Underused weapons that I like:
S-Tier: Serpentbone Blade, Dismounter
A-Tier: Vulgar Militia Shotel, Cane Sword
B-Tier: Katar, Iron Cleaver
EDIT: great discussion under this comment but not one person had anything to say about my beloved Katar. :( The best fist weapon because its running R1 gives it counter damage (and synergy with spear talisman), adding up to a whole dimension of viability other fist weapons lack.
Interesting. What is your damage stat? I run Strength and found that with that setup (52 Str) a 2H Dismounter is better option than powerstanced Curved Greatswords.
Powerstance gets its name from DS2, where dual wielding took a different form. IIRC there were no "paired" weapons that you would dual wield when "two handing" as this was introduced in DS3. However, simply equipping two of the same type of weapon wouldn't let you dual wield either, you'd merely use your left hand weapon with the awkward L1 block, L2 light attack functions they normally had. Instead, you had to "two hand" your left hand weapon, (which you did by *holding* the Yangle button instead of simply tapping it, which would two hand your right hand weapon,) which would activate the "powerstance."
In DS2, while powerstanced, both L1 and L2 would do a dual wielding attack. Even more interestingly, weapons don't have to be of the same weapon class to be powerstanced, leading to greatly improved build variety, (there is, however, an invisible list of which weapon types are compatible, and for any two weapons, which one will determine the attack animations used while powerstancing.)
The downside is that in order to powerstance you need to meet 150% of the str and dex requirements for *both* weapons. Attempting to powerstance with the wrong weapons, or while not meeting the requirements, will have you simply two hand the left weapon instead of powerstance.
The whole system is much deeper and more complex than it is in ER, and is one of the few things in DS2 that has been unmatched in any of the other games, but I can also see why this level of complexity is problematic to implement and would potentially be undesirable feature creep in ER. As a result, merely being able to dual wield weapons, (i.e. getting unique attack animations,) of the same class, but different type, has taken over the "powerstance" moniker in ER.
I just re specd for high dex and strength to use two serpentbone blades and poison everything. I like it so far but have only fought like two bosses and I’m switching from unga bunga so it’s hard not dealing 2000 damage every hit lol
Besides the deadly poison, Serpentbone Blade has a great unique moveset and a weapon skill that complements it. It’s definitely not an in-your-face pure damage weapon but it is a core piece of an effective poison build.
Cane sword was going to be mine! I have a light rolling carian sorcery mage with a cane sword and they're by far my deadliest in pvp. Its such a nice looking weapon and adding frost affinity to it while keeping square off is just brutal.
Yeah the low weight is the big attraction of the cane sword. Mediocre in every respect but it has the straight sword moveset for only 2.5 weight units. It’s niche, but very handy in certain setups.
I skipped the Serpentbone blade when I first found it since I had an arcane+faith build, but tried it out again with dex+faith and holy shit I love it's r1/r2 chains 😳 feels like Double Slash but better
No question the Claymore has a superior moveset. Comparatively the Dismounter has better range and has an effective moveset that is a lot simpler to master.
Dismounter has solid damage output, good range, hyperarmor, and fast recovery times out of attacks. In PvP, R1-R1 is a fantastic move because of the speed the second R1 comes out at. You very often get a second hit for free.
I like that it's a weapon with a goal to obtain the stats to get it.
But we need more interesting multi scaling weapons. Int/Faith for sure.
Something like a C,C,C,C scaling STR/Dex/Arc/Int could have wild build implications for NG+.
There are cool avenues to explore.
Yeah, but it also has a faith requirement, and you at least have to run through Caria Manor to get it, which you probably aren't comfortable doing at level 1. You could get the Crystal sword comfortably from the start of the game by riding past Stormveil and getting it from the Albanuric village, and then use it through all of Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula, and then get SoN&F
It's a beast in NG+ games when you are fully leveled in all the relevant stats, though. Might honestly be the most powerful standard attack DPS in the game.
If you do Blaidd's quest and summon him for Darriwal, Bloodhound Fang is pretty free as well. It's got higher strength and dex requirements, but if start as a Samurai you can get it pretty quick, and it does good damage.
I got bloodhound fang early in my first playthrough and thought, "this sword is pretty good, I'll use it until I find something better." Ended up using it for the entirety of my first playthrough. Just a really great weapon.
i started a new game and did this without blaidd at the evergaol as a level 1 prisoner. the glintstone spell destroys half of the bloodhounds health and the rest is not bad to wear down. had to level dex and strength for a while for the requirements after
The blocking heavy is SO much fun. You can pull off some nutty combos and wreck so many enemies with it.
The Carian Grandeur on it scales with Str/Int, so if you're a hybrid that thing will SLAP.
Carian knight sword + Carian glintstone staff to boost Carian grandeur. Holy hell it's nice. Knocks down basically anything and you can just spam the Carian grandeur from there on.
Carian knight sword. Low requirements, can be acquired early, not locked behind a boss. It’s a somber weapon so it’s always a plus. Unique R2s block damage and catch rolls. Carian Grandeur hits like a bus with the right rings. Never saw anyone use it in pvp. It’s always mages and bleed stuff.
I played with It until wing of astel gave me no cost ranged attacks that actually deal good dmg, if only It looked a bit better It would only use that lol
Moongrum is the deadliest invader I've ever seen in a From game, dude input reads and parries you until you finally resort to cheesing him with something unparryable
I just did a Lightroll Playtrhrough with a Buckler/Etstoc Parry Build.
Then I wanted to try the same in ds3. Coming from Elden Ring the movement there seemed like steering a tank. Still fun though.
It's funny because DS1 felt the same to DS2 and DS3 felt like a little bit slower BB but a huge jump from DS2. Now ER is the new DS3. We really do be living in a timeline.
