Bloodborne Weapon Tier List: Every Trick Weapon Ranked by Strength

Every hunter eventually hits the same wall: a beast that ends the run, and the nagging question of whether the weapon in your hands is the real problem. A solid Bloodborne weapon tier list won't play the game for you, but it saves hours of Blood Stone farming on a moveset that never clicks. This Bloodborne weapon tier list covers the base game and The Old Hunters, ranked by damage ceiling, moveset quality, stamina economy, and how forgiving each weapon feels in a real fight.

How This Bloodborne Weapon Tier List Is Built

Tiers are only useful if you know what they measure. This ranking assumes a +10 weapon, a character with roughly 40–50 in the relevant damage stat, and blood gems you can realistically farm without living in Chalice Dungeons. Lost and Uncanny variants are treated as the same weapon here — they share movesets and differ mainly in gem slots.

The criteria behind every placement:

• Damage per stamina point — how much punishment one bar buys you.
• Moveset coverage — access to horizontal sweeps, vertical swings, and thrust attacks for different enemy shapes.
• Transform attacks — the L1 chains that let a weapon flow between forms mid-combo.
• Scaling ceiling — how well the weapon rewards heavy stat investment.
• Rally potential — how much health you claw back after trading hits.
• Practicality — how early you get it and how forgiving it is to learn.

The Full Bloodborne Weapon Tier List at a Glance

Here is the short version for anyone who just wants the verdict. Firearms, tools, and consumables are excluded — this is a trick weapon ranking only.

S-Tier: The Weapons That Carry Runs

The top of any Bloodborne weapon tier list is crowded because FromSoftware balanced the roster unusually well. What separates S from A is rarely raw damage — it's the ability to answer every situation without swapping weapons.

The Saw twins earn their spot through speed and the serrated bonus against beasts, which applies to a huge share of the game's enemies. Community rankings consistently single out transform attacks as the deciding factor for the top tier, and both saw weapons have fast, high-damage L1 chains that slot neatly into combos. Ludwig's Holy Blade is the opposite approach: slower, but with thrust attacks and two-handed damage that trivializes many bosses. The Whirligig Saw's held grind attack melts large beast-type bosses, while the Holy Moonlight Sword adds ranged arcane projectiles to a quality build.

Two of these deserve a warning. The Chikage punishes sloppy play because its blood form bleeds your health, and the Rakuyo rewards aggression in a way that gets new hunters killed. They're S-tier in capable hands, B-tier in careless ones.

A-Tier and B-Tier: Strong Picks With Trade-Offs

A-tier weapons are frequently someone's favorite, and for good reason — they simply ask for one concession. The Hunter Axe trades finesse for a charged spin that clears crowds and staggers almost anything. The Kirkhammer delivers the best pure Strength stagger in the game. Blades of Mercy produce some of the fastest sustained damage in the game but chew through durability. The Church Pick is quietly one of the best all-rounders thanks to thrust and serrated properties in both forms, and Simon's Bowblade gives Bloodtinge builds a genuine ranged option.

Best Weapons by Build, Upgrade Priority, and PvP

Best Weapons by Build Archetype

Matching a weapon to your stats matters more than chasing the top tier. A Rakuyo on a Strength character is a downgrade, not an upgrade.

Upgrade Costs and Blood Stone Priority

Weapon upgrades in Bloodborne follow a fixed material ladder. Because Blood Stone Rocks are scarce, your first +10 should go to the weapon you actually finish runs with.

A practical tip: spread early shards across two weapons so you always have a fast option and a heavy option, then commit chunks and the Rock to one.

PvP vs PvE: Where the Rankings Shift

Player experience reports suggest PvP rewards mobility and mix-ups over raw damage. Slow, heavy hitters that dominate bosses become easy to punish in duels.

What the Community Consensus Says

Community reports broadly agree with this ordering. A Tiermaker community ranking compiled from 193 submitted tier lists places the saw weapons, Ludwig's Holy Blade, and the Whirligig Saw near the top, and long-running forum discussions on GameFAQs regularly name the Saw Spear, Logarius' Wheel, Holy Moonlight Sword, Rakuyo, and Kos Parasite as endgame favorites. Treat any Bloodborne weapon tier list as a starting point, not scripture — the best weapon is the one whose moveset you've internalized.

For patch history and official details, the official Bloodborne page on PlayStation.com remains the authoritative reference.

FAQ

What is the best weapon in Bloodborne for a first playthrough? The Saw Cleaver is the safest answer. It's a starting weapon, upgrades cheaply, hits fast, and gets a serrated bonus against beasts. If you prefer reach and staggering power, the Hunter Axe is an equally beginner-friendly choice from the same opening selection.

Is the Saw Cleaver better than Ludwig's Holy Blade? They solve different problems. The Saw Cleaver wins on speed, stamina economy, and transform attacks; Ludwig's Holy Blade wins on raw two-handed damage and thrust attacks. Most players keep both upgraded and swap based on the boss.

Do DLC weapons dominate this Bloodborne weapon tier list? Not entirely, but The Old Hunters adds several top-tier options — Whirligig Saw, Rakuyo, Beasthunter Saif, Holy Moonlight Sword, and Simon's Bowblade all rank highly. The base game still supplies the Saw Cleaver, Saw Spear, and Ludwig's Holy Blade, so you're never dependent on the DLC to build a strong character.

How many weapons should I upgrade at once? Two is the sweet spot for most of the game: one fast weapon and one heavy hitter. Save Blood Stone Chunks and the Blood Stone Rock for the single weapon you trust most, and use the Insight shop to fill gaps once you're in the late game.