Unleash Your Power: Mastering Elden Ring Weapons

Arne Turner 25 Jun 2025

Embarking on your journey through the treacherous Lands Between in Elden Ring demands more than just skill and courage; it requires a deep understanding of your arsenal. From the moment you step foot into Limgrave, you'll discover that the vast array of Elden Ring weapons are not just tools for dealing damage, but intricate extensions of your chosen playstyle and build. Each weapon in this sprawling open world boasts unique properties, from its damage type and attribute scaling to its special skills and passive effects, making the choice of armament a critical decision for any Tarnished.

Unlike many action RPGs where weapon choices might feel linear, Elden Ring prides itself on offering unparalleled freedom. The sheer complexity and variety of Elden Ring weapons mean that what works for one player might not suit another, fostering a vibrant community dedicated to theorycrafting and discovering optimal builds. Whether you prefer the brute force of a colossal sword, the swift precision of a katana, or the arcane might of a staff, there's a weapon (or several!) waiting to perfectly complement your journey to become Elden Lord.

The Foundations of Elden Ring Weapons
Understanding Weapon Mechanics: Beyond Raw Damage
- Damage Types and Attribute Scaling
- Weapon Skills and Ashes of War
Weapon Classes: A Diverse Arsenal
Upgrading and Customizing Your Elden Ring Weapons
- Smithing Stones and Somber Smithing Stones
- Affinities and Modifications
Choosing the Best Elden Ring Weapons for Your Build
Legendary Elden Ring Weapons: Power and Prestige
Beyond the Meta: The Viability of All Elden Ring Weapons
Conclusion: Mastering Your Arsenal in the Lands Between

The Foundations of Elden Ring Weapons

The world of Elden Ring is brimming with an astonishing variety of armaments, each offering a unique combat experience. From the simplest Dagger to the most formidable Colossal Sword, every weapon is designed with distinct characteristics that influence your gameplay. Unlike many games where a higher number always means "better," Elden Ring encourages players to delve deeper into the nuances of each item. This means understanding not just raw damage, but also attack speed, attack type (standard, thrust, slash, strike), range, and the crucial element of status effects. These complexities are what make the Elden Ring weapons system truly stand out, offering immense strategic depth.

You'll acquire Elden Ring weapons through various means across the Lands Between. Many are randomly found as drops from defeated enemies, hidden within treasure chests scattered throughout the field, or obtained as coveted rewards for slaying the game's formidable bosses. Merchants, such as Kale at the Church of Elleh or the Twin Maiden Husks in the Roundtable Hold, also offer a selection of weapons for purchase, often expanding their inventory as you progress and provide them with Bell Bearings. This diverse acquisition method ensures that exploration and combat are constantly rewarding, keeping players on the lookout for new additions to their arsenal.

Understanding Weapon Mechanics: Beyond Raw Damage

To truly master your combat in Elden Ring, it's essential to grasp the underlying mechanics that govern how Elden Ring weapons perform. It's not simply about the biggest number on the screen; it's about how that number is generated, what kind of damage it deals, and how it interacts with your character's attributes. This intricate system allows for a remarkable degree of customization and strategic thinking, ensuring that every choice you make about your gear has meaningful consequences.

Damage Types and Attribute Scaling

Every weapon in Elden Ring has a specific damage profile. This includes its primary damage type, which can be:

Standard: General physical damage, often found on swords and axes.
Strike: Blunt force damage, highly effective against armored foes and crystalline enemies. Hammers, clubs, and fists often deal strike damage. Varre's Bouquet, for instance, is recommended for enemies weak to striking weapons, and also inflicts blood loss, making it a versatile choice.
Slash: Cutting damage, good against unarmored or fleshy targets. Katanas, curved swords, and many greatswords excel here.
Pierce/Thrust: Puncturing damage, excellent for counter-attacks and often found on spears, rapiers, and certain heavy attacks from swords.

Beyond physical damage, many weapons also deal elemental or magical damage (Magic, Fire, Lightning, Holy), which scales with different attributes.

Attribute scaling is perhaps the most critical factor in determining a weapon's effectiveness for your build. Each weapon scales with one or more of your character's attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane. Scaling is typically graded from E (poor) to S (excellent), indicating how much bonus damage the weapon gains from investing points into that specific attribute. For example, a weapon with "A" scaling in Strength will gain significantly more attack power from your Strength stat than one with "C" scaling. This means that even if two weapons have similar base damage, their scaling can drastically alter their true potential in the hands of a properly built character. Strength builds, for instance, naturally gravitate towards large and colossal weapons, benefiting from their typically high Strength scaling and the increased physical defense that allows for poise tanking.

