Rivers of Blood has been nerfed. One of the all-time great broken weapons of Elden Ring is merely extremely good instead of completely OP. To honor its fallen memory, we’re taking a look at all the weapons that are still absurdly powerful for PVE. These weapons can break the game in half with the right builds and turn even the toughest bosses into complete jokes. You might have to play the game twice to get double boss weapons like Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear, but that’s the price you’ll have to pay for ultimate power. Check out the list below for quick explanations and locations for six weapons that haven’t been totally nerfed… yet.
More Elden Ring guides:
10 Tips You Need Early | 12 Useful Items To Get First | 16 Best Optional Areas | Fully Upgraded Crimson Flask | First Shardbearer | Walkthrought Pt. 1 | Unlock Raya Lucaria | Walkthrought Pt. 2 | Great Lift of Dectus | Walkthrough Pt. 3 | Margit, The Fell Omen Boss Guide | Godrick, The Grafted Boss Guide | Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon Boss Guide | Starscourge Radahn Boss Guide | Godfrey, First Elden Lord Boss Guide | Morgott, Omen King Boss Guide | Fire Giant Boss Guide | How To Find Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy | How To Find Malenia, Blade of Miquella | Malenia, Blade of Miquella Boss Guide | How To Find Mohg, Lord of Blood | How To Find Dragonlord Placidusax | Frenzied Flame Ending Guide | Age of the Stars Ending Guide
Scavenger’s Curved Sword
Like Rivers of Blood but want something even better? The Scavenger’s Curved Sword is an easy underdog pick to replace the nerfed katana. Like Rivers of Blood, it causes Bleed Buildup — but you can assign any Ash of War you want. Now that Bloodhound’s Step is also nerfed, you may want to give Quickstep a try. It’s been buffed up.
- Location: Mt. Gelmir – Starting from the First Mt. Gelmir site of grace, go northwest to a fallen rock spire bridge. Cross it and search a corpse guarded by a Grafted Scion.
Blasphemous Blade
One of the all-time best weapons in Elden Ring still makes mincemeat out of enemies. This giant sword is only available as a reward for defeating Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, so you’ll get it midway through the campaign. A powerful weapon that heals you — its special skill heals even more and scales with Faith. Simply one of the best weapons in the game. Still.
- Location: Mt. Gelmir – Defeat Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy to gain the Remembrance of Rykard. Trade the Remembrance to Enia in the Roundtable Hold to acquire the sword.
- Rykard is found past the Volcano Manor. Discover the secret door in the manor to access the Prison Town. Rykard is at the end of this path.
Wing of Astel
A light curved sword. The Wing of Astel is found in the Ainsel River underground and can unleash a magical ranged attack simply by performing a heavy swing. The included Ash of War unleashes a powerful Gravity-based magic arc — very good for Dex and Int builds. Get two and you’re completely unstoppable.
- Location: Ainsel River – On top of the ruins guarded by the giant floating centipede enemy. Access Nokstella, Eternal City site of grace and climb the ladder to the east. Follow the ant tunnels until you reach the Uhl Palace Ruins area’s upper section. Follow the ledges to reach the back of the large room. There’s a chest that contains this weapon.
Pickaxe x2
The only weapon on our list you can dual-wield in a single playthrough. Pickaxes drop by defeating Miner enemies — mines are marked on your map with a small symbol. By farming miners, you can get two Pickaxe weapons very early. They’re extremely powerful if you can dual-wield, allowing you to perform killer jumping strikes that completely drain boss health. They’ll even stagger the toughest bosses.
- Location: Farming Miners is all you need. Go to Limgrave Tunnels, located directly south of the Agheel Lake North site of grace to find Miners very early in the game.
Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear
Mohg’s gigantic trident is yet another blood weapon that’s incredibly good — still. Dual-wielding spears might seem ridiculous, but the jumping double spear attack is one of the deadliest in all of Elden Ring. Whether you’re using the Bolt of Gransax or any other spear, and Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear is one of the top-tier weapons for PVE. The Great Spear has the longest range of any spear, deals blood buildup, and the Ash of War is ridiculous, causing an explosion of blood that can be repeated x3 and coats the spear in bloodflame for even more damage.
- Location: Mohgwyn Palace – Defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood to gain the Remembrance of the Blood Lord. Trade the Remembrance to Enia in the Roundtable Hold to acquire the spear.
- To reach Mohgwyn Palace, you must follow a long and convoluted path. Learn more about finding Mohg, Lord of Blood here.
Those are our picks for 5 weapons we like just as much (or better) than Rivers of Blood. Whatever weapon you like best is always going to be the best, but let us know which weapons of war you like best.
