Elden Ring: All 16 Dagger Designs Analyzed

[@desmeme6933]

Fun fact about the wakizashi in Elden Ring, there’s a mechanic called power stance, which lets you use two of the same class of weapon to get a unique dual-wielding combo. However, the wakizashi can only be power stanced with other katanas, and not with other daggers. So I guess the devs consider it more of a short sword as well

[@MarcusVance]

Neat

[@Shiirya]

Actualy fun and makes sens, wakisashi are part of what is called daisho, its what you see in clasic samurai dual katana wielding on their belt, one if the long katana the classic one and the other is the wakizashi, forming together the daisho. In reality its never realy used, dual wielding wasnt much a thing in real life, it was more of a side weapon in case of emergency, often used as a throwing weapon kinda if im not mistaken. Anyway didnt tried it yet but thats a nice detail that it is paired with a katana, i mean well fromsoft is an originaly japanese compagny lol

[@Farnciss]

Neat indeed my friend, neat indeed

[@ravioli_826]

It’s a reference to Miyamoto Musashi. His fighting style was wakizashi and katana.

[@MFGod_Hand]

@@ravioli_826 Indeed, the inventor of the two swords style & an immortal legend. An empty hand is a waste. Read The Book of Five Rings my friends.

[@parleyeon7951]

A few notes: 1) Crystal knife is made of Glintstone, which is essentially this crystal essence from the stars that all sorcery originates from. 2) Glintstone Kris does indeed have an explanation for its ornamentation - it was a gift made to commemorate peace after the war. 3) Celebrant's Sickle was not really meant to be a weapon, it's a ceremonial tool.

[@kwamemwangs2173]

A cool thing about the misericord is that it actually does more damage than any other weapon on critical attacks

[@Vertheh]

And the description also says that is used by battle medics to put down injured soldiers

[@AnriTheAutism]

I’m sorry Steven, I gotta put you down.

[@deathhawk300]

Gotta say. I got the parry ash o war on it. And it has become my best friend.

[@raphaelaugusto895]

I love how you don't just tells if it would be functional or not in the real world. Like the Crystal Dagger, everyone knows that a real crystal dagger would break really easy in real life, yet, in a world with magic, we have to consider that element too. If it was another KZbinr he would say just: "It's crystal, it shatters, can't work!". Well, well, well, you don't say.

[@mlhx9181]

We don't really have any magic IRL to compare with and for the most part, games don't usually have such deep world building such that we get to understand their existing (or lack of) laws physics. Can't really blame them for using the standards of the only world we have for comparison. However commentary on the blade geometry and the like and its suitability for implied use is always cool.

[@virtem7686]

actually, there are crystal daggers irl, and i don't mean modern ones made for fashion. Has being found on the iberian peninsula crystal blades and crystal arrow heads, of quartz to be specific, made during the neolithic (if I remember right the time period)

[@mlhx9181]

@@virtem7686 I've just read a little about these myself. Very cool. Quite impressive how they are able to make such pretty blades by hand back then.

[@Darigosh]

Yeah but you always got to remember flint and obsidian when holding into an edge is really sharp

[@TaosoftheVoid]

There's only one of these that really has a problem with looking at the 2d version of it: the Black Knife is...weird looking. All the extra weird jutting blades are actually bent - the description even calls out that it's misshapen ("A ritual performed on the oddly misshapen blade imbued it with the power of the stolen Rune of Death." Direct quote) I'm fairly certain that'd be quite a problem for... really using it in a practical way. I don't entirely know how useful it is to know but the lore behind this knife is that it was used to assassinate a demigod. I'd imagine the warped blades would only be a hindrance, though you might know some use they'd have that I wouldn't know! I don't know how many of these you'll do but I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of the thrusting/heavy thrusting swords! Or the various "colossal" weapons - of course a main problem would be that most of them are.... impossible to ever pick up realistically.

[@alexharrison2743]

I feel like the other blades that come off the central stem could possibly function like the handguard on other daggers?

