BEST Fist Guide (in-depth breakdown and review) Elden Ring

[@the_infinexos]

I love using spiked caestus and then using the invisible weapon sorcery so its like I'm going barehanded. Every time bleed procs, its like that anime moment where your opponent spits out blood from a particularly hard gut punch

[@ezbern9069]

I've waited for this video ever since I found this channel during the first few weeks of elden ring. Thanks for giving some love to these terrible weapons

[@Chrightt]

Hope you enjoy it! ❤️

[@semisolaire5866]

Beats out daggers imo

[@grouchypotatowolfpack5580]

Personally, I love the cipher patas. Faith scaling is always nice, but what does it for me is the attack speed and the lack of range which encourages an aggressive playstyle. I ended up completely forgetting about incantations for most bosses.

[@alexstaro]

i dont know why but i find your weapon class analysis videos very calming :)

[@Chrightt]

Hehe, hopefully not calming enough to fall asleep xD

[@namelessnightingale8991]

@@Chrightt Well, they are definitely more calm than other channels that would do this, where they would go over the top about "oh, this weapon is the most *broken* thing in the game, and if you don't use it, then you're stupid and should just uninstall", or something like that. Basically, you don't overreact which makes the videos a lot nicer imo.

[@wysle]

Same dude I'm currently doing yard work and it hits the spot

[@taitrinh8650]

This is the kind of ASMR I need :)

[@AnActualDinosaur]

Once you're done with all the weapon classes, I would love it if you made a video comparing Ashes of War! (for example, Lightning AoWs in one video, Heavy AoWs in another, then Unique AoWs and so on)

[@Chrightt]

Alright, sounds good.

[@asherroodcreel640]

That would be the logical conclusion

[@fullfildreamz]

I would love to see that too.

[@okonkwojones]

@@Chrightt all 3[?] (non-unique) lightning ashes. Lightning kinda got short-shrifted, which is a bummer- lightning has always been my favorite element going all the way back to og FFVII.

[@Cleptomancer]

Barbaric Roar changes the moveset and gives hyper armor during heavy attacks. I highly recommend trying it for any fist build.

[@WOLFxLORD]

I love the spiked caestus. Every build I've made so far has had it as a back up weapon. It's not great, but switching to your mitts and going ham is generally not what invaders expect.

[@uriahhefner9160]

I am now expecting this

[@webe3228]

I think it’s pretty good. At least if you aren’t trying to cheese the game. My build is built completely around it

[@ill.uminating]

I have a 520 AR RL150 Cold Spiked Caestus build that I’ve been deleting kids with lol. With white mask, rotten sword insignia, lord of blood execultation, dragon greatshield, and bullgoat (93 poise). I destroy anyone that trys to trade

[@junkszy912]

The cipher pata is the only melee weapon besides bare fist that you can use in a 0 equip load run. Technically the 0 weight seal also can melee enemies, but it has no range and far worse damage.

[@alyserse2876]

well could just use the seal to, you know, cast spells. But slapping works too

[@pc574]

If you use the dragon on the left hand and have status on the right, the dragon fire will push your status around like Fire deadly sin

[@Dragonology99]

Wasn’t this patched out?

[@pc574]

@@Dragonology99 It is possible in a recent patch. I have not used it in a while

[@AQuestCalledMusic]

Months ago I made my RL 125 "Pit Fighter" duelist. Using star fists with strength and infused with frost with a bit of int. The ash of war is barbaric cry for the charged heavy attack that also has hyper armor. Wear a highland axe on your hip (stacks with roar medallion) I also like to use the snake shield for the theme but it can be pretty good too. The cosplay is the duelist helmet, duelist chest piece (altered), perfumers sarong, and whatever arm armor you want. Talismans are the roar talisman for 15 percent damage increase to your heavy/charged attacks while under the effects of barb cry, the axe talisman to increase charge attacks. The other 2 are optional. It's low on defense and poise since it's a cosplay/themed gladiator kinda thing...so not meta (it does wreck people though) you should min max your endurance for a light roll. To play it you need to be aggressive. I'd usually start by making a trade using the hyper armor charged attack and almost all the time even against high poise monsters you will mess them up, cause a frost proc (hopefully) and cause them to usually panic roll, at that point immediately start sprint L1 spamming them and maybe a well timed jump heavy. If anyone tries my build I hope you have fun with it as much as I do. Praise the sun 🌞

[@ScumDogMF]

LET'S GO!!! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!

[@BarnabyWalters]

I got one-shot out of nowhere in a duel a while back by someone using an RKR star fist build. Seeing the damage numbers in this video explains how that happened!

