Best Greatsword in Elden Ring – Ranking All 21 Greatswords
Apr. 24, 2024Best Greatsword in Elden Ring – Ranking All 21 Greatswords
In thisElden Ring Best Greatsword and Ranking Guide, we’ll be taking a look at the 21 Greatswords in Elden Ring and discussing why you might use them in combat. We’ll take a look at attack power, damage type, length, Weapon Skills, and other factors such as how long it takes you to acquire them, to determine if they are best suited for you. We are doing a guide for all Weapon types in Elden Ring, and these will be updated to reflect those added withShadow of the Erdtreeas well.
Greatswords in Elden Ring:
Greatswords are one of the 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to be 39 whenShadow of the Erdtreereleases on June 21st. Greatswords are a weapon type that deals high single attack damage. These can also be powerstanced more easily than Colossal Weapons as they have a lower weight. Greatswords also have low requirements, which means it can be used two-handed easily.
Even though Greatswords deal high single attack damage, attacking with it is slow. It will have a lower DPS compared to other weapons due to slower swings. It also has high stamina consumption, which means you have to invest in Endurance. Lastly, good Greatswords are found much later in the game.
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Forked Greatswordshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals Physical Damage. It is one of the lightest Greatswords in Elden Ring, weighing 9, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
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Conclusion: Even though the Forked Greatsword has a lower Attack Rating then most other Greatswords, the fact that you can trigger Hemorrhage with it makes it much more deadly than it would first appear. However, it is more effective in Boss encounters where you are more likely to trigger Hemorrhage before your target outright dies, then it is out in the Lands Between where you can kill most things in 1 or 2 hits anyway.
If you can be bothered to farm one, then you should consider farming a second one, or pairing it with the Flamberge for a Jump Attack playstyle that also applies Hemorrage and possibly Frostbite or Poison as well.
Lordsworn’s Greatswordshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals Physical Damage. It is one of the lightest Greatswords in Elden Ring, weighing 9, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
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Conclusion: The best reason to use the Lordsworn’s Greatsword is because you can do so from the earliest moments of the game. However, it doesn’t take but an hour or two to find either the Claymore or Bastard Sword naturally, and within minutes if you already know their location.
Even though this weapon has higher Critical then every Greatsword but the Sacred Relic Sword, it’s overall damage is low enough that you’d still do more damage from Critical Hits with other Greatswords.
Inseparable Swordshares a unique two-handed R1 moveset with the Knight’s Greatsword and Banished Knight’s Greatsword, and deals both Physical and Holy Damage. It has an average weight for a Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
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Conclusion: The Inseparable Sword is mostly unremarkable. Not only is it easy to miss getting, but the Sacred Iron Greatsword out performs it in damage most of the game, and you can use many different Ashes of War on the Iron Greatsword. Additionally, Sacred Blade is a much better early game Ash of War than late game, making it mostly irrelevant by the point you acquire this weapon. However, its innate ability to prevent the resurrection of Undead and bonus damage against them is nice for some areas of the game.
Only use this weapon over the Sacred Iron Greatsword if you intend to push your Faith to 80, if you want the bonuses for a specific section of Undead enemies, or you cannot be bothered to farm the Iron Greatsword.
Because of the poor Dexterity and Strength scaling of this weapon, it will peak near the end of your first playthrough, and will continue to drop off in effectiveness from that point onward. If you insist on using this Greatsword, I would pair it with an Sacred Iron Greatsword for a Jump Attack playstyle, or use it with the Erdtree Seal and make a Build that can also cast Incantations effectively.
TheFlambergeshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
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Conclusion: Fantastic Keen Scaling lends itself well to a Dexterity-focused Build, but the Flamberge also works well in Status Effect oriented Builds because it can also add Frostbite or Poison depending on the Infusion. And much like the Forked Greatsword, the lower Attack Rating is often outweighed by the Hemorrhage this weapon can apply, particularly in Boss encounters.
