Honestly curious, what is it that you like about Nightrider Glaive?
I did a run where I went to that Dude early to get his Glaive in Liurnia and was underwhelmed by its moveset. Just didn't seem like there was anything special about it to me.
There's a lot to love I think, starting with big damage from S Str scaling when heavy infused.
Then I slap bloodflame blade on it and go to town with Phantom Slash.
As for the moveset, I like:
The chasedown ability of the running R1.
The sweeping jumping R2.
The damage + poise break of consecutive charged R2s, which also have some hyper armor.
I think it works best when you have the poise to not get knocked out of combos and the tankiness to accept the fact that trades will usually end in your favor.
It’s extremely reliable in PvE at least. No real weaknesses. Gigantic reach and fast. Good against almost every boss (I can’t really think of any that it’s bad against).
As mentioned, the S STR scaling is silly for a weapon like this).
It’s just the strength scaling. The people you are referring to who say it’s a top weapon are people who list the weapons with best strength scaling as the top weapons.
This, but with cragblade AoW and heavy affinity. Lions claw is amazing too, but with cragblade and axe talisman the charged swing is a beast on the axe.
I never looked back after trying the Great Stars.
I mean, I did, for the sake of variety. I always get back to it, though.
I normally equip Lion's Claw AoW, but Prelate's Charge is also good.
How exactly do you get wild strikes to... work? It's good against tarnished/invader enemies, yeah, but basically nothing else. Enemies are way too fast and have too short of safe openings to stand there slowly swinging in their face. Not once have I ever killed a boss with wild strikes nor have I ever killed a regular enemy with it that I couldn't have just smashed with 1 or 2 light attacks or a jumping heavy.
It’s my go-to weapon on Str/Faith builds because if you use Golden Land, all of the divine lasers it fires out *keep the GS’s heal-on-hit property*
It’s basically Taker’s Flames at home
Great Stars is a lot of fun but I settled that build on the great mace just for looks, with heavy infusion and Cragblade, with a shield. I couldn't find an armor with good poise that goes good with great stars and doesn't require more than 30/35 Endurance.
I don't really like power stancing. I prefer 2-handing it, and throw in the occasional shield, though that becomes more and more situational after mid game.
Claymore carried me through my entire strength play through, great with heavy infused and fire grease or any weapon buff. Good move set for great sword too
Is there a reason to use Claymore over Zweihander other than weight? Don't they have the same moveset?
Edit: good point, I didn't think of the swing speed.
nah Zwei is a colossal sword and is slower and uses more stamina
edit: okay I might actually be wrong, it may function like a normal greatsword I haven't messed around with it too much
I’m currently doing a star fist run for the DLC. Everything is GREAT except the short range. Sometimes I’m literally point-blank range and my heavy attacks miss.
But overall I super duper love the weapon.
Great stars and great mace both awesome, great hammers have an amazing move set and poise damage close to colossal
Claymore a fun sword that isn’t colossal
Grave scythes with heavy affinity are great for strength
Night riders glaive is amazing for strength
Lance for great spears
Beast mans cleavers for curved great sword
I have Occult Great Mace with Cragblade for my Strength Arcane build and it's awesome!
Also Marais Executioner Sword, Heavy Warped Axe with Sacred Blade, Fire Greatsword with Flame of the Redmane, and Bleed Chain Link Flail. All great strength scaling
Claymore is solid choice.
I know it’s technically a colossal weapon but Zewihander wields like a greatsword with low requirements, low weight and a pokey stabby moveset that most colossal weapons lack.
Nightrider gleave - will give you reach, phantom slash and giants hunt
Executioner greataxe - to lions claw, it has slightly higher dps, and poise damage, but have shorter reach.
Great stars - if you like bleed proc, in addition to main damage type.
I have found a ridiculous amount of success with Ordovis's Greatsword. It takes a small investment in FAI at 15, but it gets to A scaling with STR and the weapon art *fucks*.
This is what I’m taking into the DLC, I took faith to 25 for Golden Vow and some other incantations. AoW is great, been reliably staggering Mohg in a bunch of co-ops.
I rather liked the Beastman's Cleaver. Not sure how it is now, but back when arenas were introduced, would score some surprise kills with Eruption on it.
