Banished Knight's Halberd
Banished Knight’s Halberd is a flexible ordinary halberd dropped by Banished Knights and obtainable as an upgraded weapon through Edgar’s route. It offers long thrusting reach, affinity freedom, and strong early value when acquired at +8.
Key Takeaways
A flexible halberd with a standard upgrade path
Banished Knight's Halberd is a regular halberd rather than a Somber-upgrade weapon. It uses the standard reinforcement path, can be upgraded with Smithing Stones, and can accept compatible Ashes of War and affinities.
Its defining skill is replaceable
The weapon is commonly found with Spinning Strikes, but its skill is not fixed. Replacing that skill lets the halberd support different physical or elemental setups without changing the weapon itself.
The base requirements are approachable
It requires 14 Strength and 12 Dexterity to wield effectively as a weapon requirement check. Builds should still evaluate their chosen affinity and attributes separately rather than treating those requirements as an ideal damage spread.
There are two useful acquisition contexts
Banished Knights can drop the weapon, making the ordinary version farmable from eligible enemies. A separate acquisition route awards a pre-upgraded +8 version through Edgar's storyline, subject to that quest's progression and encounter conditions.
Reach is its practical advantage
As a halberd, it gives melee builds more spacing than shorter weapon classes while retaining access to close-range attacks. That reach is most useful when the player can control distance rather than trade blows at point-blank range.
Its main alternative is another halberd, not every large weapon
Comparisons with weapons such as the Nightrider Glaive are more useful than raw comparisons with unrelated great or colossal weapons. The relevant differences are reach, requirements, scaling, skill flexibility, damage type, and upgrade compatibility.
Overview
Banished Knight's Halberd is a standard halberd in Elden Ring, valued for its long-reaching polearm moveset and flexible upgrade path rather than for a unique weapon skill or fixed specialization.
Banished Knight's Halberd belongs to the halberd class and is associated with the heavily armoured Banished Knights. Despite that presentation, it is not a unique, legendary, or boss weapon: it is a regular armament that can be incorporated into ordinary character progression and customized through Elden Ring's standard weapon systems.
Its defining role is that of a reach-focused melee weapon. The halberd moveset lets the wielder control space from farther away than many conventional one-handed weapons, while its attacks still support close-range pressure when enemies enter striking distance. That combination makes it more than a purely defensive polearm, although its longer attack commitments reward deliberate spacing rather than frantic button presses.
Unlike fixed-specialization weapons, Banished Knight's Halberd is a flexible platform for builds that want a halberd's reach without being tied permanently to one bespoke skill. Its weapon skill and affinity can be relevant to the eventual build, so the weapon's practical performance depends on its reinforcement state, chosen affinity, Ash of War, and the wielder's attributes. Those variables should be evaluated separately from the halberd's baseline identity.
The weapon is part of Elden Ring's base-game armament roster and remains usable in Shadow of the Erdtree, but it is not itself DLC-exclusive. It occupies a useful middle ground between shorter, faster melee weapons and heavier polearms: its appeal comes from spacing, adaptable progression, and a recognizable Banished Knight moveset rather than from a single exclusive passive or a fixed damage profile. Its suitability therefore depends on whether the player values reach and customization over a more specialized weapon.
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Statistics
Elden Ring publishes no 0–100 stat bars, so this page lists the verified requirements, scaling and handling figures instead. Taken from the project's verified weapons database, not from generated text.
- CategoryHalberds
- Damage TypeSlash
- Primary ScalingStr D / Dex D
- Weight8
- SkillSpinning Slash
- Str Req15
- Dex Req13
- How to ObtainDropped by Banished Knights
Figures verified against Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
Compared to similar halberds
| Weapon | Str Req | Dex Req | Weight | Primary Scaling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banished Knight's Halberd | 15 | 13 | 8 | Str D / Dex D |
| Loretta's War Sickle | 10 | 20 | 8.5 | Dex C |
| Spirit Glaive | 15 | 15 | 8.5 | Str D / Dex D |
| Pest's Glaive | 13 | 17 | 8.5 | Dex C |
| Gargoyle's Halberd | 18 | 15 | 9.5 | Str D / Dex D |
Requirements, scaling grades and weight are the game’s own published figures. From Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
How to Obtain
- The regular drop has no stat, quest, DLC, or NG+ prerequisite beyond reaching an area containing the relevant Banished Knights.
