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Poise is a Stat in Dark Souls.
It's an in-game statistic that increases your resistance to being staggered or stun-locked as an effect of taking hits from opponents.
- Staggered: an enemy's attack interrupts your action. High poise will allow you to perform an action to completion despite being hit by enemies in their course (example: swinging a slow weapon, or casting spells).
- Stun-locked: an enemy's attacks causes you to temporarily be paralyzed, leaving you vulnerable to consecutive hits. Poise will allow you to soak up heavier hits and increase the number of consecutive hits you can take before getting stun-locked.
How it works
- Poise is a passive trait that is raised by wearing armor that gives you poise, equiping the Wolf Ring, casting Iron Flesh and/or using the Havel's Greatshield stoneskin buff. Note, however, that both Iron Flesh and the stoneskin buff are personal buffs and cannot be used concurrently.
- Poise works, in essence, as the maximum value of an invisible "poise bar". Whenever you're hit by an attack, that attack/weapon has an invisible "poise damage" value, which decreases your poise bar by that amount. Consecutively receiving attacks will continue to decrease the bar further. When it hits 0, your character will stagger.
- After 5 second of not being hit, Poise will instantly refill to max for you or the enemy. Wearing armor will reduce the timer to 3.4 second.
Where to view Poise
- You can view your Poise on the Character Stats screen, and is located on the far right.
- Also viewing the stats of armor by pressing Square(PS), or X(Xbox) will show how much Poise that specific item will give you.
Poise in PvE and PvP
Poise in PvP
- In PvP, poise is important to engage in trades without being ripped out of the offensive by the stun animation. This applies to trading with attacks or trading an opponent's attack with a backstab.
- The most important breakpoints are 32 to take all the quickest attacks, 53 or 56 to take one of all the most dangerous attacks (except for Black Flame) and 61 to take 2x an attack which deals 30 poise Damage.
- Optimal Breakpoints are highly dependent on what build one is fighting. As an example, there is no immediate reason to use 61 poise against a Quality build (Strength and Dexterity), which may use a Murakumo or a Claymore, 53 poise would take a single two-handed light attack of each. However those builds are capable of swapping to a Katana, Spear or Curved Sword, against which 61 poise would give a significant advantage, and having invested into getting 53 instead of 32 poise will instead be a disadvantage.
Poise in PvE
- In PvE, poise is also important against tank enemies that hit hard. Which usually wear heavy equipment and move slow.
- Creatures' hits tend to do:
- 5, 10 poise damage for weak enemies (Hollow Undead);
- 20, 30, 35 for normal enemies (Silver Knight)
- 45, 50 for stronger enemies or Bosses (Black Knight, Gargoyle, Gwyn, Artorias, Manus).
- 60 is considered the normally max damage by very big enemies preDLC (BoC, Bk strong attacks)
- Mimic's Kicks do 100
- 120 is the maximum poise damage sustainable given in one hit by enemies (Guardian Axe Earthshake).
- Kalameet does 300 poise damage, it will always stagger you.
Staggered
- Becoming staggered is a very serious situation, and can become very difficult when surrounded by numerous enemies.
- Being staggered means that you will not be able to control your character after taking a heavy blow from an opponent.
- It should also be important to remember that two handing a single weapon increases the poise break damage and can be used to stagger opponents unexpectable.
- Note that some attacks cause instant staggering, and is not dependent on your Poise count.
Poise Break Points
It has been found that certain weapon classes will stun people at very specific poise amounts. For example Ultra Greatswords , when used 2 handed, will stun anyone at 75 poise or less. So a poise of 76 will prevent you being stunlocked by a hit from an UGS. However these values will only save you from 1 hit. If you are hit again before your "poise bar" empties completely you will be stunned.
Each time a hit is taken, poise will reduce and remain briefly frozen at the latest value (it does not regenerate steadily like stamina). This means that if a player with 53 poise gets hit by an attack that drains 20 poise, the player will then have exactly 33 poise for the next few seconds. A hidden timer is triggered with each hit that is taken, and if it completes before another hit is taken, poise will instantly refill back to 100%.
