Datamines for Elden Ring’s first Shadow of the Erdtree expansion have uncovered that a new weapon type will make a featured appearance in the DLC. While a new weapon type bodes well for Elden Ring in general, a particular weapon deserves some competition.
Overall, the Coded Sword in Elden Ring is a highly useful and sought-after weapon because of the many interesting components of the weapon. From its elemental damage type to the Ash of War and the visual appearance, the Coded Sword is a weapon that players shouldn’t underestimate.
Elden Ring Needs More Elemental Weapons as Powerful as the Coded Sword
Holy damage is relatively overpowered, as a majority of players and enemies in Elden Ring aren’t equipped with Holy Resistance. The Coded Sword, Cipher Pata, and the Holy-damage Incantations are incredibly strong for this reason, except when it comes to the final bosses in Elden Ring. The Elden Beast and Radagon are one of the very few enemies that are resistant to Holy damage, and these 2 enemies are practically immune to it. This is one of the very few limitations of the Coded Sword, as otherwise, it’s easily a contender for one of the best weapons in the game.
What makes the Holy damage on the Coded Sword so powerful is that it works differently than nearly all the other Elemental or status effect weapons in Elden Ring. Most weapons that are infused with an Elemental damage type have inherent standard damage that pairs with the added damage types, but not the Coded Sword. Instead, the Coded Sword exclusively deals Holy damage, so since very few enemies have much Holy resistance, this weapon is truly a force to be reckoned with. Since this weapon avoids a standard damage type, it also skips out on any Strength or Dexterity scaling. The Coded Sword only scales with Faith, though its B-tier scaling can be upgraded to A-tier scaling, which is extremely potent.
The Coded Sword’s Ash of War is also very powerful across both PvE and PvP in Elden Ring. The Ash of War attack on the Coded Sword is called Unblockable Blade and the Cipher Pata actually has the same skill, only with a bit less range. Other than these 2 weapons, this Ash of War is not available on any other weapons. As the name implies, the Unblockable Blade attack is entirely impossible to block, no matter which shields it strikes. This attack also can’t be parried, so it’s a very simple way to circumvent the most fortified enemy shields.
Because of the Elemental damage and shield-penetrating Ash of War attack on the Coded Sword, the only way to counter this weapon is to dodge or use weaponry with superior range. Since NPCs in Elden Ring that are equipped with a shield will inevitably attempt to use their shield, players can punish this behavior with the Coded Sword. Even after the Coded Sword weapon was rebalanced with some of the nerfs in Elden Ring, it’s still ridiculously strong thanks to the many different layers it has.
While this may be a bit subjective, the Coded Sword is arguably one of the coolest weapon designs in Elden Ring. The hilt and crossguard of the weapon are fairly typical designs, though the blade itself is so unique that it's instantly recognizable. The Coded Sword’s blade is made entirely of cipher symbols that glow golden and extend the length of the sword nearly threefold during the Ash of War attack.
Why Elden Ring’s DLC really needs to have its own Coded Sword equivalent is to bring other Elemental and status effect weapons up to compete with the best weapons in the game. Many fans believe that future DLCs may revive some of Elden Ring's cut content, which points toward the underutilized Sleep status effect weaponry. Other Elements and status effects that could also use some expanded weapon variety include Red Lightning, Death Blight, Frost, and Madness.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.