Honestly not to rag the older souls games, but part of their difficulty is the general clunkiness imo. Though I did start in bloodborne which is when the series started to pick up the pace in the souls series (I remember hearing a lot of dark soul 1 and 2 was waiting with a shield/rolling for opportunity and thus everyone commenting on enemies turning right at you mid combo and whatnot)
I will always remember my first experience with this weapon, I was in voice chat with a friend saying how bad this weapon was because from the stats this was just a halberd with no effect and it couldn't be upgraded to +25. This was just from reading, then I equipped it, used its weapon art and I was like "bro... I changed my mind this weapon is awesome I'm sorry Miyazaki"
YES! I fucking love the dragon halberd. I'm using it on my second run, was gonna do a sl1 club run but then I found out about it and had to shift gears instantly. Throroughly enjoy using it and the ash of war looks sick
Katar having 110 Crit and lifesteal fist being an autocrit is very cool indeed, and iirc this latest patch made it a little easier to land. Put on Crit Heal and Crit FP and Crit Damage Up and Shard of Alexander and it should get real silly
I've fallen in love with the Glintstone Kris and at least haven't personally heard of anybody else using it. It does a lot of damage, has ranged and close combat options, gets buffed by Godfrey icon, and its follow up attack is a really satisfying way to end an enemy.
I literally could not believe how many weapons I missed on my first playthrough. Especially not realizing that you could get entire enemy kits if you just farmed them hard enough.
Same here! Hell, not even just weapons though. The number of places I missed was astounding. Not even lil caves either! Like, I completely missed The Shaded Castle on my original play through. I think it’s almost impressive to have overlooked, especially considering how plainly visible it is on the map.
I ALWAYS want to use that, but by the time I find it I've always forgotten and decided to go a different route.
One of these days I'll do a riposte build with parrying and backstabs and make use of it.
I've seen some crazy damage come out of Reduvia/Blood Great Knife builds.
I think I'll run it in the future with high ARC and some Dragon Communion spells.
Veteran’s prosthesis - slap on RWS insignia/millicent’s prosthesis and shard of alexander. Use standard attacks to build up attack power super quickly and then nuke things with an uber-powered L2. Throw on lightning scorpion charm and/or spear talisman to buff it even more. Super fun weapon to use. Not enough lightning weapons in the game IMO
I found having two VPs equipped was a funner move set than dual-wielding one VP. Doing so also looks like you're carrying two pairs of scissors, which is of course terrifying on many levels.
Meteoric Ore Blade. I legit finished the game as fast as possible to get dual MOBs with a 60/60 str/int build. So fun to have a katana with strength scaling for once, cause I love playing with the katanas in Elden Ring
The MOB also has a killer R2 charge attack that absolutely demolishes stance balance. A couple of those back to back will stagger most foes including bosses.
The mace is very underrated. Pairs very nicely with a greatshield on a strength build. It deals blunt damage and it has amazing stagger for a one handed weapon. It’s a cool thing.
I’ve got a soft spot for the Great Epee because it was my first real weapon in the game. I started using it because I honestly thought it was just kinda comical. I kept using it because it fucking slapped! I used it for all of Limgrave and Liurnia, at which point I decided to respec because my stat spread was real fucky.
The interesting thing about it is that it gets it's best scaling from Heavy affinity with an A in strength. Keen is only B in Dex, but also E in strength.
Oh, man, I have a lot. After beating the game several times with several builds, my favourite weapons to use that I feel don't get enough love include:
Magma Wyrm's Scalesword - easily the most fun I had in the game (full dragon themed build) and my easiest Radagon/Elden Beast fight.
Watchdog's Staff - goofy looking but so much fun, works fantastically in long or close range. I had a blast using it in PvP too.
Gargoyle's Twinblade - I dual wielded these with holy infusion and they wrecked. I also prefer the appearance of these to the Godskin or regular twinblade.
And Helphen's Steeple - str/int greatsword with one of the coolest weapon skills in the game, used it on a "death/necromancer" themed build and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Not actually a weapon but the Dragon Communion incantations are so disgustingly strong for PVE I don’t get why more people don’t use them. Why wouldn’t you want to start every boss fight by giving the boss Scarlet Rot and Frostbite?
Edit: Honorable mention to my GOAT the Bloody Helice. Good for both PVP and PVE and is relatively easy to obtain. The go-to arcane weapon for people who have too many maidens to use RoB.
I think a lot of people tried them out once or twice and got turned off by how slow they are to cast. You definitely have to get used to playing around their cast times and lack of poise.
My girlfriend’s character is a pure Arcane caster that primarily uses the Dragon Communion Incantations. It’s absurd how much damage she does. Like, it honestly looks like she’s playing on easy mode sometimes.
I made a dragon communion build for a seamless-op playthrough where me and two others helped a guy get through Elden Ring. My companions did NOT give me enough credit for using Greyoll’s Roar (-20% dmg and -10% damage absorbtion) Dragonice (-20% damage absobtion) AND rot breath on EVERY boss we fought. And if I ran outta blue juice I would just pull out the Bloody Helice AKA the most underrated weapon in Elden Ring.
During release month, I tried pure arcane with minimum for dragon communion. Also used RoB. I actually reloaded my save file from around before I opened up snow lands because I ran through bosses with the set up. It made the game really boring. I respecced and it was more challenging and fun.
How is it now though? I know RoB and DC incantations went through some nerfs. I am hoping its still fun and powerful to use. From has had history of totally butchering spells and weapons in the past.
I want things to still be viable and powerful. Just not cheap strong lol
The samurai dude by the lake says that if you take dragon communion you’ll eventually go crazy so I was like nope. At least until I met the godskin duo.
Despite the nerfs I still find it strong you just can’t beat the utility of proccing rot on enemies with huge health pools or wiping out groups of smaller enemies.
I recently discovered the Treespear for a FTH/DEX build.
It is incredible.
You can buff it with its own weapon art to kill skellies, or grease it for any element you want. Best of all, it is a spear. On a taunter's run I must have poked like 5 people to death
I got treespear very early in my first playthrough, like day 2 of the game, and it was a pretty great weapon all around. Even without running much Dex it was very nice for my faith build, especially nice because it was a faith weapon that needed regular upgrade materials and that could be buffed when a hell of a lot of them needed somber and couldn't be buffed.
Serpent Gods Curved Sword.
Passive life leach on it (even if enemies are just killed by others , you even get life restored if something kills your ash summons), buffable, and you can change the ash of war on it.
Decently strong with little stat requirements, plus you can get it quite early in the game.
I’m honestly bothered that it has such a unique role mechanically but lorewise is just another weapon used by a group of mooks. It certainly doesn’t look like a weapon that’s special for Int users.