[@Yoshi15550]

Using magic to offset their complete lack of range helps immensely. Plus, I've had a soft spot for the Caestus ever since DS2. Excellent video.

[@drakusmero104]

Im so annyed at myself that i just found Chrightt's videos because ive been bugging Fextralife like crazy trying to find out if the dual status nerf affected paired weapons. Thanks for the info and sorry im late

[@EinTheEin]

Lightning infusion with Cragblade on the Katar is fairly decent. I forget how much poise damage fist weapons gain but I believe it becomes around 83 poise damage while Cragblade is active.

[@achaoticprince5114]

You would deal more damage if it's keen infused when getting counter attack damage especially with the spear tasliman since the extra damage is only from the physical portion. I like using lightning infusions if I know im fighting in water or in a rainy zone as well as if my ash of war is good for damage since lightning infusions deal more damage with ashes than keen unless you get counterattack damage.

[@prins-henrik1530]

As a grafted dragon enjoyer (no seriously, it's part of my main setup), I think it's slightly underrated. In pvp: You get a ton of hyper armor really quickly, and the explosion has high damage. The fire it leaves behind barely does damage (~50 or so on an even fth/str split) so that portion's only real use is chip damage. It can also cause people to panic roll in the fire, but it's hard to capitalize on it. In pve: Very good against larger bosses, bc the enemy stands in more of the ground fire. It absolutely incinerated ulcerated tree spirits bc of thier fire weakness. Just remember that against most enemies, you want to be close to hit them with the explosion for the most damage, but the fires will stunlock no poise enemies, making it decent for groups. Additionally you're most likely using it with a slow weapon in the mainhand, so you can use the fist to hit more nimble enemies safely (dogs, Malenia, and the like)

[@prins-henrik1530]

I'm currently using it with magma wyrms sword in mainhand, and it sorta makes up for the curved swords slow attacks (2 fist attacks in the same time as one r1 approximately) Update: it also can frame trap if they roll late enough.

[@happydysonfan1009]

I did this with zweihabder it was so fun

[@ManOfLegs]

Thanks for the breakdown. Really well put together, really interesting to listen to. I'm fond of exclusive fist builds, so I run every fist weapon possible.

[@EmissaryOfSmeagol]

Something interesting about powerstancing: your moveset will be determined by the type of fist in your right hand: using R:Katar, L:Caestus gives you the 'piercing' moveset.

[@Mech-Badger-Man]

Just amazing, watched this video through now 4 times, each time by better knowledge of the game and new needs for me build means I can get more out of it.

[@solomon9655]

Fists are unironically some of the most fun I’ve had in ER. Which was surprising for me, considering I couldn’t stand them in previous games.

[@themonarchserupt4051]

love the vids, cant wait for collosal weapons i was playing some duels with a friend today and the golem halberd felt so good to play

[@mrgarneau4895]

The one thing that gets me with the fists is that the Spiked Caestus and Star Fist are better than the Caestus and the Iron Ball. You would think that adding Bleed would lower their AR for balance reasons, there's no point to use anything else for damage

[@Cazooka]

I believe Iron Ball staggers a lot more than Star Fist, which isn't being mentioned in the video but definitely plays a part.

[@DrunkedOwly]

I've been waiting for this, I am doing a fist weapons only run and this will be useful

[@thegoose8663]

Loving my Star Fist build. Endure, fully charged R2, endure, fully charged R2, endu- you get the point

[@_wallow_]

yessss been waiting for this

[@ReavenM1911A1]

I love your vids Chrightt. I can't wait for your Reaper video, I hope you talk about how they're the most neglected weapon type in the game by the devs and playerbase.

[@Anyone00TZ]

I like the spiked caestus: keep it raw, apply bloodflame blade, and ignore str & dex for faith.

[@johb3930]

It would have been cool if the veteran's prosthesis instead was leg armor that overwrote your right hand Skill with lightning kick.

[@kahn9980]

Good job with the awesome videos bro 🙂. I love your channel

[@Chrightt]

Thank you so much 😀

[@junkszy912]

No bare fist, truly maidenless behavior ther Chrightt.

[@okonkwojones]

Before I watch: I hope the katar ends up being ok. Annoying that it doesn’t let you equip its default ash just like flails

[@WeirdGameplay]

Katar also have higher crit, which isn't mentioned. Lifesteal Fist scales from crit. Katar would be my choice of fists if you are into oneshot cheese.

