Elden Ring Ashes of War Tier List Patch 1.17

Ashes of War remain one of the most important combat systems in Elden Ring. These skills can completely change how a weapon performs by adding powerful attacks, defensive abilities, buffs, ranged options, and new affinities. The right Ash of War can turn an ordinary weapon into the centerpiece of a highly effective PvE build.

With the release of the Tarnished Edition and Patch 1.17, several existing Ashes of War have become more relevant alongside the seven new weapons introduced with the update. Some skills are particularly effective with the new weapons, while others remain excellent general-purpose choices for established builds.

This Elden Ring Ashes of War tier list evaluates the strongest options based on damage, stance-break potential, FP efficiency, versatility, safety, and practical PvE performance.

Elden Ring Ashes of War Tier List

S-Tier Ashes of War

1. Lion’s Claw

Lion’s Claw is one of the most dependable all-purpose Ashes of War in Elden Ring. It launches your character into a powerful overhead attack while providing a substantial hyper-armor window.

The combination of strong damage, excellent stance damage, and knockdown potential makes it particularly effective against bosses. It can also be equipped on a wide variety of melee weapons.

Heavy weapons make Lion’s Claw even more dangerous because repeated use can quickly pressure an enemy’s stance. The primary weakness is that extremely fast enemies with multi-hit attacks can punish its recovery or interrupt your follow-up.

Best for: Strength builds, greatswords, colossal weapons, boss fights.

2. Cragblade

Cragblade is arguably the strongest general-purpose physical weapon buff in this ranking. Activating it increases physical attack damage by 15% while also increasing stance damage output by 10%.

Unlike attack-specific Ashes of War, Cragblade improves the weapon’s normal attacks. This makes it particularly useful for players who rely on light attacks, jumping attacks, charged heavies, or other conventional melee attacks.

If your weapon deals primarily physical damage and you aren’t relying heavily on another weapon skill, Cragblade is an extremely efficient choice.

Best for: Physical melee builds, Strength/Dexterity builds, jump attacks and heavy attacks.

3. Wing Stance

Wing Stance is one of the most flexible new options for fast melee weapons. It provides two different follow-up attacks depending on the input.

The light attack produces a rapid sequence of swipes, making it useful for crowd control, repeated hits, and status buildup. The heavy follow-up provides a powerful piercing lunge for single-target pressure.

Its interaction with Rellana’s Cameo is another major advantage. After charging the talisman, the multi-hit sequence can maintain the associated damage bonus, creating excellent burst potential.

Best for: Dexterity builds, fast weapons, multi-hit builds and aggressive playstyles.

4. Impaling Thrust

Impaling Thrust combines speed, range, low FP consumption, and strong stance damage. Its piercing attack can bypass enemy shields, making it especially effective against defensive enemies.

It also has a relatively short animation, allowing players to take advantage of smaller openings that would be unsafe for slower skills.

Its stance damage is comparable to Piercing Fang, but the faster execution makes Impaling Thrust more practical in many situations.

Best for: Spears, light greatswords, thrusting weapons, shield enemies and stance-breaking builds.

A-Tier Ashes of War

A-Tier skills are highly effective and can be best-in-slot in particular builds or situations.

Royal Knight’s Resolve

Royal Knight’s Resolve provides an 80% damage increase to your next attack, making it one of the strongest skills for single-hit burst setups.

Its main limitation is the preparation time. Against highly aggressive bosses, spending time applying the buff can create an opening for the enemy to punish you.

However, when combined with a massive charged heavy attack, the resulting damage can be enormous.

Best for: Colossal weapons, charged heavy attacks and one-shot setups.

Endure

Endure is primarily a defensive Ash of War. It provides substantial damage negation and temporary resistance to stagger, allowing you to continue attacking after taking a hit.

It works especially well with fast weapons such as fists and claws, where trading one hit for several rapid attacks can be advantageous.

Its main limitation is that it doesn’t make you invulnerable to extremely high burst damage.

Storm Blade

Storm Blade provides valuable ranged pressure without forcing a melee-focused build to carry a dedicated ranged weapon.

