In this Elden Ring Best Fists and Ranking Guide, we’ll be taking a look at the 9 Fists in Elden Ring and discuss why you might use them in combat. We’ll take a look at attack power, damage type, length, Weapon Skills, and other factors such as how long it takes you to acquire them, to determine if they are best suited for you. We are doing a guide for all Weapon types in Elden Ring, and these will be updated to reflect those added with Shadow of the Erdtree as well.
Fists in Elden Ring:
- Star Fist
- Iron Ball
- Clinging Bone
- Cipher Pata
- Grafted Dragon
- Veteran’s Prosthesis
- Katar
- Spiked Caestus
- Caestus
Best Fists in Elden Ring – Ranked
Fists are one of the 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to be 39 when Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 21st. Fists have very fast Attack Speed compared to most weapons in Elden Ring, and they are one of two classes of weapons that always come “paired”, with the other being Claws. This means you can ‘dual wield’ them without having to equip two, which helps with weight management and upgrade materials. The advantage over Claws is that this weapon type has much more Stance Damage with charged Heavy Attacks dealing 30 for Fists, while Claws only do 18. They also vary in damage type, giving you options if you favor one type of damage over another
However, they have lower Attack Rating than just about every other weapon type, and dual wielding to set status effects is not nearly as strong as it used to be. Additionally, their short reach can make you miss many attacks, especially when dual wielding, and they don’t have the higher Critical Rating or as much native status effects as Claws.
PROS
- Fast Attack Speed
- Always ‘Paired”
- Light Weight
- Good Dual Wield Moveset
- Good variety of damage types
CONS
- Low Attack Rating
- Dual Wield Status Effects were nerfed
- Short reach
Caestus – #9 Best Fists in Elden Ring
The Caestus has a unique R2 that strikes repeatedly that it shares with the Spiked Caestus and deals Physical Damage. It is the second lightest Fists in Elden Ring, weighing 1.5, and requires 8 Strength and 8 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
- Can be acquired early on in Stormveil Castle
- Second lightest Fists
- Lowest requirements of all Fists
CONS
- Tied for shortest length of all Fists, and you really feal the small hitboxes of this weapon
Attack Rating with 100 points distributed optimally into scaling stats:
- Magic – 528
- Fire/Lightning – 524
- Sacred/Flame Art – 520
- Heavy – 488
- Keen – 475
- Cold – 470
- Blood/Poison – 380
Conclusion: The Caestus can be really fun to play if you lean into its rapid attacks. You can acquire it early in Stormveil Castle, it’s very light for a Fist and has the lowest requirements of all Fists. However, it’s in the bottom half of Fists in damage and it has very short reach and small hitboxes that make it easy to miss attacks.
Endure is a solid weapon skill because it allows you to tank through attacks and continue your flurry of blows on the enemy, which can really pump out damage. Quickstep is also not a bad option, allowing you to slide through attacks rather than tank them, but it does reset your combos. The upside is that you don’t get hit as much.
Infusion-wise Magic, Fire/Lightning and Sacred/Flame Art are really not that far apart, and Heavy slightly outperforms Keen, with Cold just behind.
I like to play into the rapid attacks of this weapon, and use Talismans like Winged Sword Insignia and Millicent’s Prosthesis to boost Attack Power when I swing rapidly. Additionally, the Axe Talisman is not a bad choice either, since the heavy attacks of this weapon hit repeatedly allowing you to make the most of the previous Talismans. You will likely want to upgrade to the Spiked Caestus at some point if you like this weapon, since it does more damage and has Bleed Build Up.
Spiked Caestus – #8 Best Fists in Elden Ring
The Spiked Caestus shares the default attacks of most Fists and deals Physical Damage. It is fairly light for Fists in Elden Ring, weighing 2, and requires 8 Strength and 10 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
- Can be acquired easily from buying it in Caelid
- Light for Fists
- Native Bleed Build Up on hit
CONS
- Tied for shortest length of all Fists
Attack Rating with 100 points distributed optimally into scaling stats:
- Magic – 534
- Fire/Lightning – 529
- Sacred/Flame Art – 527
- Heavy – 493
- Keen – 480
- Cold – 476
- Occult – 450
- Blood/Poison – 385
Conclusion: The Spiked Caestus for all intents and purposes is just a better version of the Caestus. It has slightly higher requirements and weight, but it has a tad more damage and native Bleed Build Up on Hit, which is more than a fair trade off.
Infusion-wise Magic comes in at 534, with Fire/Lightning at 529, and Sacred/Flame Art just behind at 527. Heavy outperforms Keen by a small amount, with Cold just behind. Occult is also not terrible at 450.
