Poise

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General Information

Poise is a value that determines a character's resistance to being stunned. All characters, including enemies, have Poise. Being hit will briefly drain the player's poise value, and if drained to 0, the character will become stunned. Having more than 0 poise after taking a hit is required to avoid getting stunned, outside of a few specific instances.

Poise Regeneration

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%.

For player characters, the timer takes a little over 3-5 seconds to reset1. For most enemies, the timer is set to exactly 5 seconds.

Poise Safe Points

At these points, you can poise through a specific attack.
Poise Weapon and attack type
81 Great Fireball
76 Ultra Greatswords 2h R1
Greataxes 2h R1
Great Hammers 2h R1
61 Black Flame
Katanas, Straight Swords, Spears 2h x2
Katanas, Straight Swords, Spears 1h x3
60 Black Knight Greataxe 2h
56 Curved Greatswords, Greatswords, Hammers, Axes running 2h r1
53 Curved Greatswords 2h R1
Greatswords 2h R1
Hammers 2h R1
Axes 2h R1
51 Ultra Greatswords 1h R1
Greataxes 1h R1
Great Hammers 1h R1
41 Great Combustion
Katanas, Straight Swords, Spears 1h x2
Dragon Bone Fist R2
40 Black Knight Greataxe 1h
36 Curved Greatswords 1h R1
Greatswords 1h R1
Hammers 1h R1
Axes 1h R1
32 Katana running 2h R1
31 Curved Swords 2h R1 (and R2 in the case of the Shotel)
Straight Swords 2h R1
Katana 2h R1s
Great Scythe/Lifehunt Scythe 2h R1/R2
halberds except Black Knight Halberd 2h R1
Whip 2h R1
spears 2h R1
Claw, Caestus, Dragon Bone Fist jumping attack
26 Dark Sword, 1h R2
24 Claw, Caestus R2
Caestus R2 followup
Caestus Left hand attack
23 Claw, Caestus, Dragon Bone Fist Running
Claw, Dragon Bone Fist, Dark Hand Left hand attack
Straight Swords running 1h R1
Katana running 1h R1
Great Scythe/Lifehunt Scythe running 1h R1
Whip running 1h R1
Spears running 1h R1
21 Curved Swords 1h R1
Straight Swords 1h R1
Katana 1h R1s
Great Scythe/Lifehunt Scythe 1h R1
Whip 1h R1
Spears 1h R1
Halberd 1h R1
Claw, Caestus, Dragon Bone Fist R1
Claw, Caestus, Dragon Bone Fist
Dark Hand R2 (if not grabbing)
16 Dragonform Bare Fist Running
Dragonform Bare Fist R2
11 Dragonform Bare Fist R1
Dragonform Bare Fist roll attack
Dragonform Bare Fist jumping attack
Dragonform Bare Fist Left hand attack
Dragonform Breath
8 Thrusting Sword 2h R1
Dagger 2h R1
6 Thrusting Sword 1h R1
Dagger 1h R1
able to walk in chaos lava

Poise Drain Values

Different weapons drain varying amounts of Poise, and it is completely independent of damage. The following tables show the amount of Poise drained for each weapon and attack type.

Note: When certain columns like "Rolling" or "L1/L2" are omitted below, they are identical to those weapons' R1 attacks. When "Kick" is omitted, it drains 0 poise from standard enemies but inflicts a guaranteed stagger on player characters.

Axes

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Kick
Battle Axe 35 / 52.5 42 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5 35
Butcher Knife 35 / 52.5 35 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5 35
Crescent Axe 35 / 52.5 42 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5 35
Gargoyle Tail Axe 35 / 52.5 35 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5 35
Golem Axe 35 / 52.5 105 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5 35
Hand Axe 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30 20
  • Kicks are regular kicks, on NPCs/Players they lead to a guaranteed stun, these just also deal poise damage. This can break and reset poise, no special animation is played for that however.

Chained Attacks:

  • The Butcher Knife has a chained two-handed R2 attack, where the second R2 drains 70 poise instead of 52.5.

