Fists, as the name implies, are armaments that you can directly wear on your hands rather than “hold” as is the case with swords, spears, and whatnot. As such, their movesets do not differ from that of your bare-handed fists, which is what you fight with if you don’t have any weapons equipped.
Regardless, fists are arguably the most challenging of weapons to progress Elden Ring with, although doing so does come with its own unique sense of satisfaction.
I’ve played Elden Ring for over 1,000 hours, so you can trust I know my way around. Anything I share comes from my own experience, especially when it comes to builds and weapons in Elden Ring!
In this guide, I will be ranking my personal top 5 Best Fist Weapons in Elden Ring.
Key Takeaways
- Fist Weapons, as evident by their name, are weapons your character wears on his fists, rather than grabbing like swords and spears. Their drawback is their limited range of attack which is compensated by their agile attacks.
- Clinging Bone is a skeleton-themed fist weapon. It is recommended to be used with Bandit Class and can be upgraded using Somber Smithing Stones. The Clinging Bone is obtained by Ensha of the Royal Remains.
- Star Fist is our next contender on the list. Many classes match its requirements and can be chosen accordingly. It can get infused with different Ashes of War and Smithing Stones. It is present in Leyndell, Royal Capital.
- Cipher Pata has a high Faith demand of 30 points and works best with Prophet Class. For upgrading, Smithing Stones are our only option. Increasing Faith stats help make this weapon better. Its location is the RoundTable Hold.
- Grafted Dragon is the only boss weapon on this list and is recommended to use with the Confessor Class. By defeating the Godrick, you get the Remembrance of the Grafted which can then be traded through Enia at the RoundTable Hold to get this fist weapon.
- Veteran’s Prothesis is a prosthetic leg that allowed its owner to harness lightning. It complements the Vagabond Class. The only upgrades available are those with the help of Somber Smithing Stones. It is dropped by Commander Nail, encountered in Castle Sol.
Comparison Table Best Fist Weapons
| No. | Weapons | Physical Damage | Magical Damage | Fire Damage | Lightning Damage | Holy Damage | Critical Damage | Boost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clinging Bone | 80 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
| 2 | Star Fist | 105 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
| 3 | Cipher Pata | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 85 | 100 | 0 |
| 4 | Grafted Dragon | 89 | 0 | 57 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
| 5 | Veteran’s Prosthesis | 83 | 0 | 0 | 53 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
Clinging Bone
Stat Requirement and Class Recommendation
Up first on my list of the best fist weapons in Elden Ring, we have the Clinging Bone, a weapon crafted from a literal skeleton arm! The Clinging Bone is quite unique for a weapon in general, let alone a fist, costing 8 strength, 22 dexterity, and 16 arcane o use. The fist weapon weighs in at just 2.5 units and inflicts standard and pierce damage as one may expect from its interesting design.
As far as wielding the weapon is concerned, there is quite a bit of grinding involved as no class comes considerably close to satisfying its requirements right off the bat. However, your best bet is to go with the Bandit class that comes with 9 strength, 13 dexterity and 14 arcane, automatically meeting the strength. From here, all you need to do is level up arcane twice and dexterity nine times, and you’re good to go!
Upgrades and Build Affinity
The Clinging Bone comes with a natural scaling of E in strength, C in dexterity, and D in arcane, already ruling out the possibility of a strength-related build.
What’s more is that the weapon does not allow for any infusions with ashes of war, only being upgradeable through the use of matching Somber Smithing Stones. Don’t forget that the kind of stone you use matches your weapon’s current level, plus one.
At +10, the Clinging Bone achieves physical damage of 196 along with 58 magic damage – not the best I can say for sure. Regardless, on the other hand, the fist weapon bumps up its dexterity scaling to B and arcane to C, leaving strength at E – don’t even think about slapping the Clinging Bone onto a strength build. As such, the weapon performs most optimally on a pure dexterity or dexterity-arcane build with dragon incantations.
Weapon Art and Location
The coolest aspect of the Clinging Bone is its weapon art: Lifesteal Fist. Upon activation, your player will imbue the weapon with energy before striking their fist into a nearby foe – this will render them unconscious and drain them of their life energy, decreasing their HP whilst increasing yours.
However, as interesting as the weapon art’s description sounds, do note that it only works on lively enemies, as the undead are devoid of any life.
The Clinging Bone is dropped from Ensha of the Royal Remains, who is initially encountered as an NPC standing outside Ofnir’s room.
