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The best Elden Ring weapons

Discover the very best Elden Ring weapons to wield for your build and where you can find all of their locations in this massive open-world game.

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Elden Ring 

What are the best Elden Ring weapons? Many of the early-game weapons are lying around in treasure chests or on corpses, while others require you to beat some fearsome foes. We’ve compiled a list of our picks for the best Elden Ring weapons for each main attribute, so no matter your proficiency, there’s a powerful weapon just waiting for you out there in the Lands Between.

Of course, having the best Elden Ring weapons won’t be much use if you don’t have a robust constitution. We recommend upgrading your flask with Elden Ring golden seeds or grabbing some of the Elden Ring crystal tears to augment the Flask of Wondrous Physick. Additionally, even the best weapons will benefit from unique and powerful Elden Ring weapon arts that fit your character build. Without further ado, here are the best Elden Ring weapons in one of the best PC games of all time.

Here are the best Elden Ring weapons:

  • Reduvia
  • Black Knife
  • Grafted Blade Greatsword
  • Prelate’s Inferno Crozier
  • Bloodhound Fang
  • Rivers of Blood
  • Blasphemous Blade
  • Dark Moon Greatsword
  • Sword of Night and Flame
  • Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear

Best Elden Ring weapons - the Tarnished is wielding the Reduvia while standing on a ledge looking at the glowing Erdtree.

Reduvia

Quite a few early-game Elden Ring bosses are susceptible to the bleed status effect. A few weapons can help you take advantage of this weakness, including the Reduvia you get for slaying Bloody Hunter Nerijus in the stream north of Lake Agheel in Limgrave.

This knife requires 13 arcane, 13 dexterity, and five strength to wield, but if you wield it with two hands, it gives you the Blood Blade weapon art, which flings arcs of spinning bloody daggers that cause bleed buildup. Most enemies’ bleed buildup will max out after a couple of successful strikes, leading to them taking a huge chunk of damage, followed by extra damage over time. Reduvia is a powerful early-game weapon that’s still effective later in the game if you keep it upgraded.

Best Elden Ring weapons - the Tarnished holds onto the Black Blade with both hands, while the Erdtree burns behind him.

Black Knife

The Black Knife is a superb mid-game weapon you can find by beating the Black Knife Assassin that guards the Sainted Hero’s Grave in Altus Plateau. It may not seem like much on the surface – it’s another knife with similar properties to the Reduiva – however, it’s one of the best Elden Ring weapons if you’re making a faith build, as it scales with that in addition to strength and dexterity.

Its weapon art fires a projectile that does holy damage, burning away your opponent’s health and temporarily reducing their maximum health. This skill can give you the edge against many of the game’s more challenging fights, but as it’s mostly useful for its weapon art you’ll want to have another good weapon you can switch out to.

Best Elden Ring weapons - the Tarnished holds the Grafted Blade Greatsword in front of him to act as a shield.

Grafted Blade Greatsword

Those looking to pump all of their skill points into strength so they can use one of the game’s colossal weapons effectively should look into wielding the Grafted Blade Greatsword. You need to slay Leonine Misbegotten at Castle Morne in the Weeping Peninsula to get this.

This is one of the nine legendary armaments in the game. It will temporarily increase all of your stats, including poise, when you use its Oath of Vengeance weapon skill. While the buff isn’t quite as significant as the one you get by activating Godrick’s Elden Ring great rune, you don’t need to spend Rune Arcs to activate it, making this weapon art a more practical way to get an almighty buff before a tough fight.

Best Elden Ring weapons - the Tarnished is holding the Prelate's Inferno Crozier with two hands with the Erdtree burning in the distance.

Prelate’s Inferno Crozier

If the Grafted Blade Greatsword doesn’t spark joy in your colossal build then the Prelate’s Inferno Crozier is sure to. You can find it by slaying the Fire Prelate inside Fort Laiedd, which is close to the Seethewater Terminus Site of Grace in Mt. Gelmir.

This heavy axe requires 45 strength and eight dexterity to wield properly, but just one chop is likely to send small enemies flying, and break the poise of large foes. Its weapon art is also one of the coolest. Prelate’s Charge slams the axe down, making the ground beneath you erupt in flames – keep charging the attack and you can run around to spread flames as far as your stamina will allow.

Best Elden Ring weapons - the Tarnished is wielding the Bloodhound Fang while standing on a ledge. A ruined church and the Erdtree are in the distance.

Bloodhound Fang

We recommend the Bloodhound’s Fang greatsword if you want a heavy-hitting early-game weapon with quick bleed buildup. It’s useful for dexterity builds and only really comes unstuck against the hardest bosses. You can obtain this curved greatsword by killing Bloodhound Knight Darriwil in the Forlorn Hound Evergaol in Limgrave. It requires 18 strength and 17 dexterity to wield, but it deals almost as much poise damage as heavier weapons like the halberd.

What makes this extremely powerful early on is the Bloodhound’s Finesse weapon art. This attack only costs eight FP to use and has your character slash upwards, before somersaulting backwards, enabling you to get some distance away from your enemy. If you quickly follow this up with a strong attack, you will dash forward and execute a powerful slash, putting you right back in the pocket.

Best Elden Ring weapons - the Tarnished is holding onto the Rivers of Blood, which is a red katana. The Erdtree burns in the distance.

