Elden Ring - Best Weapons for Each Stat

In Elden Ring, your character's stat allotment defines what they can equip and ultimately defines your build. We've compiled all the best weapons for both the base Elden Ring game and its DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree based on each stat.

We'll cover details about each weapon, including how it works and where to find it.

Star Fist

The Star Fist is a Fist Weapon from the base game and one of the strongest PvE weapons in Elden Ring. It can be infused with Ashes of War and performs exceptionally well with a Heavy affinity on Strength-focused builds.

Its biggest strength is its extremely fast Charged Heavy Attack, which deals excellent physical and stance damage despite the weapon's small size. Combined with its innate Blood Loss buildup, the Star Fist can pressure bosses with both frequent stance breaks and Hemorrhage procs.

The fast Charged Heavy Attack also makes the Star Fist extremely effective with bonuses such as the Axe Talisman and Spiked Cracked Tear. Its customizable Ash of War gives it even more flexibility, with options such as Cragblade allowing you to further improve its damage and stance pressure.

Its main downside is its extremely short range. You need to fight directly next to enemies, and attacks can occasionally miss against bosses with unusual hitboxes or movement. However, when you can consistently stay in range, the combination of speed, damage, stance pressure, and Bleed makes the Star Fist one of the strongest boss-killing weapons in the game.

Location: Found on a corpse near the West Capital Rampart Site of Grace in Leyndell, Royal Capital.

Greatsword - Heavy

The Greatsword is a Colossal Sword from the base game and one of the best all-around weapons for a Strength build. It can be infused with Ashes of War and performs exceptionally well with a Heavy affinity.

It deals very high physical and stance damage while also having excellent range for a melee weapon. Unlike many Colossal Weapons, the Greatsword also has access to a wide variety of powerful Ashes of War, including Lion's Claw and Giant Hunt, allowing it to be adapted to different encounters.

Its main downside is its slower attack speed and high weight. Poorly timed attacks can easily be punished by faster bosses, but its combination of damage, range, stagger potential, and Ash of War flexibility makes it one of the most consistent Strength weapons in PvE.

Location: Found inside a carriage chest in Caelid, along the road northwest of the Caelem Ruins Site of Grace. 

Giant-Crusher - Heavy

The Giant-Crusher is a Colossal Weapon from the base game that has one of the highest Strength requirements in Elden Ring. When infused with Heavy, it receives S scaling in Strength and is capable of dealing enormous physical and stance damage.

Its powerful Heavy Attacks are especially effective against bosses when combined with charged-attack bonuses, while its ability to use different Ashes of War gives the weapon considerably more flexibility than its simple moveset may suggest.

The biggest drawbacks are its massive weight and slow attack speed. The Giant-Crusher requires significantly larger openings than weapons such as the Star Fist, but in return it can deal some of the highest single-hit physical damage available to a Strength build.

Location: Found inside a carriage directly south of the Outer Wall Phantom Tree Site of Grace in the Capital Outskirts.

Nightraider Glaive

The Nightrider Glaive is a Halberd from the base game that becomes an excellent pure Strength weapon when infused with Heavy, reaching S scaling in Strength at higher upgrade levels.

It offers a great balance between damage, attack speed, and range. Its long reach makes it considerably safer against many bosses than shorter Strength weapons, while its relatively quick moveset allows it to punish openings that Colossal Weapons may struggle to take advantage of.

The weapon can also be infused with different Ashes of War, giving it excellent versatility. Its raw damage and stance damage are lower than the heaviest Strength weapons, but its superior range and speed make it one of the most consistent Strength weapons for general PvE.

Location: Dropped by the Night's Cavalry, found between the East Raya Lucaria Gate and Bellum Church in Liurnia of the Lakes. The Night's Cavalry only appears at night and also drops the Giant Hunt Ash of War.

Rusted Anchor

The Rusted Anchor is a Greataxe from the base game that can be infused with Ashes of War and performs extremely well on a Heavy Strength build.

What makes the Rusted Anchor unique is that all of its attacks deal Pierce damage. This allows the weapon to benefit from counter-hit damage when attacking enemies during their own attack animations, giving it excellent damage potential against aggressive bosses. It also synergizes particularly well with the Spear Talisman.

It combines this damage potential with the strong stagger and stance damage expected from a Greataxe while retaining access to customizable Ashes of War.

Its biggest weakness is that getting maximum value from Pierce counter damage requires more precise timing than the other weapons on this list. However, when used correctly, its combination of high physical damage, stance pressure, and counter-hit damage makes it one of the strongest Strength weapons available in the base game.

Location: Dropped by the Scaly Misbegotten boss at the end of Morne Tunnel in the Weeping Peninsula.

Sword Lance - Heavy

The Sword Lance is a Heavy Thrusting Sword from Shadow of the Erdtree and one of the strongest DLC weapons for a dedicated Strength build. It already favors Strength naturally and becomes an excellent pure Strength weapon when given the Heavy affinity.

Its biggest advantage is the combination of high damage with the Heavy Thrusting Sword moveset. The Sword Lance deals Pierce damage primarily, allowing it to benefit from counter-hit damage when striking enemies during their attack animations. It also has excellent reach and attacks considerably faster than most of the heavier Strength weapons.

The Sword Lance is fully infusible and can use different Ashes of War, giving it much more flexibility than most unique DLC weapons. It comes equipped with Spinning Gravity Thrust, a multi-hit charging skill with an additional follow-up, but this can be replaced depending on the build.

It is also particularly strong when paired with a Greatshield. Heavy Thrusting Swords can attack while guarding, allowing the Sword Lance to safely deal repeated Pierce damage while maintaining a defensive playstyle.

Its main weakness is lower stance damage per individual attack compared to Colossal Weapons. Instead, it excels through its combination of raw damage, speed, Pierce damage, reach, and Ash of War flexibility.

