Is the Moonlight Greatsword good for PvP or PvE in Elden Ring?

Is the Moonlight Greatsword good enough for Elden Ring PvP and PvE? Not really, but that’s missing the point.

FromSoftware has a long tradition of including the Moonlight Greatsword in its games. Starting in the King’s Field series and stretching into Dark Souls, the blue blade even appears in Bloodborne. After missing Sekiro, it’s good to see the Moonlight Greatsword back in Elden Ring. It serves as an amazing reward for the game’s most complicated NPC quest, which involves a ton of secret areas and bosses. But is the Moonlight Greatsword good enough to warrant all the trouble?

The Dark Moon Greatsword is a greatsword-class weapon that requires 16 strength, 11 dexterity, and a whopping 38 intelligence to wield. The weapon skill evolves the weapon into the true Moonlight Greatsword, complete with ranged projectiles after heavy attacks. To fit with Ranni’s status as a frost witch, it also has 55 innate frostbite buildup. It’s clearly intended to be used by a caster thanks to its excellent B intelligence scaling at +10.

Moonlight Greatsword isn’t good, but Elden Ring fans should get it anyway

In the more lax single-player environment, the Moonlight Greatsword is a passable weapon. It deals solid physical and magic damage, and the large hitbox makes it well-suited for mounted combat. It’s great for dealing with hordes of smaller enemies, which Elden Ring has plenty of. These upsides start to falter at the more important moments.

Relatively small damage windows for bosses make greatswords difficult to use, which isn’t good for the Moonlight Greatsword in Elden Ring. Still, extremely skilled players can use it to take on even the toughest boss battles.

These problems add up to make the Moonlight Greatsword a poor choice for Elden Ring multiplayer. Greatswords are slow, and one-shot builds are better off picking colossal weapons.

The weapon skill is almost entirely useless even past the lengthy startup. The Moonlight projectiles have abysmal tracking and are easy to roll through on reaction. Canceling the end of a normal attack into the heavy can catch consecutive rolls, but that’s about it. The Moonlight Greatsword does have a very good backdash counterattack like all other greatswords.

Elden Ring fans looking for a good weapon should pass on the Moonlight Greatsword, but that doesn’t make it worthless. Unlocking the weapon involves a ton of great boss fights and cool areas to explore. It also reveals more lore surrounding the mysterious Ranni. Above all, the weapon is a testament to the lasting impact of FromSoftware’s games. Regardless of build, the Moonlight Greatsword is worth the trouble for any diehard Souls fan.