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Everyone knows that Rivers of Blood, the Dark Moon Greatsword, and Radahn’s Starscourge Greatswords are outstanding weapons in Elden Ring’s PvE and PvP.
But what are we overlooking?
Most people prefer to find something that works and stick with it – but I love people who’re open to new experiences and pushing the boundaries of what society finds acceptable.
For all of you hipster kings and queens trying to set yourselves apart from the masses, I’ve created this list of underrated weapons you need to try in Elden Ring.
10. Sword of St. Trina
At first glance, the Sword of St. Trina doesn’t look like much. It’s very short – which is usually a bad sign for blades – and its damage stats aren’t particularly high.
Still, the devil – or, in this case, the demigod – is in the details.
This weapon shines for its ease of use and its unique skill: Mists of Slumber. With it, you can quickly put enemies to sleep, and as long as you don’t get hit, your weapon remains enchanted with soporific mist.
Moreover, it’s light and has low equipment requirements, focusing on INT. This makes it ideal for low or mid-level mage characters rushing Comet Azur or Rennala’s Full Moon.
Where to find: The sword can be easily picked up from the Forsaken Ruins in Caelid.
9. Clayman’s Harpoon
Another surprisingly good weapon for INT-based characters is the Clayman’s Harpoon, a tribal-looking spear with a meteorite ore tip.
The Clayman’s Harpoon shines because of three things:
Solid INT scaling.
Interchangeable Ash of War.
Fast moveset.
These features make this voodoo-looking lance a favorite of magic warriors who need a versatile and easy-to-wield weapon that’ll keep enemies at bay.
An INT-focused affinity like Magic or Cold and skills like Bloodhound Step or Spinning Slash would make a great addition to the Harpoon.
Where to find: The Harpoon occasionally drops from the Claymen in Uhl Palace Ruins, Siofra River, and Ainsel River.
8. Ordovis’s Greatsword
Crucible Knight Ordovis is one of the biggest badasses in the Lands Between.
It’s only fair that your reward for defeating him (and his friend) would be worth the effort.
Ordovis’s Greatsword doesn’t only look amazing, but it’s just the thing anyone running a STR/FAI build needs to dominate their foes.
Generally, this Greatsword is overlooked in favor of the Blasphemous Blade for their similar scaling – but this is lighter, easier to procure, and your character doesn’t look Chaotic Evil using it.
Where to find: You’ll get this after defeating Ordovis in Auriza Hero’s Grave.
7. Hoslow’s Petal Whips
The tale of House Hoslow is told in blood – and these beautifully adorned whips are the perfect tool to spill lots of it.
People tend to sleep on whips due to their unusual moveset – but that’s precisely what makes them so good.
Most people in PvP are scared runeless by the madman spinning around with blood-soaked whips, or they underestimate them entirely.
Just equip a small blade with the Seppuku skill as your secondary weapon, don the White Mask, and go full Castlevania on those fools.
Where to find: One is dropped by Juno Hoslow during the Volcano Manor questline, and Diallos gives you another in Jarburg.
6. Cleanrot Spear
I always wondered how the Cleanrot Knights managed to serve Malenia without rotting themselves.
The answer lies in the Cleanrot Spear, outfitted with a small blessed shield that keeps the rot at bay by raising your Immunity.
Its unique weapon skill, Sacred Phalanx, is perfect for trades, provides AoE coverage, and looks extremely cool.
Where to find: You’ll need to farm it from Cleanrot Knights in Caelid’s Heart of Aeonia or Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. The spectral knights in the War-Dead Catacombs in Caelid also drop it.
5. Magma Blades
I’ve seen a couple of people with Magma Blades in PvP – but they’re still way underused for how powerful and flashy they are.
I refer to them as a pair because you’re not getting the true Magma Blade experience without the dual-wielded moveset.
Power-stancing the Magma Blades turns your STR/FAI character into a spinning storm of lava that’ll intimidate anyone you meet in PvP.
The Magma Shower weapon skill might have a short range, but the puddles of lava it leaves on the ground are a great deterrent, creating a safe zone where you can retreat.
Where to find: Regrettably, farming the Magma Blade is a pain in the Elden Ring. It drops 1% of the time from the Man-Serpent enemies in Volcano Manor – but only those seen carrying the blade.
4. Rusted Anchor
If you always pick May in Guilty Gear or Nautilus in League of Legends, you’ll love the Rusted Anchor in Elden Ring.
You’d think swinging a four-fluked anchor around would be unwieldy – but the Rusted anchor is faster and deals more damage than the average Greataxe or Greatsword of the same weight.
This, coupled with excellent STR scaling and the fact that it can be enhanced with incantations or consumable greases, makes the Rusted Anchor a superb choice for beefy characters.
Where to find: The Anchor can be found on the Scaly Misbegotten boss in Morne Tunnel.
3. Warped Axes
I’m a fan of dual-wielding huge and heavy weapons.
Nothing shows how much of a badass you are like spinning around with two massive axes most the average people couldn’t even lift with both arms.
The Warped Axe is the perfect weapon for such a beefy character thanks to its S scaling in STR (once fully upgraded), and its customizable Ash of War.
The same goes for the ability to coat it with elemental grease.
Moreover, the Warped Axe has an excellent power stance moveset that’ll intimidate your enemies and deal devastating damage.
Where to find: You can easily farm two Warped Axes from the Omen enemies in the Subterranean Shunning Grounds below Leyndell.
2. Coil Shield
Elden Ring is full of unusual weapons with more depth than meets the eye.
Many are shields with unique offensive abilities, such as the Shield of the Guilty or the Spiralhorn Shield.
My favorite among these – and one I don’t often see anyone using – is the Coil Shield, cast in the shape of a coiled snake.
At least, that’s what the item description says – but once you start using its Viper Bite skill, you’ll wonder whether it’s a bronze cast or a real snake.
Viper Bite has an incredibly long reach, inflicts poison in no time, and works as a solid front-facing AoE that can help you deal with hordes of low-level enemies.
Where to find: You can pick it up from a corpse inside Volcano Cave, on Mt. Gelmir.
1. Guardian’s Swordspear
The Guardian’s Swordspear is so powerful that it’s getting increasingly harder to call it underrated.
Still, compared to Rivers of Blood, this halberd might as well be Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).
The main thing that sets the Swordspear apart is that, as a Swordspear, its moveset provides a lot more horizontal and vertical coverage than the average poke-centric spear while still being light and fast.
It comes with Spinning Slash – a solid weapon skill, for sure – but you can modify it.
It’s also compatible with elemental greases, and the power stance moveset is out of this world.
Where to find: This superb weapon is carried by Guardians hanging around the roots of the Erdtree. There are many of them in the main Erdtree in Leyndell and around the Minor Erdtrees.
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.
