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Fortunately, players have access to powerful god-like weapons that can conquer even the largest foes. And one powerful weapon class is that of Strength Weapons, which mostly take the form of Greatswords, Warhammers, and Halberds. With so many options available in Elden Ring, players will need to know which one is the best of them all.
Updated on May 6, 2022, by Daniel Dilena:Patch 1.04 was made for strength weapon enthusiasts since FromSoftware significantly improved all strength-type weapons. While they didn’t buff them, they did improve the way players handled them, making them more viable in PVE and PVP. And due to these changes, some weapons finally earned their place as the best strength weapons in Elden Ring.
15 Magma Wyrm’s Scalesword
Location:
Ruin-Strewn Precipice
Active Skill:
Magma Guillotine
Despite needing 18 Faith to wield, the Magma Wyrm’s Scalesword is a decent strength weapon that deals 114 Physical Damage and an additional 74 Fire Damage. Moreover, its Active Skill creates a large puddle of magma around the player, which deals Fire Damage for a few seconds.
But, players will need to defeat the powerful Magma Wyrm Makar boss to be able to obtain it, which can prove challenging if fought solo. Fortunately, this boss is susceptible to Madness, which means using Incantations like Inescapable Frenzy is highly recommended.
14 Ghiza’s Wheel
Location:
Volcano Manor
Active Skill:
Spinning Wheel
Most Elden Ring players agree that any weapon that deals Blood Loss is automatically a powerful weapon, and that’s why Ghiza’s Wheel is one of the best STR weapons in Elden Ring. Apart from dealing Blood Loss (70 points), this heavy-strength weapon has a decent reach, making it ideal for poking enemies.
But, obtaining Ghiza’s Wheel is no easy task as it means traveling to the harsh environment of Volcano Manor. On top of that, players will need to kill Inquisitor Ghiza, which primarily uses Blood Loss damage.
13 Dragon Greatclaw
Location:
Capital Outskirts
Active Skill:
Endure
Even though obtaining the Dragon Greatclaw involves defeating the Draconic Tree Sentinel (one of the most challenging world bosses in Elden Ring), it’s well worth the struggle since it’s a powerful colossal weapon that no strength enthusiast can ignore.
But, this isn’t only one of the best strength weapons in Elden Ring since its Active Skill, Endure, boosts a player’s poise stat while reducing incoming damage. Players can pair this strength weapon with the Dragonclaw Shield, making them an unstoppable force in PVE and PVP battles.
12 Beastman’s Cleaver
Location:
Any Azula Beastman
Active Skill:
Spinning Slash
The Beastman’s Cleaver is one of the fastest strength type weapons in Elden Ring since it has an equip load of 16.5, significantly less than other strength weapons. Moreover, the Beastman’s Cleaver has a powerful Active Skill, Spinning Slash, that slashes enemies with several strikes and ends with a powerful heavy attack.
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The only issue that holds the Beastman’s Cleaver back as the best strength weapon in Elden Ring is that the drop rate is quite inconsistent, which may lead to hours of farming. But, players have found that farming the Azula Beastmans near the Dragon Temple Lift Site of Grace in Crumbling Farum Azula is the best farming location.
11 Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear
Location:
Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum
Active Skill:
Bloodboon Ritual
Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear is perhaps one of the best Great Spears in Elden Ring since it has Physical and Fire Damage, not to mention that its Active Skill coats it with Bloodflame, which further increases its Fire Damage. Unfortunately, the damage scaling of its Active Skill scales with Arcane and not Strength, so players will need to invest a little in Arcane to increase its damage potential.
But, obtaining Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear means players will need to defeat the Blood Lord Mohg. The good news is that players can team up with other Tarnished to take him down with relative ease.
10 Forked Greatsword
Location:
Any Catacomb with Imps
Active Skill:
Stamp (Upward Cut)
Despite not looking as epic as the other entries, the Forked Greatsword is a decent Strength Weapon that can crush foes in a couple of thrusts once upgraded enough. Moreover, Stamp (Upward Cut) is a useful skill to manage stance and positioning since it can absorb a blow (Stamp) and then follow up with an Upward Cut that can knock up most enemies, except for large ones.
On top of that, the Forked Greatsword’s Passive Skill causes Hemorrhage, which will slowly bleed the enemy out. Players can easily farm this weapon in the Black Knife Catacombs or Road’s End Catacombs.
9 Prelate’s Inferno Crozier
Location:
Fort Laiedd
Active Skill:
Prelate’s Charge
Players into Fashionborne will absolutely love how FromSoftware designed the Prelate’s Inferno Crozier since it’s an aesthetically pleasing Colossal Weapon with flames all over it. What’s more, alongside the god-like appearance, Prelate’s Inferno Crozier has powerful stats that will fling enemies up in the air.
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Moreover, if players use Radagon’s Soreseal (one of the best Talismans in Elden Ring), they can further increase this weapon’s damage output. Sadly, farming the Prelate’s Inferno Crozier can take a while since only one enemy drops it (the Prelate). At least the Site of Grace isn’t too far from its spawn location.