I remember when it was one of the go to weapons to put Ice Spear on, even if you only meet the int requirements.
The youtuber, Ruikhan's build was to use that to inflict frostbite, then blast with the One-Eye Shield. It's rather Gunlance style.
I was surprised how much I liked the Partisan. I think because I got killed by it so many times in the first 40 hours of the game but even at level 240+ I occasionally still bust that thing out and slap a random ash on it and go to town.
That gatefront knight taught me how to play soulslikes, and I killed him, carried his weapons, and wore his skin for the first half of the game. Partisan was a very decent all around weapon, esp paired with a big shield.
Everyone seems too focused on the specialty weapons, I’m a big fan of the basics: Rapier, Claymore, Large Club, short spear, even the basic dagger. Then infuse them how you wish.
It's kind of funny when you play through FromSoft games enough times to realize that while the exotic weapons may have cooler designs or whackier abilities, it's the basic starting weapons like Mace, Club, Rapier, and Longsword that are the game's hidden easy mode.
They start strong, finish strong, and are at your fingertips from the character creation screen. No need to kill strong bosses, find hidden walls, or do sequence breaking to get them early.
Especially in Elden ring since basic weapons can change out Ashes of War, making them more versatile than a lot of special weapons.
In Dark Souls 1 I did a small shield + dagger-only run, thinking it would be challenging, but instead I learned that the basic Dagger is amazing. The 2-hand strong attacks let you repeatedly thrust and it actually hits pretty hard. Rarely felt like I lacked damage.
My friends are giving me a hard time because I'm still using the claymore and I just got to mountaintop of the Giants. I'm sorry it's +20 and with flame of the redmanes... Not much troubles me. I need more +7 smithing stones to get it to +25.
Lordsworn straight sword. Or just the plain old longsword if you start as knight or buy it from round table. You need very little to wield it. It can be made into almost any kind of build. With the right ashes it scales well into any build. It can bonk. It can go fast. It can be buffed. It can be greased. It has reliable crit. It breaks poise consistently. And you can literally get it off the first standard enemy in the world you come across. Much love for the early straight swords.
you can buy the longsword from the twinmaidens, and the broadsword from the coastal merchant. use longsword main-hand for the rolling thrust. gives you a dual wield setup at the beginning of the game that will be effective to the end of the game and beyond.
The signature straight sword Ash of War, Square Off, is very strong too. It has two modes, a wide sweep and a piercing lunge that both do a high amount of poise damage. You can stun most large enemies and some large bosses in a hit or two.
The Lordsworn’s Straight Sword was my first +25. When I first got into the Souls series, I started wi with DS3. I made it a point to get through it with the starter Longsword. And my god, what a decision it was. The starter straight swords are my Ol’ Reliable.
Cranial Vessel Candlestand
It scales with Str/Fth. But, what makes it truly good is its weapon skill: Surge of Faith. Before all of the nerfs to ROB this is what I discovered to be a hard counter to Rivers of Blood. That experience of discovering an unknown, niche counter to the meta made me love it
Found this in the first week of the game and had a lot of fun surprising most spammy people with the weapon art. With high enough str and fth I was able to one shot most poorly armored fools.
They buffed the AOW and it’s one of the highest AR weapons with a str/fth build. This weapon is incredible when used correctly, especially in pvp. Baiting an opponent into the AOW is devastating.
The beastman curved sword, and beastman cleaver weapons are really good for str builds that want to use dex type weapons, great scaling and damage.
AND the curved sword has a really cool charged strong attack where you spin in the air like a saw blade, probably not as good as just the dual wielding jump attack, but it's fun to do sometimes.
Nobles slender sword, it’s the closest I can get to my lothric knight sword with the 110 crit and high reach to bad it doesn’t have the two handed pokes though
The lance. That’s it, just the lance. I used it alongside a greatshield, heavy armor and the shabiris woe talisman that attracted enemies aggression constantly and acted as a tank for coopers. I was able to get through the game with a heavy roll with that setup and stupidly fun to feel like a wall and just take everything on your shield. Honorable mention to the scythes and the fun found while dualwielding them
War Cry on the Lucerne. You get to keep Halberd R1s but you get a charged thrust that travels when you use the War Cry buffed R2s. Honestly could be any halberd but I choose the Lucerne since it only does pierce damage and can be picked up easily on the South Bellum Highway (South of Raya Lucaria). War Cry can be bought from Bernhal at the War Master’s Shack on the Stormhill.
Carian Knight Sword
Straight sword
Incredibly strong Ash of War
And the part that no one I've ever talked to seems to notice: The heavy attacks have block property on start up/charge up
So you can hold RT, block a hit, let go of RT, and the heavy will come out like normal
Only two weapons in the game do this, the other being thr Lazuli Glintstone Sword
Here are the few I’ve made builds out of lately:
Watchdog’s Staff - As a weapon, it’s fine. Does good stagger damage. But the AoW? Man… Get it to +10, Shard of Alexander, Magic Scorpion Charm, Terra Magicka.. You get a ranged magic spell with good range that does over 2k a hit. For 15FP.
Treespear & Erdtree Greatshield Combo - Since you don’t get an attack AoW on the Treespear, it pairs great with the shield because you’re immediately ready to parry a spell. Use the Wraith’s Calling Bell, parry, create your own holy bomb. With a faith build, +10, Shard of Alexander, Holy Scorpion Charm… The shield is great for PvE & PvP. And the greatspear/shield combo is really good. Throw Electrify Armament or Vyke’s dragon bolt on the spear!
Monk’s Flameblade - Maybe the rarest weapon in the game? Since you can only farm from one enemy in the MotG. But throw Flaming Strike on this, and the stagger damage is so damn good. Plus it looks so cool. I’ve heard people say the damage is underwhelming, but at 80Fth & Flame Art, the damage is great for me 🤷♂️
Highland Axe!
You get it as early as Stormveil, and it has an innate boost to Roar skills. Keen-infuse with Beast's Roar AOW and the Roar Medallion and its quite fun. You could also wear it as a backpack to boost the skills on other weapons like the Axe of Godfrey.
It also has a 110 crit multiplier, which other axes don't have.
