Usually when playing RPG’s of any kind, one handed swords are often much worse than great swords and colossal weapons. However, Elden Ring is a bit different as many of the one-handed swords have unique skills and designs. Not to mention many swords from many different weapon classes like katanas, short swords, and curved swords can be used as one-handed swords effectively. Some of them even rank among the best overall weapons in the game. Thankfully, there’s at least one amazing one handed sword for all class types. Whether you're a mage, faith wielder, or some type of melee build there’s a one-handed sword for you. Join me as we look at some of the best one-handed swords in Elden Ring!

10. Eclipse Shotel(best used as a faith/dex build)

How to get the Eclipse Shotel

The Eclipse Shotel is one of the nine legendary armaments that players can obtain in Elden Ring. Perfect for faith builds, this weapon is a fast swinging curved sword that does reliable damage for a one-handed curved sword. This weapon really shines in its passive ability and the skill that comes with the weapon.

The passive ability of this weapon called “Anti-block” allows this weapon to ignore 40% of damage negation from blocks with light attacks.Heavy attacks from the Eclipse Shotel ignore even more damage.. This weapon really shines in PvP and NPC fights with its unique skill “Death Flare”.

Death Flare imbues the weapon with the power of death allowing the player to inflict death blight build-up on tarnished enemies. An additional input causes an explosion in front of the player. While the buff adds holy damage based on your faith, the death blight build-up only affects players and NPCs. This means it’s only effective in PvP.

Overall this weapon is effective in PvE and is super helpful in PvP as long as you have the faith and dexterity to effectively use the weapon.

What's good about the Eclipse Shotel

• Comes with the skill “Death Flare” which buffs the weapon with holy damage, allows the weapon to inflict death blight build-up (only effective on tarnished enemies) and an additional input causes an explosion
• Weapon passively ignores 40% of block damage negation with light attacks and more with heavy attacks

How to get the Eclipse Shotel

• Head to Castle Sol in the Mountain Top of The Giants
• Found on an altar in a church in the southeast section of the castle

Full details on the Eclipse Shotel: Elden Ring Wiki

Image of a player activating "Death Flare"

9. Rotten Crystal Sword(best used as a strength/intelligence)

How to get the Rotten Crystal Sword

The Rotten Crystal Sword is a late-game weapon found in Miquella’s Haligtree. While it might take you a bit of time to get this weapon it is well worth it if you're running an intelligence build of any kind. Along with intelligence this weapon scales better with strength, but you can use this weapon effectively with dexterity as well.

This weapon is perfect for the mage who relies mainly on magic but wants an effective fast-slashing sword. The main perk of this weapon is that it passively causes rot build-up, which really helps in long boss fights or when fighting strong enemies that take a lot of damage. The passive rot build-up combined with the reliable damage of this weapon makes it super effective for mages who want to rock a straight sword-staff combo.

What's good about the Rotten Crystal Sword

• Causes scarlet rot build-up
• Comes with the skill spinning slash

How to get the Rotten Crystal Sword

• Head to the Elphael Inner Wall site of grace 
• Go down the steps and turn left to a pile of rubble
• Behind the rubble, you’ll find a chest guarded by three Crystalline enemies
• You’ll find the Rotten Crystal Sword in the chest

Full details on the Rotten Crystal Sword: Elden Ring Wiki 

An image of a player wielding the Rotten Crystal Sword

8. Antspur Rapier (best used with a dex build)

How to get the Antspur Rapier

The Antspur Rapier can be found mid-game in the Shaded Castle within the northern part of Altus Plateau. This weapon is the perfect one-handed sword for inflicting passive effect build-ups on enemies while dealing good physical damage. These benefits are mainly due to this weapon's passive abilities.

The Antspur rapier causes rot build-up and, since you can infuse this weapon with your preferred ash of war, it can cause a second passive build-up such as bleeding or cold. Keep in mind that the physical damage is reduced by a bit when this weapon has the double passive effect build-up. 

Despite the damage reduction I highly recommend giving this weapon two passive effect build-ups, especially for boss fights. Regardless of how you upgrade this weapon, it will serve as a solid one-handed sword that dishes out plenty of damage.

