Dark Moon Greatsword | Elden Ring Wiki

This sword is so good that I got bored half way through the game
moral of the story INT is boring and go use the zweihander

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Does this one have a backstory like bb's holy moonlight or it's yet another "blue big sword that somehow made it's way through separate worlds along with patches" ?

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we finally got a good MLGS in armored core 6 , the curse is broken! praise the sun!

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Terra magika affects damage as well

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An interesting property of this weapon is that the r2 seem to be in a higher poise damage category. Similar to collosal weapons r1 and great sword jumping r2.They can make flinch enemies that normally don't flinch to greatsword r2. This is true even of the unbuffed r2. So in addition to being a laser sword, it is also the black knight sword

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this weapon is a beast, i can reach almost 1000 AR with buffs, just spam r2 and demolish anything.

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FYI for anyone that comes across this that is also doing a melee build: It has a 38 Int required attribute.

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Man I miss the Moonlight Greatsword from DS3.. Moonlight Vortex hit like a damn truck and it looked cool as hell, and the charged L2's felt more satisfying to use but that's just me. In my biased opinion the only things this version has over the former is the added frostbite build-up and that it's no longer affected by durability.

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This sword probably the most economic use of FP of any weapon I've tried.

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If you depend on the weapon art to use this greatsword, you aren't worthy of wielding it.

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Easy S-tier PvE weapon. Usable in PvP, but the R2s need the AoW buff first, leaving you open, is short, and very telegraphed.

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Hopefully after patch 1.10, R2 has a bit of hyper armor? If so, it has some potential to be a trading machine.

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Kind of strange not one person mentions the major negative of this weapon. You have to use the skill to keep the buff up and it has an animation. So mid battle good luck finding a moment where you can buff the sword during this seconds long animation that leaves you wide open and can be interrupted. Without the buff the heavy attack (R2) doesn't fire a projectile.

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Ah... You Were At My Said All Along...
My True Mentor...
My Guiding Moonlight...

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bloodborne fans trying not to quote ludwig for 5 seconds challenge (impossible)

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Why am I not seeing any damage increase from Godfrey Icon?

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I miss greatsword of judgement

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"This sword, it's been in my family for generations. And only a real man can wield it true."

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My true mentor... My guiding moonlight.

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It would be cool if this had the knight's greatsword moveset but then I'd be asking for too much lol. This is already a SS+ tier weapon.

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Hello! Who can drop it for me +10? Have lots of stuff in return , no sombers. My steam friend code is 906571630

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you know for what seems like the game's main secret quest for a radically different ending and the iconic moonlight blade, it could have been a lot more miserable to actually complete. Hell, it's harder to get boiled crab in a blind playthrough than get this

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this blade makes me happy

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who can drop it for me +10? Have lots of stuff in return but no sombers left.

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Friendship with SWORD OF NIGHT AND FLAME is now ended. Now DARKMOON GREATSWORD is my best friend.

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moonlight greatsword just doesn't feel the same in this game imo. It went from being a str int weapon to almost pure int with a small strength requirment and the sword looks alot darker and less blue in this game

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Hello, is this affected by war cry/barbaric roar at all? Ig it wouldnt be but thatd be hilarious if it was

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my beloved

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just can't get over the fact that this thing has a pp shaped grip

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Killed that idiot dragon and got this gem from my future wife, rabbi witch. First thing I did was shove it so far up Morgott’s ass that he’ll be shi tting blue for weeks!

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At first glance i thought this was a colossal, slightly disappointed that it wasn't ngl

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perfect for when you need to go on a power trip and 2 shot some fools in pvp

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I love this sword, the lore, and the questline required to obtain it. It's a powerful weapon, as it should be considering it's a legendary weapon, and the questline required to obtain takes a considerable amount of time versus most other weapons which you can just pickup, get in a chest, or by beating a boss. I also like that the main ability is tied to R2 and the range is relatively short compared to spells. This means you cant just spam its ability from across the arena, you have to time when you execute the charged R2's otherwise you'll just get knocked out of it.

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Spamming r2 with the ash of war is a valid way to use it, but it's best damage output comes at point blank with axe talisman + godfrey icon. In my int character that equals stunlocks/stancebreak for days and 1200 ish damage before frost procs. And i still have to test shard of alexander in it.

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Second favorite MLGS. Nothing can top Bloodborne's though.

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Honestly my favourite thing about this weapon is the projectiles' stance-breaking ability!! Gargoyles, watchdogs, runebears etc. will no longer be an issue. Pretty sure it doesn't do any more poise damage than any other gs's fully charged heavy attack, but the fact that this gs can do it ranged makes so much easier to pull off.

