In this Elden Ring Best Reaper and Ranking Guide, we’ll be taking a look at the 4 Reapers in Elden Ring, and discussing 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.
Reapers in Elden Ring:
- Grave Scythe
- Scythe
- Winged Scythe
- Halo Scythe
Best Reaper in Elden Ring – Ranked
Reapers are one of the 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to be 39 when Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 21st. There are plenty of reasons for you to use Reapers for your build. Their attacks go through shields, so you’ll do some chip damage to enemies that are blocking with a shield. It also has the Bleed status effect whenever you do attacks, so you don’t have to do anything to the weapon to apply it. It also has a good range for attacking, and it has a similar Attack Rating with Greatswords. Lastly, you can find all the Reapers early on, as you can find all of them by the time you reach Caelid.
However, Reapers have slow attacks compared to other weapon types that deal the same amount of damage. Its combos take longer than when using a Greatsword. Also, its dual wield L1 attacks aren’t really that great, but its jumping attack does pretty good.
PROS
- Reaper attacks go through shields
- Has Bleed status effect intrinsically
- Good reach
- Similar Attack Rating with Greatswords
- All Reapers can be acquired by the time you reach Caelid
CONS
- Slow attacks compared to weapons that deal the same amount of damage
- Dual wield L1 attacks aren’t good
Halo Scythe – #4 Best Reaper in Elden Ring
The Halo Scythe shares the default moveset of most other Reapers, and deals Physical Damage. It is the second heaviest Reaper in Elden Ring, weighing 8.5, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
PROS
- Causes Bleed Build Up with each hit
- Highest damage of all Scythes in NG
- Can be found somewhat early on in Caelid by farming the Cleanrot Knights
- You can acquire 2 in a single playthrough
- Far more Physical Damage than Holy
- Light attacks ignore 40% damage negation from blocks; heavy and charged attacks ignore more
- Miquella’s Ring of Light does 100% Holy Damage making it easily boosted by Sacred Scorpion Charm and Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear
- Miquella’s Ring of Light has very long range, and can be chained
CONS
- Poor Faith Scaling, and Miquella’s Ring of Light increases in damage only with the Faith Attribute, and not Strength or Dexterity
- Holy Damage is one of the worst damage types late game and is resisted by many of the game’s toughest bosses
- Can take a while to farm one (or two)
Attack Rating: 735 (765 – two-handed)
Conclusion: Of the two unique Scythes, Halo Scythe is the better of the two for a first playthrough. It does far more Physical Damage than Holy Damage, making it more effective in fights where Bosses resist this damage type, which many of the toughest do.
Miquella’s Ring of Light can often one or two shot most enemies from a very long distance for 11 FP, and is easily increased with Sacred Scorpion Charm, Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear, as well as Ritual Sword Talisman and Shard of Alexander.
The overall Attack Rating is essentially tied with the Winged Scythe, and some Infusions of Grave Scythe, making it a solid choice if all your worried about is damage, though Winged Scythe will out scale it eventually in NG+, and into NG++.
Ideally you’d want Strength and Dexterity to be around 50 to get the most out of this weapon before the damage starts dropping off, and then you can crank Faith for some additional damage. However, Faith scales very minimally with this weapon, making the Halo Scythe a poor choice for Strength/Faith Build that uses Incantations, though you still could if you really wanted to.
Consider dual wielding two Halo Scythes for optimal scaling, or pairing a Halo Scythe with a Grave Scythe if you’d like a different Ash of War than Miquella’s Ring of Light, and possibly some Frostbite Build Up.
Winged Scythe – #3 Best Reaper in Elden Ring
The Winged Scythe shares the default moveset of most other Reapers, and deals Physical Damage. It is the lightest Reaper in Elden Ring, weighing 7.5, and requires some points in Strength, Dexterity and Faith in order to wield.
PROS
- Causes Bleed Build Up with each hit
- Highest potential damage of all Scythes in NG+ and beyond
- Can be found extremely early in the game in Tombsward Ruins in Weeping Peninsula
- Lightest of all Reapers (tied with Scythe)
- Light attacks ignore 40% damage negation from blocks; heavy and charged attacks ignore more
- Prevents the use of Recovery Flasks, making it good in PvP or against hostile NPCs who heal
CONS
- High stat requirements in order to wield
- Shortest Scythe by a good amount
- Holy Damage is one of the worst damage types late game and is resisted by many of the game’s toughest bosses
Attack Rating: 738
Conclusion: The Winged Scythe is a solid all around Reaper. It is pretty much tied for total Attack Rating, and you can get it very early on in the game, making it the go to choice if you want to use a Reaper right away. It’s also extremely light, which matters more early on in the game when you don’t have as much Endurance.
The downsides are that it’s the shortest Reaper by a good ways, and its Weapon Skill Angel’s Wings (which is essentially Loretta’s Slash), has a very long animation which makes it easy to get hit when using it against Bosses that aren’t easily staggered. It also does more Holy Damage than Physical Damage, making it a poor choice against some early and end game Bosses.
