Elden Ring: 10 Best Poison Weapons, Ranked

Elden Ring

By Jerrad Wyche & Vlad Mazanko

Updated Jun 16, 2024

Elden Ring has a bevy of weapons that allow the player to cater the experience to their heart's desire. Whether it's fire, magic, or some other type of damage, the game is home to a variety of weapon types. This is something FromSoftware has continued to do from Dark Souls through the release of Elden Ring in 2022.

Poison is a more niche type of damage. Players can use it to great effect, but it requires a bit more skill and strategy than other damage types that are a bit more user-friendly and have immediate effectiveness. From bows to swords and everything in-between, Elden Ring has more than a handful of poisoning weapons players should know about.

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Updated June 16, 2024, by Vlad Mazanko: In preparation for the upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, players may want to ready themselves for the unknown challenges by fine-tuning their character builds and discovered gear. Poison armaments remain relatively uncommon in Elden Ring, as there are not many weapons with this damage type in the game. It's possible that Shadow of the Erdtree will introduce more items in this category. For players who want to try something new, these poison weapons and tools might come in handy.

10 Poison Pot

Poison Throwables To Quickly Deal With Groups Of Enemies

Scaling: Arc C
Min Poison buildup: 200
Max Poison buildup: 291

The Poison Pot is a common consumable in Elden Ring that can be thrown at enemies to inflict poison damage and buildup. These tools require an empty Cracked Pot to craft, but first, players need to find the Nomadic Warrior's Cookbook [14] in the Smoldering Church in Caelid. Poison buildup from these items scales with Arcane, with a base buildup status of 200.

Keep in mind that Poison Pots aren't very effective against bosses and large enemies in Elden Ring. To maximize their effectiveness, throw them at groups of small enemies, as they have a decent area of effect and will poison most regular enemies with one toss. For enemies like land squirts and groups of guards, these pots are quite useful and fun to use.

9 Land Squirt Ashes

Summon Group Of Festering Blobs

Elden Ring Poison Weapons Land Squirt Ashes

HP Cost: 240
Attacks apply Poison buildup

Some might argue that spirit ashes in Elden Ring aren't exactly weapons, but being able to unleash them in specific instances makes their casting no different from activating or swinging a weapon. The Land Squirt Ashes are a bit more passive, but this grouping of festering blobs poison anything foreign standing in close proximity to them.

The neat thing about these ashes is that players will need to use their health to summon them instead of depleting the FP bar. Close quarters are where these ashes can make the most of their casting, but players need to be careful. They could end up trapping themselves in a corner, resulting in possibly getting stun-locked by an enemy.

8 Fetid Pot

Enhanced Throwables That Deal More Damage With Shorter Duration

Scaling: Arc C
Min Poison buildup: 250
Max Poison buildup: 363

A common strategy in Elden Ring and other FromSoftware titles is the use of throwable consumables as a way to hit enemies from a distance, and/or attract the aggro of a specific enemy and pull them away from a group for a more approachable combat scenario. Fetid Pots are throwable pots players can use to inflict Deadly Poison on any living thing it hits.

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They're craftable as well, so players who have cracked pots, mushrooms, and gold-tinged excrement can make a heaping ton of them if properly prepared. By the time the enemy starts pursuing the player, it's likely their health bar has been greatly reduced thanks to the Deadly Poison from a perfectly landed Fetid Pot throw.

7 Ant's Skull Plate

A Shield With A Unique Design and a Unique Hidden Perk

Default Scaling: Str D
Max Upgrade Scaling: Str B
Default Damage: 136
Max Damage: 262
Poison Buildup: 90

The Ant's Skull Plate has a unique design that will likely divide players into fans and skeptics. It has a solid Poison buildup of 90 from the start, although it's somewhat disappointing that, without Arcane scaling, players can't increase that number at higher upgrade levels.

It also has a unique hidden perk of Tier 3 Hardness, unlike any other Greatshield. This means that even larger weapons, like Greatswords and Great Hammers, will bounce off this shield. This makes the Ant's Skull Plate excellent for stopping nasty enemies like Omens from continuing their multi-hit combos after the first strike is blocked. Not to mention, it can be quite useful in PvP against players with large weapons.