What's good about the Antspur Rapier

• Can be infused with your preferred ash of war
• Causes rot build-up and another passive ability if the player chooses an ash of war that adds one

How to get the Antspur Rapier

• Head to the shaded castle within the northern Altus Plateau
• Once there head west of the castle into an open area with a bunch of statues
• You’ll be invaded by Maleigh Marais, kill her and you’ll receive the Antspur Rapier

Full details on the Antspur Rapier: Elden Ring Wiki 

An image of the Antspur Rapier

7. Noble’s Slender Sword (best used with a dex build)

How to get the Noble's Slender Sword

The Noble’s Slender Sword is a weapon that players can obtain super early on near the Waypoint Ruins. This weapon is super adaptable to most builds, and it comes with a few additional perks. First off, the weapon can be infused with your preferred ash of war which makes this weapon adaptable to a lot of builds. The weapon also scales an (A) in both strength or dexterity depending on how it’s upgraded.

Another perk of this weapon is that it is one of the longest straight swords in Elden Ring. In fact, it competes in length with some great swords while maintaining the speed of a straight sword making it super deadly when used properly.  

The one downside to this weapon is the fact that players will need to farm for it and the drop rate is super low (0.5%) according to Elden Ring wiki. However, the low requirements to use this weapon combined with its advantages make it an amazing weapon that can hold up even to end-game.

What's good about the Noble’s Slender Sword

• Super adaptable in most builds
• Longest straight sword in the game 
• Can be infused with player’s preferred ash of war

How to get the Noble’s Slender Sword

• Dropped from Wandering Nobles
• Head to the waypoint ruins and head southwest toward the path
• Kill all of the Wandering Nobles around the troll caravan in order to have a chance at getting this weapon
• Other locations include: Raya Lucaria Academy and Caelid

Full details on the Noble’s Slender Sword: Elden Ring Wiki 

An image of a player wielding the Noble's Slender Sword

6. Serpent God’s Curved Sword(best used as a strength build)

How to get the Serpent God's Curved Sword

The Serpent God’s Curved Sword is an early game weapon found in the Ruin Strewn Precipice. This weapon is perfect for strength builds looking for a hard hitting one handed sword. This weapon can be infused with your preferred ash of war and is best upgraded as a heavy weapon as it scales an (A) in strength.

The damage of this weapon is quite high for a one-handed curved sword, but where it really shines is its intrinsic perk. This weapon heals 2.5% of max HP plus 25 HP per kill. Even if you don’t think this weapon will be your cup of tea, holding this weapon in your offhand is enough to activate the healing perk. So if you have a free slot in your off hand I recommend equipping this weapon and pulling it out when you want to preserve your health flasks.

Overall, I recommend this weapon because of the perks combined with the reliable damage. Plus it’s a weapon that can be found super early on making it an incredible weapon for players in need of a reliable weapon early on.

What's good about the Serpent God’s Curved Sword

• Can be infused with players’ preferred ash of war
• Upon killing enemies this weapon heals the players by 2.5% of max HP plus 25 HP (perk can be activated when simply held in the player’s off-hand)

How to get the Serpent God’s Curved Sword

• Head to the Ruin Strewn Precipice site of grace in the Northern part of Liurnia of the Lakes
• Make your way through the area (you’ll have to climb a few ladders)
• Eventually, you’ll climb up to a ledge with a big stone pillar
• Look to the right of the stone pillar and you’ll see a ladder leading to the top of another stone pillar
• Climb the ladder and make your way to the giant stone ledge that’s jutting out of the stone wall
• If you see a big land octopus then you’re on the right ledge and you’ll find the curved sword behind it

Full details on the Serpent God’s Curved Sword: Elden Ring Wiki 

Serpent God's Curved Sword

5. Wing of Astel (best used with a intelligence/dex build)

How to get the Wing of Astel

The Wing of Astel is a curved sword found in the Ainsel River area. This weapon scales well in both Intelligence and dex making it only effective for dex mages. However, if you fall into this category this weapon is probably the best one-handed curved sword that you can find in the game.

Firstly this weapon comes with the skill “Nebula” which allows you to perform a sweeping attack while leaving a starry cloud that will blow up after a few seconds. Additionally, heavy attacks with this sword will shoot out small horizontal slashes of magic. Charging your heavy attack will fire out two slashes and another input will shoot a third.

