Elden Ring - Colossal Swords

Nothing among the swords breaks stance like a colossal sword, which brings the biggest attack ratings and poise damage of any sword class in exchange for 15.5 to 23 weight, a Strength bill of 30 to 50 on most of the roster and almost no affinity flexibility.

Combat

Pros

• The physical ceiling is the highest of the big-sword classes. The Greatsword reaches 401 physical at max upgrade, against 365 for the best weapon in the Greatsword class and 357 for the best Curved Greatsword.
• Stance damage is the highest too. Watchdog's Greatsword hits 180 on Heavy and Ruins Greatsword 168 at max upgrade, where the Greatsword class tops out near 168 and Curved Greatswords reach 164, or 180 on a Heavy Beastman's Cleaver only.
• Only this big-sword class reaches S-grade scaling: Ruins Greatsword gets S Strength at max upgrade, and Watchdog's Greatsword gets S Strength on Heavy.
• Two-handing multiplies effective Strength by 1.5, so the listed Strength requirement is soft. A weapon listed at 40 Strength becomes usable at around 27 Strength two-handed, the single most useful fact for getting into the class early.

Cons

• This is the heaviest big-sword class by a wide margin, from 15.5 (Zweihander) to 23 (Greatsword, Ruins Greatsword), against 8 to 15.5 for Greatswords, and every point of Endurance spent carrying one is a point not spent on damage.
• Only Zweihander, Greatsword, Watchdog's Greatsword, Troll's Golden Sword and Fire Knight's Greatsword accept Ashes of War and affinities. The rest are Somber and locked to their unique skill, so choosing one means committing to its skill for the run.
• Strength requirements are steep, from 19 at the very cheapest (Zweihander) up to 50 (Ruins Greatsword), with Grafted Blade Greatsword at 40 and Starscourge Greatsword at 38.
• No Colossal Sword carries an innate status effect, so bleed, frost or rot can only come from an affinity, and only the infusable members can take one.

Builds

Pure or near-pure Strength, two-handed, is the standard.

• At 80 Strength a Heavy Greatsword reaches 824 attack rating one-handed and 884 two-handed, while Ruins Greatsword reaches 922 at 80 Strength and 18 Intelligence.
• A status build can instead run an Occult Greatsword at 34 Strength, 14 Dexterity and 60 Arcane for 755, or a Blood Greatsword at the same stats for 636 with 166 bleed buildup.
• Spare levels go into Strength up to the 80 hard cap and then into Endurance, because this class eats equip load and going over 70% load costs the roll needed to fight with it.

Best Weapons

Weapon	Image	Attack	Weight	Str	Dex	Int	Fai	Arc
Greatsword		164	23	31	12	-	-	-
Watchdog's Greatsword		142	22	30	10	-	-	-
Zweihander		141	15.5	19	11	-	-	-
Ruins Greatsword		124 + 37 magic	23	50	-	16	-	-
Royal Greatsword		112 + 134 magic	20	26	18	22	-	-

Notes

• Stance damage is the class's real job. Enemies carry a separate stance bar that opens a critical attack when broken, and it resets after 8 to 20 seconds unless the hits keep coming, which a colossal sword's few, heavy blows are built to deliver.
• Colossal Swords and Colossal Weapons are separate weapon classes.
• Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword, Fire Knight's Greatsword, Greatsword of Radahn (Light), Greatsword of Radahn (Lord) and Moonrithyll's Knight Sword belong to the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

All Colossal Swords

The table below lists all Colossal Swords in Elden Ring.

Name	Image	Physical	Magic	Fire	Light	Holy	Crit. Boost	Weight	Str.	Dex.	Int.	Fai.	Arc.	Sell Price	Skill
Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword		154 80.0	46 55.0	0 49.0	0 49.0	0 49.0	100 55	22.0	D 35	E 10	0	0	D 19	1000	White Light Charge
Fire Knight's Greatsword		147 69.0	0 42.0	44 47.0	0 42.0	0 42.0	100 47	16.0	D 22	D 18	0	D 12	0	100	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Godslayer's Greatsword		119 63	0 38	77 49	0 38	0 38	100 45	17.5	D 20	D 22	0	D 20	0	1000	The Queen's Black Flame
Grafted Blade Greatsword		162 80	0 48	0 48	0 48	0 48	100 53	21	C 40	E 14	0	0	0	200	Oath of Vengeance
Greatsword of Radahn (Light)		129 65.0	83 47.0	0 34.0	0 34.0	0 34.0	100 52	19.0	D 32	D 24	E 15	0	0	1000	Lightspeed Slash
Greatsword of Radahn (Lord)		129 69.0	83 42.0	0 47.0	0 42.0	0 42.0	100 47	19.0	D 32	D 24	E 15	0	0	1000	Promised Consort
Greatsword		164 84	0 50	0 50	0 50	0 50	100 56	23	C 31	E 12	0	0	0	100	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Maliketh's Black Blade		127 68	0 36	0 36	0 36	82 49	100 55	22.0	C 34	E 12	0	D 20	0	1000	Destined Death
Moonrithyll's Knight Sword		124 70.0	80 55.0	0 43.0	0 43.0	0 43.0	100 50	18.0	D 20	D 14	D 18	0	0	500	Tremendous Phalanx
Royal Greatsword		112 71	134 63	0 44	0 44	0 44	100 52	20	D 26	E 18	D 22	0	0	500	Wolf's Assault
Ruins Greatsword		124 82	37 56	0 50	0 50	0 50	100 56	23	B 50	0	E 16	0	0	1000	Wave of Destruction
Starscourge Greatsword		129 65	83 47	0 34	0 34	0 34	100 52	20	D 38	D 12	E 15	0	0	100	Starcaller Cry
Troll Knight's Sword		124 70	80 55	0 43	0 43	0 43	100 50	18	D 20	D 14	D 18	0	0	200	Troll's Roar
Troll's Golden Sword		155 76	0 46	0 46	0 46	0 46	100 51	19	D 29	D 10	0	0	0	200	Troll's Roar
Watchdog's Greatsword		142 82	0 49	0 49	0 49	0 49	100 55	22	C 30	E 10	0	0	0	100	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Zweihander		141 67	0 40	0 40	0 40	0 40	100 45	15.5	D 19	D 11	0	0	0	100	Stamp (Upward Cut)