Either dual wield Greatswords for jump attacks, or lean into an Ash of War that hits multiple times like: Double Slash, Spinning Slash, Repeating Thrust or Blood Tax for best results.
Bastard Swordshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals Physical Damage. It is one of the lightest Greatswords in Elden Ring, weighing 9, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
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Conclusion: The biggest plus points of this weapon are that you can acquire it early on, and it will perform in the upper middle of the pack no matter what Build you try to create with it, giving it a lot of versatility. If you’ve already upgraded this weapon, and are short on Smithing Stones, then I suggest continuing to use it, but if you’re working on a specialized Build and haven’t even acquired one yet, look for better alternatives.
TheGargoyle’s Blackbladeshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals both Physical and Holy Damage. It is a heavier Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 11.5, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
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Conclusion: Gargoyle’s Blackblade does exceptional damage for very little stat investment, making it stronger early on in the game when you are much lower level, and where enemies are much less resistant to Holy Damage. Later on in the game you won’t gain much damage by pushing STR, DEX and FTH, and enemy resistances to Holy are the worst on some of the toughest bosses in Elden Ring.
If you managed to begin the game as a Confessor you could use this Weapon as early as level 21 if you could defeat Black Blade Kindred, making you an absolute beast in lower level content or PvP. If you intend to reach higher levels with it, you’d ideally aim for about 50 Strength and 50 Faith, which will still put you ahead of every other Holy Damage Greatsword in total Attack Rating, and actually even more damage than the Blasphemous Blade (with no points into Dexterity).
You can really use this Weapon in any playstyle because of its ideal stat spread. I used it in my Blasphemous Herald Build which focused on dual wield Jump Attacks, and Weapon Skills, but you could all spell cast with the Clawmark Seal effectively or use a Greatshield and one-hand it.
Alabaster Lord’s Swordshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals both Physical and Magic Damage. It is the lightest Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 8, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence in order to wield.
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Conclusion: The Alabaster Lord’s Sword is in a weird place because despite having the best Strength Scaling and Physical Damage of all Magic Dealing Greatswords, it has terrible Dexterity and Intelligence Scaling, and deals very little Magic Damage. This makes it much better suited for a pure Strength Build than any sort of hybrid Strength/Intelligence Build. However, the damage of this weapon is outperformed by other Strength focused Greatswords like the Heavy Iron Greatsword, and Heavy Gargoyle’s Greatsword at higher Strength values, and those Weapons can be buffed.
The sweetspot for damage with this weapon is 50 Strength, and you only gain 76 Attack Rating from 50-99 Strength. Investing points into Intelligence and Dexterity is not recommended, since you get very poor returns.
Because you can get two in one playthrough, and they are so light you should consider dual wielding them, or using one with a Greatshield for a Block Counter sort of Build if you decide to go with this Weapon.
TheClaymorehas a unique R2 thrust and rolling R1 Thrust, and deals Physical Damage. It is one of the lightest Greatswords in Elden Ring, weighing 9, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
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Conclusion: Really the only reason to use this Greatsword over others is its unique R2 that allows you to catch enemies at longer ranges, or because of its Ash of War: Lion’s Claw which would normally take you much longer to acquire. Consider using the Axe and Spear Talismans with this weapon to take full advantage of Charged R2 thrusts.
TheGolden Order Greatswordshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals both Physical and Holy Damage. It has an average weight for a Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
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Conclusion: The Golden Order Greatsword packs a serious punch, but by the time you acquire it, you’ll most likely have a comparable or better Greatsword. The fact that it does mostly Holy Damage would seem fantastic, except for the fact that many late game bosses resist this damage type, making it less effective than it should be by the time you have it.
The weapon shines around 50 Faith, putting it near the top of total Attack Rating of all Holy Damage dealing Greatswords at this point and onwards. But because the Golden Order Greatsword has such poor Strength and Dexterity Scaling, you’ll likely have to play some sort of Jump Attack dual wield build with it, or a Spellblade type that uses the Erdtree Seal in the left hand.
