Death's Poker is a Greatsword in Elden Ring. Death's Poker scales primarily with strength, dexterity, and intelligence. It does piercing damage and causes frostbite.
Barbed rod carried by Deathbirds.
The birds are graveyard fire keepers; it is said they rake out the ashen remains of the dead from their kilns.
Where to Find Death's Poker in Elden Ring
The Death's Poker weapon can be found at the following location:
- Southeast of the Southern Aeonia Swamp Bank Site of Grace. A Death Rite Bird boss can be encountered there at night time. See the exact location in the [Elden Ring Map Here]
Elden Ring Death's Poker Notes & Tips
- Weapon Skill: Ghostflame Ignition
- The Weapon Skill: Ghostflame Ignition purely scales with Intelligence.
- Scaling on the weapon art is considerably higher than the E/D value would suggest. Granting significant scaling up to at least 50 INT
- This weapon cannot be infused with Ashes of War
- Can't be enchanted with Magic nor boosted by Consumables.
- Death's Poker can be upgraded by using Somber Smithing Stones
- This weapon has a unique R2 shared with Sword of Milos, an upward diagonal slash starting from the lower right side. Charging the R2 attack will cause your character to take several steps forward before delivering the attack (similar to attacks empowered by the War Cry ash of war)
- Causes Frost buildup:
(65)
- Weapon art builds Frostbite at a significantly higher rate than this base value would suggest
- Sell Value:
200
- The weapon art can cause unusual "lag" when hitting large enemies that cause your character to appear to be skipping frames.
- It is caused by the Ghostflame Ignition weapon art continuously triggering the Hit Stop effect that gives attack impacts their sense of weight/collision. There is a video by Zullie the Witch dissecting this mechanic and weapon art in particular.
- You can pick 75% of the way through the moveset if you want to make it an AOE stagger bomb or a ground DOT projectile, and you can aim the projectile at the very last moment. Keep in mind that choosing neither option leaves the initial ghost fireball in place, which will continue to deal damage and frost buildup, effectively giving you three variations on the weapon art depending on the situation
- The unique charge r2 is highly situational but very hard for your opponent to zone.
- Ghostflame Ignition deals 100% Magic Damage and can be be boosted by wearing the Spellblade Set
- Ghostflame Ignition ONLY scales with Int, and at a much more significant rate than the E-D scaling would suggest, making this a solid option for Int builds, so long as you lean into the weapon art.
Moveset & Videos in Elden Ring for Death's Poker
Death's Poker Upgrades in Elden Ring
Please see the Upgrades page to understand the weapon bolstering process.
Requires regular reinforcement with Somber Smithing Stones
This upgrade can't be enchanted with Magic or boosted with Consumables.
Attack Power | Stat Scaling | Passive Effects | Damage Reduction (%) | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Death's Poker | Phy | Mag | Fir | Lit | Hol | Sta | Str | Dex | Int | Fai | Arc | Any | Phy | Mag | Fir | Lit | Hol | Bst | Rst |
Standard | 123 | 36 | - | - | - | 58 | D | D | E | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 39 | 19 |
Standard +1 | 140 | 41 | - | - | - | 63 | D | D | E | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 39 | 19 |
Standard +2 | 158 | 46 | - | - | - | 69 | D | D | E | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 39 | 19 |
Standard +3 | 176 | 51 | - | - | - | 75 | D | C | E | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 40 | 19 |
Standard +4 | 194 | 56 | - | - | - | 81 | D | C | D | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 40 | 19 |
Standard +5 | 212 | 62 | - | - | - | 87 | D | C | D | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 40 | 19 |
Standard +6 | 230 | 67 | - | - | - | 92 | D | C | D | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 41 | 19 |
Standard +7 | 247 | 72 | - | - | - | 98 | D | C | D | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 41 | 19 |
Standard +8 | 265 | 77 | - | - | - | 104 | D | C | D | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 42 | 19 |
Standard +9 | 283 | 82 | - | - | - | 110 | C | C | D | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 42 | 19 |
Standard +10 | 301 | 88 | - | - | - | 116 | C | B | D | - | - | ![]() |
60 | 39 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 42 | 19 |
- Anonymous
Basically Elden Ring's Boom Hammer in terms of functionality. Luring a bunch of enemies into a group then Killer Queening their asses never gets old.
