Elden Ring DLC: How to get hand-to-hand martial arts in Shadow of the Erdtree
Here’s how to get the Elden Ring DLC’s new Hand-to-Hand martial arts weapon.
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On top of numerous additions to existing classes, theElden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLCadds eight new weapon types to the award-winning open world ARPG. Of these, some that are particularly interesting are the Hand-to-Hand weapons, as these essentially transform your Tarnished into a skilled martial artist. I didn’t use them much before I wrotemy review of the expansion, but I’ve been testing them out since then, and so far they’ve been solidly strong and — more importantly — veryfun to build around. Who needs swords or spells when you can kick and palm strike a boss to death?
Beforeyoucan get your Kung Fu Souls on, though, you’ll need to progress past the DLC’s starting area and complete a short NPC quest. In the guide below, I go over everything you need to know about this process so you can get your first Hand-to-Hand weapon.
Elden Ring DLC: How to get the Dryleaf Arts weapon
There are two different options for Hand-to-Hand in theElden RingDLC, but the earliest one you can get is the Dryleaf Arts weapon. Here’s how to obtain it:
Get the Monk’s Missive
First, you’ll need to pick up the Monk’s Missive, which is located by a Miquella’s Cross at the Highroad Cross Site of Grace in southern Scadu Altus(the large central region in the Land of Shadow). There are two ways to get to this area and this Site of Grace, which I’ll explain below:
The Monk’s Missive is one of the rare purple items located here(the other is aScadutree Fragment).Picking it up will also give you the “May the Best Win” gesture— you’ll need this shortly — and if you read the note in your inventory, you’ll see thatit’s from a monk who wants to challenge you to the east.
How to fight Dryleaf Dane
Hop back on Torrent and head east and you’ll find the NPC monk Dryleaf Dane — one of Miquella’s followers — next to another Miquella’s Cross and the Moorth Ruins Site of Grace(you likely saw these already if you came to Scadu Altus the secret way). He’s who you’re looking for.
-Elden Ring DLC review-How to start the DLC-Scadutree Fragment locations-Revered Spirit Ash locations-Best Elden Ring builds-All Smithing Stone locations
Dane won’t speak to you, so you can’t initiate your duel with him that way. However,he’ll fight you if you perform the “May the Best Win” gesture in front of him. Doing this will transport you to a battle;note that he deals lots of damage per hit, but has low Poise due to the fact he’s wearing light clothing. In my experience, I’ve found thatthe best way to beat him is to use a large weapon that has superior range.
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If you win the duel, you’ll be teleported back to the Moorth Ruins Site of Grace, where you’ll find the Dryleaf Arts weapon, the Dane’s Hat armor piece, and another note from Dane himself. With that done, you now have your first Hand-to-Hand weapon. Though it scales entirely with Strength and Dexterity as is, you can tailor it to fit any of thebest Elden Ring buildsyou’re using thanks to the fact it’s infusable.
The Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is finally here, and it makes one of thebest Xbox gamesandbest PC gamesof all time even better. It’s out now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and Windows PC for $39.99.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree |$34.89 at CDKeys (Xbox)
Shadow of the Erdtree is Elden Ring at its most refined, with the base game’s overly formulaic elements cut away and some of FromSoftware’s best boss fights. The result is a 40-hour-long masterpiece of a DLC that’s an absolute must-play for any Soulsborne fan.
Also see:Shadow of the Erdtree (PC, $37.09)|Deluxe Edition (PC, $90.89)
Collector’s Edition:Bandai Namco Store (€249.99)
Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
