Cipher Pata
Cipher Pata is a weightless pure-holy fist weapon found in Roundtable Hold after dropping to the lower hall. It requires only Faith and uses Unblockable Blade, letting a caster pierce conventional guards without investing in Strength or Dexterity.
Key Takeaways
Cipher Pata is a Faith-focused fist weapon whose unusual holy damage and paired-wielding behavior define its role more than raw physical force.
Pure holy damage
Cipher Pata deals holy damage rather than physical damage, making its performance dependent on the target’s holy negation and the weapon’s Faith-oriented scaling.
Paired fist weapon
When wielded two-handed, Cipher Pata produces a second blade for paired attacks, giving it a fast close-range moveset despite its very short reach.
Faith requirement
It requires 30 Faith, so it is intended for Faith builds rather than general early-game melee setups.
Unblockable Blade
Its fixed skill, Unblockable Blade, provides a thrusting attack designed to bypass an opponent’s guard; the skill cannot be replaced with an Ash of War.
Limited reach and matchup
The weapon’s short range and exclusive holy damage can make spacing and target resistances more important than its rapid paired attacks.
Somber reinforcement
Cipher Pata follows a unique-weapon upgrade path using Somber Smithing Stones, rather than the standard reinforcement path used by ordinary infusible fists.
Overview
Cipher Pata is a unique fist weapon in Elden Ring that converts close-range combat into a Faith-focused holy-damage option, centered on its distinctive Unblockable Blade skill.
Cipher Pata belongs to Elden Ring’s Fist weapon class, but it is not simply a faster physical alternative to ordinary fists. Its defining identity is its holy-only attack profile and Faith-oriented scaling, making it primarily relevant to characters already investing in sacred or incantation-focused combat. The weapon is part of the base game rather than Shadow of the Erdtree content.
Its special skill, Unblockable Blade, drives much of the weapon’s identity. The attack projects the paired blades forward in a thrust that bypasses blocking, giving Cipher Pata a way to pressure guarded targets rather than relying only on its short-range ordinary attacks. This does not remove the weapon’s close-quarters limitations: spacing, timing and commitment still matter when fighting outside the skill’s effective reach.
Cipher Pata is found in Roundtable Hold, so it can enter a character’s progression relatively early once that hub becomes available. Its location makes it an accessible choice for a Faith build, although obtaining it does not make it a general replacement for every fist weapon. Characters built around Strength, Dexterity or physical status effects may find its damage profile less aligned with their existing investment.
The weapon differs most clearly from physical fist alternatives through damage specialization and skill function. Cipher Pata rewards a player who wants rapid melee pressure with a sacred damage identity and a guard-avoiding signature attack; it is less appealing when a build needs broad physical damage, status buildup or a weapon skill that can be freely replaced. Its value therefore depends on Faith investment, enemy defenses and how often the player can create openings for Unblockable Blade.
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.
- CategoryFists
- Damage TypeHoly
- Primary ScalingFai C
- Weight3.5
- SkillBloodhound's Finesse (var.)
- Str Req10
- Dex Req20
- Fai Req12
- How to ObtainLoot, near Erdtree
Figures verified against Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
Compared to similar fists
| Weapon | Str Req | Dex Req | Weight | Primary Scaling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cipher Pata | 10 | 20 | 3.5 | Fai C |
| Star Fist | 12 | 8 | 3.5 | Str E / Arc D |
| Clinging Bone | 10 | 15 | 3.5 | Arc D (Dex C) |
| Veteran's Prosthesis | 8 | 15 | 3 | Dex C |
| Poisoned Hand | 8 | 10 | 2.5 | Dex D |
Requirements, scaling grades and weight are the game’s own published figures. From Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
How to Obtain
- Unlock Roundtable Hold through normal progression.
- No DLC, boss, quest, currency, or NG+ requirement.
- 01Travel to Roundtable Hold after it becomes available through normal progression. From the central balcony, drop into the lower area where Mad Tongue Alberich can invade, then enter the nearby room and loot the corpse there to receive Cipher Pata.
- 02This is a guaranteed corpse pickup rather than an enemy drop, vendor purchase, boss reward, or quest reward. It requires no additional boss defeat, key item, currency, DLC, or NG+ progression. The pickup is available once Roundtable Hold is accessible and is normally not missable, but it is limited to one acquisition per playthrough.
Availability
Requires Roundtable Hold access
No purchase price or vendor-stock condition; not DLC-exclusive. The weapon can be obtained during a normal playthrough and is available again in subsequent NG+ cycles.
Mechanics and Handling
Close-range fist moveset
Cipher Pata uses the fast, compact attack pattern associated with fist weapons. Its normal attacks keep the character close to the target and have very short practical reach, so spacing matters more than with most swords or other conventional melee classes. The rapid sequence is effective when staying on an exposed enemy, but whiffing at the edge of an opponent’s range can leave the attack committed without giving the weapon a safe long-distance option.