Location: Obtained by trading the Remembrance of the Wild Boar Rider with Finger Reader Enia after defeating Commander Gaius.

Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword

The Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword is a Colossal Sword from Shadow of the Erdtree that deals both Physical and Magic damage. At +10, it reaches B scaling in Strength, while its Arcane scaling applies to both its Physical and Magic Attack Power.

Its Unique Skill, White Light Charge, is one of its biggest advantages. The skill launches the player forward at high speed with a thrusting attack and can be followed by a second input that creates a large explosion of white light.

This gives the weapon something most Colossal Swords struggle with: mobility. White Light Charge can rapidly close the distance to a boss while dealing strong damage, after which the explosion provides additional burst when the opening is large enough.

The weapon also has unique Heavy Attacks that begin with a thrust. Combined with its other thrusting attacks and White Light Charge, this gives it excellent synergy with Pierce counter damage and the Spear Talisman. It is also the longest Colossal Sword in the game.

Its main downside for this category is that it isn't exclusively a Strength weapon. Strength and Arcane both contribute substantially to its damage, meaning a STR/ARC hybrid eventually gets more out of it than a build leaving Arcane at the minimum 19. However, Strength remains one of its two primary damage stats, and its high requirement makes it a natural fit for this list.

Location: Obtained from the altar at the end of the Ruined Forge of Starfall Past in Scadu Altus.

Greatsword of Solitude

The Greatsword of Solitude is one of the most straightforward pure Strength weapons introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree. It heavily favors Strength while receiving only minimal benefit from Dexterity, making it an excellent choice for a dedicated Strength build.

Its Unique Skill, Solitary Moon Slash, performs a powerful slash that launches an arc of light forward. The skill can then be followed with a Heavy Attack that causes the player to rapidly close the distance and perform another powerful slash.

The full sequence deals excellent stance damage. The initial sword strike and projectile can deal a combined 16.5 stance damage, while the follow-up can deal another 33, giving the complete sequence very strong stance-breaking potential.

Another unusual advantage is its defensive capability. The Greatsword of Solitude has 89% Physical damage negation and 53 Guard Boost, which is exceptionally high for a Greatsword and closer to what would normally be expected from a Colossal Sword or weaker shield.

This makes it a particularly complete Strength weapon: strong physical damage, ranged pressure, gap closing, high stance damage, and unusually good blocking capabilities all come from a single weapon.

Its main disadvantage is its weight. At 15.5, it is the heaviest Greatsword in the game, and unlike the Sword Lance, it cannot change its affinity or Ash of War.

Location: Guaranteed drop from the Blackgaol Knight in the Western Nameless Mausoleum in Gravesite Plain. This also makes it obtainable extremely early in Shadow of the Erdtree.

Bloodhound’s Fang

The Bloodhound's Fang is a Curved Greatsword and one of the strongest overall Dexterity weapons in the base game. It combines high physical damage with innate Blood Loss buildup and a powerful Unique Skill in Bloodhound's Finesse.

Bloodhound's Finesse deals heavy damage before allowing the player to follow up with Bloodhound's Step, providing both damage and mobility. The weapon also has enhanced jumping attacks and, unusually for a Somber weapon, can still be buffed with weapon buffs and greases. This makes it extremely versatile throughout an entire PvE playthrough.

Its main downside on a pure Dexterity build is that it also has meaningful Strength scaling, meaning a quality-focused build can eventually push its damage further. However, its combination of damage, Bleed, mobility, and availability makes it one of the strongest PvE weapons in the game.

Location: Obtained by defeating Bloodhound Knight Darriwil in the Forlorn Hound Evergaol in Limgrave.

Bandit’s Curved Sword - Keen

The Bandit's Curved Sword is a Curved Sword that becomes an exceptionally powerful Dexterity weapon when infused with Keen. While a single Bandit's Curved Sword already has excellent damage for its weapon class, its true PvE strength comes from powerstancing two of them.

Powerstanced Curved Swords have extremely strong multi-hit jumping and running attacks, allowing them to deal large amounts of damage in a very short animation. These attacks also synergize extremely well with successive-attack and jumping-attack bonuses, allowing a properly optimized setup to produce some of the highest melee DPS available to a Dexterity build.

Unlike many other high-DPS setups, the Bandit's Curved Sword is also fully infusible and can use different Ashes of War. Its biggest downside is that the setup ideally requires two copies of the weapon, both of which have to be farmed.

Location: Dropped by Skeletal Bandits wielding the weapon. One of the easiest farming locations is near the Church of Pilgrimage in the Weeping Peninsula.

Guardian’s Sword Spear - Keen

The Guardian's Swordspear is a Halberd that becomes one of the strongest pure physical Dexterity weapons in the base game when infused with Keen.

Unlike most Halberds, the Guardian's Swordspear has a unique light-attack chain with fast diagonal slashes. This gives it an excellent combination of speed, range, and raw damage. Keen affinity gives it exceptional Dexterity scaling while still allowing the weapon to use interchangeable Ashes of War. It is confirmed to be compatible with Ashes of War rather than being locked to its default skill.

The weapon lacks innate Bleed or another status effect, so it relies primarily on its raw physical damage. However, its excellent moveset, reach, Ash of War flexibility, and high Dexterity scaling make it one of the most consistent DEX weapons against enemies regardless of their status resistances.

Location: Dropped by Erdtree Guardians found around Minor Erdtrees and several other Erdtree-related locations. The Guardian's Swordspear has a 2% base drop rate.

Nagakiba - Keen

The Nagakiba is a Katana that combines the fast Katana moveset and innate Blood Loss buildup with exceptional range. When infused with Keen, it becomes one of the most versatile weapons available to a Dexterity build.