[@PunkZombie1300]

Specifically it's a corrupted version of the Blade of Calling. Looking at the in game model the spikes come out at different angles and could be considered a guard, though in combat they're fairly irrelevant. The Black Knife Assassins are typically invisible and very agile, so they don't use their blades defensively, and like you said it's a deformation of the blade due to being imbued with the Rune of Death. Since they're empowered by the Rune of Death they don't need to effectively penetrate you so much as they just need to cut/stab you, since the magic of the Rune is going to be doing the damage vs the physical damage of the blade.

[@Владислав-ы9м5у]

@@PunkZombie1300 and even without magic, this dagger is still usable. It has a serviceable edge.v

[@Incognito-vi5nc]

completely speculation but i suspect the black knives being misshapen was how fast they would of needed to be made, the fragment of death was stolen on the same day godwyn was killed, so it implies these knives (plural because the black knives were a group just presumably the one that killed godwyn is the one we can pick up) were made in a very short window time between, almost winning a fight against maliketh, running back to whoever forged this weapon, them forging this weapon, running to where godwyn was and winning a fight against godwyn all of which in 1 day or maybe even just 1 night because it was the night of the black knives edit oh and the blasphemous claw was made too since that was given to rykard on the same night

[@Aerowarrier]

To be fair, Reduvia doesn’t really cut it just like summon blades of blood so that’s fair that it doesn’t work lol

[@grim566]

Was just gonna say, it's more of a vehicle to launching blades of blood than actually cutting someone lol

[@smug8135]

Though it does look like they just ripped out half of a rib cage of like a coyote or something and stuck it on a handle

[@XenosvonFaneli]

Also, daggers can honestly be whatever, like would it be weird irl, yeah. Would I enjoy being stabbed with it, NO. SUCCESS, you have a dagger!

[@genghiskhan6809]

2:26 is something I have a massive contention with. There are other ways of using a sickle other than pulling. Most early sickles which weren’t as highly curbed as modern sickles were used for slicing crop stems and the curve was there to facilitate bundling.

[@ricardoariel1239]

this guy have a sickle in his profile picture, i believe whatever he say about sickles

[@Kokonutzlz]

@@ricardoariel1239 true that

[@maybeiamepic2263]

I was worried I wouldn't enjoy your long form content but I think it's great. Keep it up

[@MarcusVance]

Thanks!

[@xinderx1039]

The Black Knifes weird shape is because it is imbued with death magic that canonically can kill anyone 10 hits no matter what. Even if they have armor, a shield, it doesn't matter. That means it doesn't matter if you get a decent hit so long as it touches your target, which paired with it being for assassinating gods means catching the opponent's weapon in the knife is more important than it being good at cutting or stabbing.

[@picklejho69]

I love how the one dagger that's not really functionals main function is to fire magic blood blades that exsanguinate a target. Does this mean Elden Ring is currently the most accurate game weapon wise?

[@MarcusVance]

I'm really liking the other weapons

[@Nukesnipe]

The animations for most weapons (barring colossal weapons) tend to be actually pretty realistic, if somewhat exaggerated for aesthetics. I really like how the twinblade is held more like a spear and not like star wars doublesabers.

[@paulwin9036]

@@Nukesnipe non of the swords are close to realistic for balanced gameplay reasons. Treating a Zweihander like a 100 pound itself is completely imaginary. The katanas have beautiful animations though. I really wish at least the straight swords could get similar treatment

[@prawn1717]

@Paul win I’m partial to the moveset on specifically the Knight’s, Banished Knight’s and Twinned greatswords. Much more refined than most, and doesn’t scrape against the ground like the other greatswords.

[@sunrisee669]

@@MarcusVance can i ask your opinion on godskin peeler? Or how about godslayer sword

[@jarrarwinks8470]

Wow, only one dagger in game you would say is not accurate. Guess FromSoft did good with daggers in terms of design. But the greatswords......

[@user-mj9rf4mm6f]

It’s really cool how much attention to detail the developers have. They really did their homework on these weapons!

[@BigHatLoganGaming]

the misericorde's in game lore state it was carried by war surgeons who were effectively mercy killers for the mortally wounded and suffering

[@jurtheorc8117]

The Cinquedea stands out to me because of how the description (if i recall correctly) mentions something about it being five fingers wide at the base (helped by the finger-like parts) and a kind of status symbol for those that carry it. That's real-life history about actual Cinquedea as well. Heck, i think the name itself is even Italian for "Five fingers" I probably got some things wrong, so anyone that is more knowledgable about it is welcome to mention it.

