Curved Swords are a Weapon type in Dark Souls 3. Curved Swords have fast swing speeds, decent damage and range, and excellent roll-catching abilities. These traits allow a player to quickly and easily finish a fight, especially since most Curved Swords can be buffed with spells or Pine Resins. However, there are some negatives to Curved Swords. Players with high Poise and heavier weapons like Greatswords, Ultra Greatswords, and Great Hammers will be able to tank and out-trade hits from a Curved Sword if the user is just swinging mindlessly. Additionally, players can be parried if they swing without caution. The positives of this weapon class outweigh the negatives, and Curved Swords attract new players and experts alike, and are popular choices in PvE and PvP.
There are three types of Curved Swords in the game:
- Light: Scimitar, Pontiff Knight Curved Sword, Painting Guardian's Curved Sword, Rotten Ghru Curved Sword, Demon's Scar
- Heavy: Crescent Moon Sword, Falchion, Storm Curved Sword, Carthus Curved Sword, Carthus Shotel, Follower Sabre
- Paired: Sellsword Twinblades (Light), Warden Twinblades (Light), Dancer's Enchanted Swords (Heavy)
- Shotel is unique and is a Light Curved Sword in one hand, and Heavy when two-handed.
Light and Heavy Curved Swords have the same moveset for the most part, but the heavier variant has slower swings, less active frames, and less range on average, making the lighter variant better for roll-catching. Paired Curved Swords can be held in two-hands by pressing Triangle/Y. They have unique L1 attacks that deal excellent damage on top of being fast.
Light Curved Swords have a backflip swinging attack that replaces the kick. This attack has a strangely high amount of Poise, being able to tank through a fully charged Ultra Greatsword R2.
| Name & Icon | Attack Power Damage Reduction (%) |
Requirements Param Bonus |
Durability / Weight - Attack Type - Skill | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  |
  |
  |
  |
  |
  |
   |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Skill |
Acquired From |
|||
|
|
90 40.0 |
0 30.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 30.0 |
100 25 |
-
|
7 E |
13 B |
0 - |
0 - |
60 2.5 |
4 |
Sold by Shrine Handmaid | ||
|
|
123 45.0 |
0 30.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 30.0 |
100 30 |
-
|
12 D |
18 D |
10 - |
- - |
90 3.5 |
8 ( -/14) |
Sold by Greirat/ Dropped by Pontiff Knights at Irythill of the Boral Valley | ||
|
|
117 45.0 |
0 30.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 30.0 |
100 35 |
-
|
9 D |
13 D |
0 - |
0 - |
70 4.0 |
6 ( -/ 12) |
Dropped by the Skeletons wielding it at Catacombs of Carthus | ||
|
|
99 40.0 |
0 30.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 30.0 |
100 25 |
-
|
10 E |
16 C |
0 - |
0 - |
55 5.5 |
4( -/12) |
Mercenary starting weapons/ Looted at Road of Sacrifices | ||
|
|
93 40 |
0 35 |
0 25 |
0 25 |
0 35 |
100 30 |
|
10 D |
18 D |
0 - |
0 - |
70 6.5 |
7 |
Dropped by Grave Wardens at Cathedral of the Deep and Untended Graves | ||
|
|
104 40.0 |
0 30.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 30.0 |
100 25 |
-
|
9 E |
14 C |
0 - |
0 - |
55 2.5 |
5 (-/12) |
Sold by Unbreakable Patches | ||
| |
79 50 |
62 40 |
62 35 |
0 25 |
0 30 |
100 35 |
-
|
12 D |
20 D |
9 D |
9 D |
80 8.5 |
6 ( -/ 17) |
Soul Transposition using Soul of the Dancer | ||
| |
110 50.0 |
0 35.0 |
0 30.0 |
0 30.0 |
0 35.0 |
100 35 |
-
|
14 D |
20 C |
0 - |
0 - |
85 5.0 |
7 |
Soul Transposition using Soul of the Nameless King | ||
| |
115 55.0 |
0 35.0 |
