The type of damage that your weapon deals in Elden Ring is majorly broken down into two categories – physical and elemental. While different weapons prioritize different types of damage, our main focus, for now, would be the weapons with the best physical damage in Elden Ring.
The physical damage category in turn consists of several other types – standard, pierce, slash, and strike damage, while the elementals are usually concerned with elements like Fire, Lightning, etc.
While different enemies are weak against different types of damage, your raw, Physical Damage weapons are always going to be efficient against all enemies in Elden Ring.
How Physical Damage works in Elden Ring
As mentioned previously, there are four main types to the Physical Damage main category itself, i.e. standard, slash, pierce, and strike damage. Although all weapons have the ability to deal Physical Damage in Elden Ring, they will focus on a different one of these subtypes of damage.
This is because the physical weakness of different enemies is classified in terms of these subtypes, not overall – which would make pretty much every weapon overpowered against every enemy.
Standard damage is the most basic, default form of physical damage that a particular weapon deals. Any damage that does not fall into any of the other categories is classified as standard damage. Some swords, but mostly axes, deal a substantial amount of physical damage in this game.
Slash attacks, as you can guess from the name, are mostly singing attacks that make sharp cuts on your enemies. These kinds of attacks are best suited against enemies with lesser armor on them. Daggers and Katanas, mainly, deal slash damage in Elden ring, but they can also deal pierce damage.
Pierce Damage is usually done with sharp, needle-edged weapons that can perform thrusting attacks. This sort of damage is best used against light to medium-armored enemies and dragons. Spears, Lances, and a few unique swords specialize in dealing this kind of damage.
Slash Damage is mainly dealt with weapons that have a blunt edge. Weapons that deal this kind of damage usually perform heavy attacks like Hammers. Maces, Clubs, Shields, etc. This is the type of damage you would want to deal against heavily armored enemies.
Some of the weapons may have a combination of two or more of these damage subtypes in store. Depending on the extent of damage and the strength they have, we can select the best physical damage weapons to use in Elden Ring.
Best Physical Damage weapons to use in Elden Ring
The one main stat that affects the overall extent of your weapon’s Physical Damage is the Strength stat. The higher your Strength stat, the more physical damage you deal – side by side with an increased weapon load, which allows you to carry heavier weapons and armor.
That said, keeping the physical damage in mind, you will mostly be focusing on your overall strength stats. With that, you will be able to effectively create your build with some of the best strength weapons in Elden Ring.
5) Nightrider Glaive
The Nightrider Glaive is a heavy Halberd weapon in Elden Ring. This weapon, with the help of its sharp edges and heavy weight, cuts down enemies with superior might using standard and pierce damage.
The weapon also provides you with superior range and is mainly meant to be used on horseback, which allows it to be used most effectively. While on the ground, you can activate this weapon’s unique skill called the Spinning Slash to get the most out of it.
This unique skill allows you to deal AoE damage to nearby enemies and also allows you to follow that attack with another standard attack. Additionally, you can also change this weapon’s skill to suit your needs.
This weapon comes with a high base physical damage stat of 129 and scales well with Strength and Dexterity. Its stat requirement, along with scaling, is mentioned below:
- Strength: 26
- Dexterity: 10
To obtain the Nightrider Glaive in Elden Ring, all you have to do is defeat the Night’s Cavalry, located next to the Bellum Highway, or the Raya Lucaria Academy (Liurnia).
4) Prelate’s Inferno Crozier
Taking fourth place ahead of the Nightrider Glaive is the Prelate’s Inferno Crozier, with a slightly higher physical damage stat of 156.
This is one of the highest base physical damage stat you have on this list. The amount of damage that you can put in with this weapon gets even better with its primary scaling with Strength (C) and Dexterity (E).
Even though the Prelate’s Inferno Crozier is a heavy weapon, you would be surprised to see how swift its attacks can be compared to other weapons in this category.
Combine that with the weapon’s unique skill called the Prelate’s Charge, and you are a force to be reckoned with having this weapon in your hands.
With this skill you can slam the crozier into the ground, dealing AoE damage with fire. You can even hold it down to create more charge, dealing even more damage.
Although this weapon has a high basic physical damage stat, it does have high stat requirements as well, which are as follows:
- Strength: 45 (C)
- Dexterity: 8 (E)
To obtain the Prelate’s Inferno Crozier in Elden Ring, all you have to do is defeat a Fire Prelate that wields it. You can find this enemy at Fort Laiedd.
3) Grafted Blade Greatsword
With just a bit higher physical damage of 157, you have the Grafted Blade Greatsword on this list. This weapon also has a (C) scaling with Strength, and an (E) scaling with Dexterity, which helps you put in a lot of raw physical damage.
While having almost the same stats as the previous weapon, this weapon is a Greatsword rather than a Colossal Weapon. Moreover, it also weighs a little bit lesser than the former weapon, meaning that it’s a bit faster, with a different set of attacks.
In terms of looks, it’s pretty cool, resembling the Iron Throne with numerous tiny swords stretching out from the sword’s handle.
The special thing about this weapon is its unique weapon skill called the Oath of Vengeance. This skill allows you to increase all of your buffs overall by 30 seconds. Apart from that, your poise is also strengthened, which lets you attack continuously without getting interrupted.
The base stat requirement to wield this weapon is a lot higher than the Prelate’s Inferno Crozier though:
- Strength: 40
- Dexterity: 14
To get the Grafted Blade Greatsword in Elden Ring, you have to defeat Leonine Misbegotten, located in Castle Morne (Weeping Peninsula).
2) Giant-Crusher
With an overall physical damage stat of 155 in Elden Ring, the Giant-Crusher takes second place in this list.
This is another Colossal weapon with good scaling in Strength (C), but it doesn’t require any Dexterity stats, so you don’t have to worry about it while making your build with this weapon.
Though this weapon is heavy and slow, you do have the advantage of staggering your enemies with its hard-hitting attacks. Besides all that raw power, you still have one more thing about it which makes it so good–its skill.
This skill is called Endure, which gives you greater poise, and lets you attack without getting interrupted, i.e. getting reduced damage – this mostly helps you one-shot most of the smaller enemies in the game.
With the highest stat requirement of 60 in Strength, this weapon peaks in this list.
Getting the Giant-Crusher in Elden Ring is very simple. All you have to do is loot it off the back of a Carriage located all the way to the south of the Outer Wall Phantom Tree (Leyndell Capital).
1) Greatsword
In addition to being one of the best Physical Damage weapons in Elden Ring, this is also one of the best Greatswords you can find in the game.
It has the highest base physical damage stat on this list – 164. Such a high physical damage stat makes this weapon excellent for dealing raw physical damage.
Along with that, you also have the perfect scaling with the Strength stat (D). It offers the best Strength scaling of all of the Colossal weapons in the game as of yet.
With the Stamp (Upward Cut) skill of this weapon, you can get into a better stance and deal heavy blows that deal a lot of damage. Moreover, you can also infuse it with strong Ashes of War like the Lion’s Claw Ash of War, which makes this weapon one to be feared most.
If you are planning to go for a pure Strength-based build, this might be the weapon for you since it has the capacity to pack the most amount of physical damage in Elden Ring.
You also have a relatively lower stat requirement to wield this weapon compared to the rest, meaning that you can use it early and efficiently.
- Strength: 12 (D)
- Dexterity: 8 (D)
You can get the Greatsword in Elden Ring by looting a specific chest. This chest is located at the back of a Carriage next to the Caelem Ruins Site of Grace (Caelid).