- Anonymous
Why in marikas name does this thing not scale with int+faith? It’s themed after the death sorceries even, it makes no sense. I would love to use this on a death build but the scaling makes it impossible. Thank you, Miyazaki. Thank you so much
SAVIOUR, BLOODSTAIN, HELLFIRE, SHADOW! HEAVEN ON A LANDSLIDE
- Anonymous
Awkwardly this is like the best death staff, you got like 3 spells built nto the weapon art the ball you can roll away from then the stretching flame that can stack insane damage and an aoe explosion that clears a sizable area at 80 int the hit ridiculously hard plus frostbite
- Anonymous
This thing trivialized my fight against Astel the Natural-born, even with his being immune to frostbite. The skill just hits so damn hard
- Anonymous
I love this weapon because of its high risk / high reward quality for PvE.
There are other weapons that are mainly just high reward (falling beast jaw, ruins greatsword) that turn the game into a boring "spam that special" paint by numbers.
But this weapon forces you to get up-close and personal, and time the ignition to pull off the big boom.
Plus you essentially have 3 different weapon skills, depending on how you follow through on it.
Just far more enjoyable in my opinion. (I say this as someone who, after acquiring the blasphemous blade on a STR/FTH build, found the second half of the game pretty easy and boring)
- Anonymous
I wanna do a roleplay playthrough using this weapon. Any character backstory suggestions?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
For anyone wondering.. the W/A is still very strong on a dex build because with all ashes upgrade level is the dominating factor, then type of infusion, then scaling.. minus a few exceptions, this isn't one of those exceptions. Though the scaling is still pretty good
- Anonymous
Absolutely destroyed NG+ Radagon and Elden Beast with just 11 INT despite the disclaimer that the skill only scales with INT.
- Anonymous
You're better off treating this as a dex leaning quality weapon. Tested at 20 Int vs 50 Int, the increase in AoW damage was only 12.5%.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
the sticks got ghostflame ignition
and its weapons arts *****in
justa meltin the bad guys
don't need no graces of vision
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The swing on each of the weapon art variations also counts as an attack against enemies in front of it.
- Anonymous
Honestly I wish this weapon did blunt damage cause it's literally just a stick so it'd make sense.
- Anonymous
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- Anonymous
Other than the weird scaling (int barely touched the base damage but *catapults* the weapon art into insanity), it's an a amazing weapon against anything that doesn't stick an adrenaline shot straight up it's bunghole--ala black knives, red wolves, and Malekith part 2
The trail of ghost flame (l2 --> pop with r1) will cold roast anything that doesn't hustle out of the aoe
- Anonymous
this is a sword and the butcher knife is an axe. makes sense
- Anonymous
"The birds are graveyard fire keepers; it is said they rake out the ashen remains of the dead from their kilns." Yeah. It's a big Dark Souls 3 reference.
- Anonymous
This thing absolutely melted the Draconic tree sentinel in Farum Azula, and for that, I love it.
- Anonymous
Such a great feeling weapon. There is multiple ways to deliver the ash of war (L2. L2 R2. L2 R1) the unique R2 is an excellent gap closer which looks stylish and is perfect for charging into an enemy knocked down by your L2 R2, and the fact that this weapon can be used effectively on a dedicated int build with minimal investment in melee stats (radagons +5 seal means u only need +2 in dex) is glorious!!
The only stat it's lacking in is fashion... 9/10 would bonk again
- Anonymous
Weird bug with 1.06 if you have this weapon equipped while in the level up menu it shows the incorrect AP value and it won't change when adding stats
- Anonymous
The “unusual lag” is supposedly fixed on this, as of the newest patch
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
How cool this weapon looks and functions vs. what it’s called really makes me wish you could rename gear in this game.
- Anonymous
For its looks they took fantastic looking firelink greatsword from DS3, changed colors and bent the tip to make it extremely ugly.
Good thing the skill is fantastic and R2s are very good.
- Anonymous
This has an ugly design similar to great stars, it looks more like a rusty walking stick some old duffer would use than a greatsword.
- Anonymous
“Yeah so all these weapons thematically associated with the death birds and death sorceries, let’s have them have no faith scaling and be quality physical scaling instead? What? Players might want int/faith weapons? Well let’s just give them the sword of night and flame and or make them slap sacred on a Clayman Harpoon”
- Anonymous
What can I say, I love weapons that just go BOOM! And Death's Poker does just that with its L2 + R2 ghostflame explosion! For once, Boomers are actually cool!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The weapon art can be used in 4 different ways :
- WA once for a single spark, which stays in the air even if you roll away.