0 30.0 |
0 30.0 |
0 35.0 |
100 35 |
|
15 D |
18 D |
0 - |
0 - |
80 5.5 |
6 (-/12) |
Dropped by the Shield Skeletons wielding it at Catacombs of Carthus | ||
| |
106 40.0 |
0 35.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 25.0 |
0 35.0 |
100 30 |
|
12 E |
19 C |
0 - |
0 - |
55 3.0 |
5 ( -/ 12) |
Dropped by Kukri-throwing Skeletons wielding them at Catacombs of Carthus | ||
| |
103 40 |
0 30 |
0 25 |
0 25 |
0 25 |
100 0 |
|
10 E |
13 C |
0 - |
0 - |
0 2.0 |
6 ( -/ 12) |
Dropped by Ghrus wielding them at Farron Keep. | ||
| |
88 35 |
0 25 |
0 25 |
0 25 |
0 25 |
100 25 |
|
7 E |
19 B |
0 - |
0 - |
55 1.5 |
5( -/ 15) |
Looted below the Prison Tower bonfire near Anor Londo. | ||
| |
78 40 |
78 30 |
0 25 |
0 25 |
0 30 |
100 25 |
-
|
10 - |
16 C |
0 D |
0 - |
70 2.5 |
15 ( -/ -) |
Dropped by Ringfinger Leonhard | ||
| |
112 40 |
0 30 |
0 25 |
0 25 |
0 30 |
100 30 |
-
|
9 D |
14 D |
0 - |
0 - |
70 4.0 |
9 ( -/ 9) |
Ashes of Ariandel DLC: Halfway down the path of roots to the depths of the Painted World. | ||
| |
0 25 |
- 35 |
99 65 |
- 30 |
- 35 |
110 30 |
-
|
0 - |
16 E |
17 D |
17 D |
70 0.5 |
7( -/20) |
Obtained via Soul Transposition with the Soul of the Demon Prince |
||
Anonymous
- Anonymous
Pound for pound the best weapon category in the game. Sellswords are the objective best DPS weapon for PvE, and are popular and effective enough in PvP as well. Demon's Scar and Follower Sabre are top tier PvP threats, along with PKCS and even the Scimitar. Turns out 2H R1 is really all it takes for a weapon to be good.
The only real drawback I see to the curved sword is its rundown potential, or lack thereof. Running attacks have virtually no range, so if you whiff a rollcatch, you need to hard reposition or switch weapons entirely.
- Anonymous
the only curved sword i see nowdays is the demon scar, and i'm on SL220
- Anonymous
Rating: 6/10
A decent/good weapon class hindered by its very one-dimensional attack style. It's used in PvP really only for it's speed and lacks a lot of move variety. If you can use this class in a varied manner; that's great for you but about 99% of people use these for roll catching almost solely with the two handed light attacks.
Very beginner friendly. Will be easy to pick up and master. Gets the job done surprisingly well at times but has really poor strong attacks and heavily relies on roll catches on medium rolls. Some move combos can be utilized with the strong attacks but is unreliable at best. Move variety for most users of this class just simply doesn't exist. Most varied is Demon's Scar for its casting ability in conjunction with its ability for spacing.
Light variants can surprisingly parry in the offhand, but outside of the insane cool factor you're probably better off with a small shield/caesti for practicality. Looks extremely awesome and will reward you with some super stylish finishes.
Overall, it will be REALLY good against people unfamiliar with the moveset (first 2-hand and second 2-hand attack), but doesn't have enough outplay ability outside of roll catching and keeping someone on the backfoot.
If you're looking for an amazing PvE weapon though, this is undoubtedly one of the best in the game.
- Anonymous
Fromsoft did the heavy curved sword class dirty(especially the carthus), their not only slower than their faster counterpart they also consume more stamina.
Curved swords are used for
Their speed and ability their will catch people.
if you just want a longer curved sword you might as well just use a straightsword for more reach and damage.
