Elden Ring - Katanas

Blood loss comes out of the box on almost every katana, so the real damage of this bleed-first class lives in the status bar rather than in the attack rating.

Combat

Pros

• Nearly every katana carries innate blood loss (45 to 50 buildup), Serpentbone Blade carries 66 poison instead, and only Dragonscale Blade has no status at all, a density no other curved blade class comes close to.
• Every katana deals Slash and Pierce, so a single physical resistance never walls the class completely.
• Two of the strongest split-damage weapons in the game sit here: Meteoric Ore Blade at 274 physical plus 176 magic (450 combined, tied for the highest total among the curved blade classes) and Star-Lined Sword at 200 plus 200.
• Reach is good for a light class, and Nagakiba is the longest one-handed katana.

Cons

• Only Uchigatana and Nagakiba accept Ashes of War or infusions. Every other katana is locked to its innate skill and affinity, so a build around Moonveil or Rivers of Blood has to bend to the weapon rather than the other way round.
• Poise damage is mediocre, running from 84 (Serpentbone Blade, Sword of Night) to 104 (Meteoric Ore Blade) fully upgraded, with 90 the class norm.
• The top physical attack rating is 294 (Serpentbone Blade), which every Great Katana beats.
• Hand of Malenia demands 48 Dexterity, the steepest stat wall of the curved blade classes, and delivers 286 attack rating for it.

Builds

Dexterity comes first, with Strength only to requirement (10 to 18). From there three routes open: pure Dexterity on Uchigatana, Nagakiba, Serpentbone Blade or Hand of Malenia, Arcane through Rivers of Blood or an Occult Uchigatana or Nagakiba (B Arcane), or 23 Intelligence for Moonveil, which then wants Dexterity too, since it holds B Dexterity and B Intelligence when fully upgraded.

Best Weapons

Weapon	Image	Attack	Weight	Str	Dex	Int	Fai	Arc
Serpentbone Blade		120	6	11	22	-	-	-
Uchigatana		115	5.5	11	15	-	-	-
Meteoric Ore Blade		112 + 72 magic	7.5	15	14	18	-	-
Rivers of Blood		76 + 76 fire	6.5	12	18	-	-	20
Moonveil		73 + 87 magic	6.5	12	18	23	-	-

Notes

• The Unsheathe skill, like any Ash of War at all, is available only on Uchigatana and Nagakiba.
• The uncharged first heavy attack is faster.
• On Uchigatana and Nagakiba, a Blood infusion reaches 82 buildup, Occult B Arcane, Heavy A Strength and Keen A Dexterity, while Cold gives 105 frost plus 38 bleed.
• Sword of Night and Star-Lined Sword belong to the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

All Katanas

The table below lists all Katanas in Elden Ring.

Name	Image	Physical	Magic	Fire	Light	Holy	Crit. Boost	Weight	Str.	Dex.	Int.	Fai.	Arc.	Sell Price	Skill
Dragonscale Blade		110 35	0 25	0 25	0 50	0 25	100 30	5.5	D 12	C 20	0	0	0	500	Ice Lightning Sword
Hand of Malenia		117 49	0 33	0 33	0 33	0 33	100 33	7	E 16	C 48	0	0	0	1000	Waterfowl Dance
Meteoric Ore Blade		112 50	72 45	0 31	0 31	0 31	100 33	7.5	D 15	E 14	D 18	0	0	500	Gravitas
Moonveil		73 31	87 57	0 26	0 26	0 26	100 31	6.5	E 12	D 18	C 23	0	0	500	Transient Moonlight
Nagakiba		115 49	0 33	0 33	0 33	0 33	100 33	7	D 18	C 22	0	0	0	100	Unsheathe
Rivers of Blood		76 36	0 26	76 52	0 26	0 26	100 31	6.5	E 12	D 18	0	0	D 20	500	Corpse Piler
Serpentbone Blade		120 45	0 30	0 30	0 30	0 30	100 30	6	E 11	C 22	0	0	0	200	Double Slash
Star-Lined Sword		82 34.0	82 48.0	0 24.0	0 24.0	0 24.0	100 29	5.0	E 10	C 23	D 21	0	0	500	Onze's Line of Stars
Sword of Night		110 43.0	33 35.0	0 27.0	0 27.0	0 27.0	100 30	6.5	11	C 20	0	0	0	0	Witching Hour Slash
Uchigatana		115 45.0	0 30.0	0 30.0	0 30.0	0 30.0	100 30	5.5	D 11	D 15	0	0	0	100	Unsheathe