The amount of poise needed to resist an R1/RB attack:
| Weapons | 1-handed | 2-handed | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broken Sword | 1.01 | 1.51 | Multipliers are the same for most weapons |
| Ultra Greatswords | 51 | 76 | |
| Great Hammers | 51 | 76 | |
| Great Axes | 51 | 76 | 2h Black knight great axe: 61, 1h: 41 |
| Greatswords | 36 | 53 | 1h running attack: 41, 2h: 56 Claymore 1h R2: 42 |
| Curved Greatswords | 36 | 53 | |
| Hammers/Axes | 36 | 53 | |
| Straight swords | 21 | 31 | |
| Curved Swords | 21 | 31 | |
| Katanas | 21 | 31 | 1h running attack: 22, 2h: 32 |
| Spears | 21 | 31 | |
| Halberds | 21 | 31 | 2h Black knight halberd 46, 1h: 31 |
| Whips | 21 | 31 | |
| Fist weapons | 21 | - | |
| Piercing swords | 6 | 8 | |
| Daggers | 6 | 8 | |
| Bolts/Arrows | 21 | ||
| Spells: | |||
| Great Fireball | 81 | ||
| Heavy Soul Arror/Spear |
81 | ||
| Black Flame | 61 | ||
| Great Combustion | 41 | ||
| Wrath of the Gods | 21 | Always stuns, less than 21 poise gets you knocked down | |
| Dark Bead | 15 x hit | Max 105 | |
| Homing Spell | 15 x hit | Max 75 | |
| Sunlight Spear Gravelord Greatdance Chaos Firestorm |
∞/120 x hit | Funny how the attacks that deal more poise damage are the one representing Gwyn, Izalith and Nito (and Dragon Weapons 2hR2) |
Enemies Poise
If something is not present, they have 0 or infinite Poise health
Undeads, Skeletons, Balder Knight, Frog, Basilisk, Rat, Dog, Bloatheads, Demonic Foliage 0
Crow Demon 30
Man-Eater Shell 30
Channeler 45
Giant Skeleton 45
Great Feline 45
Minor Capra Demon 45
Serpent Soldier 45
Silver Knight 45
Darkwraith 65
Drake 65
Mimic 65
Skeleton Beast 65
Black Knight 80
Chained Prisoner 80 (it wont get staggered by light hitstun) timer 4 sec
Sentinel 80
Chaos Eater 90
Lesser Sanctuary Guardian 90
Andre of Astora 100
Butcher 100
Giant Undead Rat 100
Minor Taurus Demon 100
Vamos 100
Infested Barbarian 110
Bone Tower 120
Crystal Golem 120
Mushroom Parent 120
Golden Crystal Golem 130
Heavy Knight 130
Sentinel (Royal) 130
Mass of Souls 140
Giant Stone Knight 200
Titanite Demon 200
Stone Guardian 200
Bosses Poise
Centipede Demon Arm 60
Centipede Demon Tail 60
Bell Gargoyles 80
Ornstein (regular only) 90
Sanctuary Guardian 90
Gwyn 100
Gwyndolin 100
Pinwheel 100
Capra Demon 110
Smough 110
Super Smough 110
Taurus Demon 120
Knight Artorias 130/90 when buffing, timer 2 second
Iron Golem 16% hp and 8% when trembling within 10 second
Crossbreed Priscilla 60 when invisible / ∞
AnonymousFast rolling is overrated. Real men use mid rolls, heavy armor, shields, and proper spacing to defeat their enemies.
- Anonymous
Got problems with the game? I got the Cure because Poise don't cry...
- Anonymous
Going PVP without poise is like going boxing without arms. Fun but you rarely win
- Anonymous
There's few things more glorious to see than having so much poise that you can face-tank a backflip slam from Artorias while casually sipping your flask without even flinching or being fazed by it in the slightest
- Anonymous
Playing through Dark Souls 3 (Aka: Roll+R1 Spam 3) Really makes me miss this so much, Infact it makes me miss playing this game in general.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Me and Artorias just wailed on each other and I tanked through everything basically uninterrupted while attacking and chugging potions until he died. Giants Armor, Havels Shield, Grant and Wolf Ring. God bless poise.