6 Serpentbone Blade

Looks The Part, But Its Poison Effects Could Be Better

Default Scaling: Str E, Dex C
Max Upgrade Scaling: Str E, Dex B
Default Damage: 120
Max Damage: 294
Poison Buildup: 66

The Serpentbone Blade in Elden Ring is a weapon that sounds and looks much cooler than it actually is. This katana does good critical and physical damage, but its built-in poison leaves a bit to be desired. The way it works is that once an enemy is poisoned by a landed strike, the player will deal double the damage for every tick of poison that is inflicted.

Unfortunately, it lasts only a third as long as poison inflicted by other means in Elden Ring. That being said, it looks the part, and players who have a build centered on dexterity and strength will find the weapon scaling on the Serpentbone Blade to be rather fulfilling.

5 Serpent Bow

Poison Targets Even Without Special Arrows

Default Scaling: Str E, Dex D, Arc D
Max Upgrade Scaling: Str D, Dex D, Arc D
Default Damage: 75
Max Damage: 183
Poison Buildup: 15

Bows in Elden Ring aren't the most popular weapon type, but they often come in handy even for players who primarily used a melee weapon of some sort. The Serpent Bow is clear and away the most powerful poison-related bow and scales best with dexterity-based player builds.

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The bow itself adds a Poison build-up of 15 to all arrows, regardless of type, so pairing it with Serpent arrows allows players to inflict poison on enemies in the blink of an eye. In terms of poison efficiency, it's pretty standard, and the fact that its skill called Mighty Shot has nothing to do with poison damage or infliction feels like a missed opportunity.

4 Coil Shield

Throw A Deadly Snake At Enemies

Default Scaling: Str E
Max Upgrade Scaling: Str D
Default Damage: 92
Max Damage: 196
Poison Buildup: 72

The Coil Shield , for a variety of reasons, is unlike many other shields in Elden Ring. At first glance, it looks to be a stone shield carved to resemble a coiled-up snake, but that design choice wasn't simply an aesthetic one.

The shield skill on the Coil Shield is called Viper Bite. When activated, the player thrusts the shield forward, while the shield uncoils itself and the snake lunges at the enemy. It scales with strength and, upon landing, does both physical damage and produces Deadly Poison build-up. It also happens to look incredibly cool, which is aided by the fact that it's rather effective and not just for show.

3 Miranda Sprout Ashes

Great Ashes For Nasty Traps And Quick Poisoning

Elden Ring Poison Weapons Miranda Plant Ashes

HP Cost: 185
Attacks apply Poison buildup

Elden Ring likes to mess with its players. One way it effectively does that is by presenting an obstacle that feels weak or easy to deal with, and then catching the player off guard. Miranda Sprouts are large flowers that shoot out poison at incoming threats. On their own, they feel easy to deal with, but the build-up they inflict can quickly become overwhelming in the blink of an eye.

Players who obtain the Miranda Sprout Ashes can unleash the same mental warfare on unsuspecting enemies, forcing them to deal with crippling poison damage. The ashes are found behind a crafty illusionary wall in the Caelid Catacombs.

2 Spirit Jellyfish Ashes

Meaty Distraction With Poisoning Attacks

Elden Ring Poison Weapons Spirit Jellyfish

FP Cost: 31
Attacks apply Poison buildup

Most Elden Ring players will gush about the Spirit Jellyfish ashes coming in the clutch as a great distraction for enemies and bosses. It also happens to inflict a solid amount of Poison build-up as well. By talking to a woman named Roderika in Stormhill Shack several times, players will be handed these ashes to use as they see fit.

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Since the summoned jellyfish has a lot of health, it can effectively inflict the target with poison, while also allowing its summoner to stack a ton of damage on an enemy that's distracted.

1 Venomous Fang

Beware, These Claws Can Really Bite

Default Scaling: Str D, Dex D
Max Upgrade Scaling: Str A or Dex B
Default Damage: 97
Max Damage: 237
Poison Buildup: 72, 95 (Poison Infused)

The truth of the matter is that most poison-related weapons and items in Elden Ring simply aren't worth it. That's evident in the fact that the 'best' poison weapon in all of Elden Ring is a clawing item called the Venomous Fang . Found in Caelid in an abandoned cave, this pointy stone hand weapon causes Poison build-up at a base of 72 with each successfully landed attack.

In addition to being upgraded with smithing stones, it can also be infused with Ashes of War. Its skill, Quickstep, doesn't provide anything to the poison damage side of things. However, it's a quick dodge, which is super useful when using a weapon like the Venomous Fang. It requires the player to stay close to its target, meaning that the player is in the line of fire and could take massive amounts of damage if they don't dodge incoming attacks.