Elden Ring - Great Katanas

Katana reach and bleed gain real poise damage in the great katana, which carries the highest attack rating and the highest stagger of the curved blade classes in exchange for weight and swing speed.

Combat

Pros

• Physical attack is the highest of the curved blade classes. Rakshasa's Great Katana has 155 at +0 and 379 fully upgraded, Dragon-Hunter's Great Katana 372 and Great Katana 355, while the best katana manages 294.
• Poise damage is the highest of the curved blade classes, from 104 (Great Katana, Rakshasa's Great Katana) to 110 (Dragon-Hunter's Great Katana) fully upgraded, against a Katana norm of 90 and a Curved Sword ceiling of 102.
• Every great katana carries 55 innate blood loss, the highest native bleed of any curved blade class, on every weapon rather than a subset.
• A built-in feint triggers a different animation when dodge is pressed while charging a heavy attack, with no Ash of War needed.

Cons

• The class is very small and only the base Great Katana is infusable, so the entire class's build variety runs through a single weapon.
• This is the slowest of the curved blade classes, weighing 9.0 to 10.5 against 2.0 to 5.0 for Curved Swords and Backhand Blades.
• Overhead Stance, the base Great Katana's innate skill, greatly decreases stamina regeneration and movement speed while held.
• The class does not exist in the base game and requires the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

Builds

Dexterity comes first, with Strength only to requirement, 15 at most.

• Rakshasa's Great Katana is the pure Dexterity ceiling, reaching 777 attack rating one-handed and 789 two-handed at 16 Strength and 80 Dexterity.
• For a character not built for Dexterity, the base Great Katana is the only route, with Heavy taking it to B Strength at 329 and Occult to B Arcane at 315.

Best Weapons

Weapon	Image	Attack	Weight	Str	Dex	Int	Fai	Arc	Why Take It
Rakshasa's Great Katana		155	9.5	12	27	-	-	-	Rakshasa's Great Katana hits hard from the start, with 155 physical at +0, 379 when fully upgraded and C Dexterity scaling that improves to B at max upgrade. Its attacks grant hyper armor at the cost of lower damage negation while swinging, so it rewards an aggressive Dexterity build that trusts its own timing. It upgrades with Somber stones.
Dragon Hunter's Great Katana		152	10.5	15	20	-	-	-	Dragon-Hunter's Great Katana is the great katana for guarding and staggering, with the highest poise damage in the class at 110 fully upgraded, strong physical damage negation and C Strength and C Dexterity scaling at max upgrade. It upgrades with Somber stones and cannot be infused, but it reaches 372 physical.
Great Katana		145	9	14	18	-	-	-	The base Great Katana is the only great katana that accepts infusions and Ashes of War, so every build that is not pure Dexterity lands here, with Occult, Blood, Cold and Heavy all working. A Heavy infusion reaches B Strength at 329 and Occult B Arcane at 315, and it can be picked up for free with no fight attached.

Notes

• Rakshasa's Great Katana grants poise while attacking, but the wielder takes roughly 10% more damage during the attack.
• Rakshasa's Great Katana's two-handed jumping light attack and one-handed jumping heavy can be parried if started while descending, the only parryable jump attacks in the game and most likely a bug.
• The uncharged first heavy attack is faster, but the cancel window into right-handed attacks after a left-handed attack is longer.
• Rakshasa's Great Katana and Dragon-Hunter's Great Katana use Somber Smithing Stones.

All Great Katanas

Name	Image	Physical	Magic	Fire	Light	Holy	Crit. Boost	Weight	Str.	Dex.	Int.	Fai.	Arc.	Sell Price	Skill
Dragon Hunter's Great Katana		152 69.0	0 32.0	0 32.0	0 32.0	0 32.0	100 37	10.5	D 15	D 20	0	0	0	500	Dragonwound Slash
Great Katana		145 60.0	0 30.0	0 30.0	0 30.0	0 30.0	100 35	9.0	D 14	D 18	0	0	0	0	Overhead Stance
Rakshasa's Great Katana		155 53.0	0 24.0	0 24.0	0 24.0	0 24.0	100 35	9.5	E 12	C 27	0	0	0	200	Weed Cutter
Reed Great Katana		158 57.0	0 28.0	0 28.0	0 28.0	0 28.0	100 33	10.0	D 11	D 16	0	0	0	0	Overhead Stance