Katanas are one of the best mid-ranged weapons used for combat in Elden Ring. They are capable of dealing slash and thrust damage while inflicting Hemorrhage status effects which are quite useful for bleed builds in Elden Ring.
Katanas are mostly used for their possession of a unique move set and one such Katana in Elden Ring is the Rivers of Blood, a very strong mid-range Katana capable of doing both pierce attacks and slash. It scales primarily with Dexterity, Faith, and Strength, making it one of the best dual-wield weapons in the game.
In this guide, we will tell you complete details on how to get the Rivers of Blood Katana in Elden Ring.
Where to find Rivers of Blood in Elden Ring
You’ll find the Rivers of Blood Katana as a dropped item by an NPC invader called the Bloody Finger Okina. This Invader Spawns close to the Church of Repose in the latter part of the game.
So to get to the location of the Rivers of Blood Katana, first of all, get to the Giants Gravepost site of grace marked on the map below.
After reaching the location shown on the map above, you have to move a little forward till you see a statue with a skeleton on it. You will see a birdlike creature fighting with a Giant as well. Right next to them you will encounter Bloody Finger Okina right in front of the Church of Repose who will drop the Rivers of Blood sword for you.
Make sure to not kill the main boss of Mountaintop of Giants, The Fire Giant, before getting Rivers of Blood. This can potentially cause Okina not to invade players or spawn even after various reloads.
How to defeat the Bloody Finger Okina
To defeat Bloody Finger Okina easily, you can use a powerful spell-like Comet Azur. You can try to stay away from him as much as possible and use the spells to take him out without getting much damage.
The Katana he uses is quite powerful, so it is better to maintain the distance and take him out using the Spells.
Once the Boss is defeated you will get rewarded with the Rivers of Blood Katana and Okina Mask.
Rivers of Blood Stats and Requirements
Being an arcane weapon, Rivers of Blood requires 20 points in Arcane stat, 18 points in Dexterity stat and 12 points in Strength stat to be equipped and used properly. It scales with the same three stats with D scaling for Arcane, D scaling for Dexterity and E scaling for Strength. Rivers of Blood Katana weighs only 6.5.
| Stat Name | Attack | Guard |
| Physical | 76 | 36 |
| Magical | 0 | 26 |
| Fire | 76 | 52 |
| Light | 0 | 26 |
| Holy | 0 | 26 |
| Critical/Boost | 100 | 31 |
Rivers of Blood can be upgraded with Smithing stones at the blacksmith, up to level 25. At maximum level, this Katana deals 186 damage for both Physical and Fire damages. Its Dex scaling also improves from C to B at this point.
Rivers of Blood Unique Skill and Builds
This powerful katana comes with an amazing Ash of War ability: Corpse Piler, which can damage enemies. This unique skill allows players to slash the enemies in front with 6 consecutive angled slashes (this attack causes rapid blood loss to build up in enemies in addition to Fire damage) and costs 17 FP.
Rivers of blood Katana can’t be infused with any Ash of War and or buffed with consumables like grease. This Katana causes passive blood loss to build up in enemies (55 per strike) and can be sold for 500 runes to any merchant in Elden Ring.
Rivers of Blood can be used to create amazing Dex based builds for PVP with dual wielding. One of our favorite builds for this weapon is listed below.
Dual Wield Rivers of Blood katana with Seppuku Occult Uchikatana. For Talismans, go with Shard of Alexander, Dragoncrest Greatshield, Lord of Blood and Radagon’s Sorseal. White Mask as helm gear and the following points should be added to stats. 50+ Vigor, 50+ Dexterity, 20+ Mind and 60 Arcane.
Despite being nerfed in the last patches. This build is still more than enough to satisfy bleed/dex players and a lot of fun to use in PVP.
Elden Ring Rivers of Blood nerfs and bugs
Rivers of Blood was one of the most powerful weapons in Elden Ring at launch. That changed a bit with the arrival of patch 1.06 which introduced some nerfs to Rivers of Blood as well as other popular weapons like the Bloodhound Step, Glintstone Pebble, and many more.
During the early builds of Rivers of Blood, the weapon faced numerous bugs due to an Arcane scaling issue. However, the bug has officially been fixed with the new 1.04.1 update of the game.
In case of bug detection, you must head over to the properties>local files and verify the game. Doing this will help you no longer experience such a scaling bug for Rivers of Blood.
