Elden Ring - Greatswords

The generalist big-sword: real reach and hyper armor at 8-15.5 weight, the deepest bench of the three (24 weapons), and the only one of the three where a Faith, Int or Arcane build has genuinely top-tier options.

Combat

Pros

• Deepest roster of the three classes: 24 weapons in the extracted data, versus 16 Colossal Swords and 11 Curved Greatswords.
• Lightest of the three big-sword classes: 8 (Alabaster Lord's Sword) to 15.5 (Greatsword of Solitude), against 15.5-23 for Colossal Swords.
• 10 of the 24 accept Ashes of War and affinities (Bastard Sword, Claymore, Iron Greatsword, Lordsworn's, Knight's, Banished Knight's, Forked, Flamberge, Gargoyle's, Lizard), the largest infusable pool of the three, judging by which weapons appear on 's Max Heavy/Keen/Quality tables.
• Cheap entry: Lizard Greatsword needs only 12 Str, Banished Knight's Greatsword only 9 Dex, the lowest requirements of any of the three classes.

Cons

• The physical ceiling is below the Colossal Swords: Iron Greatsword tops the class at 365 physical on 's max standard table, against 401 for the Colossal Greatsword.
• Stance damage tops out around 168 where Colossal Swords reach 180 on a Heavy Watchdog's Greatsword, you break poise slower.
• Every Faith, Int and Arcane member (Blasphemous Blade, Golden Order Greatsword, Dark Moon Greatsword, Helphen's Steeple, Sacred Relic Sword, Marais, Inseparable Sword) is Somber and locked to its unique skill: no affinity re-tuning, no Ash of War swap.
• Dark Moon Greatsword's second one-handed R1 has a motion value of 68 as of patch 1.12, where every other Greatsword's is 101, the class's premier Int weapon has a visibly weaker chain.

Builds

Quality Str/Dex is the honest default.

• Heavy infusion on the Iron Greatsword reaches A Strength at 316 physical and 162 stance damage; Keen on the Flamberge reaches A Dexterity.
• If you are going caster-hybrid instead, the thresholds are Faith 21 for Blasphemous Blade, Faith 28 for Golden Order Greatsword, Int 38 for Dark Moon Greatsword, Arc 23 for Marais Executioner's Sword.
• The next chunk of damage per level: on an infused weapon it is the scaling stat straight to 55-60 soft cap; on the Somber Faith weapons it is Faith, because Taker's Flames and Wave of Gold both scale only off Faith, not off the weapon's other stats.

Best Weapons

Weapon	Image	Attack	Weight	Str	Dex	Int	Fai	Arc	Why Take It
Iron Greatsword		149	12	18	10	-	-	-	Hardest physical hit in the class at +0 and the best heavy-infusion result on 's tables: A Strength, 316 physical, 162 stance damage at max Heavy, the highest stance number of any infusable Greatsword. Farmable from Misbegotten Warriors, so no boss gate.
Blasphemous Blade		121 + 78 fire	13.5	22	15	-	21	-	Heals 4% of max HP plus 40 flat on every enemy death simply by being held, whether or not this sword killed them, and Taker's Flames heals 10% of max HP plus 150 flat on hit. The skill deals pure fire damage and scales only with Faith. That sustain is why it dominates Faith/Str clear speed, not its attack rating (AR) (296 phys + 191 fire at max standard).
Sacred Relic Sword		118 + 76 holy	11	14	24	-	15	-	Wave of Gold's projectile scales entirely off Faith and sweeps everything in a widening arc. records an effective yield of around 6,000,000 runes per hour farming Albinaurics from Palace Approach Ledge-Road with the Golden Scarab. Also carries the class's best critical multiplier at 110.
Gargoyle's Blackblade		102 + 122 holy	11.5	18	10	-	22	-	Most holy damage of any Greatsword at +0 and 249 physical + 298 holy at max standard, the largest holy number in the class, on a 22 Faith requirement rather than the Golden Order Greatsword's 28.
Dark Moon Greatsword		82 + 98 magic	10	16	11	38	-	-	Best Int scaling in the class and 200 physical + 240 magic at max standard. Its skill imbues frost and grants a projectile R2 doing 22 stance damage, 35 charged. The caveat you should know before committing: as of patch 1.12 its second one-handed R1 has a motion value of 68 where every other Greatsword's is 101.