[@BirdMoose]

What's cool is that although in game it is death magic and not a physical throw, the black knife is centered around a powerful ranged attack so the shape kinda works.

[@yeeessimusprime3422]

Don’t know if someone has said this but the black knifes special attack has the player leap into the air spin swing it and send out a slash of death that weakens opponents. So it’s kinda like throwing it without throwing it.

[@kemsatofficial]

Did not know that dagger definition. Thanks!

[@canadiangopnik7007]

I think it's funny that Reduvia, widely considered one of the best if not THE best dagger in the game, is the only one that you say wouldn't work in reality

[@Destiny1G]

Now this is some quality content. :)

[@vitriolicAmaranth]

The "wakizashi" in ER is the length of a tanto, so that'll be why it's classified as a dagger. There was an actual wakizashi in Dark Souls 3, but it was part of a paired weapon, onikiri and ubadachi, a katana and wakizashi that could only be used together. The cinquedea on the other hand is on the longer end of daggers in the game and genuinely about the size of a real cinquedea, but "straight swords" in ER are still a good bit longer than that. What I love about it is that "cinquedea" means "five finger" and the one in Elden Ring _literally_ has five finger bones attached to the guard, because in a game where finger symbolism is very important, of course it does.

[@Osiris018]

Man I found your channel a few days ago and I've been so engaged by your knowledge of weaponry! I neeeeeed to see you review the other weapon types in this game

[@DrunkedOwly]

Now that you mention that, the misèricorde (or however it is) actually is most proficient at critical, which are stabs, all dagger tend to be, but that one in particular has the highest critical damage

[@ryanfrauenholz8972]

"Sentry removal" is honestly my new favorite phrase 😂

[@MarcusVance]

If you look up "fs knife infographic" you'll find some interesting information.

[@phalamy9180]

The Scorpion Stinger actually inflicts a worse version of poison. Essentially the super plague that rots you from the inside.

[@phalamy9180]

For future reference, all the "Crystal" weapons are indeed made of a magical crystal named "Glintstone" which is a magic focus type material

[@landoncube769]

Yea I was thinking the other day they could've made a tanto instead of wakizashi but at the end of the day it doesn't bother me

[@FruitKocktail]

Fun fact about the black knife, those points actually were a result of the rune of death mending into them, they sprouted off the original blades and got that look. Atleast from what I've heard, I have yet to get the weapon myself so can't read on it just yetm

[@RepressedMemories16]

For both versions of the sickle, if that was your only option available what thrusting motion would you believe to be ideal? I would imagine with it's curved blade an upward thrust with an attempt to gut could actually be pretty effective, however from your description I am doubting my opinion. Great video, looking forward to more Elden Ring.

[@TRIC4pitator]

The erdtree dagger is just perfect in everything

[@deadmemes1824]

The black blade one was really interesting because in game the special is to jump in the air and throw it at your enemy just like you explained.

[@PunkZombie1300]

You're not throwing the knife, you're throwing a magic blade of Death so it doesn't really work the same lol

[@deadmemes1824]

@@PunkZombie1300 You're also doing a standing jump 5 ft into the air into a side flip, there's a little bit of suspension of disbelief

[@Zanemob]

I wish you would look at these weapons in-game for more thorough and accurate reviews. Its a shame when you misunderstand so many weapons looks based on a low quality 2D image… Otherwise this was one of the best reviews I’ve seen of yours.

[@Ezekiel_Allium]

A thing worth pointing out is the other blades actually curl out to the sides, they aren't just parallel to the blade like those African throwing knives. This seems to me to be more for the magical aspect of the weapon because it makes it resemble a couple symbols associated with the black knife assassins when viewed from several angles, but it also seems like maybe they could be used like guard rings? Possibly? Definitely just an aesthetic thing but maybe it could be used in a pinch Also just a funny part of how the game scales weapons, when the Black Knife assassins are holding it, it's much bigger proportionally to them, veering much more towards shortsword length, but when our character holds it it's much more squarely in the big knife size range.