Its extreme reach is its defining advantage, allowing the player to punish boss openings from distances where shorter Katanas can struggle to connect. Its thrusting Heavy Attacks also provide access to Pierce damage and counter-hit bonuses.

Because the Nagakiba can be infused with Ashes of War, it can use powerful options such as Unsheathe, Double Slash, and Piercing Fang while retaining its innate Blood Loss buildup. Its raw Attack Rating is lower than heavier Dexterity weapons, but its combination of speed, range, Bleed, and customization makes it exceptionally reliable in PvE.

Location: Obtained through Bloody Finger Hunter Yura's questline. It can be obtained from Yura at the Second Church of Marika after progressing his quest, or acquired earlier by killing him.

Bolt of Gransax

The Bolt of Gransax is a unique Spear that deals both Physical and Lightning damage. While its regular Spear moveset is solid, the main reason it is one of the best Dexterity weapons for PvE is its Unique Skill, Ancient Lightning Spear.

Ancient Lightning Spear launches a long-range lightning projectile that can be charged for significantly increased damage. This gives Dexterity builds access to an exceptionally powerful ranged attack without requiring investment into Intelligence or Faith. With the appropriate Lightning and skill damage bonuses, it can deal massive damage to bosses while allowing the player to remain at a safe distance.

Its main drawbacks are its very high 40 Dexterity requirement and its reliance on Ancient Lightning Spear for much of its exceptional PvE value. It also cannot be infused or buffed. However, the ranged utility it provides is something few other Dexterity weapons can replicate.

Location: Found on the giant spear in Leyndell, Royal Capital, after defeating Godfrey, First Elden Lord (Golden Shade). It must be collected before defeating Maliketh, as the weapon becomes unobtainable once Leyndell changes into the Ashen Capital.

Backhand Blade - Keen

The Backhand Blade is one of the strongest pure Dexterity weapons introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree. When infused with Keen, it receives exceptional Dexterity scaling while retaining access to customizable Ashes of War.

Its biggest strength is its extremely fast paired moveset. Two-handing the weapon automatically equips a blade in each hand, giving access to rapid multi-hit attacks without requiring a second copy. This provides excellent sustained DPS and works particularly well with successive-attack bonuses.

Its default Ash of War, Blind Spot, is another major advantage. The skill quickly moves around the side of an enemy before delivering an attack, allowing the player to simultaneously reposition and punish. This is especially valuable against aggressive DLC bosses where long attack commitments are difficult to use. Backhand Blades remain regarded as one of the DLC's standout weapon classes because of their speed, scaling, and Blind Spot.

The weapon is also infusible, allowing other setups such as Lightning or status affinities. For a dedicated Dexterity build, however, Keen provides excellent raw physical performance.

Its main weakness is relatively low stance damage. The Backhand Blade relies more on speed, sustained pressure, and repeated attacks than stance breaking or large individual hits.

Location: Found beside a grave east/northeast of the Scorched Ruins in Gravesite Plain. This makes it obtainable almost immediately after entering Shadow of the Erdtree.

Rakshasa’s Great Katana

Rakshasa's Great Katana is a Great Katana that heavily favors Dexterity and combines high physical damage with excellent reach and innate Blood Loss buildup.

Its Unique Skill, Weed Cutter, performs two large sweeping attacks and can be repeatedly chained as long as the player has enough stamina and FP. The attacks have strong hyper armor, allowing the player to continue attacking through hits that would interrupt many other weapon skills.

This makes Weed Cutter exceptionally aggressive in PvE. Against enemies that cannot easily knock the player out of the animation, it can effectively replace regular attacks and continuously pressure the target. Its wide swings also make it excellent against groups.

Outside of its skill, Rakshasa's Great Katana has the advantages of the Great Katana weapon class: significantly better range and impact than a standard Katana while remaining faster than most Greatswords. It also retains 55 innate Blood Loss buildup, providing additional damage against Bleed-vulnerable bosses.

Its biggest drawback is the risk attached to Weed Cutter. The hyper armor encourages trading attacks, but the player takes increased damage during attacks with the weapon. Against bosses capable of dealing enormous damage, blindly chaining Weed Cutter can therefore become dangerous.

Location: Dropped by Rakshasa after defeating her in the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum.

Claw’s of Night

The Claws of Night are a unique Claw weapon from Shadow of the Erdtree that scales almost entirely with Dexterity. Like other paired weapons, two-handing them equips claws in both hands, giving them an extremely fast multi-hit moveset.

Unlike regular Claws, the Claws of Night can also throw projectiles with their Heavy Attacks, giving a normally close-range weapon access to ranged pressure without consuming FP. Their rapid attacks and innate Blood Loss buildup also make them excellent at triggering Bleed and successive-attack bonuses.

Their Unique Skill, Scattershot Throw, is the main reason the weapon becomes particularly powerful in PvE. It throws multiple claws in a spread in front of the player. At close range, multiple projectiles can connect with the same target, resulting in very high burst damage and rapidly building Blood Loss.

This makes the weapon particularly effective against larger bosses where more of the projectiles can connect. Recent player discussion continues to place Claws of Night among the strongest DLC DEX weapons for PvE.

The biggest weakness is their short melee range. Scattershot Throw helps compensate for this, but optimal damage still requires fighting relatively close to the target. Against enemies resistant or immune to Blood Loss, their maximum damage potential is also reduced.

Location: Obtained by defeating Swordhand of Night Anna during Count Ymir's questline at the Cathedral of Manus Metyr.

Dark Moon Greatsword

The Dark Moon Greatsword is one of the strongest Intelligence weapons in Elden Ring and an exceptional choice for PvE. Its Unique Skill, Moonlight Greatsword, temporarily increases the weapon's Magic damage and Frost buildup while allowing its Heavy Attacks to fire moonlight projectiles. Intelligence is by far its most important scaling attribute and also increases the damage of these projectiles.