Endure is not a bad weapon skill, but I like to change to Lifesteal Fist for this weapon and set to the Occult Affinity. This improves the Bleed Build Up on the weapon as you increase Arcane, while having more Attack Rating than Blood. Additionally, Lifesteal Fist’s damage increases with the Arcane stat, so by adding Arcane Scaling we also improve its damage. Remember that Lifesteal Fist does mostly Magic Damage, so Magic Scorpion Charm and Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear will increase its damage.
Katar – #7 Best Fists in Elden Ring
The Katar shares the default attacks of most Fists, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for Fists in Elden Ring, weighing 2.5, and requires 8 Strength and 10 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
- Only Fists that can use Impaling Thrust
- Highest Crit Rating of all Fists (110)
- 1H Charged Heavy Attacks are very quick with this weapon
CONS
Attack Rating with 100 points distributed optimally into scaling stats:
- Magic – 529
- Fire/Lightning – 520
- Sacred/Flame Art – 513
- Keen – 482
- Heavy – 469
- Cold – 467
- Blood/Poison – 383
Conclusion: The Katar has really two claims to fame. First, it’s the only Fist weapon with 110 Critical Rating, making it more deadly when doing Critical Attacks than other Fist Weapons. And second, it’s the only Fist weapon that can use Impaling Thrust (though the Cipher Pata’s Unblockable Blade is virtually the same thing).
Infusion-wise Magic comes in first at 529, with Fire/Lightning at 520, and Sacred/Flame Art at 513. Keen outperforms Heavy by just over a dozen points, with Cold just behind.
I highly recommend making a build that leans into Stance Breaks with this weapon or Block Counters in order to take advantage of the extra Critical Damage of the weapon. This means one-handing it most likely, and using a Shield or Greatshield in the offhand. You can further boost Critical Damage with the Dagger Talisman. If you choose the Fire infusion then you will have high Strength making it easier to use Greatshields for this.
Veteran’s Prosthesis – #6 Best Fists in Elden Ring
The Veteran’s Prosthesis shares the default attacks of most Fists, and deals Physical and Lightning Damage. It is the heaviest Fist weapon in Elden Ring, weighing 4, and requires 15 Strength and 12 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
- Longest Fist weapon
- 1H Charged Heavy Attacks are very quick with this weapon
- Very High Attack Rating for Fists
- Storm Kick can be deadly
CONS
- Not acquired until very late into the game
Attack Rating with 100 points distributed optimally into scaling stats: 574
Conclusion: The Veteran’s Prosthesis is better than would first appear. It is the longest Fist weapon in Elden Ring, it’s 1H charged heavy attacks are lightning fast, it has very high Attack Rating for Fists, and Storm Kick can be deadly when used properly. However, you cannot get it until near the end of the game in Mountaintops of the Giants, so it’s more of a Journey 2 weapon.
Storm Kick is relatively cheap at 10 FP, and slams your weapon into the ground interrupting enemies and dealing damage in an AoE, and then allows for a follow up attack that costs ZERO FP that does even more damage and leaps forward into the air landing in another damaging AoE.
This skill can take some getting used to, because the follow up attack has a smaller AoE area than you would think, and its easy to miss enemies. However, the damage is good enough for such a cheap weapon skill, and you can often one shot even tough to kill enemies. The first attack deals more Physical Damage, while the follow up deals more Lightning Damage, but both attacks do a mix of the two damage types.
The sweet spot for this weapon is 50 STR and 50 DEX, and you’ll take these both up to 80 in Journey 2, but you won’t get hardly any damage out of them after that, making this worse in Journey 3 than in Journey 2.
I like to use this weapon with a Greatshield and one-hand it for quick attacks, Block Counter Stance Breaks, and to bust out Storm Kick when I need AoE or when facing a tough to kill enemy. Like the Clinging Bone, you can use Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger to replenish FP from Block Counters, allowing you to keep using Storm Kick.
Grafted Dragon – #5 Best Fists in Elden Ring
The Grafted Dragon shares the default attacks of most Fists, then deals Physical and Fire Damage. It has an average weight for a Fist weapon in Elden Ring, weighing 2.5, and requires 20 Strength, 14 Dexterity, and 16 Faith in order to use effectively.
PROS
- Can be acquired somewhat early after defeating Godrick the Grafted
- Deals +10% damage against Dragon type enemies
- Deals +5% damage against Ancient Dragon type enemies
- 1H Charged Heavy Attacks are very quick with this weapon
- Bear Witness can be deadly
CONS
- Tied for shortest length of all Fists
- High requirements for a Fist Weapon
- Not paired like other Fists, but can be dual wielded with other Fists
Attack Rating with 100 points distributed optimally into scaling stats: 532
Conclusion: The Grafted Dragon is actually pretty great for a Fist weapon, but there are some quirks with this one. First of all, it’s not paired like other Fists, so you cannot dual wield two of these unless you acquire a second one in Journey 2 or from another player, though it can be dual wielded with other Fists if you want. If held in the offhand its weapon skill will overwrite the right-hand weapon, just like a Shield would do. It also has high requirements for a Fist, and it is tied for the shortest Fist in Elden Ring.