Curved Greatswords

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Gravelord Sword 35 / 52.5 52.5 / 70 38.5 / 56 52.5 / 52.5
Murakumo 35 / 52.5 52.5 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 52.5 / 52.5
Server 35 / 52.5 52.5 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 52.5 / 52.5

Curved Swords

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Kick
Falchion 20 / 30 10 per hit 22 / 32 30 / 30 20
Gold Tracer 20 / 30 10 per hit 22 / 32 30 / 30 20
Jagged Ghost Blade 20 / 30 10 per hit 22 / 32 30 / 30 20
Painting Guardian Sword 20 / 30 10 per hit 22 / 32 30 / 30 20
Quelaag's Fury Sword 20 / 30 20 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30 20
Scimitar 20 / 30 10 per hit 22 / 32 30 / 30 20
Shotel 20 / 30 20 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30 20

Chained Attacks:

  • The Falchion and Scimitar have a chained R2 attack where the second R2 does 20 (1-handed) or 30 (2-handed) poise damage.
  • The Jagged Ghost Blade has a chained R2 attack where the second R2 drains 5 per hit (both 1-handed or 2-handed).

Daggers

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Bandit's Knife 5 / 7.5 6 / 5 5.5 / 8 5 / 7.5
Dagger 5 / 7.5 6 / 7.5 5.5 / 8 5 / 7.5
Dark Silver Tracer 5 / 7.5 10 / 12.5 5.5 / 8 5 / 7.5
Ghost Blade 5 / 7.5 5 per hit 5.5 / 8 5 / 7.5
Parrying Dagger 5 / 7.5 6 / 7.5 5.5 / 8 5 / 7.5
Priscilla's Dagger 5 / 7.5 5 per hit 5.5 / 8 5 / 7.5

Fist

Weapon R1 R2 Backstep Jumping L1
Bare Handed 5 6 5.5 7.5 3.5
Dragon Transformed 10 15 15 10 10
Caestus 20 24 22 30 14
Claw 20 24 22 30 24
Dark Hand 20 20 22 30 -
Dragon Bone Fist 20 40 22 30 14

Greataxes

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
L2
Black Knight Greataxe 40 / 60 60 / 75 55 / 80 75 / 75 50
Demon's Greataxe 50 / 75 60 / 75 55 / 80 75 / 75 50
Dragon King Greataxe 50 / 75 60 / 100 + 50 55 / 80 75 / 75 50
Greataxe 50 / 75 60 / 75 55 / 80 75 / 75 50
Stone Greataxe 50 / 75 60 / 75 55 / 80 75 / 75 50
  • The Dragon King Greataxe's two-handed R2 drains 100 poise with its AoE attack, and another 50 if the axe directly hits the enemy, for a combined total of 150 poise damage.
  • The second stage of the Stone Greataxe's two-handed R2 chain attack drains the same amount of poise as the first attack, 75.

Great Hammers

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Demon's Great Hammer 50 / 75 60 / 75 60 / 85 75 / 75
Dragon Tooth 50 / 75 60 / 75 60 / 85 75 / 75
Grant 50 / 75 60 / 100 60 / 85 75 / 75
Great Club 50 / 75 50 / 75 60 / 85 75 / 75
Large Club 50 / 75 50 / 75 60 / 85 75 / 75
Smough's Hammer 50 / 75 75 / 100 60 / 85 75 / 75

Chained Attacks:

  • The Large Club has a chained 1H R2 attack, where the second R2 drains 75 poise.

Note: The 2-handed rolling attacks actually trigger a guaranteed stun as well as draining Poise.

Greatswords

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Abyss Greatsword 35 / 52.5 38.5 / 63 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Bastard Sword 35 / 52.5 52.5 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Black Knight Sword 35 / 52.5 45.5 / 63 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Claymore 35 / 52.5 42 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Crystal Greatsword 35 / 52.5 52.5 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Flamberge 35 / 52.5 35 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Great Lord Greatsword 35 / 52.5 45.5 / 63 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Greatsword of Artorias 35 / 52.5 45.5 / 63 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Greatsword of Artorias (Cursed) 35 / 52.5 45.5 / 63 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Man Serpent Greatsword 35 / 52.5 52.5 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Moonlight Greatsword 35 / 52.5 35 / 35, 52.5 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Obsidian Greatsword 35 / 52.5 52.5 / 35, 70 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
Stone Greatsword 35 / 52.5 70 / - 38.5 / 56 35 / 52.5
  • The Moonlight Greatsword's 1H R2 projectile attack drains 35 poise. The blade itself does not deal any poise damage if it hits the enemy directly.
  • The Moonlight Greatsword's 2H R2 projectile attack drains 52.5 poise. The blade itself will drain an additional 35 poise if it hits the enemy directly.
  • The Obsidian Greatsword's 2H R2 AoE attack drains 70 poise. The blade itself will drain an additional 35 poise if it hits the enemy directly.

