Forget the swords and witchcraft, my passage with Shadow of the Erdree convinced me that the best way is the combat with bare hands.

Shadow of the Erdtree comes out at the end of the month, but I was lucky enough to be able to play three hours of the next Elden Ring DLC recently as part of a preview event. Therefore, I have already chosen my build, focused entirely on the new weapon type: martial arts. Monk constructions are not just for Baldur's Gate 3 it seems, you can now also venture into the Lands Between.

When I was given my preview of the DLC, Bandai Namco was quick to explain that Shadow of the Erdtree would come with an impressive array of gear; over 100 new weapons and eight new weapon types among them. One of them immediately spoke to me: martial arts, a real break with the classic FromSoftware modus operandi. It's rare in any Soulsborne game to go into an encounter without having your hands full – whether it's with tempered steel or arcane fire. Well, not anymore.

Everyone was doing kung fu

Of all the new weapons I had to try out, two of them fell into the martial arts category – although calling them weapons is only true in the technical sense. In reality, they were each their own pair of gloves that could be equipped in the weapon slot that I guess… somehow imbue the wearer with black belt level kicking abilities.