The projectiles cost no additional FP after activating the weapon buff, giving the Dark Moon Greatsword extremely efficient ranged damage. Charged Heavy Attacks also deal excellent stance damage and Frostbite buildup, and at close range both the sword and projectile can connect with the target for substantially higher damage.

Its main weaknesses are its relatively slow Greatsword attacks and the setup required to activate Moonlight Greatsword. Faster bosses can also make charged Heavy Attacks harder to land consistently. However, its combination of ranged damage, Frostbite, stance breaking, and FP efficiency makes it arguably the best overall Intelligence weapon for PvE.

Location: Received from Ranni beneath the Cathedral of Manus Celes after completing Ranni's questline.

Wing of Astel

The Wing of Astel is a Curved Sword that combines a fast moveset with ranged Heavy Attacks and one of the strongest Unique Skills available to an Intelligence build.

Its Heavy Attacks launch short-range magic projectiles without consuming FP, giving the weapon excellent ranged pressure during regular combat. Its Unique Skill, Nebula, creates a cloud of stars that explodes shortly afterwards and can hit larger enemies multiple times.

Nebula is particularly powerful against bosses because multiple explosions can connect with large targets, dealing extremely high damage and stance damage. This can cause large bosses to stagger remarkably quickly and gives Wing of Astel some of the highest burst potential among base-game Intelligence weapons. Its effectiveness against large PvE targets remains one of the weapon's major strengths.

Its main weakness is range. Both the Curved Sword itself and Nebula require the player to stay relatively close to enemies, while smaller or highly mobile bosses may avoid some of Nebula's explosions.

Location: Found in a chest in the southern section of Uhl Palace Ruins, accessible through the northern section of Ainsel River.

Death’s Poker

Death's Poker is an unusual Intelligence weapon because its regular melee attacks actually scale considerably better with Dexterity than Intelligence. However, its Unique Skill, Ghostflame Ignition, scales primarily with Intelligence and is powerful enough to make Death's Poker one of the strongest PvE options available to an INT build.

Ghostflame Ignition can be followed by either a Light or Heavy Attack. One option creates a trail of ghostflame along the ground, while the other causes a large explosion. This gives Death's Poker both sustained damage and burst options while rapidly building Frostbite.

The combination can deal enormous damage to bosses, particularly when they remain inside the ghostflame. The skill is so powerful that the weapon can effectively be treated as a casting tool for Ghostflame Ignition rather than primarily as a Greatsword.

Its biggest downside is its unusual split scaling. 60 Intelligence does relatively little for the weapon's normal melee AR, while being important for Ghostflame Ignition. This makes the Max AR number particularly misleading for Death's Poker—the reason we're ranking it this highly is the skill, not its displayed AR.

Location: Dropped by the Death Rite Bird found southeast of the Southern Aeonia Swamp Bank Site of Grace in Caelid. The boss only appears at night.

Moonveil

Moonveil is a Katana that combines Physical and Magic damage, innate Blood Loss buildup, and one of the fastest ranged weapon skills available to an Intelligence build.

Its Unique Skill, Transient Moonlight, functions similarly to Unsheathe but releases a wave of Magic damage with either a horizontal or vertical attack. The Heavy version deals particularly strong damage and stance damage, while its speed makes it much easier to use during short boss openings than slower options such as the Dark Moon Greatsword.

Moonveil also retains the excellent standard Katana moveset and innate Bleed, meaning it remains effective even without relying entirely on its skill. This makes it arguably the most consistent and easiest-to-use Intelligence weapon on the list. Current INT recommendations continue to put it alongside Dark Moon Greatsword and Wing of Astel among the premier INT weapons.

Its main drawback is that it consumes FP relatively quickly when Transient Moonlight is repeatedly used, and its maximum boss-damage potential is lower than the more specialized Dark Moon Greatsword, Wing of Astel, or Death's Poker setups.

Location: Dropped by the Magma Wyrm boss inside Gael Tunnel, on the border between Limgrave and Caelid.

Clayman’s Harpoon - Magic

The Clayman's Harpoon is one of the most flexible Intelligence weapons in the base game. Unlike most standard weapons, it already has innate Magic damage and Intelligence scaling while still allowing affinities and Ashes of War to be changed.

Using Magic affinity further increases its Intelligence scaling and Magic damage, making it an excellent option for a dedicated INT build. It can use powerful Ashes of War such as Ice Spear, which provides strong ranged Magic damage, Frostbite buildup, and excellent stance damage.

The standard Spear moveset also provides fast Pierce attacks with good reach and access to counter-hit damage. This makes the Clayman's Harpoon much less dependent on a single gimmick than weapons such as Death's Poker.

Its downside is that it lacks the exceptionally powerful unique skills of the four weapons above it. Instead, its strength comes from flexibility, excellent INT synergy, and the ability to adapt its Ash of War to different encounters.

Location: Dropped by Claymen wielding the weapon in the Ainsel River and Siofra River areas.

Star-Lined Sword

The Star-Lined Sword is a Katana introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree that deals both Physical and Magic damage while also having innate Blood Loss buildup. While its regular attacks favor Dexterity, its Magic damage and Unique Skill make it a strong weapon for an Intelligence-focused melee build.

Its main strength is its Unique Skill, Onze's Line of Stars. The skill begins with a rapid series of magically enhanced slashes and can be extended twice with additional inputs, creating a long multi-hit combo that finishes with a powerful downward attack.

The large number of hits gives the skill excellent sustained damage and allows it to quickly activate successive-attack bonuses. It also retains the advantages of the Katana weapon class, including fast attacks, good mobility, and innate Bleed.

Unlike Moonveil, the Star-Lined Sword focuses less on immediately firing a ranged projectile and more on aggressive multi-hit pressure. This gives it a distinct role rather than simply being a DLC replacement for Moonveil.

