Elden Ring weapons: Best early weapon & all confirmed weapon types
Kit yourself out with katanas and more with our guide to Elden Ring weapons.
Beating bosses is never easy in this game, but understanding Elden Ring weapons — and making sure that you always bring the right weapon with you for the task at hand — can go a long way to making you less vulnerable to death.
Although it's easy to get attached to one nice-looking weapon that you found early on, we'd recommend keeping an eye on your weapons' stats using the Equipment menu. Whenever you find a stronger weapon on a fallen foe, swap it in for your previous sword or axe of choice. Every little nugget of damage helps in this game, after all. You could say a good weapon is more helpful than having the best Elden Ring armour.
Some weapons you find will be too heavy for you to pick up, but the solution to that is easy — use our Elden Ring rune-farming guide to get rich quick, and then use those easily collected coins to level up your Strength stat until you can wield that massive weapon you just found.
It's also worth noting that you can use Elden Ring Ashes of War to add epic abilities to your weapons, which will com in very handy in certain situations. But if it's outright magic attacks that you want to do, you'd be better off finding an Elden Ring staff instead of a traditional weapon.
With all of that housekeeping out of the way, read on for RadioTimes.com's guide to Elden Ring weapons.
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How many weapons are in Elden Ring?
There are 31 different weapon types in Elden Ring, so you should have plenty of options when it comes to building an arsenal to suit your play-style.
The game has both ranged weapons and melee weapons, and it should be fairly easy to tell which is which once you've picked a few things up. There are also some good medium-range options such as whips and flails.
The exact number of weapons in each category is yet to be worked out by players, which shouldn't come as too much of a surprise as this game has literally only just come out.
Full list of Elden Ring weapon types
Elden Ring melee weapons
- Fists
- Daggers
- Claws
- Axes
- Greataxes
- Greatswords
- Straight Swords
- Thrusting Swords
- Curved Swords
- Curved Greatswords
- Colossal Swords
- Colossal Weapons
- Halberds
- Hammers
- Heavy Thrusting Swords
- Katanas
- Reapers
- Twinblades
- Warhammers
Elden Ring ranged weapons
- Ballistas
- Bows
- Light Bows
- Greatbows
- Crossbows
Elden Ring mid-range weapons
- Flails
- Spears
- Great Spears
- Whips
Elden Ring magic weapons
- Glintstone Staves (used for magic and sorcery)
- Sacred Seals (used for incantations)
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Elden Ring early weapons: What should you get first?
Once you're in Limgrave, you'll have lots of freedom to explore, and one of the first things you'll want to pick up is a decent weapon to defend yourself with.
One of the best early weapons in Elden Ring is the Twinblade, which you can pick up as soon as you're free to explore Limgrave. The video below shows exactly where you should go! Note that you'll need to jump over a fence using your trusty horse mount at one point.
What are the best Elden Ring weapons?
At this stage, players around the globe are trying to work out what are the best weapons in Elden Ring. If you're a returning fan of FromSoftware's previous games, you might not feel at your best until you've picked up a powerful Greatsword.
There is already a lot of hype around the Grafted Blade Greatsword, which could be one of the best options for returning players. You can pick up this powerful melee weapon by defeating the Leonine Misbegotten boss at Castle Morne.
Once you've found this location at the southern-most point of the Weeping Peninsula, the video below should help you overcome that boss and earn yourself one of the best Greatswords we've seen so far.
If you fancy picking up some other strong weapons, it's also worth seeking out the Reduvia Dagger, the Dragonscale Blade Katana and the Longsword (it may not look like much, but this Straight Sword is a great choice).
Elden Ring weapon upgrades: Smithing Stones location
To upgrade your weapons in Elden Ring, you will need to visit an anvil (there is one at the Church of Elleh ruins, which you should be able to access early on). You'll need to bring some Runes and some Smithing Stones with you, as you'll be spending both of those resources to make your upgrades happen.
If you don't have any Smithing Stones, you should be able to find some in Limgrave Tunnels, where some of your foes are literally mining them out of the walls. The video below will help you find Smithing Stones at that specific location, although it's also worth noting that fallen enemies often drop Smithing Stones wherever you are on the map.
Once you've got some Runes and Smithing Stones that you're willing to part with, head to an anvil, where you should be able to spend those resources to increase any weapon stat by as many as three points.
If you want to go higher than three, you'll need to visit a blacksmith in order to upgrade your weapons further. Once you've defeated the first boss, Margit, you should be able to find Smithing Master Hewg at the Roundtable Hold. If you can afford his services, he'll be able to boost your weapon stats as high at +25.
Note that there are different sorts of Elden Ring Smithing Stones, and you'll need to keep finding better Smithing Stones if you want to pump a weapon all the way up to 25. The higher the number on the Smithing Stone itself (there should be a number in brackets in the name of each one you find), the higher it will be able to boost your weapons. Check out our guide to Elden Ring smithing stones to learn where they all are.
Those are the basics of Elden Ring weapons, then, which should help you get started in the game. We wish you luck as you enter into this deadly world, and hopefully this guide might make it slightly less painful!
Read more on Elden Ring:
- Elden Ring review - our final verdict
- Elden Ring multiplayer - how does it work?
- Elden Ring PC requirements - minimum & recommended specs
- Elden Ring release date - all the key details
- Elden Ring classes - what's the best starter?
- Elden Ring demo - network test recap
- Elden Ring bosses - top tips on facing them
- Elden Ring difficulty - how hard is it?
- Elden Ring length - how many hours do you need?
- Elden Ring trophies & achievements - the full list to unlock
- Elden Ring keepsake - which starter gift to pick
- Elden Ring server status - error message explained
- Elden Ring map - everything you need to know
- Elden Ring runes - how to get rich quick
- Elden Ring smithing stones - where to find them
- Elden Ring staff - the best staffs in the game
- Elden Ring armour - where to find the best armour
- Elden Ring Ashes of War - how to get the best upgrades
- Elden Ring Ranni quest - how to find it and finish it
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