Elden Ring Best Fist Weapons [Top 5]

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 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.

In this guide, I will be ranking my personal top 5 Best Fist Weapons.

Comparison Of Best Fist Weapons

Here is a comparison table of my top 5 best Fist Weapons in Elden Ring. Each stat can be sorted to view the highest and lowest values, which has been done for your convenience:

No.	Weapons	Awarded For	Physical Damage	Magical Damage	Fire Damage	Lightning Damage	Holy Damage	Critical Damage	Boost
1	Clinging Bone	Best for Standard and Pierce Damage.	80	24	0	0	0	100	0
2	Star Fist	Best for Bleed Damage.	105	0	0	0	0	100	0
3	Cipher Pata	Best for Holy Damage.	0	0	0	0	85	100	0
4	Grafted Dragon	Best for Fireballs.	89	0	57	0	0	100	0
5	Veteran’s Prosthesis	Best for Lightning Damage.	83	0	0	53	0	100	0

Comparison Table.

Clinging Bone

Best for Standard and Pierce Damage.

Up first on my list of the best fist weapons, we have the Clinging Bone, a weapon crafted from a literal skeleton arm! 

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.

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!

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.

As such, the weapon performs most optimally on a pure dexterity or dexterity-arcane build with dragon incantations.

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.

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.

1. The Clinging Bone is dropped from Ensha of the Royal Remains, who is initially encountered as an NPC standing outside Ofnir’s room.
2. If you visit the Roundtable Hold after getting either half of the Haligtree Secret Medallion, they come to hunt you as an invader, most likely to steal the medallion.
3. 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

Best for Bleed Damage.

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.

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, and Vagabond is more on the quality-build side. Other than that, the Confessor lies somewhere between strength and faith.

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 to slap it onto a bleed build as it naturally inflicts 45 passive bleed.

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!

1. The Star Fist is found in Leyndell, Royal Capital, the nearest checkpoint being the West Capital Rampart Site of Grace.
2. 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

Best for Holy Damage.

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. 

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

1. 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!
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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

Best for Fireballs.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

1. The Grafted Dragon is obtained in exchange for the Remembrance of the Grafted through Enia at Roundtable Hold.
2. 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.
3. 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

Best for Lightning Damage.

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! 

As far as class recommendations go, I would highly suggest picking Vagabond as your starting class. 

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.

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. 

1. 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.
2. Castle Sol is a rather secluded area, hidden away in the northernmost part of the mountaintops, which can only be accessed through select routes.
3. 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

Why Others Were Not Chosen

• Caestus: Decent stats, but is outshined by later fist weapons.
• Katar: Available early game, but not very impressive upon scaling.
• Iron Ball: Has a high base strike, but only suitable for close-range attacks.
• Spiked Caestus: There are better options to cause bleed damage than this.

What Would I Recommend?

This brings us to the end of my guide on the best fist weapons.. When it comes to fist weapons, my favorite one is Star Fist. It deals a high amount of physical damage, as well as decent bleed damage. It can be infused with different ashes of war.

Fist weapons fall short in many aspects when compared to the more meta weapon classes in Elden Ring. Firstly, their range is insanely short, extending up to your arm’s reach – but that’s to be expected from just being able to throw punches.

On the other hand, you’d think that fists would be compensated for their range with significantly more damage – that’s not the case either. The only area of combat where fists excel is attack speed and equip load, making you exceedingly more nimble with little weight.

Bonus Tips

1. Favorite Fist Weapon Overall: Star Fist

   • High physical damage and decent bleed damage.
   • Can be infused with different ashes of war for versatility.

2. Best Faith Fist Weapon: Cipher Pata

   • Requires only 30 faith to wield, making it ideal for faith builds.
   • Achieves an A scaling in faith at +10 reinforcement.

3. Best Quality Fist Weapon: Veteran’s Prosthesis

   • Achieves a C scaling in strength and D in dexterity at +10 reinforcement.
   • Not dual-wielded, providing options for complementary weapons in quality builds.

4. Best Dexterity Fist Weapon: Clinging Bone

   • Can be dual-wielded, allowing for more hits per second.
   • Offers high attack-speed, typical of dexterity-based weapons.

5. Best Bleed Fist Weapon: Star Fist

   • Achieves a massive 82 passive bleed damage.
   • Dual-wield capability for high hit registration and fast bleed buildups.

Consider these recommendations based on your preferred attributes, playstyle, and build focus. Each weapon offers unique advantages suited to different combat situations and character builds in Elden Ring.