After much hype the Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, launched on June 21, with a massive amount of new content for players to conquer. The expansion is a heaping helping of more action in the Lands Between as players face off against 11 major new bosses in an area the size of Limgrave, according to creator Hidetaka Miyazaki.
The Elden Ring expansion also introduces more than 100 new weapons, giving players further options to take on challenges both in Shadow of the Erdtree and the base game.
After playing through the DLC, I found FromSoftware really cut loose with the new weapon selections. There are excellent new “practical” choices like the Milady Light Greatsword and amazing meme weapons like the Smithscript Hammer.
Surprisingly, the studio somehow managed to balance them all well against the base game offerings. Of course, the PVP meta will likely drift toward the newer weapons for a while, but that doesn’t mean your longtime favorite build is completely outdated.
Shadow of the Erdtree players have found that a few of the new weapons are a cut above the rest. Here are the best weapons that the community is excited about as well as where to find them (when you do get them, make sure you’ve gotten all the smithing stone bell bearings so you can quickly upgrade your weapons to their maximum damage.)
Read more: How to Start Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC
Best Weapons in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC
Here’s my (non-exhaustive) list of the best weapons in the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC:
Backhand Blade
- Weapon Category: Backhand Blades
- Weapon Type: Standard
- Damage Type: Slash/Pierce
- Equip Requirements: Str 10, Dex 13
- Attribute Scaling (Base Affinity, +25): Str C, Dex C
- Weapon Skill: Blind Spot
One of best weapons (if not the best) in the Shadows of the Erdtree DLC is the Backhand Blade. However, it’s entirely possible you picked up this sword during your first moments in the Land of Shadow and immediately forgot about it. It’s not a legendary armament of a dead god, and there’s barely any lore associated with it. But with the right build it absolutely slices and dices through foes and puts most of the unique weapons in the game to shame.
The Backhand Blade is fairly quick when used in single-hand stance, but the real magic comes from one of its special attributes. It’s one of a few unique weapons in Elden Ring that comes in a pair. When you press the command to two-hand, you’ll instead dual-wield both swords which lets you chain light attacks into 4x combos, with each attack hitting twice except for the last. The heavy attack is a bit more limited as it only allows for up to a 2x combo, but it’s quick enough that the time to reset after finishing the heavy combo isn’t too debilitating.
To top things off, the Backhand Blade comes with a skill unique to its weapon class — Blind Spot, which lets you dash to the left quickly, then side-step to the right and attack. This move allows you to maneuver to the rear of a foe for a quick hit and then follow up with a combo. What makes this skill so devastating is that most PVE foes can’t adapt to it. Sure, you won’t be absolutely melting bosses with it, but it makes most other fights in the game trivial.
You’ll need a Str/Dex build to maximize the Backhand Blade’s damage output. At its maximum +25 upgrade level, you can change the weapon to Keen Affinity and take advantage of the D Strength and S Dex scaling.
Where to find the Backhand Blade
The Backhand Blade can be obtained as soon as you start the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Head northeast from your starting point, past the Smoldering Ruins. Near the edge of the cliff, you’ll find a mausoleum surrounded by enemies. The sword can be found on a nearby corpse. If you’re quick, you can race in on Torrent, grab it and run away before any foes strike you.
Rellana’s Twin Blades
- Weapon Category: Light Greatsword/Straight Sword
- Weapon Type: Unique
- Damage Type: Standard/Pierce
- Equip Requirements: Str 13, Dex 16, Int 16, Fai, 16
- Attribute Scaling (+10): Str C, Dex C, Int C, Fai C
- Weapon Skill: Moon-and-Fire Stance
Rellana’s Twin Blades are another weapon with a unique mechanic in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. When wielded in a single hand, you’ll be equipped with a light greatsword that does magic damage. However, if you two-hand it, you’ll dual-wield a straight sword imbued with fire in your left hand, letting you successively deal fire and magic damage with both your light and strong attacks.
