Elden Ring has a vast number of weapons for a player to choose from, with 309 estimated unique types of weaponry thought to exist in the game. Each of these has some unique combination of stats, scaling, status effects, movesets, and appearance — creating a distinct weapon that rewards players for using it differently.
RELATED: 10 Best Swords In Elden Ring, Ranked
There are clear attempts in Elden Ring to balance weapons, with some starting equipment being as powerful as legendary loot when fully-upgraded. This hasn't stopped some weapons from being more or less powerful than others. Whether due to poor returns on investment, other weapons being better, or lacking rewards upon upgrades, some weapons simply aren't worth upgrading.
10 The Great Knife's Only Useful Quality Doesn't Improve
Each class in Elden Ring has its own unique starting equipment with its own strengths and weaknesses. However, the Great Knife, starting weapon of the Bandit class, is considered one of the worst of the lot — despite having the otherwise-powerful Bleed status effect.
The Great Knife is weak, and its only saving grace is the huge amounts of damage it can occasionally cause with Bleed. Upgrading it, however, does nothing to improve this — only improving the weapon's mediocre stats and scaling. As such, many players suggest using the Great Knife only until a better dagger is found.
9 The Torch's Primary Purpose Isn't Damage
Torches get their own weapon class in Elden Ring, with six available for the player to equip. They are all useful, but the most basic — the humble Torch — primarily exists as a utility item designed to light up dark areas. It deals minimal damage with a poor moveset.
RELATED: 7 Things About Elden Ring That Don't Make Any Sense
Other torches, such as the Ghostflame Torch or the Torch of St. Trina, have some minimal combat use. Causing status effects to build up, they may be worth upgrading. As a non-combat weapon, there is little reason to upgrade the basic Torch.
8 The Warpick Is Too Short-Range To Be Useful
Clubs and hammers have their uses. Certain enemies and bosses reward the player for dealing Blunt damage over slashing or piercing. Several clubs and hammers are powerful in their own right, such as Marika's Hammer or the Scepter of the All-Knowing. Others are less so.
The worst of the class is the Warpick. Although plentiful in Limgrave, the weapon is ill-suited to being used in the long-term, and certainly not worth upgrading. Increasing its level only bolsters its stats and scaling to a meager degree. Attempting to use the Warpick over a longer hammer isn't as practical, as the player will hit the air most of the time.
7 The Watchdog's Greatsword Falls Behind Faster Weapons
The Colossal Sword class of weapons offers extreme power in exchange for greatly diminished speed. Colossal Swords are slow to attack, but hit with the force of a truck, dealing several hundred points of damage with their lightest attacks. As such, falling behind on damage is the death knell for a Colossal Sword's effectiveness.
The Watchdog's Greatsword, despite being wielded by an impressive-looking boss, falls very short of expectations. It receives worse returns on its upgrades than several faster weapons in the Greatsword category, falling behind other weapons the more it's upgraded.
6 The Scimitar Is Strictly Worse Than A Similar Weapon
For the most part, Elden Ring is well-designed in preventing any weapon from being a direct upgrade over another one because differing stats or movesets giving each weapon a unique niche. In a tradition dating back to Dark Souls, however, the scimitar is directly outclassed by another weapon, despite not being weak itself.
RELATED: 10 Weapons In Elden Ring You Should Upgrade Right Away
The Scimitar and Falchion are much alike: in the same weapon class and with very similar movesets. However, the Falchion deals slightly more damage, has slightly better scaling, and rewards being upgraded just slightly more than the Scimitar — rendering the latter redundant.
5 The Short Spear Rewards Simplicity, But Not Improvement
Some of Elden Ring's best weapons are gated behind minimum stats, requiring players to have certain amounts of Strength, Dexterity, or other stats to be able to wield them. On the other hand, the Short Spear is explicitly designed to be easier to wield than other Spears, and is the starting weapon for the non-physical Prophet class.
Although this lets it occupy a niche, it doesn't reward using the Short Spear later in the game. Other Spears are much better, and the Short Spear only sees middling returns on levels. Even a Prophet who wishes to avoid increasing physical stats will find more rewarding weapons before long, leaving no reason to use the Short Spear long enough to upgrade it.
4 The Forked Hatchet Has Little Appeal
Some weapons aren't worth upgrading simply because they're not worth using. The Forked Hatchet has a number of elements which make it a poor weapon to use in the long-term, including a bad use of rare upgrade materials. It utilizes the Bleed status effect, but the effect doesn't improve with increased levels.
Whereas other Bleed weapons tend to get some impressive damage stats to compensate for this, the Forked Hatchet doesn't, lagging behind other axes. With poor range and an unremarkable moveset, there's nothing to justify upgrading the Forked Hatchet over other weapons aside from player preference.
3 The Shortbow Is The Worst-Scaling Bow
The Shortbow is designed to be wielded by early-game characters, failing to scale well later in the game. With very low stat minimums, almost anybody can make use of the Shortbow and get some access to ranged damage. Other bows with higher stat requirements tend to deal far more damage.
The Shortbow isn't designed to be used during the late game, only increasing in mediocre amounts as it's upgraded. Other Bows reward higher stats, upgrading, and use rare and limited ammunition.
2 The Serpent-Hunter Is Designed For One Fight And One Fight Only
Against Rykard the Lord of Blasphemy, the Serpent-Hunter is a life-saving weapon, one that makes a challenging fight winnable. In any other circ*mstances, the Serpent-Hunter is a weak Great Spear with almost nothing else going for it.
RELATED: Elden Ring: 10 Scariest Bosses, Ranked
Designed to be used by any character, the weapon unleashes great lashings of wind at Rykard with every strike — a weapon skill that stuns him and deals huge damage. Outside of Rykard's fight, none of this happens. The weapon deals damage that's mediocre at best. The only reason to upgrade it is if a player is struggling to defeat Rykard.
1 The Vulgar Militia Saw Is A Slow Bleed Weapon
Due to the sheer power of the Bleed status effect, Elden Ring has a number of weapons which inflict it, but don't offer much else — despite also having weapons that deal incredibly high damage while inflicting Bleed. The Vulgar Militia Saw is another victim of this design.
Although it inflicts some moderate Bleed build-up, its biggest problem is its slow attack speed — the opposite of what Bleed weapons want. The Vulgar Militia Saw can deal moderately impressive damage when fully-upgraded, but its speed remains slow, causing it to perform poorly at its central mechanic even at high levels.
