Elden Ring: Shadow of The Erdtree

One of the coolest new weapons introduced in Elden Ring‘s Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC is the Sacred Dryleaf Arts, a fighting style that allows your character to use martial arts to defeat their enemies. From flying kicks to fast punches, this weapon has long combos that can break through an enemy’s defenses. By winning a fighting game-esque duel, you can claim the techniques of this martial art for yourself.

Similar to other Hand-to-Hand weapons in Elden Ring, such as the Spiked Caestus or Hookclaws , the Dryleaf Arts act as a single tool automatically equipped to both hands. While some weapons can be used one-handed or two-handed, the Dryleaf Arts can only be used in your right-hand equipment slot. This still gives you the full moveset of the weapon, including its powerful Ash of War skill.

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Where To Find The Dryleaf Arts Weapon

Accept A Monk’s Challenge To Fight

The process for getting the Dryleaf Arts is fairly complicated, as you have to obtain a gesture and use it in front of an NPC to challenge them to a duel. When you enter the Scadu Altus map in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, you can meet the NPC named Dryleaf Dane near the Moorth Ruins Site of Grace on your map. This warrior may be one of the best characters in Elden Ring you meet for their simple philosophy of battle.

Go to the Highroad Cross Site of Grace in Acadu Altus, where you can see a glowing mark on the ground indicating a few items you can pick up. Interacting with the glowing mark will give you the Monk’s Missive and the May the Best Win emote used to get the Dryleaf Arts. The Missive is a note containing a message from Dryleaf Dane, along with an image of the emote you also picked up.

The Monk’s Missive states, “Seek me to the east if you wish to pursue the way of the warrior. When you find me, you will challenge me to a bout. There is no need for words.” This tells you that you must perform the May the Best Win emote in front of Dryleaf Dane to start a duel with the monk. Doing this will teleport you and Dane into a private arena where your character can fight the warrior in a 1v1 brawl.

How To Defeat Dryleaf Dane

Stay Away And Use Magical Attacks

The best strategy to beat Dryleaf Dane quickly is to use weapons with a longer range than the monk’s limbs or activate strong magic attacks to keep up the pressure from afar. The arena where you fight Dryleaf Dane is an enclosed space with borders marked with magical light gray walls. The fast monk has little armor, causing them to be a speedy opponent who can rush your character down quickly.

Similar to the Beast Claws in Elden Ring also introduced in Shadow Of The Erdtree, the Dryleaf Arts can kill targets by locking them in an inescapable combo with a single hit. You need to avoid Dryleaf Dane by dodging away and waiting for small windows to retaliate. Those with magic can simply stand far enough away to shoot accurate spells at Dane, but the monk’s movements might still make them hard to pin down.

In addition to the Dryleaf Arts, Dane can use Faith magic to throw circular disks at your character when you get out of range. These attacks are easily dodged, but only if you know the right timing. Dane also likes to use a large shockwave attack in front of them when their health gets low, so be prepared to back off once you land a series of attacks on offense during this fight.

How To Use The Sacred Dryleaf Arts (Stats, Damage Scaling, Ash of War)

Best Paired With A Strength Build

The Dryleaf Arts are one of the best Strength scaling weapons in Elden Ring alongside most of the other Hand-to-Hand weapons in the game. Once you obtain the martial arts style from defeating Dryleaf Dane, your character needs to have certain stat requirements to wield the weapon properly. Without some points invested in certain attributes, you won’t be able to utilize this weapon’s maximum damage output.

The Dryleaf Arts have a much higher damage scaling through Strength when upgraded with Smithing Stones throughout your adventures in the DLC. These marital art techniques come with basic light and heavy attacks that combo together, but they also have a unique Ash of War skill. For 14 FP every time you use it, you can deliver a devastating Palm Strike shockwave similar to the one Dryleaf Dane performed before.

As you can see in the above video by YouTube creator Nyce Gaming, the Dryleaf Arts’ Ash of War attack can be used to stagger some enemies by breaking their Poise. This technique highlights the best qualities of this weapon, whose basic attacks shred through enemy defenses. Unlike some Hand-to-Hand weapons, the Dryleaf Arts have sweeping strikes that can hit multiple targets when you’re trapped by an enemy group.

It is worth noting that the Dryleaf Arts don’t carry any elemental damages beyond Physical, so don’t expect any Holy or Fire strikes unless you use a consumable. The critical attack of this weapon is high, giving it the ability to deliver deadly blows. Those who get the Sacred Dryleaf Arts in the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring will have to adjust to this unorthodox fighting style to use the weapon consistently.

Source: Nyce Gaming/YouTube

Elden Ring

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

ESRB

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

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