- WA repeatedly at melee range to keep igniting the enemy (kinda like O' Flame but with ghostflame).
- WA + normal attack to send a trail of flames forward.
- WA + strong attack for a large AoE explosion.
Tricky to use but really fun. My main weapon even though I'm not playing Intelligence build (mostly Faith caster) just because I love the moveset.
- Anonymous
"the weapon is bugged in a way that every time you hit with the skill your character will pause for a brief moment. This can make dodges and other movements feel extremely awkward. Not impossible to use, but you'll certainly have to get used to it."
This is not a bug, rather just a quirk of hitlag. Every attack that you perform will have hitlag when it connects with an opponent (excluding ranged attacks) and the weapon-art is classified as a normal attack.
- Anonymous
When it says you can pick between an AoE or DoT, exactly how would I do that? I've just been messing about with this now, and while I'm never going to respec for high intelligence over high faith, I really like this sword. I'd like it even more if it didn't look like a pensioners walking.
- Anonymous
Bonus of this weapon is that due to its stat requirements, a lot of classes can wear it with relative min-max with a difference of 1-2 skill points even if you upgrade INT and it includes Wretch. Only Prophet, Confessors and kinda Bandit got a bit more points left if you include getting STR to 15. Prisoner would be the best I think to use it.
- Anonymous
Being able to cancel out of the WA is great
I would like to see this be the case across the board with combat
I think it would increase immersion and feel a lot smoother—more in line with a person’s real decision making
You could say it would be OP to be able to cancel out of stuff, but not if you base all the combat around having that ability
- Anonymous
This is the only fire weaponb that scales with Int. All others scale with Fai
- Anonymous
After getting this, I then proceeded to call myself as Vlad the Poker.
- Anonymous
Upon testing build ideas on the secluded cell giant, I accidentally discovered a bug(?) with Ghostflame Ignition: The trail of flames it can leave on the ground were inheriting some of my weapon buffs when I swapped weapons. I sent the flames out, which gave the giant frostbite while I was swapping to the Antspur Rapier and used Seppuku with it. Without doing any further actions, the giant then underwent blood loss while standing in the lingering flames. I tried doing it again with poisonous mist coating the same Antspur instead of using Seppuku (even aimed the mist far away from the giant to make sure it wasn't the cloud) and sure enough, the flames then poisoned him. I haven't tested any other weapon buffs like these, and no, he wasn't getting afflicted with scarlet rot or any other status effects native to the weapon without buffs.
- Anonymous
It's unfortunate that the weapon art only scales with the stat that has the worst scaling for the weapon itself.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I wish this rolling attack was the poke. I hate the slam down attack most every greatsword has. The special r2 this has is amazing. The normal heavys of most all other greatswords is not very fun. I think they should update some of the movesets of the greatswords. I go to this one over the claymore for the special r2 but I like the poke better on the claymore for the rolling attack.
- Anonymous
Why the hell is this a greatsword and not a hammer type (not that i'm complaining)
- Anonymous
The WA does a shitton of damage even though i didn't make my build around it (i was running a dex/arc bloody helice build)
So yeah, as long as you upgrade it, it's very powerful
- Anonymous
Pretty lousy damage for the normal attacks but its still worth it for the skill alone
- Anonymous
Surprising good weapon and possibly the most satisfying AoW. Either a bomb that blows up everything infront of you or make a road of fire that builds frostbite as enemies stand on it.
- Anonymous
OMG just fix the WA on this already Fromsoftware.... Zullie the Witch even isolated the bug and elaborated on a possible fix for it....in April! we're on June ffs
- Anonymous
This weapon's skill can be built to be extremely powerful: Rogier's set, Jar Shard (Or Alexander Shard if you have the patience) Magic Scorp Charm and high Int will make the thing hit like a dumpster truck.
However, keep in mind the weapon is bugged in a way that every time you hit with the skill your character will pause for a brief moment. This can make dodges and other movements feel extremely awkward. Not impossible to use, but you'll certainly have to get used to it.
- Anonymous
Little slow on the cast time for the skill however it makes up for it when the skill hits.
- Anonymous
Little slow on the cast time for the skill however it makes up for it when the skill hits.
- Anonymous
Couldn't bleed elden beast. couldn't comet azur it. This crushed it easy. Sanity restored.
