Lords of the Fallen: Best weapons to grab early

It's hard to decipher which are the best weapons in Lords of Fallen when the game boasts over one hundred different ways to bash in demonic heads and slice up umbral monstrosities—that's not even taking into account spell catalysts, either. Before long, your inventory will be filled with more armaments than you can ever feasibly build into. Still, some of the early game weapons are definitely better than others.

Rather than trying to rank every single weapon in the game, this list breaks down the best starter weapons you can grab, whether you're planning a hammer-hefting barbarian, an agile assassin, or something more spell-based. I've broken the weapons below down into the stats they scale with, so you can pick accordingly. There's also a section for a couple of weapons you can grab if you buy the Pilgrim's Perch Key and venture into a late-game area inadvisably early.

Strength weapons

These are the best strength-scaling weapons that you can find early in the game.

Faithful Bludgeon

• Weapon type: Grand Hammer
• Requirements: 28 Strength
• Location: Below Skyrest Bridge
• Damage type: Physical
• Status effect: Burn

If you're looking for an early game strength weapon to crush enemies with, the Faithful Bludgeon is one of the best you can find. This big 'ol hammer is found underneath Skyrest Bridge. If you go underneath the wooden walkways near the Vestige of Chabui in Sanctuary, you'll find an elevator. Take it up, head down the stairs, then cross the bridge. At the far end, you'll see an item on a lower platform off to the right. Use the umbral lamp to walk out over the platform then drop onto it to grab the weapon. One really great thing about this weapon is that while its damage is purely physical, it can apply burn to enemies over time.

Crimson Rector Sword or Thorned Crimson Rector Sword

• Weapon type: Long Sword
• Requirements: 19 Strength
• Location: Below Skyrest Bridge and Pilgrim's Perch
• Damage type: Physical
• Status effect: Bleed

If you're just looking for your standard early game big sword, either of these will suit your needs. The regular version is pretty close to where the Skyrest Bridge Key is. From where you found the Faithful Bludgeon above, head across the bone bridge in the umbral, use Soulflay to activate the following bridge, and then look for a ladder straight ahead and to your right. This leads up a broken fountain with an umbral bug enemy and the sword. 

There's also the Thorned Crimson Rector Sword, which is basically the same but also applies bleed. Once you reach the Vestige of Blind Agatha at the top of Pilgrim's Perch, switch to the umbral realm, run past the spike-headed enemy, and you'll see a big outstretched hand where the weapon is located.

Proselyte Sword

• Weapon type: Long Sword
• Requirements: 19 Strength
• Location: Random drop from the Proselyte in Redcopse
• Damage type: Physical and Fire
• Status effect: Burn

This is definitely one of the best early game weapons you can access, but the downside is that since it's a random drop, you'd need to farm it from the Proselyte enemy in Redcopse village or on the bridge before Pieta's boss arena, and that's quite a challenge if you've just started playing. The Proselyte is easy to recognise since he's a skeletal-looking warrior with a red cape and a greatsword. 

The Proselyte Sword has the unique quality of dealing fire damage and burn buildup, yet doesn't scale with Inferno. That means it's perfect if you're running a purely strength-based build, but would like to apply some extra damage and status buildup.

Pale Butcher's Blade

• Weapon type: Grand Sword
• Requirements: 25 Strength, 20 Agility
• Location: Forsaken Fen
• Damage type: Physical and Wither

This big butcher's cleaver of a sword is located a fair bit later than the others in the Forsaken Fen. After you kick down the bridge shortcut in the run-up to the Hushed Saint boss, you'll find this in a hut off to your left near two of the little poisonous swamp creatures. There's also a Shuja warrior in the hut, so watch out. What makes this Grand Sword so good is that it's one of the few weapons that deal wither damage.

Agility weapons

These are the best Agility-scaling weapons that you can find early in the game.

Fist of Insight

• Weapon type: Fist
• Requirements: 10 Agility
• Location: Purchased from Damarose the Marked before the Gentle Gavernus, Mistress of Hounds boss in Pilgrim's Perch
• Damage type: Physical
• Status effect: Burn

This is definitely the best early hand-to-hand weapon you can get in Lords of the Fallen. You can purchase it from Damarose the Marked when you meet her outside the Gentle Gaverus boss arena in Pilgrim's Perch. This is right after you unlock the elevator shortcut back to the Vestige of Blind Agatha and then climb down a ladder and take a different elevator downwards. It's important to note that Damarose seems to leave if you start the boss, so be sure to purchase this weapon first. While the Fist of Insight isn't incredible damage-wise, it does apply burn buildup, which is very strong on such a fast-attacking weapon.

