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Best Hammer in Elden Ring – Ranking All 15 Hammers

In thisย Elden Ring Best Hammer Tier List and Ranking Guide, weโ€™ll be taking a look at the 15ย Hammersย of Elden Ring, and discussing why you might use them in combat, as well as Ranking them and telling you which are the Best Hammer in Elden Ring. Weโ€™ll take a look at attack power, damage type, length, Weapon Skills and other factors such as how long it takes you to acquire them, to determine if they are best suited for you. We are doing a guide for all Weapon types in Elden Ring, and these will be updated to reflect those added withย Shadow of the Erdtreeย as well.

The Best Hammer in Elden Ring:

  1. Stone Club
  2. Marikia’s Hammer
  3. Nox Flowing Hammer
  4. Spiked Club
  5. Monk’s Flamemace
  6. Morning Star
  7. Mace
  8. Curved Club
  9. Ringed Finger
  10. Envoy’s Horn
  11. Club
  12. Hammer
  13. Warpick
  14. Scepter of the All-Knowing
  15. Varre’s Bouquet

Best Hammer in Elden Ring โ€“ Ranked

Hammers are one of 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to 39 when Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 21st, and they are one that is overlooked by many players. There are reasons for that, such as Hammer being a bit shorter than other weapons that attack at about the same speed, and their dual wield attacks are not synced so you cannot dual wield this weapon type vey effectively (usually).

However, there are some great things about Hammers in Elden Ring too, such as the amount of Stance Damage they deal. Charged Heavy Attacks and Block Counters with Hammers deal 36 Stance Damage, which is tied for the highest with Flails of any non “Great” or “Colossal” Weapon. And Hammers don’t have as long of a wind up as Flails for their Charged Heavy Attacks, making them a better choice if your preferred strategy is Stance Breaks.

Additionally, the Ashes of War: Lion’s Claw, Stamp (Sweep), Stamp (Upward Cut) and Wild Strikes all do more Stance Damage with Hammers than any other Weapon types, except for Great Hammers and Colossal Hammers. And Strike Damage is fantastic against enemies attacks normally bounce off of, as well as some Bosses like Deathbirds, Erdtree Avatars, Black Blade Kindred, and Crystallians.

PROS

  • High Stance Damage for their Weight
  • Many to choose from
  • Strike Damage is great against many enemies in the game

CONS

  • Shorter than a lot of weapons in Elden Ring
  • Dual Wield moveset is not great
  • Most have less than ideal weapon skills

With those things being said, letโ€™s get into the Hammers themselves, including the Unique Hammers, or the Hammers that canโ€™t be Infused at Sites of Grace. Weโ€™ll do them in order from worst to best Hammers in Elden Ring.

Varre’s Bouquet – #15 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Varre’s Bouquet shares the default attack of other Hammers, and deals Physical Damage. It is the lightest Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 2, and requires 8 Strength, 16 Dexterity, and 24 Arcane in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Lightest Hammer
  • Blood Build up on Hit
  • Can be buffed

BAD POINTS

  • Second Shortest Hammer
  • Very Very Low Attack Rating
  • A lot a steps are required to get this weapon, and it is missable
  • Vey high stat requirements for a Hammer

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 253

Conclusion: Varre’s Bouquet has very very low Attack Rating, it’s the second shortest Hammer in Elden Ring, it can be difficult to acquire and can be missed if you don’t know what to do, and it has some of the highest stat requirements for a Hammer. However, it’s the lightest Hammer, it has good Bleed Build Up on hit, and it can be buffed with Grease or weapon buff spells.

It’s weapon skill Blood Tax is not particularly effective since the weapon has such low Attack Rating, and because it has such short reach. It also has a long animation which makes it susceptible to being interrupted as well. You likely won’t use it that often.

The sweet spot for this weapon is around 55 Arcane, and minimum requirements in STR and DEX, but it does scale decently up to 80 Arcane and 50 DEX or so. STR has poor scaling all together, and I don’ recommend investing in it. However, no matter how optimized the damage of this weapon is still really bad.

The biggest strength of this weapon is that it can set Hemorrhage very easily, and leaning into that can work very well, right up until an enemy is immune or very resistant to this Status Effect. For that reason, I highly recommend splitting your attributes between Faith and Arcane in order to be able to cast Incantations effectively with the Dragon Communion Seal, and pick up some weapon buffs.

