Daggers

Daggers are an Armament Type in ELDEN RING ⁽²⁰²²⁾. They generally have very short reach and low damage against both health and poise, but compensates for this with their fast attack speed and sometimes higher-than-average damage on Critical Attacks, making several of them (particularly the Dagger and especially the Miséricorde) powerful tools for critical attacks.

Their fast attack-speed and high number of hits-per-second also makes them good at building up Status Effects like Poison and Blood Loss.

Due to their general low weight, they also make excellent catalysts for certain Ashes of War and Skills, providing a stat-efficient means of casting status buffs like Golden Vow or Shared Order with no need for high investment in certain attributes, while specific daggers such as Reduvia and the Black Knife have exceptionally strong ranged Skills that only they posses (Reduvia Blood Blade and Blade of Death respectively).

Moveset

The moveset for Daggers consists mostly of rapid slashes, with the exception of one- and two-handed rolling and heavy running attacks, two-handed heavy attacks, and paired backstep attacks, which are all thrusts.

Some daggers have unique heavy attacks: Glintstone Kris, Main-gauche, Miséricorde, and Scorpion's Stinger have thrusts, and Black Knife, Blade of Calling, Erdsteel Dagger, and Fire Knight's Shortsword have a quick, double-hit slash.

The dual-wield moveset is notably quite quick and both the backstep attack and the jumping attack are excellent due to their reach and speed respectively. The first attack in the dual-wield attack chain is surprisingly slow due to being composed of 3 separate hits, making it somewhat difficult to use since Daggers won't stagger most foes.

Ashes of War

Daggers are considered as "small swords capable of slashing and thrusting". As such, the weapons that are compatible with ashes of war may receive the following skills:

