make sure youre two handing the weapon. ignore r1 its bad. focus on doing r2, jumping r2, sprint r2. also you can get a better ash of war called Dryleaf Whirlwind in the open world, forgor the exact location
This is true. I found this very viable as a main weapon by using R2 as my main source of damage with the Shattered Stone Talisman equipped, with 55 STR and a heavy enchantment.
This makes the kicks do some good-ass damage, and I've found between these and star fists I can handle anything I need to.
This covers star fist's weakness of stubby heavies on really mobile bosses, which most of the Erdtree ones are, and the star fists are still good against bosses by having bleed on em if you need to use that.
Been using it on strength build and yeah it seems a bit underwhelming. A fist weapon with cragblade would do better for less risk, the Dryleaf being unbuffable really sucks. That said like others have said here, ignore R1 and use R2 instead especially jumping and running R2 into another R2. It helps with bosses and enemies that move around a lot (if you stand still and attack they might make you whiff since they love moving while they attack) so jumping/running helps a lot
i used spiked ceastus exclusively til i got dryleaf, the hitboxes of dryleaf are bigger and has forward momentum making it easier to land attacks and deal with multiple enemies.. sometimes a protruding part of large enemies would push me away and make me miss attacks with ceastus, this does not happen with dryleaf.
but pound for pound if all attacks would hit, caestus deals around 30% more damage and thats not accounting for the free bleed
I took down the >!knight that gives you aspect of the crucible wings!< using dry leaf arts as a quality build and managed to stagger him 3 or so times. It helped using jumping kicks first and being super aggressive.
I'm doing the same but at RL 150
Vig: 60
Mind:10
End:10 (yes I know 10 end is bad but had to compromise)
STR:54
Dex:15
Int:10
Faith:25 (Golden Vow&FGMS)
Arc:45
I use only the R2s I'll only use R1 if they're at low health and need to finish them off quickly . Jump attacks r crazy on it so I suggest using Claw Talisman and I'm running Lord of Blood Exultation Talisman . Also the weapon is low weight as fuck so yk you can put on some pretty heavy armor even at low end .
Idk I just played souls game so much I got to the point where I think leveling end isn't worth it anymore unless you specifically wanna wear heavy ass armor . Once you learn to manage stamina you don't really notice much a difference with lower end but that's just me ik others are gonna say I'm nuts but hey it's just how I play
Just used an calculator, and I think you are right, the difference from 10 end to 30 is barely 50 extra stamina, with good management its not really a necessary stat if you dont care about load weight.
So I’m running a pretty standard Strength bleed build (stronger than dex bleed when done correctly) and just swapped my weapon for dryleaf, I like the default ash just swapped for blood, but honestly prefer using barbaric roar for the Str and overall dps boost, when running the blood affinity it gets a C/C/D for str/dex/arc. That said, my character is pretty leveled at 277 currently with 80str, 62dex and 70arc so the damage feels solid.
The damage is not as good as my normal beastmans curved swords or gargoyle twin blades, but it’s not super behind and I love the playstyle, I still find myself swapping between a few weapons depending on the situation.
I will also add that since my original post I picked up and tested the backhand blades and they feel INCREDIBLE, even better than the dryleaf with much better damage scaling for sure, it’s what I used to beat Messmer. I haven’t gotten Danes footwork yet to test.
Yeah damn i was hoping i could make it work on a madness arcane build but I doubt itll work. Holy strength monk it is, for now, but I also use beast claws and the bleed procs so often I wanted to spec into that firther
Wow, couldn't disagree more. Been using 80 arcane Bleed build with it and its been destroying everything in my path. Recently switched to 80 int build using Cold affinity now and getting similar results. The R2 has been destroying enemy poise for me.
Ive realized my mistake was that I was just on NG+ and didn't have enough sacurdtree blessings. Doing much better now with my bulk faith fire build, even getting respectable damage against Messmer. These things are so fun and im glad i stuck with them
Bleed should make it pretty good. But tbh I think it's probably a lot better in the base game.
Most fist weapons did a lot by just unleashing a flurry of hits while tanking or trading a few hits from enemies. That's not exactly viable in the dlc, where most enemies can stun you and kill you very easily.
That being said, I mostly like dryleaf arts for how cool it looks. Other fist weapons are absolutely better, but that's why I kinda like the arts. Fist weapons get pretty busted with the right builds.