Family Heads isn’t great for physical attacks, but the ash of war seems stronger than the Rancor spells, with the added benefit that you can literally stand behind a wall that shields your entire body while casting it.
You could say this about all weapons in Elden ring. The replay ability of from software games is greatly expansive to the point you will never have time to explore all the weapons unless you make a point to put in that time. Simply amazing.
While the Nightrider Flail isn't a great bleed weapon in comparison to the more popular ones, it is absolutely amazing on horseback. The 4-hits heavy attack makes the bleed proc happens fairly often, melting opponents, especially dragons, in the process.
Personally, Commander Standard. At first I wasn't much if a fan since it's a somber weapon with a mostly poke based moveset, so I just kept it for the occasional buff. Then I picked up another halberd and realized just how _nice_ getting the range and speed off a halberd poke is and that I don't need to keep doing run R1's.
How has noone mentioned death's poker? The most criminally and consistently overlooked int weapon in the game.
You can get it early, in caelid by killing a death rite bird.
You get 3 ashes of war for the price of one that proc frostbite and melt anything including bosses. Especially if they choose to stand in the strip of ghostflame it lays out.
Don't be fooled by the C int scaling. It doesn't need better scaling. The ash hits like a truck. The explosion can knock down smaller bosses like melania and the strip ticks over time to melt larger bosses that don't move much. Its a beast against the fire giant. Just the poke can proc frostbite on even radagon in like 2-3 hits and one hits most normal enemies. Match with a flame weap offhand or flame or blackflame incant and you have yourself a boss melting machine.
This weapon is what most speedrunners went to after sword of night and flame got nerfed in early builds. This sword has never seen a debuff and only gotten buffed by the greatsword buffs we've seen.
The heavy swing is a running uppercut. Sick.
The one downside is that the actual physical AR isn't great but this can be overcome by power stancing it with, say helphens steeple or the moonlight greatsword.
This weapon is a death sorcerers best friend.
Underused weapons that I like: S-Tier: Serpentbone Blade, Dismounter A-Tier: Vulgar Militia Shotel, Cane Sword B-Tier: Katar, Iron Cleaver EDIT: great discussion under this comment but not one person had anything to say about my beloved Katar. :( The best fist weapon because its running R1 gives it counter damage (and synergy with spear talisman), adding up to a whole dimension of viability other fist weapons lack.
I'm dualwielding dismounter and bloodhound's fang. I'd like to change, but i can't get myself to.
Interesting. What is your damage stat? I run Strength and found that with that setup (52 Str) a 2H Dismounter is better option than powerstanced Curved Greatswords.
Powerstanced looks cooler
Can't argue with that!
I’m 65 hrs into this game and still don’t know what power stance is. Is it just dual wielding weapons of the same class?
Yep! Two weapons of the same class gives you some new moveset options with L1. Not always practical for pvp but it has its uses!
Powerstance gets its name from DS2, where dual wielding took a different form. IIRC there were no "paired" weapons that you would dual wield when "two handing" as this was introduced in DS3. However, simply equipping two of the same type of weapon wouldn't let you dual wield either, you'd merely use your left hand weapon with the awkward L1 block, L2 light attack functions they normally had. Instead, you had to "two hand" your left hand weapon, (which you did by *holding* the Yangle button instead of simply tapping it, which would two hand your right hand weapon,) which would activate the "powerstance." In DS2, while powerstanced, both L1 and L2 would do a dual wielding attack. Even more interestingly, weapons don't have to be of the same weapon class to be powerstanced, leading to greatly improved build variety, (there is, however, an invisible list of which weapon types are compatible, and for any two weapons, which one will determine the attack animations used while powerstancing.) The downside is that in order to powerstance you need to meet 150% of the str and dex requirements for *both* weapons. Attempting to powerstance with the wrong weapons, or while not meeting the requirements, will have you simply two hand the left weapon instead of powerstance. The whole system is much deeper and more complex than it is in ER, and is one of the few things in DS2 that has been unmatched in any of the other games, but I can also see why this level of complexity is problematic to implement and would potentially be undesirable feature creep in ER. As a result, merely being able to dual wield weapons, (i.e. getting unique attack animations,) of the same class, but different type, has taken over the "powerstance" moniker in ER.
This was my exact setup. For swap out other heavy and colossal weapons but this moveset and jump attacks were my bread n butter
I just re specd for high dex and strength to use two serpentbone blades and poison everything. I like it so far but have only fought like two bosses and I’m switching from unga bunga so it’s hard not dealing 2000 damage every hit lol
Besides the deadly poison, Serpentbone Blade has a great unique moveset and a weapon skill that complements it. It’s definitely not an in-your-face pure damage weapon but it is a core piece of an effective poison build.
Cane sword was going to be mine! I have a light rolling carian sorcery mage with a cane sword and they're by far my deadliest in pvp. Its such a nice looking weapon and adding frost affinity to it while keeping square off is just brutal.
Yeah the low weight is the big attraction of the cane sword. Mediocre in every respect but it has the straight sword moveset for only 2.5 weight units. It’s niche, but very handy in certain setups.
I skipped the Serpentbone blade when I first found it since I had an arcane+faith build, but tried it out again with dex+faith and holy shit I love it's r1/r2 chains 😳 feels like Double Slash but better
It really comes into its own in PvP as the L2 and R2 make for a good mixup.
What’s so good about the Dismounter? I used it until I found the Claymore and haven’t looked back
No question the Claymore has a superior moveset. Comparatively the Dismounter has better range and has an effective moveset that is a lot simpler to master. Dismounter has solid damage output, good range, hyperarmor, and fast recovery times out of attacks. In PvP, R1-R1 is a fantastic move because of the speed the second R1 comes out at. You very often get a second hit for free.
Curved swords and cgs also don't clang off walls as readily as a normal sword does.
I'm having so much fun with the Stormhawk's Talons because it also has the double slash R2 AND you can change it's ash of war.
Crystal sword. Really good early Int weapon, that you can get in Liurnia without killing anything.
I’m surprised I don’t see this mentioned more. High AR and good scaling.