This gives you the option to rely more on your spells for damage than your Bouquet, but you can use your Bouquet to charge up your Attack Power via things like Lord of Blood’s Exultation, White Mask and things like Millicent’s Prosthesis and Rotten Winged Sword Insignia before casting a hard hitting spell, like a Dragonmaw, particularly if you were buffed with Golden Vow or Flame, Grant Me Strength.

Scepter of the All-Knowing – #14 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Scepter of the All-Knowing has unique thrusting variants on it’s running R2 and rolling R1 attacks, and deals Physical and Magic Damage. It has an average weight for a Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 4.5, and requires 12 Strength, 18 Dexterity and 21 Intelligence in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Tied for Longest Hammer
  • Only unique Hammer with a Thrusting variant attack

BAD POINTS

  • Not found until late into the game
  • High requirements for a Hammer
  • Weapon Skill is not very good and costs a LOT of FP

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 631

Conclusion: Even though the Scepter of the All-Knowing is tied for the longest Hammer in Elden Ring, and it is the only unique Hammer that has a thrusting varient, you still cannot use it until very late into the game, it has high requirements for a Hammer, and its weapon skills is not very good.

Knowledge Above All debuffs nearby enemies and yourself, reducing Magic and Holy negation by 10% for 60 seconds for a whopping 35 FP to use. Since the weapon itself deals about 40% Magic Damage, this is only a 5% increase to melee attacks, making it better suited to debuff bosses or a large group of enemies before spellcasting. However, considering its rather short range and cost, you’d likely be better off just casting another spell for 35 FP most of the time.

The sweet spot for this weapon is around 50 DEX and minimum requirements in STR and INT, but INT does not scale terribly up to 50, and you can get some points out of STR as well, which you might want to do in order to use a better Shield. However, I find that the damage you lose from pumping INT instead of DEX isn’t so bad, which allows you to use better Staves and cast Sorceries with higher potency.

This weapon should be fine damage wise at least through Journey 2, but it might struggle beyond that, mostly because of its poor weapon skill.

Consider using this weapon with a Staff in order to cast Sorceries, using the Scepter to debuff or melee when necessary. You can use a Shield as well to get some Block Counters for one on one situations, and when paired with the Greatblade Phalanx spell you can get easy Stance Breaks.

Warpick – #13 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Warpick shares the default attack of other Hammers, and deals Physical Damage. It is the second lightest Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 2.5, and requires 11 Strength and 9 Dexterity in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Very light for a Hammer
  • Does Piercing Damage instead of Strike
  • Can be found early on in the game

BAD POINTS

  • Lowest Attack Rating of Infusible Hammers

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power:

  • Magic – 599
  • Sacred/Flame Art – 599
  • Fire/Lightning – 585
  • Keen – 534
  • Heavy – 528
  • Cold – 509
  • Quality – 499
  • Blood/Poison – 403

Conclusion: The Warpick is an interesting Hammer because it’s extremely light weight at 2.5, it does Piercing Damage instead of Strike (despite what the weapon displays), and it can be found early in the game. The biggest downside is that it has very low Attack Rating for a Hammer, second only Varre’s Bouquet.

Kick is not particularly good since it’s used to open up shield wielding enemies (and players) to Critical Attacks by breaking their guard. However, there are not that many enemies this applies to, and usually you can just wait for those enemies to attack you and Block Counter, so I highly recommend swapping this to another Weapon Skill when you can.

Infusion-wise Magic and Sacred/Flame Art are tied at 599 Attack Rating, with Fire/Lightning coming in at 585. Keen outperforms Heavy by 6 points, with Cold just behind at 509.

I like to play this weapon with the Blood Infusion since its Attack Rating is so low anyway, which allows you to make up for that somewhat by triggering Hemorrhage on enemies and Bosses, and you can use things like White Mask and Lord of Blood’s Exultation to further boost Attack Power as well. Use a Greatshield for Block Counters, and make sure to use an Ash of War with good Stance Damage (like Lion’s Claw), since this can help make up for the weapons Attack Rating

Hammer – #12 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Hammer shares the default attack of other Hammers, and deals Physical Damage. It is the second heaviest Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 6.5, and requires 14 Strength and 7 Dexterity in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Tied for Second Longest Hammer
  • High Attack Rating

BAD POINTS

  • Not found until late into the game, and is missable

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power:

  • Fire/Lightning – 692
  • Magic – 689
  • Sacred/Flame Art – 671
  • Cold – 643
  • Heavy – 634
  • Keen – 606
  • Quality – 569
  • Blood/Poison – 546

Conclusion: The Hammer is a solid choice for this weapon group because of its very high Attack Rating, and the fact that it is the second longest Hammer in Elden Ring. However, you cannot get it until very late into the game in the Royal Capital and is missable, so you’re much more likely to use something else by the time you get this one.

