Elden Ring - Greatswords

Greatswords are the generalists of the big-sword family, pairing real reach and hyper armor with a weight of 8 to 15.5, and theirs is the deepest roster of the three big-sword classes and the only one where Faith, Intelligence and Arcane builds all find genuinely top-tier options.

Combat

Pros

• The roster runs deeper than either Colossal Swords or Curved Greatswords, so almost any build finds a fit.
• This is the lightest big-sword class, from 8 (Alabaster Lord's Sword) to 15.5 (Greatsword of Solitude), against 15.5 to 23 for Colossal Swords.
• The infusable pool is the largest of the big-sword classes: Bastard Sword, Claymore, Iron Greatsword, Lordsworn's, Knight's, Banished Knight's, Forked, Flamberge, Gargoyle's and Lizard Greatsword all accept Ashes of War and affinities.
• Entry is cheap. Lizard Greatsword needs only 12 Strength and Banished Knight's Greatsword only 9 Dexterity, the lowest requirements among the big-sword classes.

Cons

• The physical ceiling sits below the Colossal Swords. Iron Greatsword tops the class at 365 physical at max upgrade, against 401 for the Greatsword, a Colossal Sword.
• Stance damage tops out around 168 on a fully upgraded Greatsword of Solitude, while a Heavy Watchdog's Greatsword reaches 180, so poise breaks come slower than with Colossal Swords.
• Every Faith, Intelligence and Arcane member (Blasphemous Blade, Golden Order Greatsword, Dark Moon Greatsword, Helphen's Steeple, Sacred Relic Sword, Marais Executioner's Sword, Inseparable Sword) is a Somber weapon locked to its unique skill, with no affinity changes and no Ash of War swap.
• Dark Moon Greatsword's second one-handed light attack has a motion value of 68, against 101 on every other Greatsword, so the class's premier Intelligence weapon has a visibly weaker chain.

Builds

Quality Strength and Dexterity is the honest default.

• A Heavy Iron Greatsword reaches A Strength scaling with 316 physical and 162 stance damage, and a Keen Flamberge reaches A Dexterity.
• Caster hybrids hit their thresholds at 21 Faith for Blasphemous Blade, 28 Faith for Golden Order Greatsword, 38 Intelligence for Dark Moon Greatsword and 23 Arcane for Marais Executioner's Sword.
• Extra levels pay best in the scaling stat on an infused weapon, straight up to the 55 to 60 soft cap, and in Faith on the Somber Faith weapons, because Taker's Flames and Waves of Gold scale off Faith alone rather than off the weapon's other stats.

Best Weapons

Weapon	Image	Attack	Weight	Str	Dex	Int	Fai	Arc
Iron Greatsword		149	12	18	10	-	-	-
Blasphemous Blade		121 + 78 fire	13.5	22	15	-	21	-
Sacred Relic Sword		118 + 76 holy	11	14	24	-	22	-
Gargoyle's Blackblade		102 + 122 holy	11.5	18	10	-	22	-
Dark Moon Greatsword		82 + 98 magic	10	16	11	38	-	-

Notes

• One-handed light attacks are wide horizontal sweeps that cover the ground ahead, while two-handed light attacks are mostly vertical, and the moveset carries hyper armor and deals decent poise damage.
• Enemies have both a poise system that decides interrupts and a separate stance bar that opens a critical attack when broken. The stance bar resets after 8 to 20 seconds unless the pressure keeps up, and Greatswords sit mid-pack on it, starting from 118 stance damage on a fully upgraded Forked Greatsword.
• A Heavy infusion raises stance damage as well as attack rating, taking Iron Greatsword from 148 to 162 and Bastard Sword from 132 to 145.
• Guard boost runs as high as 53 on the Greatsword of Solitude.
• Flamberge, Forked Greatsword and Sword of Milos build blood loss (55 at max upgrade), while Dark Moon Greatsword and Death's Poker build frost.

All Greatswords

The table below lists all Greatswords in Elden Ring.

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	D 22	D 15	0	D 21	0	0	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 39	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 53	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)
Leontiel's Greatsword		130 63.0	0 33.0	0 33.0	0 33.0	0 33.0	100 44	9.5	E 13	C 26	0	0	0	0	Muleta
Lizard Greatsword		140 66.0	0 35.0	0 35.0	0 35.0	0 35.0	100 43	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	E 14	D 24	0	D 22	0	1000	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