Juxtaposed to the starting playthrough weapons list, today’s list simplifies things. What are the best right-handed Trick weapons in the game? We care little for how, when or where they’re acquired here.

Bloodborne has been hailed for having an excellent qualitative catalogue of weapons. As such, while there are five “worsts” for the list, it should be noted that even they are capable of turning Yharnam on its head. All Trick Weapons are at least useable, most are good. Which is the best and worst? Today’s list, representing the last of InReview’s Bloodborne content, aims to sort that out.

Fifth Worst – Saw Spear

As a spear, this underperforms compared to the Rifle Spear due simply to its inefficient moveset. As a saw weapon, this is objectively outclassed by the Saw Cleaver in every way. It should be illegal for a so-called “spear” to harbor lower Motion Values than a cleaver. How does that make any sense? The Saw Cleaver has greater base damage to compensate for the Saw Spear’s meager advantage in counter scenarios. Against beast enemies specifically, Saw Spear’s peak is that it can basically match the cleaver’s damage against beast enemies specifically while having a disappointingly low effective range advantage. Against non-beasts, the cleaver pulls further and further ahead the deeper into the playthrough you go, and is available even earlier than the spear is.

Fifth Best- Reiterpallasch

This is basically a slightly better Rifle Spear, with better stats around the clock and being easier and faster to wield. It can fit basically any build despite low Bloodtinge scaling, and that’s because of one thing this weapon has up its sleeve- this weapon can uniquely fire its attached gun while in un-transformed mode, allowing the player to equip something else in their left hand, or maybe even go full akimbo mode with two guns. The added flexibility is what lands this weapon on the list, while also giving even more of a reason to journey to Cainhurst Castle.

Fourth Worst- Logarius Wheel

This weapon is a ton of fun and can potentially put in good work. It would probably have been a really strong choice in Elden Ring. However, it has a lot working against it here in Bloodborne. It amplifies problems with one’s Blood Vial supply, especially early with the self-inflicted damage it imposes. It’s also a pure Strength weapon- Strength builds are not the worst by any stretch, but tend to come up short compared to other specialized builds. The reason for this is that one’s visceral attack scales off of Skill in this game, not the weapon they are using. Finally, the Logarius Wheel’s moveset is very predictable and extremely stumpy, which is not a good combination in a game as fast paced as Bloodborne. You might actually get better results out of a Hunter’s Torch in PvP…

Fourth Best- Simon’s Bowblade

When a weapon is known far and wide for convincing players to “skip into the DLC’ and “get it early”, you know that weapon has to be something pretty special. Enter the Simon’s Bowblade, a weapon which can indeed be had pretty quickly, albeit not especially easily, from the DLC. Like the Reiterpallasch, it doubles as a melee/projectile hybrid tool. But, the Simon’s Bowblade spends its Quicksilver Bullets actually killing things instead of setting the player up for nifty viscerals. This makes the weapon extremely flexible and uniquely capable in situations where the player needs something with range.

Third Worst- Amygdalan Arm

Many of the negative aspects, minus the lifedrain, of the Logarius Wheel can be said here. While the Amygdalan Arm isn’t quite as stiff and rigid as the wheel, it is far less explosive and has much less of a ‘boom’ potential than the Logarius Wheel, while underperforming in many of the same ways. This is a DLC weapon that nobody “skips into” to get “early”.

Third Best – Ludwig’s Holy Blade

This weapon is all vibes, maybe one of the easiest and most straightforward weapons to use in all of Bloodborne. It has amazing scaling, arguably the most flexible out of the whole entire game at that. Its moveset is simple and efficient, giving the player everything they could possibly want to deal with beasts, kin, enemy Hunters, and more. There is not a single situation in which this weapon underperforms in any serious way.