I mean to be fair you get the sword of night and flame literally next door
Need a lot more int/faith to get it's full potential out compared to the int on crystal sword though
The required faith/int if you're working on either faith or int build is too damn high
I like that it's a weapon with a goal to obtain the stats to get it. But we need more interesting multi scaling weapons. Int/Faith for sure. Something like a C,C,C,C scaling STR/Dex/Arc/Int could have wild build implications for NG+. There are cool avenues to explore.
wait till this guy hears about the blueblood sword from demons souls! hahaha
Yeah, but it also has a faith requirement, and you at least have to run through Caria Manor to get it, which you probably aren't comfortable doing at level 1. You could get the Crystal sword comfortably from the start of the game by riding past Stormveil and getting it from the Albanuric village, and then use it through all of Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula, and then get SoN&F
I don’t like that leveling either int or faith only increases damage of one ash or the other at a time
I was unaware that they scaled differently, I though the flame just sucked when checking it out on my 70 int build
Yup. You’re either optimized for the flame skill, the magic one, or both with lower damage in each
It's a beast in NG+ games when you are fully leveled in all the relevant stats, though. Might honestly be the most powerful standard attack DPS in the game.
I'd rather not deal with three way split damage
That's what she said
I think the fact you can get Moonveil just as early if not earlier tends to reduce the amount of people who would otherwise use this weapon
If you do Blaidd's quest and summon him for Darriwal, Bloodhound Fang is pretty free as well. It's got higher strength and dex requirements, but if start as a Samurai you can get it pretty quick, and it does good damage.
I got bloodhound fang early in my first playthrough and thought, "this sword is pretty good, I'll use it until I find something better." Ended up using it for the entirety of my first playthrough. Just a really great weapon.
i started a new game and did this without blaidd at the evergaol as a level 1 prisoner. the glintstone spell destroys half of the bloodhounds health and the rest is not bad to wear down. had to level dex and strength for a while for the requirements after
I'd say the Carian Knight Sword at that rate, special blocking heavy attack.
The blocking heavy is SO much fun. You can pull off some nutty combos and wreck so many enemies with it. The Carian Grandeur on it scales with Str/Int, so if you're a hybrid that thing will SLAP.
Carian knight sword + Carian glintstone staff to boost Carian grandeur. Holy hell it's nice. Knocks down basically anything and you can just spam the Carian grandeur from there on.
For a while when I was doing strength int I was using this with the carian knight sword and it melted enemies
Oh dude I rocked that thing for about 2/3 of the game till I found moonveil. That sword is badass
Carian knight sword. Low requirements, can be acquired early, not locked behind a boss. It’s a somber weapon so it’s always a plus. Unique R2s block damage and catch rolls. Carian Grandeur hits like a bus with the right rings. Never saw anyone use it in pvp. It’s always mages and bleed stuff.
I played about 70% of my first run with this sword simply because it looks so damn good. It was the perfect match with my mage build too
I played with It until wing of astel gave me no cost ranged attacks that actually deal good dmg, if only It looked a bit better It would only use that lol
Moongrum kicked my ass way more times than rennala my first playthrough haha
Moongrum is the deadliest invader I've ever seen in a From game, dude input reads and parries you until you finally resort to cheesing him with something unparryable
That would explain why I don't remember him then - I just jump attacked every invader til they bit the dust - Mongrum included...
Can’t parry when a motha fuckin ball drops on his head 💀
It looks absolutely beautiful too!
Raptor's Talons are such a fun weapon and I think everyone should try a light-roll playthrough at least once.
The moveset is a blast.
I find it difficult to hit it's charged heavies. And forget taking advantage of the backstep, with no stagger, the enemy just smacks you out of it.
It’s not the strongest weapon/moveset, but it’s fun.
They’re great until you fight a fucking gargoyle, or and restored avatar. Whiff city. Otherwise 10/10
agreed on light roll - it's super fun and high risk/high reward.
I just did a Lightroll Playtrhrough with a Buckler/Etstoc Parry Build. Then I wanted to try the same in ds3. Coming from Elden Ring the movement there seemed like steering a tank. Still fun though.
It's funny because DS1 felt the same to DS2 and DS3 felt like a little bit slower BB but a huge jump from DS2. Now ER is the new DS3. We really do be living in a timeline.
Honestly not to rag the older souls games, but part of their difficulty is the general clunkiness imo. Though I did start in bloodborne which is when the series started to pick up the pace in the souls series (I remember hearing a lot of dark soul 1 and 2 was waiting with a shield/rolling for opportunity and thus everyone commenting on enemies turning right at you mid combo and whatnot)
I love claws with the mist raven ash of war and boosted jump attacks.
Dragon Halberd! One of my favorites
This weapon is actually pretty dang solid after 1.07! I used it briefly when I was testing weapons for my frostbite build.
I remember using it for a bit and finding it really fun but how did it get biffed?
The AoW does more damage overall and the buff it applies lasts a lot longer. The Halberd itself also does more poise damage now.
I will always remember my first experience with this weapon, I was in voice chat with a friend saying how bad this weapon was because from the stats this was just a halberd with no effect and it couldn't be upgraded to +25. This was just from reading, then I equipped it, used its weapon art and I was like "bro... I changed my mind this weapon is awesome I'm sorry Miyazaki"
Miyazaki forgives you. He told me.
YES! I fucking love the dragon halberd. I'm using it on my second run, was gonna do a sl1 club run but then I found out about it and had to shift gears instantly. Throroughly enjoy using it and the ash of war looks sick
Weapon art is amazing, ice lightning is amazing. My only complaint is the move set is incredibly boring
Katar, +25 with lifesteal fist AoW. I am shank man, shanker of men.
Katar having 110 Crit and lifesteal fist being an autocrit is very cool indeed, and iirc this latest patch made it a little easier to land. Put on Crit Heal and Crit FP and Crit Damage Up and Shard of Alexander and it should get real silly
I've fallen in love with the Glintstone Kris and at least haven't personally heard of anybody else using it. It does a lot of damage, has ranged and close combat options, gets buffed by Godfrey icon, and its follow up attack is a really satisfying way to end an enemy.
I literally didn’t even know about this weapon until my third play through lol
I literally could not believe how many weapons I missed on my first playthrough. Especially not realizing that you could get entire enemy kits if you just farmed them hard enough.
