BEST Whips In Elden Ring [Ranked]

Whips have always been a niche weapon type in Elden Ring, which is why you rarely see them in builds. Perhaps it’s because of their unique attack patterns, which vastly differ from the other, more common weapon classes. The alien moveset makes them trickier to learn and master for most players. However, they’re one of the most underrated classes in the game, and with the right build, they can become extremely overpowered in most situations.

Key Takeaways

There are a total of 6 whips that you can discover, equip, and upgrade in Elden Ring.
Their effectiveness and ranks are determined by their versatility, potential, scaling, and other combat stats.
Keeping that in mind, our ranking from worst to best goes as follows: Whip, Urumi, Thorned Whip, Hoslow’s Petal Whip, the Magma Whip Candlestick, and the Giant’s Red Braid.
The standard Whip is the weakest in the class since it doesn’t have any unique attributes and has mediocre damage, mobility, and range across the board.
Urumi has the best overall range of any whip in the game thanks to its spear-like transformation but is generally weak in terms of stat scaling.
The Thorned Whip has great damage output and range with massively better scaling compared to other whips, but its main selling point, the Bleed Buildup, is outshone by Hoslow’s Petal Whip.
The Petal Whip has the best Bleed buildup, considered the most impactful status effect, out of any other whip in the game, placing it above all the other Strength and Dex-scaling weapons in this class.
Onto the Faith-scaling weapons, the Magma Whip Candlestick is the second strongest weapon amongst whips with its unique Ash of War, Faith-scaling properties, and can be paired with incantations to make a diverse build.
Lastly, the Giant’s Red Braid is easily the strongest whip in the game, acting as a stronger version of the Candlestick with better scaling, stagger potential, range, and overall damage output.
Alongside their general stats, you can further enhance your whip’s potential in Elden Ring by including a powerful talisman and Ashes of War in your build.

Ranking All The Whips

With only six available whips in the game, the variety in this class is definitely limited. Each of them has its own set of pros and cons, but some are noticeably more reliable and powerful than others. With that said, here’s a list that ranks them according to their effectiveness in the game:

6. Whip

Strength: 8 | Dexterity: 14

The default whip is by far the weakest of its type. It has a low damage output, a basic heavy attack, and a standard Ash of War.

While it may be fun to use early on, the lack of viability doesn’t put it over any other of its variants.
Despite the lackluster toolset, the standard whip has extremely generous stat requirements, which make it a stronger alternative compared to other weapons with the same requirements in the game.

regular Whip stats — The standard Whip (Image Credits: eXputer)

The quickest way to obtain it is by reaching Castle Mourne located on the south shore of the Weeping Peninsula. From the Behind the Castle Site of Grace, drop down from the cliff onto the castle bridge. Whilst on the bridge, jump down to the roof and continue taking the leaps down until you reach a small wooden opening.

Wooden entrance to the lower half of Castle Mourne — Wooden Opening behind Castle Mourne (Image Credit Copyright: eXputer)

From the opening, carefully jump down from each wooden ledge until you reach the jail cell at the bottom, surrounded by a few rats. Clear the area, and amongst the loot, you’ll find the whip on a corpse laying to the side.

Whip location — Corpse that has the whip beneath Castle Mourne (Image taken by us)

Important: You can also get the whip by killing Diallos, but that would skip the rest of his quest line. It would also bar you from getting one of the most powerful whips in the game, the Petal Whip.

5. Urumi

Strength: 10 | Dexterity: 19

The Urumi is a far better weapon than the basic Whip. It’s also the most unique of its class as it acts as a long spear-like weapon more than an actual whip. The heavy attack of this weapon possesses incredible range by turning into a spear midway through the animation.

Urumi Elden Ring — The Urumi (Image Source: eXputer)

This feature is highly beneficial against groups of hostiles where you can attack multiple foes at once while at a safe distance. It’s also useful in PvP, as this mechanic lets you catch players off-guard.

