Best early weapons in Elden Ring
Here are the best early weapons you can pick up in the starting areas of Elden Ring
Looking for the best early weapons in Elden Ring? Whether you're a returning player looking to start a fresh Elden Ring playthrough before Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree releases, or you're new to the franchise, finding the best early weapons can set you up for success as you explore the challenging map of the Lands Between, before moving onto tougher areas.
Join us as we go through the strongest weapons you can get within the starting areas of Limgrave, the Weeping Peninsula and Liurnia. This includes weapons for Arcane, Faith, Intelligence, Strength, Dexterity and quality builds.
- Best early weapon for Dexterity builds
- Best early weapon for Strength builds
- Best early weapon for Intelligence builds
- Best early weapon for Faith builds
- Best early weapon for Arcane builds
- Best early weapon for quality builds
- Best early staff
Best early weapon for Dexterity builds
Rogier's Rapier
- Weight: 3.5
- Damage Type: Standard, Pierce
- Requirements: Strength 8, Dexterity 17
- Attribute Scaling: Strength E, Dexterity C
- Weapon Skill: Glintblade Phalanx
- Attack Power: Physical 136, Critical 110
If you're looking to set up a Dexterity build in Elden Ring, there is a plethora of early-game weapons to choose from. As attested in our guide to the best Dexterity weapons in Elden Ring, the Bloodhound's Fang is a brutal curved greatsword that can deliver successive slash attacks to enemies whilst maintaining a good measure of distance.
The Uchigatana is also a fan-favourite and for good reason. Its Unsheathe ability can deliver precise, powerful attacks which damage an enemy's poise. Additionally, you can get the weapon straight away if you start with the Samurai class.
For me, the ultimate starting Dexterity weapon is Rogier's Rapier due to its beautiful design, fantastic thrusting attacks and the fact that it already starts at a plus 8 without needing to invest in levelling it up yourself. Perhaps most importantly, it comes with the Glintblade Phalanx Weapon Skill.
The Glintblade Phalanx Ashes of War summons four magical swords above your head that launch towards attacking enemies. This extra firepower can help turn the tide in battle, especially if you're up against multiple foes at once.
How to get Rogier's Rapier
To get Rogier's Rapier, you must first defeat Godrick the Grafted, then speak to Rogier at the Roundtable Hold. As it requires you to defeat two main bosses, you'll want to stock up on a healthy amount of runes first. See our guide to the best rune farming locations for the best rune farming locations both early and late game.
Best early weapon for Strength builds
Zweihander
- Weight: 15.5
- Damage Type: Standard, Pierce
- Requirements: Strength 19, Dexterity 11
- Attribute Scaling: Strength D, Dexterity D
- Weapon Skill: Stamp (Upward Cut)
- Attack Power: Physical 141
There are quite a few early-game Strength weapons you can pick up like the Grafted Blade Greatsword, but this requires an eye-watering level of Strength to wield. We suggest going for something like the Zweihander, which is both accessible and only requires Strength level 19 to wield.
The Zweihander comes with the Stamp Weapon Skill but can be infused with other Ashes of War if you fancy a change. Stamp is essentially an uppercut heavy attack that has the chance to recoil an enemy when delivered.
For a colossal sword, the Zweihander is reliable and will see you through the early stages of Elden Ring until you have enough Strength to wield something more exciting like the Giant-Crusher or Grafted Blade Greatsword.
How to get the Zweihander
The Zweihander can be bought from the Isolated Merchant for 3,500 runes, in the Isolated Merchant's Shack in the Weeping Peninsula.
Best early weapon for Intelligence builds
Carian Knight's Sword
- Weight: 4.0
- Damage Type: Standard, Pierce
- Requirements: Strength 10, Dexterity 10, Intelligence 18
- Attribute Scaling: Strength D, Dexterity D, Intelligence D
- Weapon Skill: Carian Grandeur
- Attack Power: Physical 88, Magic 88
Intelligence builds are equipped to perform sorceries. Some weapons prioritise scaling with Intelligence and have unique Weapon Skills that consume FP. Otherwise, you can use a staff to perform a sorcery instead. There are a multitude of fantastic weapons that scale well with Intelligence and offer impressive Weapon Skills.
The Carian Knight's Sword is a straight sword that scales nicely with Intelligence and either Strength or Dexterity. Equipped with the Carian Grandeur Weapon Skill, the sword can summon a large magic blade that crashes down upon enemies and delivers massive damage. This skill is chargeable and cannot be parried, making it a solid strike against any foe unlucky enough to cross blades with you.
If you're a little further on and have reached the Caria Manor in Liurnia of the Lakes, consider picking up the Sword of Night and Flame. This impressive sword allows you to perform a sweeping attack and cast Comet Azur, a sorcery that would otherwise require 60 Intelligence to cast. The sword requires a baseline of stats in Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Faith but we recommend focusing on Intelligence to get the most out of the Comet Azur attack.
However, for early-game progression the Craian Knight Sword is the optimal choice as it will take you through to Caria Manor and beyond and look impressive whilst doing so.
How to get the Carian Knight's Sword
The Carian Knight's Sword can be looted from a chest, located on the back of a cart and pulled by two trolls. The cart is usually travelling south, along the road from the Road to the Manor Site of Grace in Liurnia of the Lakes. You only need to kill one of the trolls to stop the cart and loot the chest.