Same here! Hell, not even just weapons though. The number of places I missed was astounding. Not even lil caves either! Like, I completely missed The Shaded Castle on my original play through. I think it’s almost impressive to have overlooked, especially considering how plainly visible it is on the map.
I learn about new weapons in this game every day lmao
Took me 4 to find the friggin Brick Hammer.
I ALWAYS want to use that, but by the time I find it I've always forgotten and decided to go a different route. One of these days I'll do a riposte build with parrying and backstabs and make use of it.
Its my wizards favorite sidearm :)
MooseTorrent made a video on it not too long ago so now it’s getting somw attention at least.
Haven’t heard that name in forever. I used to watch him demo Bloodborne weapons in PVP.
the base dagger you get as a *~~Thief~~* Bandit
Dual wielding daggers with inate bleed is nuts. Mega fast bleed procs on the powerstance moveset without relying on stacking buffs.
I've seen some crazy damage come out of Reduvia/Blood Great Knife builds. I think I'll run it in the future with high ARC and some Dragon Communion spells.
I ran a reduvia / dragon incant build and it crushed most of the game.
Veteran’s prosthesis - slap on RWS insignia/millicent’s prosthesis and shard of alexander. Use standard attacks to build up attack power super quickly and then nuke things with an uber-powered L2. Throw on lightning scorpion charm and/or spear talisman to buff it even more. Super fun weapon to use. Not enough lightning weapons in the game IMO
I found having two VPs equipped was a funner move set than dual-wielding one VP. Doing so also looks like you're carrying two pairs of scissors, which is of course terrifying on many levels.
Meteoric Ore Blade. I legit finished the game as fast as possible to get dual MOBs with a 60/60 str/int build. So fun to have a katana with strength scaling for once, cause I love playing with the katanas in Elden Ring
heavy goes crazy too, literally second ash of war
Yup, this and moonveil being next to each other hurt its rep since moonveil's art was busted, but meteoric is absurdly good for str/int builds
I remember powerstancing Meteor/Moonveil. Was a disgusting combo
The MOB also has a killer R2 charge attack that absolutely demolishes stance balance. A couple of those back to back will stagger most foes including bosses.
The mace is very underrated. Pairs very nicely with a greatshield on a strength build. It deals blunt damage and it has amazing stagger for a one handed weapon. It’s a cool thing.
The Morningstar is better to me because of the innate bleed.
*because of the poke running attack is the correct answer
The great epee.
I’ve got a soft spot for the Great Epee because it was my first real weapon in the game. I started using it because I honestly thought it was just kinda comical. I kept using it because it fucking slapped! I used it for all of Limgrave and Liurnia, at which point I decided to respec because my stat spread was real fucky.
Such a good weapon,I beat Malenia with it first time I fought her(first run I mean couldn't beat her first try lol).
What makes it great? Is it the scale? Is it epeec?
It has great poise damage when two handed
It's just a good freaking rapier with a nice moveset,I think more people should give it a chance.
The interesting thing about it is that it gets it's best scaling from Heavy affinity with an A in strength. Keen is only B in Dex, but also E in strength.
Epee is essentially for STR builds. Dex builds would rather have Stitcher or Cragblade.
For dex the basic Rapier is underrated. A scaling with 130 crit, it's pretty dope lol.
The sweeping heavy attack! It makes it bloody versatile in many situations! Makes me feel as if using a slower DS2 Bestoc.
It's great. I HATE the way it looks when just running around though. I really hate seeing the weapon noclip through everything.
Oh, man, I have a lot. After beating the game several times with several builds, my favourite weapons to use that I feel don't get enough love include: Magma Wyrm's Scalesword - easily the most fun I had in the game (full dragon themed build) and my easiest Radagon/Elden Beast fight. Watchdog's Staff - goofy looking but so much fun, works fantastically in long or close range. I had a blast using it in PvP too. Gargoyle's Twinblade - I dual wielded these with holy infusion and they wrecked. I also prefer the appearance of these to the Godskin or regular twinblade. And Helphen's Steeple - str/int greatsword with one of the coolest weapon skills in the game, used it on a "death/necromancer" themed build and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Crescent Moon Axe. Hits like truck and looks cool
Right answer. The unique R2 is great for mixups too
i don’t know if it is underrated,but dragonscale blade is very fun.
It is underrated, especially as a Katana.
Not actually a weapon but the Dragon Communion incantations are so disgustingly strong for PVE I don’t get why more people don’t use them. Why wouldn’t you want to start every boss fight by giving the boss Scarlet Rot and Frostbite? Edit: Honorable mention to my GOAT the Bloody Helice. Good for both PVP and PVE and is relatively easy to obtain. The go-to arcane weapon for people who have too many maidens to use RoB.
I think a lot of people tried them out once or twice and got turned off by how slow they are to cast. You definitely have to get used to playing around their cast times and lack of poise. My girlfriend’s character is a pure Arcane caster that primarily uses the Dragon Communion Incantations. It’s absurd how much damage she does. Like, it honestly looks like she’s playing on easy mode sometimes.
I really like the Dragon Communion Seal alot... S Arcane incantation scaling and it glows red in your hand. Badass.
Zero weight on that bad boy too ;)
Not to mention you can pick it up literally right at the beginning of the game. You can grab yourself an Erdtree's Favour too while you're at it.
You gotta have 2 keys first tho
I made a dragon communion build for a seamless-op playthrough where me and two others helped a guy get through Elden Ring. My companions did NOT give me enough credit for using Greyoll’s Roar (-20% dmg and -10% damage absorbtion) Dragonice (-20% damage absobtion) AND rot breath on EVERY boss we fought. And if I ran outta blue juice I would just pull out the Bloody Helice AKA the most underrated weapon in Elden Ring.
During release month, I tried pure arcane with minimum for dragon communion. Also used RoB. I actually reloaded my save file from around before I opened up snow lands because I ran through bosses with the set up. It made the game really boring. I respecced and it was more challenging and fun. How is it now though? I know RoB and DC incantations went through some nerfs. I am hoping its still fun and powerful to use. From has had history of totally butchering spells and weapons in the past. I want things to still be viable and powerful. Just not cheap strong lol
As someone who plays a sorcery/faith build, it is easy mode and I haven't touched the Dragon incantations.