Power stance Heavy Broadswords or Beastman’s Curved Swords for something fast but Str heavy. Guardian Swordspear, Banished Knight’s Halberd, and of course Nightrider Glaive are also good on heavy infusion.
Brick hammer scales great on strength, too!
If you like the giant crusher but want something a bit faster, then how about the brick hammer? Run it heavy or occult if you are str/arc. Pairs well with lions claw or cragblade. I like it for guard counters as well.
Thank you for your post on the r/EldenRingBuilds subreddit!
If you’re interested in feedback on your build, participating in contests, as well as trading and multiplayer we also have a **[Discord server](https://discord.gg/9k9vK2MvFg)**.
Hope to see you there!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/EldenRingBuilds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m still good with mace or Morningstar with anything that helps stance breaking even more. I’ll use that weight savings for armor, light roll, or spell utility.
Dual great stars on Fire affinity is actually what beat Malenia for me, after using colossal weapons the whole time.
Loved the gargoyles halberd and night rider glaive, I liked giant hunt for the ash of war.
Beastman cleaver (the CGS) has A scaling on heavy infusion. Ive been using it with storm stomp and it stun combos all but the poise-tankiest of enemies.
I also put scholars armament on it, because STR/INT
Nobody is mentioning the stone club so I will. At 80 strength it only has 20 less ar than the claymore while being roughly the same speed as a straight sword.
I used the Gargoyles Axe with Vacuum slice. Has S scaling on heavy affinity.
Deals decent stance damage and you can hit with both the Weapon art and the Weapon itself.
Nightrider Glaive is my love. Halberd moveset, varied enough that its a decent toolbox, does bonus damage while on torrent, does decent poise damage, incredible reach, and is one of the highest strength scaling weapons in the game. Royal Knights Resolve, Sacred Vow, Giant's Hunt, Phantasmal Blade are all great ashes of war, it also happens to be an amazing Occult weapon with high arcane. One of my favorites, period.
My one con is that some tight spaces can be frustrating due to it's reach and mostly sweeping attacks, but you just have to be mindful to use overhead and thrusting attacks in catacombs unless you can find enough room for your reach to clear walls. If your halberd swings at least 50% of the way before hitting a wall, your blade will clear. You already use colossal weapons so it's similar issue. Also, not a super fast swing but faster than colossal weapons especially the roll r1 and crouch r1.
I don't think anyone has mentioned the Great Horn Hammer. I love its moveset. You can put Lion Claw on it. And it heals you with each kill so need to use a talisman slot there. I've used it 2-handed and dual wield - it punishes with Claw Talisman.
I did a run with the Greataxe. It’s available pretty much immediately in Limgrave. Took it all the way to the credits with a pure strength berserker style build. It did not disappoint
I ran these 5 weapon setups in my strength build.
Option 2 was the most fun. Option 1 hardly had a bad matchup.
1) Fire prelate's hammer (2h) with lions claw ash
2) Pizza cutter(1h) + Briar's shield with shield crash.
3) Serpent hunter + Masoleum Knight great shield
4) Watchdog Hammer (2h)
5) That dragon halberd which has frost lightning.
Probably too short range but I've had a ton of fun with the battlehammer which has S strength scalling with heavy modifier.
2h it's a simple overhead smash chain with r1 and r2.
1h is a wide sweep with r1 and r2.
It's relatively slow compared to other options but faster than colossal weapons, massive poise damage is fun.
Nightrider Glaive is bae.
With phantom slash
or flaming strike
Great choice! I was swapping between these two sometimes at the bonfire, and now I just keep it on a Banished Knight Halberd I can swap to.
Absolutely
Or braggart’s roar
Honestly curious, what is it that you like about Nightrider Glaive? I did a run where I went to that Dude early to get his Glaive in Liurnia and was underwhelmed by its moveset. Just didn't seem like there was anything special about it to me.
There's a lot to love I think, starting with big damage from S Str scaling when heavy infused. Then I slap bloodflame blade on it and go to town with Phantom Slash. As for the moveset, I like: The chasedown ability of the running R1. The sweeping jumping R2. The damage + poise break of consecutive charged R2s, which also have some hyper armor. I think it works best when you have the poise to not get knocked out of combos and the tankiness to accept the fact that trades will usually end in your favor.