- Anonymous
Started using this weapon because it reminded me of my favorite DS3 spell black serpent. This weapon however, is Black serpent on steroids its so good.
First ability makes a mine that causes dmg and frost bite build up overtime before exploding. second ability turns it into black serpent causing longer dmg overtime and frost build up, great to use against multiple enemies. the 3rd ability turns it into a freaking huge bomb. overall fun to use in PVE.
- Anonymous
Started using this weapon because it reminded me of my favorite DS3 spell black serpent. This weapon however, is Black serpent on steroids its so good.
First ability makes a mine that causes dmg and frost bite build up overtime before exploding. second ability turns it into black serpent causing longer dmg overtime and frost build up, great to use against multiple enemies. the 3rd ability turns it into a freaking huge bomb. overall fun to use in PVE.
- Anonymous
Started using this weapon because it reminded me of my favorite DS3 spell black serpent. This weapon however, is Black serpent on steroids its so good.
First ability makes a mine that causes dmg and frost bite build up overtime before exploding. second ability turns it into black serpent causing longer dmg overtime and frost build up, great to use against multiple enemies. the 3rd ability turns it into a freaking huge bomb. overall fun to use in PVE.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Despite the lag from this weapon when you use the weapon art on some enemies, this thing melts enemies.
- Anonymous
I can't describe how much fun this weapon is it does so much damage with the secondary explosion
- Anonymous
This weapon is highly underrated in pvp. With high int, this thing is insanely versatile. You can pick 75% of the way through the moveset if you want to make it an AOE stagger bomb or a ground DOT projectile, and you can aim the projectile at the very last moment.
It's the only weapon art that gives you several options after you have activated it on where and how to use it based on how your opponent reacts. The only safe counter is running away, and since it's underused, you can catch people pretty easily with it.
The unique charge r2 is highly situational but very hard for your opponent to zone.
It's the most versatile mele weapon in the game for pure int players in my opinion.
- Anonymous
Feels like it should've done strike damage since it really has no blade
- Anonymous
the lag from the weapon art makes this completely unusable
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
In my opinion, for people who want the aesthetic of a death knight or death mage style build, I suggest using this weapon with heavy Int investment and your armor fashion of choice (Mausoleum Knight fits with this well due to the Deathbird connection) is better than using the Death Sorceries, which require awkward stat split and leave you with only Sword of Night and Flame as your weapon choice, not that it's a bad weapon.
This also lets you make full use of any sorceries for changing up your playstyle without having to respect. You could also start to invest in Dex after you're Int capped to get better damage on weapon swings but really you use this for the amazing Ash of War and not for smacking stuff
- Anonymous
Very solid weapon, but i wish the damage numbers on regular attacks were little bit higher...
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Why do they make weapons that scale better with str/dex, to then make the weapon art scale exclusively with int/faith...
- Anonymous
Sword of Milos is a great off-hand pairing. You get power stance, passive FP regain on kill, small bloodloss buildup, and can combine the debuff 15% with Death's Poker Frostbyte 20% debuff.
- Anonymous
The weapon art absolutely melts anything that stands in it even for a few ticks. Generally good for zoning against small bosses and damage against big, only exceptions are things immune to frost or with very small ground hitboxes (like, of course, death birds, and surprisingly fire giant.)
Hope the hitlag bug on this get's fixed soon as it's basically unusable atm on boss fights.
- Anonymous
This weapon boasts one of the worst bugs for actual use. The spell is affected by the greatswords hitlag mechanic, and constantly lags out the players animations when the flames strike enemies.
- Anonymous
I just upgraded it as far as I could. On an INT build, it's devestating. You're gonna want one. The weapon art is one of the best I've come across. Enjoy.
- Anonymous
weapon skill doesn't scale with dex and str at all, it's pure int scaling.
- Anonymous
I beat the game last night. Was having trouble with Godfrey/Horah Loux, so took a day off, tried beating him again, and just like every other boss in the game, melted him with it, powerstancing it with the Dark Moon Greatsword, Flame Grant Me Strength, Golden Vow, Mimic Tear +10. I found the fight harder than Radagon tbf. Beat Radagon/Elden beast in like 4 tries with it, right after 3 attempts with Godfrey. I'm so glad I found the Death's Poker, otherwise I don't really have the patience or the time to spend hours on each boss. It makes for a great Shinigami build, looks a lot like Kira's Wabisuke as well.
