Best weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Swords, sorcery, and a few really weird little guys.
UPDATE: We have added some additional weapons - the Backhand Blade, Spear of the Impaler, Milady, the Staff of the Great Beyond, and the Star-Lined Sword - to this guide that are worth trying out in the Land of Shadow.
There’s no shortage of Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree weapons . FromSoftware added over 100 new armaments to Shadow of the Erdtree , from freaky little whips to swords with spectacular skills and a particularly potent sorcery staff you can only get from completing an easily missable side quest. The balance of weapon types isn’t exactly even. Faith and dexterity builds have the most freedom to choose in Shadow of the Erdtree, but there’s something unique and fun for any Elden Ring build .
We’ve put together a list of the best Elden Ring DLC weapons in every stat category, including arcane, along with where to get them and why they’re so good.
Best weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
- Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree strength weapons
- Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree dexterity weapons
- Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree intelligence weapons
- Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree faith weapons
- Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree arcane weapons
- Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree weird weapons
The below interactive map contains locations of all the weapons listed below that can be found in Elden Ring’s the Land of Shadow:
Best strength weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
- Greatsword of Solitude – Defeat the Blackgaol Kight
- Devonia’s Hammer – Defeat Devonia, Knight of the Crucible near the Rauh Ruins Miquella’s Cross
- Bloodfiend’s Arm – Dropped from Bloodfiend enemies, common in Prospect Town and Rauh Ruins
- Putrescence Cleaver – Exchange Putrescence Knight Remembrance
- Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword – Complete Ruined Forge of Starfall Past
- Greatsword of Radahn (Lord) – Exchange Miquella’s Remembrance
I played almost all of the DLC except the final fight with the Greatsword of Solitude thanks to its exceptional Ash of War that fires off an arc of moonlight and follows up with a powerful slash. Take it off the Blackgaol Knight as soon as you can. Devonia’s Hammer makes up for its skills long animation time with the fact that it actually reaches further than five inches, unlike the nifty-but-limited Anvil Hammer, while Bloodfiend’s Arm infused with a bleed Ash of War has a whopping 200+ blood loss rating.
The Putrescence Cleaver’s skill is powerful and has a wide range, while the Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword hits as hard as it is big – which is to say, really hard. Its Light Charge skill is swift, making it a good balance for the weapon’s size, and it even has magic damage at higher levels.
Finally is Radahn’s sword. Both are solid picks for a strength build , but the Lord version’s skill – Promised Consort – lets you add holy pillars of light to every slash in a fantastic combo just like the ones Radahn used against you.
Best dexterity weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
- Rakshasha’s Great Katana – Won in the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum
- Beast Claws – Obtained after defeating Logur in Gravesite Plain
- Obsidian Lamina – Obtained at the end of Ansbach’s quest
- Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana – Obtained after defeating the boss of Dragon Pit
- Sword of Night – Obtained from Jolan after giving her the Iris of Occultation
- Spear of the Impaler - Obtained by trading Messmer’s Remembrance at the Roundtable Hold
- Milady - Found in a chest atop a tower inside of Castle Ensis
Dexterity characters are eating so well in Shadow of the Erdtree that it’s hard to pick just a few. I’m a big fan of the Rakshasha Katana’s weed cutter skill, but if you do use this weapon, make sure you don’t wear the armor. Every piece of the set increases how much damage you take, because why not make life harder. The Beast Claws are brutal, a highly effective – and fun – variant of the hookclaws, and the Red Bear’s Claws are a good substitute if you want to, well, be a bear.
Obsidian Lamina has a strong built-in skill, good reach, and decent blood loss stacking, and the Sword of Night has the double bonus of dealing magic damage and giving you a fantastically stylish skill, which makes up for the slightly lower damage scaling. Messmer’s Spear of the Impaler isn’t the best weapon on this list, but it is still worth using and very good fun; not only can you unleash a fiery assault using the Messmer’s Assault Ash of War, but you can use this spear as a ranged weapon, throwing it at foes.
On top of that, Milady - a Light Greatsword - is a pretty good Dexterity weapon that you can grab early on in the Land of Shadow. You can also infuse it with a Heavy Ash of War if you’d rather it scale with strength, but we found it to work very nicely with a Lightning Bolt Ash of War in our Lightning Milady build .
Also bear in mind that the Dragon Hunter’s Great Katana is still useful outside the Jagged Peak area. It’s very good at harming dragons, as you’d expect from the name, but it also has high damage scaling in general.
Best faith weapons in Elden Ring DLC
- Sword of Light and Sword of Darkness – Transform the Stone-Sheathed Sword
- Euporia – Found in Enir-Ilim
- Greatsword of Damnation – Exchange Midra’s Remembrnace
- Lightning Perfume Bottles – North Cerulean Coast
- Shadow Sunflower Blossom – Exchange Shadow Sunflower Remembrance
There’s no shortage of faith weapons to experiment with, and most of them are really quite good. Greatsword of Damnation just sounds cool, and its built-in Ash of War is fantastic , as it either inflicts heavy damage on a target in front of you or sends barbs out in a circle around you. Euporia lets you charge and fire a vortex of holy light, and the Sword of Light or Sword of Darkness are essential for any holy build. Their skills buff your holy power or reduce the enemy’s holy resistance, respectively.