- Anonymous
halberds 31 poise damage?, then why i get stunlocked with great scythe from the first blow?, i have full elite armour
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Being naked with your **** out in Ds1 still gives you better poise than ds3 equipping the heaviest set in the game.
- Anonymous
Ah, the good old days, back when armor hadn't yet been nerfed into uselessness and tank builds were actually viable in late-game PvE, because the games weren't designed solely and entirely around "memorize when to press the dodge roll button."
- Anonymous
Hot take but if Dark Souls ever gets remade, I'd love poise to be nerfed a bit. Still passive, but the numbers on each armor set should be dialed down a bit. It's just too OP otherwise
- Anonymous
One of the coolest mechanics in the game. & a precursor to posture!
- Anonymous
Okay let me correct you. 68 poise will allow you to take at most 1, 2h ultra greatsword swing and roll away. I know this from actual in game experience. I fight a lot of cheap Havel monsters using zweihanders. They get frustrated when they aren’t able stun lock an almost naked man with giants gauntlets and a wolf ring.
- Anonymous
One of the most amazing mechanics in this game. More Poise usually means more armor, more armor means more weight.
PVP wise, I'd say you should definitely have some Poise, you should kind of learn by heart the poise breaks for each weapon and attacks, and how much you can withstand (and learn to roughly calculate, your rivals poise); probably to begin with you should try around 27, 30, 32 Poise, no more than that until you become a little better. The problem with Poise in PVP is that having a lot prevents you from learning Toggle Escape (you just poise through attack without ever really needing to use the Toggle). In any case the objective shouldn't be "not poise at all" (because you need some poise to deal with gankers and certain weapons, and you can't get into stun every time someone slash you with a dagger) but kind of low, lets say 20 (lets you resist an attack and practice a lot of Toggle), when you are comfortable with 20 poise then you can do anything.
In any case you should always have a Wolf ring ready for a hard swap (and even pieces of armor)
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Here are the Poise points you should always build around.
8: Bare bones minimum or you'll be staggered by thorn rolls and stunlocked by fast weapons like Daggers. Only glass cannons should even consider this.
33-36: Lowest Poise a melee character can survive well with. Very serviceable for ranged builds and heavy casters.
53-56: fantastic Poise for melee and casters alike. Always try to get at least this if you can.
61-62: Ideal Poise for melee. Protects well against the worst of dangers.
77+: Protects against almost everything at least once. Ultimate choice for tank builds, but you normally don't need that much.
- Anonymous
This is wrong you only need 60 poise to withstand the BKGA 2h R1.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I don't see it here, but I noticed, that increasing your Poise decreases the ammount of Stamina it takes to block an attack. With sufficient Poise, I was able to block Crystal Archer's arrows without ANY Stamina cost.
- Anonymous
I know meta heads love it but I think it’s so sad that the developers designed the entire poise system then let toggle escape exist. It originated in demons souls when there was no poise so there’s no way it was unintentional for dark souls. It’s like they made the rules but were too afraid to follow through with it so rather than have a player be stunlocked when they fail to avoid a super slow ultra weapon they can just escape anyway with no poise rules needed. It’s a sorry excuse of a mechanic and it cheats their own system in the game, even when I use it myself it feels out of place. Keep in mind I’m not blaming players ... you should absolutely use what’s available in game to your advantage if you wish. I just believe it’s the most pathetic thing from implemented and you may not agree with this but the fact that it comes across as a glitch is, to me, just proof that they tried to hide it in shame after putting in the work needed to design the poise system.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Paladin set, but giants gauntlets. The perfect 61 poise. Add claymore and Grass crest with FAP and hornet on a pure quality build and you have. Exceptional SL 125 pvp build
- Anonymous
is this mean that 53 poise will endure Great Curved Sword 2H? or do i need 54?
- Anonymous
Is there any relation between poise and hitting through a wall instead that the weapon will bounce off? If not is there a list that show which weapon slice through walls and which not?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Someone told me once that if your poise was high enough in Dark Souls 1 only, you could negate the ability for you to be parried.
I don't see anything listed here saying that.
So is it true, or is the guy a dip?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Casted iron flesh with full havel+boar helm and wolf ring. Couldn't tank a silver knight arrow
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