As with the Stone Club and Mace, Kick is not a particularly good weapon skill, so I highly recommend swapping this to another Weapon Skill when you can. Any of the ones I’ve mentioned so far are good.

Infusion-wise Fire/Lightning comes in first at 692 Attack Rating, with Magic jus behind at 689 and Sacred/Flame Art at 671. Heavy outperforms Keen 634 to 606, with Cold outperforming Heavy at 643, making it a good choice for this weapon.

I like to use this weapon with Fire or Cold for good STR scaling, and pair it with a Greatshield. Lion’s Claw is just so easy to use with it, and it absolutely destroys enemies because of the decent damage and Stance Damage per use. However, odds are you will likely use another Hammer unless it’s in Journey 2, because of how late you get it.

Club – #11 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Club has an R1 attack chain that operates just like the Stone Club striking rapidly, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 3.5, and requires 10 Strength in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Longer than most Hammers
  • Found very early in the game
  • Lowest Requirements of all Hammers
  • Attacks very quickly
  • Very ight for a Hammer

BAD POINTS

  • Second lowest Attack Rating of all Infusible Hammers

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power:

  • Sacred/Flame Art – 601
  • Fire/Lightning – 600
  • Magic – 596
  • Heavy – 560
  • Cold – 550
  • Keen – 539
  • Quality – 509
  • Blood/Poison – 475

Conclusion: The Club is longer than most Hammers in Elden Ring, it can be found extremely early in the game, it has the lowest stat requirements of all Hammers, and it attacks very quickly compared to other Hammers. However, it does have the lowest Attack Rating of all Infusible Hammers.

It’s weapon skill Barbaric Roar is not bad, and further increases the Physical Damage you do with the weapon (as well as Strength Scaling) for 40 seconds, and changes your Heavy Attacks into a chain. This attack chain is very strong, but you need good Poise in order to pull it off successfully.

Infusion-wise Sacred/Flame Art and Fire/Lightning are virtually tied at 601 and 600 AR, with Magic pulling up third with 596. Heavy edges out Keen 560 to 539, with Cold being a valid option at 550.

I like to play this weapon with the highest Attack Rating I can, since it’s low to begin with, so I usually go with Fire. This provides good STR scaling, that helps you also use a Greatshield for Block Counters. You can pick any Ash of War you like, but two good ones for this Build are Flaming Strike for extra damage or Lion’s Claw for Stance Breaks. Lion’s Claw does 39 Stance Damage with Hammers, which is higher than all “Great” weapons, and Colossal Weapons that are not also Hammers.

Remember that this weapon attacks very quickly for a Hammer, so using Talismans like Winged Sword Insignia or Millicent’s Prosthesis are definitely viable on this weapon.

Envoy’s Horn – #10 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Envoy’s Horn shares the default attack of other Hammers, and deals Physical and Holy Damage. It is the third lightest Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 4, and requires 10 Strength, 12 Dexterity and 16 Faith in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Oracular Bubble’s damage increased with Envoy Crown
  • Oracular Bubble has quite good range
  • Oracular Bubble tracks targets
  • Oracular Bubble has low FP cost

BAD POINTS

  • One of the shorter Hammers
  • Not found until late into the game
  • Holy Damage is weak against late game bosses
  • Oracular Bubble’s damage is 100% Holy
  • Lower Attack Rating

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 608

Conclusion: The Envoy’s Horn is an interesting Hammer. It’s one the shorter hammers in Elden Ring, you can’t find it until later in the game, Holy Damage isn’t a particularly great damage type in the base game, and Oracular Bubble does 100% Holy Damage. However, it has decent Attack Rating, and only 1/3 of its normal attack damage is Holy, making it very usable against Holy resistant enemies.

