There’s a couple of ways to get in a damage-boosting ‘Critical Attack’ on an enemy. Firstly there’s the Guard Break , a move that allows you to instantly stunlock your opponent for a few seconds giving you the opportunity to go in for the critical hit. The second is known as the backstab (a move that was in the original Dark Souls). Let’s take a closer look at both moves in more detail.

Guard Breaking¶

If you spot a target holding their shield up; you can get right up to them and press Up + Normal Attack together to trigger an animation that bashes your opponent’s shield away from them. This generates the stunlock.

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You now need to get very close and press the normal attack button to trigger the critical hit animation. If you’re too far away you’ll simply perform a regular attack.

A great area to practice this move properly is in the Forest of the Fallen (on the wall that leads to the bonfire shortcut) as there are a few Hollow Soldiers that carry shields (and they’re less likely to kill you super quick).

The Backstab¶

If you circle behind an opponent you will have the opportunity to smack your weapon into their back, triggering a unique animation sequence that results in an often cool looking and more painful attack on your target (of particular note is the Mace’s backstab animation - ouch)!

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Make sure you’re close enough to your opponent when going for the backstab as it can be surprisingly easy to miss!

Personally, we’ve found we could nearly nail this every time when we positioned ourselves just to the left of the character’s spine. When we stood directly behind an opponent we found that this didn’t always work. But when we stepped left slightly it worked more often than it failed.