Beastman's Cleaver
Beastman’s Cleaver is a very heavy farmable curved greatsword dropped by cleaver-wielding Azula Beastmen. It favors Strength, has ordinary affinity freedom, and delivers excellent stagger and raw impact at the cost of late acquisition and high weight.
Key Takeaways
Beastman's Cleaver is a Strength-oriented curved greatsword that trades some reach for a comparatively manageable weapon burden and a flexible standard upgrade path.
Strength-focused curved greatsword
Its damage profile and attribute scaling make Strength the central investment, while Dexterity remains part of its requirements. See the requirements and scaling details in the stats section.
Spinning Slash is its defining skill
The weapon comes with Spinning Slash, giving its close-range moveset a committed spinning attack rather than a wholly generic greatsword skill.
Obtained from Farum Azula Beastmen
Beastman's Cleaver is acquired as a drop from Beastmen of Farum Azula, making enemy farming part of its availability rather than a guaranteed quest or boss reward.
Useful for close-range Strength builds
Its curved-greatsword moveset and Strength emphasis suit players who want substantial melee hits without moving to a heavier colossal weapon class.
Reach is the main trade-off
Compared with longer curved greatswords, Beastman's Cleaver gives up some spacing advantage; that limitation matters when choosing it for open-area or defensive play.
Standard weapons offer customization
It follows the regular reinforcement path and can use the game's applicable Ash of War and affinity options, allowing its skill and scaling profile to be adapted rather than fixed.
Overview
Beastman's Cleaver is a standard curved greatsword in Elden Ring, built around broad sweeping attacks and a comparatively weighty close-range role. Its conventional upgrade path and changeable weapon skill make it a flexible option for characters that want curved-greatsword reach without committing to a unique weapon's fixed setup.
The Beastman's Cleaver belongs to the curved greatsword class rather than the lighter curved sword class. That distinction defines its role: it offers a larger, more committed moveset, with sweeping attacks suited to controlling space around the wielder and heavier strikes that reward deliberate openings. It is a base-game weapon, not a Shadow of the Erdtree item or a special variant with a separate mode-specific form.
Its defining flexibility comes from being a standard weapon. The Cleaver uses Elden Ring's normal reinforcement route and can be configured with compatible Ashes of War and affinities, allowing its combat role to follow the character's build rather than remaining tied to one exclusive skill. Its default weapon skill is Spinning Slash, but the page should treat that as part of the starting configuration rather than an unchangeable identity.
The weapon is associated with the beastmen encountered in Crumbling Farum Azula, where it can be obtained from enemies that wield it. That places it among the later-accessible ordinary weapons in a typical first journey, although its usefulness is not limited to endgame play: once acquired, it can support a strength-focused or otherwise compatible melee setup through the game's regular customization systems.
Compared with a lighter curved sword such as Beastman's Curved Sword, the Cleaver is the more committed choice within the same broad weapon family. It is better understood as a curved greatsword alternative for players who value sweeping reach and heavier attack commitment than as a direct replacement for every curved sword. Its standard status also separates it from fixed-skill unique weapons, since its skill and affinity can be adapted as the build develops.
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.
- CategoryAxes
- Damage TypeSlash
- Primary ScalingStr D
- Weight5
- SkillBeast Roar
- Str Req13
- Dex Req11
- How to ObtainDropped by Beastmen of Farum Azula
Figures verified against Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
Compared to similar axes
| Weapon | Str Req | Dex Req | Weight | Primary Scaling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beastman's Cleaver | 13 | 11 | 5 | Str D |
| Sacrificial Axe | 14 | 10 | 5.5 | Fai D |
| Stormhawk Axe | 13 | 13 | 5.5 | Str D / Dex D |
| Jawbone Axe | 16 | 7 | 5.5 | Str D |
| Forked-Tongue Hatchet | 13 | 15 | 5.5 | Str D / Dex D |
Requirements, scaling grades and weight are the game’s own published figures. From Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
How to Obtain
- Access to Dragonbarrow Cave in Caelid, or progression far enough to reach Crumbling Farum Azula.
- The weapon is farmable from eligible Beastmen; no one-per-playthrough or missable restriction applies.
- 01Travel to Dragonbarrow Cave in Greyoll's Dragonbarrow, Caelid, and defeat the Beastmen of Farum Azula inside. Beastmen wielding the cleaver can drop Beastman's Cleaver; the drop is random, so repeat the encounter if necessary.
- 02After reaching Crumbling Farum Azula through the main story, defeat Beastmen of Farum Azula there as an alternative farming route. The weapon is an enemy drop rather than a guaranteed reward, and no vendor, quest, boss completion, or DLC is required.
Mechanics and Handling
Curved greatsword attack pattern
Beastman's Cleaver uses the Curved Greatsword moveset, with committed slashing attacks intended to control space in front of the wielder rather than produce a rapid chain of light hits. Its attacks sweep through an arc, making spacing important: begin the swing close enough that the target remains inside the weapon's active range, but avoid treating the blade's broad visual profile as a guaranteed hitbox. The weapon is most comfortable when used to punish an opening or catch several nearby enemies, not when trading repeatedly with faster weapons.
