Summary
Elden Ring’s Great Hammers have received some significant buffs since launch, with increases in speed, range, recovery time. The general consensus from the community is that these changes made what was previously viewed as a relatively underwhelming weapon class far more satisfying to use - which is great, because few things bring more joy than bashing your way through the Lands Between with a particularly hefty stick.
If you avoided Great Hammers in the past, now is the perfect time to give these heavy-hitting weapons a try. And this list is here to tell you which of them is the right choice.
Updated on June 09, 2025, by Lucas Ellinas:Great Hammers are a potent group of weapons, possessing a great deal of stopping power without the cumbersome weight and glacial speed of Colossals. The category got some unique new options in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, so we’ve updated our list to include them, along with a few Great Hammers from the base game that originally didn’t make the cut.
14Greathorn Hammer
TheGreathorn Hammeris one of several weapons and items in Elden Ring that heals you whenever an enemy dies, an ability that is great while traveling, but won’t be especially useful during boss fights.
The version of this ability that is attached to the Greathorn Hammer isn’t great, though; it’s less effective than the Blasphemous Blade and the weapon is much heavier than the Serpent-God’s Curved Sword, making it less convenient as a sidearm.
Without the ability, the weapon is fairly underwhelming, as its damage isn’t the best on any particular Infusion. If you do want it, you can farm the Ancestral Followers that are particularly common in Siofra River.
13Devourer’s Scepter
The Devourer’s Scepter has extremely high requirements and an Attack Rating that doesn’t really match it. That would be fine if the Weapon Skill, Devourer of Worlds, was exceptionally powerful, but its AOE healing ability, while useful if you are surrounded, relies on hitting multiple enemies, making it extremely underwhelming in boss fights.
The weapon is dropped by Bernhal; if you’re fine skipping his questline, you can kill him right away at the Warmaster’s Shack. Otherwise, you’ll need to wait until he invades you in Crumbling Farum Azula.
This is one of the Legendary Armaments, so it’s worth getting for the achievement, if nothing else.
12Large Club
TheLarge Clubis one of the longest Great Hammers you may give unique Ashes of War to. You’re going to sacrifice a significant amount of damage when compared to other options when using it, but that extra range can come in handy.
This weapon also has the advantage of being obtainable at the very start of the game. You don’t even need to fight a single enemy to get it (assuming you skip the tutorial). The Great Club is sitting on the cliffs south of the Forlorn Hound Evergaol, guarded by a few Demi-Humans.
11Curved Great Club
TheCurved Great Clubperforms excellently on certain Affinities - notably Magic, Flame, and Sacred. As a result, if you want a Greathammer for an Intelligence or Faith build, it’s going to be one of your best options. Andwho doesn’t want to hit people with magic?
Many of the Second-Generation Albinaurics carry this weapon around Liurnia of the Lakes, and can be farmed relatively easily. These Albinaurics are quite common, especially in the Temple Quarter. The drop rate is rather low, although far from the worst in the game.
10Rotten Battle Hammer
TheRotten Battle Hammeris tied for the shortest Great Hammer, and has underwhelming damage, but it makes this list thanks to one specific property: it is one of an extremely limited number of weapons that cancause Scarlet Rot. Normally, you want Status-causing weapons to be fast, but that’s slightly less relevant with Scarlet Rot, since you can only trigger it once before you need to wait for it to wear off.
Unfortunately, like most Scarlet Rot weapons, the Rotten Battle Hammer can’t be acquired until you reach the later stages of the game. It’s located in the Consecrated Snowfield, where it is a guaranteed drop from the Rotten Duelist you can find west of the Consecrated Snowfield Site of Grace.
9Great Mace
TheGreat Maceis a solid all-around weapon. You can give it a variety of Ashes of War, and among the Great Hammers sharing that property, it can compete in both damage and length. It’s not the best in either category, being shorter than the Great Club and weaker than the Brick Hammer, but you might find the blend the Great Mace provides feels better than the more extreme alternatives.
The weapon can be acquired in the middle stages of the game in the area leading up to the Grand Lift of Dectus. It’s in a chest tucked amidst the trebuchets that try to shoot you down on your way to the lift.
8Smithscript Greathammer
The DLC’s Smithscript weapons operate normally in most scenarios, but their strong attacks allow you to throw them at your enemies. While that versatility is great, they probably don’t hit as hard as you probably want them to, even when throwing something as large as theSmithscript Greathammer.
The weapon also has a weird stat spread that makes it harder to use on a pure Strength build than you probably want. Still, being able to throw a Greathammer at your enemy is definitely fun; if you want this unique weapon, it can be found in Taylew’s Ruined Forge, located north of the Ancient Ruins Base Site of Grace.
7Envoy’s Long Horn
It used to be the case that theEnvoy’s Long Hornwas an absolute powerhouse. While it gets decent damage when swinging it around, like any musical instrument, the Longhorn is at its best when you play it.
The Weapon Skill, Bubble Shower, ranked among the best in the game for PvE. It creates a wide spread of small bubbles in a sort of continuous shotgun effect. That makes it somewhat tricky to use against smaller enemies, but it will shred large bosses - especially when wearing the Envoy’s Crown, which increases its damage by 15 percent.
Unfortunately, Bubble Shower was hit with an apocalypse-level nerf just before the DLC launched, making this weapon far more niche. If you want to test its current strength for yourself, the Envoy’s Longhorn is dropped by the Large Oracle Envoys you encounter in Leyndell, Royal Capital and Miquella’s Haligtree.
6Brick Hammer
If you gravitated towards Great Hammers out of a simple desire to inflict blunt-force trauma, theBrick Hammeris the weapon for you. It’s a brick on a stick, and it acts like one. It has the highest damage in class on many different Affinities, most notably Heavy, earning S scaling. That said, it is among the shortest Great Hammers, which you might find causes you problems against more mobile enemies.
However, even if you don’t want to use it for your entire playthrough, the Brick Hammer can be found quite early in the game in Stormveil Castle by traversing the rafters near where Gatekeeper Gostoc attempts to trap and kill you. This makes it a solid option for Strength builds in Elden Ring’s initial stages.
5Cranial Vessel Candlestand
The most spectacular aspect of theCranial Vessel Candlestandis its Weapon Skill, Surge of Faith. When used, you thrust the weapon into the air, launching fireballs in a wide area around you. This ability won’t be particularly effective against small enemies, since where the fireballs land is relatively random, but if your enemy is large (especially if you can get underneath them), Surge of Faith will deal massive damage.
And unlike some weapons with impressive Weapon Skills, the Cranial Vessel Candlestand has good scaling with Strength and Faith, so it will also deal decent damage if you just swing it at your enemies. You won’t be able to acquire this weapon until quite late in the game, though; it’s locked behind an Imp Statue seal in the Giant-Conquering Hero’s Grave, in the Mountaintops of the Giants.
The weapon’s name is literal; there’s a Fire Monk’s severed head in there.