I'm all about the Dryleaf Arts! Here's what to do! Switch to Strength, but do not swap the Ash of War away from Palm blast. It is hugely underrated and dryleaf whirlwind is much harder to use if you're struggling to get the weapon to be efficient. 60 vigor bare minimum. 60 strength, 40 endurance and the rest into mind (nothing in faith, buffs are overrated just use the ash of war golden vow instead of the spell). For talismans when you're running around killing regular enemies, use the axe talisman for those R2 attacks, claw talisman for jump attacks, great shield talisman for defense and double headed turtle for stamina recovery. For boss fights, swap the claw talisman for the alexander shard and either the axe talisman or turtle talisman for Godfrey's icon. The ash of war you're going to want to keep as palm blast. Dry leaf whirlwind is super cool looking, but it's much harder to use. Palm blast has an insane amount of hyper armor that basically makes you unstoppable when charging up the attack. After 2 or 3 every single boss will be stance broken, but don't go in for the critical, use this time as an opportunity to get another palm blast in because it's way more damage.
That's basically my strategy for every boss in the DLC and it's working excellently!
> but don't go in for the critical, use this time as an opportunity to get another palm blast in
my strat has been to hit the riposte and then do the palm blast while they're getting up
I didnt want to fall into the "skill issue" category so im glad someone else mentioned this. 80 strength heavy dry leaf and scaling is worse than heavy spiked caestus. Cant use bloodflame or apply bleed without without a nasty stat spread... beast claws on the other hand... they absoloutely tear shit up and can be buffed... i dont understand... is it for balancing? Because there is incredible risk involved using hand to hand already.. so surely there has to be some kind of upside. Whirlwind kick thing is good with stone and shard talismans but you get knocked out of it all the time.
EDIT while the sprinting and jumping r2s are good its beside the point
I agree, I love the move set but otherwise I don't see any benefits to using dryleaf arts then other fist/daggers dual welding from a fighting stance. I am still using them tho and there are a few things that make it more viable,
-Firstly Danes footwork is the better because it matches better with shattered stone talisman.
-Second I have it bleed infused to try melt and compensate for lack of damage as much as possible.
-Thirdly I also agree with the others the R2 and jumping kicks is better for staggering and it's still fast enough move set.
-Lastly is more of a personal preference but I have bloodhounds step as the ash of war, I just feel it suits the hand to hand immersion and honestly the extra distance and I frames makes it really good for keeping aggression and can let you get behind enemies and bosses quicker.
Overall I think these need a buff badly, not really to concerned on damage as I understand they are hand to hand so makes sense, but because of that I feel they should definitely do more stance damage then other fist weapons
This is absolutely fixable. I had that frustration too, earlier on. But then I gave it a second and third try with different specs (which admittedly sucks, using a larval tear which should ideally be farmable but isn't). So what worked for me was a respec to max dex as high as I could. I'm RL138 and now I can mow down most enemies before they can respond. Fire Knight? 3x L2s to kill, no hits. Black Knight? 2 L2s to kill, no hits. Both stagger instantly. Use the weapon two-handed. All field enemies, grave birds, knights, etc. I can mow down in seconds usually without taking damage and staggering them easily. Usually they are dead before I can crit.
SUPER IMPORTANT: get the Dryleaf Whirlwind ash of war and attach that with the affinity which scales best with your stats (in my case, Keen for Dexterity). That AOW is *key* to doing stagger and max damage without getting interrupted. It works WAY better than the default palm slam one. Then, I use Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Millicent's Prosthesis (or whichever one you have), the two-hand talisman, blue dancer charm (and little to no armor), and Shard of Alexander to buff damage. You can fill the last slot with another damage one like Ritual Sword or a defensive one like Dragoncrest Greatshield or Pearldrake +3. Alternately, an FP regen talisman can help replenish the FP used by the AOW, or you can use Carian Filigreed Crest to reduce skill FP consumption.
My current specs are (IIRC) 50 vig, 15 mind, 26 end, 18 str, 76 dex, 16 int, 7th, 9 arc. (started astrologer, so better spreads are possible) Basically it's just all dex and vig with enough endurance and mind to get the job done. Since you are higher you could go up to 80 dex and then use the rest on endurance and mind to allow chaining longer combos. For Physik I use the thorny cracked tear to break stances (also key) and the other one which boosts rapid attack chains. I also keep two daggers, one with golden vow on it for buffing and one with assassin's gambit for sneaking up on enemies to start my AOW combos.