However, if you visit the Roundtable Hold after obtaining either half of the Haligtree Secret Medallion, they come to hunt you as an invader, most likely to steal the medallion. As such, killing them there and then will award you the Royal Remains armor set and the Clinging Bone!
| Attack | Guard | |
| Physical Damage | 80 | 31 |
| Magical Damage | 24 | 36 |
| Fire Damage | 0 | 17 |
| Lightning Damage | 0 | 17 |
| Holy Damage | 0 | 17 |
| Critical Damage | 100 | – |
| Boost | – | 21 |
| Scaling | Requires | |
| Strength | E | 8 |
| Dexterity | C | 22 |
| Arcane | D | 16 |
Star Fist
Stat Requirement and Class Recommendation
The Star Fist is an excellent fist weapon designed for aggressively beating the living hell out of your foes, earning it a stop on my list of the Best Fist Weapons in Elden Ring. Unlike the infamous Caestus, the Star Fist is a spherical glove adorned with blood-inducing spikes, costing you only 12 strength and 8 dexterity to use properly. However, contrary to what many infer from its stat requirements, the fist weapon is obtained relatively late into the game.
As far as class recommendation goes, there is a myriad of classes to choose from – that’s just how many meet the Star Fist’s stat requirement. These include Samurai, Vagabond, Confessor, and Hero; it’s up to you which of these four classes you want to pick as your starting class. To give you a brief rundown, Samurai is more dexterity-based; Hero is more strength-based, while Vagabond is more on the quality-build side. Other than that, Confessor lies somewhere between strength and faith.
Upgrades and Build Affinity
The Star Fist comes with a D scaling in strength and an E scaling in dexterity, leaning towards strength initially. However, unlike the foregoing Clinging Bone, it can be infused with different Ashes of War, giving it a great deal of versatility as far as build fitting goes. Other than that, you’d be right to assume that it would be reinforced with the use of Smithing Stones, up to +25.
As far as build affinity goes, you can run all kinds of different builds on the Star Fists – strength, dexterity, quality, intelligence, faith, auxiliary, you name it! However, my recommendation would be slapping it onto a bleed build as it naturally inflicts 45 passive bleed. Furthermore, at +25, the Star Fist achieves 215 physical damage with a bleed infusion and 82 passive bleed! A good thing to remember is that auxiliary effects are good on fists due to their fast attack speed.
Weapon Art and Location
The Star Fist comes with a rather generic weapon art known as Endure. Upon activation, your player will assume a tight, anchored stance, increasing poise for a short period of time – as such, incoming attacks will deal less damage. If you’re not satisfied with the weapon art and want a more aggressive touch, I recommend running the War Cry weapon art, consequently letting your fists loose on your unfortunate enemies!
The Star Fist is found in Leyndell, Royal Capital, the nearest checkpoint being the West Capital Rampart Site of Grace. From the Site of Grace, make your way to the left side of the Colleseum on top of the mountain – you should find the fist weapon in the last opening, situated on a corpse.
| Attack | Guard | |
| Physical Damage | 105 | 41 |
| Magical Damage | 0 | 23 |
| Fire Damage | 0 | 23 |
| Lightning Damage | 0 | 23 |
| Holy Damage | 0 | 23 |
| Critical Damage | 100 | – |
| Boost | – | 23 |
| Scaling | Requires | |
| Strength | D | 12 |
| Dexterity | E | 8 |
Cipher Pata
Stat Requirement and Class Recommendation
The Cipher Pata, considered a sibling to the Coded Blade, was similarly forged from a sequence of ciphers through the Two Fingers. If you’re familiar with the Coded Sword from my Elden Ring Best Straight Swords Guide, then you should know what to expect from the Cipher Pata. The unique aspect about the weapon is that it costs 30 faith to use properly, something that is rarely seen amongst melee weapons in Elden Ring.
As far as class recommendations go, you ideally want to choose a class with the most faith to wield the fist weapon as quickly as possible. As such, the Prophet class would do nicely as it comes with 16 faith right off the bat. Other than that, the class features a short spear, a rickety shield, and a finger seal catalyst teamed up with the Heal and Catch Flame incantations.
Upgrades and Build Affinity
Knowing its stat requirements purely revolve around faith, it wouldn’t be far off the mark to conclude that the Cipher Pata features a natural scaling of C in faith only. Furthermore, similar to the Coded Sword, it is incompatible with other ashes of war as far as infusion goes.
In other words, on top of very restricted build affinity, the Cipher Pata can not improve its scaling by any other means other than reinforcement to +10 with Somber Smithing Stones, at which it achieves an A scaling in faith.