Shadow Sunflower Blossom works wonderfully if you’re running a strength and faith build, with a good mix of physical and holy damage and a powerful skill. Finally is the Lightning Perfume Bottle, one of the best choices for a Perfumer build and an easy way to deal lots of damage quickly, if you have the Rolling Spark Ash of War.
Best intelligence weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
- Maternal Staff – Dropped by Mother of Fingers during Count Ymir’s quest
- Chilling Perfume Bottles – Found in Lamenter’s Gaol in Charo’s Hidden Grave
- Rellana’s Twinblade – Exchange Rellana’s Remembance to obtain
- The Velvet Sword of St Trina – Found in Stone Coffin Fissure
- Star-Lined Sword - Dropped by Demi-Human Queen Marigga in the Cerulean Coast
- Staff of the Great Beyond - Obtained by trading Metyr, Mother of Fingers’ Remembrance at the Roundtable Hold
Image credit:VG247/FromSoftware
Shadow of the Erdtree compensates for the base game’s glut of intelligence weapons by adding very few, and most of the ones that are in the DLC have faith or dexterity requirements that they scale off more efficiently. There are some good intelligence weapons, though.
Chilling Perfume Bottles make applying Frostbite – an ailment nearly every boss is weak to – easy, while Rellana’s Twinblades deal high magic damage and have two skills that stagger foes. The Velvet Sword of St Trina puts enemies to sleep properly, instead of just stunning them like old sleep weapons did, and the Maternal Staff has some of the highest sorcery scaling in the game.
We’ve also added the Star-Lined Sword here despite it ultimately having better scaling with Dexterity, because every mage likely needs a decent sword sooner or later, and this one is good fun to use. It’s worth trying out if you’ve tired of the likes of the Moonveil Katana or Dark Moon Greatsword .
The Staff of the Great Beyond is a bizarre staff, given that it allows you to fire off both Sorceries and Incantations from it. As a result, the weapon scales equally with both Intelligence and Faith, making it a good pick for hybrid Int/Faith builds who want to mow down foes with magic sorceries and ailment-inflicting Incantations. If you’re opting for an Intelligence only build, give this staff a miss.
Best arcane weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
- Dryleaf Arts – Defeat Dryleaf Dane in Moorth Ruins
- Dryleaf Footwork – Defeat Dane in Enir-Ilim
- Poleblade of the Bud – Exchange Romina’s Remembrance
- Flowerstone Gavel – Obtain from Florissax after defeating Bayle
- Backhand Blade - found on the floor in Gravesite Plain, northeast of the Scorched Ruins
We’re lumping both Dryleaf weapons under arcane since they end up with higher arcane scaling at higher levels, while dexterity and strength stay pretty low. They’re fast, fun, and easy to use, and you can imbue them with some pretty neat Ashes of War. Romina’s poleblade gets a mention for being one of just a few weapons that actively build Scarlet Rot, an affliction often used against you, but one we rarely get the chance to use in return.
The Flowerstone Gave’s skill is very helpful for lightning builds, as the red lightning it emits reduces the lightning resistance of enemies it hits.
The Backhand Blade is a versatile weapon and one of the best Bleed weapons in the Land of Shadow if you pop a Bleed infusion on it. With a Keen infusion, the weapon has S-scaling with Dexterity, which makes this highly viable as a Dexterity weapon if that’s how you’d prefer to use it. That said, this weapon - especially if you can grab two and dual-wield it - shreds through enemies with Bleed stacks, even if the Arcane scaling is less than ideal with a Bleed infusion. Pair it with Lord of Blood’s Exultation , the White Mask, and your favourite Bleed Ash of War and you’re in for a good time.
Best weird weapons in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
- Tooth Whip – Found in Bonny Village
- Rabbath’s Cannon – Found on Rabbath’s Rise
- Forked-Tongue Hatchet – Obtained randomly in Fog Rift Catacombs
- Bonny Butchering Knife – Found in Bonny Village
- Poisoned Hand – Found in Belurat Tower’s sewer
- Madding Hand – Near Woodland Trail Site of Grace in the Abyssal Woods
- Thiollier’s Hidden Needle – Obtained by completing Thiollier’s quest
Image credit:VG247/FromSoftware
The Tooth Whip and Hands are nasty and weird, but they’re surprisingly good sources of poison (and madness, in the Madding Hand’s case). Rabbath’s Cannon is fun because who doesn’t want a handheld cannon, and the Bonny Butchering Knife is just plain creepy. The potentates of Bonny Village use them, presumably in butchery, and what’s leftover probably ends up in jars. If that’s not creepy to you, visit Bonny Gaol or Belurat Gaol, and also remember all those potentate cookbooks with recipes for livers and other body parts.
Thiollier’s Needle is weird in the sense that you’d think a quest weapon would scale better. Its damage output is low, but it’s one of the easiest ways to spread eternal sleep on the battlefield – a curiously underused ailment, despite its importance to the plot.
Also, an axe made like a lizard tongue? Sure, why not.
If you’re after more Elden Ring help, check out our picks for the best Shadow of the Erdtree Ashes of War and outfit yourself with some peak skills.
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