Rivers of Blood

While the Bloodhound Fang highlights how potent bleed effects can be in Elden Ring, Rivers of Blood reigns supreme over bleed-inflicting weapons. You find it by slaying Bloody Finger Okina, an invader who appears when you arrive at the Church of Repose in the Mountaintops of the Giants.

This katana-like weapon is similar to the Uchigatana, but boasts a couple of key upgrades. For example, it inflicts fire and bleed damage with every regular attack, which makes it easier to proc with. Additionally, its aptly named weapon art, Corpse Piler, has your Tarnished swing the sword twice in rapid succession. You can then follow up with more attacks, making this one of the fastest ways to inflict blood loss on opponents. This makes it the perfect weapon for PvP fights.

Best Elden Ring weapons - the Tarnished grasps the Blasphemous Blade with two hands while standing on a ledge looking out at the burning Erdtree.

Blasphemous Blade

The Blasphemous Blade is a greatsword with so much versatility and raw damage that players have created entire Elden Ring builds around it. For starters, it deals fire damage with every regular hit. Its weapon art, Taker’s Flames, is a ranged attack where the user slams the weapon down into the ground, unleashing a fiery cone of death that even heals the player when you deal damage.

To get this weapon, you need to slay Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, then bring the Remembrance of Blasphemy to Enia in the Roundtable Hold.

Best Elden Ring weapons - the Tarnished holds onto the ethereal Dark Moon Greatsword while standing on a ledge looking out at the burning Erdtree.

Dark Moon Greatsword

The Dark Moon Greatsword is the reward for finishing Ranni’s set of Elden Ring quests, and while it does require at least some strength and dexterity to wield, this is possibly the best weapon for any intelligence build.

Each regular attack inflicts at least some frostbite to enemies, but it’s the Moonlight Greatsword weapon art that makes this so formidable. This weapon skill takes a long time to activate, but lasts for 60 seconds and imbues all of your attacks with extra magic damage and frost buildup. Moonlight Greatsword also changes your charged attack so that it fires projectiles – this is similar to the Reduvia and Black Knife, except it inflicts frostbite rather than bleed or holy damage, and its range is significantly better.

Best Elden Ring weapons - the Tarnished is wielding the Sword of Night and Flame while standing on a ledge looking at the glowing Erdtree.

Sword of Night and Flame

One of the most powerful Elden Ring weapons is technically available right from the start, and you don’t even need to slay anything to get it. This weapon is the Sword of Night and Flame, which simultaneously deals physical, magic, and fire damage. It also has a unique weapon art called Night and Flame Stance. When activated, you hold the sword aloft and any regular attack instead casts the Night Comet sorcery spell, while the heavy attack sweeps the blade to create a short-range wave of fire.

How to obtain the Sword of Night and Flame

While you don’t have to beat any bosses to grab it, it’s pretty tricky to get to. Here are the directions you need to take to get this powerful weapon:

  • From the Northern Liurnia Lake Shore Site of Grace, go north along the road until you reach the Kingsrealm Ruins
  • Head all the way to the back of the ruins until you see a wall
  • Hit the center of the stone wall to reveal a doorway with a Site of Grace beyond it
  • Take a short rest at the Road to the Manor Site of Grace
  • Head up the road towards the keep at the back, making sure to watch out for the falling magic arrows here
  • Activate the next Site of Grace at the Main Caria Manor Gate
  • Hug the left wall, taking care not to wake up the hands on the ground.
  • You should see a hand already awake and some stairs leading into the wall to the left – sprint past the hand and up the stairs
  • Once you’re inside the building, head up the stairs to find the Manor Lower Level Site of Grace
  • Head out onto the raised walkway and run to the first tower, avoiding the ghostly knights that appear
  • Turn left at the tower and run towards the next tower
  • Turn right when you reach the second tower
  • There’s a gap between the second and third tower where the path has eroded on the left of the walkway, jump down to the building beneath
  • Jump down to the next building and climb down the ladder
  • Open the chest in this room to find the Sword of Night and Flame

Best Elden Ring weapons - the Tarnished is wielding Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear while standing on a ledge looking at the glowing Erdtree.

Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear

You need to trade the Remembrance of the Blood Lord you get for beating Mohg, Lord of Blood, with Enia at the Roundtable Hold to get this weapon. This boss is one of the hardest in the game but beat him and you’ll have your hands on a mighty spear that dishes out buckets of bleed damage with every hit.

Its weapon art is the Bloodboon Ritual, a devastating ability that causes an AoE attack to erupt around you, dealing massive amounts of regular and bleed damage. Combine this weapon skill with the Swarm of Flies incantation to make a very strong bleed build.

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And there you have it, our roundup of the best Elden Ring weapons. If you’re a magic user, be sure to check out our list of the best Elden Ring staffs and their locations. No matter your build, the best Elden Ring talismans can provide ample utility, but you might be tempted by our favorite armor sets if you prioritize style over stats.

Dave is a Guides Writer at PCGamesN. He's partial to a good Soulslike and is always up for a hunt in Monster Hunter Rise. If he's not playing fighting games like Street Fighter 6, you'll find him bashing badniks in Sonic games or demolishing demons in Diablo 4. Outside of guides, Dave also attends preview events, including Dragon's Dogma 2 and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, writing features about GTA 6 and the best Steam indies, and reviewing games, most recently WWE 2K24 and Mortal Kombat 1. Before PCGN, Dave wrote for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, and TheSixthAxis. Just don’t talk to him about old games, board games, pro wrestling, or birdwatching; he won’t shut up about any of them!