The projectile travels quickly and has a relatively low FP cost. At close range, the weapon itself can also connect with the target, increasing its overall damage potential.

Best for: Straight swords, curved swords, greatswords and curved greatswords.

Spinning Slash

Spinning Slash performs a circular attack around the player, making it particularly effective when surrounded by multiple enemies.

It is also the default skill of the new Hefty Scimitar, where its wide attack pattern complements the weapon’s curved moveset.

For single targets it is less impressive than some S-Tier options, but its crowd-clearing ability makes it a strong general-purpose choice.

Piercing Fang

Piercing Fang is a long-range piercing attack with excellent tracking. Its extended lunge allows you to attack enemies from a safer distance.

Although its stance damage is comparable to Impaling Thrust, its slower animation makes it less efficient when reaction speed is critical.

It remains particularly effective against human-sized enemies and NPC invaders.

Quickstep

Quickstep provides fast lateral or backward movement without requiring a traditional roll. It consumes less stamina than a full dodge and can help aggressive players remain within striking distance.

Unlike Bloodhound’s Step, however, Quickstep does not provide the same invincibility-frame protection.

Bloodhound’s Step

Bloodhound’s Step is the stronger defensive mobility option. It allows the player to rapidly disappear and reposition while benefiting from invincibility frames.

The higher FP cost prevents it from being an ideal skill for constant spam, but it can be extremely valuable when escaping dangerous boss combinations.

Braggart’s Roar

Braggart’s Roar provides a combination of offensive and defensive benefits:

It is particularly attractive for power-stance builds because it can be activated on an off-hand weapon before combat.

The altered heavy attacks are somewhat awkward with many weapon types but can work well with weapons such as great spears and halberds.

B-Tier Ashes of War

B-Tier does not mean unusable. These skills are often highly effective when paired with the right weapon or build, but they generally have clearer limitations than S- and A-Tier options.

Best Ashes of War for Tarnished Edition Weapons

Patch 1.17 and the Tarnished Edition introduce seven notable weapons:

Two of these weapons use unique Somber upgrades and have fixed skills, while the remaining weapons offer more customization through interchangeable Ashes of War.

Idus Sword: Best Ashes of War

The Idus Sword is a light greatsword with fast attacks and impressive reach. Its default Impaling Thrust complements its thrust-oriented moveset extremely well.

For general use, Impaling Thrust is arguably the best match because it takes advantage of the weapon’s speed and reach.

If your priority is boss damage and trading hits, Lion’s Claw becomes an attractive alternative. Cragblade is excellent for players who primarily use normal attacks, jumping attacks, and charged heavies.

Hefty Scimitar: Best Ashes of War

The Hefty Scimitar is a Strength-Dexterity curved greatsword that naturally benefits from wide attacks.

Spinning Slash is the most natural choice because its circular attack complements the weapon’s moveset. Storm Blade provides a useful way to deal with enemies outside melee range, while Braggart’s Roar can improve a dual-wielding setup.

Leontiel’s Greatsword: Muleta

Leontiel’s Greatsword is a unique Somber weapon with a fixed Ash of War called Muleta.

Because the skill is exclusive, it cannot be replaced with another Ash of War.

Muleta focuses on evasive side-pivots that can transition into charged heavy attacks. Rather than simply overpowering enemies, the weapon rewards players who dodge an incoming attack and immediately punish the opening.

Builds using Leontiel’s Greatsword can benefit from charge-attack-focused talismans such as Godfrey Icon and Rellana’s Cameo.

Golden Order Flail: Causality’s Wrath

The Golden Order Flail also has a fixed unique skill: Causality’s Wrath.

The skill creates a protective bubble that interacts with incoming attacks. As the bubble absorbs attacks, it strengthens before triggering a large holy AoE explosion.

Because the skill is locked to the weapon, players should build around its unique defensive and offensive mechanics rather than attempting to replace it.

The Broken Gold Mask armor set is particularly appropriate for a setup designed around the weapon’s holy damage and theme.

