Elden Ring: BEST Fist Weapons [800+ Hours Experience]

This guide covers the best fist weapons in Elden Ring, listing their pros, cons, suitable talismans, and location for each weapon.

By Daniyal Sultan Malik

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August 11, 2023

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If you’re an aggressive player who wants an active yet versatile weapon in your off-hand, you should consider going for some of the best Elden Ring fist weapons. This weapon type is lightweight, nimble, and extremely quick, helping you stagger enemies and bosses and giving you slightly extra damage to even possibly finish them off. You can even dual-wield most of them to get faster combos, making them incredibly deadly for close-range encounters.

Key Takeaways

Fist Weapons are some of the fastest melee weapons in Elden Ring, with exceptional speed, stagger potential, and various status-effect buildups.
There are nine distinct weapons of this type in-game, and the top 5 among this category, from worst to best, are as follows: Katar, Cipher Pata, Bloodhound Claw, Clinging Bone, and Grafted Dragon.
The Katar has the highest staggering ability out of any fist weapon on this list.
The Cipher Pata is a Faith weapon with incredible speed and an unblockable Ash of War.
The Bloodhound Claws is well-known for its high Bleed buildup and skill, the Bloodhound Step.
Finally, the Grafted Dragon is undoubtedly the best weapon in this category in the Elden Ring, thanks to its high damage and fire-based damage over time.

Why Trust Us: Daniyal has spent more than 800 hours in Elden Ring, making his guides trustworthy!

My Best Fist Weapons In Elden Ring

Here are the best five options from this weapon type that players can use against almost every enemy:

RANK	WEAPON	REQUIREMENTS	ATTRIBUTE SCALING	ASH OF WAR
1	Grafted Dragon	STR: 20 \| DEX: 14 \| FTH: 16	STR: C \| DEX: D \| FTH: D	Bear Witness!
2	Clinging Bone	STR: 8 \| DEX: 22 \| ARC: 16	STR: E \| DEX: B \| ARC: C	Lifesteal Fist
3	Bloodhound Claws	STR: 10 \| DEX: 15	STR: C \| DEX: D	Bloodhound Step
4	Cipher Pata	FTH: 30	FTH: A	Unblockable Blade
5	Katar	STR: 8 \| DEX: 10	STR: D \| DEX: C	Impaling Thrust

5. Katar

The best early-game Fist Weapon.

Katar elden ring — The Katar (Screenshot Captured by eXputer)

Why I Chose This: The Katar is my pick for the best early-game Fist Weapon because of its low requirements and that its easy to get.

BASE STATS	ATTACK	GUARD
Physical	97	36
Magic	0	21
Fire	0	21
Light	0	21
Holy	0	21
Critical/ Boost	110	21

STAT	SCALING	REQUIREMENTS
Strength	D	8
Dexterity	C	10

Although it has the weakest stat requirements, the Katar is still a great all-rounder Strength and Dexterity fist weapon. With a solid lunging Ash of War, Impaling Thrust, that provides modest damage, perhaps the most vital ability of the Katar is its stagger potential.

High Crit Chance.
Customizable Ash of War.

Weak range and speed.
No status buildups.
Mediocre damage output.

Important: You can remove and apply different Ashes of War to your armament by visiting a Site of Grace, going to the Ashes of War section, selecting the weapon, and choosing the Ash of War from the given list. Make sure to equip the weapon from your inventory beforehand.

4. Cipher Pata

The best Faith-based Fist Weapon.

Cipher Pata elden ring — The Cipher Pata (Screenshot taken by eXputer)

Why I Chose This: The Pata stands out with its Unblockable Ash of War attack and blends with Faith build, which the majority uses.

BASE STATS	ATTACK	GUARD
Physical	0	9
Magic	0	14
Fire	0	14
Light	0	14
Holy	85	61
Critical/ Boost	100	19

STAT	SCALING	REQUIREMENTS
Faith	A	30

If you’re purely a Faith user and looking for a fist weapon, the Cipher Pata is probably your top choice. As a Faith-scaling item and doing only Holy Damage, the Pata is the quickest dagger-like fist weapon on this list, with arguably the best range to accompany it.

Important: If this is your first time dropping down the balcony, you’ll face an NPC invasion by Mad Tongue Alberich.

Unblockable Ash of War attack.
Incredible damage output.
Superior range and startup animation.

Lower Crit Chance than Katar.
Uses more FP.
Only works with Faith builds.

3. Bloodhound Claws

The Fist Weapon with high agility.

Bloodhound Claws Elden Ring — The Bloodhound Claws (Screenshot Grab: eXputer)

Why I Chose This: The Bloodhound Claws comes with Bloodhound Step, an Ash of War that’s a part of the meta and insanely potent in PvE and PvP.