Second Worst – Stake Driver

Honestly, this thing isn’t necessarily hopeless, in PvE at least. It can hit pretty hard if you actually figure out how to hit something with its extremely stunted hitbox. That, of course, is also what makes this weapon a lost cause in PvP. Like with the Logarius Wheel, Bloodborne just isn’t the game for a fist-esque weapon to succeed. It doesn’t do anything that another weapon can’t, and its extremely weak range will inevitably leave players wanting at some point.

Second Best – Blade of Mercy

This is what the Stake Driver wishes it could be. And this is how to make small hitboxes work in this game. A quick, simple, efficient moveset to go with prime scaling out of the best stat in the game. Not only that, but this weapon takes advantage of this game’s Rally mechanic better than any other weapon in the entire game due to its slick, speedy moveset. This list is not seriously considering the how or when a weapon is acquired, but this weapon does earn some stripes for technically being available before the player has even killed a single boss. This is the absolute GOAT of Skill based weapons, and I would even argue it holds a place as one of From Software’s finest “Dexterity” weapons in general.

Worst- Kos Parasite

Okay, yes, you can absolutely build in a way where this weapon doesn’t suck. Of course, you need the Milkweed Rune to even think about it, which is already a minor point against this weapon since nothing else demands a specific rune just to function. Then, you need to plug away at Arcane and basically learn how to play the game again, as Milkweed completely transforms the mechanics of how the player moves and attacks in this game. All of that just isn’t worth it from a practicality standpoint. And if you even dare balk at one thing this weapon demands, it becomes a genuinely garbage choice for an armament. A bit disappointing to receive as a drop from the very final boss of the DLC.

Honorable Mentions-

Saw Cleaver – It’s the world record weapon, it’d be pretty silly keeping it off the list completely even for as mundane as it is. Pairs really well with Beast Blood Pellets, gives a nice edge early game to fighting beast enemies, and doesn’t really have any standout shortcomings to speak of.

Rakuyo – There is one nagging issue with this weapon: its annoying requirement of 10 Strength in return for zero scaling whatsoever. Being unable to do any of the cool tricks Maria can do with it is just par for the course in a From Software game. It’s a fast, lethal and flexible weapon. It gets the nod over the Chikage here because it remains pretty explosive without draining the player’s HP or demanding they make a specific build to properly wield it.

Burial Blade – This is one instance where, technically, the list should dock this weapon for “when” it is acquired. The reason for this is that, in some cases, the player may literally be unable to get this weapon until they have already committed themselves to New Game Plus, which would make it completely unusable for their entire first playthrough. In fact, unless you handle things in your playthrough a very, very particular way, this is almost destined to become the case. That’s about it, as this weapon is pretty amazing otherwise.

Best- Holy Moonlight Sword

Ludwig’s second phase cutscene isn’t just for show. This is a legendary From Software masterpiece that has been seen in several other From Software games. That said, its variant here in Bloodborne as the Holy Moonlight Sword may actually be the greatest “Moonlight Greatsword” From Software has ever created in all of their history. This is a plainly flawless weapon with incredible flexibility, able to fire off powerful Moon Beams which have deceptive range. That’s not all, as there is more to this weapon than meets the eye. For some reason, the player just straight up receives hyper armor in a couple instances of using this weapon. Thanks to the Rally mechanic, hyper armor is absurdly good in this game, making the Holy Moonlight Sword amazing for both PvP and PvE.

This weapon is intended for full, dedicated Arcane builds. However, just meeting this weapon’s bare minimum for stats is still good enough to make it look busted, as its scalings are quite strong and the base damage is extremely high thanks to all the Arcane damage it’s constantly pumping out.

Honestly, even the untransformed version of this weapon would have no doubt made today’s list. It functions similarly to a Claymore from the Dark Souls trilogy, one of the more renowned greatswords of the trilogy.

And on top of all of that, this weapon is just sick as hell to use. It is a cosmetic masterpiece. Even if some numbers nerd (like me) was to argue some other Moonlight Greatsword iteration is superior to this one, nobody will ever be able to argue that this one isn’t the coolest.