Another crucial reason why the Urumi is so good is because of its insane Physical damage output, the highest of the Whip class overall.
And after being infused as a Keen weapon, it’ll have an S-tier Dexterity scaling.
As such, you can equip it with similar-focused Talismans to amplify that key stat and make the Urumi one of the strongest Dexterity weapons overall.

This high damage output of the Urumi, combined with its respectable range and versatility, makes for an incredibly powerful and viable weapon, especially for Dex and Strength builds. However, there are many other options in this class that have the same stat dependencies but have much better scaling, hence placing the Urumi near the bottom of the list.

You can find the Urumi in Caria Manor on the northeastern edge of Liurnia, next to Ranni’s Rise.
Starting from the Manor Upper-Level Site of Grace, take the elevator down and to your left, and you will see a platform in front that you can jump down onto.
After that, follow the path ahead, and you’ll come across a few Fingercreepers guarding a corpse holding the Urumi.

Caria Manor Upper Level Urumi location — Urumi’s location in Caria Manor (Image Credits: eXputer)

4. Thorned Whip

Strength: 8 | Dexterity: 16

The Thorned Whip is another powerful whip in the game that stands out from the pack in more ways than one. Just like the Urumi, it scales with both Strength and Dexterity. But on top of that, however, it also has Bleed buildup, which is one of the strongest status effects in the game.

This is, of course, useful in both PvE and PvP in nearly all situations, building the enemy’s Bleed meter until it eventually cuts down a large portion of their health.

Thorned Whip stats and requirements — The Thorned Whip (Screenshot Captured by eXputer)

This weapon is found exclusively by farming the Fire Prelates in the Mountaintops of the Giants. The best place to get it is by farming the Prelate near the Zamor Ruins just before the long, narrow bridge.

Fire Prelate location in the Mountaintops — Fire Prelate next to the bridge in the Mountaintops (Image taken by eXputer)

Important: Watch out for the Thorn Sorcerers surrounding the Prelate. The best tactic here is to stealthily eliminate as many Sorcerers as you can beforehand and clear the area before challenging the Fire Prelate.

While the Thorned Whip is very good, there is another bleed weapon down on this list that is slightly stronger than it in that regard. Nonetheless, it serves as a strong alternative and a priority choice for Dexterity users looking to take advantage of the Bleed mechanic.

3. Hoslow’s Petal Whip

Strength: 10 | Dexterity: 20

Hoslow’s Petal Whip is a stronger, easier-to-obtain counterpart of the Thorned Whip. Compared to the Thorned Whip’s 50 Bleed Buildup, the Petal Whip has a slightly better 55 buildup. This makes it practically the same weapon, just with better Bleed prominence and greater Physical damage.

Juno Hoslow's weapon: The Petal Whip — The Hoslow’s Petal Whip (Screenshot Grab: eXputer)

Fortunately, there are two ways to get this whip, but they both require you to reach the Volcano Manor at Mount Gelmir first.
The first way to obtain this weapon is by defeating Juno Hoslow in the Mountaintops of the Giants via the Volcano Manor questline, which also leads to fighting Rykard, one of the game’s Shardbearers.
Juno Hoslow is an invadable NPC and the final person in the Manor’s contract whom you have to hunt down.
Once you eliminate the previous two NPCs in this questline and activate this contact, you’ll find his summon sign next to the Shack of the Lofty near the Ancient Snow Valley Ruins Site of Grace on the Mountaintops.
You can see a red marker with Juno Hoslow’s name appear on the map showing exactly where you can find him.

Juno Hoslow's summon area east of Shack of the lofty — Juno Hoslow’s summon location near the Shack of the Lofty (Image by eXputer)

The second way to obtain this weapon is by either killing or completing Diallos‘ quest.
After finding him near the Academy Gate Town Site of Grace in Liurnia, you can further progress his questline in the Volcano Manor.
The remainder of this quest will revolve around Jarburg alongside Alexander and Jar-Bairn’s questline, so those characters are essential to ultimately getting the Petal Whip off Diallos.

Important: If you finish the Volcano Manor questline before speaking to Diallos after he reaches the Manor, he won’t appear afterward, and you won’t be able to complete his questline as a result.

