Colossal Swords have always been a powerful option inElden Ringand with therecent update to equipment in Patch 1.14, they have become even stronger. With their incredible range and surprising speed, Colossal Swords have found a place in the top of the meta once again, which hasn’t been seen since the initial release ofElden Ring. With the16 different Colossal Swordsin the game, players have a variety of options to play around with in PVP.
Colossal Swords can take some getting used to, as their slow attacks can be tricky to land in PVP, especially with high latency. However,with the Hyper Armor that many of their attacks provide, players can feel safe trading against their opponent for good chunks of damage. In order to use them to the best of their ability, building around Colossal Swords can allow for some incredibly quick duels if one uses them properly.
Colossal Swords: Stat Scalings
Strength Mains Are Smiling
Most Colossal Swords scale off of the Strength stat, granting it more value than Dexterity. However, there are some Colossal Swords that benefit from a high Dexterity stat as well, such as the Godslayer’s Greatsword or a Keen Zweihander. In order tomake the most of the Colossal Swordyou have chosen, make sure you have split your stats in a way that most optimizes the weapon you are using. In most circumstances, however,Strength will be the main stat to prioritize.
Troll’s Golden Sword
Fire Knight’s Greatsword
There are plenty of Colossal Swords that have split scaling, especially those among the Somber armaments. Choosing between Faith, Intelligence, and Arcane will determine the various Talismans and Spells one has at their disposal, as well as implementing different status buildups.
Greatsword of Radahn (Lord)
Greatsword of Radahn (Light)
Starscourge Greatsword
For example, a Strength/Faith build might choose toutilize the Fire Knight’s Greatsword for its excellent scalingwith a Flame Art Infusion, while a Strength/Arcane build might choose thestandard Greatsword with a Blood Infusionfor added Bleed buildup.
Colossal Swords Moveset
Buffed Heavy Attacks
With the release of Patch 1.14, Colossal Swords obtained a massive increase in their attack speed, particularly on heavy attacks, allowing them to act as a proper trade tool. Both the Zweihander andthe Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatswordhave unique thrusting heavy attacks that deal pierce damage, meaning this damage is boosted when counterattacking.The Ash of War Storm Stompcan be used in tandem with these weapons for a guaranteed combo into its heavy attack, as Storm Stomp’s lingering hitbox can be used to catch rolls.
Do not overly rely on Storm Stomp for damage. Rather, use it as a trade tool to guarantee a heavy follow-up attack.
Although it has a higher number of recovery frames, the heavy attack of Colossal Swords now comes out nearly as fast as its light attack.This has transformed Colossal Swords into a lethal mix-up option, as opponents will have to be incredibly attentive to determine which attack is on start-up, allowing for sneaky damage trades. To top it all off, the crouch poke attack of Colossal Swords is an incredible roll catching tool, which can be used to catch opponents after the Storm Stomp stun wears off.
Colossal Sword Build Recommendations
Stats, Talismans, and Consumables
Over the past week, I have been experimenting with the current three best Colossal Swords: Greatsword, Zweihander, and Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword. It has been hard to choose a definitive best of the best, as they all can be used for different situations.The Greatsword is the hardest-hitting of the bunch, as it has the highest natural Strength scaling for its Physical Damage. The Zweihander does not hit as hard, but has the advantage of its heavy thrusting attack. The Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword provides amazing mobility with its unique skill White Light Charge.
Talismans such as theTwo-Handed Sword Talismanshould always be utilized, but Talismans such as theSpear Talismanshould only be utilized when taking advantage of the unique thrusting attack of the Zweihander and Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword.
You can see the recommended Colossal Sword build in the table below. You might have to scroll across to see every category if you’re viewing this on a mobile device.
The Colossal Sword build can always be supported by levels into Faith, Intelligence, or Arcane in order to utilize spellcasting for buffs, debuffs, and status buildup, but this is not necessary in order for the build to shine. However,a Vigor stat of 60 is quite important, as this will allow for more wiggle room when it comes to trading attacks with other players.
The levels into Arcane are purely so the Ancient Meteoric Ore Greatsword can be used with this setup, as its mobility is too strong to pass up. With this setup, have fun dominating the competition in PVP Duels inElden Ring.