The normal attack sequence is comparatively deliberate for a curved weapon, while the heavy attack provides a more committed cleaving option. Charged heavies are useful when an enemy is temporarily vulnerable, but their longer commitment makes them poor choices when the target can immediately retaliate. Jumping attacks and running attacks can close distance or start an encounter, although their usefulness depends on the target's stance and the available approach.
Spinning Slash
Beastman's Cleaver is supplied with Spinning Slash. The skill begins with a rotational cut and can be followed by an additional attack, extending the sequence into a stronger committed exchange. The first motion can catch enemies around the wielder and is useful when several targets are close together; the follow-up should be used selectively because it keeps the character committed after the initial hit.
Spinning Slash is a standard weapon skill rather than a unique Beastman's Cleaver-only action. Because the weapon is compatible with the Ashes of War system, the skill can be changed when the relevant requirements for changing a weapon skill are met. This means the cleaver's handling is not permanently tied to Spinning Slash, while the chosen Ash of War and affinity can change how the weapon fits a build.
Reach, commitment, and status behaviour
The cleaver has no special weapon-specific passive status effect to manage. Its fight pattern therefore depends on physical hit confirmation, spacing, stagger opportunities, and the selected affinity or Ash of War rather than on building an innate bleed, poison, frost, or similar status. It can be used one-handed, two-handed, or alongside another compatible weapon for powerstanced attacks; those choices change the player's attack options and attribute priorities, but do not create a hidden special mode on the weapon itself.
There is no reload, ammunition, durability-break, or return-to-owner mechanic attached to Beastman's Cleaver. Its main handling cost is attack commitment: whiffed swings leave less time to defend than a lighter curved sword attack. Roll-catching an enemy's recovery, attacking after a clear opening, and using the skill only when its arc can connect are safer applications than repeatedly forcing the weapon's full sequence.
Upgrades and Variants
Strengths, Weaknesses and Best Uses
Strengths
- Its curved-greatsword moveset combines broad, sweeping light attacks with heavier committed swings, giving it useful crowd-control potential at close range.
- It is a practical choice for strength-focused characters because its identity and scaling favor substantial Strength investment rather than requiring a balanced multi-attribute spread.
- The regular reinforcement path leaves room for Ash of War and affinity customization, so the weapon can be adapted to different physical-damage or status-oriented setups.
- Spinning Slash gives it a straightforward area attack that can punish clustered enemies when the user has enough space to complete the animation.
Weaknesses
- Curved-greatsword attacks commit more heavily than ordinary curved-sword attacks, making missed swings costly against quick enemies or targets that punish recovery.
- Its larger weapon class demands more equipment capacity and attribute investment than lighter curved swords, which can constrain armor, shields, or secondary weapons.
- The weapon's sweeping profile is less convenient in narrow spaces, where walls and terrain can interfere with broad attacks and reduce the value of its crowd-control reach.
Best uses
- Use it as a close-range strength weapon for clearing groups of ordinary enemies with sweeping attacks.
- Choose it for a customizable physical-damage setup when Spinning Slash is useful but a fixed unique skill is not required.
- Pair it with deliberate spacing and openings rather than treating it as a fast dueling weapon; its strongest opportunities come after enemy commitment or stagger.
Compared With Similar Weapons
| Weapon | Class and role | Skill / upgrade flexibility | Why choose it instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beastman's Cleaver | Infusible and compatible with changeable Ashes of War; commonly associated with Barbaric Roar | Reference weapon: suits a strength build seeking a customizable curved greatsword | — |
| Dismounter | Infusible, with changeable Ashes of War | Choose it for a more broadly adaptable curved-greatsword setup rather than Beastman's Cleaver's strength focus | — |
| Omen Cleaver | Infusible and compatible with changeable Ashes of War | Choose it when its moveset and appearance are preferable while retaining customizable affinity and skill options | — |
| Bloodhound's Fang | Somber reinforcement path and fixed Bloodhound's Finesse skill | Choose it for innate bleed and a distinctive evasive skill instead of Beastman's Cleaver's customizable setup | — |
Lore and Design
The Beastman's Cleaver is associated with the beastmen who inhabit the ruins of Farum Azula. Its item description presents the beastmen as an ancient people connected to the city and to the ancient dragons they served, tying the weapon to Farum Azula's pre-Erdtree history rather than to a named character or faction leader.
The description provides context for the weapon's wielder but does not establish a unique owner, ceremonial role, or specific historical event involving this cleaver. No documented developer commentary or official design material is identified here, so claims about real-world inspiration, cultural origin, or intended symbolism should be treated as unsupported. The weapon's broad, curved form is therefore best discussed as part of its in-game identity, not as proof of an external design reference.
Trivia
- The in-game description identifies Beastman's Cleaver as a weapon of the beastmen of Farum Azula and says its blade was fashioned from a single piece of stone.
- Its lore associates the beastmen with the earliest smithing of weapons from meteoric ore, linking the weapon to Farum Azula's broader tradition of ancient craftsmanship.