Once upon a time we at InReview analyzed fifteen different Remembrance items for Elden Ring. Rewards for beating the game’s more powerful boss fights. Since then, several patches have come and gone, changing the playing field by a lot. As one of InReview’s busier articles, it felt appropriate to give an update, as the list of today looks a lot different.
Without further ado, let’s begin
E Tier
Regal Omen Bairn (Morgott) – This thing is still completely horrible. It has not changed one little bit since the last time we wrote about it. It’s basically just a worse version of the Ancient Death Rancor spell by a mile.
D Tier
Winged Greathorn (Regal Ancestor Spirit) – Patch 1.09 was very kind to Great Axes. It provided them with a myriad of buffs they really needed to remain competitive with other weapon types. This Great Axe can also use its Ash of War to not be wickedly horrible in colosseum settings. There are still many, many better Great Axes out there that are a lot easier to get, but if you search far and wide, there is ever so barely a niche for this thing.
Bastard’s Stars (Astel) – Flails in Elden Ring still suck, but the aforementioned Patch 1.09 did serve to help out a little bit in that regard. The Nebula Ash of War is one of the better Ashes of War flails can even use, and only Bastard Stars has access to it out of the flail weapon class. Still, you can use that very same Ash of War on the Wing of Astel, a vastly superior option to this in every way. This weapon doesn’t have any sort of real role something else in the game can’t do better. It does make short work of Crystallians and other enemies in dungeons who are really weak to Strike, though.
Ancestral Spirit’s Horn (Regal Ancestor Spirit) – This talisman only makes any sense on a melee focused build that makes use of buff spells such as Scholar’s Armament or Golden Vow. The FP regeneration this talisman offers makes it easy to maintain a great upkeep on those buffs. However, it’s still completely useless in boss fights and doesn’t provide much value to any other type of build.
Death Lightning (Fortisaxx) – This spell is still just Ancient Dragon Lightning Strike’s little brother. It’s harder to gain access to, to make matters worse. Just use Ancient Dragon Lightning Strike.
C Tier
Giant’s Red Braid (Fire Giant) – This whip hasn’t seen any changes, but our last assessment was a tad mean to it by placing it under the D Tier. Even though it is outclassed grossly by the Hoslow’s Petal Whip and a couple other contending whips, the Giant’s Red Braid has some unique benefits. Synergy with fire-based buff spells and consumables plus a unique Strength scaling make it out to be decent on its own.
Axe of Godrick (Godrick) – Sadly, all this weapon has going for it is a pretty decent, exclusive Ash of War. Otherwise, its stat requirements are way too restrictive for the unique moveset to make it particularly good.
Rennala’s Full Moon (Rennala) – A fine enough spell, but entirely inaccessible to non-Intelligence builds, who will likely prefer to use the superior Ranni’s Dark Moon.
Bloodboon (Mohg) – A fairly costly utility spell, this one has a unique learning curve that can make it produce underwhelming results when not used by an experienced player. Even then, it’s very situational, but can be incredibly effective in PvP or used against large enemies, like dragons.
Scarlet Aeonia (Malenia) – Very difficult to land with a high wind up, but can produce devastating results if the initial explosion from the flower hits the target. The initial explosion will also knock players back in PvP and typically stagger bosses, while also almost doubtlessly afflicting those without high resistances with Scarlet Rot.
Marika’s Hammer (Elden Beast) – As far as raw damage goes, this hammer is outclassed by both the Brick Hammer and the Hammer. In order to justify using it over those two, the Gold Breaker exclusive Ash of War is the only thing this hammer has. It’s a fairly decent Ash of War offering hyper armor, high stagger, and knock back in PvP. It doesn’t deal too much damage, however.
B Tier
Lion Greatbow (Radahn) – Has been completely untouched since we last covered Remembrance items. It’s still excellent at shredding the health bars of giant enemies. As well, it’s still close to useless in close quarters against smaller enemies who don’t stagger easily or move a lot, like Radagon, Godfrey, or other players in a PvP setting.
Burn O’Flame! (Fire Giant) – This spell is a lot faster and more accurate than when we last rated it. Fire damage in Elden Ring is excellent. The large wind up makes this difficult to use in close quarters, and in PvP, players with ranged options will prey on you if you just errantly throw it out. With a proper set of buffs and a good build, however, the damage can be absolutely devastating towards larger foes. Patch 1.10 giving spellcasters poise makes this slightly better in melee range.
Fortisaxx’s Lightning Spear (Fortisaxx) – Yes, it is satisfying dunking on someone when using this spell over the edge of a cliff. When does that actually happen, especially in PvP? Beyond that, this is probably the most well-rounded, boring spell on this list. It deals decent damage, has decent range, and it costs a reasonable amount of FP. Requiring a 46 in Faith, this spell’s only particular criticism would be its inaccessibility to non-Faith builds.
Rykard’s Rancor (Rykard) – Patch 1.08 buffed this spell’s tracking and damage output immensely. However, it still has two glaring problems. The first is its tendency to randomly just skydive straight into the ground and achieve virtually nothing at times. The second is having significant requirements in both Faith and Intelligence – a spell with difficult to achieve requirements had better be good. This one is situational. Fire spells have a lot of synergy with various buffs in this game, and this one has a good degree of upkeep. It’s at its best either used on large bosses, or paired with spells that have better tracking for PvP such as Ancient Death Rancor or Glintstone Stars.
