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One thing that’s never missing from FromSoftware games is one or two items with a drop rate so comically low that it becomes a meme.
Think of the Symbol of Avarice in Dark Souls or the infamous Pure Bladestone from Demon’s Souls.
Elden Ring features many more items than the average Soulsborne title – multiple of which are locked behind hours of farming oddly specific enemies.
Items like the Silver-Pickled Prowl Foot and the Silver Scarab can help raise your drop rate considerably – but even then, some items are reserved for the extremely lucky or the highly dedicated.
Let’s look into some of the rarest drops in the game.
10. Octopus Head
One thing Soulsborne fans love doing is wearing bizarre stuff on their heads for nice stat boosts. Elden Ring offers everything from an upside-down pot to the Octopus Head.
This weird-looking item will protect your character’s head from Strike damage with the squishy flesh of an octopus, but getting it might make you want to bang your head against the wall.
This helm only drops from the small variety of Land Octopus. You can find them in many areas all over the Lands Between, but the head only drops 1% of the time.
On average, you’ll have to kill 100 of them before getting the prize.
9. Cleanrot Spear
Not many players are hunting for the Octopus Head, but the Cleanrot Spear is very sought-after.
This lance scales with STR, DEX, and FAI, making it ideal for any character running a hybrid melee/incantation build.
Interest in the Cleanrot Spear has revealed something else: its abysmal drop rate.
Like the Octopus Head, this only drops around 1% of the time – but the enemy you need to kill knows how to fight back and can give you a whopping if you get distracted.
Farming this is simply hellish.
8. Brass Shield
The Brass Shield is funny in that you could get it in your first 20 minutes of Elden Ring, or not get a single one in your entire playthrough despite actively looking for it.
The Brass Shield drops from fairly common enemies: Godrick Soldiers and Raya Lucaria Soldiers – but only the ones you see carrying the shield themselves.
That already limits your Brass Shield-hunting a little bit, but here’s the awful part:
Its drop rate is between 0.5% and 1%, meaning you might have to kill over 100 foes for it to drop.
Give the Blue-Gold Kite Shield a chance before you waste your life looking for this.
7. Magma Blade
One of the most common drop rate complaints I’ve heard among my friends and online is about the Magma Blade – or, rather, Magma Blades.
Everyone hunting for this fiery curved sword wants not one but two of them to look like a major bad-ass and strike fear in the hearts of anyone foolish enough to oppose them.
Power-stancing these weapons lets you spray magma around you while slashing at your enemies. It’s powerful and magnificent in equal measure.
If you also want to become a dual-wielding version of Azor Ahai, you’ll have to kill around 200 Man-Serpent enemies – but only the ones carrying the glowing, bright orange Magma Blade.
6. Blue Silver Set
The Blue Silver Set is one of the best-looking armors for male and female characters.
Regrettably, farming it feels like a fool’s errand.
This attractive set is worn by the Albinauric Wolfback Archers – like Latenna, the Albinauric woman that gives you half of a medallion in the Slumbering Wolf’s Shack.
She drops this set if you kill her then and there, but if you’re role-playing a decent person, you’ll have to kill close to 100 Albinauric Wolfback Archers in the Consecrated Snowfield.
5. Imp Head (Cat), (Long Tongued), (Fanged)
Imps are one of if not the most common enemy in the Lands Between.
These little guys infest catacombs all around the territory. You’ll also find them in dark, damp places like the Subterranean Shunning Grounds.
Despite being very annoying, the Imps have one saving grace: they drop giant stone heads that can raise stats like DEX or INT if you can take the equipment load.
However, while you’ll definitely get one or two Imp Heads in your playthrough, getting the one you need is up to the RNG gods.
Each of these only has a 0.5% base drop rate. I’ll let you do the math.
4. Black Dumpling
On the surface, Elden Ring is a way less dark game than Dark Souls or Bloodborne.
Then you read item descriptions like the Black Dumpling’s, and you remember this is a joint venture between FromSoftware and George R.R. Martin.
This black leather back was put on victims of torture to magnify their fears and make them even more aware of the various tortures inflicted by their captors.
On the flip side, it increases ATK when suffering from Madness.
In a cruel twist of fate, farming one of these is nothing short of torture itself. They drop at a dreadful rate of 0.5% from First Generation Albinaurics at Volcano Manor or the lower levels of Leyndell.
3. Aristocrat Headband
The Aristocrat Headband is nothing special in terms of stats or special effects – but damn, does it have drip.
This golden band is perfect for completing almost any outfit. It’s precious for those who like keeping our character’s face uncovered.
Getting it seems simple at first. It drops from Noble Sorcerers – the weakest kind of magic user in the game – so it shouldn’t be so hard… right?
Well, it wouldn’t be if the chances of it dropping weren’t one in two hundred.
I hope you like Rowa Fruit and Herba…
2. Noble’s Estoc & Slender Sword
You’ll have a similar experience trying to get the Noble’s Estoc or the Noble’s Slender Sword – two fairly powerful weapons with a beautiful golden color.
These blades drop from Wandering Nobles, who carry them for self-defense – though it doesn’t do them much good against the next Elden Lord.
That said, dropping from a weak enemy doesn’t guarantee that a weapon is easy to get. Like the Aristocrat Headband, these only drop 0.5% of the time – and only from specific types of Wandering Noble.
You can find a large convoy of Nobles near the Waypoint Ruins site of grace that should make things a little bit easier.
1. Celebrant’s Sickle, Rib-Rake & Cleaver
The Windmill Village is one of the eeriest, most mysterious regions in the Lands Between.
Locked in eternal celebration, Dominula’s inhabitants cackle and dance as if the world wasn’t falling apart, ceremonial weapons in hand.
These ceremonial tools are useful for Tarnished due to their ability to generate runes with each hit, so many fools decide to farm them.
After killing over 200 of these enemies, you might get one to drop – and, surprise, it’s not the one you wanted. Time to kill another 200 dancing old ladies!
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