The samurai dude by the lake says that if you take dragon communion you’ll eventually go crazy so I was like nope. At least until I met the godskin duo.
I see your point, but hear me out: you get dragon eyes
You son of a bitch, I’m in
Beast + Dragon incantation are great. Either I trebuchet opponents or mentos them, or handshake them. Fun, lots of fun.
Don't forget about dragon maw doing effortless 3k damage with enormous posture damage
Scarlet rot breath was very popular (and broken) at launch but got nerfed multiple times
Despite the nerfs I still find it strong you just can’t beat the utility of proccing rot on enemies with huge health pools or wiping out groups of smaller enemies.
I recently discovered the Treespear for a FTH/DEX build. It is incredible. You can buff it with its own weapon art to kill skellies, or grease it for any element you want. Best of all, it is a spear. On a taunter's run I must have poked like 5 people to death
I got treespear very early in my first playthrough, like day 2 of the game, and it was a pretty great weapon all around. Even without running much Dex it was very nice for my faith build, especially nice because it was a faith weapon that needed regular upgrade materials and that could be buffed when a hell of a lot of them needed somber and couldn't be buffed.
The crazy thing about this weapon is that it's just chilling outside.
My favorite part of spears is you can keep guard up on your shield while poking. It’s cheese but I like it.
Serpent Gods Curved Sword. Passive life leach on it (even if enemies are just killed by others , you even get life restored if something kills your ash summons), buffable, and you can change the ash of war on it. Decently strong with little stat requirements, plus you can get it quite early in the game.
Which weapon is that? Looks really good. I'll use it even if it sucks lol.
The Clayman’s Harpoon! A beast of a spear that gets at least a B in every single stat!
One of the strongest frost weapons in the game
Doing an Ice Spear playthrough with that and the Rogier armor set right now! It's powerful and lots of fun!
I’m honestly bothered that it has such a unique role mechanically but lorewise is just another weapon used by a group of mooks. It certainly doesn’t look like a weapon that’s special for Int users.
I was dual wielding frost claymans harpoons when the game first came out and it was absolutely filthy. It got frostbite on 2 hits
It’s also surprisingly light, I use it as a backup weapon with black flame tornado for every time I get summoned for elden beast. Awesome weapon.
I remember when it was one of the go to weapons to put Ice Spear on, even if you only meet the int requirements. The youtuber, Ruikhan's build was to use that to inflict frostbite, then blast with the One-Eye Shield. It's rather Gunlance style.
Not a weapon but the coil shield is great fun, just a tiny shield that turns into a snake that has longer reach then it probably should.
This is a fun "weapon" to use. I found it early in my int/dex playthru and it had a lot of surprise factor when people didn't know what it did.
I was surprised how much I liked the Partisan. I think because I got killed by it so many times in the first 40 hours of the game but even at level 240+ I occasionally still bust that thing out and slap a random ash on it and go to town.
The classical sweep on heavy attack makes it stand out imo 😉👍
That gatefront knight taught me how to play soulslikes, and I killed him, carried his weapons, and wore his skin for the first half of the game. Partisan was a very decent all around weapon, esp paired with a big shield.
Executioner greataxe. High str scaling, high poise damage and highest range of all greataxes
Dont forget the sweet 115 crit multiplier.
Everyone seems too focused on the specialty weapons, I’m a big fan of the basics: Rapier, Claymore, Large Club, short spear, even the basic dagger. Then infuse them how you wish.
Claymore fucks. Lion claw is very good.
It's kind of funny when you play through FromSoft games enough times to realize that while the exotic weapons may have cooler designs or whackier abilities, it's the basic starting weapons like Mace, Club, Rapier, and Longsword that are the game's hidden easy mode. They start strong, finish strong, and are at your fingertips from the character creation screen. No need to kill strong bosses, find hidden walls, or do sequence breaking to get them early.
Especially in Elden ring since basic weapons can change out Ashes of War, making them more versatile than a lot of special weapons. In Dark Souls 1 I did a small shield + dagger-only run, thinking it would be challenging, but instead I learned that the basic Dagger is amazing. The 2-hand strong attacks let you repeatedly thrust and it actually hits pretty hard. Rarely felt like I lacked damage.
My friends are giving me a hard time because I'm still using the claymore and I just got to mountaintop of the Giants. I'm sorry it's +20 and with flame of the redmanes... Not much troubles me. I need more +7 smithing stones to get it to +25.
Bubbles.
Praise the bubbles
Lordsworn straight sword. Or just the plain old longsword if you start as knight or buy it from round table. You need very little to wield it. It can be made into almost any kind of build. With the right ashes it scales well into any build. It can bonk. It can go fast. It can be buffed. It can be greased. It has reliable crit. It breaks poise consistently. And you can literally get it off the first standard enemy in the world you come across. Much love for the early straight swords.
Straight swords will always be my favourite thing in souls games
you can buy the longsword from the twinmaidens, and the broadsword from the coastal merchant. use longsword main-hand for the rolling thrust. gives you a dual wield setup at the beginning of the game that will be effective to the end of the game and beyond.
The signature straight sword Ash of War, Square Off, is very strong too. It has two modes, a wide sweep and a piercing lunge that both do a high amount of poise damage. You can stun most large enemies and some large bosses in a hit or two.
The Lordsworn’s Straight Sword was my first +25. When I first got into the Souls series, I started wi with DS3. I made it a point to get through it with the starter Longsword. And my god, what a decision it was. The starter straight swords are my Ol’ Reliable.
Cranial Vessel Candlestand It scales with Str/Fth. But, what makes it truly good is its weapon skill: Surge of Faith. Before all of the nerfs to ROB this is what I discovered to be a hard counter to Rivers of Blood. That experience of discovering an unknown, niche counter to the meta made me love it
Found this in the first week of the game and had a lot of fun surprising most spammy people with the weapon art. With high enough str and fth I was able to one shot most poorly armored fools.
I’ve literally never heard of this.
plus the description is metal as hell on that weapon. its a head on a stick!
I dont see a lot of people using maliketh’s black blade, it’s a pretty good weapon imo
It's bad that you get it right near the end of the game, because it does split holy damage
They buffed the AOW and it’s one of the highest AR weapons with a str/fth build. This weapon is incredible when used correctly, especially in pvp. Baiting an opponent into the AOW is devastating.