Its biggest weakness for this category is its scaling distribution. Dexterity contributes significantly to its regular weapon damage, meaning a pure 60 Intelligence build does not maximize the entire weapon. It performs best eventually as a DEX/INT hybrid.

Location: Dropped by Demi-Human Queen Marigga in the northwest section of the Cerulean Coast.

Carian Sorcery Sword

The Carian Sorcery Sword is one of the most unique Intelligence weapons introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree. It functions as both a Thrusting Sword and a catalyst, allowing the player to cast Glintstone Sorceries directly through the weapon's Heavy Attack input.

This allows an Intelligence build to transition directly between melee attacks and Sorceries without switching to a staff. It works particularly well with close-range spells such as Carian Slicer and Gavel of Haima, creating an extremely flexible spellblade playstyle.

The weapon was also significantly improved after the DLC launched. Its Intelligence scaling was increased while its base damage was reduced, making INT investment substantially more important. At +25, it reaches 281 Sorcery Scaling at 60 Intelligence, rising to 291 at 80 INT.

It also retains the fast Thrusting Sword moveset, Pierce damage, and a 110 Critical modifier. This makes it useful as an actual melee weapon rather than simply functioning as an unusual staff.

Its main downside is that a dedicated endgame staff will still outperform it for maximum spell damage. It also sacrifices its normal Heavy Attacks in exchange for spellcasting. Its value comes from versatility and action economy, rather than having the highest possible melee or Sorcery damage.

Location: Found in a chest in Castle Ensis, reached by dropping down into the castle from Scadu Altus.

Milady - Magic

Milady is a Light Greatsword introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree and becomes an excellent Intelligence weapon when given the Magic affinity.

Its main advantage is the unique Light Greatsword moveset. Milady combines the reach and damage of a larger sword with much faster and more fluid attack chains. Light and Heavy Attacks can flow into each other particularly well, allowing the weapon to maintain pressure without the long recovery animations normally associated with Greatswords.

Being a standard Smithing Stone weapon is another major advantage. Magic affinity adds Intelligence scaling and converts a large portion of its damage into Magic, while still allowing Milady to use different Ashes of War.

One particularly strong option for an Intelligence build is Carian Sovereignty. The skill can deal enormous Magic and stance damage when fully charged, giving Milady a powerful boss-punish option on top of its already excellent neutral moveset.

Alternatively, Wing Stance provides a moveset unique to Light Greatswords. It can transition into either a rapid multi-hit slash or a leaping thrust, giving the weapon excellent versatility against different enemies.

Its main disadvantage compared with unique INT weapons is that Milady has no innate status effect or unique Intelligence mechanic. Its strength instead comes from combining one of the DLC's best new movesets with Magic affinity and powerful Intelligence-compatible Ashes of War.

Location: Found in a chest at the top of a tower in Castle Ensis, shortly after entering the castle.

Blasphemous Blade

The Blasphemous Blade is a Greatsword and arguably the strongest overall Faith weapon in the base game for PvE. It deals both Physical and Fire damage, but its main strength comes from its Unique Skill, Taker's Flames.

Taker's Flames sends a long trail of fire across the ground, dealing extremely high Fire damage while knocking down many enemies and restoring HP when it connects. The skill restores 10% of maximum HP + 150 HP per enemy hit, while the weapon itself also restores HP whenever a nearby enemy dies. Most importantly for a Faith build, Taker's Flames scales through the weapon's Fire Attack Power and therefore benefits heavily from Faith.

This combination of high ranged damage, healing, and crowd control makes the Blasphemous Blade exceptionally forgiving while still having excellent boss damage. Its main weakness is fighting enemies with high Fire resistance, and its regular melee damage also benefits from Strength and Dexterity rather than Faith alone.

Location: Obtained by trading the Remembrance of the Blasphemous with Finger Reader Enia after defeating Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, in Volcano Manor.

Envoy’s Long Horn

The Envoy's Long Horn is a Great Hammer that deals both Physical and Holy damage. While its regular attacks are solid, the main reason it ranks this highly is its Unique Skill, Bubble Shower.

Bubble Shower releases a large group of Holy bubbles in front of the player. Against large enemies, multiple bubbles can connect with the same target, resulting in extremely high damage. This makes the weapon particularly effective against large bosses where the entire shower can land. It can also break enemy stance surprisingly quickly.

Its biggest weakness is consistency. Smaller and highly mobile enemies can avoid much of Bubble Shower, while Holy damage performs poorly against several important late-game bosses. Against the right target, however, the Envoy's Long Horn can deal absurd amounts of damage.

Location: Dropped by Large Oracle Envoys wielding the weapon. They can be found in Leyndell, Royal Capital, and Miquella's Haligtree.

Magma Blade

The Magma Blade is a Curved Sword that deals Physical and Fire damage and is one of the strongest close-range Faith weapons in the base game.

Its Unique Skill, Magma Shower, performs a spinning attack before scattering magma around the player. The weapon strikes can hit multiple times while the magma pools continue dealing Fire damage afterwards. Importantly, the Fire damage of the magma pools scales with Faith, giving Faith investment direct value beyond the weapon's displayed melee AR.

The combination becomes particularly powerful when powerstancing two Magma Blades. Curved Swords already have an excellent multi-hit moveset, while Magma Shower gives the setup strong sustained Fire damage and excellent synergy with successive-hit bonuses.

Its main downside is obtaining it. The Magma Blade has only a 1% base drop chance from the specific sword-wielding Man-Serpents in Volcano Manor, so obtaining two can require significant farming.

Location: Dropped by Magma Blade-wielding Man-Serpents in Volcano Manor. Two eligible enemies can be farmed on the route immediately after the Temple of Eiglay Site of Grace.