Halberds

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Black Knight Halberd 30 / 45 45 / 75 33 / 48 30 / 45
Gargoyle's Halberd 20 / 30 20 / 30 per hit 22 / 32 20 / 30
Giant's Halberd 20 / 30 30 / 50 22 / 32 20 / 30
Great Scythe 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30
Halberd 20 / 30 20 / 30 per hit 22 / 32 20 / 30
Lifehunt Scythe 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30
Lucerne 20 / 30 20 / 30 per hit 22 / 32 20 / 30
Scythe 20 / 30 20 / 30 per hit 22 / 32 20 / 30
Titanite Catch Pole 20 / 30 30 / 50 22 / 32 (R2)

Hammers

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Blacksmith Giant Hammer 35 / 52.5 52.5 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 (R2)
Blacksmith Hammer 35 / 52.5 42 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 52.5 / 52.5
Club 20 / 30 30 / 30 22 / 32 (R2)
Hammer of Vamos 35 / 52.5 42 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 52.5 / 52.5
Mace 35 / 52.5 42 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 52.5 / 52.5
Morning Star 35 / 52.5 42 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 52.5 / 52.5
Pickaxe 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30
Reinforced Club 35 / 52.5 52.5 / 52.5 38.5 / 56 (R2)
Warpick 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30

Chained Attacks:

  • The Club, Pickaxe, and Warpick have a chained one-handed jumping attack, where the second R2 drains 24 poise instead of 30.
  • The Blacksmith Giant Hammer, Blacksmith Hammer, Hammer of Vamos, Mace, Morning Star, and Reinforced Club have a chained one-handed jumping attack, where the second R2 drains 42 poise instead of 52.5.

Katanas

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Kick
Chaos Blade 20 / 30 24 / 40 22 / 32 30 / 30 20
Iaito 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30 20
Uchigatana 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30 20
Washing Pole 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30 20
  • Kicks are regular kicks, on NPCs/Players they lead to a guaranteed stun, these just also deal poise damage. This can break and reset poise, no special animation is played for that however.

Spears

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Channeler's Trident 20 / 30 20+10+10 / - 22 / 32 30 / 30
Demon's Spear 20 / 30 20 / 20 22 / 32 30 / 30
Dragonslayer Spear 20 / 30 20 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30
Four-Pronged Plow 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30
Moonlight Butterfly Horn 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30
Partizan 20 / 30 20 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30
Pike 20 / 30 20 / 30 20 per hit / 30 per hit 30 / 30
Silver Knight Spear 20 / 30 20 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30
Spear 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30
Winged Spear 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 30 / 30
  • The Dragonslayer Spear's 1H R2 projectile attack does not drain poise. The spear must connect to its target to drain 20 poise.
  • The Dragonslayer Spear's 2H R2 has a chained attack, where the second R2 drains 50 poise.

Straight Swords

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Astora's Straight Sword 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
Balder Side Sword 20 / 30 22 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
Barbed Straight Sword 20 / 30 20 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
Broad Sword 20 / 30 20 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
Broken Straight Sword 1 / 1.5 1.2 / 1.5 1.1 / 1.6 1 / 1.5
Crystal Straight Sword 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
Dark Sword 20 / 30 26 / 36 22 / 32 20 / 30
Drake Sword 20 / 30 20 / 20, 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
Longsword 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
Shortsword 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
Silver Knight Straight Sword 20 / 30 26 / 36 22 / 32 20 / 30
Straight Sword Hilt 1 / 1.5 1 / 1.5 1.1 / 1.6 1 / 1.5
Sunlight Straight Sword 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
  • The Drake Sword's projectile 2H R2 attack drains 30 poise by itself. The sword impacting the enemy directly drains 20 in addition.

Thrusting Swords

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Kick
1H / 2H
Estoc 5 / 7.5 5 / 7.5 5.5 per hit / 8 per hit 7.5 / 7.5 5 / 7.5
Mail Breaker 5 / 7.5 10 / 15 5.5 per hit / 8 per hit 7.5 / 7.5 5 / 7.5
Rapier 5 / 7.5 10 / 15 5.5 per hit / 8 per hit 7.5 / 7.5 5 / 7.5
Ricard's Rapier 5 / 7.5 2.5 per hit / 5 per hit 5.5 per hit / 8 per hit 7.5 / 7.5 5 / 7.5
Velka's Rapier 5 / 7.5 2.5 per hit / 5 per hit 5.5 per hit / 8 per hit 7.5 / 7.5 5 / 7.5