Kukajin's Sword

• Weapon type: Short Sword
• Requirements: 12 Agility, 8 Strength
• Location: You get this for smashing Kukajin's statue in the Forsaken Fen
• Damage type: Physical
• Status effect: Bleed and Poison

Acquiring this weapon means you have to effectively fail an NPC questline, by smashing Kukajin's statue instead of helping her in the Forsaken Fen. That said, her Short Sword is pretty amazing, applying both bleed and poison at the same time. Like the Fist of Insight, it also has a very fast attack pattern, which makes it easy to build those statuses on bosses and enemies. You can find Kukajin in a cave near a burning pyre just after you unlock the shortcut from the Vestige of Valade.

Hallowed Praise

• Weapon type: Short Sword
• Requirements: 12 Agility
• Location: Pilgrim's Perch
• Damage type: Physical and Holy
• Status effect: Bleed

This decent Short Sword is on your main track through Pilgrim's Perch and is a strong early game choice for Agility-scaling weapons. It deals holy damage as well as bleed buildup. After the Scourged Sister Delyth boss, head along the wooden walkways and past the first shortcut, until you come to a section with a suspended platform you have to jump between and pilgrim enemies firing radiance spells. On the far platform with the ladder, you'll find a corpse with this weapon stuck in him.

Radiance weapons

These are the best Radiance-scaling weapons that you can find early in the game.

Orian Preacher Hammer

• Weapon type: Hammer
• Requirements: 13 Radiance, 10 Strength
• Location: Purchased from Exacter Dunmire in Skyrest Bridge
• Damage type: Physical and Holy

There aren't actually that many Radiance-scaling weapons in Lords of the Fallen's early game. One of the best is Pieta's Sword, which is in the boss weapons section below, but that requires you to unlock the ability to purchase boss weapons first and gather enough Umbral Scourings. In the meantime, the Orian Preacher Hammer is your best bet. This is actually starting equipment for the Orian Preacher class, but if you decide after the fact you want to build towards Radiance you can purchase it from Exacter Dunmire. 

Inferno weapons

These are the best Inferno-scaling weapons that you can find early in the game.

Raw Mangler Axe

• Weapon type: Axe
• Requirements: 13 Inferno
• Location: Dropped by the double-axe-wielding enemies in Redcopse or purchased from Damarose
• Damage type: Physical and Fire
• Status effect: Burn

One of my personal favourite weapons, especially based on when you can get it, is the Raw Mangler Axe that deals both fire damage and burn buildup. It also doesn't seem to be an especially rare drop either, so you can potentially dual-wield them to quickly burn enemies and bosses. You can get it by killing the double axe-wielding Raw Mangler enemies in the Redcopse village before you reach the Pieta boss fight. You can also purchase it from Damarose the Marked before the Gentle Gaverus boss at the same time as the Fist of Insight.

Rusty Cutter

• Weapon type: Short Sword
• Requirements: 11 Strength, 11 Inferno
• Location: In the lava pool opposite the entrance to Pieta's boss arena
• Damage type: Physical and Fire

If you're looking for a weapon that scales with both Strength and Inferno, the Rusty Cutter is an easy one to grab. You can find it opposite Pieta's boss arena in a lava pool, around the corner to the left from where the enemies are fighting each other. While this Short Sword doesn't apply burn buildup, it still does fire damage, so it might be a good choice if you haven't gotten a Raw Mangler Axe yet, or don't quite have that 13 in Inferno.

Boss weapons

These are the best of the early boss weapons you can purchase from Molhu once you find the Bowl of Revelations and their remembrances.

Pieta's Sword

• Weapon type: Short Sword
• Requirements: 25 Radiance
• Location: Purchased from Molhu once you unlock boss weapons and beat Pieta, She of Blessed Renewal
• Damage type: Holy
• Status effect: Smite

Since you can unlock boss weapons relatively early, Pieta's Sword is definitely the strongest initial option for Radiance-scaling weapons. You'll need to gather enough Umbral Scourings by beating bosses and using Soulflay on umbral memories, but that shouldn't take too long. Besides having a very pretty glow, Pieta's Sword deals holy damage and is one of the few weapons that applies smite buildup which causes enemies to explode.