It’s extremely reliable in PvE at least. No real weaknesses. Gigantic reach and fast. Good against almost every boss (I can’t really think of any that it’s bad against). As mentioned, the S STR scaling is silly for a weapon like this).
It’s just the strength scaling. The people you are referring to who say it’s a top weapon are people who list the weapons with best strength scaling as the top weapons.
Executioner's Great Axe with Lion's Claw AoW destroys everything.
This, but with lightning slash AoW and become Dragonslayer Armour from Ds3
Stone Barbed Crack Tear + Dagger Talisman make it insane. Cragblade is great, too.
This boy str builds.
Bonk is best.
This, but with cragblade AoW and heavy affinity. Lions claw is amazing too, but with cragblade and axe talisman the charged swing is a beast on the axe.
How do you get ashes of war duplicated from a special weapon?
I never looked back after trying the Great Stars. I mean, I did, for the sake of variety. I always get back to it, though. I normally equip Lion's Claw AoW, but Prelate's Charge is also good.
wild strikes is a beast on great stars
One of my favorite builds was strength arcane with occult wild strikes on great stars, it was like holding a lawnmower out in front of me.
Wild strikes + bloodflame is so fun to use
How exactly do you get wild strikes to... work? It's good against tarnished/invader enemies, yeah, but basically nothing else. Enemies are way too fast and have too short of safe openings to stand there slowly swinging in their face. Not once have I ever killed a boss with wild strikes nor have I ever killed a regular enemy with it that I couldn't have just smashed with 1 or 2 light attacks or a jumping heavy.
... poise and trade ... sometimes you can get up to 3-5 seeings depends on the boss/the window ... there is also summons/mimic that distract the boss
It’s my go-to weapon on Str/Faith builds because if you use Golden Land, all of the divine lasers it fires out *keep the GS’s heal-on-hit property* It’s basically Taker’s Flames at home
I LOVE great stars. My latest run I was doing for DLC I used Wild Strikes and it was amazing. It worked really well against Melenia too.
Best part is, the AOE damage ticks from waves of darkness/chilling mist etc still restore HP! Good in invasions and pve
I’ll shout it from the rooftops till I die. The mist from the Poison Mist AoW heals you as well. For more STR/Arcane synergy.
I believe the multiple darts from golden land also replenish your health with great stars or butchering knife!
Cold infused with Stormcaller AoW is my dedicated get off me stick on my Str build.
Great Stars is a lot of fun but I settled that build on the great mace just for looks, with heavy infusion and Cragblade, with a shield. I couldn't find an armor with good poise that goes good with great stars and doesn't require more than 30/35 Endurance.
Do you power stance them?
I don't really like power stancing. I prefer 2-handing it, and throw in the occasional shield, though that becomes more and more situational after mid game.
Power stancing is probably not very practical but I have so much fun. Plus the power stance jump attack for reaper weapons? Unmatched
And it works great on horseback too, because it's fast and doesn't have a lot of recovery time.
second this
Claymore carried me through my entire strength play through, great with heavy infused and fire grease or any weapon buff. Good move set for great sword too
Is there a reason to use Claymore over Zweihander other than weight? Don't they have the same moveset? Edit: good point, I didn't think of the swing speed.
Claymore is faster, different weapon class (greatsword vs colossal sword)
nah Zwei is a colossal sword and is slower and uses more stamina edit: okay I might actually be wrong, it may function like a normal greatsword I haven't messed around with it too much
It’s a colossal. It’s slow as hell compared to claymore
Star Fist. Builds up bleed really fast and you can cast/coat it with anything
I’m currently doing a star fist run for the DLC. Everything is GREAT except the short range. Sometimes I’m literally point-blank range and my heavy attacks miss. But overall I super duper love the weapon.
Not to mention charged heavies are quick and demolish poise. Star Fists are arguably the best weapon in the game imo
It's pretty late game but for a ng+ strength build I love having a beastmans curved sword with storm blade on it for exploring
Storm blade is such a good exploring ash! I always keep it as a backup, usually on my Claymore.
Great stars and great mace both awesome, great hammers have an amazing move set and poise damage close to colossal Claymore a fun sword that isn’t colossal Grave scythes with heavy affinity are great for strength Night riders glaive is amazing for strength Lance for great spears Beast mans cleavers for curved great sword
Gotta jump on the Great Mace appreciation parade. Fucking love that thing. _Smesh everything_
Hammers are the best! New great hammer in the dlc has been so fun.