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biggest gripe is that the buff effect z-fights with your character if you're a phantom or invader. thankfully it can be fixed with the trick mirror

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This weapon was horrifically bad on launch. Slow as hell and the tracking was so bad 75% of your moonlight waves would miss. Thankfully it’s gotten like 3 buffs and it’s god-tier for Int builds now, as it should be given how hard it is to get and the fact that it’s the god damn moonlight greatsword

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Amazing, 1 pet peeve, when unbuffered the R2s still have the same animation, I just think it looks strange

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If there's one problem I have with this weapon, it's that you have to spec HEAVILY as a sorcerer to use it... and then its weapon art's moonblades basically render your actual MAGIC all but obsolete. Why would I spend huge amounts of FP on spells when I can just charge this thing up ONCE and carve enemies up like turducken with moon rays? Frankly it'd be more balanced if ACTIVATING it was free, but every R2 while it's activated cost FP instead.

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I cannot fathom why this doesn't do pure magic damage.

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Very good, a bit too good I think. I wish they can make it that the projectile does more frost buildup but a bit less dmg, so it encourages you to not spam but to build frost then go in and f things up with the reduced resistance, or creative use of frost reset.

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so elden ring DOES have an easy mode

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I went to see my new mother-in-law to respec my entire build just to be able to wield my wife's wedding present to me. It was worth the effort.

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The ultimate spell-sword weapon.

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The ultimate spell-sword weapon.

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I wish you could find a glitch to show us

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Gonna say this. I tried several builds, including the infamous Rivers of Blood, but even with that the game maintained its challenge and I didn't feel completely OP. In my current playthrough I decided to use the Darkmoon Greatsword and it's disgusting. The frost-buffed charged R2's obliterate everything. Some bosses get stunlocked and you skip the whole fight. My latest victory was beating Morgott hitless (fight ended so quickly he couldn't hit me).

So yeah, TL;DR this weapon is absolutely fantastic.

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Really wish the weapon skill gave light attacks projectiles too, i'm not a huge fan of how the weapon turns into an R2 spam machine whenever its active.

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They somehow gave it a worse, smaller moveset than it had back in Dark Souls 3.

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I'd say Moonlight is more fun. Blasphemous blade is op but Darkmoon feels like good mode was activated. As all souls games that one can be as easy or as difficult as you like. Darkmoon makes it trivial.

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If you want to play the game on easy mode, this is what you want. Actually getting it takes a long time though

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Dark Moon Greatsword isn't listed in the 1.09 patch notes at all, why is this page saying there was a change to scaling? It's not even mentioned that Greatswords in general received a scaling change.

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One of the most difficult weapons to acquire, but definitely worth the trouble.

Arguably the best PVE weapon in the game with the right build, high damage, low fp cost, long reach when buffed.

Of course, you'll never hit anyone in PVP with the R2, but for PVE this is definitely the best non-status build weapon in the game.

Of course a bleed build will surpass this damage a few times over, but if you don't want to be cringe or feel like you are cheating this is your best friend.

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cant stand that the second swing when using this 1 handed does 0 damage.

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a bit of a let down, boils down to L2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2 R2

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Does anyone know if this sword was increased with the great sword r2 speed increase in 1.09? If so that’s cracked

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my true mentor, my guiding Moonlight...

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OP weapon, kinda boring in PVE, i wish projectiles were used from l2 and not r2. Kills all combo potential. But if you wanna destroy anything from range without any effort, thats your pick.

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Does the spiked cracked tear also affect the charged r2?

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Wouldn’t Ranni not want her lord to have this sword since she wants to rid the world of old traditions?

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What exactly does this do better than Helphen's Steeple. It has less total damage before and after the AoW, less frostbite build up after the AoW as far as I can tell the scaling is worse. Does it have anything going for it outside of being able to shoot projectiles?
(I will still be using this weapon as I'm not a meta slave, and moon wife sword)

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Overall awesome weapon

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Why does the second r1 do like no damage compared to the first and third?

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This weapon is perfect for big bosses.

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The Dark moon greatsword,also known by me as the Biggoron's lightsaber

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Hello again, my favorite sword. My favorite greatsword from Dark Souls, in Elden Ring. It's good to be back, Moonlight!

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Doesn't look as cool as its dark souls counterpart. Makes me sad

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Wow this game has so many cool new weapons! *finds MLGS* yep im using that..

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Bloodborne's version better? That's a moon-paddlin'.
It reminds you of Seath, not Carians? That's a moon-paddlin'.
Oceiros hotter than Ranni? That's a moon-paddlin'.
Moon-paddlin' through the cosmos? Oh, you better believe that's a moon-paddlin'.

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In my opinion Helphen + Darkmoon is a very bad pairing, cause you have to maintain both buffs for full potential. You'll just end up spend half of every fight rebuffing your weapons. I think banished knigh/knight's greatsword are better options - just infuse them, give them an aow that isnt just a buff for more options and you have an acces to 3 different movesets: regular one, banished knight (hollowslayer) one and powerstanced one.

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I’d like this sword better if it didn’t look like a glorified boat paddle.