Its charged and jumping attacks are commitment tools rather than neutral pokes. They can help capitalize on an opening or maintain pressure at close range, but the weapon’s short reach makes target positioning important before starting them. Cipher Pata does not provide a built-in bleed, poison, frost, or other status buildup effect; its distinctive damage behavior comes from its sacred damage profile and its unique skill.
Unblockable Blade
Cipher Pata’s unique skill, Unblockable Blade, replaces a conventional weapon strike with a forward attack that manifests a blade of light. The skill has substantially more practical reach than the ordinary fist sequence and is therefore the weapon’s main answer to targets that cannot be safely reached with normal punches. Its defining property is explicit in the skill’s name: the attack cannot be blocked by a guarding enemy.
The skill is still a committed attack rather than a general defensive tool. It works best when the target is recovering, holding a predictable position, or relying on a shield, while missed uses can leave the user in front of the enemy. Its sacred damage and skill behavior should be kept distinct from the short-range physical handling of the normal moveset; the weapon’s regular attacks do not inherit the skill’s unblockable property.
Two-handing and practical handling
As a fist-class weapon, Cipher Pata can be two-handed to produce the paired-hand presentation used by Elden Ring’s fist weapons. This changes how the weapon occupies the character’s hands, but it does not turn the normal moveset into a long-reach weapon. The core handling remains close-range and pressure-oriented, with Unblockable Blade supplying its notable reach and shield-bypassing option.
Cipher Pata has no ammunition, reload cycle, durability system, or temporary resource magazine to manage. Its special attack instead consumes FP when used, so repeated skill attacks are constrained by the character’s available FP rather than by a weapon-specific stock of charges.
Upgrades and Variants
Strengths, Weaknesses and Best Uses
Strengths
- Faith-focused fist weapon with innate holy damage, making it a natural fit for characters already investing in Faith rather than physical attributes alone.
- Its Unblockable Blade skill bypasses an enemy’s guard, giving it a specific answer to shield users and other defensive targets.
- Its fist moveset supports aggressive close-range pressure and benefits from the compact handling typical of fist-class weapons.
- As a unique Somber weapon with a fixed skill, it offers a defined playstyle without requiring an affinity or Ash of War setup.
Weaknesses
- The fist-class reach is very short, so spacing errors can leave the wielder outside attack range or exposed while closing distance.
- Holy damage is a poor matchup against enemies with strong holy resistance, reducing the value of its innate damage profile.
- Its fixed skill and unique upgrade path limit customization compared with infusible fist weapons.
- Unblockable Blade still requires close positioning and FP, so it does not solve problems caused by ranged enemies or prolonged engagements.
Best uses
- Faith-oriented melee builds that want a fast close-range weapon with innate holy damage.
- Fights against shielded enemies where Unblockable Blade’s guard-bypassing property is relevant.
- Aggressive PvE play at point-blank range, especially when the user can maintain pressure rather than trade from neutral.
- A specialized sidegrade to physical or status-focused fist weapons when fixed holy damage and the unique skill are more valuable than infusion flexibility.
Compared With Similar Weapons
| Weapon | Class and role | Damage/build profile | Skill or flexibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cestus | Physical damage; supports varied Strength, Dexterity, or affinity setups | Infusable and compatible with changeable Ashes of War | — |
| Star Fist | Physical damage with innate bleed; suits Strength-focused builds that can exploit hemorrhage | Infusable, allowing a wider range of affinities and Ashes of War | — |
| Veteran's Prosthesis | Physical and lightning damage; favors a Strength/Dexterity-oriented setup rather than Cipher Pata's Faith specialization | Fixed weapon skill, Storm Kick; not as customizable as Cestus or Star Fist | — |
| Grafted Dragon | Physical and fire damage; uses a mixed Strength, Dexterity, and Faith profile | Somber weapon with the fixed Bear Witness skill; offers area damage instead of Cipher Pata's Unblockable Blade | — |
Lore and Design
Item-text significance
Cipher Pata’s item description presents it as a sacred weapon associated with the Two Fingers and formed from light. Its paired, finger-like shape makes that connection explicit within the weapon’s presentation, rather than requiring a real-world identification or an inferred developer reference.
The available item lore gives Cipher Pata religious and symbolic significance, but does not establish a named wielder, a detailed historical episode, or a documented development origin. Claims that it represents a specific Finger Reader or was designed after a particular real object should therefore be treated as interpretation rather than canon.
Trivia
- Cipher Pata belongs to Elden Ring’s fist weapon class despite being presented as a paired blade weapon, giving it a distinctive identity among the game’s close-range armaments.
- Its design and description are tied to the Two Fingers’ sacred cipher imagery. This connects the weapon thematically to the Finger Readers and the broader system of divine guidance surrounding the Tarnished.