BASE STATS	ATTACK	GUARD
Physical	99	38
Magic	0	22
Fire	0	22
Light	0	22
Holy	0	22
Critical/ Boost	110	22

STAT	SCALING	REQUIREMENTS
Strength	C	10
Dexterity	D	15

The Bloodhound Claws is a powerful mid-game weapon with the best Bleed buildup out of any fist weapon in Elden Ring. And with their quick attacks and long combo strings, these claws can almost instantaneously fill up the enemy’s Bleed meter, especially when coupled with other potent Bleed weapons like the Rivers of Blood.

Ash of War has short-term invisibility with swift mobility.
Customizable Ash of War.
Versatile.

Mediocre damage output.

2. Clinging Bone

The only Fist Weapon with Lifesteal.

Clinging Bone Elden Ring — The Clinging Bone (Image Credits: eXputer)

Why I Chose This: Lifesteal can be a game-changer when you’re surrounded by enemies, which is an ability only the Clinging Bone has.

BASE STATS	ATTACK	GUARD
Physical	80	31
Magic	24	36
Fire	0	17
Light	0	17
Holy	0	17
Critical/ Boost	100	21

STAT	SCALING	REQUIREMENTS
Strength	E	8
Dexterity	B	22
Arcane	C	16

The Clinging Bone, in my opinion, is another underrated dagger-like weapon, offering decent Physical and Magic Damage and scaling with Strength, Dexterity, and Arcane. However, its most unique and powerful ability is undoubtedly its Ash of War, Lifesteal Fist, which can replenish your health from enemies.

Important: Once you kill Ensha, head to his original resting place outside Gideon Ofnir’s office to pick up the Royal Remains Armor Set.

Ash of War replenishes HP and is unblockable.
Invincible during Ash of War.
Ideal against large enemy hordes.

Slow startup animation.
Weak range.

1. Grafted Dragon

The best Fist Weapon in terms of attack and stagger.

Grafted Dragon elden ring — The Grafted Dragon (Screenshot Captured by eXputer)

Why I Chose This: In my experience, the Grafted Dragon has the only reliable Ash of War for dealing high-damage attacks with decent AoE.

BASE STATS	ATTACK	GUARD
Physical	89	27
Magic	0	18
Fire	57	44
Light	0	18
Holy	0	18
Critical/ Boost	100	22

STAT	SCALING	REQUIREMENTS
Strength	C	20
Dexterity	D	14
Faith	D	16

In terms of sheer reliability and damage, the Grafted Dragon is easily the best Elden Ring fist weapon. The Grafted Dragon is a unique Remembrance Weapon that scales primarily with Strength, Dexterity, and Faith, with its main damage types are Physical and Fire.

Incredibly powerful Ash of War.
Potent regular attack strings.
Widespread DoT damage.
Early-game item.

Lacks a status buildup.
High FP cost.

Alternative Picks

When choosing a fist weapon in Elden Ring there are other good options beyond our top 5, these might suit your play style better based on personal preferences.

Star fist: It has a solid physical damage stat and comes with blood loss build up but, it’s a little heavier.
Veterans’s Prothesis: It is a good option as it is incredibly fast and has a high damage potential but, its downside appears to be the restricted range of the neutral attack.
Caestus: It is considered a good option, primarily scales with strength and dexterity its endure ability reduces damage but, it is outclassed by other weapons.

My Thoughts On Fist Weapons

While I have tried every weapon type in Elden Ring during my playtime, certain ones, especially Fist Weapons, did not appeal to me as much as others. I personally do not enjoy using fist weapons, except for the Grafted Dragon, since I found its Ash of War unique and somewhat useful in PvP and PvE. While these Fist weapons are fun to use at the start, there’s only a weapon art that separates them from regular fist animations or any other fist weapon.

hours waterjuice — My Elden Ring hours (Steam ID: WaterJuice)

Although this complaint is applicable to other weapon types, you really can’t tell the difference between a low-tier and high-tier Fist weapon’s damage unless you use an Ash of War. They often require an Ash of War, which has a good range to make them viable in PvE when you’re not completely face-to-face with the enemy. In PvP, they are genuinely not as good as other options and are especially tedious to use.

That wraps up this guide on the best fist weapons you can get in Elden Ring and a few talismans that would work well with this weapon type. These weapons offer the best variety out of any in-game class with their unique pros and cons, Ashes of War, and playstyles.

To explore other niche and powerful close-range weapon types, check out this guide on the best AoE weapons in Elden Ring. For some long-range weapon options, consider reading up on the best bows you can find in-game to tune up your build. And if you’re looking to farm runes and progress through even faster, here’s how you can use the Bird Farm to make sure you have enough levels to meet any weapon’s stat requirements.