The sweet spot for this Weapon is 50 Dexterity and 50 Faith, with both Dexterity and Faith outperforming Strength all the way up to 80, so take them there first before increasing Strength. This allows Winged Scythe to keep increasing its damage well into NG+ and beyond, where it should outshine the Halo Scythe in terms of total Attack Rating, and since these stats all increase the damage of Angel’s Wings, it will continue to perform reasonably the whole way.
Consider using this weapon alone learning to use Angel’s Wings, or in a dual wield setup with a Scythe that will allow you to use a better Ash of War, and also has similar scaling. Use either Flame Art/Sacred or use a Keen Scythe and buff it with Incantations to further increase its damage.
Scythe – #2 Best Reaper in Elden Ring
The Scythe has a unique R2 that when charged can hit twice, and deals Physical Damage. It is the lightest Reaper in Elden Ring, weighing 7.5, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Causes Bleed Build Up with each hit
- Longest Reaper by a small amount, barely beating out the Grave Scythe
- Can be found relatively early on in the game in Cliffbottom Catacombs in Liurnia of the Lakes
- Lightest of all Reapers
- Light attacks ignore 40% damage negation from blocks; heavy and charged attacks ignore more
CONS
- Lowest damage at nearly every infusion
Attack Rating: 594
- Fire/Lightning – 710
- Magic – 702
- Sacred/Flame Art – 682
- Keen – 654
- Cold – 642
- Heavy – 630
- Occult – 627
- Quality – 594
- Blood/Poison – 548
Conclusion: The Scythe has lower damage than the Grave Scythe when using any Affinity with it but Keen. However, the upsides are that you don’t have to farm it, it is just slightly longer than the Grave Scythe, and it does have a unique Charged R2 that hits twice, which is good for status effect build up even though the first hit of this attack does much less damage. Additionally, it leans more to the Dexterity side of things, making it a better option to pair with the Winged Scythe if you plan to dual wield, since it also scales better with Dexterity than Strength.
There are many good Ashes of War you can use with this weapon to help you hit repeatedly, building up Status Effects more rapidly than the normal R1 attack of the Reaper, which is slow. These include Spinning Slash (which it comes with), Double Slash, Sword Dance, Phantom Slash, and Spinning Weapon.
Really there are many ways to use this Weapon. You could dual wield it with the Winged Scythe set to Flame Art/Sacred to have similar scaling, or Keen and buff it with Incantations, and play a jump attack sort of build that deals high damage per jump attack, not relying on status effects for damage. Or you could use it alone or with a shield, leaning into an Ash of War that can hit rapidly, like any of the ones I just mentioned, and focusing on Status Effect Build up via the Occult or Cold Affinities. Or you could use it with something like Determination or Royal Knight’s Resolve, and focusing on Charged R2 attacks for high burst damage and Status Effect build up.
Grave Scythe – #1 Best Reaper in Elden Ring
The Grave Scythe shares the default moveset of most other Reapers, and deals Physical Damage. It is the heaviest Reaper in Elden Ring, weighing 9.5, and requires some points in Strength and Dexterity in order to wield.
PROS
- Causes Bleed Build Up with each hit
- Second longest Reaper, barely losing to the Scythe
- Can be found relatively early on in the game from Skeleton Mages in Liurnia of the Lakes
- You can acquire 2 in a single playthrough
- Light attacks ignore 40% damage negation from blocks; heavy and charged attacks ignore more
CONS
- Heaviest of all Reapers
- Can take a while to farm one (or two)
Attack Rating: 604
- Fire/Lightning – 733
- Magic – 733
- Sacred/Flame Art – 724
- Heavy – 683 (729 – two-handed)
- Cold – 664
- Occult – 650
- Keen – 643
- Quality – 640
- Blood/Poison – 555
Conclusion: The Grave Scythe is generally speaking better than the Scythe. It does more damage when using any Affinity but Keen, and it rivals Halo Scythe and Winged Scythe for total Attack Rating when set to Fire/Lightning , Magic or Heavy, with Sacred/Flame Art not far behind. You can also get two of them if you wish to dual wield, which is fantastic.
Because this weapon scales more with Strength than Dexterity, it makes a better candidate for two-handing than the Scythe, and a good choice for a Status Effect Build that uses a Weapon Skill to strike rapidly. This is because the Cold Infusion will still have decent Strength scaling, and this allows you to gain bonus damage when two-handing, and Weapon Skills don’t apply your off-hand to their damage.
Ideally you’d use this solo with the Cold Infusion, or pair it with the Halo Scythe in a dual wield sort of build that allows you to use a different Weapon Skill than Miquella’s Ring of Light, because it also scales well with Strength. No matter which you choose, the Cold Infusion is still a great way to go here, since it will still come out with higher damage at 50 Strength and 50 Dexterity than Quality, and still applies Frostbite.
The Halo Scythe has terrible Faith Scaling, making Flame Art and Sacred a bad pairing with it, since you won’t want to invest in Faith when using Halo Scythe if you don’t have to.
If you enjoyed this Reapers Ranked Guide, be sure to check out our other Weapon Guides, and also our article on how to Prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree!