Sword of Milosshares a unique R2 with the with Death’s Poker, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires some points in Strength, and Dexterity in order to wield.
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Conclusion: Unless you build for high Poise in order to use the buffed R2 combo without interruption, this Greatsword seems meant to be paired with another Greatsword for Jump Attack combos, ideally one that also has Bleed on it. The FP recovery per kill alone makes it a solid choice for an off-hand in this style, using another Greatsword in the main hand that has a more effective Weapon Skill.
Shriek of Milos can be difficult to use, but is exceptional when executed as it not only adds 85 points of Physical Damage for 40 seconds, but also debuffs enemies reducing their resistances by 15% for 30 seconds.
The sweet spot for stat spread seems to be around 55 Strength and 55 Dexterity, but because this Greatsword has Quality Scaling, it will remain effective at much higher Stats then many other Greatswords.
Helphen’s Steepleshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals both Physical and Magic Damage. It is one of the heavier Greatswords in Elden Ring, weighing 11.5, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence in order to wield.
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Conclusion: Helphen’s Steeple has exceptional Attack Rating and has a nearly perfect split in terms of Physical and Magic Damage if Strength and Intelligence are equal. However, it has average Intelligence Scaling compared to other Magic Damage dealing Greatswords, and there are better options if you plan to go past 50 Intelligence (Dark Moon Greatsword, Gargoyle’s Magic Greatsword, Magic Iron Greatsword, and Magic Bastard Sword).
The ideal stat spread for this weapon is around 50 Strength and 50 Intelligence, which is where the weapon shines against any other Greatsword with the same stat spread. Going much above this yields diminishing returns.
Helphen’s Steeple excels at dealing damage with regular attacks more than anything due to its high base damage, decent Strength and Intelligence Scaling, and because it can buff itself, further increasing its damage and adding Frostbite Build Up to the weapon. It doesn’t have an offensive Weapon Skill, and because other Greatswords will outperform it if you take the Spellblade route of increasing Intelligence, Helphen’s Steeple is ideal in a dual wield Jump Attack setup, or potentially with a One-hand and Shield setup. You’ll have to rebuff this weapon somewhat often, so make sure to keep it in your main hand.
Sacred Relic Swordshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals both Physical and Holy Damage. It is one of the heavier Greatswords in Elden Ring, weighing 11, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
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Conclusion: Sacred Relic Sword, while extremely powerful because of its Weapon Skill: Wave of Gold, is otherwise underwhelming. You cannot even acquire this weapon until you defeat Elden Beast, meaning that you will likely only use this weapon in NG+ and beyond, unless you skip lots of optional content on the way you plan on doing later.
You’d probably use this weapon with about 55 Dexterity and 50 Faith in order to get your best bang for your buck, increasing your Strength in NG+ to further boost damage. Because you ideally wouldn’t have that much Strength, your damage when two-handing this Weapon won’t increase much, making this a much better weapon to be one-handed in some sort of dual greatsword setup. Again, low Strength initially means that you likely won’t use a Greatshield either.
Sword of Milos or Blasphemous Blade make good counterparts for a dual wield setup not only because of the passive FP or passive HP they provide, but also because they have similar scaling. Wave of Gold has such a high FP cost, you will need to use it sparingly, and Jump Attacks will make things easier in between uses.
Marais Executioner’s Swordhas a unique R2 that attacks vertically instead of horizontally, and deals Physical and Magic Damage. It is one of the heavier Greatswords in Elden Ring, weighing 11.5, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Arcane in order to wield.
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Conclusion: Marais Executioner’s Sword is in the middle of the pack in terms of overall Attack Rating for Magic Damage dealing Greatswords. Since it deals predominantly Physical Damage, it doesn’t take as good advantage on Talismans and buffs that increase Magic Damage, unlike many other Greatswords.
