Elden Ring Player Discovers Trick With Spinning Strikes Ash of War

Summary

Elden Ring’s Spinning Strikes Ash of War can deflect projectiles.

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While the game doesn’t keep this feature a secret, some players have been unaware of it up until recently.

One Elden Ring player has recently discovered a new use for the Spinning Strikes Ash of War after accidentally deflecting Margit’s daggers with it. While the game makes no attempt to keep this feature a secret, a decent chunk of the Elden Ring community was seemingly unaware of it up until recently.

Ash of War: Spinning Strikes

is a self-explanatory Ash of War that can be obtained early on in the game, shortly after reaching Castle Morne in the south of the Weeping Peninsula. However, players who don’t have a habit of killing non-hostile NPCs won’t obtain it before reaching Elden Ring’s Liurnia of the Lakes region. The Ash of War itself allows Tarnished to spin in place with a compatible weapon (polearm) for a relatively low FP cost, making for a resource-efficient source of melee AoE damage.

As it turns out, hitting multiple enemies at once isn’t the only thing that Spinning Strikes are good for. Reddit user Fail1ure recently discovered that this Ash of War can also counter Margit’s dagger throws. The moment unfolded completely by accident, as the player was already mid-animation when Margit began his attack. Much to their surprise, Spinning Strikes nullified every single dagger. The player then successfully replicated this hidden Elden Ring interaction on video, sharing the resulting demonstration on the game’s largest subreddit.

Spinning Strikes Can Nullify More Than Just Margit’s Daggers

Fail1ure’s video amassed over 7,000 upvotes within 24 hours of going live in late April 2025, suggesting a decent chunk of the Elden Ring player base was unaware of this trick up until now. Granted, Margit’s dagger throws hardly needed any more counters, as they are already one of his least threatening attacks, dealing modest damage while being super easy to avoid by just strafing in any direction. Be that as it may, this demonstration serves as a reminder that Spinning Strikes are worth trying against other thrown attacks from more difficult bosses. They are also confirmed to work for deflecting thrown items in PvP.

While some Elden Ring players have clearly been unaware of Spinning Strikes’ ability to deflect flying objects up until recently, the game doesn’t keep this feature a secret. The Ash of War’s description clearly notes this trait, stating that the skill “nullifies projectiles such as arrows while spinning.”

A few other Elden Ring Ashes of War and spells can also nullify projectiles. E.g., the Zamor Ice Storm

Sorcery does it, as does the eponymous weapon skill.