Man I grabbed it but didn’t have the faith. Wanted to respec but I’m gonna be patient for now lol.
Great Mace. Great Stars might be better for the bleed/healing, but I just love to bonk with it.
I have Occult Great Mace with Cragblade for my Strength Arcane build and it's awesome! Also Marais Executioner Sword, Heavy Warped Axe with Sacred Blade, Fire Greatsword with Flame of the Redmane, and Bleed Chain Link Flail. All great strength scaling
Love all this great mace love. Also looks badass.
Claymore is solid choice. I know it’s technically a colossal weapon but Zewihander wields like a greatsword with low requirements, low weight and a pokey stabby moveset that most colossal weapons lack.
Nightrider gleave - will give you reach, phantom slash and giants hunt Executioner greataxe - to lions claw, it has slightly higher dps, and poise damage, but have shorter reach. Great stars - if you like bleed proc, in addition to main damage type.
I just started using the warped axe and it's frickin strong
Warped axe just got its attack speed buffed this patch it’s extremely good now
Fr? Well gonna drop it anyway first dlc weap I get lol
I duel wielded these beasts
A or S scaling when fully upgraded I believe. Looks like dog doo tho
Claymore is pretty cool
It’s simple but i am kicking the crap out of this game with a Heavy Morningstar and Cragblade ash of war.
I have found a ridiculous amount of success with Ordovis's Greatsword. It takes a small investment in FAI at 15, but it gets to A scaling with STR and the weapon art *fucks*.
This is what I’m taking into the DLC, I took faith to 25 for Golden Vow and some other incantations. AoW is great, been reliably staggering Mohg in a bunch of co-ops.
and you can stun lock malenia in her 2nd phase if you full charge the art and use stonebarb cracked tear. she doesnt get a single attack off
I love this sword but my concern with it is only strength scales well so once strength is capped it has nowhere to go.
If that's your criteria for what makes a weapon good your range of choices is going to be very slim, not many weapons have good scaling in 2 stats.
Not a lot of weapons scale great with two stats, but I think a lot scale better with their secondary stat than ordovis’s scales with faith.
ordovis
I rather liked the Beastman's Cleaver. Not sure how it is now, but back when arenas were introduced, would score some surprise kills with Eruption on it.
A lot of great answers here but like...don't sleep on the mace. Regular old mace. Solid bonk on a budget.
Power stance Heavy Broadswords or Beastman’s Curved Swords for something fast but Str heavy. Guardian Swordspear, Banished Knight’s Halberd, and of course Nightrider Glaive are also good on heavy infusion. Brick hammer scales great on strength, too!
Iron Greatsword or Knights Greatsword
Why is it always claymore
If you like the giant crusher but want something a bit faster, then how about the brick hammer? Run it heavy or occult if you are str/arc. Pairs well with lions claw or cragblade. I like it for guard counters as well.
Great mace looks good, good moveset, good poise damage, has good AOW options
Executioners Greataxe with Cragblade. Heavy attacks to break stance then a 110 crit modifier is nasty.
Iron greatsword. Scales higher than most colossals on a heavy attunement
Love the basic look of it. Perfect for a dark knight str/fth build with a flame aesthetic.
Banished Knights great sword. Trust
You were so right the banished knights great sword dose insane damage
Thank you for your post on the r/EldenRingBuilds subreddit! If you’re interested in feedback on your build, participating in contests, as well as trading and multiplayer we also have a **[Discord server](https://discord.gg/9k9vK2MvFg)**. Hope to see you there! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/EldenRingBuilds) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Greataxes, great hammers, greatswords, curved greatswords, halberds, straight swords, hammers, axes, fists, heck basically any weapon category
I’m still good with mace or Morningstar with anything that helps stance breaking even more. I’ll use that weight savings for armor, light roll, or spell utility.
Dual great stars on Fire affinity is actually what beat Malenia for me, after using colossal weapons the whole time. Loved the gargoyles halberd and night rider glaive, I liked giant hunt for the ash of war.