This move is a slightly less powerful version of Moonveil's "Transient Moonlight", but the Wing of Astel move costs no FP. Both the “Nebula” skill and the magic slashes make this weapon effective beyond its normal range making it extremely adaptable in many situations. I highly recommend trying this weapon out if you are a dex mage.

What's good about the Wing of Astel

• Deals an extra 20% damage to void-type enemies
• Scales B in intelligence and C in dexterity
• Comes with the skill called “Nebula” that allows players to perform a sweeping attack while leaving a starry cloud that will blow up after a few seconds.
• The strong attack sends out a magical ranged attack which costs zero FP (charging the attack sends out two magical ranged attacks)

How to get the Wing of Astel

• Follow Ranni’s questline until you get to Ansel River Main
• Head into the ant tunnel behind the rock-slinging monster
• At the end of the tunnel, you’ll find a T-posing enemy and a path to the right of him
• Walk along the path until you get onto the stone structure behind the rock-slinging monster
• You’ll find a chest up there that holds the Wing of Astel

Full details on the Wing of Astel: Elden Ring Wiki 

An image of a player activating the skill "Nebula" with the Wing of Astel

4. Hand of Malenia(best used with a dex build)

How to get the Hand of Malenia

The Hand of Malenia is a very late-game weapon only attainable after killing Malenia. This weapon isn’t too insane on base damage compared to the next two weapons on this list. However, since it scales almost exclusively as a dex weapon you can pour all of your points into dex to enhance the base damage The reason this weapon is so high on the list is because of its ability.

The Hand of Malenia comes with the skill “Waterfowl Dance'' which allows players to jump in the air and launch at their opponent with a flurry of slashes. The skill will allow up to three consecutive flurries if the player continues to activate the skill. This skill is incredible in both PvE and PvP if you use it right because of the base damage.Not to mention that it will very  quickly proc blood loss. 

Anyone who has fought Malenia will know how much of a pain this moveset is because it's identical to the one that she uses to one-shot players. The waterfowl dance does have an annoyingly long start-up animation, but if you can master the timing then you will be extremely dangerous.

A good idea for this weapon is also to equip talismans that help boost the damage of consecutive hits. Additionally, talismans that increase skill-based damage are a good idea as well because this weapon's main selling point is the special ability. Overall this weapon has some kinks, but you’ll be able to drop tons of DPS if you can use it properly.

What's good about the Hand of Malenia

• Causes blood loss
• The Hand of Malenia comes with the Waterfowl Dance skill which allows you to jump in the air and launch at your opponent, doing a flurry of slashes with up to two consecutive attacks with repeated input.

How to get the Hand of Malenia

• Head to the Haligtree and make your way through the entire area
• Once you’ve reached the Haligtree Roots site of grace head down the staircase directly in front of you and you’ll reach her boss fight
• Beat Malenia and trade in her remembrance for the Hand of Malenia

Full details on the Hand of Malenia: Elden Ring Wiki  

An image of a player using the skill "Waterfowl Dance"

3. Moonveil (best used with a dex and intelligence build)

How to get the Moonveil Katana

The Moonveil katana is another perfect weapon for sorcerers looking for a good intelligence-based one-handed sword. Like most katanas, Moonveil causes blood loss, and it deals a lot of magic damage mainly due to its scaling in intelligence. Normal damage aside, where this weapon really shines for players is its unique skill “Transient Moonlight”.

With this skill, the player sheathes the sword and delivers either a basic swing that fires off a short-range horizontal wave of light or a strong attack that sends a vertical long-range wave of light. This ability deals quite a bit of damage to enemies and the vertical slash can stun most mid-tier enemies. Additionally, if you wait until the enemy is right on top of you you’ll hit them with both your sword and the wave of light dealing even more damage to your opponent.

Many players going the sorcerer route love this weapon because its main scaling is in intelligence. Meaning as they are upgrading their sorceries they’re also upgrading their sword. Overall this is the best weapon for sorcerers out there, and it might even be worth investing some points into intelligence if you aren't a mage to try out this powerful katana.