2. Magma Whip Candlestick

Strength: 8 | Dexterity: 16 | Faith: 18

The Magma Whip Candlestick is one of the most diverse weapons in the Whip class in the sense as it can tackle several dire situations in the game. This is mainly a Faith-scaling weapon, although it also scales with Strength and Dexterity. As such, you can use it in a variety of builds and even use it alongside Incantations.

Magma Whip Candlestick whip Elden Ring — The Magma Whip Candlestick (Image Credit Copyright: eXputer)

One of the major highlights of this whip is its Ash of War, Sea of Magma, which is great for crowd controlling in Elden Ring by forming a ring of lava around you, dealing high fire damage.
If you have high poise, then it further compensates this Ash of War’s long animation, making it an ideal weapon choice against bosses.

Obtaining this weapon requires the progression of multiple questlines. First, you need to meet Patches the Untethered in the Murkwater Cave located in Limgrave.

He’ll first appear as a boss, so don’t kill him once he surrenders, which he eventually will midway through the fight. If you keep on progressing his entire quest, he’ll eventually go to Volcano Manor.

Volcano Manor, Mt. Gelmir — Patches’ spot inside Volcano Manor (Screenshot taken by eXputer)

From there, start the first contract given by Tanith, after which Patches will also ask you to defeat Great Horned Tragoth.
Tragoth’s location will be marked on the map in the Ruin-Strewn Precipe, where you fight Magma Wyrm Makar.
Once you defeat him, speak to Patches again, and he will reward you with the Magma Whip Candlestick.

Makar's Arena — Magma Wyrm Makar’s Arena (Image Credits: eXputer)

Important: It’s worth mentioning that you can’t do this task and get the Magma Whip if you defeat Rykard, the Lord of Blasphemy, first. Make sure to complete this quest as soon as it’s assigned to you in the Manor.

1. Giant’s Red Braid

Strength: 18 | Dexterity: 12 | Faith: 21

The Giant’s Red Braid is by far the strongest Whip in the game. It’s scaled primarily with Strength and Faith, making it viable for both of those stat builds. This is also the only Remembrance Weapon on this list, adding an extra layer of importance as well as difficulty in obtaining it.

Giant's Red Braid whip Elden Ring — The Giant’s Red Braid (Image taken by eXputer)

Important: Just like the Magma Whip Candlestick, you can pair the Giant’s Red Braid with several Incantations. You should ideally use damage-enhancing spells like Flame, Grant Me Strength, or close-ranged attack spells like Noble Presence or Catch Flame.

What puts the Red Braid over the Magma Whip Candlestick is the level of scaling – the Faith and Strength scale is much higher. However, this does mean a beefier set of requirements, so make sure to level up your Strength and Faith as much as you can to effectively utilize the Red Braid.

The Ash of War, Flame Dance, also sets it apart as it has insanely good damage output and dominates on both short and long ranges.
The whip sets on fire, and you swing it around swiftly, hitting and staggering multiple targets at once.
This makes the weapon incredibly versatile while also being easy to use and retaining that uniqueness factor.

The stance-breaking of the Red Braid is also surprisingly strong. It breaks posture better than most Greatswords while being much quicker and more mobile. Overall, the damage of the weapon, paired with its default Ash of War, puts it over all other Whips in Elden Ring.

The Red Braid is obtained by defeating the Fire Giant at the Flame Peak next to the Foot of the Forge Site of Grace on the Mountaintops.
After killing the Giant, you can exchange his Remembrance for the Braid in the Roundtable Hold.

Fire Giant boss Elden Ring — The Fire Giant (Image by eXputer)

Best Talismans For Whips

Of course, when you have a strong weapon, you would need to pair it with a strong set of talismans to further customize and complete your build. Some talismans are effectively neutral and can be used in a variety of builds. On the other hand, some talismans are specifically meant to be paired up with certain weapons and build types.

