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

Live version is Patch 1.17, official notes dated 27 August 2026 (Bandai Namco). 1.17.1 on 8 September 2026 is a multiplayer Tarnished Pack item fix. No weapon is named. 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 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. Blasphemous Blade is not in the notes · it was not nerfed. The Tarnished Pack DLC shipped 28 August 2026.

The 4 PvE S weapons below (Blasphemous Blade, Bloodfiend’s Arm, Dark Moon Greatsword, Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear) were not touched by 1.17, so they stay S. 2 new Tarnished Pack weapons · Leontiel’s Greatsword and Reed Great Katana · are called S on a 28 August 2026 DLC list’s 28 August 2026 DLC list (1 source; no 2nd board had published percentages on 29 August, so no invented pick-rate). the 30 July 2024 by-stat list’ best-weapons URL redirected to homepage on 29 August and is not used as a 1.17 board. A 2022 list that predates Shadow of the Erdtree is still the wrong document.

2 more things this guide does deliberately. It covers base Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree. Nightreign is a separate game with its own weapons. And it keeps PvE and PvP apart, because the sources do: Blasphemous Blade rules boss fights and is not the invasion meta, while Backhand Blades rule duels and are nobody's boss-killer. Any list that merges those into 1 letter is telling you less than it knows.

Patch 1.17.1 shipped on 8 September 2026. It closes a multiplayer path that let a player pick up Tarnished Pack items without owning the pack. It names no weapon. The 1.17 PvE letters still hold.

Tarnished Pack (1-source, 28 August 2026, a 28 August 2026 DLC list): Leontiel’s Greatsword and Reed Great Katana are listed S on that DLC write-up. Neither the weapon wiki nor a 2nd dated board had published a pick-rate on 29 August, so they are named and dated rather than given a forged percentage. Blasphemous Blade is still called the dominant PvE somber on that same page.

Bosses, the open world and co-op. Filter by the stat the weapon is built around.

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

Most people do not pick a weapon and then build for it · they have already sunk forty levels into a stat and want the best thing that scales with it. Grouped that way, using the 30 July 2024 by-stat list' best-by-stat lists and the requirements from the wiki.

Best Strength weapons

Best Dexterity weapons

Best Faith weapons

Best Intelligence weapons

Best Arcane weapons

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 22 July 2024 class gallery July 2024 gallery, with post-expansion corrections noted where later sources disagree.

The PvP list is a different list. It is also the thinner half of the evidence · there is far less dated written analysis of duels and invasions than of boss killing · so treat this section as lower confidence and check current invasion discussion before committing a build to it.

Also PvP-relevant: Spear of the Impaler works in both, and Thiollier's Hidden Needle is a sleep tool that exists almost entirely for duels.

What 1.14 actually did to PvP, since it is the last balance patch 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, and 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 thirty levels away.

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 requirements above are reachable:

Do not chase Blasphemous Blade, the Mohg spear, Dark Moon, Rivers of Blood or anything from the DLC endgame early. They are all gated behind content you are not ready for.

4 places the sources genuinely do not agree, published rather than smoothed over.

• Dark Moon Greatsword's Intelligence requirement. the weapon wiki says 38, the 30 July 2024 by-stat list says 36. Check the in-game tooltip before you commit levels; this guide follows the weapon wiki.
• How you get the Sword of Night. 1 source says it drops from Yura, which conflicts with the weapon wiki Ymir and Jolán quest chain. the weapon wiki is the more likely correct 1 and is what is listed above.
• The best colossal. July 2024 sources still name Giant-Crusher and Fallingstar Beast Jaw; later ones 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.

And 1 source to distrust outright: a page ranking well for this keyword was last modified in February 2022, contains no DLC weapons, and puts Bloodhound's Fang near the bottom. It is not wrong because it is old, it is wrong because the game it describes no longer exists.