There are tons of unique and powerful weapons in Dark Souls 3 to invest your stats and Titanite toward, but few are as exciting or iconic as the ones you craft with your Boss Souls with Ludleth in Firelink Shrine. Beating bosses is a huge feat, so getting to wield their large and bizarre weapons yourself makes for wonderful trophies, as well as a wide new set of attacks to try out.

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At least two items can be transposed from each boss, but ten of them are far more useful than others for the rest of your playthrough, online duels, and in completing New Game Plus. These are all the most powerful, unique, and helpful Boss Soul Weapons you can obtain.

Updated February 6th by Gene Cole: Players are still constantly visiting the world of Lothric and the expansive DLC content from Dark Souls 3, but PVP has become the reigning way to play after countless playthroughs. If you haven’t dug into the deep world of invading other players and battling in the game’s many arenas, there are some spectacular boss weapons you can make that’ll give you a huge edge as a beginner.

15 Frayed Blade

Darkeater Midir's Frayed Blade katana from from Dark Souls 3

Status conditions might not work against most bosses, and they’ll often act too slow to harm random mobs of enemies, but PVP lets this sharp black blade shine brighter than you might expect. This dexterous katana deals a combination of physical, dark, and bleeding damage that can stack up greatly over time, particularly for players who don’t mind attacking fast.

Its special ability is also nothing to scoff at, firing a straight shot of dark energy towards its opponent. This is fairly easy to dodge, but your opponent will also need to move quickly if they don’t want to be instantly killed by a backstab, since this move can easily set them up in an unwieldy position.

14 Greatsword Of Judgement

Player testing out Pontiff Sulvahyn's Greatsword Of Justice from Dark Souls 3

Pontiff Sulvahyn’s Greatsword Of Judgement isn’t the most visually impressive weapon in the game, but its special ability makes it worth putting into your fashionable build. Just like Sulvahyn, this blade can fire a wave of arcane energy at an opponent, damaging anything that it pierces.

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This ranged attack is incredibly difficult to dodge and can make a fairly heavy impact strong enough to knock certain foes down. Players that are looking for a heavy sword but don’t feel comfortable with ranged weapons should absolutely look into this weapon if they need something a little more magical.

13 Old King’s Great Hammer

The Old King's Great Hammer from Dark Souls 3

This hammer built with the Old Demon King’s soul is a spectacular heavy weapon that doesn’t require too much skill or finesse to use. It’s a giant hammer with a lot of range and surprisingly quick attacks, as well as a huge hitbox when you use your lunge attack.

However, the great reason to use it is its unique Battle Art ability, as it can slam into the ground to repeatedly spawn fireballs and a small amount of lava surrounding you. This makes for a great defensive option, as you can easily slam it if your opponent or random mobs are aggressively running towards you.

12 Valorheart

Player from Dark Souls 3 holding Valorheart without any armor on

Parrying can be an extremely powerful skill for Dark Souls 3 players to master, but there’s one weapon from the Ashes of Ariandel DLC that can be a great tool to get started with. This would be Valorheart, a boss weapon that you actually pick up after defeating the Champion’s Gravetender & Gravetender Greatwolf.

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This weapon inherently has its own parrying shield, which you can use to knock your opponent's attacks away for a huge amount of damage with a scripted riposte. It’s incredibly simple in terms of the kind of physical damage it deals, but it’s extremely fluid and a great way to get into learning combos and countering foes.

11 Friede’s Great Scythe

Friede's Great Scythe being wielded by a player from Dark Souls 3

The greatest advantage to the final weapon you get in Ariandel is its uniqueness, as it’s unlike any weapon in the game. These twin scythes can innately cause Frostbite to slow your opponents down, but can also create a field of frost with a heavy skill attack.

This weapon can seem daunting, but one thing to keep in mind is that the blade of the scythe is what’ll deal the most damage. This means you have to perpetually keep a distance from your opponent, meaning you’ll also be inherently more cautious and safe from damage when dealing with slow and close-range foes.

10 Vordt’s Great Hammer

Dark Souls 3 Vordt's Greathammer Boreal Valley Snow Mountain City

You might not have the stats to wield Vordt’s Great Hammer early in the game, but this early weapon from Vordt of the Boreal Valley is a great large weapon to try out. It deals a lot of damage as it’s one of the earliest Great Hammers you can get, and while its 30 Strength requirement seems high, you can wield it just as fine with two hands at a more reasonable 20 Strength.

What makes this hammer especially wonderful is its ability to cause Frostbite, a new status effect that reduces stamina recovery and increases damage dealt to the target. This weapon can inflict Frostbite faster than nearly any weapon, so it can be a great tool against fast foes.

9 Hollowslayer Greatsword

The Hollowslayer Greatsword is another fairly early Boss Soul Weapon, being obtainable using the Soul of the Curse-Rotted Greatwood, who also gives the Kiln item that you need to be able to make boss weapons in the first place. In addition to its standard power, it’ll deal 20% more damage to Hollows, which include most of the enemies in the world.