Chained Attacks:

  • Ricard's Rapier has a chained 1H R2 attack, where the second R2 deals 4 attacks that remove 2.5, 2.5, 2.5 and 1.25 poise.
  • Ricard's Rapier has a chained 2H R2 attack, where the second R2 deals 4 attacks that removes 5, 5, 5 and 2.5 poise.
  • Velka's Rapier has a chained 1H R2 attack, where the second R2 deals a single attack that removes 1.25 poise.
  • Velka's Rapier has a chained 2H R2 attack, there the second R2 deals a single attack that removes 2.5 poise.

Ultra Greatswords

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Black Knight Greatsword 50 / 75 60 / 75 55 + 50 / 80 + 50 75 / 75
Demon Great Machete 50 / 75 60 + 50 / 75 + 50 55 + 50 / 80 + 50 75 / 75
Dragon Greatsword 50 / 75 60 + 50 / 75 + 50 55 + 50 / 80 + 50 75 / 75
Greatsword 50 / 75 60 / 75 55 + 50 / 80 + 50 75 / 75
Zweihander 50 / 75 60 + 50 / 75 + 50 55 + 50 / 80 + 50 75 / 75
  • The Dragon Greatsword's 2H R2 special attack drains 50 poise if only the projectile blast hits.
  • Above instances where two values are found adding to each other, poise damage has the potential to trigger twice (rapidly in succession, from a single attack). Though it may be possible for only one of those to trigger, depending on the spacing or angle of the enemy.

Whips

Weapon R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Guardian Tail 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
Notched Whip 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30
Whip 20 / 30 24 / 30 22 / 32 20 / 30

Spells

Note that weapons buffed by spells do not have increased poise damage.

Sorcery R1
Soul Arrow 20
Great Soul Arrow 20
Heavy Soul Arrow 80
Great Heavy Soul Arrow 80
Homing Soulmass 15-per-orb
(75 max)
Homing Crystal Soulmass 15-per-orb
(75 max)
Soul Spear 80
Crystal Soul Spear 80
White Dragon Breath 40
Dark Orb 80
Dark Bead 15-per-orb
(105 max)
Pursuers 16-per-orb
(80 max)
  • The Soulmass orbs do not drain poise if they "bump" into an enemy instead of firing.
Pyromancy R1
Fireball 40
Fire Orb 60
Great Fireball 80
Firestorm 90-per-column
Fire Tempest 90-per-column
Fire Whip 20-per-hit
(40 max)
Combustion 40
Great Combustion 40
Great Chaos Fireball 80
Chaos Storm 120-per-column
Chaos Fire Whip 20-per-hit
(40 max + lava)
Residual Chaos Lava 5-per-hit
Black Flame 60
  • Fire Surge does not drain poise.
Miracle R1
Gravelord Sword Dance 90-per-column
Gravelord Greatsword Dance 120-per-column
Force 20
Wrath of the Gods 20
Emit Force 20
Lightning Spear 30
Great Lightning Spear 60
Sunlight Spear 120
Karmic Justice 100
  • Miracle Resonance buffs do not increase poise damage.
  • The AoE bursts trigger a guaranteed stun if unblocked by an opponent with sufficient poise, and instead trigger a knocking down animation when poise is drained.
  • When the lightning miracles hit water, there are three different tiers of poise damage depending on how close the water effect is to the enemy:
    • Lightning Spear: 16 / 10 / 0
    • Great Lightning Spear: 25 / 15 / 5
    • Sunlight Spear: 35 / 20 / 10

Ammo

Item R1
All Bolts 20
Most Arrows 20
Dragonslayer Arrow 60
Gough's Great Arrow 100
  • All Bows and Crossbows deal the same amount of poise damage. The poise damage depends on the ammunition being used and also the body part being hit on human players/ NPCs.
    • A multiplier to certain body parts being hit by arrows or bolts affects the poise damage taken as well.
    • Legs and Arms of human players/ NPCs will take 10% extra poise damage (22 for regular arrows and bolts), regardless of which armor is being used.
    • Headshots with arrows or bolts are a guaranteed stagger regardless of poise.2
  • The Avelyn deals the full poise damage for each bolt that impacts, for a total of 60 poise damage.