It’s weapon skill: Oracular Bubble is why the Envoy’s Horn is a decent weapon. It shoots out a bubble of 100% Holy Damage over a moderate distance that deals significant damage for its 6 FP cost. This allows you to use this to pick off enemies fairly easily or soften up hard to kill targets safely. And because Oracular Bubble deals 100% Holy Damage it’s buffed easily by Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear and Sacred Scorpion Charm for further damage. Additionally, wearing the Envoy Crown will further boost the damage of this skill.

The sweet spot for this weapon is at about 40 STR, 40 DEX and 20 FAITH, but the weapon scales decently with STR and DEX up to 55 or so, with FAITH lagging behind a bit. However, neither STR nor DEX boost the damage of Oracular Bubble, but FAITH does. This means if you’re building for Oracular Bubble damage, you’ll be sacrificing a bit of melee damage (about 30 points).

I highly recommend building this weapon that way, increasing STR and FAITH with minimum DEX in order to 1) boost Oracular Bubble damage, 2) allow you to use Greatshields effectively, 3) take advantage of the Clawmark Seal for Incantations, and 4) to give you enough Faith for Golden Vow and other buffs or spells you might want.

Ringed Finger – #9 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Ringed Finger shares the default attack of other Hammers, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 4.5, and requires15 Strength and 9 Dexterity in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Longest Hammer
  • Scales with STR well, allowing for Greatshield pairing easily
  • Weapon Skill is decent

BAD POINTS

  • Not found until pretty far into the game

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 621

Conclusion: The Ringed Finger isn’t found until pretty far into the game, but it is tied with the Hammer and Scepter of the All-Knowing for the longest Hammer in Elden Ring, it scales well with Strength allowing for easy Greatshield pairing, and its weapon skill is pretty solid.

Claw Flick expands the finger for a second or so before flicking the enemy forward, often launching them into the air if it doesn’t out right kill them. The damage it deals is decent for its 14 FP cost, and it can be used somewhat easily even at its short range because it causes enemies to flinch when it expands, preventing damage. I like to use this right after a Block Counter since Claw Flick also does 30 Stance Damage, allowing you to Stance Break more difficult enemies easily with this combo.

The sweet spot for this weapon is around 55 STR and minimum requirements into DEX, but it scales well up to 80 STR. You can get some damage out of DEX, but it’s not a ton, making this weapon do alright in Journey 2, put probably not further than that (unless you go for Stance Breaks).

I like to play this weapon with a Greatshield to Block Counter, this allows you to use something like Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger to help offset FP costs if you want. Make sure to use Warrior Jar Shard or Shard of Alexander as well to further boost Claw Flick damage. Make sure you have 51 Poise on your armor, since you will still get hit when using Claw Flick sometimes and you don’t want to be interrupted.

Curved Club – #8 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Curved Club shares the default attack of other Hammers, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 5, and requires 11 Strength and 7 Dexterity in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Can be found pretty early on in the game
  • Pretty good STR scaling

BAD POINTS

  • One of the shorter Hammers
  • Lower Attack Rating than a lot of other Infusible Hammers

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power:

  • Magic – 656
  • Sacred/Flame Art – 638
  • Fire/Lightning – 634
  • Heavy – 620
  • Cold – 586
  • Keen – 575
  • Quality – 545
  • Blood/Poison – 500

Conclusion: On initial inspection the Curved Club doesn’t look that great. It is one of the shorter Hammers in Elden Ring, and it has lower Attack Rating than a lot of other Infusible Hammers. However, you can get it early on in the game, and it has rather good Strength Scaling, making it ideal to use with a Greatshield.

It’s weapon skill Barbaric Roar is not bad, and further increases the Physical Damage you do with the weapon (as well as Strength Scaling) for 40 seconds, and changes your Heavy Attacks into a chain. This attack chain is very strong, but you need good Poise in order to pull it off successfully.

Infusion-wise Magic comes in first at 656 Attack Rating, with Sacred/Flame Art second at 638 and Fire/Lightning a close third at 634. However, Heavy is not that far behind at 620, outperforming Keen by 45 points.

I like to use this weapon with the Heavy Infusion, since it’s not that far behind the top 3, and this allows you to buff the weapon with Barbaric Roar more effectively by keeping the weapon all Physical Damage, but also allows you to use a Greatshield pretty easily with it. And, if you don’t use Barbaric Roar, you can always buff your weapon with Grease as well, pushing you over the other Infusions in damage when you need it most.

