In this article, I'm going to be showing you why Heavy Thrusting Swords are the greatest weapon in Elden Ring.

Heavy Thrusting Swords Pros

First, let's talk about the pros and cons of this weapon group as well as the playstyles I think most players will use when using them. So, first taking a look at the pros of this weapon group. Usually, they have fairly long reach, meaning that you're going to be able to hit enemies from further away or start your attack from further away, allowing you to strike them before they can hit you in many cases. And because these weapons deal thrust damage, you're going to get extra counter damage when you hit them. And they're in middle of attack, which is easier to do with this weapon than Thrusting Swords themselves. This allows you to make good use of the Spear Talisman to further increase that counter damage.

Just like Thrusting Swords, they have the option to do faints, meaning that if you go to do a charge to R2 and hit the dodge button, you will dodge backward and attack in the same animation, allowing you to complete your Charged R2 early while still getting a strike that doesn't deal as much damage but then dodges you out of Harm's Way.

Another really great feature of this weapon group same as Thrusting Swords is that they can block and attack at the same time, which allows you to turtle with like a Greatshield or something like that and poke enemies from behind it safely. This is really nice because it allows you to deal with enemies that you're not familiar with or moveset without having to risk getting attacked. Lastly, there are one attack chains are fairly fast, allowing you to keep enemies staggered and not being able to attack you most of the time.

Heavy Thrusting Swords Cons

The cons of this weapon group are that they deal almost exclusively thrust damage and if an enemy resists this damage type, you're kind of in a world of hurt talking a little bit.

Heavy Thrusting Swords Playstyle

I think there are really three playstyles that most people using Heavy Thrusting historically use and that's first dual wielding Heavy Thrusting Swords using their L1 attack in order to deal very very high damage more than Thrusting Swords because these weapons are heavier and allowing you to build up attacks. You know, using like Rotten Winged Sword Insignia or some sort of Talismans like that increasing your attack power just deal more and more damage as you attack over and over.

Another option is to use one of these with a shield in order to have sort of like a block counter build that allows you to poke from behind the shield without taking damage and that's very very effective with this weapon as well. And then lastly, probably just using a single Heavy Thrusting Sword leaning into the Ash of War. The weapon for instance, if you're using something like the Godskin Stitcher, you could use Seppuku to trigger bleeding with your R2 attacks or if you're using something like Bloody Helice, you're going to use L2 in order to dodge out of the way with Dynast's Finesse.

Then follow up with our two attacks not really needing anything else in that build. And the same is true for Dragon King's Cragblade, as well. This weapon has a fantastic weapon skill that kind of allows you to just abuse it moving along to the weapons themselves.

Bloody Helice

Let's start with the two non-infusable Heavy Thrusting Swords first. And the first one is the Bloody Helice. The Bloody Helice shares the same moveset as Dragon King's Cragblade and has a wider arc on the backward, sweep faint attack and deals physical damage. It's the heaviest Heavy Thrusting Sword in Elden Ring Wing 8 and requires some points in strength, dexterity and Arcane in order to use.

The Bloody Helice has the lowest attack rating of all Heavy Thrusting Swords but it is the longest of the bunch. It has an exceptional weapon skill in Dynast's Finesse that allows you to spin through enemy attacks via I-Frames and follow up with devastating R2 that are affected by Warrior Jar Shard and Shard of Alexander. It also has very high native bleed build up on hit, allowing you to rip off huge chunks of HP while also buffing yourself with things like White Mask or Lord of Blood's Exultation. By the way, if you want to level up your weapon quickly, you can prepare enough Elden Ring Runes in adanvce.

Dynast's Finesse provides you a means to dodge much more effectively than rolling and is unaffected by equip weight, allowing you to stack armor to the moon and not have to worry about fat rolling. However, it consumes more Stamina than a normal roll. And you'll need a huge investment in endurance in order to be able to use Dynast's Finesse at will. So, when using this weapon, do not skip placing points into this attribute.

Additionally, the Green Turtle Talisman and Viridian Amber Medallion can also help with Stamina management. The Sweet Spot for this weapon is around 50 Arcane, 30 dexterity and minimum strength. It scales very well with both dexterity and Arcane from this point forward though making it particularly good for Angie plus and beyond. And you'd be wise to take both of these to 80 before placing points into strength since the Bloody Helice has fantastic Arcane scaling.

The Dragon Communion Seal is a viable pairing if you wish to sling some spells, too. The issue here is that unless you dedicate some points to faith, you'll have a very limited selection since most incantations require in order to cast. This means you would be limited to blood or Dragon Incantation simply because you won't have the needed attribute points to meet the requirements for this weapon.

However, if you decide to play Journey 2 or 3 with this weapon, you'll be able to accomplish this much more easily, I recommend focusing on the use of Dynast's Finesse when using this weapon as I did in my Bloody Ballerina build stacking Stamina so that you can use it whenever you want in slotting Lord of Blood's Exultation and Shard of Alexander for increased damage. Focus Arcane and Endurance for best results.