List of Daggers

GalleryComparison Table

Armament Overview

Weapon	Notes
Dagger	Is among the lightest daggers in the game, sharing its weight of 1.5 with the Parrying Dagger, Great Knife, Celebrant's Sickle, Glintstone Kris, and Blade of Calling. The shortest of all daggers. Slightly weaker with Dexterity-scaling bullet skills on a Keen Affinity.
Parrying Dagger	Is among the lightest daggers in the game, sharing its weight of 1.5 with the Dagger, Great Knife, Celebrant's Sickle, Glintstone Kris, and Blade of Calling. The third strongest Keen Affinity Dagger after the Celebrant's Sickle and Wakizashi. Slightly weaker with Dexterity-scaling bullet skills on a Keen Affinity.
Miséricorde	Has the longest reach of all daggers. Has the highest Critical Attack power of all daggers. Strongest Dexterity-leaning Cold Affinity Dagger and technically the strongest Occult Affinity dagger. Has a unique thrusting attack on its Strong Attack input. This attack is shared with the Main-gauche, Scorpion's Stinger and Glintstone Kris. Slightly weaker with Dexterity-scaling bullet skills on a Keen Affinity.
Great Knife	Is among the lightest daggers in the game, sharing its weight of 1.5 with the Dagger, Parrying Dagger, Celebrant's Sickle, Glintstone Kris, and Blade of Calling. Inflicts Blood Loss. Fairly short. Slightly weaker with Dexterity-scaling bullet skills on a Keen Affinity.
Bloodstained Dagger	Second strongest Heavy Affinity dagger after the Wakizashi and one of a few Strength-leaning daggers. Inflicts Blood Loss. Slightly weaker with Strength-scaling bullet skills on a Heavy Affinity.
Erdsteel Dagger	Innate Faith-scaling that applies to its Physical Attack Power and gives great synergy with the Sacred and Flame Art Affinities. Has a unique double-hit heavy attack, which it shares with the Fire Knight's Shortsword, Blade of Calling, and Black Knife. This unique heavy attack pairs well with the Winged Sword Insignias.
Fire Knight's Shortsword	Has a unique double-hit heavy attack, which it shares with the Erdsteel Dagger, Blade of Calling, and Black Knife. This unique heavy attack pairs well with the Winged Sword Insignias. Has innate Fire damage that persists no matter which affinity gets applied to it. Letting it always stun certain enemies that are extremely weak to fire. Also makes it instantly reset inflicted Frostbite upon landing attacks. Releasing the target from the debuffs of frostbite, but also allowing the user to sooner inflict the percentage-based damage of frostbite on the same target again.
Wakizashi	Has the highest Attack Power among all daggers on all Affinities. Has the longest reach of all daggers with innate Blood Loss buildup. Shares a paired moveset with Katanas rather than other daggers.
Main-gauche	Shares a paired moveset with Thrusting Swords rather than other daggers. Has a unique thrusting attack on its Strong Attack input. This attack is shared with the Miséricorde, Scorpion's Stinger and Glintstone Kris.
Celebrant's Sickle	Grants trace amounts of Runes on landing attacks. Specifically 10 per hit. The second strongest Keen Affinity Dagger, after the Wakizashi. Ignores 50% of Guarded Damage Negation when attacking. Is among the lightest daggers in the game, sharing its weight of 1.5 with the Dagger, Parrying Dagger, Great Knife, Glintstone Kris and Blade of Calling. Acquired as randomly dropped loot from respawning enemies, allowing the player to acquire multiple copies per playthrough. Has an exceedingly low drop rate of 0.5%. Slightly weaker with Dexterity-scaling bullet skills on a Keen Affinity.
Ivory Sickle	Ignores 50% of Guard Damage Negation when attacking. Cannot be Buffed, recieve Ashes of War, nor have its Affinity changed, despite requiring Smithing Stones to be upgraded.
Crystal Knife	Cannot be Buffed, recieve Ashes of War, nor have its Affinity changed, despite requiring Smithing Stones to be upgraded.
Scorpion's Stinger	Is the only dagger with innate Scarlet Rot buildup. Has a unique thrusting attack on its Strong Attack input. This attack is shared with the Miséricorde, Main-gauche and Glintstone Kris.
Cinquedea	Boosts the damage of Bestial Incantations by +10% when held in either hand. Stacks with the Clawmark Seal passive for a +21% total boost to bestial incantations. The second longest Dagger, after the Miséricorde. Is the heaviest dagger in the game, being the only one weighing at 3.5.
Glintstone Kris	Its Unique Skill: Glintstone Dart is essentially a stronger, chargeable variant of the Skill: Glintstone Pebble. Is among the lightest daggers in the game, sharing its weight of 1.5 with the Dagger, Parrying Dagger, Great Knife, Celebrant's Sickle and Blade of Calling. Has a unique thrusting attack on its Strong Attack input. This attack is shared with the Miséricorde, Main-gauche and Scorpion's Stinger.
Reduvia	Bears the unique skill, Reduvia Blood Blade, an alternate version of the basic Blood Blade skill that can be granted to other weapons with Ashes of War. Has a faster cast time compared to Blood Blade. Does not drain HP on cast compared to Blood Blade. Has a higher base-Blood Loss buildup compared to Blood Blade. (Specifically 90 compared to Blood Blade's 60) Costs twice as much FP to cast compared to Blood Blade. Projectile deals slightly less stance damage compared to Blood Blade.
Blade of Calling	Is among the lightest daggers in the game, sharing its weight of 1.5 with the Dagger, Parrying Dagger, Great Knife, Celebrant's Sickle and Glintstone Kris. Has a unique double-hit heavy attack, which it shares with the Erdsteel Dagger, Fire Knight's Shortsword, and Black Knife. This unique heavy attack pairs well with the Winged Sword Insignias.
Black Knife	Bears the unique skill, Blade of Death, an alternate version of the unique skill, Blade of Gold found on the Blade of Calling. Inflicts the destined death status effect. Has a unique double-hit heavy attack, which it shares with the Erdsteel Dagger, Fire Knight's Shortsword, and Blade of Calling. This unique heavy attack pairs well with the Winged Sword Insignias.