What's good about the Moonveil

• Has the ability called “Transient Moonlight” which allows you to sheath your sword and send out two different waves of light depending on which attack you choose
• Causes blood loss
• Scales mainly in intelligence

How to get the Moonveil

• Head to Caelid and make your way to the Gael Tunnel on the western edge cliffs of Caelid
• Make your way through the Gael Tunnel and kill the Magma Wyrm boss
• Upon killing the Magma Wyrm you’ll receive the Moonveil katana

Full details on the Moonveil: Elden Ring Wiki 

A player using the skill "Transient Moonlight"

2. Sword of Night and Flame (best used as a faith and intelligence build)

How to get the Sword of Night And Flame

The Sword of Night and Flame is considered one of the most OP weapons in the game, and it is one of the nine legendary armaments. If you’re going to use this weapon you’ll have to center your character's stats around it because it requires 24 in both intelligence and faith respectively. Despite the requirements being a bit odd, this weapon is well worth the work.

The Sword of Night and Flame has an insane attack rate of over 1000 when the weapon is +8 or higher and the player has high enough stats. This is colossal weapon damage in the form of a quick swinging straight sword. Furthermore, if you decide to dual wield this weapon you can achieve outputs of over 3000 damage in seconds making this one of the most deadly weapons in the game.

To top it all off, this weapon comes with the skill “Night-and-Flame Stance”. This skill will set you up in a stance to perform one of two sorceries. Performing a light attack while in the stance allows you to perform the “Night Comet” sorcery (essentially the Comet Azure sorcery). A strong attack will perform a giant sweeping slash of flames that's a bit slow but perfect for taking out large groups of enemies.

This weapon is a bit out of the way for most builds considering you’ll have to invest points in both faith and intelligence. However, the damage on this weapon plus the skill will definitely be worth the unusual stat point distribution. I highly recommend trying this weapon out if you're looking for a one-handed sword with super high DPS.

What's good about the Sword of Night and Flame

• Magic damage of this weapon scales with intelligence
• Fire damage scales with faith
• Comes with the skill “Night-and-Flame Stance” which allows the player to perform one of two sorceries: “Night Comet” or a sweeping fan of flames 

How to get the Sword of Night and Flame

• the Sword of Night and Flame can be found in Carian Manor inside a locked room
• Make your way through the lower area of Carian Manor until you get to the Manor Lower Level site of grace
• From there you’ll run across the wall of the manor
• Head straight along the wall, then take a left at the first junction, then a right at the second junction
• On this third straight away you’ll see a building to your left that you can jump onto 
• Jump onto this roof then head north where you’ll jump onto another rooftop below the one you’re currently on (you should see a ladder leading down on the second rooftop)
• Head down the ladder and you’ll find a chest that contains the Sword of Night and Flame

Full details on the Sword of Night and Flame: Elden Ring Wiki

An image of a player creating a fan of flames with the Sword of Night And Flame

1. Rivers of Blood (best used with either a dex, or bleed build)

How to get the Rivers of Blood

Coming in at the top spot is the infamous Rivers of Blood katana which is considered to be one of if not the best weapons in all of Elden Ring. This weapon is simply incredible and it’s considered the top blood loss weapon in the game. The Rivers of Blood katana deals both fire and physical damage while also causing passive blood loss like most katanas. In terms of basic damage, the Rivers of Blood doesn’t outclass some of the previous weapons mentioned above.

However, the damage of your basic attacks hardly matters when you’ll mostly be using its insane special ability called “Corpse Piler”. This skill allows the player to do up to six successive blood attacks that go well beyond the katana's range. By the end of these strikes, you’ll have bled your target at least once and the move set will stun most low to mid-tier enemies. 

This skill is enough to put this weapon as one of the top PvE weapons and most definitely one of the top Pvp weapons in Elden Ring. This weapon is a must-try because of its ability to shred through any and all enemies in the game.

What's good about the Rivers of Blood

• Deals physical and fire damage
• Causes blood loss
• The special skill “Corpse Piler” allows players to perform up to six successive attacks with cursed blood (deals physical and fire damage and causes more blood loss build-up than is listed on the weapon)

How to get the Rivers of Blood

• Make your way to the Mountaintops of the Giants and head to the church of repose
• Once you’ve arrived you’ll be invaded by bloody finger Okina
• Kill Okina to receive the Rivers of Blood katana

Full details on the Rivers of Blood: Elden Ring Wiki

An image of Rivers of Blood

You may also be interested in:

• Elden Ring Best Weapons for Dual Wield
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• Elden Ring Best Keepsakes and How To Get Them
• Elden Ring Best Dex Weapons
• Elden Ring Best Bleed Weapons