- The regular weapon is farmable rather than limited to one per playthrough, although each eligible enemy kill has a chance to drop it.
- The Edgar the Revenger route depends on the Castle Morne-related quest state and the invasion appearing at Revenger's Shack; it is not a permanent vendor purchase. Neither route requires Shadow of the Erdtree or NG+.
- 01Obtain the regular Banished Knight's Halberd as a random drop from Banished Knights that wield halberds. A confirmed early farming area is Stormveil Castle; search the castle's Banished Knight encounters and repeat the fight until the weapon drops. The drop is not guaranteed from an individual enemy, and no stated drop rate is provided here.
- 02An alternate upgraded copy, Banished Knight's Halberd +8, is obtained by defeating Edgar the Revenger at Revenger's Shack in western Liurnia of the Lakes when that invasion is available. This is a separate quest-state-dependent route and does not replace the ordinary farmable drop.
Availability
Requires Defeat eligible Banished Knights; no DLC or quest completion is required for the ordinary weapon.
The ordinary Banished Knight's Halberd is an enemy-drop item rather than a vendor purchase. No universal price applies.
Requires Enable the Edgar the Revenger encounter through the relevant Castle Morne quest progression.
This encounter provides a Banished Knight's Halberd already reinforced to +8. It is a progression-gated variant and should not be treated as the ordinary unreinforced drop.
Requires No additional NG+ or DLC requirement.
The base-game weapon remains obtainable in subsequent cycles through its ordinary acquisition route; no separate NG+ version is required.
Mechanics and Handling
Banished Knight's Halberd uses the standard halberd weapon family’s spacing-focused moveset rather than a separate weapon-specific attack style. Its attacks cover more space than short melee weapons, but the swings require enough commitment that attacking from the edge of the weapon’s reach is safer than standing directly beside a target. The weapon is therefore most comfortable when the user controls distance and chooses openings rather than repeatedly trading hits at close range.
Halberd moveset and spacing
The ordinary attacks use broad halberd swings suited to catching targets in front of the user. Heavy attacks are more committed and should be reserved for clear openings, stagger opportunities, or opponents whose approach can be read in advance. Jumping, running, and guard-counter attacks retain the halberd’s forward pressure, but their usefulness depends on timing and the target’s poise; the weapon does not automatically interrupt every enemy.
The weapon’s reach is its main handling advantage. It can strike an approaching enemy before a shorter weapon reaches the same target, while its wider swings can clip more than one nearby opponent when their positions overlap. That space is less valuable in cramped corridors or when an enemy has already moved inside the attack arc. Two-handing changes the weapon’s handling and removes the option to use an off-hand shield at the same time; it does not turn the halberd into a fundamentally different moveset.
Spinning Strikes
Banished Knight's Halberd comes with Spinning Strikes in its standard configuration. The skill rotates the halberd around the user in repeated sweeping motions, creating a close-range area of attack rather than a single forward hit. It is useful when several enemies are within the weapon’s arc or when a pursuing target is likely to remain nearby, but the animation commits the user to the spin and can leave them exposed if the attack misses or the enemy stays outside its coverage.
Spinning Strikes can be followed by an additional normal or strong attack, producing the skill’s vertical follow-up. This gives the skill a second stage instead of making it only a defensive sweep. The skill consumes FP, so repeated use competes with the rest of the character’s spell and skill resources. Its value is situational: it rewards enemies that stay close enough to be caught by the spin, while disciplined single-target punishments may be safer with the halberd’s ordinary attacks.
Ashes of War, status, and defence
As a regular halberd rather than a Somber-upgrade unique weapon, Banished Knight's Halberd can have its weapon skill and affinity customized through compatible Ashes of War. Changing the skill changes the weapon’s active attack and may also change its damage distribution or attribute scaling, so the default Spinning Strikes setup should be treated as one configuration rather than the weapon’s only possible role. The precise result depends on the selected Ash of War and affinity.
The standard weapon has no special reload, ammunition, or durability cycle. It can be used for ordinary attacks, jumping attacks, charged attacks, and guard counters without maintaining a separate resource; only FP use by its skill is a relevant recurring resource here. It is capable of being held defensively, but it is not a substitute for a shield’s dedicated blocking, guard-boost, or parry role. No conditional damage multiplier is intrinsic to the halberd itself; damage changes from reinforcement, attributes, affinity, buffs, and other external conditions belong to the weapon’s configuration rather than to a hidden Banished Knight’s Halberd attack state.