Since there isn’t much synergy between Strength and Arcane, it’s difficult to use this weapon and hybrid it into some sort of caster that uses the Dragon Communion Seal. This is because you’d also need points in Faith to be able to cast Incantations, which would mean spreading points between Strength, Arcane, Faith, Mind, and Vigor minimally.
The main reason to use Marais Executioner’s Sword is its Weapon Skill: Eochaid’s Dancing Blade that can often 1 or 2 shot most enemies and even some Bosses. Because each rotation of the skill counts as a “hit”, Talismans like Winged Sword Insigna increase its damage with each rotation, resulting in huge damage numbers. And since it can also be charged, you can also make use of Godfrey Icon, which isn’t typical of Weapon Skills.
Either play this weapon Two-Handed or One-Handed with Shield for best results. You should aim for 50 Strength and 50 Arcane in order to get the most from this Weapon. Note that it still has ok scaling past this point in Strength, making it more viable for successive playthroughs than some other weapons.
Gargoyle’s Greatswordshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals Physical Damage. It is one of the heavier Greatswords in Elden Ring, weighing 11.5, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
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Conclusion: The Gargoyle’s Greatsword is a very strong Greatsword, but is outperformed by the Iron Greatsword in nearly every instance because of its higher base damage. It’s a great alternative to it, if you cannot be bothered to farm the Iron Greatsword, but there really isn’t much other reason to use it other than appearance.
If you intend to use the Gargoyle’s Greatsword, lean into its superior scaling and make sure to crank your damage scaling attributes high to take full advantage of it, which will often close the gap or surpass other similar Greatswords in terms of Attack Rating at higher Attribute ranges.
Ordovis’s Greatswordshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals both Physical and Holy Damage. It is one of the heaviest Greatswords in Elden Ring, weighing 12, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
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Conclusion: A fantastic Greatsword to use if you’re playing a Strength-based Build, but points into Faith barely benefit this Weapon’s Attack Rating, making it less useful than it would appear to Strength/Faith Builds. However, if you’re using the Clawmark Seal, you can still use Incantations effectively, since it gains scaling from both Strength and Faith.
The sweetspot for damage with this Sword is about 50 Strength and 25 Faith. You only gain about 100 Attack Rating from 50 to 99 Strength, and Faith Scaling is poor in general past 20. However, 25 Faith will allow you to use Golden Vow, which is one of the best buffs in the game.
If you’re going to use this Weapon I recommend leaning into the Weapon Skill, Ordovis’s Vortex, as it is extremely strong, and either two-handing it or using a Great Shield with it.
Knight’s Greatswordshares a unique two-handed R1 moveset with the Banished Knight’s Greatsword and the Inseparable Sword, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
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Conclusion: The Knight’s Greatsword is the strongest early game Greatsword that you can acquire without defeating a single Boss. If you’re looking for low level cooperation, or just want the highest Attack Rating you can get on a Greatsword as quickly as possible then the Knight’s Greatsword is the one for you.
Banished Knight’s Greatswordshares a unique two-handed R1 moveset with the Knight’s Greatsword and the Inseparable Sword, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
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Conclusion: The Banished Knight’s Greatsword is the king of early game Greatswords, and is worth farming if you want to be as strong as you possibly can early on. However, if you’ve already used most of your upgrade materials on another Greatsword like the Bastard Sword or Claymore, and you haven’t unlocked ways to purchase more, it’s probably not worth doing since you can replace it with an Iron Greatsword for even more damage later on.
Dark Moon Greatswordhas a unique R2, and deals Physical and Magic Damage. It has an average weight for a Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 10, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence in order to wield.
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Conclusion: The Dark Moon Greatsword is one of the best two Greatswords in Elden Ring if you plan to make a Spellblade Build. Not only does it deal solid damage at high Intelligence levels, but Intelligence directly effects the damage of Moonlight Greatsword’s waves while also increasing your Sorcery Scaling. And because Moonlight Greatsword’s waves are pure Magic Damage, they benefit directly from things I mentioned previously that most Intelligence Builds would use anyway, like Magic Scorpion Charm.
