Game Guides
These Are The 30 Best Elden Ring Weapons

Every Tarnished should re-familiarize themselves with the weapons before plunging into Shadow of the Erdtree.

by Isaiah Colbert
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree cover art.
FromSoftware Inc.

Elden Ring has a murderers’ row of weaponry at players' disposal to defeat mighty opponents. How many? Well, 308, to be exact. Seeing as how Elden Ring’s first and only expansion, Shadow of The Erdtree, is just around the corner and is supposedly as difficult as the latter half of the 2022 Game Award winner, it's probably high time to get reacquainted with the Soulsbourne’s 30 best weapons (in no particular order) and where to find them.

Rivers of Blood

FromSoftware Inc

Although Rivers of Blood may not be the most powerful katana at face value, it more than makes up for it with its passive blood hemorrhaging effect. That alone makes it everything a weeb Tarnished can ask for.

You can find Rivers of Blood in the Eastern region of Mountaintops of the Giants after defeating Bloody Finger Okina.

Misericorde

FromSoftware Inc.

Miséricorde not only has the distinction of being the highest crit stat damage weapon in Elden Ring (140!), but it also grants its user the quickstep skill. This makes Miséricorde an invaluable weapon for spinning the block on some fools.

You can find Miséricorde in Stormveil Castle after using Stonesword Key to dispel a fog blocking the doorway and looting a corpse in the armory room next to the fortress of the Grafted Scion. Say that ten times fast!

Lordsworn's Straight Sword

FromSoftware Inc.

Lordsworn’s Straight Sword is tailor-made for sickos who love parrying and backstabbing enemies. If you’re not sold on that, Lordsworn’s Straight Sword also has a crit multiplier of 110 making it one of the highest in its class outside of the Sacred Relic Sword. What’s more, Elden Ring is practically begging you to use it because it's one of the first weapons you can acquire in the game.

You can procure Lordsworn’s Straight Sword in the chest of a carriage by the western road of the Gatefront Ruins.

Marais Executioner's Sword

FromSoftware Inc.

If you fancy Vergil from Devil May Cry, then Marias Executioner’s Sword is the Greatsword for you. This greatsword packs a wallop if you charge it up and yeet it at your opps. All you’ll have to do is sit pretty while Marias Executioner’s Sword violently rips and tears through your adversaries. It is basically the Beyblade of Greatswords (though maybe don’t use it against giant foes).

You can find this stunlock beauty on Elemer of the Briar at The Shaded Castle.

Beastman’s Cleaver

FromSoftware Inc.

Beastman’s Cleaver is one of the strongest weapons in Elden Ring. Period. It's also one of the game’s rarest weapons, with a scarce drop rate of 2%.

Fortunately, this curved great sword can be found in three ways. One can be located at the bottom of a ledge in Crumbling Farum Azula by way of a Waygate at The Four Belfries. Two can be found near the Dragon Temple Lift grace in Crumbling Farum Azula. Another can be found next to the Great Bridge grace in Crumbling Farum Azula. Basically, scour the Crumbling Farum Azula and count your lucky stars to find this beauty.

Nightrider Glave

FromSoftware Inc.

Flails often get overlooked in Elden Ring tier list discussions over the best weapon types. Not here, though. If you enjoy bludgeoning your enemies to the point where you inflict blood loss upon them, Nightrider Glave is the flail-iest flail for you. Nightrider Glave also comes with the added bonus of it not being parryable by your foes.

You can find this flail as a drop from a Night's Cavalry knight at Weeping Peninsula.

Celebrant’s Skull

FromSoftware Inc.

Hammers typically deliver your standard affair of bashing on your enemies until they cease to be a problem. Celebrant’s Skull is a great hammer in all senses of the word because it lets you gain 20 runes with every successful hit.

Celebrant’s Skull can be found on a corpse along a hidden path in Altus Plateau, which you can navigate by strolling by a windmill north of the Windmill Village site of grace.

Star Fist

FromSoftware Inc.

Sometimes scuffles in The Lands Between require you to put down the silly swords, daggers, and whatnot and start throwing hands. If bouts of fisticuffs are your pleasure, you can’t go wrong with the Star Fist.

The Star Fist is one of the strongest fist weapons with a natural blood loss build-up. You can find Star Fist on the left side of the Colosseum by the West Capital Rampart’s site of grace in Leyndell, Royal Capital.

Hoslow's Petal Whip

FromSoftware Inc.

Hoslow's Petal Whip is one of the most powerful whip weapons in Elden Ring, and for good reason. Aside from dealing 110 physical damage, Hoslow’s Petal Whip also inflicts bleeding damage on enemies.