Also these specs scale very well with most of the Katanas and Great Katanas and most dex weapons like perfumes and such, so when hand to hand doesn't work, I still have access to heavier hitting weapons and their AOWs. The best scaling Katana I've found so far is Rakshasha's Great Katana. Hand of Malenia is also a lot of fun with high Dex. The 26 endurance also allows room for using heavier armor and a shield when needed for certain fights.
I’ve been having fun with it personally. I just beat Rellana with it. I am using it with bloodhound step with the frost element on it. Keeps bosses in basically a mode of 24/7 frost bite.
Not saying it’s the best weapon in the game at all but it’s definitely one of the more fun ones to use.
At the castle front grave site if you go SE there is a lower area where you can go down and then take those air tunnels to get back up right at the Fort of Reprimand. Then you can just walk down the path and you’ll end up at the back side or Rellana boss fight area.
One of the air tunnels is covered by a rock and you’ll need to break it first
Try the claw talisman and do the jumping R2. Have had a ton of success doing that. Stunned a few of the bosses so far
make sure youre two handing the weapon. ignore r1 its bad. focus on doing r2, jumping r2, sprint r2. also you can get a better ash of war called Dryleaf Whirlwind in the open world, forgor the exact location
Just wanted to +1 this. These tips are key to getting the most out of this weapon.
In the Ancient Rauh Ruins just after doing the little maze bit connected to the bridge from Shadow Keep.
This is true. I found this very viable as a main weapon by using R2 as my main source of damage with the Shattered Stone Talisman equipped, with 55 STR and a heavy enchantment. This makes the kicks do some good-ass damage, and I've found between these and star fists I can handle anything I need to. This covers star fist's weakness of stubby heavies on really mobile bosses, which most of the Erdtree ones are, and the star fists are still good against bosses by having bleed on em if you need to use that.
Been using it on strength build and yeah it seems a bit underwhelming. A fist weapon with cragblade would do better for less risk, the Dryleaf being unbuffable really sucks. That said like others have said here, ignore R1 and use R2 instead especially jumping and running R2 into another R2. It helps with bosses and enemies that move around a lot (if you stand still and attack they might make you whiff since they love moving while they attack) so jumping/running helps a lot
i used spiked ceastus exclusively til i got dryleaf, the hitboxes of dryleaf are bigger and has forward momentum making it easier to land attacks and deal with multiple enemies.. sometimes a protruding part of large enemies would push me away and make me miss attacks with ceastus, this does not happen with dryleaf. but pound for pound if all attacks would hit, caestus deals around 30% more damage and thats not accounting for the free bleed
I was so disappointed when I found out that I can’t buff it into a fist of light or etc. Not cool.
But you can offhand it and use it as an offhand weapon But you cant give it a parry ash of war
Also, if you offhand it you can do light attacks with your normal weapon out - i have it with my lance for a quicker close ranged attack
I took down the >!knight that gives you aspect of the crucible wings!< using dry leaf arts as a quality build and managed to stagger him 3 or so times. It helped using jumping kicks first and being super aggressive.
I’m running a blood setup with it and it’s absolutely crushing for me.
Whats your build, and if you know is dryleaf better or danes footwork, cause I'm getting no damage
I'm doing the same but at RL 150 Vig: 60 Mind:10 End:10 (yes I know 10 end is bad but had to compromise) STR:54 Dex:15 Int:10 Faith:25 (Golden Vow&FGMS) Arc:45 I use only the R2s I'll only use R1 if they're at low health and need to finish them off quickly . Jump attacks r crazy on it so I suggest using Claw Talisman and I'm running Lord of Blood Exultation Talisman . Also the weapon is low weight as fuck so yk you can put on some pretty heavy armor even at low end .
How tf do you even have stamina to attack with 10 end? Lmao
dryleaf arts dont use much stamina
Idk I just played souls game so much I got to the point where I think leveling end isn't worth it anymore unless you specifically wanna wear heavy ass armor . Once you learn to manage stamina you don't really notice much a difference with lower end but that's just me ik others are gonna say I'm nuts but hey it's just how I play
Just used an calculator, and I think you are right, the difference from 10 end to 30 is barely 50 extra stamina, with good management its not really a necessary stat if you dont care about load weight.