- Anonymous
I beat the game last night. Was having trouble with Godfrey/Horah Loux, so took a day off, tried beating him again, and just like every other boss in the game, melted him with it, powerstancing it with the Dark Moon Greatsword, Flame Grant Me Strength, Golden Vow, Mimic Tear +10. I found the fight harder than Radagon tbf. Beat Radagon/Elden beast in like 4 tries with it, right after 3 attempts with Godfrey. I'm so glad I found the Death's Poker, otherwise I don't really have the patience or the time to spend hours on each boss. It makes for a great Shinigami build, looks a lot like Kira's Wabisuke as well.
- Anonymous
Does anyone know if this scales better with the fire scorpion charm or the magic scorpion charm? does ghost flame count as fire or magic?
- Anonymous
Wierd scaling, mainly used for aow, aow scales with int, but weapon ap scales worst with int, probably should change dex scaling with int.
- Anonymous
As of patch 1.04.1, the knock back of the weapon art is greatly reduced. About 80% reduction.
- Anonymous
hard slept on pure int builds, the scaling dont look good but the wa+r2 attack absolutely deletes everything and does good posture damage+frost.
- Anonymous
hard slept on pure int builds, the scaling dont look good but the wa+r2 attack absolutely deletes everything and does good posture damage+frost.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
lmao this spicy stick just deletes everything
hands down my favourite weapon in the game
- Anonymous
Got this very early, first enemy killed besides lazy dragon. Ran around limgrave and weepy peninsula collecting flask upgrades and smith stones. Got Morningstar and killed lazy dragon. Upgraded vig and other key stats. Bought crafting supplies from kale to make holy pots. Got flames of red manes and slapped that bad boi on spiky mace. Put strength and faith in wonderful physucc and drank it. Got under Skelly bird and spammed flames until he broke his posture, threw them holy pots right in his freaky face, then crit him. Went down pretty quick.
Got this very early, first enemy killed besides lazy dragon. Ran around limgrave and weepy peninsula collecting flask upgrades and smith stones. Got Morningstar and killed lazy dragon. Upgraded vig and other key stats. Bought crafting supplies from kale to make holy pots. Got flames of red manes and slapped that bad boi on spiky mace. Put strength and faith in wonderful physucc and drank it. Got under Skelly bird and spammed flames until he broke his posture, threw them holy pots right in his freaky face, then crit him. Went down pretty quick.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This is just 3 spells on a weapon, all pretty much better than the death sorceries... death sorceries need a buff in damage or adding frostbite to all of them.
- Anonymous
Feel like it should deal strike damage as opposed to standard.
- Anonymous
Been using moon veil meteorite blade since start of the game? Looking for a change wanna feel like a strong man but can't give up those juicy spells meet death poker. Pair with darkmoon great sword or some random magic buffed greatsword for even more fun duel great blade action
Did a short round of tests at various stats and it seems the WA is only affected by int. Strength and Dexterity only affect weapon AR. Only weapon level and int increase WA damage. Im not sure how much of a damage increase you get from weapon levels but at 80 int you get roughly a 20% increase and anything beyong 80 is extremely minor. Frost Witch Hat does not affect the damage for those wondering.
- Anonymous
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Hilariously enough, this is a quality build weapon. No need to level INT or use talismans at all, slap on Rennala's hat and youre good to go. Quality builds are secretly fantastic, it has easy access to every boss's weakness.
- Anonymous
I see people claiming that the weapon art scales with INT, but is there any solid data on this? Even for the glintstone ashes of war leveling INT turns out to be waste and e.g. Glintstone Pebble does more than enough damage on a heavy infused weapon. I don't see why this would be different for Ghostflame Ignition. Putting levels into a D scaling stat seems like such a waste just for a little more damage on a clunky skill.
- Anonymous
Anyone else experiencing a weird frame stutter bug that corresponds to the damage tick of the weapon art? It's a frequent occurrence for me, most noticeable with especially large enemies.
- Anonymous
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two tried malenia with this weapon (died from random clones the first try).
the L2+R1 of this weapon is a hard counter to her since it lingers in the field and constantly staggers her, it also has a deceptively LONG range, like you can shoot it outside her scarlet rot range during the second phase and it WILL reach her.
those struggling against her, give this a try, just get enough str and dex to equip this and then max out your int with lots of vigor. don't need lots of FP.
do it before the inevitable nerf (sigh).
- Anonymous
Honestly one of the best weapons. So much fun using the as of war und to destroy everything in your way.
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