Mace – #7 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Mace has a unique R2 attack, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 4.5, and requires 12 Strength and 7 Dexterity in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Can be found pretty early on in the game

BAD POINTS

  • One of the shorter Hammers
  • Kick isn’t a good Weapon Skill in PvE

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power:

  • Sacred/Flame Art – 660
  • Magic – 658
  • Fire/Lightning – 654
  • Heavy – 609
  • Cold – 599
  • Keen – 587
  • Quality – 572
  • Blood/Poison – 483

Conclusion: The Mace is neither a fantastic weapon nor a poor one. It’s one of the shorter Hammers in Elden Ring, but you can purchase it in Roundtable Hold early on, and it has decent Attack Rating.

As with the Stone Club, Kick is not a particularly good weapon skill, so I highly recommend swapping this to another Weapon Skill when you can. Any of the ones I’ve mentioned so far are good.

Infusion-wise Sacred/Flame Art comes in first at 660, with Magic virtually tied at 658, and Fire/Lightning just behind at 654. Heavy outperforms Keen 609 to 587, with Cold coming in at 599.

I like to play this weapon with the Sacred or Flame Art Infusions and a Greatshield to get that traditional “Paladin” feeling. You can split Attributes between STR and FAITH to use a Greatshield and the Clawmark Seal to cast Spells like Golden Vow, which really helps to crank your damage. I also really like the Lightning Slash Ash of War for this weapon, since it does have Sacred as an infusion option and still buffs the weapon, and you can also use it easily after a Stance Break or sometimes after a Block Counter.

Morning Star – #6 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Morning Star shares a thrusting attack at the end of its R1 attack chains as well as its rolling R1 with the Scepter of the All-Knowing, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 5, and requires 12 Strength and 8 Dexterity in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Bleed Build up on hit
  • Can be found early on in the game
  • Decent Quality Scaling

BAD POINTS

  • One of the shorter Hammers
  • You don’t trigger Bleed easily

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power:

  • Magic – 662
  • Sacred/Flame Art – 662
  • Fire/Lightning – 650
  • Keen – 582
  • Heavy – 579
  • Cold – 566
  • Quality – 564
  • Blood/Poison – 469

Conclusion: The Morning Star is not the most powerful Hammer in Elden Ring, and it’s quite short, but it does have Bleed build up on hit, it can be found quite early, and it has decent Quality Scaling making it good for Journey 2.

As with the Stone Club and Mace, Kick is not a particularly good weapon skill, so I highly recommend swapping this to another Weapon Skill when you can. Any of the ones I’ve mentioned so far are good.

Infusion-wise Magic and Sacred/Flame Art are tied at 662 Attack Rating, with Fire/Lightning coming in second. Keen outperforms Heavy with this Hammer, but only by 3 Attack Rating, and Cold is just behind at 566. Quality is not far behind either, at 564.

I like to play this weapon with Heavy infusion, dipping a few points into Faith and Arcane in order to use Bloodflame Blade with it or just use Blood Grease, otherwise you don’t see much result from the Bleed effect, which normally only triggers maybe once per Boss fight. This also allows you to crank STR and use a Greatshield as well, for Block Counters.

Monk’s Flamemace – #5 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Monk’s Flamemace has a unique R2 attack that stomps the ground, and deals Physical Damage. It is one of the heavier Hammers in Elden Ring, weighing 6, and requires 13 Strength and 13 Dexterity in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Can be found pretty early in the game
  • Good Keen Scaling

BAD POINTS

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power:

  • Magic – 685
  • Fire/Lightning – 682
  • Sacred/Flame Art – 664
  • Keen – 630
  • Cold – 614
  • Heavy – 587
  • Quality – 569
  • Blood/Poison – 546

Conclusion: The Monk’s Flamemace has solid Attack Rating for Hammer, it can be found pretty early in Elden Ring, and it has great Keen Scaling if you want a good Dexterity option for a Hammer.

As with the Stone Club and Mace, Kick is not a particularly good weapon skill, so I highly recommend swapping this to another Weapon Skill when you can. Any of the ones I’ve mentioned so far are good.