Hushed Saint's Halberd

• Weapon type: Polearms
• Requirements: 19 Strength, 16 Agility
• Location: Purchased from Molhu once you unlock boss weapons and beat the Hushed Saint
• Damage type: Physical
• Status effect: Poison

The Hushed Saint's Halberd is a great Strength and Agility-scaling polearm that deals poison damage. There aren't many weapons available early on that deal poison, save for Kukajin's Sword and the Shuja Warrior Spear you can get in the Forsaken Fen, so if you want a high-scaling poison weapon, this is a good shout.

Ranged Weapons and Catalysts

These are the best spell-casting catalysts and ranged weapons you can grab early on, besides the basic catalysts you can buy from Exacter Dunmire and Molhu in Skyrest Bridge.

Wilmarc's Catalyst

• Weapon type: Radiant Catalyst
• Requirements: 18 Radiance
• Location: Behind Kukajin's Statue in the Forsaken Fen

You can get this catalyst by either smashing Kukajin's Statue or helping her to get free in the Forsaken Fen since she is standing right in front of the item. This catalyst is definitely an upgrade from your standard Radiant Catalyst since it has an extra spell slot.

Searing Accusation

• Weapon type: Inferno Catalyst
• Requirements: 18 Inferno
• Location: In the hidden crypt under Skyrest Bridge, after you get rid of the umbral entity blocking it

This is the earliest Inferno Catalyst you can get if you don't choose the Pyric Cultist class, and it's actually an upgrade over the Pyric Cultist Catalyst since it has four spell slots. Acquiring it and finding the hidden crypt under Skyrest Bridge is a key part of freeing the Tortured Prisoner. To unlock her as a pyromancy spell vendor, you'll have to give her this catalyst. This will let you buy pyromancies and the Pyric Cultist Catalyst from her, though you can also just hang onto Searing Accusation until then. Once you defeat the Spurned Progeny boss in Calrath, you can give her the giant eyeball item and she'll return Searing Accusation.

Hallowed Bow

• Weapon type: Bow
• Requirements: 15 Agility, 8 Strength
• Location: By the entrance to Pilgrim's Perch after the Scourged Sister Delyth boss
• Damage type: Physical

If you're looking for an early-to-get bow, you can grab this one as soon as you enter Pilgrim's Perch. After the Scourged Sister Delyth boss, you'll enter a cave with an umbral flowerbed, and then exit out onto a series of walkways. Instead of climbing the higher path with the spike-headed enemy, switch to the Umbral, run down the spine on the left, and jump to the opposing platform to grab this bow.

Using the Pilgrim's Perch Key

It's worth noting that if you buy the Pilgrim's Perch Key from Stomund in Skyrest Bridge, you can access a late-game area early by the Vestige of Blind Agatha. The enemies are incredibly tough to fight, but there are some weapons you can run through and grab. 

Hammer of Holy Agony

• Weapon type: Hammer
• Requirements: 13 Strength, 13 Radiance
• Location: In the locked area you open with the Pilgrim's Perch Key near the Vestige of Blind Agatha
• Damage type: Physical and Holy
• Status effect: Bleed

To get this hammer, you need to travel through the area you unlock by the Vestige of Blind Agatha in the Bellroom until you arrive outside near to two of the bell staff-wielding pilgrim enemies. To your left, you'll spy a small gap with a crossbowman on the far side, and a beam in between where this weapon is located. This hammer is a strong scales with radiance and strength, but also deals holy damage and bleed buildup.

Bloody Glory

• Weapon type: Grand Sword
• Requirements: 32 Radiance, 30 Agility, 20 Strength
• Location: In the locked area you open with the Pilgrim's Perch Key near the Vestige of Blind Agatha
• Damage type: Physical and Holy
• Status effect: Bleed

To get this weapon, you're going to have to run past and evade a fair few enemies and you'll probably die at the end. From where you got the Hammer of Holy Agony, switch to the Umbral to cross the gap with the crossbowman and turn left into the cave corridor. Keep sprinting past the enemies until you reach the main room, then turn right and follow the stairs up as far as they go, watching out for even more enemies. At the top, you'll find a room with a crusader and three dogs, plus the weapon resting against an altar. If you're still alive after you grab it, run outside and turn left to find a vestige you can rest at.

As you can probably tell from the requirements, this is definitely one of the best swords in the game, and one you're probably not supposed to grab early, but it is possible to get it. Bloody Glory scales with Radiance and Strength and deals both holy damage and massive bleed buildup.