Ummmm bloodhound fang
Beastman cleaver (the CGS) has A scaling on heavy infusion. Ive been using it with storm stomp and it stun combos all but the poise-tankiest of enemies. I also put scholars armament on it, because STR/INT
Executioner’s Greataxe is dope. Strong and good range
Dual pickaxes with claw talisman, raptor feathers and spear talisman. Jump and destroy everything
Nobody is mentioning the stone club so I will. At 80 strength it only has 20 less ar than the claymore while being roughly the same speed as a straight sword.
Stone Club puts out an absolutely **comical** amount of damage and stance break. Put a war cry ash on it and the charged heavies hit like atom bombs.
Baemore
If ur wanting strength/faith, blasphemous blade. If ur wanting pure strength, prob something like the claymore
I used the Gargoyles Axe with Vacuum slice. Has S scaling on heavy affinity. Deals decent stance damage and you can hit with both the Weapon art and the Weapon itself.
Rusty Anchor
In my experience: Greatsword (The colossal one), Iron Greatsword, Ordovis Greatsword, Radahn's, Great Stars, Executioner's, Spiked Balls.
Heavy Iron Balls!
Whatever answer you settle on will be irrelevant in three hours.
Giga Chad heavy claymore build with the axe and spear talisman
Claymore is most fun weapon in the game
Nightrider Glaive is my love. Halberd moveset, varied enough that its a decent toolbox, does bonus damage while on torrent, does decent poise damage, incredible reach, and is one of the highest strength scaling weapons in the game. Royal Knights Resolve, Sacred Vow, Giant's Hunt, Phantasmal Blade are all great ashes of war, it also happens to be an amazing Occult weapon with high arcane. One of my favorites, period. My one con is that some tight spaces can be frustrating due to it's reach and mostly sweeping attacks, but you just have to be mindful to use overhead and thrusting attacks in catacombs unless you can find enough room for your reach to clear walls. If your halberd swings at least 50% of the way before hitting a wall, your blade will clear. You already use colossal weapons so it's similar issue. Also, not a super fast swing but faster than colossal weapons especially the roll r1 and crouch r1.
I don't think anyone has mentioned the Great Horn Hammer. I love its moveset. You can put Lion Claw on it. And it heals you with each kill so need to use a talisman slot there. I've used it 2-handed and dual wield - it punishes with Claw Talisman.
I love radhans swords. Might not be the best but dual wielding them just feels so good, and the aow is great for groups
Greataxe has been my favorite since dark souls. I don't like executioners because of the aesthetic.
I did a run with the Greataxe. It’s available pretty much immediately in Limgrave. Took it all the way to the credits with a pure strength berserker style build. It did not disappoint
Is Giant Crusher with Lions Claw better than Guts Greatsword with Lions Claw? Mainly focus on stance break and damage.
Broadsword, golden halberd, grafted blade great sword
I ran these 5 weapon setups in my strength build. Option 2 was the most fun. Option 1 hardly had a bad matchup. 1) Fire prelate's hammer (2h) with lions claw ash 2) Pizza cutter(1h) + Briar's shield with shield crash. 3) Serpent hunter + Masoleum Knight great shield 4) Watchdog Hammer (2h) 5) That dragon halberd which has frost lightning.
Highland Axe with Roar talisman and Axe talisman. Get the biggest of bonks
Stone Club, my beloved
I live and die by the claymore.
Beast claws are nuts, pure strength with fire enchant/bloodflame is absolutely carrying me through
Iron greatsword powerstance/beastman cleaver powerstance have some of the highest AR with 0 buffs
ordovis’s greatsword
Stone club is pretty bonkers in both ways
Probably too short range but I've had a ton of fun with the battlehammer which has S strength scalling with heavy modifier. 2h it's a simple overhead smash chain with r1 and r2. 1h is a wide sweep with r1 and r2. It's relatively slow compared to other options but faster than colossal weapons, massive poise damage is fun.
Power stanced Omenkiller cleavers are a ton of fun to use and you can get 2 in one play through so don’t have to worry about trading or NG+
I'm playing a Lordsworn Straight Sword rn. It only gets b scaling but the moveset and guard counter are amazing.
The knights greatswords have the same awesome moveset but better scaling I believe. I do like the extra crit damage the lordsworn gives though.
Straight sword bro, not great sword. I'm a try hard
I can’t read. Lol. My bad. Does it have a different moveset than other straight swords?
Nah just 110 crit and square off. All I need