Skip to Content

Elden Ring: Best Ashes of War For Katanas

Being able to swap weapon skills and affinities is one of the special traits of the weapons in Elden Ring. While the Ashes of War is a recurring concept in the FromSoftware series, its usage has never been this prominent – especially in katanas. 

Elden Ring: Best Ashes of War For Katanas

The katanas in Elden Ring tend to work great with Ashes of War like Storm Blade and Thunderbolt for elemental damage. Consequently, Quickstep and Gravitas are great for maneuverability. Meanwhile, Seppuku can be used as a damage boost.

Aside from their mentioned uses, these Ashes of War are also great for general combat. Therefore, your victory is pretty much set in stone if you learn to make effective use of them. 

In this guide, I will be breaking down the mentioned Ashes of War along with their effective use cases. Furthermore, we will also be enlightened about their obtaining methods. 

Elden Ring: Best Ashes of War For Katanas

Elden Ring: Best Ashes of War For Katanas

The Katana is a weapon that generally scales with dexterity. Despite its size, it is well known to hit smooth and fast. Furthermore, the innate damage of a katana is no joke, no matter the build.

With that said, here are the best Ashes of War present in Elden Ring for katana-based weapons:

Storm Blade

Elden Ring: Best Ashes of War For Katanas

The Storm Blade essentially surrounds the armament with forward-firing winds. It is great for creating distance between enemies due to its multi-attack combos. Furthermore, a katana’s blood loss can be lethal if stacked correctly. Therefore, it’s generally good enough to melt most HP bars. 

This is also because of the uncapped succession rate, so you can spam it as much as you want as long as you have the desired resources for it. 

Location: The Storm Blade can be obtained from the Knight Benahl located at the Warmaster’s Shack. It will cost you around 1,800er runes 13.

Quickstep

Elden Ring: Best Ashes of War For Katanas

Quickstep is mainly used due to its high maneuverability. The skill essentially allows the player to reposition by circling around lock-on targets. While the skill is rather confusing to master for beginners, it’s great with any melee weapon, including katanas.

Consequently, the weight and blade length of a katana doesn’t hold your flexibility back due to this skill acting as a substitute.

Location: This Ashe of War can also be obtained from Knight Bernahl at the Warmaster’s Shack for 800er runes 13.

Thunderbolt

Elden Ring: Best Ashes of War For Katanas

Elemental attacks are a rarity in Elden Ring. This is precisely due to their potency against single targets. Needless to say, being able to rain literal bolts of lightning in rapid succession is enough to take care of most AOE monsters. 

As a plus, this skill can be used on all melee armaments. Therefore, it’s a great way of dealing multi-target damage on a katana. 

Location: This Ash of War is dropped by a Teardrop Scarab in the Lyndell location of the Royal capital.

Gravitas

Elden Ring: Best Ashes of War For Katanas

The Gravitas is a skill that calls the power of gravity to disrupt the enemy’s flow by pulling them towards the incurred force field. It lets you have the upper hand in most battles since you’re the one that gets to decide how the enemy approaches you.

With that being said, the Gravitas also deals a considerable amount of damage. Pairing that with the katana is just going to make it more lethal.

Location: Can be looted from a Slender Wayfarer near the Seaside Ruins Site of Grace.

Seppuku 

Elden Ring: Best Ashes of War For Katanas

This Ash of War is a berserker-based skill that essentially makes the user stab a sword in their stomach to gain a higher blood loss infliction success rate and a boost in damage. It pairs perfectly with the innate damage of a katana. 

Furthermore, the weapon is mainly used with swords, thereby making it a perfect match. 

Location: The Seppuku Ash of War is located on the frozen lake at the east of the Freezing Lake site of grace.

Looking for more Elden Ring guides? Here are some of ours:

Not played the game yet? You purchase Elden Ring on Steam here.