Infusion-wise Magic comes in first at 685, then Fire/Lightning at 682, and finally Sacred/Flame Art at 664. Keen outperforms Heavy by a whopping 43 points, with Cold at 614.

I like to lean into the Keen aspect of this weapon when using it, though it can make it challenging to use a Greatshield with low Strength. However, the Jellyfish Shield is fantastic since it only requires 20 STR to use and can buff your damage. When paired with Cragblade you not only get nearly 1000 Attack Rating, but you also get over 40 Stance Damage with each Charged Heavy Attack, allowing you to Stance Break most Bosses with one Block Counter and Charged Heavy Attack or two Charged Heavy Attacks.

Spiked Club – #4 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Spiked Club has a unique R2 attack, and deals Physical Damage. It has an average weight for a Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 5, and requires 12 Strength and 7 Dexterity in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Does Bleed Build up on hit
  • Can be found early in the game
  • Excellent Quality Weapon

BAD POINTS

  • One of the shorter Hammers
  • You don’t trigger Bleed easily

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power:

  • Sacred/Flame Art – 675
  • Magic – 673
  • Fire/Lightning – 670
  • Heavy – 604
  • Cold – 593
  • Keen – 576
  • Quality – 573
  • Blood/Poison – 497

Conclusion: The Spiked Club is one of a 3 Hammers with native Bleed build up on it, it can be found early in the game, and it actually has excellent Quality Scaling that makes it great for a Journey 2 playthrough. However, it is one of the shorter Hammers in Elden Ring, and you don’t trigger Hemorrhage nearly as often as you’d hope.

It’s weapon skill Barbaric Roar is not bad, and further increases the Physical Damage you do with the weapon (as well as Strength Scaling) for 40 seconds, and changes your Heavy Attacks into a chain. This attack chain is particularly good on this weapon due to its native Bleed build up which can trigger more quickly from this chain, but you need good Poise in order to pull it off successfully.

Infusion-wise Sacred/Flame Art come in first at 675 Attack Rating, with Magic just behind at 673, and Fire/Lightning just behind that at 670. Heavy outperforms Keen 604 to 576, with Cold doing 593. However, Quality comes in here at 573, which is not that far behind either Heavy or Keen, meaning it should easily over take either of these Infusions in Journey 2 where you can take STR/DEX up to 80/80 with better results.

Because Fire is pretty far ahead of Heavy in terms of Attack Rating, I recommend taking this Infusion here in order to take advantage of that and still use a Greatshield easily. You could also go the Cold route if you want to have duo Status Effects.

Nox Flowing Hammer – #3 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Nox Flowing Hammer shares the default attack of other Hammers, and deals Physical Damage. It is the second heaviest Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 6.5, and requires 17 Strength and 7 Dexterity in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • High Attack Rating
  • Scales with STR well, allowing for Greatshield pairing easily
  • Weapon Skill is quite good

BAD POINTS

  • Shortest Hammer in Elden Ring
  • Not found until pretty far into the game

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 662

Conclusion: The Nox Flowing Hammer is the Shortest Hammer in Elden Ring, and you can’t find it until fairly far into the game. But, it does have pretty high Attack Rating, it scales with STR very well allowing for a Greatshield pairing easily, and its weapon skill Flowing Form is quite deadly.

Flowing Form swings the Hammer in a medium-ish wide sweep that tends to cause enemies to flinch, before pancaking them into the dirt. This allows you to chain it over and over, not allowing the enemy a chance to respond if you can land the first hit a lot of the time, provided you have the Stamina to keep using it. It’s damage is also passible for its 16 FP cost, and it will trigger Winged Sword InsigniaRotten Winged Sword Insignia and Millicent’s Prosthesis if it hits multiple enemies.

Attribute-wise the sweet spot is right around 55 STR and minimum DEX, but it scales well up to 80 STR. You can continue to pump DEX after this for marginal damage, allowing you to take this weapon into Journey 2 effectively, but past that its damage will suffer. However, this might not matter if you stunlock everything with Flowing Form.

I like to play this weapon with a Greatshield to Block Counter, this allows you to use something like Assassin’s Cerulean Dagger to help offset FP costs if you want. Make sure to use Warrior Jar Shard or Shard of Alexander as well to further boost Flowing Form damage. I also like Ritual Sword Talisman for this one, as I tend not to get hit often when using this sort of Build.