One of the best things about Moonlight Greatsword is its ability to Stance Break enemies at a distance where you are less likely to get hit if you are using Charged R2s, and if you’re a Spellblade can combine this with Greatblade Phalanx for even faster Stance Damage build up.
The best way to play with this weapon is no doubt in some Build that uses Sorceries, since not every Build will benefit from such high Intelligence. The Dark Moon Greatsword has poor Strength and Dexterity Scaling, and the waves of Moonlight Greatsword do not benefit from these Stats either. Grab Carian Regal Scepter and go to town.
Death’s Pokershares a unique R2 with the with Sword of Milos, and deals Physical and Magic Damage. It is extremely lightweight for a Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 8.5, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence in order to wield.
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Conclusion: For such a lightweight Greatsword, Death’s Poker packs a serious punch, not only in normal Attack Rating, but also with its Weapon Skill: Ghostflame Ignition. It’s a shame not more of it’s Attack Power was Magic Damage, since it’s highly likely you’ll use effects that boost Magic Damage with this weapon, and it’s regular attacks will not take much advantage of them.
Ideally you’d put 50 Points into Strength and 50 into Dexterity when using this Weapon in order to get the most damage out of it, but 20 points in Intelligence are also recommending in order to use Terra Magica. This spell boosts Magic Damage by 35% while standing inside it, which will only amplify Ghostflame Ignition even further.
I’d suggest playing this weapon with a Shield, leaning into Ghostflame Ignition when you can, or dual wielding Greatswords utilizing Jump Attacks, with this weapon in your main hand for easy Ghostflame usage. Perhaps pairing it with something like Sword of Milos or another weapon that deals Magic Damage.
Iron Greatswordshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals Physical Damage. It is one of the heaviest Greatswords in Elden Ring, weighing 12, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
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Conclusion: The Iron Greatsword is the best non-unique Greatsword in Elden Ring, outperforming nearly every other non-unique Greatsword in just about every Infusion possible, and in some cases unique Greatswords as well. You cannot acquire it until you reach the Royal Capital, and can farm the Misbegotten enemies there, which can be a serious pain in the butt to do, because there are only 2 and neither are near a Site of Grace.
However, if you can manage to farm one you’ll have a fantastic off-hand greatsword for just about any dual Greatsword setup, or a great main-hand greatsword if you decide to lean into some of the strong Ashes of War in Elden Ring, like Lion’s Claw.
Blasphemous Bladeshares the default moveset of many other Greatswords, and deals both Physical and Fire Damage. It is the heaviest Greatsword in Elden Ring, weighing 13.5, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
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Conclusion: Blasphemous Blade is one of the strongest weapons in Elden Ring, not only because Taker’s Flame hits extremely hard when setup properly, but also because it can hit multiple enemies at a good distance and heals you for each one struck, and each one killed. If you’re using the Blasphemous Blade then you should be using Taker’s Flame often, particularly during Boss encounters, or you’re wasting 3/4 of the potential of this weapon.
Despite appearances, Blasphemous Blade actually scales better with Dexterity and Strength than it does Faith, making it a poor weapon choice for a Spellblade sort of Build, and more suited for a Sword and Board playstyle or dual Greatswords. There are better Greatswords for the high Faith route, and Taker’s Flame is a far better use of FP than spells if you’re using Blasphemous Blade.
The ideal stat spread for this Weapon would be somewhere around 50 Strength, 50 Dexterity and 50 Faith. This is hard to do in a single playthrough, but that’s one of the reasons this is such a strong weapon. It will continue to get stronger into NG+, making it viable for multiple playthroughs.
If you enjoyed thisGreatsword Ranked Guide, be sure to check out our other Weapon Guides, and also our article on how to Prepare forShadow of the Erdtree!
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
