Elden Ring: How To Lock Onto Enemies

gamerant.com:

Elden Ring is played from a third-person point of view, and your ability to control the camera is just as important as every other aspect of Elden Ring. When going up against an enemy, players can lock on to a target, which focuses the camera at them until toggled off.

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Locking onto enemies is one of the most fundamental aspects of Souls game combat – not only does it make melee aim more accurate, but it's also the only way for spellcasters to reliably hit their targets. It's important to become very familiar with the lock-on system in Elden Ring, but there are rare times when it's actually better not to lock on.

To lock onto an enemy, first you need to make sure they are in range. The lock-on range in Elden Ring is magnitudes larger than in other Souls games, likely to compensate for the spacious open world, so you don't have to get too close to be in range. Then, with your target in view, click in the right joystick, also called R3.

You should see a small blueish-silver dot appear over your target. Move around a bit, and you'll find that your camera never breaks from your target (unless they go out of line of sight). To change targets, pull the right joystick right or left, which should toggle between all visible enemies. To toggle camera lock off, just press R3 again and you will return to free-cam.

There are certain situations where locking onto an enemy isn't a good idea. Extremely fast enemies can whip your camera around rapidly if targeted, disorienting and potentially leaving you open for attack. Against enemies who can move faster than Torrent, try not locking on to see if free-cam helps (you will have to manually move your camera around with R3 instead).