Best early weapon for Faith builds
Winged Sythe
- Weight: 7.5
- Damage Type: Slash
- Requirements: Strength 16, Dexterity 16, Faith 24
- Attribute Scaling: Strength E, Dexterity D, Faith D
- Weapon Skill: Angel's Wings
- Attack Power: Physcal 87, Holy 104
- Passives: Causes blood loss buildup (55)
The Winged Sythe is a reaper infused with Holy damage, making it a great option for melee Faith builds. Even better, you can get it early within the Weeping Peninsula.
The Winged Sythe cannot be infused with Ashes of War. Instead, it comes equipped with the Angel's Wings Weapon Skill. This skill allows the player to make a jumping slash attack, imbued with light. The beauty of the attack is that immediately afterwards, struck enemies will not be able to use a recovery action and use their flasks. This is especially useful for any PvP or fights against certain enemies that can heal like Bloody Finger NPCs.
Additionally, thanks to patch 1.08, the attack speed of the Winged Sythe has been increased whilst the recovery time of using the Weapon Skill has been reduced.
How to get the Winged Sythe
To get the Winged Sythe for yourself you must loot it from the Tombsward Ruins in the Weeping Penninsula.
Best early weapon for Arcane builds
Reduvia
- Weight: 2.5
- Damage Type: Slash, Pierce
- Requirements: Strength 5, Dexterity 13, Arcane 13
- Attribute Scaling: Strength E, Dexterity D, Arcane D
- Weapon Skill: Reduvia Blood Blade
- Attack Power: Physical 79, Critical 110
- Passives: Causes blood loss buildup (30)
Arcane is a stat that determines the damage of certain spells (sorceries and incantations) and is often a secondary requirement after either Faith or Intelligence. Arcane also influences the player's discovery rate of items.
It is rarer, but several weapons in Elden Ring will require a measure of Arcane to wield them properly. Of these, the Reduvia is one of the strongest to get early on in a playthrough but will also need some levels in Dexterity.
The Reduvia is well worth the investment, however, as it can perform the unique Reduvia Blood Blade Weapon Skill. This skill essentially slashes bloodstains into the air, which causes blood loss buildup for massive damage potential. Note that the Reduvia cannot be infused with other Ashes of War.
How to get the Reduvia
Tp get the Reduvia you must defeat Bloody Finger Nerijus, outside of Murkwater Cave in Limgrave. Nerijus will pack a punch but it is possible to tackle the invading NPC early on in a playthrough, especially if you let Yura do most of the work for you. Yura should spawn pretty quickly after Nerijus and is a friendly NPC with an optional questline. See our Bloody Finger Nerijus boss fight walkthrough for more tips and tricks.
Best early weapon for quality builds
Great Epee
- Weight: 6.5
- Damage Type: Standard, Pierce
- Requirements: Strength 15, Dexterity 16
- Attribute Scaling: Strength D, Dexterity D
- Weapon Skill: Impaling Thrust
- Attack Power: Pysical 124
Traditionally, a quality build caters for players that want to invest equal points into both Strength and Dexterity. As such, you'll want a weapon that also caters to both stats. For an early playthrough option, the Great Epee is a fantastic choice.
The Great Epee is a thrusting sword, which means you can thrust attack at foes whilst guarding with a shield. The Great Epee can also pierce past an enemy's guard, with its Impaling Thrust Weapon Skill. This can open an enemy's guard and leave them vulnerable to follow-up attacks.
This skill was buffed with the Elden Ring 1.07 patch, increasing the attack speed and shortening the delay in which you can perform a subsequent action after performing an attack. Although you can infuse the Great Epee with an Ashes of War if you don't like the Impaling Thrust Weapon Skill, we think it complements the sword build well, particularly for players that like to use shields.
How to get the Great Epee
The Great Epee is relatively easy to acquire within Limgrave and doesn't require any boss fights to get. Simply travel east of the Agheel Lake South Site of Grace and loot the chest near the yellow tent.
Best early staff
Meteorite Staff
- Weight: 4.5
- Damage Type: Strike
- Requirements: Strength 6, Intelligence 18
- Attribute Scaling: Strength D, Intelligence S
- Attack Power: Physical 39, Sorcery Scaling 279
- Passives: Boosts gravity sorcery
The Meteorite Staff is the staff I used a lot during my early Elden Ring playthrough. With impressive Intelligence scaling, it's the perfect starter staff for an Intelligence build, particularly one that uses gravity-type sorceries, as these are boosted by 30% with the staff.
I recommend pairing the Meteorite Staff with the Rock Sling spell (which can be acquired from the dungeon near the Street of Sages Ruins). The sorcery can be picked up early by using the teleporting chest shortcut within the Dragon-Burnt Ruins in Limgrave. The enemies in the dungeon will likely be beyond you, so I recommend running past the gauntlet to get to the chest containing the spell.
The Meteorite Staff cannot be infused with Ashes of War nor can it be upgraded, but the S-level Intelligence scaling and gravity magic buff is well worth your time acquiring it.
How to get the Meteorite Staff
The Meteorite Staff is on a corpse, hanging out of a window within the Street of Sages Ruins in Caelid. Although its a slightly higher level area, you can run through and bypass the enemies here.
That rounds off our guide to the best early weapons in Elden Ring based on which stat you're building your Tarnished for. If you want more Elden Ring tips and tricks, check out our guide to the best armor sets in the game, or see our best weapons guide if you're a little further into the game.