How to Guard Counter in Elden Ring

Want to know how to guard counter correctly in Elden Ring?

At the start of Elden Ring, you’ll have the option to enter the Cave of Knowledge. This is a tutorial dungeon in The Lands Between. It teaches you the basics of Elden Ring’s gameplay and combat system. 

One of the skills that the tutorial will show you is the Guard Counter move. 

If you did not pay attention to the tutorial or did not bother to visit the Cave of Knowledge, you probably have no idea how to use the Guard Counter technique. 

Compared to other FromSoftware titles, Elden Ring offers a wide variety of combat techniques designed to make melee fighting and defensive gameplay simpler and easier. In other FromSoftware games, you’ll have to be constantly on the offensive side to clear bosses. 

While it’s true that Elden Ring has a lot of things going on at the start, there are a handful of styles that the Guard Counter doesn’t benefit from. 

However, if you’re character plays with a shield, the Guard Counter technique will surely help. 

Today, we will show you how to properly use the Guard Counter in Elden Ring. 

Let’s dive right in!

Guard Counter Explained

A Guard Counter in Elden Ring is an attack that can be performed by players after defending with a shield. This move deals higher Super Armor damage compared to regular Heavy Attacks. 

In fact, this is more noticeable on weak enemies. They will easily get stunned by a single hit of a well-timed Guard Counter. 

Unlike melee builds from other Souls games that revolve around ducking in and out of combat you can actually go hand in hand with even the strongest bosses in Elden Ring using the Guard Counter technique. 

With this fighting style, staying in the middle of a fight is possible. It’s beneficial for players who do a great job of managing their Stamina. 

However, Guard Counters can only be performed if your Stamina bar isn’t fully depleted by the block. 

Performing a Guard Counter

To pull off a Guard Counter in Elden Ring, first, find an enemy that deals physical melee damage. One good enemy to test this out is the Godrick Soldier in early Limgrave. 

If you are having a hard time beating the Godrick Soldier, check our in-depth guide about this encounter to help you out. 

Raise your Shield using the left shoulder button (L1) and get ready to take a hit from the Godrick Soldier. Once the attack hits your Shield and your Stamina bar is damaged, press the right trigger (R2) to perform a Guard Counter. 

If timed correctly, you will hear a special sound effect as your character whisks around to counter-attack. This deals massive damage to your enemy’s HP and Posture bar. 

Guard Counters can only be performed if you have enough Stamina remaining to successfully block the incoming attack from your enemy. Due to this, always keep your Shield lowered in between attacks to recover your Stamina faster. 

That’s it for our guide on how to perform a guard counter in Elden Ring. If you have other concerns, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below, and we’ll do our best to help.