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What this does is make it significantly better in standard adventuring, as most of your enemies are typically Hollows that you’ll wanna kill quickly. This is limited as most bosses and all players online aren’t counted in this damage bonus, but as a weapon to roam and explore with it’s a huge asset.

8 Crystal Sage’s Rapier

Dark Souls 3 Wolf Knight Armor Crystal Sage's Rapier Posing

On the lighter side of weapons is the Crystal Sage’s Rapier, another fairly early weapon from the Crystal Sage in Farron Woods. This weapon is much more oriented towards spellcasters rather than warriors by scaling with Dexterity and Intelligence, but thanks to a variety of thrust attacks it also has an impressive amount of range compared to certain other swords.

The other great benefit of this weapon is a boost to your Item Discovery stat, which is raised by 50 while wielded. This will help you find many more rare items while exploring the world, so even having it in your off-hand is a great way to help you grind enemies for something rare.

7 Wolnir’s Holy Sword

Faith builds can be quite challenging for new players in the Dark Souls series, with many powerful skills and items not being available until fairly late in the game. High Lord Wolnir’s Holy Sword is one of the earlier ones, and while it’s quite slow it’s worth considering for any paladin for its high power and its need for a decent Faith stat to wield.

What’s especially great about this weapon, though, is its unique skill to slam into the ground and release a shock-wave that knocks enemies back. It can be a fairly sluggish move, but it makes a great way to knock back online opponents and free yourself from swarms of small enemies.

6 Demon’s Fist

There aren’t many fist weapons in Dark Souls 3, so it’s important to know where to find the ones you can get. One of the trickier and more powerful ones is in the Demon’s Fist, which you can transpose after defeating the large demon near the Smouldering Lake entrance.

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Its unique weapon skill also sets it apart from many other weapons, spinning childishly before slamming the ground to make a pillar of flame. Much like Wolnir’s Holy Sword, this makes for a great ability when surrounded, but the Demon's Fist makes for a much quicker way to escape and beat up large crowds.

5 Yhorm’s Greatshield

Dark Souls 3 is a much faster game than previous entries in the series, and blocking can often be far less efficient than dodging attacks. Many players still prefer the cautious style, though, and a bulky shield like Yhorm’s Greatshield is perfect for anyone wanting a more defensive build.

This is far from a mediocre shield, as it has one of the highest resistances in the entire game. The Dragonslayer Greatshield that you can transpose later is slightly better at preventing Lightning Damage, but since Yhorm the Giant can be beaten easily and after a quick detour through the Irithyll Dungeon, it's easier to get this greatshield if you want one early as possible.

4 Cleric’s Candlestick

Most of the most powerful Boss Soul Weapons revolve around aggressive strategies, but there are far more ways to play Dark Souls 3 than just melee. Having physical damage is an important part of any build, but those wishing to put out more power without dealing with several items should consider the Cleric’s Candlestick from the Deacons of the Deep.

This item is a fairly efficient one-handed sword, but rather than secondary attacks it’s able to cast your sorceries like any staff or catalyst. Switching weapons to cast things can be a huge loss of time and be a complex action, so having this can make a magic-centric build far easier.

3 Farron Greatsword

The blades of the Abyss Watchers are some of the more unique in the game, having a typical greatsword alongside a parrying dagger that’s unlike most other Boss Weapons. It lacks the elemental damage and alternative effects, but its damage is high and its low Strength and Dexterity requirements make it extremely accessible.

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This weapon is exceptionally useful for anyone wishing to play a more parry-centric build with a bit more power. Many parrying weapons rely on shields and shortswords, while this weapon gives its own tool to parry with and a greatsword that accompanies it greatly. It requires a lot of skill, but is a powerful tool when used properly.

2 Gundyr’s Halberd

If you’re a fan of swords, you already have plenty of powerful options when it comes to Boss Weapons. This is a bit of a shame when it comes to Boss Soul Weapons, as there are many weapon types in the game that are mostly unexplored, but after a rematch with Gundyr in the Untended Graves you thankfully get access to an incredibly strong polearm.

This halberd’s power mostly comes in its length, with only two other weapons being longer and both being more difficult to obtain. Between this and it’s unique charge attack, it ends up being a deceptively powerful weapon that’s hard to beat, especially for invaders.

While this looks on the surface like just another greatsword that deals fire damage, it’s important to mention that the Firelink Greatsword is one of the most spectacular weapons. You obtain it by transposing the soul of the final boss, meaning you can have it just in time for your New Game Plus runs.

The power in this sword is that it’s much faster and lighter than most other greatswords, while still having around the same level of power. Its power only grows higher when using its special move, which causes a trail of fire to go in front of you while charging the sword to temporarily deal even more damage, and makes a perfect weapon for a second run of the game.

Next: Dark Souls: Every Stat From Least To Most Useful, Ranked