With that said, below are given some great talismans, their detailed effect, and what weapons they work well with:

The Lord Of Blood’s Exultation

The Lord of Blood’s Exultation is always a common talisman amongst Arcane and Dexterity builds, or more specifically, bleed builds. This talisman increases all attack power by 20% for 20 seconds in the vicinity of blood loss.

Lord of Blood's Exultation Elden Ring — The Lord of Blood’s Exultation Talisman (Screenshot Grab: eXputer)

Fortunately for whip users, there are two bleed weapons in this class that can effectively use this talisman to become absolute beasts – The Thorned Whip and Hoslow’s Petal Whip.
The talisman itself is acquired after defeating Esgar, Lord of Priests, in the Leyndell Catacombs, which are found in the Subterranean Shunning Grounds below a well in Leyndell, the Royal Capital.

Esgar's Arena in Elden Ring — Esgar’s Arena in the Leyndell Catacombs (Image Credits: eXputer)

Claw Talisman

If you love Power-Stancing in Elden Ring, then this is one of the best whip talismans for you. Although it simply increases the damage of jump attacks by 15%, Power-Stancing whips with this talisman are borderline broken. Combining jump attacks with extra damage means insane damage output, stagger, and more critical attacks.

You can additionally pair the Claw Talisman with the Raptor’s Black Feathers chest armor found behind inside a chest behind an illusory wall in the Sage’s Cave. This armor further increases Jump Attack damage by 10%, collectively boosting your Jump Attacks with 25% more damage.

You can find this talisman relatively early on in your playthrough by visiting Stormveil Castle. From the Rampart Tower Site of Grace, head inside the castle, take a right and proceed up the flight of stairs. Now, enter the long, circular corridor from the left, head straight, and take the first exit on the right that’ll lead you out to the balcony.

Rampart Tower Balcony in Stormveil Castle — Balcony leading outside the corridor (Image Captured by eXputer)

Once you’re outside, leap onto the ledge in front of you. Now follow it until you’re close to the building on your right, and jump to that building once you’re close enough. After that, follow this ledge to the back and drop down onto the roof.

Important: Watch out for the War Hawk stationed at the rooftop, which you can easily take out by making a plunging attack onto it as you fall.

Next, leap onto the narrow roof to your left and get on top of the broken-down pillar in front. From here, continue the straight path ahead until you come across a long ladder at the end of the path. Climb this ladder to the top, and here, you’ll find the Claw Talisman.

Claw Talisman location Stormveil Castle — The Claw Talisman atop the ladder (Screenshot by eXputer)

Twinblade Talisman And Rotten Winged Sword Insignia

The Twinblade Talisman and the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia are a perfect marriage of talismans for doing combo attacks, which is a specialty possessed by all the whips.
Statistically, the Twinblade Talisman increases the damage of your combo’s final hit by 20%.
And on the other hand, the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia raises the damage dealt by weapons with successive attacks, respectively 6%, 8%, and 13%.

You can find the Twinblade Talisman alongside the standard Whip in Castle Mourne.
From the Behind the Castle Site of Grace, drop down to the platform, and towards the western side of the castle after the bridge, you’ll see a ladder next to the tower.
Climb the ladder, and inside the chest atop the tower lies the Twinblade Talisman inside it.

Twinsblade Talisman chest Elden Ring — Twinsblade Talisman inside the chest atop the ladder (Screenshot by eXputer)

Once that’s done, you can find the Rotten Winged Sword Insignia later down the road by defeating the sisters of Millicent in Elphael after fully completing her questline. The sisters of Millicent are two invaders whose summon sign is near the Drainage Channel Site of Grace.

Shard Of Alexander

The Shard of Alexander is an amazing talisman for the Giant’s Red Braid or the Magma Whip Candlestick.
This is because the Shard increases the attack power of skills by roughly 15%; thus, the Ashes of War of both the Braid and the Candlestick will become drastically more destructive.
You can obtain this talisman after following and completing Ironfist Alexander‘s quest in Crumbling Farum Azula.