If they just only tweaked the damage and the stamina consumption this still would’ve been a very viable class.
- Anonymous
These things are considered good? Anything with decent range and poise destroys them. Hollowslayer gs with 40+ poise just ignores their puny attacks and stunlocks them
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
So why do some people use these as secondary weapons? Just because of the weight?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Pontiff Knight Curved Sword Pontiff Knight Curved Sword Pontiff Knight Curved Sword Pontiff Knight Curved Sword Pontiff Knight Curved Sword Pontiff Knight Curved Sword Pontiff Knight Curved Sword Pontiff Knight Curved Sword Pontiff Knight Curved Sword
- Anonymous
Can someone classify the swing speed of all Curved Swords? I heard PKCS is the fastest while Falchion is the slowest? Anyone have a list?
- Anonymous
I do not understand the running attacks on these weapons. It seems like I have to be directly in front of someone in order to land it, meanwhile other people manage to pull it off while they are nowhere me.
- Anonymous
Some people on this wiki consider PvP the only thing this game offers
- Anonymous
Curved swords suck ass! and those who use them are trash scrubs. Especially the retarded, unskilled, **** for brain pkcs huggers
- Anonymous
I don't think the wiki specifies this but there are actually sort of 3 categories of curved swors (I know this is very well known but I couldn't find a goop place that shows this so I thought it could go here)
Fast Curved Swords:
- Scimitar
- Pontiff Knight Curved Sword
- Painting Guardian's Curved Sword
- Rotten Ghru Curved Sword
- Demon's Scar
Slower Curved Swords:
- Crescent Moon Sword
- Falchoin
- Shotel
- Storm Curved Sword
- Carthus Curved Sword
- Carthus Shotel
- Follower Sabre
Paired Curved Swords
- Sellsword Twinblades
- Warden Twinblades
- Dancer's Enchanted Swords
Note: The wiki does say how some have flips and some have kicks but this not not what determines the category. The category is about r1 speed (except for paired ones). For example, the shotel and the carthus shotel have the flip but are in the slow category.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
You see those redguards from Hammerfell? They’ve got curved swords. Curved. Swords.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Here's why curved swords are one of the top 3 best weapon classes in the game. -Small curved swords' 2h r1 is the fastest attack in the game, beating out even daggers in startup. If you have a good connection to ultra users, you can reaction r1 their attacks and punish it before their hyperarmor kicks in. -Great counter to straightsword users as your attacks come out faster than theirs, and they have no hyperarmor to speak of. Your only losing matchup is a RKSS cancelling player, which are rare to come by. and in fairness, RKSS cancelling is probably the only tactic/weapon in the game that has no losing matchup, and almost every weapon has a losing matchup to it, not really a fault of curved swords. -Surprise hyperarmor on the Weapon art. -despite being "small" weapons, they don't make much of a sacrifice for damage, particularly for the scimitar and PKCS. Scimitar has comparable damage to Longsword and LKSS, while having the infusion compatibility of the LKSS, it literally works with almost any build. Dark infusion of the scimitar btw has A/A/A. -good curved sword users will be impossible to fight as their attacks come out faster than yours, making it impossible for you to attack them. if they read you they will always stagger you before you can even pull an attack out. -large curved swords are not used because they have on the contrary, slower attacks than even longswords. With the only thing they get in return is a slight buff to damage and range, which doesnt matter as much as having the fastest attack in the game. conclusion, they have both speed and power, allowing for unimaginable pressure if you're good enough. I personally like straightswords more since they're more applicable to invasions than duels. Curved swords are meant to capitalize on the mistakes of your opponents, but doesnt really open up opportunities to punish by itself, on the contrary, straightswords can't do as much pressure as curved swords, but they can allow you to control the match better than a curved sword could. Also you can keep an offhand with the straightsword.
- Anonymous
I can’t get him to spawn at the tower even after reloading plz help
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Alot of people don't know, but with most curved swords you can actually parry if they are in your left hand. Rapiers to.