As far as build fitting goes, the Cipher Pata is only applicable on some kind of pure faith or faith-dominant build, given that it only scales with said attribute.
The convenient thing about the Cipher Pata is that it does not require you to invest attribute points into other, irrelevant attributes like strength and dexterity. In lieu, you need not go out of your way to wield the fist weapon – just level up faith like you usually do on a faith buld and let it reap its benefits!
Weapon Art and Location
The Cipher Pata, similar to the Coded Sword, has an unblockable nature to it, mainly due to its weapon art: Unblockable Blade. As the name implies, the technique can not be shielded against, leaving dodging the only means of avoiding it; that, too, is not so easy due to the weapon art’s delay.
Upon activation, your player will enchant the sword with light and extend it in length (just like a lightsaber) before lunging forward and piercing your foes.
The Cipher Pata, unlike the Coded Sword, can be obtained very early in the game, just as soon as you get access to the Roundtable Hold! From the roundtable, make your way forward and down into the area where Mad Tongue Alberich invades you – although fighting him is not necessary for the purpose of this guide.
Regardless, enter the door on your left and keep walking leftwards until you come across another open the door to your right, leading to a bedroom. You will find the Cipher Pata on the corner-most bed in this bedroom.
| Attack | Guard | |
| Physical Damage | 0 | 9 |
| Magical Damage | 0 | 14 |
| Fire Damage | 0 | 14 |
| Lightning Damage | 0 | 14 |
| Holy Damage | 85 | 61 |
| Critical Damage | 100 | – |
| Boost | – | 19 |
| Scaling | Requires | |
| Faith | C | 30 |
Grafted Dragon
Stat Requirement and Class Recommendation
Approaching the top pick on my list of the best fist weapons in Elden Ring, we have the Grafted Dragon. This fist weapon directly references the dragon’s head that Godrick the Grafted fused with his left arm after amputating it in his boss fight.
Regardless, being the only boss weapon on this list of the fist weapons in Elden Ring, the Grafted Dragon requires 20 strength, 14 dexterity, and 16 faith to use.
Given how early you can obtain the Grafted Dragon, if you want to wield it as quickly as possible, you’ll need to pick a starting class that gets a good headstart in all three attributes: strength, dexterity, and faith.
The only class which meets this requirement is Confessor, coming at you with 12 strength, 12 dexterity, and 14 faith, leaving you with 12 more attribute points to invest.
Upgrades and Build Affinity
The Grafted Dragon comes with a natural scaling of D in all three attributes: strength, dexterity, and faith. But before you jump to conclusions, it’s not certain yet to conclude which attribute(s) it favors more! This can only be ascertained from observing its final, +10 form achieved with Somber Smithing Stones as the fist weapon does not allow to be infused with ashes of war. Even then, as versatile as this weapon may be, it does not achieve the number one spot due to the lack of dual-wielding capabilities.
As far as build affinity goes, at +10, the Grafted Dragon accomplishes a C scaling strength, while the dexterity and faith remain stuck on D-tier. As such, while you can try different kinds of build on the fist weapon, be sure to integrate strength in somehow.
In other words, I would recommend one of the following three builds for the Grafted Dragon: Pure strength build, quality build, or strength/faith build. Do keep in mind that, as the weapon can not be dual-wielded, you should use your free off-hand to supplement the weapon with another weapon, be it melee or magic.
Weapon Art and Location
Unsurprisingly, the Grafted Dragon comes with its own unique weapon art known as “Bear Witness!”, quoting a famous dialogue from Godrick’s second phase transitional cutscene.
Upon activation, your player will shove the fist weapon into the ground, calling upon the magma embedded deep inside the earth, before spewing it out towards nearby enemies. While the magma debris does deal damage, anyone who is caught in the direct spewing animation takes massive damage.
The Grafted Dragon is obtained in exchange for the Remembrance of the Grafted through Enia at Roundtable Hold. The Remembrance of the Grafted is rewarded as a result of defeating Godrick, the Grafted, the first demi-god boss that players face in Stormveil Castle.
