The Best Katanas in Elden Ring and Shadow Of The Erdtree

Are you hoping to find the best Katanas in Elden Ring and Shadow Of The Erdtree? Both Elden Ring and its DLC, Shadow Of The Erdtree, feature a wide variety of weapons for players to experiment with. The Katanas in particular offer a little something different for various builds. If you're focused on inflicting bleed, Rivers of Blood has always been a great pick to slaughter your enemies. Or maybe you've opted for an intelligence build, in which case the Moonveil could be your perfect pairing. These two only just scratch the surface of what's available, though.

In this guide, we've gathered up our favorite Katanas – both regular and the new, larger Great Katanas – from both the base game and the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC. These are the ones that we believe are worth adding to your arsenal right away. Alongside general stats, we've also included information on where to find them so you can pick them up as soon as possible.

Rakshasa's Great Katana

• Type: Great Katana
• Weight: 9.5
• Requirements: 12 Strength, 27 Dexterity
• Damage Type: Slash/Pierce
• Passive: Causes blood loss buildup (55)
• Unique Skill: Weed Cutter

Rakshasa's Great Katana is an absolute beast of a weapon. Alongside being one of Shadow Of The Erdtree's new hefty Great Katanas, its Weed Cutter ability is incredible when it comes to wiping out numerous enemies in your way. It has astonishing reach and can slash for far longer than you'd expect, even if your stamina bar isn't the longest. That means you can stay relatively out of danger, catch enemies in a near-relentless attack, and build up the bleed status, all with a single blade. It's a weapon that's sure to carry you through the DLC and all the way into New Game+.

In order to get Rakshasa's Great Katana, you'll need to defeat the boss Rakshasa in the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum. To reach this miniature dungeon you'll need to have done the coffin ride from Shadow Keep that leads to the Ruins of Unte. Once at the Castle Watering Hole Site of Grace, follow the river south until you reach the Recluses' River Downstream Site of Grace. From here, head southeast to the edge of the cliff and jump down onto the tombstones to make your way down to the river. Follow it around the cliffs to reach the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum.

Rivers of Blood

• Type: Katana
• Weight: 6.5
• Requirements: 12 Strength, 18 Dexterity, 20 Arcane
• Damage Type: Slash/Pierce
• Passive: Causes blood loss buildup (50)
• Unique Skill: Corpse Piler

If you've created a bleed build and are looking for the ultimate weapon to slice and dice your way through enemies, Rivers of Blood is an excellent choice. This is largely thanks to its unrivaled Corpse Piler skill, which repeatedly slashes away to cause impressive blood loss buildup. This is particularly satisfying in boss fights when you can see a mighty chunk of health evaporate from their HP bar when the effect finally triggers after repeated slashes. It's a Katana that's undeniably a bleed build's best friend.

Rivers of Blood can be found in the base game of Elden Ring, up in the Mountaintops of the Giants. It's dropped by an invading NPC named Bloody Finger Okina at the Church of Repose, which can be found on the southeastern side of the Mountaintops.

Nagakiba

• Type: Katana
• Weight: 7.0
• Requirements: 18 Strength, 22 Dexterity
• Damage Type: Slash/Pierce
• Passive: Causes blood loss buildup (45)
• Unique Skill: Piercing Fang

For those looking for an imposing weapon, the Nagakiba is the longest Katana in the game. When its skill, Piercing Fang, is put to use it showcases that enormous reach with an impressive thrusting attack. It's a jab that's not just got range, but also power. On top of that, much like the previously mentioned Katanas, it also causes bleed build up.

The Nagakiba is the weapon of Bloody Finger Hunter Yura, and can be obtained by completing his quests in the main game or killing him at his camp north of Murkwater Cave. If you want to see a full walkthrough of his questline, check out our guide on how to complete every side quest in Elden Ring.

Moonveil

• Type: Katana
• Weight: 6.5
• Requirements: 12 Strength, 18 Dexterity, 23 Intelligence
• Damage Type: Slash/Pierce
• Passive: Causes blood loss buildup (50)
• Unique Skill: Transient Moonlight

The Moonveil is arguably Elden Ring's most famous Katana thanks to an incredible skill called Transient Moonlight. The ability sends out a bright blue wave of light, either horizontally or vertically, that's great for knocking surprisingly large chunks out of an enemy's health bar. Transient Moonlight deals magic damage, and as such is a killer move for magic-focused characters, especially when upgraded to achieve a B rank in intelligence scaling. Alongside the physical damage it deals, it also causes blood loss buildup, making this Katana a pretty unstoppable force!

For Intelligence builds hunting down the Moonveil, you'll need to travel to Gael Tunnel on the border of Limgrave and Caelid in the base game. It's dropped by the Magma Wyrm boss inside, and is well worth the battle for it.

Star-Lined Sword

• Type: Katana
• Weight: 5.0
• Requirements: 10 Strength, 23 Dexterity, 21 Intelligence
• Damage Type: Slash/Pierce
• Passive: Causes blood loss buildup (45)
• Unique Skill: Onze's Line of Stars

The Star-Lined Sword is kind of the inverse of the Moonveil, favoring dexterity over intelligence. But that doesn't mean it's not as magical to use. Its impressive and spectacular unique skill is Onze's Line of Stars, which slashes enemies with a forceful blue wave containing hundreds of small pieces of glintstone. It's a combo move, and so with each follow-up attack it gets stronger and stronger, allowing you to truly bully your enemies if you can successfully build up to the combo's final move uninterrupted.

The Star-Lined Sword can be found in the Shadow Of The Erdtree DLC on the Cerulean Coast. It's dropped by Demi-Human Queen Marigga, who's located just northeast of the Cerulean Coast West Site of Grace. Keep following the path from there past the other demi-humans until you reach a beach, where you'll find her waiting.

If you're curious what other weapons are in Shadow Of The Erdtree, check out our guide on all 103 weapons in the DLC. Or, if you'd rather see some of the new items that are available in Shadow Of The Erdtree, check out our guides to all Crystal Tear locations, all Spirit Ashes and their locations, and all 50 Scadutree Fragment locations. And if you want to make sure you don't miss a step in the Realm of Shadow, have a look at our Shadow Of The Erdtree progression route.