Elden Ring Weapon Tier List. Patch 1.17 + Tarnished Pack (2026)

Live version is Patch 1.17. Official notes are dated 27 August 2026. This is a balance pass. The claim that nothing has changed since 1.14 stopped being true on that date.

Named weapon changes in those notes: buffs to the Smithscript Dagger and Rellana's Twin Blades (critical), Smithscript Axe / Spear and Spear of the Impaler (throw stamina + power), Carian Sorcery Sword (Intelligence now scales all damage types), Smithscript Greathammer throw power, Golem Fist range, and all perfume bottles' attack power. Most greatshields gained guard boost. Rakshasa's Great Katana now has a longer delay before a right-hand attack after a left-hand attack. The 1.17 notes leave Blasphemous Blade unnamed.

The Tarnished Pack DLC shipped 28 August 2026. Official pack copy names 2 classes, 3 Torrent skins and 4 armor sets. Leontiel's Greatsword and Reed Great Katana sit on a 28 August DLC list from 1 source. No 2nd board published a pick-rate, so they stay off the S board.

The 4 PvE S weapons (Blasphemous Blade, Bloodfiend's Arm, Dark Moon Greatsword, Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear) were unnamed in 1.17, so they stay S. This guide covers base Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree. Nightreign is a separate game with its own weapons.

PvE and PvP stay apart because they reward opposite things. Area attacks, status, healing and stance breaks win bosses. Fast recovery, crouch pokes and mind games win duels. The boards above already split those letters.

Bosses, the open world and co-op. Filter by the stat the weapon is built around. The PvE board above holds the letters. The why for each S and A pick sits here.

Blasphemous Blade (Greatsword, Str 22 / Dex 15 / Fai 21). Taker's Flames is long-range multi-hit fire damage that heals you on every kill. 4 years and a full expansion later it is still the PvE lock, and the healing is why: it removes the flask pressure that makes hard bosses hard.

Bloodfiend's Arm (Colossal, SOTE, Str 28 / Dex 11 / Arc 16). An infusable colossal whose charged heavies throw a blood splash. On a Blood plus Cragblade setup it stacks extreme bleed and stance damage at once.

Dark Moon Greatsword (Greatsword, Str 16 / Dex 11 / Int 38). The Intelligence endgame melee: a posture buff plus a frost projectile off the skill. The requirement is Intelligence 38 on the in-game tooltip. 2 independent reads match that number today.

Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear (Great Spear, Str 24 / Dex 14 / Arc 27). Bloodboon Ritual is a multi-cast bleed area attack with a fire buff attached. On an Arcane build it deletes bosses.

Star Fist (Fists, Str 12 / Dex 8) sits on the S/A line. Fast heavy attacks, high stance damage and innate bleed on almost no stat investment. It is the rare weapon that is excellent in PvE and PvP.

A row why-text. Wing of Astel: Nebula explosions plus free-FP magic heavies when Dark Moon's pace is too slow. Sword Lance: Spinning Gravity Thrust applies bleed across a multi-hit skill. Milady: fast unique moveset on an infusable frame, the default Dexterity start for the DLC. Spear of the Impaler: remembrance hybrid Dexterity and Faith that staggers and melts. Fire Knight's Greatsword: the post-expansion Faith answer alongside Queelign's. Nagakiba: longest katana reach with a Blood infusion. Moonveil: Transient Moonlight is still strong after its nerfs. Rivers of Blood: Corpse Piler and bleed still make it the Dexterity katana pick. The expansion's bleed colossals took its crown. Bloodhound's Fang: obtainable in the 1st few hours and still relevant into the midgame. Death's Poker: frost poke for Intelligence, thinner corroboration than the S row, which is why it sits in A.

If you are picking 1 weapon and never rethinking it, take the Blasphemous Blade. Healing on kill compounds across a long fight in a way raw damage does not. That is why this weapon has outlasted every balance pass aimed at it.

A build service assembles the weapon, the infusion, the talismans and the stat spread. Runes for the 38 Intelligence wall are Elden Ring runes from $9.

A queue plan is 1 main and 1 swap. The S weapon you can actually reach is the main. The A weapon that uses the same stat is the swap. Faith mains lock Blasphemous Blade and keep Spear of the Impaler or Fire Knight's Greatsword for when Taker's Flames is the wrong tool. Intelligence mains lock Dark Moon at 38 and keep Wing of Astel for a faster fight. Arcane mains lock Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear or Bloodfiend's Arm and keep Nagakiba for reach. Strength mains lock Star Fist early and move to Bloodfiend's Arm or Anvil Hammer once the wall is paid. Write your level, your 2 highest stats and the boss in chat. The answer is 1 name.