Shields

Shield R1
1H / 2H
R2
1H / 2H
Backstep
1H / 2H
Jumping
1H / 2H
Most Small Shields
and Normal Shields
20 / 30 24 / 30 + 30 20 + 22 / 20 + 32 30 / 30
Cracked Round Shield 10 / 15 12 / 15 + 15 10 + 11 / 10 + 16 15 / 15
Crystal Ring Shield 20 / 30 20, 60 / 20, 60 20 + 22 / 20 + 32 30 / 30
Pierce Shield 20 / 30 24 / 30 20 + 22 / 20 + 32 30 / 30
Spiked Shield 20 / 30 24 / 30 20 + 22 / 20 + 32 30 / 30
Bonewheel Shield 20 / 30 20 per hit / 20 per hit 20 + 22 / 20 + 32 30 / 30
Most Greatshields 20 / 30 24 + 20 / 30 + 20 20 + 22 / 20 + 32 30 / 30
Havel's Greatshield 20 / 30 - / - 20 + 22 / 20 + 32 30 / 30
  • Above instances where two values are found adding to each other, poise damage has the potential to trigger twice (rapidly in succession, from a single attack). Though it may be possible for only the first hit to trigger, depending on the spacing or angle of the enemy.
  • The Crystal Ring Shield's projectile attack drains 60 poise, plus an additional 20 if the shield impacts the enemy.
  • The Bonewheel Shield R2 attacks deal three possible hits, for a total of 60 poise damage.
  • Some shields have unique animations that replace the kick attack, however these don't qualify as special kick attacks and simply behave as a standard kick.

Items / Special

Item Attack
Firebomb 20
Black Firebomb 20
Throwing Knife 20
Poison Throwing Knife 20
Dragon Head Stone 10 per hit
Dragon Torso Stone 80
Egg Head Kick Attack 100
Skull Lantern 5
Most Spell Tools 5
Poking Catalysts 2H 7.5
Manus Catalyst 1H 50
Manus Catalyst 2H 75
  • The Egg Head Kick drains 100 poise in addition to triggering a guaranteed stun regardless.
  • Kicking with the Orange Charred Ring equipped does not drain poise (or affect the kick attacks that do drain poise).
  • The Set of Thorns do not drain poise when equipped and rolling into an enemy, though having any piece equipped will stagger enemies with 0 poise.

Enemy Poise Values

Regular Enemies

Enemy Poise Regen (s)
Andre of Astora 100 5.0
Black Knight 80 5.0
Bone Tower 120 5.0
Butcher 100 5.0
Chained Prisoner 80 4.0
Channeler 45 5.0
Chaos Eater 90 5.0
Crow Demon 30 5.0
Crystal Golem 120 5.0
Darkwraith 65 5.0
Drake 65 5.0
Giant Skeleton 45 5.0
Giant Stone Knight 200 5.0
Giant Undead Rat 100 5.0
Great Feline 45 5.0
Golden Crystal Golem 130 5.0
Heavy Knight 130 5.0
Infested Barbarian 110 5.0
Lesser Sanctuary Guardian 90 5.0
Man-Eater Shell 30 5.0
Mass of Souls 140 5.0
Mimic 65 5.0
Minor Capra Demon 45 5.0
Minor Taurus Demon 100 5.0
Mushroom Parent 120 5.0
Titanite Demon 200 5.0
Sentinel 80 5.0
Sentinel (Royal) 130 5.0
Serpent Soldier 45 5.0
Silver Knight 45 5.0
Skeleton Beast 65 5.0
Stone Guardian 200 5.0
Vamos 100 5.0

Bosses

Enemy Poise Regen (s)
Bell Gargoyles 80 5.0
Capra Demon 110 5.0
Centipede Demon Arm 60 5.0
Centipede Demon Tail 60 5.0
Crossbreed Priscilla 60 / ∞ 5.0
Gwyn 100 5.0
Gwyndolin 100 5.0
Iron Golem n/a n/a
Knight Artorias 130 2.5
Pinwheel 100 5.0
Ornstein (regular only) 90 5.0
Smough 110 5.0
Super Smough 110 5.0
Sanctuary Guardian 90 5.0
Taurus Demon 120 5.0

Various bosses do not have any poise. But rather than stagger with every hit, they are set to be completely unstaggerable.


  • Priscilla has 60 poise when invisible, breaking her poise is what makes her visible. She has infinite poise (unbreakable) when visible.
  • The Iron Golem has its own stagger mechanism instead of normal poise. See Iron Golem for an explanation.
  • Artorias' Poise is reduced from 130 to 90 during his charge-up animation.