You’ll find that Rellana’s Twin Blades also makes a great offhand weapon. You’ll have access to the straight sword alone when equipped to your left hand, which retains its fire damage. Pair this with a weapon that deals cold damage in your main hand, and you can easily reset the Frostbite proc with a quick offhand attack.
The Moon-and-Fire Stance skill, unique to Rellana’s Twin Blades, furthers the weapon’s versatility. Holding the weapon skill button will cause your character to enter the Moon-and-Fire stance. From there, you can perform a magic-based attack to the front by pressing the light attack button or a fire-based attack in a 360-degree radius by performing a heavy attack. Both of these attacks can combo up to three times by repeatedly hitting the button.
Where to find Rellana’s Twin Blades
To obtain Rellana’s Twin Blades, you must first defeat Rellana, Twin Moon Knight at Castle Ensis. She’ll drop the Remembrance of the Twin Moon Knight when she’s beaten, which you can trade to Enia at the Roundtable Hold for this weapon.
Milady
- Weapon Category: Light Greatsword
- Weapon Type: Standard
- Damage Type: Standard/Pierce
- Equip Requirements: Str 12, Dex 17
- Attribute Scaling (Base Affinity, +25): Str D, Dex C
- Weapon Skill: Impaling Thrust
If you’re looking for an easy-to-use weapon with quick attacks and excellent reach, Milady is a treat. While it doesn’t have the exciting gimmicks that some of the other DLC weapons have, it makes up for it with excellent versatility.
Since it’s a standard weapon, you can meld Milady to your needs. Our favorite build is to give the light greatsword the Cold affinity and pair it with the Wing Stance Ash of War. A few hits with Wing Stance’s light combo will quickly inflict Frostbite, which is devastating against most bosses and regular enemies alike.
Where to find Milady
You’ll find Milady at Castle Ensis, but you’ll barely have to venture inside to grab the light greatsword. Head north and cross the bridge from the Castle Front Site of Grace. Climb the steps then head west. Defeat the enemies here, climb the steps south and enter the tower. Climb the ladder and you’ll find the chest containing Milady.
Lightning Perfume Bottle
- Weapon Category: Perfume Bottle
- Weapon Type: Standard
- Damage Type: Standard
- Equip Requirements: Str 3, Dex 16, Fai 14
- Attribute Scaling (+25): Dex C, Fai C
- Weapon Skill: None
The Lightning Perfume Bottle is one of the best weapons in the game against most regular enemies. The light and heavy attacks cause area of effect damage, making short work of crowds. Two-handing the bottle adds more damage at the expense of speed, which allows you to prioritize one or the other as needed.
By default, the Lightning Perfume Bottle doesn’t have a weapon skill, but that can be quickly remedied. We suggest equipping the Rolling Sparks Ash of War, which is unique to the perfume bottle class of weapons. This attack skill unleashes a shower of sparks in front of you, extending to medium range and causing area damage in a straight line. The great thing about this skill is that it can damage larger enemies multiple times, which makes it particularly suitable against bosses.
Where to find the Lightning Perfume Bottle
The easiest way to find the Lightning Perfume Bottle is to first spawn at the Cerulean Coast Site of Grace. From there, head northeast and cross the river. You’ll find yourself in an area full of lightning sheep with a pond. In the pond is a corpse that holds the Lightning Perfume Bottle.
Smithscript Hammer
- Weapon Category: Great Hammer
- Weapon Type: Standard
- Damage Type: Strike
- Equip Requirements: Str 20, Dex 10, Int: 11, Fai 11
- Attribute Scaling (Base Affinity, +25): Str: C, Dex E, Int E, Fai E
- Weapon Skill: Endure
It’s easy to get lost in min-maxing your damage in Elden Ring, but sometimes you need to just cut loose and have fun. Please do yourself a favor, stop the bean counting and embrace your inner Thor by equipping the Smithscript Hammer and yeeting it into the face of the nearest enemy.