Furthermore, in the event that you traded his remembrance in exchange for his greataxe, fret not, for you can duplicate his remembrance at one of the Walking Mausoleum to trade in the Grafted Dragon!
| Attack | Guard | |
| Physical Damage | 89 | 27 |
| Magical Damage | 0 | 18 |
| Fire Damage | 57 | 44 |
| Lightning Damage | 0 | 18 |
| Holy Damage | 0 | 18 |
| Critical Damage | 100 | – |
| Boost | – | 22 |
| Scaling | Requires | |
| Strength | D | 20 |
| Dexterity | D | 14 |
| Faith | D | 16 |
Veteran’s Prosthesis
Stat Requirement and Class Recommendation
You know exactly what the Veteran’s Prosthesis refers to if you’ve encountered Commander Nail in your Elden Ring playthrough. For those who don’t know, it is the commander’s right prosthetic leg, which, instead of crippling him, allows him to harness the power of lightning itself! Being the best of the best fist weapons in Elden Ring, the Veteran’s Prosthesis demands 15 strength and 12 dexterity off anyone who wishes to wield it.
As far as class recommendations go, I would highly suggest picking Vagabond as your starting class. On top of being equipped with the infamous Longsword, the class comes with a stat requirement of 14 strength and 13 dexterity. From here, all you need to do is invest one more attribute point into strength, and you’re good to go!
Upgrades and Build Affinity
The Veteran’s Prosthesis comes with a natural stat requirement of D in both strength and dexterity, raising the question of where its scalings would end up at maximum reinforcement. On that note, it should be noted that the fist weapon does not allow for infusions with ashes of war and thus, can only be upgraded through reinforcement up to +10 with Somber Smithing Stones. When upgrading, don’t forget to make sure you use the correct kinds of Somber Smithing Stones!
At +10, the Veteran’s Prosthesis achieves a C scaling in strength and a D scaling in dexterity. Other than that, it also sits at a solid 203 physical damage and 129 lightning damage – a little disappointing that it does not have any faith scaling that would reinforce the latter.
Regardless, as far as build fitting is concerned, I would recommend slapping the fist weapon on either a pure strength or quality build, the latter being much better in terms of more room for supplementary equipment.
Weapon Art and Location
The Veteran’s Prosthesis is best known for its weapon art, which is something Comamnder Nail himself loves to spam in his boss fight: Storm Kick.
Upon activation, your player will thrust the fist weapon into the ground, generating a storm to stun nearby enemies before following it up with a heavy overhead kick bound by the power of lightning. The weapon, similarly, is quite spammable, given that it only costs 10 FP to use, where the follow-up kick does not consume FP at all!
The Veteran’s Prosthesis is a relatively late-game weapon as it is dropped from Commander Nail, who is encountered in Castle Sol, deep in the Mountaintops of the Giants. Castle Sol is a rather secluded area, hidden away in the northernmost part of the mountaintops, which can only be accessed through select routes.
I made my way to Castle Sol through the Freezing Lake, where you’ll encounter Borealis, The Freezing Fog.
| Attack | Guard | |
| Physical Damage | 83 | 30 |
| Magical Damage | 0 | 20 |
| Fire Damage | 0 | 20 |
| Lightning Damage | 53 | 48 |
| Holy Damage | 0 | 20 |
| Critical Damage | 100 | – |
| Boost | – | 24 |
| Scaling | Requires | |
| Strength | D | 15 |
| Dexterity | D | 12 |
Frequently Asked Questions
The Best Faith Fist Weapon in Elden Ring has to be, without a doubt, the Cipher Pata. That’s mainly because it requires purely 30 faith to wield, which you will absolutely go above and beyond in if you’re making a faith build in the first place. Other than that, it achieves an A scaling in faith at +10 reinforcement – what more could you ask for?
I don’t see a better quality fist weapon than the Veteran’s Prosthesis, partially because it can not be dual-wielded. Thus, if you’re not a fan of two-handing, a quality build would give you ample options to choose your second, complementary weapon from! Not only that, but the fist weapon achieves a C scaling in strength and D in dexterity at +10.
The decision for the Best Dexterity Fist Weapon in Elden Ring is a tough one, partially because most fist weapons in Elden Ring are dexterity-based, considering the shared trait of high attack-speed. However, I would argue that the Clinging Bone fares much better, mainly because it can be dual-wielded, allowing for more hits per second.
While many fist weapons allow for infusions with blood ashes of war, making them viable enough to inflict significant bloodloss, I’ll have to give the crown to the Star Fist. That’s because not only does it achieve a massive 82 passive bleed, but the fact that it can be dual-wielded accounts for high hit registration, which is always a must for fast bleed buildups!
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I’m an avid gamer turned content writer, my hobbies include but are not limited to different forms of content creation. Not a complicated person, I play games and write about them. Currently attending university for Data Sciences. My favorite past-time is trying to different challange runs of Soulsborne and Souls-like games in the goofiest way possible for my own amusement. You can check my Gaming Profile on Steam And Xbox!
