Elden Ring has a huge catalog of weapons for you to utilize and wreak havoc on the game’s open-world setting. However, not all weapons are created equal and there are some weapons that we feel you should avoid at all costs.
So, before you waste your time, we have listed the 10 worst weapons in Elden Ring based on the redundancy of their existence or their worthlessness.
Worst weapons you should avoid in Elden Ring
While you can use all the weapon archetypes available in Elden Ring to create a functional build that can get the job done, it is obvious that some may fail miserably in comparison to the rest.
In a list of the worst weapons in Elden Ring, you will notice the absence of the Staves, Greatswords, and Katana weapon Archetypes since they are some of the best weapons in Elden Ring.
10) Bastard’s Stars
The Bastard’s Stars is a decent weapon as such, if wasn’t for the existence of an almost identical and severely better Wing of Astel.
The Bastard’s Stars’ move set pales in comparison with its counterpart, the Wing of Astel, which also excels in having excellent Ash of War.
Again, the question remains, are they worth all the effort required to obtain since you must defeat Astel the Natural Born intergalactic being of the void before getting your hands on it?
We feel not, since the Wing of Astel can be obtained for way less trouble.
9) Axe of Godfrey
The Axe of Godfrey is an extremely deceiving weapon in Elden Ring that feels to have a stark difference when the boss wields it and once you obtain it.
This Strength-build weapon is extremely heavy which results in a lethargic and painfully slow swing for each attack, which seems to put your character off balance every swing.
Its slow attack and swing speed means that once you finally land a blow, you are dealt a deadly one from the enemy themselves. Even though the boss fight for the Axe of Godfrey is extremely challenging, we suggest you hold out on this Remembrance weapon and go for Horah’ Loux’s Earthshaker instead.
8) Serpent-Hunter
The Serpent Hunter is a very situation-specific weapon in Elden Ring, meaning that is designed to work for only one situation.
You will find the Serpent-Hunter as soon as you enter the arena to fight Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy in Elden Ring. Many players tend to miss this weapon in this boss. You will find it pretty efficient against Rykard as you’ll be able to significantly increase your damage output by using a cataclysmic whirlwind attack.
However, outside this fight, the Serpent-Hunter is just a gimmick sword without any of its previous abilities and is certainly one weapon you should avoid further use of in Elden Ring.
7) Torch
It seems like a no-brainer to avoid using Torches as your weapons however with the variety of different torches present in Elden Ring, some players may think otherwise.
While a few torches like St. Trina’s Torch or Beast-Repellent Torch can serve a purpose in Sleep builds, they are not so good that you should be gunning for them from the start.
Just use Torches for their main purpose, illuminate dark areas, and even for that job a Lantern serves you better.
6) Torchpole
You can find the Torchpole being used as a weapon being used by the Stormveil Castle guards in Elden Ring. Now if a Torch wasn’t a good weapon, how about adding a spear to it? The answer still remains the same, useless.
The Torchpole barely delivers any damage to your opponents, and if you are dead set on the torch addition, look for another spear to add it with.
5) Forked Hatchet
You will find this pronged weapon being held by the imps that infest the catacombs in Elden Ring. The weapon provides very mediocre damage output which isn’t helped much by its added bleed effect and you can find so many better bleed options.
If you have the Forked Hatchet as your main bleed weapon in your build, we suggest replacing it with the Rivers of Blood Katana, Icerind Hatchet, or Eleonora’s Poleblade.
4) Light Bows
Archery is the weakest aspect of the Elden Ring combat system and Great Bows could’ve just as easily made the list. You can fit a light bow in a few builds as a second Aggro mid to close-range weapon but using a melee weapon is still the best option.
As long as the consensus to archery changes in Elden Ring with some balancing changes it’s safe to say that avoiding light bows in your builds is the best option.
3) Ballistae
The Ballistae are an interesting weapon in Elden Ring that resembles a mobile cannon. They seem pretty useful if anyone was ready for the baggage they come along with.
You will have to constantly reload them and provide them with ammo on top of them being extremely slow. Not to mention you can find only two of them on the entire Elden Ring Map. This simply relegates them to a gimmick PvP weapon and nothing more.
2) Briar Greatshield
If menacing looks were enough to dictate a shield’s worth the Briar Greatshield would’ve taken the cake with its rusted, thorny appearance but alas that’s all that it has going for it.
You can obtain this shield by defeating the Elmer of the Briar. We suggest putting it immediately in the never to use pile since it’s going to give you non-existent protection from physical damage. You should even consider the shields found near fallen guard corpses over this.
1) Rickety Shield
The Rickety Shield is literally a joke weapon added to Elden Ring that even warns you in its weapon description that equipping isn’t going to do much for you.
Seeing its poor defensive performance, it would be surprising if the wind didn’t rip this shield open.