Bull-Goat Talisman

The Bull-Goat’s Talisman is a great talisman for most weapons in the game, but it’s especially suitable for whips as it boosts your poise level by 33%.
By including this in your build, you’ll massively improve your whip’s reliability by lowering the enemy’s chance of staggering you.
After that, you can take advantage by completing your attack animation and knocking out a large portion of their HP.

This talisman is located in the Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow area next to Lenne’s Rise in Caelid’s western region. From the Dragonbarrow Cave Site of Grace, head inside the cave and use the bushes to stealth past the Runebear patrolling the area.

At the intersection, take a left and head down the narrow path until you reach a small garden-like room, where you’ll find the Bull-Goat Talisman on a corpse in the deep-ended corner of the room.

Dragonbarrow Cave room Elden Ring — Bull-Goat Talisman’s location inside Dragonbarrow Cave (Screenshot by eXputer)

Best Ashes Of War For Whips

Now that we’ve covered the best talismans for your whip build let’s take a look at some of the top Ashes of War in Elden Ring to complete the set. Most whips, like the Giant’s Red Braid and the Magma Whip Candlestick, already have a uniquely powerful Ash of War attack. However, if you’re looking for a strong alternative that’ll suit your playstyle, you can always change your whip’s skill to something more personalized.

Bloodhound’s Step

The Bloodhound’s Step is easily one of the best Ashes of War for whips in the game. It lets you quickly dash past hostiles while making you invisible for a short period. As you can guess, it’s a passive skill that you can use to improve mobility in both PvP and PvE.

You can find the Bloodhound’s Step in Dragonbarrow, Caelid. There are 2 bridges to the northern side of Dragonbarrow just before the Bestial Sanctum. On the eastern bridge right outside Lenne’s Rise, is a Night’s Cavalry. Upon defeating it, you will receive the Bloodhound’s Step Ash of War.

Bridge in east Dragonbarrow — The eastern bridge outside Lenne’s Rise (Screenshot Captured by eXputer)

Important: The Night’s Cavalry is a unique enemy that only appears at night. So if you arrive at this location during the day, make sure to rest at a site of grace and change the time of day to Nightfall.

Hoarfrost Stomp

Although the Hoarfrost Stomp has been noticeably nerfed since the game’s release, it’s still a viable Ash of War. The attack pattern is fairly simple: you stomp, covering the nearby ground in ice, which builds up and slows down enemy attacks and movements.

This move is especially good against certain bosses like Maliketh, the Black Blade, who may be fast or difficult to track. Furthermore, you can use it in PvP as a direct counter against the aforementioned Bloodhound’s Step. And on top of reducing the enemy’s mobility, the stomp dishes out decent damage as well.

You can find this skill in the northwestern region of Liurnia of the Lakes. You can start from the Main Caria Manor Gate Site of Grace, and head towards the small pond to the east outside the Manor. Here, you’ll come across an invisible Teardrop Scarab who will drop the Ash of War after being killed.

Teardrop Scarab in Liurnia — Teardrop Scarab scouring the pond outside Caria Manor (Image Source: eXputer)

Why Should You Use Whips?

Whips are amongst the most engaging weapon types in the game. They offer very decent damage, immense viability in combat, have a unique moveset, and are especially exciting to use when power-stancing.

Furthermore, players can customize most whips as they feature an open Weapon Skill slot that they can modify. Though not the most powerful in terms of damage, this weapon class has ample reasons to be used in builds.

Conclusion

That wraps up our guide on the best whips, along with their ideal builds in Elden Ring. As seen in a Subreddit Post, each whip possesses unique attributes coupled with a great overall skillset to make them the best and stand out. Therefore, it’s best to test them all out and see which ones fit your playstyle the most. After that, choose the build you find the most attractive and dominate the Lands Between!

You can test out your newly made whip build by fighting some of the Best Bosses in Elden Ring. If you’re looking to explore other weapon types, here’s a guide on the Best Colossal Weapons in the game. And while you’re having a blast exploring the Lands Between, indulge in other familiar experiences by checking out the Games similar to Elden Ring.

Up Next:

Was this article helpful?

Thanks! Do share your feedback with us. ⚡

How could we improve this post? Please Help us. ✍