Notes

• Moveset shape: one-handed regular attacks are wide horizontal sweeps covering ground in front of you; two-handed regular attacks are mostly vertical. The moveset carries hyper armor and deals decent poise damage.
• Poise damage: enemies have both a poise system (interrupt) and a separate stance system that opens a critical attack when broken; the stance bar resets after 8-20 seconds unless you keep chipping it. Greatswords sit mid-pack: 118 stance (Forked) to 168 (Greatsword of Solitude) at max standard on 's tables.
• Heavy infusion raises stance damage, not just attack rating (AR): Iron Greatsword goes 148 stance standard to 162 stance Heavy; Bastard Sword goes 132 to 145.
• Ash of War access: 10 of 24 are Smithing Stone weapons that take any affinity; the other 14 are Somber and locked to their unique skill.
• Guard counters: patch 1.09 increased guard-counter speed for the whole class. Guard boost runs to 53 on the Greatsword of Solitude.

All Greatswords

Name	Image	Physical	Magic	Fire	Light	Holy	Crit. Boost	Weight	Str.	Dex.	Int.	Fai.	Arc.	Sell Price	Skill
Alabaster Lord's Sword		128 56	38 33	0 27	0 27	0 27	100 39	8	D 16	E 12	D 18	0	0	500	Alabaster Lords' Pull
Banished Knight's Greatsword		142 68	0 36	0 36	0 36	0 36	100 44	10	D 17	D 9	0	0	0	200	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Bastard Sword		138 65	0 35	0 35	0 35	0 35	100 42	9	D 16	D 10	0	0	0	100	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Blasphemous Blade		121 56	0 39	78 54	0 39	0 39	100 42	13.5	-22	-15	0	-21	0	100	Taker's Flames
Claymore		138 65	0 35	0 35	0 35	0 35	100 42	9	D 16	D 13	0	0	0	100	Lion's Claw
Dark Moon Greatsword		82 57	98 63	0 31	0 31	0 31	100 44	10	D 16	D 11	C 38	0	0	1000	Moonlight Greatsword
Death's Poker		123 60	36 39	0 33	0 33	0 33	100 39	8.5	D 15	D 17	E 11	0	0	200	Ghostflame Ignition
Flamberge		129 65	0 35	0 35	0 35	0 35	100 42	10	D 15	C 14	0	0	0	100	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Forked Greatsword		124 61	0 33	0 33	0 33	0 33	100 39	9	D 14	D 16	0	0	0	100	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Gargoyle's Blackblade		102 60	0 33	0 33	0 33	122 66	100 46	11.5	D 18	E 10	0	D 22	0	200	Corpse Wax Cutter
Gargoyle's Greatsword		133 71	0 38	0 38	0 38	0 38	100 46	11.5	C 18	E 10	0	0	0	200	Vacuum Slice
Golden Order Greatsword		86 55	0 30	0 30	0 30	103 60	100 42	10	E 16	D 21	0	C 28	0	500	Establish Order
Greatsword of Damnation		123 58.0	0 31.0	0 3.0	0 31.0	79 42.0	100	8.0	D 20	E 15	0	D 20	0	1000	Golden Crux
Greatsword of Solitude		120 89.0	0 40.0	0 40.0	0 40.0	0 40.0	100	15.5	B 27	E 13	0	0	0	100	Solitary Moon Slash
Helphen's Steeple		101 66	101 60	0 33	0 33	0 33	100 46	11.5	D 19	E 10	D 22	0	0	500	Ruinous Ghostflame
Inseparable Sword		98 59	0 34	0 34	0 34	98 52	100 44	10	D 18	D 18	0	C 20	0	200	Sacred Blade
Iron Greatsword		149 73	0 39	0 39	0 39	0 39	100 47	12	C 18	E 10	0	0	0	100	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Knight's Greatsword		141 68	0 36	0 36	0 36	0 36	100 44	10	D 16	D 12	0	0	0	200	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Lizard Greatsword		140 66.0	0 35.0	0 35.0	0 35.0	0 35.0	100	9.5	D 12	D 14	0	0	0	100	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Lordsworn's Greatsword		136 65	0 35	0 35	0 35	0 35	110 42	9	D 16	D 10	0	0	0	100	Stamp (Upward Cut)
Marais Executioner's Sword		94 68	61 49	0 36	0 36	0 36	100 46	11.5	C 24	E 14	0	0	D 23	1000	Eochaid's Dancing Blade
Ordovis's Greatsword		107 69	0 37	0 37	0 37	69 50	100 47	12	C 25	E 13	0	D 15	0	1000	Ordovis's Vortex
Sacred Relic Sword		118 47	0 33	0 33	0 33	76 45	110 36	11	0	0	0	0	0	100	Waves of Gold
Sword of Milos		141 68	0 36	0 36	0 36	0 36	100 44	10	D 15	D 19	0	0	0	500	Shriek of Milos