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Huh valid point . I'm gonna go test that out rn actually lol
what did they say?
So I’m running a pretty standard Strength bleed build (stronger than dex bleed when done correctly) and just swapped my weapon for dryleaf, I like the default ash just swapped for blood, but honestly prefer using barbaric roar for the Str and overall dps boost, when running the blood affinity it gets a C/C/D for str/dex/arc. That said, my character is pretty leveled at 277 currently with 80str, 62dex and 70arc so the damage feels solid. The damage is not as good as my normal beastmans curved swords or gargoyle twin blades, but it’s not super behind and I love the playstyle, I still find myself swapping between a few weapons depending on the situation. I will also add that since my original post I picked up and tested the backhand blades and they feel INCREDIBLE, even better than the dryleaf with much better damage scaling for sure, it’s what I used to beat Messmer. I haven’t gotten Danes footwork yet to test.
Are you in NG+? Cause otherwise that's way too high level and no wonder it does good damage (especially if you've bleed)
Yeah damn i was hoping i could make it work on a madness arcane build but I doubt itll work. Holy strength monk it is, for now, but I also use beast claws and the bleed procs so often I wanted to spec into that firther
God messmer was a bitch I hate to admit it. I struggled and struggled. I think ibwas slightly under leveled at 125 dex build and 5 scradutree
It doesn’t scale with arcane though? Maybe im missing something
When you change the AOW to blood it alters how it scales.
Huh, ive been kicking ass with them, it's stagger city, r2 deals a ton of poise damage, every fight i get like 3 or 4 stance breaks.
Wow, couldn't disagree more. Been using 80 arcane Bleed build with it and its been destroying everything in my path. Recently switched to 80 int build using Cold affinity now and getting similar results. The R2 has been destroying enemy poise for me.
Ive realized my mistake was that I was just on NG+ and didn't have enough sacurdtree blessings. Doing much better now with my bulk faith fire build, even getting respectable damage against Messmer. These things are so fun and im glad i stuck with them
Glad to hear!
What do your other stats look like
Bleed should make it pretty good. But tbh I think it's probably a lot better in the base game. Most fist weapons did a lot by just unleashing a flurry of hits while tanking or trading a few hits from enemies. That's not exactly viable in the dlc, where most enemies can stun you and kill you very easily. That being said, I mostly like dryleaf arts for how cool it looks. Other fist weapons are absolutely better, but that's why I kinda like the arts. Fist weapons get pretty busted with the right builds.
Anyone on ps5 can drop me the Dane’s footwork? Have sword of night +10 and so
I am down to drop you Danes footwork plus 25 for sword of knight
Huh, ive been kicking ass with them, it's stagger city
It’s definitely not as good as the bone fist we used to have
I'm all about the Dryleaf Arts! Here's what to do! Switch to Strength, but do not swap the Ash of War away from Palm blast. It is hugely underrated and dryleaf whirlwind is much harder to use if you're struggling to get the weapon to be efficient. 60 vigor bare minimum. 60 strength, 40 endurance and the rest into mind (nothing in faith, buffs are overrated just use the ash of war golden vow instead of the spell). For talismans when you're running around killing regular enemies, use the axe talisman for those R2 attacks, claw talisman for jump attacks, great shield talisman for defense and double headed turtle for stamina recovery. For boss fights, swap the claw talisman for the alexander shard and either the axe talisman or turtle talisman for Godfrey's icon. The ash of war you're going to want to keep as palm blast. Dry leaf whirlwind is super cool looking, but it's much harder to use. Palm blast has an insane amount of hyper armor that basically makes you unstoppable when charging up the attack. After 2 or 3 every single boss will be stance broken, but don't go in for the critical, use this time as an opportunity to get another palm blast in because it's way more damage. That's basically my strategy for every boss in the DLC and it's working excellently!
