DS3 is absolutely chock full of weapons – so much so that there are some that fly under the radar.
And for good reason, too, as some of these items take days of grinding, or are drops from obscure enemies that have a less than 1% chance of gracing your playthroughs!
But out of all of these pieces of gear, which are you least likely to see?
In this list we’ll be ranking down some of the rarest weapons in all of Dark Souls III!
10. Soldering Iron
Starting off with the soldering iron – a rare drop that’s made less rare by the sheer amount of jailors in Irithyll dungeon.
Similar to the jailors themselves, hitting an enemy player with the soldering iron makes them unable to roll and reduces their estus effectiveness for 15 seconds! Sound great, right?
Well it’s simply awful.
Thanks to its D/C scaling and the vast majority of its base damage being fire, opponents in PvP will likely take next to no damage from your attacks.
How to get: Dropped by the jailors of Irithyll dungeon.
9. Tailbone Spear/Short Sword
The tailbone spear and short sword are two more weapons from the Irithyll dungeon – sporting decent base damage but bad scalings.
The main stand-out of these weapons are their ‘unleash dragon’ weapon skills, that both have the same name but function slightly differently.
The short sword fires a homing shockwave of force towards your target, while the spear unleashes a lingering cone of wind.
Both of them add a very powerful weapon to your builds – gravity!
How to get: Dropped by the wretches in Irithyll dungeon.
8. Great Wooden Hammer
The great wooden hammer is the best hammer for early-game characters, thanks to its low stat requirements and weight.
Though, to this day, I have never personally been dropped one…
The real power of this weapon comes from its ‘great hammer’ moveset, which boasts just as much poise as any of the other late-game options.
This allows you to completely tank through most attacks and stun-lock opponents!
How to get: Dropped by the hammer-wielding villagers in the undead settlement.
7. Harpe
The harpe is a dagger overlooked by many thanks to having some of the lowest base damage in the game.
But to that I say – quickstep.
The harpe has the ‘quickstep’ weapon skill, which is easily the most broken and exploitable skill in the entire game – making you completely invincible if used right!
And to top it off, it has huge stun-lock, deceptive range, and really good scalings – hitting S-scaling on sharp infused and A-scaling most everywhere else.
How to get: Dropped by the red-eyed peasants in the undead settlement.
6. Flamberge
There seems to be a running theme with rare weapon drops: they’re some of the best early-game weapons available.
The flamberge is no different, being likely the strongest greatsword for early-game PvP!
This is thanks to its huge base damage when raw infused, and innate bleed damage – which is just free DPS and a ticking time bomb for your opponents!
And when all this is bundled up with its low stat requirements and high-poise moveset, it’s really not hard to see what makes it so strong.
How to get: Dropped by the flamberge-wielding hollow slaves found in the undead settlement, cathedral of the deep and grand archives.
5. Archdeacon’s Great Staff
The archdeacon’s is the only non-enemy-drop piece of gear to make the list, though it’s just as rare as any of the sub 1% weapon drops.
And it has a very cool (albeit niche) use: being a catalyst that causes sorceries to scale entirely with faith!
This means that pure faith builds can use some magics too, as a surprisingly low amount of intelligence is needed to gain access to some really useful sorceries!
But there’s a catch.
To get it, you need to do a ton of invasion PvP.
How to get: Reach rank 2 in the Aldrich faithful covenant (requiring 30 human dregs).
4. Bonewheel Shield
The bonewheel shield is a classic from the days of DS1, that has… never really been any good, honestly.
At least with the inclusion of weapon skills in DS3 it got an ability – ‘wheel of fate’, which plants the shield down and revs it like a lawnmower, shredding foes in front for high bleed.
Though it’s extremely slow, does hardly any damage (outside of a bleed proc), and is really easy to simply side-step.
But when it does land? Whoo boy.
Almost makes it worth the low drop chance!
Almost.
How to get: Dropped by bonewheel skeletons.
3. Stone Greatshield
You could play DS3 for hundreds (if not thousands) of hours and never know this shield exists.
Similar to other entries to this list, the stone greatshield is actually really good, and is one of the best general-use greatshields, boasting an average block of 78% and high stability.
This makes it effective against any foe you could encounter – be it monster, player, or boss!
So how do you get it?
Well…
How to get:Very rare drop from the elder Ghru’s in Farron swamp.
2. Mendicant’s Staff
Of all the entries to this list, the mendicant’s is likely the most sought-after.
Not because it’s a good catalyst, but because of its crazy passive of +20% souls while held!
This makes soul farming all that much easier, and is an integral part of the gear setup required for optimal soul gain.
When paired with the silver serpent ring, shield of want, and symbol of avarice, you’re looking at +237% souls!
Now that’s big money.
How to get: Extremely rare drop from the man-serpent summoners in archdragon peak.
1. Eleonora
Here it is.
The weapon so rare that before writing this list I had no idea it even existed.
Eleonora is an axe – and with D/D scaling but high base damage, it seems like yet another early-game dominator.
But when looking deeper, it’s actually extremely powerful and a really cool support weapon!
Its unique skill ‘feast bell’ causes your weapons and your nearby allies’ weapons to cause bleed build-up and restore 15 HP per hit!
For a niche off-hand choice it adds a ton of variety, and bolsters the overlooked ‘party buffer’ playstyle, for playing with friends or summons.
How to get: Only dropped by the first monstrosity of sin to aggro you in the swamp church in the profaned capital. No, this is not a bug.
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.
