I know I may be on record saying that poison sucks hard in DS3, but in the name of fun I thought I’d give a poison run a go.
And was it viable?
…Not really.
But I did find that it’s more effective than I thought, and requires very little investments in terms of stats!
So for those of you looking to add a bit of poison to your builds, be it for PvP or long boss fights, I’ll be going over some great weapons for poison infusion!
5. Barbed Straight Sword
The barbed straight sword is an underrated monster, particularly excelling at early-game PvP and invasions.
Now before I’m laughed out of the room for considering this weapon viable, let me elaborate.
For early-game, the majority of your stats should be going to health and stamina (especially for PvP), as physical stats do not effect poison of bleed build-up – of which this weapon has both!
So you can comfortably be rolling around early-game with all your stats in HP and still be absolutely shredding people with these dual statuses!
How to get: Dropped by dark spirit Kirk in the cathedral of the deep.
4. Rotten Ghru Spear
The Ghru weapons are the most famous for poison build-up, being the only infusible weapons with base poison in the entire game.
So, naturally, they’ve all made this list, but the spear is far and away the worst.
Sadly spears just don’t feel good in DS3.
They’re slow, easy to dodge, and have pitiful base damage – with the Ghru spear being no exception.
That being said, it’s still fine, and its range allows you to apply poison from a relatively safe distance!
How to get: Dropped by Ghru’s wielding it in the swamps of Farron.
3. Onikiri and Ubadachi
When it comes to applying both poison and bleed, O&U are absolutely fantastic.
When poison infused, they get 38 poison and 34 bleed, which may not seem huge.
But when factoring in the multi-hit moveset and massive stunlock these things cause, they build up meters fast.
And what’s more, their base damage remains decent, and they retain C/C scaling in strength/dex!
This is a really solid choice for quality builds looking to spice up their playstyle a bit.
How to get: Dropped by black hand Kamui on top of the grand archives.
2. Rotten Ghru Curved Sword
And now the two top dogs, who honestly could both be in first place on this list.
The Ghru curved is more of a main weapon option, for players that really want to go all-in on the poison front.
The build-up is good, but the surprising part is its damage – which remains solid thanks to its B-scaling in dex!
As if applying poison to your foe wasn’t enough, they’ll be backpedalling the whole fight thanks to the surprising DPS this thing can dish out – likely never getting a chance to heal!
How to get: Dropped by Ghru’s wielding it in the swamps of Farron.
1. Rotten Ghru Dagger
Conversely, the Ghru dagger is more of a poison addition that can be tacked onto any build.
Its damage isn’t great, but it has the overpowered ‘quickstep’ skill and a whopping 70 poison build-up once infused!
This’ll poison most foes in just a few hits!
Throw this on the offhand of literally any build and boom – poison on demand, any time.
Its damage may not be as solid as the Ghru curved, but for pure poison application, this is the top dog.
How to get: Dropped by Ghru’s wielding it in the swamps of Farron.
A game animator by trade, Tom’s insight into the game development world gives him a strong appreciation for the art form that is video games. Kicking off at the age of 3 with Spyro: Year of the Dragon on the PS1, Tom’s tastes in games has hardened over the 19 years he’s spent playing them. He now lives for the challenge that titles such as Monster Hunter, Dark Souls, Dead Cells, and many more offer him. Enjoying nothing more than a session of number-crunching game data and another platinum trophy on his PlayStation account, Tom is dedicated to leaving no stone unturned in even the most brutal of gaming content.