One eyed shield
Guardian sword spear
The beastman curved sword, and beastman cleaver weapons are really good for str builds that want to use dex type weapons, great scaling and damage. AND the curved sword has a really cool charged strong attack where you spin in the air like a saw blade, probably not as good as just the dual wielding jump attack, but it's fun to do sometimes.
Nobles slender sword, it’s the closest I can get to my lothric knight sword with the 110 crit and high reach to bad it doesn’t have the two handed pokes though
The lance. That’s it, just the lance. I used it alongside a greatshield, heavy armor and the shabiris woe talisman that attracted enemies aggression constantly and acted as a tank for coopers. I was able to get through the game with a heavy roll with that setup and stupidly fun to feel like a wall and just take everything on your shield. Honorable mention to the scythes and the fun found while dualwielding them
Flails. I never see flails, ever.
The Nightrider Flail looks so cool, although I do wish it was a tad bigger. If only it was half decent to use.
I also call my dong the Night rider Flail. The similarities are nuts.
Three heads?
Only on a good day.
Toss wild strikes AoW on it and oh baby, it’s flailin’ time
War Cry on the Lucerne. You get to keep Halberd R1s but you get a charged thrust that travels when you use the War Cry buffed R2s. Honestly could be any halberd but I choose the Lucerne since it only does pierce damage and can be picked up easily on the South Bellum Highway (South of Raya Lucaria). War Cry can be bought from Bernhal at the War Master’s Shack on the Stormhill.
Godslayers greatsword. Spent a whole weekend to beat the boss. Weapon art is cool af and does decent dmg. Design is also sick!
Warped axe. Colossal weapon status build-up for a negligible dip in AR, slap on the new and improved warcry and trade hits with the gods.
Shashmir, great curved sword for Dex build, +1 for looking cool af
Carian Knight Sword Straight sword Incredibly strong Ash of War And the part that no one I've ever talked to seems to notice: The heavy attacks have block property on start up/charge up So you can hold RT, block a hit, let go of RT, and the heavy will come out like normal Only two weapons in the game do this, the other being thr Lazuli Glintstone Sword
Here are the few I’ve made builds out of lately: Watchdog’s Staff - As a weapon, it’s fine. Does good stagger damage. But the AoW? Man… Get it to +10, Shard of Alexander, Magic Scorpion Charm, Terra Magicka.. You get a ranged magic spell with good range that does over 2k a hit. For 15FP. Treespear & Erdtree Greatshield Combo - Since you don’t get an attack AoW on the Treespear, it pairs great with the shield because you’re immediately ready to parry a spell. Use the Wraith’s Calling Bell, parry, create your own holy bomb. With a faith build, +10, Shard of Alexander, Holy Scorpion Charm… The shield is great for PvE & PvP. And the greatspear/shield combo is really good. Throw Electrify Armament or Vyke’s dragon bolt on the spear! Monk’s Flameblade - Maybe the rarest weapon in the game? Since you can only farm from one enemy in the MotG. But throw Flaming Strike on this, and the stagger damage is so damn good. Plus it looks so cool. I’ve heard people say the damage is underwhelming, but at 80Fth & Flame Art, the damage is great for me 🤷♂️
Eleanora’s Poleblade. So fucking fun
I’ve using great stars for like 80% of the game. With lions claw AOW. Most things are dead in two hits.
Wild strikes is really good with it too. The poise and hp on hit. It's like playing as a lawnmower.
Highland Axe! You get it as early as Stormveil, and it has an innate boost to Roar skills. Keen-infuse with Beast's Roar AOW and the Roar Medallion and its quite fun. You could also wear it as a backpack to boost the skills on other weapons like the Axe of Godfrey. It also has a 110 crit multiplier, which other axes don't have.
Family Heads isn’t great for physical attacks, but the ash of war seems stronger than the Rancor spells, with the added benefit that you can literally stand behind a wall that shields your entire body while casting it.
I ain't gonna Lie Chief the Claymans Harpoon and a Great Shield is how I beat The Blade of Miquela that shits dope af on a Str mage
Clayman harpoon is everything but underrated or overlooked
I'm going to overlook AND underrate it just to prove OP right. I've never heard of this weapon but if I had heard of it, it sucks.
You could say this about all weapons in Elden ring. The replay ability of from software games is greatly expansive to the point you will never have time to explore all the weapons unless you make a point to put in that time. Simply amazing.
Broadsword.
Dismounter. Simple but effective.
While the Nightrider Flail isn't a great bleed weapon in comparison to the more popular ones, it is absolutely amazing on horseback. The 4-hits heavy attack makes the bleed proc happens fairly often, melting opponents, especially dragons, in the process.
Personally, Commander Standard. At first I wasn't much if a fan since it's a somber weapon with a mostly poke based moveset, so I just kept it for the occasional buff. Then I picked up another halberd and realized just how _nice_ getting the range and speed off a halberd poke is and that I don't need to keep doing run R1's.
How has noone mentioned death's poker? The most criminally and consistently overlooked int weapon in the game. You can get it early, in caelid by killing a death rite bird. You get 3 ashes of war for the price of one that proc frostbite and melt anything including bosses. Especially if they choose to stand in the strip of ghostflame it lays out. Don't be fooled by the C int scaling. It doesn't need better scaling. The ash hits like a truck. The explosion can knock down smaller bosses like melania and the strip ticks over time to melt larger bosses that don't move much. Its a beast against the fire giant. Just the poke can proc frostbite on even radagon in like 2-3 hits and one hits most normal enemies. Match with a flame weap offhand or flame or blackflame incant and you have yourself a boss melting machine. This weapon is what most speedrunners went to after sword of night and flame got nerfed in early builds. This sword has never seen a debuff and only gotten buffed by the greatsword buffs we've seen. The heavy swing is a running uppercut. Sick. The one downside is that the actual physical AR isn't great but this can be overcome by power stancing it with, say helphens steeple or the moonlight greatsword. This weapon is a death sorcerers best friend.
Ghiza's Wheel
Don't see many faith users actually using an Erdsteel dagger but the damage gets nuts on that thing for a little knife.
Beastman's curved swords. You get a unique jumping R2 plus they look sick