Additionally, some weapons come with passive effects that build up status ailments on hit, such as:

Bleed (Blood Loss): Deals a burst of damage once the meter fills.
Poison/Scarlet Rot: Inflicts damage over time. The Serpent Bow, for example, is noted for its ability to inflict poison on enemies from range.
Frostbite: Deals damage, reduces stamina recovery, and increases damage taken.
Madness: Deals damage and consumes FP.
Sleep: Puts enemies to sleep.

These passive effects add another layer of strategic depth, allowing players to exploit enemy weaknesses or control the battlefield.

Weapon Skills and Ashes of War

One of the most defining features of Elden Ring weapons is their associated Weapon Skill, often referred to as Weapon Arts or Ashes of War. Most weapons come with a unique skill that can be activated by pressing the L2 (or LT) button. These skills consume FP (Focus Points), the blue bar located below your HP bar, and each consumes different amounts based on their relative power and utility. Some skills can even be charged by holding L2, making them use more FP but with increased damage or a more potent effect. This mechanic allows for powerful, often visually spectacular, attacks that can turn the tide of a battle.

The beauty of Ashes of War is their modularity. For most standard weapons, you can freely swap out their default Weapon Skill for any Ash of War you've collected throughout the game. This not only changes the skill but also allows you to alter the weapon's affinity, thereby modifying its attribute scaling and damage type. For instance, you could apply the "Heavy" affinity to a weapon to significantly boost its Strength scaling, or "Magic" to add Intelligence scaling and magic damage. This flexibility ensures that you can truly customize your Elden Ring weapons to perfectly match your character's stats and preferred combat style. However, certain unique or "special" weapons come with fixed, unchangeable skills that are often integral to their identity and power.

Weapon Classes: A Diverse Arsenal

Elden Ring categorizes its vast collection of weapons into numerous classes, each with its own characteristic moveset, attack speed, and general utility. Understanding these classes is key to choosing Elden Ring weapons that align with your preferred combat rhythm. Here’s a general overview:

Daggers: Fast, low damage, but often have critical hit bonuses and can apply status effects quickly. Excellent for parry-and-reposte playstyles.
Straight Swords: Balanced, versatile, and easy to use. A solid choice for beginners and veterans alike.
Greatswords: Slower than straight swords but with higher damage and better stagger potential. A good balance of speed and power.
Colossal Swords & Weapons: The heaviest and slowest weapons, but deliver immense damage and stagger. Ideal for Strength builds that can poise tank through hits.
Curved Swords & Katanas: Fast, often with unique movesets and good for applying status effects like Bleed. Katanas are particularly popular for their swift attacks and built-in Bleed.
Thrusting Swords & Heavy Thrusting Swords: Focus on piercing damage, excellent for counter-attacks and maintaining distance.
Axes & Greataxes: Deliver powerful, wide swings, often dealing Strike or Standard damage.
Hammers & Great Hammers: Primarily deal Strike damage, making them superb against heavily armored or stony foes.
Fists & Claws: Very fast, low range, but can apply status effects rapidly and often have unique combo attacks.
Spears & Great Spears: Offer excellent range, allowing you to poke enemies from a safe distance. Often deal Pierce damage.
Halberds & Reapers: Mid-range polearms with versatile movesets, often combining sweeping attacks with thrusts.
Whips: Unique for their ability to bypass shields and their long reach, though generally lower damage.
Bows & Crossbows: Ranged options for pulling enemies, dealing damage from afar, or applying status effects. The Serpent Bow, as mentioned, is a good example for inflicting poison from range.
Glintstone Staves: Catalysts for casting Sorceries, scaling primarily with Intelligence.
Sacred Seals: Catalysts for casting Incantations, scaling primarily with Faith.

Each class provides a distinct feel and tactical advantage, encouraging players to experiment and find their preferred combat rhythm. The weight of a weapon also plays a significant role, affecting your equip load and thus your dodge roll speed, adding another layer to your build considerations. For example, colossal Elden Ring weapons will heavily impact your equip load, requiring more Endurance investment.

Upgrading and Customizing Your Elden Ring Weapons

Once you've found a weapon that resonates with your playstyle, the journey doesn't end there. Elden Ring provides robust systems for upgrading and modifying your Elden Ring weapons, allowing you to significantly boost their power and tailor them to your specific build. This process is crucial for staying competitive as you face increasingly challenging foes across the Lands Between.

Smithing Stones and Somber Smithing Stones

The primary method of increasing a weapon's base damage and scaling is through upgrading it at a Blacksmith (initially Smithing Master Hewg at the Roundtable Hold). This requires Smithing Stones, which come in various tiers (Smithing Stone [1] through [8]) and are used for standard weapons. Each upgrade level requires a certain number of stones of the appropriate tier. Reaching the maximum upgrade level (+25 for standard weapons) significantly boosts their damage output, often making even early-game weapons viable in late-game content if you invest in them.