Reverse-Bladed Sword: Best Ashes of War

The Reverse-Bladed Sword is a fast backhand blade aimed primarily at Dexterity and status-oriented builds. Its default Blind Spot skill can be replaced.

Wing Stance is the strongest general-purpose option because its fast attacks fit the Reverse-Bladed Sword’s quick moveset.

For dedicated bleed setups, Double Slash can provide faster status buildup, while Quickstep helps players maintain close-range positioning.

Reed Great Katana: Best Ashes of War

The Reed Great Katana is designed around Dexterity and supports Keen, Cold, and Lightning affinities.

Its default Overhead Stance can be replaced with another compatible Ash of War.

Wing Stance is particularly effective for aggressive Dexterity builds. Storm Blade adds ranged flexibility, while Royal Knight’s Resolve works better for players who prefer carefully prepared burst attacks.

Ritual Thrusting Shield: Best Ashes of War

The Ritual Thrusting Shield combines defensive blocking with offensive thrust attacks, making it an unusual hybrid weapon.

Impaling Thrust is the most straightforward option because it enhances the weapon’s existing thrusting identity.

Endure is better for aggressive players who want to absorb incoming damage before counterattacking, while Piercing Fang provides greater reach and safer poke opportunities.

How to Choose the Right Ash of War

The highest-ranked Ash of War isn’t necessarily the best choice for every build. Your weapon type, attributes, preferred attack pattern, FP availability, and target should all influence your decision.

For Maximum Boss Damage

Choose Lion’s Claw for repeated heavy attacks or Royal Knight’s Resolve for single-hit burst setups.

For Physical Melee Builds

Cragblade is one of the safest choices because it improves both physical damage and stance pressure without requiring you to change your normal attack pattern.

For Dexterity Builds

Wing Stance, Double Slash, and Quickstep are strong options depending on whether you prioritize damage, status buildup, or mobility.

For Stance Breaking

Lion’s Claw and Impaling Thrust stand out because they combine strong stance damage with practical attack animations.

For Defensive Play

Endure is ideal when you want to trade through attacks, while Bloodhound’s Step provides superior emergency mobility.

For Crowd Control

Spinning Slash, Stormcaller, and Storm Stomp can handle groups effectively, although their overall value varies depending on the stage of the game and enemy strength.

Building Around Ashes of War in Tarnished Edition

Ashes of War should be treated as part of your overall build rather than isolated skills. Your weapon’s moveset, affinity, talismans, attributes, armor, and other ER Items can all influence how effective a particular Ash becomes.

For example, Wing Stance becomes much more attractive when your build benefits from repeated hits, while Cragblade is most effective when your primary damage comes from physical weapon attacks rather than frequent skill casts.

Similarly, players using a burst-oriented setup may prefer Royal Knight’s Resolve because it allows them to convert a short preparation window into an extremely powerful attack.

Resource management also matters. Builds with limited FP may gain more from low-cost skills such as Impaling Thrust or Storm Blade than from expensive abilities that require frequent FP regeneration. Efficient management of Elden Ring Runes can also help when upgrading weapons, attributes, and equipment to support a specialized Ash of War setup.

Which Ashes of War Are Best After Patch 1.17?

The Tarnished Edition weapon lineup gives several established Ashes of War new opportunities. Wing Stance stands out because it complements multiple fast weapons, while Impaling Thrust is a natural fit for the Idus Sword and Ritual Thrusting Shield.

For players using conventional physical weapons, Cragblade remains one of the most reliable choices because its benefits apply across normal attacks rather than requiring a specific weapon skill.

Meanwhile, Lion’s Claw continues to be a powerful all-purpose option for players who value hyper armor, stance damage, and straightforward boss pressure.

Ultimately, the strongest setup depends on whether your build is designed around raw physical damage, status buildup, stance breaking, mobility, defensive trading, or single-hit burst damage. Experimenting with different Ashes of War is one of the best ways to adapt the new Tarnished Edition weapons to your preferred playstyle.

The U4GM Team