[@okonkwojones]

@@WeirdGameplay ooh, hadn’t noticed the crit bonus, ty, good redmane spam stance break opportunities. plus according to the stat chart in the video, it’s marked as doing pierce damage-and only pierce damage, which means full spear talisman value , especially because you have to close so deep to make contact, a good chance an opponent will be attacking and open to the counter damage. Doubly so for PvE, because damn, do most enemies just press the attack constantly. Also: I really hope they add a scissor katar that does bleed damage in the future. I know irl they’re not effective and were really just novelty souvenirs to sell to tourists/British army officers-but so many Elden Ring weapons are just ridiculously impractical, it’s really not a stretch.

[@WeirdGameplay]

​@@okonkwojones one thing to note here, is that biggest drawback for me is katar/pata moveset. It's completely different from rest of the fists and IMO for worse. Ofc it's personal opinion, you might get comfortable with it.

[@alexrussell4441]

Gonna be giga chad with them

[@WeirdGameplay]

I can add one interesting bit here: fists are incredibly good target for high-stat magic buffs (electric or magic). Because you do 2 fist hits in aerial light attack, you do total ~1.8x damage, unlike most weapons that do just close to 1x.

[@prins-henrik1530]

I though weapon buffs added a flat amount to attacks without factoring in motion values, so wouldn't weapons with faster attacks but weaker mv's be better for buffs? I don't know the mvs on fists though so you may be right.

[@WeirdGameplay]

@@prins-henrik1530 modifiers are generally not really visible - it's like x1.1 on heavy attack, x1.2-1.3 on charged heavy. Or sometimes less than 1 base damage on fast attacks, in case of fist hit - it's 0.92 for first hit of standing light combo. Yes, hitting fast weapons that do have full attack mod would be ideal - like thrusting swords. But you can't get buffs on both weapons if powerstanced. But fists are not powerstanced, they are paired. So both fists will get buff. And once 2h, fist and claw moveset is one of the fastest-hitting in the game. 2x Daggers > Claws > Punching Fists > Blade Fists. Both Punching Fists jumping light attack (double hit, simultaneously) and running light attack (double hit, but with spacing) are competitive PvP moves that can be followed into very fast first light attack (double hit). It's fun gamestyle, your 900-1k damage jump attacks are very fast and you can dodge as soon as you hit the ground. Not many moves trade positively into it, and you basically need 2 hits to finish the game.

[@jettisonantics]

Cestus had a combo with running heavy into standing heavy. Not to mention that the heavy attacks on it are way more stylish...

[@Jpgator1214]

Another messed up thing with fists, the venomous Fang (which is the only weapon that has inate poison that can be infused) can't use either of the poison ash or war.

[@okonkwojones]

The katar has impaling thrust as its default ash of war, but for some reason you can’t stick the real version of IT on it, so you can’t change its affinities. Which is makes me very sad

[@Galaka100]

You mention at the start that the status effect of fists and claws was nerfed by 1.07. I thought when you two-hand them (and thereby get two of them) they do not get the power status nerf because you are not technically powerstancing.

[@AnarchyIsLove]

could you imagine fists and claws having feint attacks like curved and thrusting swords? or mobile heavy attacks like the Iron Cleaver. Their short range makes the limited moveset pretty depressing and so easy to deal with, it leaves litte reason to choose a fist over anything else with even average reach

[@Coldkill2001]

The weapon art for the grafted dragon actually does really good damage if you catch an enemy in the upswing

[@Xadethor]

Great video, as usual. I would not say that the grafted dragon is that bad. I believe it is probably the best weapon super early game for clearing multiple basic enemies with its weapon art area of effect. People should give it more credit for its potential early game.

[@babyyodacamaro]

Perfect timing!!! I am making a Sett build from League of Legends

[@NVClay]

If godrick had grafted himself with great runebears maybe he’d actually be a contender

[@束昀]

yeah~~~fist+blue dancer charm in a row, I'm blessed. (spiked) caestus & blue dancer charm are two of my favorite items in Elden Ring and tried some builds focused around these two. I did find occult spiked caestus quite decent compared to its other affinity during my occult caestus+dragon communication build run, but didn't know it's that good (in most cases star fist is better than spiked caestus but I just like caestus more) anyway, thanks for these videos. love u

[@stormclaw2014]

Since I usually only play PVE , I have more freedom to play around and cosplay. Using the spiked caestus in my build based on Felix from Fire Emblem 3 Houses. The range is tough to get used to, but it's so fun to punch enemies

[@galloviking4766]

It would have been so amazing to have the Cipher Pata function as a seal.

