Poise

General Information

Poise is a value that determines a character's resistance to being stunned. All characters, including enemies, have Poise. Being hit drains Poise which regenerates after a moment, much like a hidden stamina bar. When Poise is completely drained, the character becomes stunned. Having one more point of Poise than is being dealt will prevent the character from being stunned by that hit.

Poise break 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 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 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 (including Washing Pole) Great Scythe 2h R1/R2s Whip 2h R1 Large Spear (Partizan/Pike) 2h R1 Small Spear (Silver Knight Spear/Winged Spear) 2h R1 Halberd 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
22	Katana running 1h R1
21	Curved Swords 1h R1 Straight Swords 1h R1 Katana 1h R1s (including Washing Pole) Great Scythe 1h R1/R2s Whip 1h R1 Large Spear (Partizan/Pike) 1h R1 Small Spear (Silver Knight Spear/Winged Spear) 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

Weapon Poise drain

Different weapons drain varying amounts of Poise, and it is completely independent of damage. Generally, larger weapons drain more Poise per hit and 2-handing weapons drains more Poise.

Here are some values of poise drained per hit by various weapon types:

Weapon	Attack	Poise 1 Handed	Poise 2 Handed
All Ultra Greatswords	light	50	75
Most Greataxes	light	50	75
All Great Hammers	light	50	75
Black Knight Greataxe	light	40	60
Black Flame	light	-	60
All Greatswords	light	35	52
All Hammers	light	35	52
Most Axes	light	35	52
Black Knight Halberd	light	30	45
Great Combustion	light	-	40
Hand Axe	light	20	30
All Curved Swords	light	20	30
All Straight Swords	light	20	30
All Katanas	light	20	30
All Whips	light	20	30
All Spears	light	20	30
Most Halberds	light	20	30
All Fist Weapons	light	20	-
All Thrusting Swords	light	5	7
All Daggers	light	5	7
Bare Fist	light	5	-

Notes

• Havel's Set provides the highest Poise of any armor set in the game at 121 Poise, although it weighs 50 units.

• The Wolf Ring also boosts poise by 40 points, with no added weight.

• Poise does not recover for 1 second, and after that, it recovers 20-25% per second. So it could take 4-5 seconds for your poise to be back to full again.

• 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:
  • 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.
  • 61 lets you survive two 30 poise hits, or three 20 poise hits, as well as resisting one 2H hit from the Black Knight Greataxe and one Black Flame hit
  • 76 lets you survive at least one light attack from any weapon without getting your Poise broken.

• The Wolf Ring and a Giant Helm -or- Catarina Gauntlets/Catarina Leggings -or- Hollow Soldier Waistcloth & Gargoyle Helm will break 52 poise as well as being light, so these items are highly recommended for PvP.

• 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. All greatswords can combo a running attack into an R1 if it breaks your poise, and some have more damaging combos.

• A phantom hit — an attack that hits you during the invincibility frames from a roll — will still damage your poise, much like poison and bleed will still build up when a phantom hit occurs.

• 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. It can be hard to get the timing right, but with this technique, you can have enough frame advantage to get behind your opponent and backstab them. (Video)