Best Intelligence weapons in Elden Ring
Here are the best Intelligence weapons in Elden Ring
Looking for the best Intelligence weapons in Elden Ring? Intelligence is one of eight primary stats in Elden Ring, commonly used to determine the effectiveness of Sorcery spells. Weapons with Intelligence scaling usually have unique Weapon Skills, which allow players to delve into magic whilst maintaining a melee-focused build.
As the best of both worlds, a good Intelligence Weapon will often also scale with either Strength or Dexterity. These stats will affect physical damage output, whereas Intelligence will affect spell attack damage.
We've gathered a list of the best Intelligence weapons in Elden Ring for both early game regions and later playthroughs, providing something for everyone. That's whether it's your first time playing or you're gearing up ahead of the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC release.
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.
If you're looking for an Intelligence weapon you can get fairly early on in Elden Ring, the Carian Knight Sword is obtainable and powerful enough to get you through the first few map regions of the game.
Equipped with the Carian Grandeur Skill, the Tarnished can summon a giant spectral blade and bring it down with a crash upon enemies, dealing 25 poise damage on a hit, (30 when charged).
With this stance and magic damage, the sword is best used against guarded foes. To get the most out of this sword, pop some levels into Strength as well as Intelligence.
Alternatively, you can apply Intelligence scaling to any weapon that accepts Ashes of War infusions. To do so, pick up the Glintstone Whetblade from the Raya Lucaria Academy (on a corpse hanging off a balcony near the Debate Parlor Site Of Grace). With this, when applying Ashes of War to your weapon of choice via the Site Of Grace menu, you can use the Whetblade to apply either a Magic or Cold affinity.
How to get the Carian Knight's Sword
The Carian Knight's Sword is located inside a chest, south of the Road to the Manor Site of Grace in Liurnia of the Lakes. The chest is on the back of a wagon, pulled by two trolls. To stop the wagon and loot the chest you need to agro the trolls and defeat at least one of them.
Death Ritual Spear
- Weight: 6.5
- Damage Type: Pierce.
- Requirements: Strength 14, Dexterity 20, Intelligence 18.
- Attribute Scaling: Strength E, Dexterity D, Intelligence D.
- Weapon Skill: Spearcall Ritual.
- Attack Power: Physical 99, Magic 64, Critical 110.
The Death Ritual Spear has accrued popularity among the Elden Ring fandom for its performance with Intelligence/Dexterity builds. Along with longer reach, this spear has a unique horizontal heavy slash attack, making it a formidable option against foes.
Where the Death Ritual Spear really comes in handy is through its Weapon Skill, the Spearcall Ritual. This Skill allows the Tarnished to thrust the spear into the air and summon several spectral spears that come crashing down in an AEO.
This attack can deal 26 stance damage. Substantial, given the 20 FP cost and relatively low stat requirements of the weapon. Additionally via the 1.07 and 1.09 Elden Ring patches, this skill's attack power and projectile speed were all increased.
How to get the Death Ritual Spear
The Death Ritual Spear is dropped upon defeating the Death Rite Bird within the Mountaintops of the Giants. Usually, these enemies only spawn at night, although some players have reported this particular Death Rite Bird appearing at all times. You can find the beast by travelling west of the Castle Sol Main Gate Site Of Grace.
Bastard's Stars
- Weight: 5.5
- Damage Type: Strike.
- Requirements: Strength 8, Dexterity 22, Intelligence 22.
- Attribute Scaling: Strength E, Dexterity D, Intelligence C.
- Weapon Skill: Nebula.
- Attack Power: Physical 68, Magic 81.
In terms of looks, the Bastard's Stars is one of the most distinct and recognisable weapons in Elden Ring. Appearing as a Flail decorated with a chain of planets and with the aptly named Nebula Weapon Skill, this weapon deals a +20% damage to Gravity enemies.
The Nebula Skill allows the Tarnished to perform a large sweeping attack which leaves a trail of stars behind it. These stars then explode and deal additional stance damage on impact (13 per explosion).
The Nebula Skill is also infused within the Wing of Astel, which is easier to obtain if you would rather the moveset of a Curved Sword than a Flail.
The Bastard's Stars received some buffs with both the 1.08 and 1.09 Elden Ring patches. Most importantly, attack recovery time was decreased allowing for faster chains and less of a wind-up between using the Nebula Skill and issuing follow-up attacks.
How to get the Bastard's Stars
You can get the Bastard's Stars from trading the Remembrance of the Naturalborn with Enia at the Roundtable Hold. This means you'll need to progress through Ranni's Questline a fair way and defeat the optional boss, Astel, Naturalborn of the Void. Although this may seem daunting, Astel is one of the coolest-looking bosses in the game and worth a visit regardless of him being technically 'optional'.
If you prefer the sound of the Wing of Astel, it's located within a chest at Nokstella, Eternal City above the Uhl Palace Ruins, (on top of the wall guarded by a large bug with gravity attacks).
Fallingstar Beast Jaw
- Weight: 21.5
- Damage Type: Pierce.
- Requirements: Strength 34, Dexterity 12, Intelligence 20.
- Attribute Scaling: Strength D, Dexterity D, Intelligence E.
- Weapon Skill: Gravity Bolt.
- Attack Power: Physical 131, Magic 85.
For Elden Ring players that want to balance a Strength Build with a little sprinkle of magic, the Fallingstar Beast Jaw is a serious contender. Classed as a Colossal weapon, this weapon deals a +20% damage to Gravity-type enemies.
