Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has reignited the discussion around the best weapons, builds, armor sets, and Ashes of War now available in the game, turning a formerly settled debate into something uncertain.
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Faith builds typically rely a lot more on the Incantations than on the weapons themselves but with the sheer variety on offer there is something for everybody. Here are the best faith weapons to be found in the Land of Shadow.
Updated October 21, 2024, by Hamza Haq: Faith builds have always had a great selection of weapons to use in base Elden Ring, and that trend has only continued with Shadow of the Erdtree. However, since there were so many stellar options in the Lands Between, one would think that the new offerings would struggle to stack up against what the game already had to offer. Luckily, since SotE is a late-game area, FromSoftware had the freedom to introduce some truly broken weapons that would break the game’s balance if they were available early, allowing the new arrivals to not seem lackluster in comparison.
8 Greatsword of Damnation
Few weapons in Elden Ring are as clearly made for PvP as the 
Greatsword of Damnation. This weapon revolves entirely around its unique Ash of War: Golden Crux. When used, this launches the player character into the air and thrusts the weapon into the ground in a nosedive. If a player or a humanoid enemy is caught by this, it triggers a grab attack that deals massive damage.
On top of that, if the attack misses, players can chain the dive into a follow-up attack to spawn golden thorns around them in an AoE to catch anyone who escaped the first attack. The grab is unblockable and unmissable, and even i-frame dodging rarely works, making this one of the most oppressive weapons to use in a 1v1.
7 Death Knight’s Longhaft Axe
While there are tons of incantations for Faith builds that are useful in PvP, the 
Death Knight’s Longhaft Axe is a powerful alternative. While the faith scaling might not be the most impressive, the unique Ash of War, Blinkbolt: Longhaft Axe, more than makes up for it. When used, it transforms the user into a bolt of lightning that travels a short distance toward the target along the ground. This can then be followed up by a lightning-infused overhead attack that deals massive damage.
The Ash of War is a menace in PvP, as it allows players to delay the input on the follow-up by a whole second to bait enemies into swinging early and missing. Against bosses and regular enemies, the blinkbolt provides a few i-frames, which can come in handy in a tough spot. Do note, however, that the Death Knight’s Longhaft Axe’s damage scales primarily with Strength, and increasing Faith past 18 doesn’t really help this weapon do more damage.
6 Shadow Sunflower Blossom
The 
Shadow Sunflower Blossom is a Colossal weapon that scales primarily with Strength and Faith and deals half physical, half holy damage per hit. As a large weapon, the stance break on this is already quite good, making it an efficient choice for breaking poise on bosses, but with the weapon skill, Shadow Sunflower Headbutt increases it to staggering levels.
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When used, the weapon skill lifts the weapon up and slams it down on the ground three times in quick succession. This can be chained into the heavy attack to create a stance-breaking combo that rarely fails against bosses. Additionally, the weight of this weapon is on the low end in its class, allowing players the option to mid-roll fairly reliably.
5 Madding Hand
Madding Hand is a Fist weapon that requires a high Faith investment to equip. It is an incredible option for inflicting madness on an enemy because it inflicts 55 madness buildup by default and has a very fast moveset to complement this effect. Additionally, Madding Hand can be combined with items like the 
Aged One’s Exultation Talisman. On top of that, Madding Spear-Hand Strike, the weapon skill, is another way to quickly inflict 305 madness buildup on a single enemy, and it only costs 13 FP.
Damage-wise, Madding Hand scales with Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Faith and deals split fire and physical damage. It can be built in a lot of different ways because it scales generally well with STR, DEX, and FAI, with INT falling slightly behind. The easiest way would be to fully lean into the STR/FAI aspect with some Vigor and Endurance to shore up defenses, but there are a lot of different options here.
4 Anvil Hammer
Anvil Hammer is a Strength/Faith Colossal weapon that deals split physical and fire damage. With a heavy investment in Strength accompanied by a few points in Faith, there are very few weapons that can top the Anvil Hammer in most situations. The reason for this is not the damage itself but the absurdly high poise break the weapon provides with essentially every hit.
The weapon skill, Smithing Art Spears, is the cherry on top here, as it not only does it do as much poise damage as a fully charged heavy attack, but it does it in half the time and with less Stamina. Combined with a Shield, this can easily transition into a turtle build that can easily clear all content in the DLC.
3 Black Steel Greathammer
What makes the 
Black Steel Greathammer unique is that whenever players perform a guard counter with this weapon, it creates a fairly large explosion of holy damage on the ground in an AoE. Not only does this damage scale entirely off of Faith, but the Black Steel Greathammer also has innate holy damage that goes up the more points there are in Faith.
On top of that, players can infuse this weapon with the Ash of War of their choice. The 
Ash of War: Savage Lion’s Claw is one of the best choices here as it takes full advantage of the weapon’s high poise damage and doubles as a gap closer against fast-moving enemies.
2 Euporia
- Location: Belurat, Tower Settlement
- How to Get: Circle back to Belurat, Tower Settlement through the hidden route in Enir-Ilim and pick up the golden rune on the corpse guarded by the Divine Beast Warrior.
Euporia is a legendary twinblade that scales incredibly well with Faith, has decent damage, and can be used in a lot of different builds. However, that’s true for a lot of other weapons as well, including twinblades. What makes Euporia stand out is its unique weapon skill, Euporia Vortex. When used, Euporia Vortex spins the twinblade in front of the user in a whirlwind, firing off a beam of golden light that scales with Faith, depending on the state of the weapon.
Euporia has three different stages or charge levels. The first level is just the basic weapon without any frills. The second level is when the weapon gains a soft golden luster, and the third level is when Euporia gains a bright golden glow. When Euporia Vortex is used at the first level, it only spins the weapon in front of the user; there is no beam of light. On the second level, there is a beam of light, but it fades quickly and deals low damage. On the third level, the beam becomes more potent and lasts longer. The only way to increase the level or stage of Euporia is by attacking an enemy in quick succession within a 10-second window. Every time the player attacks an enemy with Euporia, it adds the golden luster to the weapon, making it brighter and brighter until it gets fully charged. Once the skill is used, this luster fades completely.
The optimal rotation for Euporia is spamming the light attack button to reach tier 2 as fast as possible before firing off the weapon skill when the opportunity presents itself. Euporia can become one of the most broken weapons in the entire weapon, but only in the hands of a skilled player who can utilize the small windows of opportunity between enemy attacks to consistently get the weapon skill charged up to tier 2.
1 Fire Knight’s Greatsword
The 
Fire Knight’s Greatsword is one of the most powerful weapons in the entire DLC, and it shines brightest when used in a Str/Fai build with the Flame Art infusion. This weapon is actually a Colossal Sword but swings much faster than most other weapons of this type while still having similar damage output, which means the DPS can get to insane levels.
The best Ashes of War for this are the 
Ash of War: Flame Skewer or 
Ash of War: Flame Spear. Using the Flame Art infusion increases Faith scaling, whereas using the Fire infusion increases Strength scaling. This means that for Faith-focused builds, using Flame Art is the way to go. Considering the damage here is split between physical and fire, the 
Flame, Grant me Strength spell is a must-have.
- Released
- June 21, 2024
- Developer(s)
- FromSoftware
