In Elden Ring Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC, Tarnished can finally use martial arts to fight enemies, as two new Hand-to-Hand style weapons have been added - Dryleaf Arts and Dane’s Footwork. This is excellent news for players who like to use Monk, because with the blessing of these two weapons, Monk Class will be more lethal.
But before getting these two powerful weapons, you need to go through some challenges and tasks first. These tasks and challenges are not too difficult, and you can explore them on your own, but if you follow this guide, I believe you will get Dryleaf Arts and Dane’s Footwork more easily. Additionally, this guide will show you the best builds for Dryleaf Arts and Dane’s Footwork.
How To Get Dryleaf Arts?
When you enter the DLC, you will find yourself in Scadu Altus region, which is very convenient. What you need to do now is to find and go to Highroad Cross Site of Grace in Scadu Altus region, where you will find a sign that says May the Best Win, and a note called Monk’s Missive.
These two messages will lead you east to Moorth Ruins, and after arriving at Moorth Ruins Site of Grace, you will find a boss you need to fight - Dryleaf Dane.
You can use May the Best Win sign you just picked up when fighting it, and it will use martial arts and Holy magic on you. At this time, be careful of its Palm Blast skill, because it will kill you immediately if you are not careful. After you defeat it with high calmness and flexible mobility, you will get Dryleaf Arts and Dane’s Hat dropped from its body.
How To Get Dane’s Footwork?
Unlike Dryleaf Arts, Dane’s Footwork is available only after you’ve completed most of Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, as it can only be found in the penultimate boss fight of the entire DLC.
In this fight, you’ll face Miquella’s Followers, mainly Needle Knight Leda and Dryleaf Dane, who you’ve already fought before. Other bosses will appear after you’ve completed a quest or reached a certain level of progress. Besides picking up Dane’s Footwork in this fight against both bosses, you can also take their gear and numerous Elden Ring Runes directly after they’ve been defeated.
The skills and damage types used by Dryleaf Dane in this fight are similar to the previous one, except that the previous Dryleaf Arts are replaced by Dane’s Footwork, which is not important. What needs to be noted here is Needle Knight Leda’s Needle Piercer skill, which is likely to cause unexpected damage to you when you’re not prepared.
If you feel you’re having a hard time in this fight, you can use Pureblood Knight Ansbach’s summons to help you so you don’t get overwhelmed by the sheer number of NPCs you have to fight.
Dryleaf Arts Build
The biggest advantage of these Hand-to-Hand weapons is that you can put them in your off-hand, since you can switch them to two-handed moves in certain situations anyway, so they can be put in any build.
For Dryleaf Arts, which build you want to put it in depends entirely on the build you are running. For example, if you are currently running a build centered on Flame, injecting Flame Arts into it will increase Fire damage and Faith scaling. Similarly, injecting it into a build centered on Magic will increase Magic damage and Intelligence scaling.
In addition to this, you can also increase the base damage of Dryleaf Arts, since most of the damage of this weapon comes from Palm Blast. Here, you can use Shard of Alexander to increase the damage of Palm Blast by 15%, or use Godfrey Icon to increase the damage of Palm Blast by 15% when charging.
When using this skill, Tarnished will gain an outstanding balance, allowing it to withstand attacks while charging. For Talismans, Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman helps you take less physical damage while charging, while Two-Headed Turtle Talisman helps you regenerate faster, allowing you to unleash more Palm Blasts in combat.
Dane’s Footwork Build
While both Hand-to-Hand weapons are excellent in terms of stat stacking, Dane’s Footwork is a bit better given its Ash of War Dryleaf Whirlwind. It strikes four times in quick succession while also increasing kick damage. This weapon is a great addition to any combo build, especially those using Arcane.
As mentioned above, Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman increases your own physical damage cancellation, and equipped with Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, it increases all your attacks by 13% when you get max stacks.
Alternatively, you can use the new Elden Ring Item in the DLC, the Shattered Stone Talisman, which increases the effectiveness of all kick attacks by an additional 10%. Combined with your newfound martial arts skills, enjoy punching and kicking in Shadow of the Erdtree.
That’s all you need to know when using these two powerful Hand-to-Hand weapons in Shadow of the Erdtree. I hope you have fun playing this DLC. If you have better ideas for the build of these two weapons, you are welcome to express your opinions in IGGM Discord. You may also get some runes as rewards.