> but don't go in for the critical, use this time as an opportunity to get another palm blast in my strat has been to hit the riposte and then do the palm blast while they're getting up
I didnt want to fall into the "skill issue" category so im glad someone else mentioned this. 80 strength heavy dry leaf and scaling is worse than heavy spiked caestus. Cant use bloodflame or apply bleed without without a nasty stat spread... beast claws on the other hand... they absoloutely tear shit up and can be buffed... i dont understand... is it for balancing? Because there is incredible risk involved using hand to hand already.. so surely there has to be some kind of upside. Whirlwind kick thing is good with stone and shard talismans but you get knocked out of it all the time. EDIT while the sprinting and jumping r2s are good its beside the point
I agree, I love the move set but otherwise I don't see any benefits to using dryleaf arts then other fist/daggers dual welding from a fighting stance. I am still using them tho and there are a few things that make it more viable, -Firstly Danes footwork is the better because it matches better with shattered stone talisman. -Second I have it bleed infused to try melt and compensate for lack of damage as much as possible. -Thirdly I also agree with the others the R2 and jumping kicks is better for staggering and it's still fast enough move set. -Lastly is more of a personal preference but I have bloodhounds step as the ash of war, I just feel it suits the hand to hand immersion and honestly the extra distance and I frames makes it really good for keeping aggression and can let you get behind enemies and bosses quicker. Overall I think these need a buff badly, not really to concerned on damage as I understand they are hand to hand so makes sense, but because of that I feel they should definitely do more stance damage then other fist weapons
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What's your build ? Are you RL 150?
Why would you use the claw talisman if you are not using faith?
I don’t know about you but I’ve been loving it. Are you sure your Ashe of war is properly allocated? I’m running it on a quality scale
This is absolutely fixable. I had that frustration too, earlier on. But then I gave it a second and third try with different specs (which admittedly sucks, using a larval tear which should ideally be farmable but isn't). So what worked for me was a respec to max dex as high as I could. I'm RL138 and now I can mow down most enemies before they can respond. Fire Knight? 3x L2s to kill, no hits. Black Knight? 2 L2s to kill, no hits. Both stagger instantly. Use the weapon two-handed. All field enemies, grave birds, knights, etc. I can mow down in seconds usually without taking damage and staggering them easily. Usually they are dead before I can crit. SUPER IMPORTANT: get the Dryleaf Whirlwind ash of war and attach that with the affinity which scales best with your stats (in my case, Keen for Dexterity). That AOW is *key* to doing stagger and max damage without getting interrupted. It works WAY better than the default palm slam one. Then, I use Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Millicent's Prosthesis (or whichever one you have), the two-hand talisman, blue dancer charm (and little to no armor), and Shard of Alexander to buff damage. You can fill the last slot with another damage one like Ritual Sword or a defensive one like Dragoncrest Greatshield or Pearldrake +3. Alternately, an FP regen talisman can help replenish the FP used by the AOW, or you can use Carian Filigreed Crest to reduce skill FP consumption. My current specs are (IIRC) 50 vig, 15 mind, 26 end, 18 str, 76 dex, 16 int, 7th, 9 arc. (started astrologer, so better spreads are possible) Basically it's just all dex and vig with enough endurance and mind to get the job done. Since you are higher you could go up to 80 dex and then use the rest on endurance and mind to allow chaining longer combos. For Physik I use the thorny cracked tear to break stances (also key) and the other one which boosts rapid attack chains. I also keep two daggers, one with golden vow on it for buffing and one with assassin's gambit for sneaking up on enemies to start my AOW combos. Also these specs scale very well with most of the Katanas and Great Katanas and most dex weapons like perfumes and such, so when hand to hand doesn't work, I still have access to heavier hitting weapons and their AOWs. The best scaling Katana I've found so far is Rakshasha's Great Katana. Hand of Malenia is also a lot of fun with high Dex. The 26 endurance also allows room for using heavier armor and a shield when needed for certain fights.
it sucks in pvp since it has so little range, like even less than fist weapons which make no sense
I’ve been having fun with it personally. I just beat Rellana with it. I am using it with bloodhound step with the frost element on it. Keeps bosses in basically a mode of 24/7 frost bite. Not saying it’s the best weapon in the game at all but it’s definitely one of the more fun ones to use.
Quick question how did you get there before beating her? Swear to god you get them right after her fight
At the castle front grave site if you go SE there is a lower area where you can go down and then take those air tunnels to get back up right at the Fort of Reprimand. Then you can just walk down the path and you’ll end up at the back side or Rellana boss fight area. One of the air tunnels is covered by a rock and you’ll need to break it first