Most people do not pick a weapon and then build for it · they have already sunk 40 levels into a stat and want the best thing that scales with it. Grouped that way, using the dated by-stat lists and the in-game requirements.

Best Strength weapons

Weapon	Requirement	Why
Star Fist	Str 12 / Dex 8	the Strength pick that asks for almost nothing, and it asks for almost nothing. Heavy infusion takes it to an A scaling.
Bloodfiend's Arm	Str 28 / Dex 11 / Arc 16	The S-tier colossal. Technically Arcane-hybrid, but it is where heavy Strength builds end up.
Anvil Hammer	Str 39 / Dex 10 / Int 11 / Fai 20	The pure-Strength colossal the expansion added. That Strength 39 is the single highest stat wall on this page.
Sword Lance	Strength-forward, Blood infusion	On Strength list; wins through repeated bleed application rather than raw numbers.
Greatsword of Solitude	Str 27 / Dex 13	Expansion greatsword, from the Blackgaol Knight duel.

Best Dexterity weapons

Best Faith weapons

Best Intelligence weapons

Weapon	Requirement	Why
Dark Moon Greatsword	Str 16 / Dex 11 / Int 38	The classic Intelligence endgame melee. The Int requirement reads 38 on the item and 36 in some listings. Check the tooltip before spending levels.
Wing of Astel	Intelligence and Dexterity hybrid	The aggressive option: nebula explosions and free-FP magic heavies.
Star-Lined Sword	Str 10 / Dex 23 / Int 21	Expansion katana for Intelligence hybrids.
Death's Poker	Intelligence focus	Frost poke. Rated highly on the 2026 roundups but with thinner corroboration than the rest.

Best Arcane weapons

Weapon	Requirement	Why
Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear	Str 24 / Dex 14 / Arc 27	Bloodboon Ritual is the Arcane boss-killer. Requires beating Mohg for the remembrance.
Nagakiba	Dexterity and Arcane, Blood infusion	top Arcane option · the longest katana reach in the game.
Rivers of Blood	Str 12 / Dex 18 / Arc 20	Corpse Piler still works; it is simply no longer the strongest bleed option.
Dane's Footwork and Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword	Expansion	Both on Arcane list.

Note how often the answer crosses stats. Bloodfiend's Arm wants Strength and Arcane, the Spear of the Impaler wants Dexterity and Faith, and the Blasphemous Blade wants 3. Pure single-stat builds give up most of this list, which is the real argument for a respec before chasing any of it.

If you want to stay with a weapon class rather than switch to whatever is strongest, this is the best in each. Category picks follow the dated class gallery, with post-expansion corrections noted where later lists disagree.

Class	Best pick	Note
Daggers	Reduvia	Early bleed and a strong opener
Straight Swords	Sword of Night and Flame	The dual-magic stance; still rated highly
Greatswords	Blasphemous Blade · Dark Moon Greatsword	Both consensus S tier
Colossal Swords	Maliketh's Black Blade	Situational, strong stance help in co-op
Heavy Thrusting Swords	Bloody Helice	Post-expansion the sources prefer Sword Lance or Queelign's
Curved Swords	Wing of Astel	Agreed across sources
Curved Greatswords	Bloodhound's Fang	Early and lasting
Katanas	Rivers of Blood · Moonveil	Expansion-era lists elevate Sword of Night, Star-Lined and Nagakiba
Twinblades	Godskin Peeler · Eleonora's Poleblade	Skill-centric
Axes	Rosus' Axe	Niche summon skill
Greataxes	Greataxe	Blunt early damage that fades before the endgame
Flails	Bastard's Stars	Intelligence Nebula
Great Hammers	Envoy's Long Horn	Bubble Shower melts bosses
Colossal Weapons	Giant-Crusher · Fallingstar Beast Jaw	Superseded post-expansion by Bloodfiend's Arm, and by Anvil Hammer for pure Strength
Spears	Cross-Naginata	Bleed combo
Great Spears	Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear	Consensus
Halberds	Golden Halberd	Golden Vow utility on the skill
Fists	Star Fist	Consensus
Bows	Pulley Bow	Range and damage
Greatbows	Lion Greatbow	Radahn's Spears synergy
Staffs	Staff of Loss	Night Comet package · a caster tool. It is for casters
Sacred Seals	Erdtree Seal	Highest Faith scaling · caster

The PvP board above holds the letters. Confidence is lower than the PvE board: there is far less dated written analysis of duels and invasions than of boss killing. Check current invasion discussion before committing a build to it.

Backhand Blade and Star Fist lock duels. Carian Thrusting Shield sits with them in duels. Backhands took a direct PvP damage cut in 1.14 and still lead.

S for invasions also includes Star Fist and Claws of Night setups plus Cleanrot Knight's Sword.