[@ChunkyTheClown]

A big thing to consider with weapons like the Crystal Blade and Scorpion Stinger is that not everything is designed to fight armored opponents, even in a setting heavily featuring knights and plate armor in official capacities. People in both real life and the game can and do design cutting and stabbing instruments for all kinds of purposes, from everyday labor to ritual use to simple improvised murder of some random guy. Elden Ring is the kind of game where you explore everything from countryside villages to cult hideouts to research halls to ancient flying cities to legitimate castles, and the people living in each of those areas don't necessarily share priorities when designing the tools that the player character can choose to pick up and wield as weapons. For example, the aforementioned Crystal Knife isn't even a combat instrument. Its item description reveals that it is instead a tool used by enslaved miners for removing a special, magical material known as Glintstone from broken rock. We, as lowly Tarnished, just happen to pick it up because we're desperate enough to use it as a weapon. I do absolutely respect that you did add the caveat that magical materials in media are under no obligation to behave anything like the way visually similar materials from real life do, but you don't even need to take that additional step in this case.

[@Alucia0]

Nice breakdown. Just a couple of things to point out. Reduvia is a bleed weapon, it's designed not to be smooth it's gagged to cause as much blood loss as possible. Obviously not practical but it works in universe. The black knife isn't actually designed that way, it is a corrupted version of the previous blade, so it's design is based sort of on a dark magic theme in a way.

[@pascualboetsch3238]

Hi Marcus, great video! Would love to see your opinion on elden ring greatswords too

[@pepperbird67657]

Have just started the video and I'm so excited to hear your opinions

[@pepperbird67657]

Really enjoyed listening to your thoughts on the subject, and yeah Reduvia is basically a blood magic dagger, so not surprising that it's not realistic unless it were a ceremonial dagger for something.

[@tanuki9691]

The Reduvia looks the way it does because it's one of a few special "bleed" weapons, which all seem to have some kind of arcane-ness to them. The ribbed design of the Reduvia in particular is to rip up someone's insides as much as possible when you stab them, and to hold the blood in the pockets, which ends up creating a sort of arcane perpetual bleeding machine, where you can flick out the blood infinitely (as long as you have focus points, which is basically mana), and this blood creates a ranged "blade" attack that inflicts blood loss out of the blood from inside the reduvia itself. It's really neat, imo.

[@knither2325]

I saw the thumbnail and thought for a second it was a noose so I got really concerned

[@Shiirya]

Pretty nice actualy that those dagger at least for the non fantasy one are pretty accurate, quite a lots of little details, like the misericorde was a weapon used to end someone, the name is a french word that means "mercy" in english so it makes sens, the name beeing a direct reprensentation of this IRL inspiration ALSO the weapon is special in a way that its used for critical more specificaly which are move that act as "execution" style so putting and end to someone.

[@Alex-cq1zr]

Reduvia is pretty much a weapon made to cause maximum bleeding. It's enchanted with some blood magic, which allows you to slice at a bit distant targets with projectiles made out of blood, so it's pretty much a fantasy weapon, which is designed to draw as much blood as possible from the target and then use that blood to deal some additional damage by forming this blood into sharp blade/slash projectiles.

[@tukavaraandco7820]

I could be wrong, as I don’t use it all that often, but the scorpion stinger isn’t literally a singer. It’s a artifact knife dripping with a deadly poison. It was only made to resemble a stinger for some reason.

[@iepvienredstoneHuy007]

The ornated curvy looking blade is actually blunted, the knife was actually just wedding gift of 2 great house so that why the blunt blade was so decorated and other than it ability to throw magic pebble, it really suck at being a dagger

[@Brexcon.mp4]

Bro, I am legitimately wearing that exact same shirt right now. Revenge of the fifth!

[@rand0mlyhere]

Gotta agree on the Reduvia there. There’s so many jutting protrusions that it’d be hard to make a solid cutting edge. Though, it almost seems like a glorified wand in-game. Sure, you can whack things with it, but I feel like its main purpose is to fling its signature blood-blades.

