Elden Ring - Curved Swords

The fastest-swinging class of the five and the lightest: take it to out-tempo bosses and stack infused bleed, never to trade hits.

Combat

Pros

• Fastest attack cadence of the five. 's class page: curved swords "can attack more quickly than many other melee weapons in Elden Ring, making them excellent against fast-moving opponents.".
• Feint attacks are available class-wide: the class has a built-in mixup without spending an Ash of War slot.
• Broadest infusion access of the five: 11 of the 19 appear in 's Heavy/Keen/Quality/Blood/Occult tables, so the class re-points to any stat spread instead of locking you into Dex.
• Lightest class here: 2.0 (Shotel) to 5.0 (Bandit's Curved Sword, Horned Warrior's Sword) per the local stat records, versus 9.0 to 10.5 for Great Katanas.

Cons

• Lowest poise damage of the five classes. At max standard the class runs 80 (Dancing Blade of Ranah, Nox Flowing Sword) to 102 (Horned Warrior's Sword); the class-best is Beastman's Curved Sword on Heavy at 107. Great Katanas start at 104.
• Lowest physical attack rating (AR) ceiling of the five: Bandit's Curved Sword at 289 max standard, against 294 for Katanas, 301 for Twinblades and 379 for Great Katanas.
• Only 2 of 19 carry innate bleed: Scavenger's Curved Sword (45) and Falx (Hemorrhage 55). Every other bleed build in this class is bought with a Blood infusion, and that costs attack rating (AR): Bandit's drops 289 to 242 to gain (82) buildup.
• Weak guarding. Max standard guard boost runs 20.9 (Spirit Sword) to 36 (Bandit's), guard counters are not a real plan here.

Builds

Dex-primary with just enough Str to meet requirements (7: 14 covers almost the whole class). Two forks past that: keep it Keen/Quality and lean on swing speed, or go Arcane and run Occult, which reaches B Arc on every infusable curved sword. Int builds have exactly one home, Wing of Astel at B Int.

Best Weapons

Weapon	Image	Attack	Weight	Str	Dex	Int	Fai	Arc	Why Take It
Bandit's Curved Sword		118	5	11	13	-	-	-	Highest physical damage in the class at every stage: 118 at +0, 289 max standard, 254 max Occult (B Arc), 242 max Blood carrying (82) bleed. It is also the class guard-boost leader at 36. The price is being tied for heaviest at 5.0 and needing Str 11 / Dex 13.
Beastman's Curved Sword		113	4	13	11	-	-	-	The Strength outlier: the only curved sword with C Str at +0, reaching A Str on Heavy at 237 attack rating (AR) and 107 poise damage, the highest stagger figure in the class. Requirements invert the class norm at Str 13 / Dex 11.
Falx		107	4	12	15	-	-	-	Innate Hemorrhage 55: the highest native bleed in the class, plus B Dex at 262 max standard, and it is paired, so two-handing gives the dual moveset free. Its Revenger's Blade skill is a gap-closing dash with a strong-attack follow-up.
Dancing Blade of Ranah		88	3.5	9	20	-	-	-	The only curved sword with A Dex scaling at max standard, and the only one with no Strength scaling at all ('-'), so every point goes to Dex. It is a paired weapon, two-handing spawns a duplicate in the off-hand, and its skill and heavy attacks are enhanced by the Dancer's Set. Cost: 215 max attack rating (AR) and 80 poise damage, both the class floor, and it cannot be infused.
Wing of Astel		65 + 78 magic	2.5	7	17	20	-	-	The class's only real Intelligence option: 65 physical / 78 magic at +0 becoming 159 / 191 at max standard with B Int, at 2.5 weight and Int 20. Nothing else in the class scales magic past D.

Notes

• Poise damage at max standard: 80 (Dancing Blade of Ranah, Nox Flowing Sword) to 102 (Horned Warrior's Sword); Beastman's Curved Sword on Heavy is the class peak at 107.
• Class-wide feint attacks.
• Patch 1.13 increased the poise damage of dual-wield attacks for all Curved Swords, in PvP only.
• Patch 1.14 increased the attack speed of the uncharged version of the first heavy attack.
• Blood infusion ceiling is (82) buildup, below the (100) that Twinblades and the Great Katana reach. Best Blood attack rating (AR) is Bandit's at 242.

All Curved Swords

Name	Image	Physical	Magic	Fire	Light	Holy	Crit. Boost	Weight	Str.	Dex.	Int.	Fai.	Arc.	Sell Price	Skill
Bandit's Curved Sword		118 48	0 36	0 36	0 36	0 36	100 36	5	D 11	D 13	0	0	0	100	Spinning Slash
Beastman's Curved Sword		113 44	0 33	0 33	0 33	0 33	100 27	4	C 13	E 11	0	0	0	100	Spinning Slash
Dancing Blade of Ranah		88 37.0	0 28.0	0 29.0	0 29.0	0 27.0	100	3.5	9	B 20	0	0	0	500	Unending Dance
Eclipse Shotel		77 35	0 25	0 25	0 25	77 50	100 25	3	E 10	D 25	0	E 30	0	1000	Death Flare
Falchion		109 42	0 31	0 31	0 31	0 31	100 26	3.5	D 9	D 13	0	0	0	100	Spinning Slash
Falx		107 42.0	0 31.0	0 31.0	0 31.0	0 31.0	100	4.0	D 12	D 15	0	0	0	200	Revenger's Blade
Flowing Curved Sword		109 42	0 31	0 31	0 31	0 31	100 26	3.5	D 9	D 17	0	0	0	200	Spinning Slash
Grossmesser		115 46	0 34	0 34	0 34	0 34	100 28	4.5	D 14	D 12	0	0	0	100	Spinning Slash
Horned Warrior's Sword		108 48.0	0 36.0	0 36.0	0 36.0	0 36.0	100	5.0	D 11	D 14	0	E 14	0	200	Horn Calling
Magma Blade		96 44	0 30	62 44	0 30	0 30	100 27	4	D 9	D 15	0	D 16	0	200	Magma Shower
Mantis Blade		112 44	0 33	0 33	0 33	0 33	100 27	4	D 10	D 12	0	0	0	200	Spinning Slash
Nox Flowing Sword		112 40	0 30	0 30	0 30	0 30	100 25	3.5	E 8	D 15	0	0	0	200	Flowing Form
Scavenger's Curved Sword		105 40	0 30	0 30	0 30	0 30	100 25	3.5	D 9	D 14	0	0	0	200	Spinning Slash
Scimitar		106 40	0 30	0 30	0 30	0 30	100 25	3	D 7	D 13	0	0	0	100	Spinning Slash
Serpent-God's Curved Sword		113 44	0 33	0 33	0 33	0 33	100 27	4	D 13	E 9	0	0	0	500	Spinning Slash
Shamshir		108 42	0 31	0 31	0 31	0 31	100 26	3.5	D 7	D 13	0	0	0	100	Spinning Slash
Shotel		96 37	0 27	0 27	0 27	0 27	100 22	2	E 9	D 19	0	0	0	100	Spinning Slash
Spirit Sword		92 38.0	59 38.0	0 26.0	0 26.0	0 26.0	100	2.5	E 8	D 16	D 16	0	0	200	Rancor Slash
Wing of Astel		65 28	78 52	0 23	0 23	0 23	100 23	2.5	E 7	D 17	D 20	0	0	200	Nebula