For unique or "special" Elden Ring weapons (often those obtained from bosses or found in specific locations), a different type of material is required: Somber Smithing Stones. These also come in tiers (Somber Smithing Stone [1] through [9]), with a single Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone for the final upgrade. Special weapons typically have fewer upgrade levels (max +10) but gain substantial power per level. The rarity of these stones often reflects the inherent power and unique abilities of the weapons they upgrade.

Affinities and Modifications

Beyond raw upgrades, the ability to modify your Elden Ring weapons with different affinities (through Ashes of War) offers unparalleled customization. When you apply an Ash of War to a standard weapon, you're given the option to choose an affinity that fundamentally alters its scaling and damage type. For example:

Heavy: Increases Strength scaling, often reducing other scalings.
Keen: Increases Dexterity scaling.
Quality: Balances Strength and Dexterity scaling, ideal for hybrid builds.
Magic: Adds Magic damage and Intelligence scaling.
Fire/Flame Art: Adds Fire damage and scales with Strength/Faith respectively.
Lightning: Adds Lightning damage and scales with Dexterity.
Sacred: Adds Holy damage and Faith scaling.
Poison/Blood/Frost: Adds respective status effects and scales with Arcane (and often Strength/Dexterity).

This system means that a single weapon, like a basic Longsword, can be adapted to almost any build by simply changing its Ash of War and affinity. This flexibility is a cornerstone of Elden Ring's build diversity, allowing players to truly optimize their Elden Ring weapons for their chosen stats and playstyle. The game's internal comparison tables, which organize all weapons at max upgrade values with various affinities, are invaluable tools for players looking to min-max their builds, providing insights into damage values, scaling values, defense values, and passive effects.

Choosing the Best Elden Ring Weapons for Your Build

The concept of "best" is highly subjective in Elden Ring, as the game excels at making every build viable if you invest in it properly. However, certain Elden Ring weapons can certainly give you an edge when you need it most, especially against specific enemy types or bosses. The key is to compare and choose weapons that perfectly complement your playstyle and attribute distribution.

Consider your primary stats:

Strength Builds: Look for weapons with high Strength scaling (A or S). Colossal Swords, Greataxes, and Great Hammers are prime candidates. These builds boast more physical defense and excel at poise tanking, trading blows with enemies.
Dexterity Builds: Prioritize weapons with high Dexterity scaling. Katanas, Curved Swords, Twinblades, and many thrusting weapons fit this category. They emphasize speed, rapid attacks, and often status effect buildup.
Intelligence Builds: Focus on Glintstone Staves for sorceries, but also consider "Magic" affinity weapons or unique weapons with inherent Magic damage and Intelligence scaling. The Moonveil Katana or Dark Moon Greatsword are classic examples.
Faith Builds: Sacred Seals for incantations are essential. For melee, look for "Sacred" affinity weapons or unique weapons with Holy damage and Faith scaling, such as the Blasphemous Blade.
Arcane Builds: These builds thrive on status effects. Weapons with innate Bleed, Poison, or Frost buildup that also scale with Arcane are ideal. The Rivers of Blood katana or Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear are infamous examples.

Hybrid builds, combining two or more attributes, can open up even more diverse weapon choices, often leveraging unique weapons that scale with multiple stats. For instance, an Executor best build might involve specific weapon combinations that synergize with particular Ashes of War or passive effects to maximize damage and utility.

Legendary Elden Ring Weapons: Power and Prestige

Among the countless armaments in the Lands Between, a select few stand out as "Legendary Weapons." These are often unique, powerful Elden Ring weapons that boast exceptional stats, unique Weapon Skills, and often come with rich lore. Collecting all nine legendary weapons in Elden Ring's base game is even an achievement for dedicated Tarnished. These armaments provide a blend of utility, raw damage, stagger potential, and unique mechanics that help them stand out—even amid the game’s already diverse selection.

Legendary weapons are typically acquired by defeating formidable bosses, completing challenging quests, or exploring hidden corners of the map. For example, the Godslayer's Greatsword is found after defeating the Godskin Apostle in the Caelid Divine Tower, while the Ruins Greatsword is defended by the Misbegotten Warrior and Crucible Knight in Redmane Castle. Each legendary weapon has its own specific acquisition method, attack power, status ailment buildup, and stat scaling, making them highly sought after by players looking to optimize their builds or simply collect the most prestigious items.

Some notable legendary Elden Ring weapons include:

Dark Moon Greatsword: A powerful Intelligence-scaling greatsword with a unique ranged attack.
Malenia's Hand of Malenia: A Dexterity-scaling Katana with a devastating, iconic Weapon Skill.
Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear: An Arcane/Faith spear with a powerful AoE bloodflame attack.
Blasphemous Blade: A Faith/Strength greatsword

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