Upgrades and Variants
Strengths, Weaknesses and Best Uses
Strengths
- Its halberd moveset gives it useful melee reach, allowing the wielder to attack from outside the immediate range of many shorter weapons and maintain spacing against ordinary humanoid enemies.
- The weapon is compatible with Ashes of War and affinity changes, so its skill and scaling can be adjusted to suit a character's attribute spread or a chosen status-focused setup.
- Its attacks combine sweeping halberd strikes with forward-reaching polearm coverage, giving it practical control against groups when the wielder has room to position.
- The default Charge Forth skill provides a committed forward attack and can be followed by an upward thrust, making it useful for closing a measured gap or punishing an exposed target.
Weaknesses
- Its reach is most valuable when spacing is maintained; enemies that get inside the weapon's effective striking distance can make its committed swings harder to place reliably.
- The halberd's attack commitment leaves less room for last-second evasions than a faster, shorter weapon, particularly when trading with aggressive enemies or bosses that recover quickly.
- Charge Forth is a forward-committing skill rather than a safe universal opener. Using it without a clear line or punish window can carry the wielder into danger.
- Because it is infusible rather than tied to one fixed build, its performance depends on the selected affinity, Ash of War, reinforcement state, and player attributes; the unmodified weapon is not automatically optimal for every character.
Best uses
- Use it as a spacing-oriented general melee weapon when the character can keep enemies at halberd range and has enough room for its swings.
- Choose it for an adaptable physical or elemental setup that benefits from changing Ashes of War and affinities instead of relying on a permanently fixed weapon skill.
- Use the default skill to close a controlled gap or extend a punish against a stationary or recovering target, rather than treating Charge Forth as a blind approach tool.
- It suits encounters where reach and broad melee coverage matter more than the rapid attack cadence and tight positioning of a shorter weapon.
Compared With Similar Weapons
| Weapon | Class and role | Skill and customization | Key trade-off versus Banished Knight's Halberd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Banished Knight's Halberd | Starts with Spinning Strikes, but its Ash of War and affinity can be changed. | A flexible baseline for builds that want halberd reach without committing to a fixed skill or damage profile. | — |
| Nightrider Glaive | Uses the standard upgrade path and supports interchangeable Ashes of War and affinities. | A natural choice for strength-focused setups; Banished Knight's Halberd is the more neutral comparison when build direction is undecided. | — |
| Guardian's Swordspear | Its Ash of War and affinity can be changed, preserving considerable build flexibility. | Its faster, more specialized moveset favors dexterity-oriented play, while the Banished Knight's Halberd offers the more conventional halberd handling pattern. | — |
| Lucerne | Its default Charge Forth skill can be replaced, and the weapon supports standard affinity customization. | Better suited to a thrust-centered approach; Banished Knight's Halberd is the broader choice when its conventional mixed halberd attacks are preferred. | — |
| Commander's Standard | Uses a somber reinforcement path and has the fixed Rallying Standard skill rather than freely interchangeable Ashes of War. | Its team buff gives it a specific cooperative or support role. Banished Knight's Halberd is more flexible for ordinary weapon-skill and affinity experimentation. | — |
Lore and Design
The Banished Knight’s Halberd is tied by its item description to the knights who served the lord of Castle Sol. The description presents the Banished Knights as warriors who were driven from their homeland and became wandering knights, framing the weapon as part of their displaced military identity rather than as an heirloom associated with a named individual.
The description does not establish a personal owner, a specific historical battle, or a broader canonical relationship beyond the Banished Knights and Castle Sol. Its wording supports reading the halberd as a marker of that group’s former service and continued martial pride while exiled. No documented developer commentary or official design history is established here, so claims about real-world inspiration or deliberate cultural reference are omitted.
Trivia
- Banished Knight's Halberd has a special +8 version associated with Edgar the Revenger. Unlike the ordinary version, this fixed-upgrade variant is a distinct acquisition rather than simply an upgrade level applied by the player.
- The weapon is used by Banished Knights, tying its name directly to the roaming exiles who appear in locations such as Stormveil Castle and Castle Sol. Its identity is therefore connected to an enemy faction rather than to a named lord or legendary figure.