Daggers in Elden Ring —  how to use them and where to find them

Every Souls-Borne Sorcerer or Magician will know what it’s like to need to deal out a bit of melee damage in an effort to optimize the rest of their spellcasting and rolling, and that’s where the Dagger class of weapons comes in.

Aside from the latter specific use case, Daggers in Elden Ring serve many functions, from getting access to the quicker Sliding Dodge which Bloodborne fans and other players looking to switch and speed up their playstyle at the cost of FP will appreciate. Primarily, Daggers are a fast and rapidly striking weapon that can sustain repeated jabs while still leaving enough stamina to roll back out of the way from any attack.

With all that said the main drawback of most weapons in the Dagger class is that it can’t do much to interrupt any thicker, beefier enemy since Daggers often do little Stagger damage, but where the Dagger excels is in the rapidity of its strikes and stabs.

Daggers are a dime a dozen in terms of how often they’re dropped by Foot Soldiers and other enemies with slight variations in type and damage, but here are some of the more notable Daggers to find in Elden Ring:

• Black Knife: Iconic in the lore of Elden Ring for its use in the Night of the Black Knives, the Black Knife is an odd Dagger since it requires a high Faith stat at 18 along with 12 Dexterity and 8 Strength. Getting one’s hand on the Black Knife may be a bit of a chore for some players since they’ll have to cut through the clicking-clacking bones of the undead at Sainted Heroes Grave in the Atlus Plateau to then kill the Black Knife Assassin.
• Cinquedea: Aside from the blade’s gnarly jagged look, not much is interesting about the Cinquedea at first glance with only a 10 Dexterity and Strength requirement, but what makes this dagger irreplaceable for any summoner/beastmaster build is that the Cinquedea boosts the damage dealt by Bestial Incantations. On top of that, the Dagger is a pain to get to because it requires its potential wielder to make a series of falls to find it.
• Crystal Knife: A no-brainer for any Intelligence-based spell caster build, the Crystal Knife has a moderate Strength and Dexterity scaling of 8 and 12 prospectively, but also scales with Intelligence at a 9 which is perfect for spells enchanting and boosting the Crystal Knife. The Knife itself is found in a chest in the Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnels.
• Reduvia: The one knife anyone who’s looking to inflict massive Bleed damage needs, the Reduvia scales heavily off of Arcane at 13 as well as another 13 in Dexterity and 5 in Strength and is dropped by the Bloody Finger Nerijus.
• Scorpion’s Stinger: The Scarlet Rot strike blade, the Scorpion’s Stinger is a standard is eccentric-looking with 6 Strength and 12 Dexterity scaling but what sets it apart from the rest, and why it’s a must for any type of Elden Ring player, is that the blade imparts the Scarlet Rot status effect which is vital in fighting larger foes like Dragons and Giants.