Best colossal weapons in Elden Ring
Our top picks for Elden Ring's slow but mighty weapons.
The best colossal weapons in Elden Ring live up to their name as enormous armaments that crash down on your enemies with ungodly force. These supersized swords, hammers, clubs and more deal immense damage at a longer range than standard swords, albeit with the trade-off that they're far heavier and slower to attack. Master these monstrous Elden Ring weapons, however, and you’ll wield power that rivals some of the hardest bosses in The Lands Between.
Needless to say, using these colossal weapons is no mean feat. You'll need plenty of points in your character’s Strength stat to even pick up these hefty weapons, so you’ll want to make sure you’ve got the best build to use them effectively.
This guide will help you choose the best colossal weapons to use in Elden Ring, as well as where to find them and the stats you need to get the most out of them.
Best colossal weapons in Elden Ring
Colossal weapons are among Elden Ring's most powerful weapons, trading speed and equipment load for extremely high damage, stagger potential and reach. There are two main categories of colossal weapon: general colossal weapons such as halberds, staffs, hammers, and clubs, and colossal swords, which are given their own weapon type. In our list of the best colossal weapons, we’ve included both colossal weapons and swords; while colossal swords are typically better, several other kinds of colossal weapons have their own advantages.
Colossal weapons are a good choice for players looking to build characters who are built like tanks, delivering slower strikes for huge amounts of damage. While their weight and slow attack speed means you’ll usually want tough armour to shrug off any enemy attacks, balancing a colossal weapon’s weight with light armor for a nimble character can be an option. With all that in mind, here are our top picks for the best colossal weapons in Elden Ring.
Greatsword
The Greatsword will be familiar to any players who’ve played FromSoftware’s Dark Souls series, as the classic supersized sword makes another return as one of the best colossal weapons in Elden Ring.
Elden Ring’s Greatsword can be found in the north-west area of Caelid, in the back of a carriage travelling along the main road between the Minor Erdtree and the Caelem Ruins. That means you can acquire it fairly early in the game, though you may need to gain a few levels before you’re able to properly wield it.
The Greatsword excels in raw strength, requiring a mighty 31 Strength and 12 Dexterity to use. It then scales best with additional Strength, rewarding Strength character builds with an enormous amount of attack power. With a whopping weight of 23, you’ll want to make sure you’ve also got enough Endurance and equip load to carry it without being left unable to roll quickly. Combine with the Lion’s Claw Ash of War - also found in Caelid in Fort Gael - to boost that Strength scaling even further, granting you one of Elden Ring’s most powerful weapons.
Zweihander
The Zweihander is one of the easiest colossal weapons to obtain early in Elden Ring, offered for an affordable 3,500 runes by the Isolated Merchant found in The Weeping Peninsula. It also has stats that early-game characters can reach within a few levels, requiring 19 Strength and 11 Dexterity. Not only is the massive sword one of the recommended big weapons to wield when starting out, it holds up throughout the game as one of the best colossal weapons overall.
Like the Greatsword, the Zweihander is a returning favourite from the Dark Souls series. Much of the colossal sword’s popularity comes down to its very reasonable stat requirements and lighter weight than any other colossal weapon, allowing it to be used early in the game by Strength-based characters and even become a useful weapon for other classes, including magic-users, able to invest a few extra points in Strength. Its damage then scales further with Strength and Dexterity.
As well as its flexibility for different character builds, the Zweihander is infamous for its ‘poke’ attack, which makes use of its faster speed, high poise damage and long reach to devastating effect. Its charge thrust performed with R2/RT is also very strong, though best used on slower enemies such as bosses.
Giant-Crusher
This enormous hammer is true to its name by offering huge physical damage as you bring it crashing down on your foes - but you’ll need a huge amount of Strength to use it. The Giant-Crusher requires 60 Strength to wield one-handed, although two-handing it with a lower Strength stat is acceptable. You’ll also want a good bit of Endurance to bolster your equip load, as it weighs a hefty 26.5.
Despite its weight and slow speed, the hammer can be used to guard effectively in place of a separate shield, stopping 88 Physical damage and around half of any elemental damage. Its high Guard Boost value of 58 also means that it’ll cost you less stamina to block. Its default weapon skill Endure also complements its blocking ability, boosting your poise and reducing damage from incoming attacks.
The Giant-Crusher is found later in the game, inside a carriage chest found in a camp on the southern outskirts of Leyndell. (Feel free to dodge the Putrid Tree Spirit guarding the carriage.) Seek it out and you’ll have one of the most powerful pure physical weapons in the game.
Ruins Greatsword
Obtaining the Ruins Greatsword requires taking down a particularly nasty boss fight. Inside Redmane Castle, where you’ll also face Starscourge Radahn, there is the option to battle a Misbegotten Warrior (similar to the lion-like boss of Castle Morne) and Crucible Knight at the same time. Defeat them and you’ll be rewarded with this mighty colossal sword considered one of Elden Ring’s nine legendary armaments.
