The best Demon's Souls weapons and where to find them

(Image credit: Sony)

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Starter weapons
Mid-game weapons

The best Demon's Souls weapons completely change your experience of trying to survive. There are loads of different stats that, depending on your character build, can make weapons amazing, or useless. The 'best weapon' then, entirely depends on where you've spent your points in many cases, with attack values that level up with magic, strength, defense and so on. An incredible weapons for a high magic character will be useless in the hand of a strength tank. We cover exactly how Demon's Souls weapons stats work in more detail in that link.

It means that trying to understand which Demon's Souls weapons you should use when you're just starting out can be tough. Not to mention you need to find and reach them first. So in this guide we’re going to go through some of the best weapons you should try and grab right at the start of the game, as well as then leadinging into what's worth a look once you've progressed and leveled up a bit. We’ll also explain why they’re so useful so you can make better choices about how to use them. There are obviously numerous weapons that you might like, but this guide will cover the Demon's Souls weapons we think are the easiest to obtain and use.

Starter weapons

Best Demon's Souls starter weapons

Halberd

Demon's Souls weapons — (Image credit: Sony)

The Halberd is one of the best weapons to start with for a multitude of reasons. The biggest factor is that you can obtain it as soon as you start (more on that further down). But aside from that, the Halberd has tremendous range and high damage, making it extremely effective for players who don’t like to get too close to their targets.

Its starting damage is 95 which is respectable for the early sections of the game. The Halberd also features many upgrade paths, some of which feature high scaling with strength. Its heavy R2 attack is tremendously useful, as it sweeps horizontally, making it easy to knock down several enemies at once. Be sure to experiment with two-handing the weapon, which is when it’s most effective.

Where to find the Halberd

The easiest way to obtain the Halberd is by picking the Temple Knight class when creating your character - and we recommend to do that anyway since that class comes with the ability to use the Healing miracle right away. You can also find it as a drop from Soldiers wielding the Halberd in Boletarian Palace 1-1, or it can be purchased from the Filthy Woman in the Valley of Defilement for 5,000 souls.

Bastard Sword

Another great choice when starting out is the Bastard Sword. This weapon features similar damage as the Halberd (at least at first), but is shorter, meaning it’s slightly easier to control. We consider this a mid-tier weapon in terms of weight and speed, making it a fair choice for learning the ins and outs of the game’s many attack animations.

The best thing about the Bastard Sword (aside from how easy it is to obtain) is its heavy, two-handed R2 attack. This overhead swing is excellent for narrow corridors -- and deals massive damage. It, too, can be upgraded to heavily scale with strength, but can also be enchanted to favor faith or magic. If you’re a fan of the Halberd’s damage output but want something easier to wield, we recommend the Bastard Sword.

Where to find Bastard Sword

The Bastard Sword is located in Boletarian Palace 1-1, just after an enemy sends a rolling boulder towards you inside. As soon as the boulder comes down the steps, run back down and out of the way. It will crush a small platform behind you, allowing you to drop down and acquire the sword from a dead body below.

Winged Spear

The Winged Spear is slightly harder to obtain than the previous two weapons, but is ideal for players wanting something with more speed. With the Winged Spear, it has similar range as the Halberd, but can be used to pull off quick jabs. Since it’s so fast, it doesn’t deal high amounts of damage with each blow, but its overall damage per second (DPS) is on par with the previous two weapons.

You’ll notice its two-handed R1 jab is great for staggering enemies, as it interrupts many of their attacks and allows you to keep hitting them before they can strike. That’s the beauty of fast weapons - you can effectively 'spam' them to continuously damage an opponent before they have the chance to react. The Winged Spear scales with strength and dexterity, but favors the latter and can even be modified to deal poison damage.

Where to find Winged Spear

Finding the Winged Spear is slightly trickier, as it requires you to take out the Phalanx boss in Boletarian Palace 1-1. After defeating the boss, you’ll come to 1-2. Just after the room with the small, shielded blobs known as Hoplites, you’ll arrive at a bridge, littered with three items. The second one is the Winged Spear.

The thing is, if you run across the bridge as is, a dragon will come out and likely burn you to death, so you have to prepare before attempting to grab it. Before running across the bridge, take off all of your character’s armor - so they’re in their underwear (we know, this might be odd). This will grant your character enough speed to quickly run across the bridge to grab the item and dart into the building ahead. You *can* run across with full gear and grab the Winged Spear, but the dragon will likely take you out. You’ll still have the item if you die, but it’s best to avoid that if possible.