[@biblequotesdaily6618]

i love that elden ring added powerstancing back in, but i wish they had other powerstance combos, like sword and dagger

[@matthewhall7976]

I was thumbs up/like number 20..👍❤️👍

[@illeagle9560]

The crystal knife actually is magic rock. It's glintstone, which is what the sorcerers use to cast in Elden Ring

[@calebnixon4307]

I’m pretty sure the reason they made the Cinquedea a dagger is because it’s used by giant Beast Clergymen and they use it like a dagger because of how large they are.

[@ryanroswellcacho]

The Black knife is the best, and most unique design for an assain blade. Also it comes with a black flame.

[@Schproemftell]

The thing is the sickles you got here count ingame as handaxe if i remember cotrectly @ scorpion stinger a stinger of that size would more than just hold up to steel chitin which arachnoid and insectoid husks are made of are comparativly more resilient than steel

[@dolphinboi-playmonsterranc9668]

The crystal weapons scale on intelligence, I'm fairly certain they're made from Glintstone

[@rafabuda0]

That one at least is, as it's a tool of the crystal miners. The others are the weapons of the Crystalians and I don't remember if they're made of glintstone or not

[@buxbux79]

Elden ring's parrying dagger has No Ring. Also reduvia is a magical blood knife that magically rips into flesh. Which, mind you doesnt make it more realistic, but rather it has an in-lore reason for why it looks the way it does and why it's able to inflict blood lose as quickly as it does. Also also, the black knife is actually a modified blade of calling, the reason it's shaped the way it is is for it to more closely resemble the rune of destined death.

[@nophion2-electricboogaloo647]

I think the important thing you missed with the Reduvia is that its a ritualistic blade. It doesnt really have to be functional in combat because they are mostly used to shoot blood spells. Real life Ritual Blades largely werent that functional in combat either.

[@lostsoul1648]

The Celebrants Sickle is used to harvest human skin

[@Chyguy]

Reduvia is weird. It looks like one edge is meant to be a normal blade while the other is serrated along the entire thing. I guess thats what happens when the dagger magically flings blood at your enemies.

[@Golpeadordemesas]

5:10 that is really weird by lore, when the actual dominat god in elden ring deleted death from the elden ring (the rules) she made a sword and some daggers with the world runes of death itself. So it works because magic, its used by god assasins

[@ravioli_826]

Lindybeige has a great video on cinquedea. Tldr they’re shaped like that so rich people can decorate them, not because it makes it more effective as a weapon. In fact, the blade shape makes it a worse weapon.

[@MarcusVance]

Idk, big thing going into meat probably hurts more than smaller thing going into meat.

[@ravioli_826]

@@MarcusVance the triangular shape of the blade means that it requires more force to push the blade deeper. There’s a reason why real daggers trend towards slender blades. You get a consistent amount of required force and because of how slender it is and the amount isn’t too high. You want the amount of force required for the tip to be close to the amount needed for the rest of the blade.

[@skeletalspiders6697]

Bear in mind the celebrants sickle isn't used to cut crops, but rather to skin people as far as I'm aware.

[@carlosdowell4861]

The reduvia is a blood weapon so yeah it really shouldn’t work but in game sure makes sense

[@kevinscheibe1995]

Would be cool if you could rank the Swords and Glaives in Destiny 2 Some of them are just crazy but others could work and it would be nice to hear what you could say about them

[@sleepyboii4159]

How long does a dagger have to be, before it’s classified as a sword?

[@MarcusVance]

It's not necessarily about length. More metallurgy and intended use

[@sleepyboii4159]

@@MarcusVance huh, I never knew that. I just thought it was like “if it’s a bit shorter than a shortsword, it’s a dagger, smaller again and it’s a knife” Good to know. Do you know how big a dagger could be while still being considered a dagger? (An argument I once had in D&D with a friend of mine, cuz I wanted a kinda big weapon, that would still give me the buffs I would’ve gotten from using a dagger) TL;DR: do you know how big a dagger could be before no longer being considered a dagger?

[@mr.commonsense]

Will you do the ebony sword?

[@austinmyers1568]

It's funny that the Black Knife is Modeled after a African throwing knife. The Black Knife does throw out Destined Death so kinda accurate

[@ThePigKnight]

I knew the black knife looked familiar.

[@trahapace150]

Have you seen the sword from legacy of kain?

