The Blood of Dawnwalker hands Coen a huge armoury — the community weapon databases already list well over a hundred blades — but only a handful are worth actually building your run around. This tier list ranks the best weapons in The Blood of Dawnwalker, from the legendary swords that carry a full playthrough down to the early-game picks that keep you alive before you can forge them, all verified against the game's wikis and the guides that datamined the launch build as of September 2026.
Quick answer: The single best weapon in The Blood of Dawnwalker is the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai, a Legendary Greatsword that GamesRadar calls "the best sword" and KeenGamer ranks as the "strongest all-purpose weapon" — it boosts Swordmastery Ability Cooldown, Weapon Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage and Damage against Supernatural Enemies, and its level scales to when you finish its questline (around Level 21 early, up to Level 50 endgame). Close behind sit The Kingslayer (a Level 21 Legendary Greatsword with heavier buffs, bought from the Silver Merchant in Svartrau for about 5,000 Denarii), Durandal (a Legendary Longsword looted from Knyaz Skender's treasure during The Cursed Chasm — the safest early legendary) and the Gladius (a Legendary Shortsword you can claim from the Beast of Balaur's night-only lair from around level 11). Because there is no respec at launch, your weapon does a lot of your build's heavy lifting — pick one that matches your Swordmastery, Witchcraft or Vampirism path.
Below: how weapons work, the full S/A/B tier list, where to get every legendary blade, and the best early picks before you can forge the endgame swords.
How do weapons work in The Blood of Dawnwalker?
Weapons in The Blood of Dawnwalker are the swords Coen wields in human form, and he can use them at any time of day or night — unlike Hexes (daytime only) and vampire claws (night only). The Fextralife wiki puts it plainly: weapons "can be used by Coen at any time of the day," and are "categorized as swords and magic that Coen uses by day." That makes your sword the one constant in every fight, which is why weapon choice matters more here than in a game where your kit swaps between phases.
Blades come in several physical classes, each with a distinct feel. The main ones you will build around are:
- Longswords — the balanced default. Even reach, damage and recovery. The safe pick if you are unsure, and the class of the early legendary Durandal.
- Shortswords — quick, close-range blades; the Gladius is the standout legendary here.
- Falchions — short curved blades. Fast and stamina-efficient, but they fall off in long combos against tanky enemies.
- Greatswords — high damage, slow recovery. They dominate one-on-one duels, which is exactly where the two best legendaries (Mihai and the Kingslayer) land.
- Battle Cleavers / Battleswords — heavy blades built around stagger and raw impact.
Fextralife's weapon list shows the game carries more categories than these (messers, baselards and others turn up too), so treat the above as the classes that matter for a best-weapons build rather than the complete roster. Rarity broadly climbs from Common → Superior → Epic → Legendary (Fextralife's data tables list a few extra internal tier labels between those steps), and the Legendary tier is where the run-defining weapons live. Some — but not all — weapons also carry a Weapon Art: a special move that, per launch-build testing, "run[s] on their own cooldown but also cost[s] Activation Charges, as well as Stamina," and the item description tells you whether a given blade has one. Do not assume every legendary has a flashy art; check the tooltip.
The most important structural fact for weapon planning is that The Blood of Dawnwalker has no respec — you cannot reclaim spent skill points, because spending a skill's time segment permanently advances the game's 30-day clock. Your weapon is therefore a big part of how you patch the gaps a locked skill build leaves. If you want the full progression picture first, our skill tree guide and best build guide explain how Swordmastery, Witchcraft and Vampirism interact with your blade.