Hoslow’s Petal Whip can be found as a drop from Juno Hoslow during the final contract for the Volcano Manor or as a drop from Diallos at the butt-end of his questline in Jarburg.

Grave Scythe

FromSoftware Inc.

As far as Elden Ring scythes go, the Grave Scythe is the bee's knees. The Grade Scythe, while being the heaviest scythe in the game, also comes with some pretty hefty upsides. Chief among them being bleed (we love to see it) as well as raising player’s vitality and resistance to instant demise by 35 points.

You can attain the Grave Scythe as a drop from Skeleton Mages in Royal Grave Evergaol, Liurnia of the Lakes due east of the Church of Vows grace, and in the Graveyard west from the Lake-Facing Cliffs

Guardian’s Swordspear

FromSoftware Inc.

The Guardian’s Swordspear is arguably the best weapon in the Halberd class. If you’re a dexterity build kind of player, you’ll get plenty of mileage out of Guardian’s Swordsper’s big damage, unique moveset, and above-average reach.

You can fetch the Guardian’s Swordspear as a drop from some Erdtree Guardians loitering about Minor Erdtree Church in Altus Plateau.

Golem Greatbow

FromSoftware Inc.

Of the four great bows in Elden Ring, the Golem Greatbow is the creme of the crop. Arrow rounds from the Golem Greatbow will have you feeling like you’re flinging city busses at Elden Ring enemies. This comes in part due to the massive 130 points of damage it deals. The downside to the Golem Greatbow, aside from its immense weight of 14.5, is the fact that it's a weapon you’ll have to farm to acquire.

So long as you unalive a Golem archer on Limgrave Tower Bridge in Stormhill, inside Caelid’s colosseum, or atop the Grand Lift of Dectus in the Altus Plateau this bow can be yours for the taking.

Blasphemous Blade

FromSoftware Inc.

The Blasphemous Blade kicks all kinds of ass because it's a greatsword (literally) that deals fire damage and heals its wielder with every felled enemy, regardless of whether the sword unalived them.

The only way you can obtain Blasphemous Blade is by trading Remembrance of the Blasphemous with Enia at Roundtable Hold.

Claymore

FromSoftware Inc.

Fun fact: Claymore is one of the few Elden Ring weapons that shares a thematically appropriate anime of the same name. Also, its a greatsword that carried over from Dark Souls 3. The Claymore’s nifty gimmick is that its heavy, roll, and crouching attacks are eloquent thrusting pokes.

The Claymore can be found in a chest in Castle Morne. All you’ll have to do is mosey past the burning corpses encircled by Misbegotten and navigate into the entrance of the castle.

Zamor Curved Sword

FromSoftware Inc.

Surprise, it's another greatsword. Zamor Curved (for your pleasure) Sword is a blade best utilized if you’re running a dexterity build. The blade also comes with a cool and oh-so-satisfying frostbite buildup on enemies.

As its name would imply, Zamor Curved Sword can only be attained by defeating the Ancient Hero of Zamor at the end of is dungeon in Giant-Conquering Hero's Grave.

Gargoyle's Twinblade

FromSoftware Inc.

Gargoyle’s Twinblade is for the strength-building players. The Gargoyle’s Twinblade is great for crowd control thanks to its piercing damage, which can be followed up by a delightful spinning slash.

You can get this twinblade after defeating both optional Valiant Gargoyle bosses by Siofra River’s site of grace.

Great Épée

FromSoftware Inc.

The Great Épée (mind the accent acutes) is a heavy thrusting sword that lends itself well to strength and dexterity builds. Great Épée’s weapon weight also allows it to double as a shield, which is pretty neat.

This weapon can be found in a chest near two Kaiden Sellswords just East of Agheel Lake South’s site of grace.

Serpentbone Blade

FromSoftware Inc.

If Rivers of Blood is too cheesy of a katana name for your liking, might we recommend the Serpentbone Blade in its stead. In tandem with the Serpentbone Blade having a unique double slash heavy attack, it also deals poison damage. Shout out to all our poison-damage enthusiasts out there. We’re toxic because we care.

The Serepentbone Blade can be attained as a reward for finishing Tanith’s second letter quest in Volcano Manor.

Rotten Crystal Spear

FromSoftware Inc.

The Rotten Crystal Spear, as its name suggests, is a spear that causes scarlet rot build up on your enemies. While this spear might not deal as much damage in comparison to its contemporaries, it's very hard not to turn your nose up at the opportunity to inflict scarlet rot on your adversaries.

The Rotten Crystal Spear is a drop from Lesser Crystalian enemies found in Brace of the Haligtree in Elphael.

Sacrificial Axe

FromSoftware Inc.