Dragon King's Cragblade

Moving along, we have the Dragon King's Cragblade. The Dragon King's Cragblade shares the same moveset as the Bloody Helice and deals physical and lightning damage. It is the heaviest Heavy Thrusting Sword in Elden Ring wing 8 and requires some points in strength and a lot of points in dexterity in order to use. The Dragon King's Cragblade has the highest damage of all Heavy Thrusting Swords doesn't weigh much and has the second longest reach of all Heavy Thrusting swords losing to the Bloody Helice by a small margin.

However, it does have split damage between physical and lightning making it less effective in some cases. Its weapon skill Thundercloud Form hits like a Truck and can be used from a modest distance by holding down L2. This is not a charged attack however and is therefore not boosted by Godfrey icon. Though Shard of Alexander and Warrior Jar Shard do affect it, you can actually navigate while moving through the air while holding L2 though allowing you to change directions and maneuver around obstacles. This allows you to cast it safely behind cover and move into an enemy that you don't have line of sight on.

The Sweet Spot for this weapon is at its minimum strength requirement and about 50 dexterity. It scales well all the way up to 80 decks. From this point forward, you'll increase strength, which scales to 50 but not well after this point. This allows you to use this weapon in NG plus effectively. But you may have difficulty in the second half of NG plus. And I don't recommend going further than this with this weapon because the Dragon King's Cragblade is primarily a dexterity weapon and cannot be buffed. It doesn't lend itself well to Hybrid builds that spellcast instead.

You should focus on the strength of this weapon, which are its weapon skill. The fact that you can block and attack simultaneously if you have a Shield and it deals relatively high damage for its weight. This will allow you to block effectively as well as block counter. Well, with a slight investment into strength to get a great Shield like Icon Shield or another with low strength requirement, use the curve sword Talisman to boost your block counter damage and consider using Carian Filigreed Crest and Assassin's Cerulean Dagger to help manage your FP, due to Thundercloud Form's high cost.

Great Epee

Moving along to the infusible Heavy Thrusting Swords. First, we have the Great Epee. The grid APA has an R2 that slashes, allowing you to hit multiple enemies more easily or mobile targets and deals physical damage. It's the lightest Heavy Thrusting Sword in the Elden Ring Wing 6.5 and requires some points in strength and dexterity in order to use.

The Great Epee is the go-to option for those wishing to use a Heavy Thrusting Sword from the very beginning of the game. But it is the shortest one. It deals similar damage to the Godskin Stitcher even if it is slightly less with most infusions. But it has a different R2 attack that can be useful for cleaving through multiple enemies or hitting fast moving targets. Then thrust attacks are likely to miss. You'll have the highest attack rating with the fire or lightning infusions followed closely by Sacred and Flame Art and then finally magic heavy outperforms keen but only by a small amount making either option perfectly viable. And cold is somewhere in between them as another good option because fire heavy and cold are good options.

I highly recommend going the strength route and using this weapon with a great chill for block counters as well as turtleing behind the Shield.

While attacking, you can use a nasty combo of block counter followed by a quick L2 if you're using the Impaling Thrust Ash of War to stagger almost anything, leaving you open for a critical attack you Shard of Alexander, Curve Sword Talisman, Dagger Talisman and Ritual Sword Talisman to boost your damage when set up this way.

Godskin Stitcher

And the last Heavy Thrusting Sword is of course the Godskin Stitcher. The Godskin Stitcher has a Charged R2 that thrusts twice not unlike Rogers Rapier and deals physical damage. It's one of the lightest having thrusting swords in Elden Ring Wing 7 and requires some points in strength and dexterity in order to will.

The Godskin Stitcher has the second highest attack rating of all Heavy Thrusting Swords but loses out to the great AP. If you're going the heavy route and is slightly longer, it's a great choice to apply status effects because of its Charge R2 attack that hits twice rapidly particularly bleed. Since this can be applied multiple times per fight easily, fire and lightning are the highest attack rating with Sacred and Flay mark coming in second in magic, a close third Keane actually outperforms heavy with this weapon though not by a huge amount.

And cold is another viable option if you want the status effect. The blood infusion puts you at 519 attack rating, which is about 65 lower attack rating than the Bloody Helice. So, you're gonna have to decide if you want lower attack rating but freedom to pick a different Ash of war or if you want the higher damage and locked into the Dynast's Finesse weapon skill.

I recommend going the blood route and using something like Seppuku to further increase your bleed build up with your charge star 2 attacks playing similarly to the way I played my Crimson Duelist build.

However, note that you must fully charge the R2 to get two strikes, which makes it a bit more challenging to pull off. Also, you don't always need to charge R2. So, don't get carried away trying to always trigger this. Sometimes an R1 chain or R2 followed up by an R1 is more than enough and usually after a Charged R2, you can follow with another regular R2 to trigger Hemorrhage.

Use Talismans like Lord of Blood's Exultation, Rotten Winged Sword Insignia, Millicent's Prosthesis and the Ax Talisman to boost your attack power higher and use the White Mask if you want further damage. Make sure you have high points.

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