8 Giant-Crusher
Location:
Outer Wall Phantom Tree
Active Skill:
Strike
As the name implies, Giant-Crusher is a Colossal Hammer that will do just that: crush giants. Moreover, its Active Skill (Strike) is the perfect skill to obliterate armored enemies or those made out of rocks. Wielding this Strength Weapon requires a lot of Strength — 60, to be exact — which means players will need to be ready to spend lots of Runes.
The good news is that there are plenty of areas that are perfect to farm Runes (one player was even able to farm over 5 million Runes in an hour). But, the main reason why the Giant-Crusher is not ranked higher is its slow swing animation, which enemies or players can dodge easily.
7 Ruins Greatsword
Location:
Redmane Castle Plaza
Active Skill:
Wave of Destruction
The Ruins Greatsword is one of the few Colossal Swords that have an Intelligence requirement (15), but other than that, it’s a decent weapon to use against bosses. But the main reason that the Ruins Greatsword ranks here is that the Active Skill (Wave of Destruction) can clear waves of enemies in a single burst.
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Players who want to spam its Active Skill will want to make sure to have the Cerulean Hidden Tear, which grants unlimited FP for a short period of time.
6 Godslayer’s Greatsword
Location:
Divine Tower of Caelid
Active Skill:
The Queen’s Black Flame
The Godslayer’s Greatsword has one of the fastest swing animations for Colossal Swords, making it an ideal choice for players who can’t stand the long attack animations that most Strength Weapons have. Moreover, it’s a powerful boss killer, since The Queen’s Black Flame ignites enemies and slowly eats up their HP.
Sadly, this Strength Weapon is not so great for Mounted Combat. Players should avoid fighting Lesser Runebears or Giant Lobsters (which are among the most annoying enemies in Elden Ring) with it, and instead use a different weapon for these fights.
5 Nightrider Glaive
Location:
Between East Raya Lucaria Gate and Bellum Church
Active Skill:
Spinning Slash
Despite looking nothing like a Glaive, the Nightrider Glaive is a Halberd weapon perfect for PVP. This is because it has a long-range attack, making it the perfect poking machine.
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Moreover, Spinning Slash is essentially a crowd control skill, as it attacks all enemies around the player with a powerful spin attack. The only downside of this weapon is that players will need to defeat a Night’s Cavalry near Raya Lucaria Academy Gate in order to obtain it, which can prove challenging.
4 Starscourge Greatsword
Location:
Roundtable Hold
Active Skill:
Starcaller Cry
Starcaller Cry is arguably one of the best Active Skills in Elden Ring. It pulls in enemies with a gravitational wave and then slams them into the ground. Most players use this Strength Weapon by performing Jump Attacks since it has a 1.5x damage multiplier. Unfortunately, it has low Stagger Damage, which is why it’s not ranked higher.
Obtaining the Starscourge Greatsword will require players to get the Remembrance of the Starscourge and give it to Enia. This means they’ll need to defeat Starscourge Radahn, a powerful Demi-God found in Wailing Dunes.
3 Grafted Blade Greatsword
Location:
Castle Morne
Active Skill:
Oath of Vengeance
The Grafted Blade Greatsword is the perfect companion for die-hard sword enthusiasts — it’s literally a sword made out of more swords. But, the real reason why the Grafted Blade Greatsword is among the best Strength Weapons in Elden Ring is that it has a powerful Active Skill that increases all Attributes by 5 for 30 seconds.
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Moreover, it has 100 points into Critical Damage, which can one-shot some enemies once upgraded. But, with such a great weapon comes a massive ill-omened boss that protects it. For this particular Strength Weapon, players will need to defeat Leonine Misbegotten, which will require several tries — but it’s worth it.
2 Brick Hammer
Location:
Stormveil Castle
Active Skill:
Barbaric Roar
In Elden Ring, even the most simple-looking weapons can prove to be powerful tools that can vanquish even the ungodliest of enemies. The Brick Hammer does just that. This Warhammer can Guard Break most enemies in a single-charged attack, turning the tide of a battle.
Moreover, the Active Skill buffs Attack Rating by 10% for a couple of seconds. Players tend to imbue this Strength Weapon with Holy Damage, resulting in powerful Faith-type attacks. In order to obtain the Brick Hammer, players will need to locate the Rusty Key in Stormveil Castle, which is one of the many items players can find scattered in this location.
1 Greatsword (Gut’s Greatsword)
Location:
Dragonbarrow
Active Skill:
Stamp (Upward Cut)
Players can never go wrong in using one of FromSoftware’s classic Strength Weapons, the Greatsword. This weapon directly references Gut’s Greatsword from Kentaro Miura’s critically acclaimed manga Berserk, making it a wonderful nod to this legendary series. But the real reason this powerful weapon tops the rest is because it scales well in the later stages of Elden Ring.
Players can further increase its damage output by using the Ash of War: Lion’s Claw, which dramatically buffs Strength. Undoubtedly, the Greatsword is the best Strength weapon in Elden Ring and is ideal for Strength users. What’s more, obtaining the Greatsword is quite easy, since it can be looted off a Caravan located in Dragonbarrow.
Elden Ring is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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