Coded Sword

The Coded Sword is a unique Straight Sword that requires and scales exclusively with Faith. It deals pure Holy damage and has no Strength or Dexterity requirement, making it one of the cleanest weapons for a pure Faith build.

Its Unique Skill, Unblockable Blade, temporarily extends the weapon before performing a large sweeping attack. The attack deals 250% of the weapon's Attack Power and completely bypasses enemy guards, making it particularly effective against shielded enemies.

Because it deals pure Holy damage, it also avoids the usual issue of split damage having to pass through multiple defenses. The downside is unfortunately significant: several important late-game bosses have extremely high Holy resistance. Against enemies without that resistance, however, the Coded Sword is an excellent pure Faith weapon.

It is also extremely light at only 2.5 weight, making it easy to incorporate alongside a Sacred Seal.

Location: Found in the Fortified Manor in Leyndell, Royal Capital, inside the room corresponding to the Two Fingers' chamber in Roundtable Hold.

Halo Scythe

The Halo Scythe is a Reaper that combines Physical and Holy damage with innate Blood Loss buildup, giving it several useful damage sources on a Faith build.

Its main attraction is its Unique Skill, Miquella's Ring of Light. The skill launches a large Holy projectile that travels a considerable distance before returning, giving Faith builds a cheap and repeatable ranged weapon attack. Each cast costs only 11 FP, making it efficient for both regular enemies and bosses.

Unlike many Faith weapons, the Halo Scythe also retains innate Bleed buildup on its melee attacks. This gives it another way to deal significant damage against enemies that are vulnerable to Blood Loss.

Its biggest weakness is again Holy resistance. The projectile also deals very little stance damage—only 3 stance damage—so it cannot compete with weapons such as Blasphemous Blade or Envoy's Long Horn for stance breaking.

Location: Dropped by Cleanrot Knights wielding the Halo Scythe, most notably those found in the Swamp of Aeonia in Caelid.

Euporia

Euporia is a Twinblade from Shadow of the Erdtree and one of the strongest weapons available to a dedicated Faith build. It deals both Physical and Holy damage and primarily benefits from Faith, making it an excellent fit for a build that keeps Strength and Dexterity near their minimum requirements.

Its defining mechanic is its ability to become revitalized through successive attacks. Continuously attacking enemies charges the weapon, causing its blades to glow and increasing its Holy damage. This synergizes exceptionally well with the rapid multi-hit Twinblade moveset and successive-attack bonuses.

Once revitalized, its Unique Skill, Euporia Vortex, becomes significantly more powerful. The skill rapidly spins the Twinblade before releasing a sustained beam of Holy damage when sufficiently charged. Against bosses that allow the player to maintain pressure, the fully powered skill can deal enormous sustained damage.

This makes Euporia particularly effective against larger or less mobile bosses, where building and maintaining its charge is relatively easy. Unlike a weapon that relies entirely on repeatedly casting its skill, its regular multi-hit attacks are also an important part of maximizing its damage.

Its biggest weakness is the setup requirement. Against highly mobile enemies or bosses that provide very short attack windows, maintaining Euporia's revitalized state becomes considerably harder. Holy resistance can also significantly reduce its effectiveness against certain enemies.

Despite those limitations, its combination of pure Faith synergy, multi-hit DPS and an extremely powerful Unique Skill makes it arguably the strongest DLC weapon specifically designed for a Faith build. Current 1.16.1 PvE rankings continue to place it among the game's top Faith weapons.

Location: Found late in the DLC through a hidden route connecting Enir-Ilim and Belurat, Tower Settlement.

Fire Knight’s Greatsword - Flame Art

The Fire Knight's Greatsword is a Colossal Sword from Shadow of the Erdtree that has innate Fire damage and Faith scaling while still allowing its affinity and Ash of War to be changed.

This makes Flame Art affinity exceptionally effective. Flame Art further increases its Faith scaling and Fire damage, allowing a Faith-focused character to achieve very high Attack Rating without requiring heavy investment into Strength or Dexterity. Current 1.16.1 PvE rankings specifically identify the Flame Art Fire Knight's Greatsword as one of the strongest Faith weapons available.

The weapon also has an excellent Colossal Sword moveset. Its light attacks are faster than those of many other weapons in the class, while its Heavy Attack is a long-reaching thrust. This gives it access to Pierce counter damage and provides a much better single-target punish than the typical sweeping Colossal Sword Heavy Attack.

Its ability to change Ashes of War is another major advantage. Flame Spear is particularly effective, providing a ranged Fire projectile followed by a thrust and temporarily coating the weapon in additional Fire damage. The combination fits naturally with a Flame Art Faith build. Fire Knight's Greatsword remains one of the most commonly recommended DLC Faith weapons for exactly this reason.

Unlike Euporia, it also doesn't require building a charge before reaching its normal damage potential. This makes it much more consistent against aggressive bosses with limited attack windows.

Its main weakness is its reliance on Fire damage when built around Flame Art. Enemies with high Fire resistance can significantly reduce its performance, although the ability to change affinity gives the weapon more flexibility than most unique Faith weapons.

Location: Dropped by Fire Knights wielding the Greatsword in Shadow Keep. It must be farmed rather than obtained as a guaranteed pickup.

Black Steel Greathammer  - Sacred/Flame Art

The Black Steel Greathammer is a Great Hammer from Shadow of the Erdtree that deals innate Holy damage and naturally scales with Faith while still allowing its affinity and Ash of War to be changed.

Sacred affinity is particularly effective because the weapon's existing Holy damage also benefits from its increased Faith scaling. This allows a Faith-focused build to deal very high Holy damage while retaining the excellent stance damage of a Great Hammer. Community Faith builds continue to recommend Sacred Black Steel Greathammer as one of the DLC's strongest Faith melee options.