[@PurpleSun8933]

10:25 especially when you can get occult ash for the fist weapon right at the begining of the game

[@rin-senpai7115]

7:01 Isn't Star Fist better than Katar even on the keen-infusion? You only recommended Katar but the Star Fist seems to have a higher AR. Iron Ball has also very comparable AR.

[@mr.sharpback5106]

Can you infuse any of them with ice? I haven’t played since 2 months after launch and can’t remember. Was also thinking of just a ice build once I get back on

[@Chrightt]

The "Regular" Section are all infusable with frost.

[@julienkleefeld4706]

impressive work.

[@sirrealism7300]

Weird build: play the warrior class and invest 3 int so you can afford "frozen armament" spell with the katars, you'll only get 70 frostbite buildup instead of 100, but you get to keep your keen infusion for max damage...

[@thedeadman4481]

Thanks I wanted to do a sort of Ozen the immovable build but I'm having trouble finding the fist weapons.

[@achaoticprince5114]

I don't agree that spiked fist is the best, it certainly is good but depending on if you are dueling or invading I think katar is a better dueling fist and can do fine in invasions, with your one shot set up the only reason star fists is better for that is they have a little more range with their jump attacks. With the katar using that same set up you can also one shot or with the spear talisman, raptor cloak, and claw attack talisman and using the ash of war crag blade catching someone with the jump attack heavy while they are attacking often one shots too. As for duels katar with the same set up or for poise using different armor for less jump attack damage (which is what I do) and using the ash of war barbaric roar makes for a very effective aggressive playstyle where you constantly try to get counterattack damage and bait people into jump and heavy attacks. They are better at this than the star fists because you deal significantly more damage when trading not to mention the running attacks for katar is just superior to the star fists in every way and is a good roll catch.

[@Chrightt]

I did already mention all your concerns. i.e. if you prefer the moveset or the length/pierce of katar, then yeah. Choosing Star Fist has nothing to do with one-shot build. You can run the same thing on Katar as well. I simply do not value the tiny bit of extra range as I think it doesn't change my play style nor do I think it heavily affects my hit rate. I

[@that1ragingbat]

Mmm yes, now to plan my “fist weapons only” challenge run because I’m bored and have no friends left

[@someguyusa]

Spiked Caestus beats Star Fist in style points both in terms of aesthetics and moveset having legit martial art stance punches.

[@exquisitedoomlapointe185]

I suspect katars with sacred blade and dual element does more holy damage than the pata, alternatively order's blade hits fairly hard too and frees you from having to use the cipher's ash of war. I don't have access to those spreadsheets sooo gonna keep guessin' i guess! Just trying to find an elemental alternative to piercing RKR, even though it may not hit as hard.

[@badtiming2208]

> Poise KICK > Uses HAND Wearing it on the leg (or at least kicking with the leg) would've been cool.

[@loganking6631]

Thank you for pronouncing Caestus correctly!

[@kenjikodai]

I tried the spiked caestus but the charged attack misses a lot as compared to iron balls/star fist which just decimate so hard

[@illahstrait]

I'm guessing the Winged Great Horn is bad just by the stat requirements leaning towards quality. I guess I will wait to see what Crightt has to say about the various unique and non unique Great axes.

[@ShuToshio]

if u two-hand the grafted dragon, your character will stuff his left hand along with his right into the puppet sock...

[@funkymachine]

0:57 They still haven't fixed this? In ds1 Moonlight butterfly horn said pierce despite being pure magic damage. It's super misleading

[@croppedcrit8812]

im doing a run using only the iron balls. kinda wanted to hear the summary of it. I know the spiked is better. but, I mean com on. You threw an X on them lol I guess I go off the spiked one, but know its lesser. so its str oriented, etc. I am wondering, are fist weapons good at breaking stance? kind find specific info on it, and im really dumb. anything helps.

[@CovenantLazzy]

If you put cragblade on it then yeah

[@DBelphegor]

One thing curious me is the comparison of caestus to starfist with blue dancer talisman.

[@TynSyun]

would you recommend any particular ash of war?

[@yarro7428]

Does lifesteal fist benefit from the katar's crit modifier?

[@DutchDeathGod]

Yes

[@DUES_EX]

They need to buff the star fist hitbox. So many bosses or big enemies fought with fists have a natural hitbox so big from their actual one that during a fight when under them you cannot even hit them! (Maliketh) is a good examplw

[@captainenot3185]

You actually can dual hand the dragon fists in the NG+.

[@AxelonIV]

Does the buff to lifesteal fist help for clinging bone usability?

[@Chrightt]

No because you can run lifesteal fist on another fist and it will do better if you just apply scholar's armament.