- Anonymous
I just love hoppin into gank city and whippin out my shotel to spam backflips. It's funny because people think they can parry it but the flip is too fast for them. Then they dont learn that you can't nail the timing on it and eventually get murked
- Anonymous
After the Carthus Curved Sword nerf (which both reduced the range by 10% and added one frame of attack speed to all effected curved swords), I now believed the longest curved swords that still have the old attack speed are (in order of length): The Storm Curved Sword The Pontiff Knight Curved Sword The Demon Scar The Scimitar (weapon art on the PKCS has a ridiculous hit box that is almost twice it's 2 handed R1 length in all directions)
- Anonymous
Curved sword. My only favorite weapon in curved swords are sellsword twinblades High damage with sharp gem!
- Anonymous
Man I hate curved swords. I cannot play with a curved sword for the life of me. If I tried to use a curved sword, I would lose every time. I dont know what it is, but I can't do curved swords.
- Anonymous
somebody forgot to add that the demon's scar is also in the dlc
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Twin Blade WA cant be parried, .... MAKES *****ING SENSE OF COURSE YOU CANT PARRY IT ITS SUCH AN HEAVY MOVE WTF
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Just to clarify: Falcion has the highest AR out of all of them (422 with refined infusion +10 on a quality build), regardless of 40/40 quality or 60 dex build (only about 5 or so AR in difference).
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
-2h- R1! R1! R1! R1! R1! R1! R1! R1! Win because "skill" -point down-
- Anonymous
If you infuse the twinblades with anything, does each L1 hit inflict twice the auxiliary effect?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Shotel ftw all the way. It pierces shields, which is especially awesome vs greatshields. I pair it off with a crossbow, and it keeps parry lords guessing and wary.
- Anonymous
Curved swords and katanas, which one do you think the best for pvp and pve?
- Anonymous
what is the best curved sword after follower sabre and ccs nerf?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
There is a sword missing from the list, there is a weapon called the follower saber from the DLC.
- Anonymous
Atleast for me, I love these weapons - the pace, damage output, playstyle with the weapons. It's great, and definitely worth trying out.
- Anonymous
Well they are fast, spin slash can't be parried and most have bleeding, decent damage too.I would say they are good but it depens on your build, they are great for main weapons for mage builds, since they require low stats and focus on dexteriy which combines well, since dexterity improves Casting Speed. ( Scimitar gets E/B/B/B with dark or chaos infusion, pretty cool )
- Anonymous
The curved swords seem to be in two different classes.Heavy curved swords have normal kicks and uppercut-like R2s.Light curved swords have retreating slashes for kicks and have twirly R2s. In the offhand, they attack with L1 and even parry with L2.Heavy: Falchion, Crescent Moon, Carthus, Carthus Shotel, Storm Curved SwordLight: Painting Guardian, Ghru, Scimitar, Shotel, Dancer, Sellsword, Pontiff KnightI'm not sure where the Warden Twinblades fit since I've never owned them. The basic Shotel might have a different R2 than other light curved swords. Might be wrong about Carthus Shotel.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I noticed that with the pontiff knight curved sword the shield break kick turned into some sort of backwards flip. This attack could not break a pontiff knights shield that otherwise would have been broken by a kick.
- Anonymous
Use sellsword or warden twinblades their amazing and fun in pvp but focus on L1/L2 combo's when pvp or pv big enemies
Some version of Queelag's Furysword and the Warped Sword. Such amazing fun weapons to use, crazy speed and hitting in every direction. The Shotel isn't listed but it's one of Souls' staple weapons so it'd be remiss to not have that. It's just a matter of time before that one's confirmed.
Coming from DS1 and DS2, DS3 feels easier than both, at least for fast weapons like these. The lack of poise makes it much safer to attack just about anything. For most of the game, I've rarely had to use any button besides R1. In contrast, I felt like DS 1 & 2 forced me to use the while moveset to succeed. I don't even like stacking poise, but the mechanic should still exist to keep fast weapons from being too easy.
0
+10
-1