Its most distinctive feature is its unique Guard Counter. Performing a Guard Counter creates an additional Holy explosion around the impact, giving the Black Steel Greathammer substantially more damage and area coverage than a normal Great Hammer Guard Counter.

This makes it exceptionally strong in a shield-based Faith build. The player can block an incoming attack before responding with a high-damage Guard Counter that deals both the weapon hit and its additional Holy effect, while also dealing excellent stance damage.

Because it is fully infusible, it isn't restricted to Sacred. Flame Art is an excellent alternative against enemies resistant to Holy damage, allowing the same weapon to switch between two Faith-oriented elemental damage types depending on the encounter.

Its main disadvantage is its relatively high Strength requirement. Unlike Euporia, this isn't a completely pure Faith weapon, and its heavy weight requires more Endurance investment. Holy resistance can also hurt Sacred setups significantly.

Location: Guaranteed drop from the Black Knight at the Church of Consolation in Gravesite Plain, making it obtainable almost immediately after entering Shadow of the Erdtree.

Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear

Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear is a Great Spear that deals both Physical and Fire damage while also having innate Blood Loss buildup. Despite having both Strength and Arcane scaling, Arcane is particularly valuable because it increases the weapon's Physical and Fire damage as well as its Blood Loss buildup.

The main reason this weapon is one of the strongest Arcane weapons in PvE is its Unique Skill, Bloodboon Ritual. The skill creates a large Bloodflame AoE around the player and can be used up to three times consecutively. Each activation deals Fire damage and rapidly builds Blood Loss, making it extremely effective against both groups of enemies and bosses vulnerable to Bleed. The skill also buffs the weapon with additional Fire Attack Power for 20 seconds.

Outside of Bloodboon Ritual, Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear remains a strong melee weapon. It has exceptional reach, is the longest Great Spear in the game, and deals Pierce damage. Its biggest weakness is the commitment required by Bloodboon Ritual, as aggressive bosses can punish poorly timed uses.

Location: Obtained by trading the Remembrance of the Blood Lord with Finger Reader Enia after defeating Mohg, Lord of Blood.

Marais Executioner’s Sword

The Marais Executioner's Sword is a Greatsword that deals Physical and Magic damage and has some of the highest single-target burst potential available to an Arcane build.

Its Unique Skill, Eochaid's Dancing Blade, launches the sword forward while rapidly spinning before returning to the player. The skill can be charged for additional damage, and its numerous hits work with successive-attack bonuses such as the Winged Sword Insignia and Thorny Cracked Tear. It also benefits from the Godfrey Icon when charged.

This interaction allows an optimized Eochaid's Dancing Blade to rapidly activate multiple damage bonuses during a single cast, resulting in enormous damage when the entire attack connects. Unlike most top-tier Arcane weapons, it also does not depend on triggering Blood Loss, making it especially valuable against Bleed-resistant or Bleed-immune enemies.

Its main weakness is consistency. Eochaid's Dancing Blade requires the target to remain in front of the player for most of the animation, so highly mobile enemies can cause part of the skill to miss.

Location: Dropped by Elemer of the Briar at the top of The Shaded Castle in Altus Plateau.

Eleonora’s Poleblade

Eleonora's Poleblade is a Twinblade that deals Physical and Fire damage while also having innate Blood Loss buildup. While its Dexterity scaling is technically higher, Arcane is extremely valuable because it increases both its Physical and Fire Attack Power as well as its Blood Loss buildup.

Its Unique Skill, Bloodblade Dance, performs a rapid sequence of spinning attacks followed by an evasive finishing attack. The large number of hits allows it to quickly trigger Blood Loss and successive-attack bonuses.

The weapon also has a unique multi-hit Heavy Attack moveset. Its two-handed charged opening Heavy Attack can hit five times, further reinforcing its ability to rapidly trigger status and successive-hit effects.

Its main weakness is its reliance on Bleed and multi-hit attacks for maximum damage. Against enemies immune to Blood Loss, its damage ceiling drops noticeably, although the Physical and Fire damage means it remains usable.

Location: Dropped by Eleonora, Violet Bloody Finger, at the Second Church of Marika in Altus Plateau. She will invade here regardless of whether Yura's questline has been completed.

Bloody Helice

The Bloody Helice is a Heavy Thrusting Sword with innate Blood Loss buildup and strong Arcane scaling, reaching B scaling in Arcane at +10. This makes it one of the most straightforward weapons for a dedicated Arcane build.

Its combination of excellent reach, Pierce damage, and Bleed makes it particularly effective against bosses. Pierce attacks can benefit from counter-hit damage when attacking an enemy during their own attack animation, while Arcane investment simultaneously improves its damage and Blood Loss buildup.

Its Unique Skill, Dynast's Finesse, performs an evasive backwards movement that can be followed by a powerful forward thrust and another follow-up attack. This allows the player to dodge an incoming attack and immediately convert that opening into damage.

The Bloody Helice does not have the explosive damage ceiling of Bloodboon Ritual or Eochaid's Dancing Blade, but it compensates with excellent consistency, reach, and defensive utility. This makes it especially effective against aggressive bosses where committing to long attack animations is dangerous.

Location: Found in a chest after defeating the Sanguine Noble boss beneath Writheblood Ruins in Altus Plateau.

Venomous Fang - Poison

The Venomous Fang is a Claw weapon with innate Deadly Poison buildup. Unlike most Claws, it does not have innate Blood Loss, instead specializing entirely in Poison. Its low requirements and ability to change its affinity and Ash of War make it an excellent status weapon for an Arcane build.

What makes the Venomous Fang particularly powerful is its unique interaction with Poison affinity. Normally, Deadly Poison deals more damage per second but only lasts 30 seconds. When the Venomous Fang is given Poison affinity, however, its innate Deadly Poison retains its increased damage while receiving the 90-second duration of regular Poison. This effectively triples the duration and massively increases the total damage of the status effect.