The potential poise damage has since been nerfed sadly, but the weapon still enjoys some favouritism amongst the Elden Ring fandom - and for good reason. Its Weapon Skill, Gravity Bolt, sends out a lightning bolt that can both damage and stagger enemies. The casting time is surprisingly short and can be repeatedly cast with only an FP cost of 13 (ideal for players that don't want to divide stat points too much into Mind).
How to get the Fallingstar Beast Jaw
As the name might suggest, to get the Fallingstar Beast Jaw you need to defeat the Full-Grown Fallingstar Beast located in Mt. Gelmir, (above the Ninth Mt. Gelmir Site Of Grace).
Sword of Night and Flame
- Weight: 4.0
- Damage Type: Standard/Pierce.
- Requirements: Strength 12, Dexterity 12, Intelligence 24, Faith 24.
- Attribute Scaling: Strength E, Dexterity E, Intelligence D, Faith D.
- Weapon Skill: Night-and-Flame Stance.
- Attack Power: Physical 87, Magic 56, Fire 56.
Although the Sword of Night and Flame is technically both a Faith and Intelligence hybrid weapon, it's powerful enough to earn a spot on this list. So much so, that it qualified for its own Sword of Night and Flame build guide.
Essentially, this sword is capable of performing two Weapon Skill Attacks. The 'Flame' stance (which uses Faith and deals Fire damage) wreathes the blade in flames that strike out in a wave at enemies. The Comet Azur 'Night' stance uses Intelligence, deals Magic damage and fires a beam of cosmic energy at foes.
Both attacks are impressively powerful and deal solid stance damage as well as elemental. It is rare to have a weapon perform as a 'jack of all trades' but the Sword of Night and Flame fits the bill and is worth the cost in stat distribution. Additionally, the Weapon Skill's attack power was further buffed with the Elden Ring 1.07 patch.
How to get the Sword of Night and Flame
The Sword of Night and Flame is located on the east side of Caria Manor, within northwestern Liurnia. From the Manor Lower Level Site of Grace, travel southeast across the bridge featuring the hooded stone statues. Follow the walkways around and past the large towers. At the last tower, turn left and jump down onto the rooftop below. From here, jump down to another lower rooftop, this time it will have a roof opening and ladder leading inside a building below. Take the ladders down and loot the chest within the room to retrieve the sword.
Dark Moon Greatsword
- Weight: 10.0
- Damage Type: Standard/Pierce.
- Requirements: Strength 16, Dexterity 11, Intelligence 38.
- Attribute Scaling: Strength D, Dexterity D, Intelligence C.
- Weapon Skill: Moonlight Greatsword.
- Attack Power: Physical 82, Magic 98, Critical 100.
It's unavoidable mentioning the Dark Moon Greatsword when comparing Intelligence weapons in Elden Ring. As something of an icon within the Dark Souls franchise, the Dark Moon Greatsword requires a fair few steps to get and has a high Intelligence requirement to wield, but is a fantastic late-game option for Intelligence builds.
The power of the Dark Moon Greatsword comes with its Weapon Skill, Moonlight Greatsword. This Skill infuses the Greatsword with 65 Magic attack damage and 15 Frost build-up on top of its regular value of 55.
Once charged, all heavy attacks (for 60 seconds) will unleash a projectile that delivers 22 stance damage, or 35 if charged. Additionally, along with the Moonveil Katana (see below for entry details), the Dark Moon Greatsword has the best Intelligence-scaling in the game and can get up to a B grade when upgraded with Somber Smithing Stones.
How to get the Dark Moon Greatsword
To get the Dark Moon Greatsword for yourself, you need to complete Ranni's questline and retrieve it from below the Cathedral of Manus Celes at the Moonlight Altar plateau, Liurnia.
Moonveil Katana
- Weight: 6.5
- Damage Type: Slash, Pierce.
- Requirements: Strength 12, Dexterity 18, Intelligence 23
- Attribute Scaling: Strength E, Dexterity D, Intelligence C.
- Weapon Skill: Transient Moonlight.
- Attack Power: Physical 73, Magic 87.
As my personal favourite and the weapon that saw me through mid to late game, the Moonveil Katana is also the best Intelligence Scaling weapon in Elden Ring, able to reach a B-grade with upgrades.
If you're torn between Moonveil and Dark Moon, Moonveil is significantly speedier and favours a more dexterous build. With a passive Bleed build-up of 50, the Moonveil Katana can also deliver impressive poise damage with its Weapon Skill, (although this was nerfed slightly with the 1.08 patch).
The skill, Transient Moonlight transforms your heavy attack into a powerful vertical slash of magic and your light attack into a horizontal spray of magic. Both attacks can hit multiple foes at once if you line it up right.
The poise damage is where the power of this sword really shines through. It has a base value of 12.5 damage, but you can gain an added 15 with the light skill attack or 17.5 with the heavy. With this, you can sometimes stagger a foe with consecutive attacks and defeat them before they have time to respond.
How to get the Moonveil Katana
To get the Moonveil Katana, you must defeat the Magma Wyrm located in the Gael Tunnel dungeon in Caelid.
That rounds off our guide to the best Intelligence weapons in Elden Ring and where to get them. For more Elden Ring tips and tricks see our best weapons, best armor, Talismans, builds or boss locations guides.