Mid-game weapons

Best Demon's Souls mid-game weapons

Once you get a little further through the game, you should consider finding better weapons. You can certainly stick with the ones we mentioned above and upgrade them to their final forms, but there are a few mid-game weapons you might want to check out, too.

Compound Long Bow

There are several instances in Demon’s Souls in which having a long range weapon like a standard bow or crossbow will come in handy. There are lots of bows to choose from, but arguably the best is the Compound Long Bow, which can be upgraded to the Sticky Compound Long Bow - the most powerful bow in the game. Though, you don’t need to do that to enjoy its benefits, even a few hours into Demon’s Souls.

The basic version of the Compound Long Bow is still useful and starts at 45 damage. This is on par for most of the other bows you’ll find and the fact that it can be upgraded to become so powerful makes it an ideal choice for newcomers.

You don’t always need to focus on taking enemies out with the bow either. It can be used to bait an enemy into coming towards you, without you having to run to their location. The Compound Long Bow, specifically, features a high range of 60, more than nearly any bow or crossbow in all of Demon’s Souls.

Where to find Compound Long Bow

Finding the Compound Long Bow is tricky, as it requires you to deal with the pesky skeleton enemies in Shrine of Storms 4-1. For this reason, you shouldn’t attempt to get your hands on it until later on when your character is stronger.

To find it, head straight from the start of 4-1, past the skeleton and into the open courtyard. You’ll see the boss from the tutorial section, known as the Vanguard to the right. Head towards it, take it out, and when it’s dead, you’ll find a giant hole in the ground behind where it stood, with lots of debris and a path that leads below.

Go down and you’ll come to a narrow tunnel with a pressure-sensitive mechanism on the ground. This will trigger a trap that sends a series of arrows at you. You have no choice but to step on it, so either turn 180 degrees and block the arrows, or hug the wall to the left or right to just narrowly avoid them. It will seem like the path ahead leads to a dead end, but if you attack the wall in front of you, it will reveal a secret path. Go this way, but be prepared to take out two skeletons ahead.

After they’re both dead, take the first right that leads to another path that - again - seemingly leads to a dead end. You’ll see a small set of stairs that lead to a wall that you can attack to reveal the path above. Follow these steps all the way to the top of the tower you’re in and you’ll come to a section where you can go left or right.

Take the leftmost path and follow it to a skeleton archer, who is standing right next to a dead body that contains the Compound Long Bow.

Uchigatana

Finally, let’s discuss the Uchigatana, a weapon that is even more fun to use than its name sounds. The Uchigatana is, as you’d expect, a fast weapon that mirrors a Japanese katana. The fantastic thing about this weapon is its high damage, which starts out at 95. It excels at causing bleeding damage, meaning enemies will lose health over a period of time if hit.

We highly recommend two-handing this weapon to get the most out of it and try to avoid using its R2 attacks as they’re very slow (unless you’re absolutely sure you can pull off the attack). If you stick with its R1 attacks, you’ll find that it’s extremely easy to use and takes enemies out quickly. The Uchigatana scales with dexterity more so than strength, so keep this in mind when upgrading your character’s stats.

Where to find Uchigatana

Though it’s a mid-game weapon, the Uchigatana isn’t too terribly difficult to find. It’s located in Shrine of Storms 4-1 and is found just past the Vanguard mini boss at the start of the area. Just behind the boss is a corner where you’ll find the Uchigatana.

Crescent Falchion+1

The Crescent Falchion is absolutely monstrous, even during the later portions of the game. What’s great about it is that it scales with magic, so spellcasters will definitely want to keep it in their back pocket. But even if you aren’t a sorcerer, this weapon will come in handy for a large portion of the game.

It’s extremely fast, is easy to wield, and works well against most bosses in the game, especially if you upgrade it using Moonshadestone (found in Shrine of Storms). Make sure you two-hand this weapon when possible to deal more damage and don’t ignore its quick R2 attacks.

Where to find Crescent Falchion+1

One of the main reasons this weapon is so useful is that you can grab it as soon as you beat the first boss - giving you the upper hand throughout the early stages of the game. You’ll find it in Shrine of Storms 4-1, just past the first fog gate.

Immediately after you cross the fog, turn left into the building and watch out for the pressure sensitive plate on the ground. This will trigger a trap that shoots arrows at you. After that, continue through the building and then make a left to head back outside. Here, you’ll find a Dual Katana Black Skeleton guarding the weapon. You can run past him and quickly pick up the Crescent Falchion+1 behind him.