As with the other Smithscript weapons, you can throw the Smithscript Hammer by performing a heavy attack. You can even charge it by holding the button before sending it careening into whatever poor, unsuspecting creature happens to be nearby. Upon landing, the hammer will instantly transport back into your hand, ready to be yeeted again.
Fortunately, the Smithscript Hammer isn’t just a meme. When upgraded, it’s quite powerful and pairs well with a Faith build if you imbue it with the Flame Arts or Sacred affinity. You can even add the Smithing Talisman and Two-Handed Sword Talisman into the mix for extra damage.
The Smithscript Hammer comes with Endure as its default weapon skill, but we recommend immediately changing this to something with more oomph, like the Savage Lion’s Claw Ash of War, which adds versatility and gives it more raw melee attack power.
Where to find the Smithscript Hammer
The Smithscript Hammer is the treasure of Taylew’s Ruined Forge. To get there, head to the Rauh Base region of the Land of Shadow, accessed via a passage northeast of Moorth Ruins. Once you make it to Rauh Base, you’ll find the forge in the area’s northeast corner, just north of the bridge connecting the Shadow Keep West Rampart with the Viaduct Minor Tower.
Putrescence Cleaver
- Weapon Category: Greataxe
- Weapon Type: Unique
- Damage Type: Slash
- Equip Requirements: Str 28, Dex 10, Arc 15
- Attribute Scaling (+10): Str C, Dex E, Arc C
- Weapon Skill: Spinning Guillotine
The Putrescence Cleaver is another weapon that proves extremely valuable if used correctly. It also has one of the most metal designs in the game with its blade of pure putrescence supported by a frame of human bones and skulls.
You’ll find the Putrescence Cleaver’s standard attacks are pretty straightforward — it’s the weapon skill that spices things up. Hit the weapon skill button and your character will thrust forward and flip upside down like Voldo from Soul Calibur. From here, you can keep tapping the weapon skill button to spin around over and over for as long as you have FP. Alternatively, you can tap the heavy attack button to launch forward and spin multiple times.
The weapon skill is so devastating because the Putrescence Cleaver has frost build-up. So, once you get to twirling your foes will be affected by the Frostbite status in no time. It’s great for Str/Arc builds, so you can still enjoy smashing enemies with a huge blade and also fire off powerful spells.
Where to find the Putrescence Cleaver
You’ll find the Putrescence Cleaver in The Fissure, which can be accessed by the giant hole found at the southernmost portion of the Cerulean Coast. Once you fight through the dungeon, you can jump off a cliff near the Fissure Depths Site of Grace and fight the Putrescent Knight. Once it’s defeated, you can exchange the Remembrance of Putrescence at the Roundtable Hold for the Putrescence Cleaver.
Leda’s Sword
- Weapon Category: Light Greatsword
- Weapon Type: Unique
- Damage Type: Standard/Pierce
- Equip Requirements: Str 11, Dex 22, Fai 19
- Attribute Scaling (+10): Str D, Dex B, Fai D
- Weapon Skill: Needle Piercer
Leda’s Sword is a one-trick pony, but it’s a heck of a trick. If you want to be a little stinker in PVP, you’ll love this weapon as much as your enemies will hate it.
As a Light Greatsword, Leda’s Sword has an excellent moveset, but its utility lies in its unique weapon skill. In addition to causing damage, Needle Piercer purges a target of any ailments or special effects. Only one of the 10 needles needs to hit and boom — all those meticulously stacked buffs go bye-bye. The only caveat is that it doesn’t dispel buffs that are activated by being at a certain Equip Load or HP threshold. For example, the Blue Feather and Blue Dancer talismans are unaffected.
Where to find Leda’s Sword
To obtain Leda’s Sword, you must play through the DLC’s main storyline until you reach Enir Ilim. Fight through the dungeon until you reach the Cleansing Chamber Anteroom Site of Grace. Just past it, you’ll fight Needle Knight Leda and her allies. Once the fight is over, Leda will drop her sword.