Notes

  • Poise Damage for an attack is calculated as a base amount of poise (5 for Daggers and Thrusting swords, 20 for Katanas and Straight Swords(…), 35 for Greatswords (…) and 50 for Ultra Greatswords (…)), multiplied by some factor for the attack. This factor is 1 for a one-handed light-attack, 1.5 for a two-handed light attack, etc.
    • It appears that due to the way the game saves values, attacks with poise damage generated with a factor of 0.8, 1.2 or 1.6 are slightly less than they are supposed to be, allowing players to poise through them with a slightly lower poise value.
    • The value 1.6 in particular includes backstep/running attacks, making it possible to poise through 20*1.6=32 poise Damage dealing attacks with only 32 poise. The more precise poise Damage dealt is 31.9999980927.
    • Also, Black Knight Greataxe is the only weapon with different factors for its light attacks, happening to be 0.8 and 1.2, it can not stagger 40/60 poise with a single hit.
  • The Wolf Ring also boosts poise by 40 points.
  • Havel's Set provides the highest Poise of any armor set in the game at 121 Poise. This doesn't necessarily justify it's popularity, as the benefit of such excessive poise is debatable, and compared to many upgradable armor pieces it presents an option low on defense for a high weight setup.

PvP related

When building a character for PvP, it is a good idea to equip armor that will put you above one of the following Poise breakpoints:

  • 32 lets you get poise through the many 30 poise two-handed R1s that dominate the PvP meta. Without this, you're giving Katanas, Spears and Curved Swords a massive advantage. Additionally it lets you walk through their running attacks.
    • 21 lets you poise through very light attacks, including one-handed ones of 30 poise Damage dealing weapons. With Wolf Ring, this can reach the much more important 61 poise breakpoint. One important tactic with this is removing the Wolf Ring at low HP, when poise doesn't help you anymore and the Dark Wood Grain Ring or Red Tearstone Ring are better choices.
    • 53 lets you survive at least one light attack from any weapon without getting your Poise broken except by 2-handed light attacks from an ultra greatsword, a great hammer, or a greataxe. This is a very minor poise breakpoint, as 61 poise and 32 poise are vastly more important. Primarily it is a counter pick against builds that don't use 30 poise Damage dealing weapons, as without which there is little need for 61 poise. This mostly refers to strength builds that have little to no variety in the swaps they can make, or specifically counter-picking Greatsword or Hammer users. 56 poises as a variation poises through running attacks.
  • 61 lets you poise through two 30 poise hits, three 20 poise hits, a Katana kick into a Great Combustion, one 2H light attack from the Black Knight Greataxe or one Black Flame hit, as well as everything 53 poise can. This is the most important poise Breakpoint in the game, only followed by 31 poise. 62 poise is a variation which can take a two-handed running attack + a regular two-handed light attack from 30 poise Damage weapons.
    • 71 lets you poise through two, 35 poise light-attacks.
    • 76 lets you survive at least one light or jumping attack from any weapon without getting your Poise broken. None of these are generally seen as worth investing levels into, some builds use Full-Giants as it has the highest poise in the game, but the breakpoint has become irrelevant both with an increase in player proficiency, to not get hit by attacks with seconds of startup, and the widespread use of toggle escape. High poise levels such as these can be useful to not get interrupted while healing, in duels and most other situations, they are rather irrelevant for though.
  • A popular list of important armor setups can be found (here).
  • Running attacks drain more poise than normal R1 attacks. For example, you need 56 poise to resist a greatsword running attack as opposed to 53.
  • A phantom hit — an attack that hits you during the invincibility frames from a roll when viewed by the player getting hit — will still damage your poise, much like poison and bleed will still build up when a phantom hit occurs. Can also be used to reset poise, just like it can be used to reset bleed.
  • Toggle Escape — if you toggle your left/right hand weapon during a stun animation, you can replace the stun animation with a weapon toggling animation (which you can move during), effectively cancelling your stun. While clearly intentionally left as part of the animation, the reason is uncertain. Toggling is an important part of PvP, depending on the attack, it can get you in a safe position or even let you hit them back or backstab their attack.
    • Toggles are "Queued", that is they start after the current animation ends. This can be a positive, as it allows for perfect toggles after being stuck in an animation. However, if backstabbed with a toggle queued, the toggle will come out as early on in your wakeup animation as possible, which both breaks your immunity, and leaves you unable to roll or block, often allowing the opponent to land a free hit on you.
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