[@Zakariyasen]

The Reduvia looks like a sharpened spine lmao

[@LadyGameshine]

I am actually surprised that Reduvia is the only one that seemed completely impractical and not also the Black Night blade!

[@Psychoangel-d23]

I think it's because he didn't see the 3d model. No way in hell that thing would even fly straight as a throwing knife let alone be useful for combat. Kinda sucks that it looks the way it does, the 2d got me excited the first time I picked it up.

[@CarlNiemi]

Genuinely don't know, but is there some lore reason why the Black Knife *has* to have that specific shape to function, for killing a god? Like, were the Black Knives made according to the Black Knifeprint or the other way around

[@inoli3164]

the runs of death warped it

[@thecosmicfishie3263]

The Scorpion stinger is made from the stinger of the god of rot

[@brettdallman3885]

Could the scorpion stinger even still have poison after being removed from the scorpion itself? There wouldn’t just be an endless amount in there, right?

[@rafabuda0]

In-game it is said to be ritualistic implement of the Followers of Rot and inflicts Scarlet Rot instead of Poison. It might just be fashioned from a stinger and coated in the waters of the Lake of Rot.

[@mr.monkey1914]

Game of thrones spoilers Is it just me or does the parrying Dagger look a lot like the dagger John snow used to kill daenarys

[@bread6759]

The scorpions dagger isnt actually from a scorpion without saying spoilers its an artifact from a god basically so it could hold up alot better than a scorpion stinger

[@x8yrsofownage303]

reduvia isn’t meant for cut it’s meant for magic throws

[@Dakooties]

So why does a Kris (sp?) Have that wavy blade?

[@carlosblanco571]

No you wrong

[@theamazinglordmilo9608]

its hard to tell cus its 2d but all the spikes on the black knife point in different directions

[@comittailfern5852]

Anyone else hear a moan after he said stone age for the crystal dagger?

[@DarkRei7]

ayo wtf is that noise at 4:02?

[@MarcusVance]

Either my daughter, or whatever show she was watching

[@thelocdesiringentryintoyou3686]

Les goooooooo

[@mybigwillie6153]

Disrupting the Meat

[@LegatusLucius1994]

Okay I'm I'm not even sure why you would say this was not puncture when in a game the character is strong enough to carry weapons the size 0f furniture this is the Stinger of a giant scorpion will just buy a person who can lift small pillars this thing however strange is going to puncture

[@pleblep2741]

Crystal knife looks like a CSGO skin

[@erikn.9180]

from software employes are just fanactics bout swords and weapons from human history

[@TheofficialJakeIrvin]

Misericordia is Latin for mercy

[@elshebactm6769]

🤠👍🏿

[@alecwilliams3603]

Have you played elden ring?

[@MarcusVance]

Nope

[@sunday1409]

Daggers will always be superior to mounts

[@takeohikari8994]

Mostly look great

[@MarcusVance]

I'm really impressed

[@zrobtosenpai5798]

Katanas?

[@MarcusVance]

Most of them are katana-adjacent enough.

[@somedudewithakeyboard5388]

Bit late to the punch, but the Black Knife is actually the Blade of Calling, but corrupted/twisted by having literal death shoved into it, thus twisting it and malforming its shape into something that hardly resembles its old self As for the Glintstone Kris, its ornate design is a fusion of the aesthetics of Leyndell and Raya Lucaria, as it was given as a gift to celebrate the end of a war between the two nations The Reduvia is a weapon used by Bloody Finger Nerijus, and its entire purpose is to draw enough blood to make sure it can fire waves of cursed blood at enemies, which rip the targets blood out The Scorpion Stinger is a ceremonial weapon used by the Servants of the Goddess of Rot, and it infects targets with what is basically hyper-accelerated cancer. The Celebrant's Sickle is similar, a ceremonial weapon made from human bone and used in dances by raving insane women in a windmill village The Crystal Knife is a mining tool used to chip Glintstone out of walls, and the process of this let a faint enchantment rest on the blade itself

[@mgk-metalgearkelly5054]

ofc the first irl "knife" we bring up is Bri'ish.

[@Dr1234-o5u]

London weapons

[@albypesphemore]

Magic bone IS cool!