[@thebyk348]

Im a simple man. I see my boy Makunouchi, I click👌

[@jackjohnson6044]

Could you do a video about somber weapons with non-unique ashes of war? Iirc the carian regal scepter has the spinning weapon ash of war, but it is superior in range and damage over the regular counterpart. I've also read that the Miquellas holy rings aow on the Halo Scythe is better than the normal one, but I don't know in which way. I would like to know if these examples are true and if other generic aow on somber weapons have different properties over the standard version.

[@Bender_B._Rodriguez]

How would you build for a classic diablo 2 assassin trap build? I'm an og d2lod player and loved sin builds but I'm not sure what I would do to move forward with dual katars or claws. I've been hording these 2 items as much as possible for this idea. Traps don't exist in ER and while bloodhound step can sub for the telikick you don't get an attack with bhs and there's no teleport attack in ER. I actually liked to run in ogd2 zeal runeword on a katar so I could actually get max attack speed over any other class

[@qaw392]

So, what infusion best for RKR starfist on 66str, 48 dex, 70 int, 50 faith and 27 arcane?

[@spaceman4286]

Grafted dragon offhand with the sleep halberd?

[@mouaz670]

Just curious, I’ve always wondered why does your gameplay clips looks so stretched out to the sides?

[@Chrightt]

I'm on widescreen settings (more like squished screen due to my laptop) and the game doesn't let me change it to fit the KZbin screen :\

[@Zeonis]

Fist weapons are my favorite

[@davidkelvon7936]

The Grafted Dragon can however be power stanced.

[@Spike2276]

Storm *KICK* > uses on hands Why Miyazaki?

[@ghoulbuster1]

AHHH ATATATATATATATATATA WATTAAAA!

[@552porotogym]

Best comment here

[@axelmartinez2413]

Can you talk about Cragblade ashes of war

[@Chrightt]

I have full number of what cragblade does in my 1.08 update video!

[@axelmartinez2413]

@@Chrightt thanks for the update, in my opinion I like the spiked Caestus but it's difficult when you can barely break the enemy's poise

[@bignugget8961]

What starting class

[@Bloodsaber64]

can anyone verify whether 2handing fist weapons provide hyper armor? not passive poise, hyper armor

[@timbillins1848]

Wheres the venemous fang???

[@Chrightt]

that's a claw, mate.

[@jaydowns1773]

I wish there was a seal with decent physical

[@iruamak8225]

First off , dope Hajime no ippo 🫀

[@AtraxaApologist]

I want an unarmed ring like DS2s so bad

[@pockystyx4087]

i feel like upping the poise break, and attacking poise on fist weapons would go a long way to fix their current shortcomings. Iy is also frustrating that their selection of ashes of war are so poor.

[@BeetleSkyGames]

Makunouchi!!

[@kronlund420]

i like prosthesis

[@shigasaki3853]

Come on make the scythe Video plz

[@Chrightt]

Will do!

[@asherroodcreel640]

@@Chrightt how about you say no I'm busy eating ice cream, my nabor owns a parlor and he accidentally sent his order to the rong house and now you gotta finish eating it before he comes back in the three to six months.

[@asherroodcreel640]

@@Chrightt And then you could just ignore your only hope of getting out of your dead end job to do something you love for a while and lose like a thred of your audience.

[@hughmongus6959]

@@asherroodcreel640 bro are you drunk

[@asherroodcreel640]

@@hughmongus6959 no . . . The tribunal forbid me alcohol after the 3rd American civil war :(

[@Ausar_The_Vile1]

Hajime no Ippo is a fucking goated anime!

[@marcpolain5549]

You say quality always sucks at meta levels. I cheesed the elden the beast using two quality banish knight swords on NG++, lvl 150, just spammed jump attacks. Literally only jump attacks. STR 55 DEX 55.

[@Chrightt]

This doesn't change the fact that they suck. Using the same amount of stat points for either heavy or keen distribution would've given you more damage.

[@d.z.6669]

BONE FIST from Dark Souls 2 was too much ahead of souls time :(

[@thecalamity7611]

Still nothing on the bone fists. RIP fists from ds2, you will be missed

[@luizkotlewski3749]

Dempsey roll the shit out of Malenia.

[@Tackitt]

But the star fist is #1 ugly, and that makes it nearly unusable.

[@leadfaun]

Shields next? Lmao.

[@scootsevan]

howdy

[@HalcyonEX]

Leesssgggooo

[@verybrownsalmon]

300 bucks

[@tbhUSuckOo]

the only true fist weapon is the bone fist

[@Sadvillain22]

Only one worth using