The Ruins Greatsword combines high physical attack with additional magic damage, requiring a massive 50 Strength and 16 Intelligence to use as a result. It then scales with both Strength and Intelligence, although investing points into Strength is a faster way to boost its power.
The Ruins Greatsword is immensely strong when used as a melee weapon, but its unique weapon skill Wave of Destruction amplifies its power further. The move sees the player slam the swords into the ground to send forth a blast of purple gravitational energy, inflicting huge damage. The ability’s damage scales with Strength, allowing the Ruins Greatsword to become one of the best colossal weapons for Strength builds in terms of raw damage.
Maliketh's Black Blade
As the name suggests, Maliketh's Black Blade is the sword wielded by Maliketh, The Black Blade, who you’ll need to defeat at the end of Crumbling Faram Azula in order to obtain this colossal weapon. Trade Maliketh’s Remembrance of the Black Blade with Finger Reader Enia in the Roundtable Hold and you’ll be able to use the sword for yourself - assuming you have the 34 Strength, 12 Dexterity and 20 Faith required.
As well as having high physical attack damage, Maliketh's Black Blade inflicts a significant amount of holy damage with each hit. Its signature weapon skill surrounds the player with a series of flying blades, which deal damage to any enemies caught in the attack while also reducing their maximum health and deals additional damage over time for a few more seconds. Having fought Maliketh to get the blade, you should be familiar with the move’s punishing power - it’s able to quickly dispatch normal enemies, players and bosses alike when used well.
Maliketh's Black Blade scales its damage using Strength, Dexterity and Faith - meaning physical builds with a touch of magic ability should be well-placed to use it - with Strength providing the greatest boost. Even at its minimum requirements, though, this deadly weapon easily ranks as one of the best colossal weapons in the Lands Between.
Fallingstar Beast Jaw
This colossal weapon is a section of the jaw from the Full-Grown Fallingstar Beast encountered at the top of Mt. Gelmir. While the fight is one of the harder optional fights outside of the main bosses in our opinion, it’s worth doing to acquire this powerful weapon and its unique gravity weapon skill.
The Fallingstar Beast Jaw requires 34 Strength, 12 Dexterity and 20 Intelligence to use. As well as dealing high physical damage and additional magic damage - which can be scaled higher by Strength/Dexterity and Intelligence, respectively - its origins as part of the gravity-reversing Fallingstar Beast means it also deals a good chunk of extra damage to other gravity-type foes.
Its unique Gravity Bolt skill deals huge damage - largely physical, meaning that it’s best to invest in Strength and Dexterity to boost its attack power - while also making for a highly effective way to stagger enemies, including many bosses. The lightning-summoning ability also has very good range and a fast cast speed, making it formidable against almost any foe you take on.
Axe of Godfrey
The axe used by Elden Ring’s penultimate boss, Godfrey, First Elden Lord, remains faithful to his immense physical strength. Offering pure physical power that scales with Strength and Dexterity, this massive axe also includes a unique weapon skill that boosts its attack power further, making it an ideal colossal weapon for pure Strength builds.
To obtain Godfrey’s axe, you’ll need to defeat Godfrey, First Elden Lord and his second phase as Hoarah Loux, Warrior right at the end of Elden Ring’s main questline. The Remembrance of Hoarah Loux can then be given to Finger Reader Enia to acquire the weapon. Given the fight’s place so far into the game, you should hopefully already have the 42 Strength and 14 Dexterity needed to use it, with enough Endurance to account for its 18 weight.
The axe’s physical damage scales equally alongside Strength and Dexterity, meaning it’s best to invest in both stats to keep its damage increasing. Using the weapon skill Regal Roar - which mimics Godfrey’s shockwave attack, causing an unblockable close-range attack - then adds 7.5% physical damage for 40 seconds, as well as an extra +5 Strength scaling, for even greater power. A mighty axe indeed.
Godslayer’s Greatsword
A name like Godslayer’s Greatsword sets the bar very high, but this colossal weapon lives up to its impressive moniker. Found in the Divine Tower of Caelid after defeating the Godskin Apostle boss, this twisting sword is notable for combining the incredible attack power of colossal weapons with a faster attack speed than any other colossal sword.
Making the Godslayer’s Greatsword even greater are its relatively low stat requirements, with the 20 Strength, 22 Dexterity and 20 Faith all fairly achievable by the middle of the game depending on your build. With the sword dealing fire damage in addition to physical damage, investing further points in Dexterity and Faith is a good way of optimising your build to max out its attack power. The damage alone is impressive, but what makes the Godslayer’s Greatsword one of the very best colossal weapons in Elden Ring is the speed of its attacks. The sword swings faster than other colossal swords, allowing its slightly lower damage per hit than other weapons to inflict a higher amount of damage in the same amount of time.
Its unique weapon skill, The Queen’s Black Flame, inflicts high damage while also allowing for a combo attack and continuing to damage any enemies who are hit. Elden Ring’s pre-Shadow of the Erdtree patch 1.12 fixed a bug that stopped the skill from dealing poise damage, making the current version of the colossal weapon even greater when staggering enemies, bosses and PvP invaders alike.
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