Elden Ring Best Weapons: The Arsenal That Carries You to Elden Lord

Elden Ring has over 300 weapons. Most are viable for the main story. Maybe 30 are genuinely strong for endgame and Shadow of the Erdtree's punishing DLC bosses. Here's what actually carries, organized by weapon class, with specifics on where to find them and what stats to invest in.

Katanas

Rivers of Blood — the infamous bleed katana. Corpse Piler weapon art melts bosses and PvP opponents. Requires 12 STR / 18 DEX / 20 ARC. Found in Mountaintops of the Giants, dropped by Bloody Finger Okina near the Church of Repose. Still strong post-nerfs.

Moonveil — Intelligence-scaling katana with Transient Moonlight weapon art. The best INT melee weapon in the game. Requires 12 STR / 18 DEX / 23 INT. Found in Gael Tunnel, dropped by the Magma Wyrm boss.

Hand of Malenia — the Waterfowl Dance katana. Difficult to obtain (beat Malenia) but the weapon art is devastating. Requires 16 STR / 48 DEX.

Nagakiba — longest katana in the game. Great range, can be infused with any Ash of War. Found from Yura's questline or by killing him early.

Greatswords

Blasphemous Blade — the lifesteal greatsword. Taker's Flames weapon art deals massive fire damage and heals you per kill. Requires 22 STR / 15 DEX / 21 FAI. Obtained from Rykard's remembrance. One of the best PvE weapons in the entire game because the passive healing makes you nearly unkillable against groups.

Dark Moon Greatsword — Ranni's questline reward. INT-scaling greatsword with frost buildup. Requires 16 STR / 11 DEX / 38 INT. The weapon art buffs the sword with magic damage and frost for 60 seconds.

Sword of Night and Flame — split INT/FAI scaling. Two weapon arts in one (beam and sweep). Requires 12 STR / 12 DEX / 24 INT / 24 FAI. Found in Caria Manor.

Colossal Weapons

Giant-Crusher — highest raw physical damage in the game. Simple, devastating, staggers everything. Requires 60 STR. Found in a chest on a carriage south of Outer Wall Phantom Tree.

Greatsword (the Berserk sword) — the classic colossal greatsword. Found in a chest on a carriage in Caelid near the Smoldering Church. Requires 31 STR / 12 DEX.

Ruins Greatsword — gravity magic colossal sword from Redmane Castle dual boss remembrance. Requires 50 STR / 16 INT. Wave of Destruction weapon art is one of the best crowd-clearing attacks in the game.

Starscourge Greatsword — Radahn's dual colossal swords. Gravity pull weapon art groups enemies for followup. Requires 38 STR / 12 DEX / 15 INT.

Straight Swords and Thrusting Swords

Coded Sword — pure holy damage straight sword with unblockable weapon art. Requires 20 FAI. Given by Brother Corhyn or found at the Roundtable Hold. Excellent against anything weak to holy.

Estoc — the classic thrusting sword. Fast, good range, can be infused with any Ash of War. Starting weapon for Prisoner class or purchasable from the Roundtable Hold.

Noble's Slender Sword — rare drop with the longest reach of any straight sword. Farm from Wandering Nobles.

Spears and Halberds

Bolt of Gransax — lightning spear you can throw. Ancient Lightning Spear weapon art is one of the longest-range attacks in the game. Requires 20 STR / 40 DEX. Found on the giant spear in Leyndell.

Commander's Standard — halberd with a party-wide damage buff weapon art. Requires 24 STR / 14 DEX. Rally Standard buffs you and all allies.

Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear — the bleed spear with Bloodboon Ritual. Insane AoE damage. Requires 24 STR / 14 DEX / 27 ARC. From Mohg's remembrance.

Staves and Seals

Lusat's Glintstone Staff — highest sorcery scaling in the game at the cost of increased FP consumption. Requires 52 INT. Found in Sellia Hideaway.

Carian Regal Scepter — best balanced staff. High scaling without Lusat's FP penalty. Requires 8 STR / 10 DEX / 60 INT. From Rennala's remembrance.

Erdtree Seal — best incantation seal for FAI builds at high investment. Scaling keeps improving up to 80 FAI.

Dragon Communion Seal — best seal for ARC/FAI hybrid builds. Adds ARC scaling to incantations.

Shadow of the Erdtree DLC weapons

The DLC added several weapons that compete with or surpass base game options:

Euporia — twinblade that scales with both INT and FAI. Incredible for hybrid casters.

Greatsword of Radahn (Light) — the Promised Consort version. Massive damage, gravity-enhanced attacks.

Backhand Blade — new weapon type with fast, aggressive moveset. Strong for DEX builds.

Smithscript weapons — throwable melee weapons. Unique playstyle.

Weapon upgrade priority

Somber Smithing Stones upgrade unique (named) weapons to +10. These weapons can't change their Ash of War but have powerful built-in weapon arts.

Regular Smithing Stones upgrade standard weapons to +25. These weapons can be infused with any Ash of War and any affinity.

Both paths cap at roughly equivalent damage. Don't avoid standard weapons because they go to +25 instead of +10 — the scaling is balanced between them.

Prioritize one weapon early. Spreading upgrade materials across multiple weapons leaves you underpowered. Pick one and push it to max before diversifying.

Stat investment by weapon

Pure STR: Giant-Crusher, Greatsword, Ruins Greatsword. Heavy affinity on standard weapons. 60 STR minimum.

Pure DEX: Nagakiba, Hand of Malenia, Bolt of Gransax. Keen affinity. 60 DEX minimum.

Quality (STR/DEX): Starscourge Greatsword, most halberds. Quality affinity. 40/40 split.

INT: Moonveil, Dark Moon Greatsword, Lusat's Staff. 60-80 INT.

FAI: Blasphemous Blade, Coded Sword, Erdtree Seal. 60-80 FAI.

ARC: Rivers of Blood, Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear, Dragon Communion Seal. 45-60 ARC.

What we make at Choost

Granny's Rampage has its own weapon upgrade system — minigun to chainsword to flamethrower through boss kills. Different genre, same "earn your arsenal" philosophy.

For more Elden Ring content, the elden ring tips, elden ring best builds, elden ring best armor, and games like Elden Ring posts have more.

The shortest version

For easy PvE: Blasphemous Blade (lifesteal makes everything manageable).

For bleed damage: Rivers of Blood or Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear.

For INT caster-melee: Moonveil.

For pure bonk: Giant-Crusher.

For all-around quality: Nagakiba with your preferred Ash of War.

For DLC content: Greatsword of Radahn (Light).

Every weapon in Elden Ring is viable for the main story. These are the ones that remain strong through endgame and DLC where damage thresholds and boss HP pools get serious. Pick based on your stat investment and preferred playstyle.