Marika’s Hammer – #2 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Marika’s Hammer shares the default attack of other Hammers, and deals Physical and Holy Damage. It is one of the heavier Hammers in Elden Ring, weighing 6, and requires 20 Strength, 12 Dexterity, and 19 Faith in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • Gold Breaker is one of the most OP Weapon Skills in Elden Ring
  • Highest Attack Rating of unique Hammers

BAD POINTS

  • One of the shorter Hammers
  • Not found until the very end of the game
  • High requirements for a Hammer
  • Holy Damage is weak to both end game and early game bosses

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power: 673

Conclusion: Marika’s Hammer is one of the shorter Hammers in Elden Ring, you cannot find it until the very end of the game making it a Journey 2 weapon, it has high requirements for a Hammer, and it does some Holy Damage, which many base game bosses are resistant too. However, it has the highest Attack Rating of all unique Hammers, most damage is Physical, and it has one of the deadliest Weapon Skills in Elden Ring.

Gold Breaker causes your character to leap forward into the air, slamming your Hammer down in a rather large AoE dealing both Physical and Holy Damage that tends to make enemies flinch. What makes this skill so great is two things: First, if you make it into the air you are virtually uninterruptable, allowing you to spam this skill rather easily since enemies flinch when struck most of the time, giving you time to use it back to back. And second, if you connect with both the Hammer itself and the AoE you will deal 40 Stance Damage, allowing you to Stance Break the majority of Bosses in Elden Ring in two hits with a bit of practice and a little luck.

The sweet spot for this weapon is around 50 STR with minimum requirements in DEX and FAITH. However, it’s a good idea to make sure you have at least 25 FAITH in order to use Golden Vow and Flame, Grant Me Strength. This weapon scales decently with all three stats though, and since its skill is so good, you’ll be able to get through at least Journey 2 and 3, and possibly higher than that.

I like to play this weapon with a Greatshield for Block Counters and the Clawmark Seal to take advantage of both STR and FAITH for Incantations, leaning into Gold Breaker, like I did in my Gold Breaker Build.

Stone Club – #1 Best Hammer in Elden Ring

The Stone Club has an R1 attack chain that operates just like the Club striking rapidly, and deals Physical Damage. It is the heaviest Hammer in Elden Ring, weighing 7, and requires 16 Strength and 8 Dexterity in order to wield.

GOOD POINTS

  • One of the longer Hammers
  • Can be found reasonably early in the game
  • Highest Attack Rating of all Infusible Hammers
  • Attacks more quickly than most Hammers

BAD POINTS

  • Heaviest Hammer
  • Kick isn’t a good Weapon Skill in PvE

Attack Rating at level 150 with optimal stat spread for highest Attack Power:

  • Fire/Lightning – 718
  • Magic – 714
  • Sacred/Flame Art – 685
  • Cold – 667
  • Heavy – 660
  • Keen – 641
  • Quality – 609
  • Blood/Poison – 586

Conclusion: The Stone Club slaps hard, and should be considered by any player looking to use a Hammer in Elden Ring. It is one of the longest Hammers, it can be found somewhat early in the game, it attacks more quickly than most other Hammers, and it has the highest potential Attack Rating of all Hammers in Elden Ring. The only drawbacks are that it is the heaviest Hammer, and Kick is not a great weapon skill in PvE.

Kick is not particularly good since it’s used to open up shield wielding enemies (and players) to Critical Attacks by breaking their guard. However, there are not that many enemies this applies to, and usually you can just wait for those enemies to attack you and Block Counter, so I highly recommend swapping this to another Weapon Skill when you can.

Infusion-wise Fire/Lightning comes in first at 718 Attack Rating, with Magic a close second at 714, and Sacred/Flame Art coming in at 685. Heavy outperforms Keen 660 to 641, and Cold actually outperforms Heavy making it a good choice since it still has good STR scaling, and you can attack quickly, triggering Frostbite fast in many cases.

I like to play this weapon with very high Attack Rating with Flaming Strike and the Fire Infusion, because you can hit close to 900 Attack Rating when setup this way (with Ritual Sword Talisman), which is VERY high for a weapon that weighs 7. Additionally, you could use the Jellyfish Shield to further buff your damage, while also using it for Block Counters.


If you enjoyed this Hammers Guide, be sure to check out our other Weapon Guides, and also our article on how to Prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree!

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