The Blood of Dawnwalker best weapons tier list
This ranking prioritises overall usefulness and build impact rather than raw damage numbers — several weapons are specifically designed around Vampirism, Witchcraft, Perfect Blocks or supernatural combat, so the "strongest" weapon depends partly on your path. The tiers below reflect the consensus across KeenGamer, GamesRadar, Rock Paper Shotgun, Method and MetaBot.
| Tier | Weapon | Class | Why it's here |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | Imbued Sword of St. Mihai | Legendary Greatsword | Best all-purpose weapon; four always-useful stat effects incl. Damage vs Supernatural. Its level scales to when you finish it |
| S | The Kingslayer | Legendary Greatsword (Lv 21) | Comparable raw power with heavier buffs; buyable, so no long questline |
| A | Gladius | Legendary Shortsword | The best shortsword; a night-only mini-boss reward you can grab from around level 11 |
| A | Durandal | Legendary Longsword | The safest early legendary; strong from just after the prologue |
| A | The Vrakhir / Erkas's Sword / The Purge | Legendary | Situational stars — can out-perform Mihai in specific Vampirism/Witchcraft builds |
| B | Exquisite Greatsword | Epic Greatsword | Best pre-legendary greatsword; carries you until you forge Mihai |
| B | Burnished Battlesword / Trustworthy Battlesword | Epic | Efficient early stat-sticks with good weight-to-damage |
| B | Battle-Worn Falchion | Superior/Epic Falchion | Fast, stamina-cheap early option for combo-heavy play |
A note on the S tier: the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai and The Kingslayer are the two weapons every guide converges on. One important caveat on the Mihai — its level is not fixed. GamesRadar notes it "scales" to when you complete the questline, showing up around Level 21 if you finish it early and as high as Level 50 if you leave it until the endgame (KeenGamer lists the endgame version at Level 50), so its raw numbers depend on your timing. The Kingslayer, by contrast, is a fixed Level 21 Legendary Greatsword and is frequently cited by players as having better buffs, while Mihai wins on all-round output — pick Kingslayer if you want the stat effects now, Mihai if you want the scaling ceiling.
Where do you get the best legendary weapons?
Here is exactly where each top-tier blade lives. Locations are corroborated across at least two trusted sources; note that a couple of the quest names differ between guides, which we flag rather than paper over.
Imbued Sword of St. Mihai (S tier)
This is the endgame of one of the game's longer weapon questlines. You collect the sword's shards and imbue the relic to create the finished Legendary Greatsword. KeenGamer describes it as "the final version of the Arbiter's legendary sword" that "requires one of the game's longer weapon questlines," and IGN's legendary-equipment list ties the reward to the "A Bulwark Against Darkness" quest. The finished blade carries stat boosts across Swordmastery Ability Cooldown, Weapon Critical Hit Chance, Weapon Critical Hit Damage and Damage against Supernatural Enemies (Method and Fextralife both list the same four effects; Fextralife labels the last one "Damage Against Corrupted," the in-game term for supernatural foes). One thing to plan around: its level is not fixed. GamesRadar reports the sword "scales" to when you complete the questline — roughly Level 21 if you finish it early, up to Level 50 (and far higher damage) if you leave it for the endgame. Rush it and you get a strong mid-game weapon; save it and you get a stronger one. (Guides also differ on the quest's exact name — treat it as a multi-stage weapon questline and follow whichever step your journal is tracking.)
The Kingslayer (S tier)
The fastest legendary to obtain, because you can simply buy it. Per Method, you head to Svartrau and find the Silver Merchant in the southern quarter of the city — the Kingslayer is available for purchase (players report a price around 5,000 Denarii), and there is a related "Dig Out The Treasure" task west of the city that costs one Time Notch if you would rather earn it. No long questline required.
Durandal (A tier)
The safest early legendary, and a Longsword rather than a greatsword. It is looted from Knyaz Skender's lost treasure at the bottom of The Cursed Chasm, the gorge in the Briar Sloughs below Greifberg Castle — you first hear about Skender's ill-fated treasure convoy from a Svartrau innkeeper, so it reads as a Svartrau-area errand even though the chasm itself sits in the Sloughs. Game8 and GamerGuides confirm picking up the blade "will cost 2 TIME" and completes the quest, and KeenGamer notes the enemies "can be difficult if you arrive immediately after the prologue." Because it is reachable so early, Durandal is the pick most guides recommend to newcomers.