Poison affinity also adds Arcane scaling to both the weapon's Physical Attack Power and its Poison buildup. This allows a dedicated Arcane build to apply its enhanced Deadly Poison extremely quickly.

As a Claw weapon, the Venomous Fang also attacks extremely quickly and is paired when two-handed, allowing rapid successive attacks without requiring a second copy. Once Poison activates, it can additionally trigger effects such as Kindred of Rot's Exultation, which provides a 20% damage increase when Poison or Scarlet Rot occurs nearby.

Its biggest weakness is that Poison deals its damage over time rather than providing the immediate percentage-based burst of Blood Loss. Against short encounters, Bleed weapons will usually kill the target before Poison can realize its full value. Against bosses with large health pools and sufficient Poison vulnerability, however, the Venomous Fang provides excellent sustained damage while still allowing the player to continue attacking normally.

Location: Found on a corpse inside the Abandoned Cave in Caelid.

Bloodfiend’s Arm - Blood

The Bloodfiend's Arm is a Colossal Weapon introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree and one of the strongest weapons available to an Arcane build. While it can perform well on a Strength build, its combination of Blood affinity, Arcane scaling and its unique Heavy Attack makes the Arcane version particularly powerful for PvE.

Its Heavy Attacks have a unique property that causes a blood splash on impact. The splash itself applies additional Blood Loss buildup, allowing charged Heavy Attacks to build Bleed exceptionally quickly while simultaneously dealing the high stance damage expected from a Colossal Weapon.

Giving the weapon Blood affinity adds a massive amount of Blood Loss buildup while retaining respectable physical damage. Arcane then increases its status buildup, making the Bloodfiend's Arm capable of triggering Blood Loss in remarkably few attacks. Even recent 2026 Arcane discussions continue to single out Bloodfiend's Arm as one of the strongest options for high-Arcane builds.

The combination is what makes it so powerful in PvE: Bleed and stance breaking are happening at the same time. A boss can lose a percentage of its maximum HP to Blood Loss while its stance is simultaneously being pressured by charged Colossal Weapon attacks.

It is also fully infusible and can use different Ashes of War. Options such as Cragblade further increase its physical and stance damage, while Royal Knight's Resolve can be used to heavily amplify individual attacks.

Its biggest weaknesses are its slow moveset and reliance on Blood Loss for maximum damage. Against Bleed-immune enemies, it loses part of what makes the Blood version exceptional, although its Colossal Weapon damage and stance pressure remain useful.

Location: Dropped by Bloodfiends wielding the weapon. Prospect Town in Gravesite Plain is an early and convenient location to farm it.

Poisoned Hand

The Poisoned Hand is a Fist weapon introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree that is designed almost entirely around Arcane and Poison. It has a high Arcane requirement and reaches excellent Arcane scaling when fully upgraded.

Unlike the Venomous Fang from our base-game Arcane section, the Poisoned Hand has an additional reason to be used on a Poison build: it increases the player's Attack Power when Poison or Scarlet Rot occurs nearby.

This effect is particularly valuable because the Poisoned Hand does not even need to be actively used to provide the bonus. Keeping it equipped in the off-hand is enough for the effect to activate, allowing it to support other Poison or Scarlet Rot weapons as well.

When used directly, its fast Fist moveset allows it to rapidly apply Poison. Its Unique Skill, Poison Spew, thrusts the hand forward and releases poison, providing another way to quickly trigger the status and activate its damage bonus.

This makes the Poisoned Hand unusual among our recommendations. It is simultaneously a weapon and a build-enhancing tool, and its value can extend to virtually any Poison-focused Arcane setup.

Its main disadvantage is raw weapon performance. Its short range and relatively low Attack Rating mean it cannot compete directly with something like Bloodfiend's Arm in terms of physical damage. Poison also deals damage over time rather than providing the immediate percentage-based damage of Bleed.

Its overall utility is nevertheless excellent for Arcane because of how much value it provides to Poison builds beyond its own attacks.

Location: Found in Belurat, Tower Settlement, in the poisonous swamp area accessible through the Well Depths.

Putrescence Cleaver

The Putrescence Cleaver is a Greataxe introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree that scales with both Strength and Arcane. Unlike many other Arcane weapons, however, it does not rely on Blood Loss or Poison to deal its damage.

The weapon deals Physical and Magic damage and also inflicts Frostbite buildup despite having no Intelligence scaling. This gives an Arcane build access to another powerful status effect without requiring investment into Intelligence.

Its Unique Skill, Spinning Guillotine, launches the player forward with a spinning attack before following up with additional strikes. The skill can be extended through additional inputs, allowing it to deal several powerful hits during a large boss opening.

The weapon's Frostbite is particularly useful in PvE. Triggering Frostbite deals percentage-based damage and temporarily causes the enemy to take increased damage, giving the Putrescence Cleaver utility even against enemies where an Arcane Bleed setup would normally be less effective.

Another major advantage is its scaling distribution. Both Strength and Arcane reach strong scaling, making it an excellent weapon for a STR/ARC character and giving Arcane players a heavier alternative to the usual fast status weapons. Recent STR/ARC discussions continue to include Putrescence Cleaver among the natural options for the archetype.

Its biggest weakness for our specific category is exactly that hybrid scaling. A build with 60 Arcane and only minimum Strength isn't maximizing the weapon's full potential. It eventually performs best with substantial investment in both stats.

Spinning Guillotine also requires commitment. While its full sequence can deal considerable damage, aggressive bosses can punish the player if the skill is used during an opening that is too short.

Location: Obtained by trading the Remembrance of Putrescence with Finger Reader Enia after defeating the Putrescent Knight in the Stone Coffin Fissure.