The DLC for Elden Ring ought to find a way to implement at least one of the Sekiro mechanics

There is enough of a connection between Elden Ring and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for the developer FromSoftware to draw inspiration from its ninja stealth game for some upcoming DLC, despite the fact that the combat in Elden Ring and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice do not make for a one-to-one comparison. The result of this drawing from previous experience could help the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC to impact the entire game as it reworks a specific type of retaliation that had been limited to Wolf up until now. This type of retaliation had previously been available only to Wolf. Transferring one of Wolf's abilities from Sekiro into Elden Ring, most likely in the form of a new Ash of War but possibly also in the form of a katana with a more narrowly defined purpose, could also help to address a criticism leveled against the more recent game upon its initial release. In particular, this could help to make Elden Ring significantly more reactive, as it would provide the player with the ability to directly counter certain attacks if the timing was correct.

Sekiros Legendary Mikiri CounterThe Mikiri Counter has emerged as a central topic of discussion in relation to Sekiro due to the fact that it provides players with a reliable defense against normally unblockable thrusting attacks, which would otherwise require them to disengage from the current fight otherwise

• However, once you have unlocked the Mikiri Counter, fishing for these same thrusting attacks becomes an important strategy against many of Sekiro's best bosses because it also does a significant amount of damage to the posture

• If during the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC a variant of the Mikiri Counter is introduced, the additional posture damage that it inflicts is the factor that could contribute to Elden Ring's potential for progression

• One of the most likely ways that the Mikiri Counter could be implemented is either through the Ash of War skills found on Elden Rings or by including Wolf's Kusabimaru as a one-of-a-kind weapon that already has the skill attached to it

• Both of these options are plausible

• After that, the Mikiri Counter could function in a manner that is analogous to that of a good number of the other parries that are already accessible to players, but it would broaden the range of attacks that could be defended against using this particular ability

This could go a long way toward making the new bosses added in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC and the bosses from the base game more approachable for melee builds. Considering how many enemies in Elden Ring cannot currently be parried, this could go a long way toward achieving that goal. Incorporating the ability as a distinguishing characteristic of a Kusabimaru in particular might be a good idea for incorporating a reference to Sekiro into Elden Ring as well. There are a lot of fans who started with Sekiro before moving on to Elden Ring and would appreciate the nod to the game that made them fans of the developer in the first place. This is because each new release from FromSoftware brings in more new players than the previous release did. As a result, a reference in the downloadable content (DLC) could assist in making FromSoftware's games feel more connected for the fans who eagerly jump onto each new release as it comes.

Better CountersBring about a more interactive experience with the Elden RingThe manner in which players are expected to respond to enemies and bosses during moment-to-moment combat is one aspect of Elden Ring that, at the moment, even separates it from other games. Even the most engaging bosses in Elden Ring require players to commit patterns to memory more than it asks them to respond to the attacks as they come. The bosses in Elden Rings add delays to their attacks, which adds a layer of rhythm that needs to be memorized rather than reacted to. This may sound familiar to the rest of the FromSoftware catalog, where learning boss patterns is necessary for survival. However, the delays that Elden Rings bosses add to their attacks adds a layer of rhythm that needs to be memorized. Drawing inspiration from Sekiro with a new parry similar to the Mikiri Counter could instead provide players with more opportunities to deflect attacks and deal massive amounts of stagger damage based on how they react to a boss moveset. This would be possible because the new parry would be modeled after the Mikiri Counter. This could have a dual effect, providing players with more opportunities to hard counter more attacks while also allowing for the introduction of skills that make better use of the stagger system.

This could be a dual incentive. Given that even Sekiro's final boss is susceptible to the Mikiri Counter, it should come as no surprise that more opportunities to counter do not render FromSoftware's bosses overly simplistic or uninteresting.