Gladius (A tier)
The best Legendary Shortsword, found in the lair of the Beast of Balaur, a night-only mini-boss reached from the town of Parlita. Method, Game8 and allthings.how all place it there. A word on its level, because guides disagree: Game8 and allthings.how — the two sources that quote the item card directly — list it at item level 15 with a required character level of 11, so most players can claim it fairly early rather than at the very end of the game. (Rock Paper Shotgun, describing the "A Lone Wolf's Hunt" ending path, instead calls it "a level 37 Legendary Shortsword"; treat that higher figure as an outlier next to the two sources reading the in-game tooltip, and expect to be able to grab the Gladius long before Level 37.)
What are the best early weapons before you get a legendary?
You will not be forging Mihai in the first few hours, so bridge the gap with the strongest Epic-tier blades. Rock Paper Shotgun's early-weapons guide and MetaBot's damage tables point to a few standouts:
- Exquisite Greatsword — the best pre-legendary greatsword, and a natural stepping stone if you plan to end up on Mihai or the Kingslayer.
- Burnished Battlesword — a Level 22 Epic that shows up around the Wetland Helpers quest; a reliable stat-stick.
- Trustworthy Battlesword and Battle-Worn Falchion — MetaBot calls these "the efficiency" picks, strong weight-to-damage blades that keep your stamina economy healthy early.
The rule of thumb: match the early blade to the legendary you are aiming for. If your endgame is a Greatsword (Mihai/Kingslayer), lean greatsword early so your Swordmastery muscle memory carries over; if you prefer speed, ride a Falchion until the Gladius.
Which weapon is best for each build?
Because there is no respec, pair your weapon with your locked path:
- Swordmastery / duelist: the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai — its Swordmastery Ability Cooldown boost feeds the exact abilities you are investing in, and it works day and night.
- Supernatural / vampire hunter: again Mihai, for its Damage against Supernatural Enemies effect against the vrakhiri and boss-tier enemies you will face late.
- Buff-stacking / crit build: The Kingslayer, whose heavier buff spread rewards players who want stat effects over the highest base output.
- Fast, aggressive night play: the Gladius shortsword once you have cleared the Beast of Balaur, or a Falchion earlier.
For the enemies these weapons are built to kill — the three court boyars and both Brencis fights — see our all bosses guide, and for the blades and gear you can permanently lose, our missable items guide.
FAQ
What is the best weapon in The Blood of Dawnwalker? The Imbued Sword of St. Mihai, a Legendary Greatsword whose level scales to when you finish its questline (around Level 21 early, up to Level 50 endgame). GamesRadar calls it "the best sword" and KeenGamer ranks it the "strongest all-purpose weapon," thanks to four broadly useful effects: Swordmastery Ability Cooldown, Weapon Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage and Damage against Supernatural Enemies.
How do you get the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai? You assemble and imbue it through one of the game's longer weapon questlines — KeenGamer calls it "the final version of the Arbiter's legendary sword," and IGN ties the reward to the "A Bulwark Against Darkness" quest. Guide names for the individual steps vary, so follow whichever objective your journal is tracking.
What is the best early legendary weapon? Durandal. It is looted from Knyaz Skender's lost treasure during The Cursed Chasm quest west of Svartrau City, reachable shortly after the prologue, which is why most guides call it the "safest early choice." The activity costs 2 Time Segments and the enemies can be tough if you arrive straight out of the prologue.
Can you respec your weapons or skills in The Blood of Dawnwalker? No. There is no respec at launch — you cannot reset or redistribute spent skill points, because spending a skill's time segment permanently advances the 30-day clock. Your weapon choice partly compensates for a locked skill build, so pick one that suits your Swordmastery, Witchcraft or Vampirism path.
How many weapons are in The Blood of Dawnwalker? The community weapon databases list well over a hundred blades spread across the main melee classes — Longswords, Shortswords, Falchions, Greatswords and Battle Cleavers among them — but only a small group of Legendaries — led by the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai, The Kingslayer, Durandal and the Gladius — are worth building around.
Does every weapon have a special move? No. Only certain weapons carry a Weapon Art; launch-build testing confirms these "run on their own cooldown but also cost Activation Charges, as well as Stamina," and the item description tells you whether a given blade has one. Check the tooltip before assuming a legendary has a signature move.