A is Rakshasa's Great Katana, Poleblade of the Bud, Shamshir in duels, and the thrusting shield when you invade. Weed Cutter's poise was nerfed in 1.14.

Spear of the Impaler works on both lists. Thiollier's Hidden Needle is a sleep tool that exists almost entirely for duels.

The C row on that board is the PvE S pair. Blasphemous Blade and Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear delete bosses. They sit outside the invasion meta.

What 1.14 actually did to PvP, since it is the last PvP-named pass and therefore still the current state: Backhand Blades took a PvP damage cut; dual-wielded spears, Pata and Weed Cutter were nerfed; Great Katana and Swift Spear lost cancel timings; heavy-attack speed went up class-wide.

Here is the part tier lists usually skip. Knowing the best weapon is worthless if it sits behind a questline you have already locked out or a stat wall 30 levels away.

Weapon	How you get it	Pain	Gate
Uchigatana	Samurai starting class, or Deathtouched Catacombs in Limgrave	Low	None
Bloodhound's Fang	Beat Bloodhound Knight Darriwil in the Limgrave evergaol	Low to medium	An early skill check
Reduvia	Bloody Finger Nerijus invasion on the early Liurnia path	Low to medium	NPC invasion
Moonveil	Magma Wyrm in Gael Tunnel, Caelid	Medium	Midgame dungeon boss
Star Fist	Leyndell colosseum area	Medium to high	Capital access
Blasphemous Blade	Trade Rykard's remembrance to Enia	High	Volcano Manor, then Rykard
Mohgwyn's Sacred Spear	Trade Mohg's remembrance to Enia	High to extreme	Mohgwyn Palace access, then Mohg
Dark Moon Greatsword	The complete Ranni questline · Radahn, Nokron, the Fingerslayer Blade, Astel, then the ring at Manus Celes	Extreme	A multi-region quest that is easy to break
Rivers of Blood	Bloody Finger Okina at the Church of Repose	High	Mountaintops
Bloodfiend's Arm	Bloodfiend group at Prospect Town, Gravesite Plain	Medium once you are in the DLC	Requires Shadow of the Erdtree
Backhand Blade	Coffin northeast of the Scorched Ruins	Low, inside the DLC	Requires the DLC
Anvil Hammer	Ruined Forge Lava Intake altar	Medium	DLC, and a Strength 39 wall
Rakshasa's Great Katana	Kill Rakshasa at the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum	Medium	DLC
Sword of Night	Finish Count Ymir's finger quest, then give Jolán the Iris of Occultation	High	DLC, and a quest branch you can miss
Spear of the Impaler	Messmer's remembrance, traded to Enia	Extreme	DLC, and one of its hardest fights
Obsidian Lamina	Ansbach's quest and the DLC endgame path	Extreme	DLC late game

Read that column and the shape of the problem is obvious: the best weapons in this game are gated by remembrance bosses, long questlines and stat requirements. Skill at using them is a later question. Strength 39 for the Anvil Hammer, Intelligence 38 for the Dark Moon, Arcane 27 for the Mohg spear · and a Ranni questline that breaks if you talk to the wrong NPC in the wrong order.

Before the stat walls above are reachable, use the Limgrave board. The letters are already there.

Uchigatana (Str 11 / Dex 15). Free with the Samurai start or a short Limgrave catacomb run. Unsheathe plus bleed carries a long way.

Bloodhound's Fang (Str 18 / Dex 17). The best early investment in the game. 1 evergaol boss and you have a weapon that stays relevant into the midgame.

Reduvia. Fast bleed, available almost immediately on low dagger stats.

Greataxe. Blunt early damage if you want to hit things hard and think later.

Backhand Blade (Str 10 / Dex 13). If you own the DLC and start it underlevelled, the requirements here are absurdly low for the power.

Leave Blasphemous Blade, the Mohg spear, Dark Moon, Rivers of Blood and the DLC endgame on the C row of that board. They sit behind content you are not ready for.

4 places lists still split, published rather than smoothed over.

• Dark Moon Greatsword Intelligence requirement. The in-game tooltip is 38. A 2024 by-stat list printed 36. This page follows the tooltip. 2 independent reads today also print 38.
• How you get the Sword of Night. It does not drop from Yura. The quest chain that matches the live game is Count Ymir and Jolán. That is the path listed in the cost table.
• The best colossal. July 2024 lists still name Giant-Crusher and Fallingstar Beast Jaw. Later lists crown Bloodfiend's Arm, with Anvil Hammer for pure Strength. Prefer the post-expansion answer.
• Moonveil and Rivers of Blood. Still category bests, and clearly demoted relative to the expansion's bleed colossals. Both statements are true at once.

A page that still ranks well for this keyword was last modified in February 2022, contains no DLC weapons, and puts Bloodhound's Fang near the bottom. The game it describes no longer exists.