However, you can get it relatively early on from defeating Godrick the Grafted, it deals extra damage to Dragons and Ancient Dragons, it has very quick charged heavy attacks that can Stance Break easily, and its weapon skill Bear Witness! is quite deadly when used properly.
Bear Witness! crouches the player down and then swings upward with the weapon dealing exclusively Fire Damage that sprays upward and then rains down in an area. The damage of this attack is better than average, the initial squat can duck under attacks, and the fire remains on the ground for some time dealing additional damage. And since it does 100% Fire Damage, Bear Witness! is easily boosted by Fire Scorpion Charm and Fire-Shrouding Cracked Tear. The major downside is that it costs 20 FP, so it’s hard to use often.
The sweet spot for this weapon is around 50 STR with minimum points in DEX and FTH, but the weapon scales well up to 50 DEX and ok up to 50 FTH, with DEX being better damage wise. However, since only FTH affects Bear Witness! you might want to consider adding some points here, especially since 25 FTH will let you cast Golden Vow and Flame, Grant Me Strength, both of which are great for this Build.
I like to use this weapon in my right hand and a Greatshield in my left due to natural STR scaling, and use the Clawmark Seal to cast Incantations as necessary. Block Counters with this weapon typically Stance Break most regular enemies, so you can use this to gain FP back with Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger to fund your Bear Witness! uses!
Cipher Pata – #4 Best Fists in Elden Ring
The Cipher Pata shares the default attacks of most Fists, and deals 100% Holy Damage. It is the lightest Fist weapon in Elden Ring, weighing 0, and requires 30 Faith in order to use effectively.
PROS
- Pure Faith Scaling makes it easy for Incantation Builds to use this weapon
- 100% Holy Damage allows you to buff this weapon with Sacred Scorpion Charm and Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear easily
- Weighs ZERO, making it easy to maintain a low equip weight and still use it.
- Unblockable Blade goes through shields and cannot be parried
- 1H Charged Heavy Attacks are very quick with this weapon
CONS
- Not acquired until late into the game
- Holy Damage is resisted by many end game bosses
Attack Rating with 100 points distributed optimally into scaling stats: 507
Conclusion: The Cipher Pata is a great weapon for Incantation Builds that have high Faith. Since the weapon requires no other stats but Faith, it’s a natural companion to such Builds. Additionally, it deals 100% Holy Damage making it easy to buff its damage with Sacred Scorpion Charm and Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear. It also weighs ZERO, making it extremely easy to manage your weight and Unblockable Blade goes through Shields and cannot be parried.
The downsides are that you can’t it until you reach Roundtable Hold in Leyndell Royal Capital, and Holy Damage is resisted by many tough bosses in the game.
Unblockable Blade does a decent amount of damage but it’s not cheap at 17 FP, and doesn’t sweep like the Coded Sword, so it’s only going to strike one enemy for that cost. However, it does 30 Stance Damage which is great, and 1H charged heavy attacks also do 30 Stance Damage with this weapon, so you can Stance Break rather easily with it.
The sweet spot for this weapon is around 50 FTH, only gaining 60 Attack Rating between 50 and 99. However, since you are likely to be using Incantations with this Build, taking FTH up higher is advised. But, this weapon will do worse and worse with every playthrough since it cannot gain much damage.
I like to use this weapon with the Erdtree Seal in order to cast Incantations with very high Faith. Buff with Golden Vow and either 1H or 2H this weapon, which ever you prefer. Sacred Scorpion Charm is great with it, but you may not want to use it if you opt for spells that don’t do Holy Damage.
Clinging Bone – #3 Best Fists in Elden Ring
The Clinging Bone shares the default attacks of most Fists, and deals Physical and Magic Damage. It has a heavy weight for Fists in Elden Ring, weighing 3, and requires 8 Strength, 22 Dexterity and 16 Arcane in order to use effectively.
PROS
- Second longest Fist weapon
- Lifesteal Fist is fantastic on this weapon due to Arcane Scaling and Magic Damage
- 1H Charged Heavy Attacks are very quick with this weapon
- Can be obtained quite early if you know how
CONS
- It can be missed
- High requirements for a Fist weapon
Attack Rating with 100 points distributed optimally into scaling stats: 511
Conclusion: The Clinging Bone weapon seems strange at first glance. It can be missed if you do certain things out of order, and it has strange requirements for a Fist weapon. However, it’s quite long for Fists, its 1H charged heavy attacks are lightning fast, Lifesteal Fist is fantastic, and despite being split damage the vast majority of it is Physical. You can also get it quite quickly if you know how.