Hand of Malenia (Malenia) – This thing is arguably the most overrated weapon in the game, but it’s also one of the more fun weapons. It’s also a solid pick in general. Its unique Ash of War, the infamous Waterfowl Dance, is basically begging to be parried in PvP; you are not actually Malenia, after all. But, not actually being Malenia has its advantages, as dodging a player’s Waterfowl Dance is very different from dodging Malenia’s Waterfowl Dance, which can surprise less experienced players. Having a massive Dexterity requirement, the only reason to use this over the equally lengthy and much more easily accessed Nagakiba is the Waterfowl Dance Ash of War.
Ash of War: Hoarah Loux’s Earthshaker (Hoarah Loux)– This can go on basically any melee weapon, so it can give fist and dagger weapons a useful ranged option that also does a fair bit of poise damage. Other weapons, such as conventional swords, can typically do better.
Dragon King’s Cragblade (Placidusax) – Massive stat requirements were easily compensated by an amazing Ash of War, but Patch 1.08 was pretty brutal for ‘poking’ weapons. It’s still really good, but it only works on very specific builds and isn’t as oppressive in close quarters as it once was.
Placidusax’s Ruin (Placidusax) – This is an amazing finisher in PvP and works quite well against high quantities of enemies, or in the colosseum. Against bigger enemies, this spell’s lack of raw power juxtaposed to its high FP cost makes it rather undesirable. Unfortunately, it also does not get the Dragon Communion buff either.
A Tier
Ash of War: Wave of Darkness (Astel) – Tired of getting ganked in a 2 or even 3v1 when invading? This is the Ash of War for you. Patch 1.08 buffed this immensely. It now absolutely destroys anything that can be hit more than once without staggering, and it covers a very wide and far amount of ground. It has more poise when using than it did when we last covered it, so unless someone is right in your face with a colossal weapon, you can also use this Ash of War to competently trade blows. It does have a high wind up and leaves the wielder defenseless against both ranged and aerial attack options, however, so it can’t just be brainlessly spammed.
Grafted Dragon (Godrick) – This isn’t a meme; the Grafted Dragon has seen a myriad of buffs, and though it requires a lot of forethought to become truly great, the results are worth the effort in the end. It’s best powerstanced alongside another fist weapon to make up for its inability to be two-handed. Being a weapon dealing mainly Fire damage, it is compatible with a myriad of important buffs that improve its damage output. The Ash of War, Bear Witness!, is an absolute trading machine. It gives the user a ton of poise and sends PvP enemies flying, while also coating the area in front with a brief environmental hazard. Imagine if Captain Falcon’s Falcon Punch couldn’t be interrupted unless you used a Final Smash on him, and you get the Grafted Dragon.
Carian Regal Scepter (Rennala) – One of the better, easier Intelligence staves to get ahold of. Works particularly well with melee sorceries, such as Gavel of Haima or Carian Slicer, due to its Ash of War in Spinning Weapon. Spinning Weapon, once a complete afterthought, is actually fairly decent especially against large bosses. This staff’s only minor issue is its enormous stat requirement combined with the fact that it doesn’t hold up to others, such as Lusat’s or the Crystal Staff, if truly min/maxing. Its main advantage is therefore its ease of access compared to those two.
Morgott’s Cursed Sword (Morgott) – An amazing Ash of War, good scaling and it can be powerstanced alongside the Bloodhound’s Fang. This is an amazing pick for Dexterity builds who are tired of using generic katana #25. Its only minor criticism is having particularly high stat requirements that can be hard for a non-dedicated build to reach.
Axe of Godfrey (Hoarah Loux) – This is the weapon for heavily armored builds that want to trade blows in PvP. Regal Roar is amazing for this, giving an excellent series of buffs to the weapon’s charged attacks including added poise. The axe still has very poor scaling and large stat requirements, however.
S Tier
Blasphemous Blade (Rykard) – Quite possibly the best weapon in the entire game. It packs tons of utility alongside crushing power. It is compatible with every single relevant buff in the game, has a heal-on-hit (for the Ash of War) with a heal-on-kill built in, and Taker’s Flames does a ton of damage to boot.
Starscourge Greatsword (Radahn) – The Ash of War is basically Gravitas, but consistent and vastly more threatening. Both the ‘cry’ and the follow up smash gain the effects of the Roar Medallion to boot. Being a dual wielded weapon gives it great synergy with Rotten Winged Sword Insignia as well as the Thorny Cracked Tear. This weapon can end PvP matches before they even really start, and is an absolute champion in colosseum matches where it can hit more than one target easily.
Mohgwyn’s Sacred Spear (Mohg) – This thing has a built in “you lose” button when dealing with large quantities of enemies within its Ash of War. Like the Blasphemous Blade, this thing can gain basically any buff under the sun, while just using the Ash of War also gives it a Bloodflame effect.
Maliketh’s Black Blade (Maliketh) – Destined Death is still extremely strong. There is not a single boss in this game, even those with high Holy resistance, against whom Destined Death isn’t massively impactful. Even Godfrey, who is bizarrely the only enemy in the game immune to the Max HP reducing effect of Destined Death, takes a lot of damage from its DoT, which scales off of max HP.
Black Blade (Maliketh) – This is basically the same as the weapon, only used from a distance and being cast. The same things said about Destined Death apply here, though this form of Destined Death is a bit easier to wield than the sword’s version of Destined Death.
Sacred Relic Sword (Elden Beast) – This likely has the record for causing the most broken controllers and rage quits while requiring the least brainpower to do so in all of Elden Ring. Wave of Gold is absurd in the colosseum; even just spamming this brainlessly will likely net decent results. It’s also an amazing rune farming tool, letting players level up quickly. It may be fairly useless against bigger bosses, but it more than makes up for that by being a force to be reckoned with basically anywhere else.
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