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Ah my true moonlight you were my by mentor all long

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Does anyone know how to correct this page? Helphen's Steeple is not the best to powerstance with. A iron greatsword infused with magic is the most damaging left hand to pair with dark moon. This is true for any stat distribution, in early game with only points in int and in the very late game with 80int/80str or 80int/80dex.

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King's Field boys remember.

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Ahh my true mentor you were with me all along my guiding moonlight

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Did this get buffed? When I was using it it felt really slow- first you have to stand still to activate it, then the charged heavies take an age and a half to come out, and finally you get a decently quick wave, but with short range and no tracking.

Why wouldn’t I just use glintstone icecrag for like 75% of the damage per shot at twice the casting speed and a good bit of range and tracking on top of that? Legit question- what got changed?

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This sword is a must for INT builds. The AoW mixed with Heavy-Attacks is so incredibly effective at frosting your foes and poise breaking them... I almost feel bad for Morgott. I used the AoW as he approached me, then shackled him to the ground and started spamming heavy attacks. Between the frost build up, poise breaking and riposte he got off one measly attacked before I defeated him.

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Can't speak for pvp but I have heard this weapon is decent in that regard. I can however speak for PVE and say when this thing isn't nailing enemies and bosses for 1000 damage on it's beam and even more on it melee charge up it is definitely staggering them to no end quite easily. This has made PVE a cakewalk. But you have to obviously build your character completely around this weapon.

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should i use this for fire giant?

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I don't know how people are saying this sword is weak. I have 80 int, 40 dex, and 20 str with this sword at +10 and when charged with frost it does insanely high damage. I don't use it all the time because I prefer faster weapons but the point is the Dark Moon sword is one of the, if not THE most powerful int-scaling melee weapons in the game.

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Bloodborne > Dark Souls II 2

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would this be good for a samurai?

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Completely blocking the "one-shot" waves of this sword with my +25 magic infused fingerprint feels so good

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probably the easiest thing to make a oneshot build with currently

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Souls fans try not to mention bloodborne challenge(IMPOSSIBLE?!)2023

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Unfortunately this sword is doodie. I have 99 INT/60STR/60DEX and this sword is simply outclassed by every other build I have done. Very much regret respecing for this sword. Carian Knight Sword does better melee and AoW damage... and is very easy to get. For the work require for this sword, it needs to be better. I love the sword itself and the idea of it.. but it just underperforms. You either spend most of the fight running around trying to get enough space to charge the blade and get casts off or end up trading damage with the bosses. They need to make the effect of this blade permanent and cost FP or increase the melee damage it is capable of. Then it would be worthwhile as either a good AoW sword or good melee sword with a decent ranged option. Very, very disappointed with this sword overall.

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You are never getting Bloodborne's version of this sword back. Get tf over it already.

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wish the FROM used the bloodborne version of this weapon, since in Elden Ring it’s ash of war is “so easy to dodge” that you can simply and slowly walk left or right to dodge it

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Broke: Dark Moon Greatsword

Woke: Moon Wife Greatsword

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Yeah so at 50 INT and +6 it absolutely shredded Morgott and killed him during the phase transition

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You level up Intelligence to become a mage, I level up intelligence to use this sword, we are not the same

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"Aah, you were at my side, all along.

My true mentor...

My guiding moonlight..."

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who even needs spells with a weapon like this

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With a very high level character, one charged R2 beam does

- without any buffs or damage increasing gear: 1.708 damage
- with buffs and damage increasing gear: 6.686 damage

Buffs are:
Terra Magica
Golden Vow
Contagious Fury
Show With Hat
Spellblade Gloves
Spellblade Attire
Spellblade Trousers
Shard of Alexander
Ritual Sword Talisman
Godfrey Icon
Magic Scorpion Charm
Magic Shrouding Tear
Intelligence Knot Tear.

INSANE. I like it.

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This sword, the moonveil, the glintstone kris and an ice spear are four ways to play an int character that can actually outperform a pure mage in the ranged game.

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this is simply the best pve weapon in the game after all the buffs. They addressed literally every complaint about the weapon.while keeping the high damage output.. The moonbeams still do a ton of damage for essentially 0 FP cost. I can't believe it's not being discussed and used more. I guess because the moonbeams aren't very useful in pvp duels.

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For some reason I can't reply to other people, but I can confirm what another commenter said about the second attack in the one handed R1 attack chain doing significantly less damage that the other three hits

Tested on the sleeping Albinaurics in Mohg's area with no damage buffs or talismans

Dark Moon Greatsword +9
45 Strength, 45 Dexterity, 65 Intelligence

First hit was 732, Second hit was 450, Third hit was 750, Fourth hit was 825

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While it's probably obvious, the damage of the R2 projectile is also affected by Ritual Sword Talisman

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With just shard of alexander, deals a **** ton of damage towards other players if it connects (capable of even one shotting them with a fully charged R2)

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