Of all the varieties of swords in Dark Souls 3, Thrusting Swords offer the best traits for players intent on delivering speedy stabs. Due to the speed of their attacks, buffs that apply status effects like bleed, poison, or frostbite can be a great strategy to take advantage of. Some also have higher critical damage modifiers, which lends them quite well to tactics like delivering ripostes and backstabs.
In addition, their thrust-type damage is great for landing counterattacks upon foes in the middle of an attack animation as well as allows their wielder to poke at foes from behind the safety of a shield. Since there are only six in the entire game, the choices are relatively slim, though, over the years since DS3's release, players have determined a general consensus as to which ones are the best in this weapon class.
6 Crystal Sage's Rapier
Although it cannot be infused or buffed, the Crystal Sage's Rapier can still be upgraded to +5, as with most weapons made from transposing the soul of a boss. When one does so, it gains a superior A-tier scaling with Intelligence, making it an excellent melee weapon for any sorcerer build (or similar).
It also deals mostly Magic damage, making it excellent at harming foes even if they have high physical resistances. The bonus of gaining 50 Item Discovery when it is wielded makes it handy as a farming aid.
5 Rapier
As the most basic in both name and performance, the Rapier is bland but not a bad weapon by any means. With a +10 Sharp infusion, this Thrusting Sword gains a great scaling of A-tier with Dexterity, enabling it to deal some substantial damage.
It also has a huge Critical stat of 130, making it the Thrusting Sword that deals the most damage via backstabs and ripostes. In a similar manner to how one would use a Dagger, players can equip the Hornet Ring for even more critical attack damage.
4 Ricard's Rapier
Named for the undead prince of renowned battle prowess, Ricard's Rapier acts quite similarly to the regular Rapier, though without the huge Critical stat. Like all thrusting weapons, it can gain a nice bonus to counterattack damage if one also equips the Leo Ring.
However, what makes this perilous poker stand out among its kind is its weapon skill, Ricard's Lunge and Press, which unleashes a flurry of aggressive stabs that can be extended with a strong attack. Few foes can block all of these strikes, making it a great move to overwhelm shield-hugging foes.
3 Estoc
This is probably the Thrusting Sword used the most in PvP, and for good reasons. The Estoc is the longest of its kind and offers a sweeping attack among its many thrusting ones for some nice versatility. Though, it does not lend itself to riposte and backstabs like other Thrusting Swords, as its Critical stat is the average 100.
Instead, players using this should try its excellent Shield Splitter weapon skill to bypass the shield of an enemy as if they were merely holding a wet paper towel in front of themselves. With an A-tier in Dexterity scaling at +10 with a Sharp infusion, all foes should be wary of a player wielding an Estoc.
2 Irithyll Rapier
As one of the only weapons to have an innate frost effect, and only Thursting Sword to have any auxiliary trait, the Irithyll Rapier can be a deadly weapon, even compared to similar ones. The frost build-up of 55 points per hit will likely make any human in PvP very wary, which can allow the player to dominate the battle if they use proper spacing and time their attacks well.
Since it is a unique weapon, it can only be upgraded to +5, though when it is, it gets C-tier Scaling in both Strength and Dexterity. This allows Quality builds to take great advantage of this snowy sword.
1 Crow Quills
Found in the Ashes of Ariandel DLC, the Crow Quills are arguably the deadliest out of all the Thrusting Swords. When one-handed, they are a fairly standard representation of their weapon class. However, when two-handed, four throwing knife-like illusionary quills appear in the offhand. This provides the wielder with a difficult to dodge mid-range attack that extends the reach of this weapon by a fair bit. The unique weapon skill, Quill Dart, causes the player to do an evasive jump while also launching the offhand quills in a fan-like pattern that can be a great offensive and defensive move.
These are but a few of the Crow Quills' moves, though there's even more that makes this blade deadly. While two-handed, the running attack has hyper armor, which no other Thrusting Sword can claim. In fact, almost no other weapon besides the 'great' variety can boast possessing hyper armor. Furthermore, gaining S-tier in Dexterity when at +10 Sharp infusion places the Crow Quills firmly in the top tier within the minds of all players who have had a chance to try them out.