal, I lay into the boss for a few hits and end it with a critical hit. As the player I recover from my crit animation faster and can back away and heal.