Lifesteal Fist can be used to stunlock hard to kill humanish enemies, even going through shields, preventing them from being any challenge whatsoever, even though the damage is average. On top of this, the skill heals you for 30% of your Max Hp, which is absolutely nuts. This allows you to skew your flasks to the FP side, and use this to heal you while defeating enemies easily. There does seem to be a small cooldown though, so you can’t spam it back to back, and does mostly Magic Damage. Additionally, it ducks under many attacks, which makes it easier to use despite its somewhat long wind up, and it triggers Winged Sword Insignia or Millicent’s Prosthesis since each damage tick is considered a “hit”.
The sweet spot for this weapon is around 50ish DEX and 50 ARC, though the weapon scales much better with DEX than ARC, however Arcane increases the damage of Lifesteal Fist, so it’s really up to you which you’re using more. The regular attacks or Lifesteal Fist.
I like to use this weapon one-handed for its fast heavy attacks that stagger enemies easily, using Lifesteal Fist on difficult enemies or when I need healing. You can use a Shield in your offhand for Block Counters since Fists do decent Block Counter Stance Damage, and this can allow you to use Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger to replenish FP to use for Lifesteal Fist. Make sure to use Shard of Alexander to further boost Lifesteal Fist damage, and Ritual Sword Talisman works well with this weapon as well since you tend to stay at full health.
Iron Ball – #2 Best Fists in Elden Ring
The Iron Ball shares the default attacks of most Fists, but has a unique two-handed R2 attack that it shares with the Star Fist, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for Fists in Elden Ring, weighing 2.5, and requires 11 Strength and 8 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
CONS
- Tied for shortest length of all Fists
Attack Rating with 100 points distributed optimally into scaling stats:
- Magic – 543
- Fire/Lightning – 537
- Sacred/Flame Art – 518
- Heavy – 514
- Cold – 500
- Keen – 480
- Blood/Poison – 422
Conclusion: The Iron Ball hits like a truck and is in the upper half of Fists when it comes to Attack Rating. You can acquire it rather quickly by defeating Blackguard Big Boggart, and its only real downside is that it’s tied for shortest Fist in Elden Ring.
Boggart’s Roar is attached to this weapon when you first pick it up, and it increases Physical Damage by 10%, increases damage negation by 10% and increases Stamina Recovery by 20% while changing your Charged Heavy Attack into the same attack that War Cry provides. Roar Medallion and Highland Axe both effect the damage of these attacks.
Infusion-wise Magic comes in first with 543, with Fire/Lightning at 537 and Sacred/Flame Art at 518. Heavy outperforms Keen by 34 Attack Rating, and Cold splits the difference.
I like to use these weapons in a similar manner as the Caestus, focusing on dishing out attacks while either tanking or dodging damage with Endure or Quickstep, while stacking damage buffs from Rotten Winged Sword Insignia and Axe Talisman etc.
Star Fist – #1 Best Fists in Elden Ring
The Star Fist shares the default attacks of most Fists, but has a unique two-handed R2 attack that it shares with the Iron Ball, and deals Physical Damage. It has a heavy weight for Fists in Elden Ring, weighing 3, and requires 12 Strength and 8 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
- Native Bleed Build Up on hit
- Highest Attack Rating for infuseable Fists
CONS
Attack Rating with 100 points distributed optimally into scaling stats:
- Magic – 560
- Fire/Lightning – 553
- Sacred/Flame Art – 535
- Heavy – 525
- Cold – 518
- Keen – 492
- Occult – 460
- Blood/Poison – 437
Conclusion: The Star Fist operates much the same way as the Iron Ball, except it weighs a little more, it has slightly higher requirements, it has native Bleed Build Up on Hit, and you cannot find it until Leyndell Royal Capital.
Endure is a good weapon skill as it allows you to keep on swinging, ramping up your damage and triggering Hemorrhage with this weapon, but you could use Lifesteal Fist in the same manner I used it with Spiked Caestus for similar reasons.
Infusion-wise Magic comes in first at 560, with Fire/Lightning just behind at 553 and Sacred/Flame Art at 535. Heavy Outperforms Keen by 33 points with Cold splitting the difference.
Either use this weapon with the Occult Affinity and Lifesteal Fist, or use another infusion and go for Stance Breaks with charged heavy attacks that hit like a truck.
If you enjoyed this Fists Ranked Guide, be sure to check out our other Weapon Guides, and also our article on how to Prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree!