Axes may not get a lot of praise as a deadly Elden Ring weapon, but that won’t stop the Sacrificial Axe from being a hidden gem among axes. What makes the Sacrificial Axe so special is the fact that the weapon restores a small number of focus points for each enemy slain.

You can get the Sacrificial Axe as a drop from a bird that spawns north from Castle Morne in Weeping Peninsula at nighttime.

Axe of Godrick

FromSoftware Inc.

The Axe of Godrick may move at a glacial pace, but its blows pack a huge punch if you have the strength and dexterity to wield it. By far the best back-of-the-box advertisement of this weapon is its special skill, I Command Thee, Kneel!, which sends out shockwaves to your enemies.

You can acquire the Axe of Godrick by trading Remembrance of the Grafted with Enia at Roundtable Hold.

Scepter of The All Knowing

FromSoftware Inc.

Let’s be honest: Scepter of The All-Knowing is probably the sickest weapon name on this entire list. It practically sounds like a chart-topper heavy metal track. This decent hammer’s best feature is its unique skill Knowledge Above All, which reduces magic and holy damage for you and your opponent for 60 seconds. It also looks like one of those backscratchers you’d find at your grandparent’s house.

You can obtain the Scepter of The All-Knowing once you’ve defeated Sir Gideon Ofnir, the All-Knowing in Leyndell.

Fallingstar Beast Jaw

FromSoftware Inc.

Fallingstar Beast Jaw is another sick nasty sounding Elden Ring weapon with unique skill players would move hell or high water to add to their collection. Gravity Bolt conjures a bolt of lightning from the heavens and drops it on the domes of your opponents.

You can attain this colossal weapon by defeating a Full-Grown Fallingstar Beast in Mt. Gelmir.

Bolt of Gransax

FromSoftware Inc.

The Bolt of Gransax is one of the nine Legendary Armaments in Elden Ring. As such, this spear lets its user do some pretty cool crap. Chief among the nifty things this spear can do is its unique ability, Ancient Lightning Spear, which lets you hurl the weapon like a bolt of lightning. Smite them, o mighty smiter.

The Bold of Gransax is located in Leyndell after defeating Godfrey, First Elden Lord. You can find the weapon on the giant spear protruding out of the building.

Vyke’s Spear

FromSoftware Inc.

Vyke’s Spear is a great spear that pairs perfectly with Tarnished players with dexterity and faith builds. This spear also comes equipped with an awesome special skill called Frenzyflame Thrust. This unique skill unleashes a maddening explosion on the field. Be warned, excessive use of Vyke’s Spear can induce madness in you as well as your opponent.

Vyke’s Spear can be found as drop from an NPC invader called Festering Fingerprint Vyke.

Gargoyle's Black Halberd

FromSoftware Inc.

Gargoyle's Black Halberd is a good old-fashioned halberd weapon. No gimmicky magic buffs or Ash abilities, just straight gas. If your tarnished is either a strength, dexterity, or faith build, and you’re looking to prove your mettle as a magicless gamer, put this weapon in your inventory.

This halberd can be found as a drop from Black Blade Kindred, which can be found in the Bestial Sanctum in Dragonbarrow.

Venomous Fang

FromSoftware Inc.

Venomous Fang exists a bit of an oxymoron, considering it's a hook weapon that's technically a serpent’s head fashioned to your fists. Naming convention aside, Venomous Fans is stellar for ... you guessed it, its poison buildup. No wonder it was used in gladiator fights.

You can locate the Venomous Fang behind a Giant Poison Flower in an Abandoned Cave in Caelid.

Winged Scythe

FromSoftware Inc.

The Winged Scythe is a reaper best used in the hands of players who want to ward away and inflict holy damage. What this weapon lacks in strength, it makes up in the fact that it dishes out blood loss build up. Likewise, Winged Sycthe also has a unique ability called Angel's Wings that deals 30 stance damage to enemies.

You can find Winged Scythe inside a chest underground at the center of Tombsward Ruins.

Greatsword

FromSoftware Inc.

The Greatsword may not be the strongest colossal sword in Elden Ring, but it most certainly has the most significance for the series as a whole. One hefty swing of this heap of raw iron will deal a staggering 164 points of damage. It’s pretty nutty, but why wouldn't it be when it was inspired by Guts’ Dragonslayer from Berserk?

You can find the Greatsword inside a carriage guarded by Giant Dogs (naturally) in Dragonbarrow by the Northwest side of Caelem Ruins site of grace.

There you have it, an assortment bouquet of thirty of Elden Ring’s finest pieces of weaponry. Be sure to test these bad boys out before venturing into Shadow of the Erdtree.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 20.

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