Great Omenkiller Cleaver
Great Omenkiller Cleaver is a rare greataxe dropped by Omenkillers carrying the saw-toothed weapon. It combines innate blood loss, heavy physical swings, Wild Strikes, and ordinary affinity freedom for aggressive Strength-leaning bleed builds.
Key Takeaways
The Great Omenkiller Cleaver is a strength-leaning Great Curved Sword whose value comes from heavy attacks, reach, and flexible Ash of War options rather than a passive effect.
Great Curved Sword with a heavy focus
Its large curved-blade moveset gives it more reach and commitment than ordinary curved swords, making spacing and attack timing central to its use.
Barbaric Roar is its defining skill
The weapon comes with Barbaric Roar, a roar skill that changes how its follow-up heavy attacks function and supports an aggressive close-range style.
Strength is the main requirement
The cleaver favors Strength investment while still requiring some Dexterity, so it is more naturally suited to strength-focused or strength-leaning builds than to pure Dexterity setups.
Dropped by an Omenkiller
It is acquired as an enemy drop from an Omenkiller, including the encounter in the Village of the Albinaurics; the acquisition is tied to defeating the relevant enemy rather than buying the weapon from a vendor.
Flexible progression, no innate status effect
The Great Omenkiller Cleaver follows a regular reinforcement path and can use compatible Ashes of War, but it does not define itself through an innate bleed or other passive buildup.
A reach-and-commitment choice
Compared with faster curved swords, it offers heavier attacks and greater reach at the cost of slower, more committal swings; its best use is punishing openings rather than maintaining uninterrupted light-attack pressure.
Overview
Great Omenkiller Cleaver is a base-game Elden Ring greataxe built around broad, committed melee attacks and the visual identity of an oversized cleaver. It is a standard, customizable weapon rather than a unique armament.
The weapon occupies the heavier end of ordinary greataxe choices without being a colossal weapon. Its defining presentation is a large cleaver-like blade, while its practical role is close-range pressure: attacks cover a broad area and reward players who can commit to deliberate swings rather than constantly relying on quick single hits.
Great Omenkiller Cleaver’s default skill is Wild Strikes, giving it an aggressive option for repeatedly cutting into a nearby target. The weapon is also compatible with the normal customization systems for eligible armaments, so its final role depends on the chosen affinity, Ash of War, reinforcement level, and character attributes rather than on one permanently fixed damage profile.
As a standard weapon, it differs from fixed-skill or Somber-upgrade alternatives by offering more room for experimentation. That flexibility makes it relevant to strength-focused melee characters, while affinity and build choices can alter which attributes support it best. Its weight and committed animations still make spacing, stamina management, and attack timing important parts of using it effectively.
The Great Omenkiller Cleaver is encountered through exploration and enemy-related acquisition in the base game, not through a separate Shadow of the Erdtree weapon system. It is therefore best understood as an optional progression and build choice: a heavy greataxe for players who value cleaver-themed presentation, wide melee coverage, and a customizable weapon skill over a lighter weapon’s faster handling.
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.
- CategoryGreataxes
- Damage TypeSlash
- Primary ScalingStr D
- Weight15
- SkillAsh of War (varies)
- Str Req26
- Dex Req9
- How to ObtainOmenkiller boss reward
Figures verified against Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
Compared to similar greataxes
| Weapon | Str Req | Dex Req | Weight | Primary Scaling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Omenkiller Cleaver | 26 | 9 | 15 | Str D |
| Vulgar Militia Saw | 23 | 13 | 15 | Str D |
| Longhaft Axe | 22 | 12 | 14 | Str D |
| Winged Greataxe | 30 | 10 | 14 | Str C |
| Gargoyle's Great Axe | 26 | 14 | 13.5 | Str C |
Requirements, scaling grades and weight are the game’s own published figures. From Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
How to Obtain
- Elden Ring base game access to Liurnia of the Lakes; no DLC, quest, NG+, or special mode requirement.
- 01Travel to the Village of the Albinaurics in Liurnia of the Lakes and locate the Omenkiller encountered in the village. The settlement is reached from the surrounding Liurnia hills; no vendor, mission, or key item is required to begin this encounter.
- 02Defeat the Village of the Albinaurics Omenkiller. The Great Omenkiller Cleaver is a guaranteed reward from this encounter rather than a random enemy drop. The weapon can be collected in a later visit if the boss was not defeated earlier; it is not a permanent missable reward.
Mechanics and Handling
The Great Omenkiller Cleaver uses the greataxe moveset: broad sweeping attacks with substantial recovery compared with faster axe, curved sword, or katana attacks. Its reach and arc can catch targets beside the initial victim, but the weapon is more reliable when attacks are started at spacing that leaves room for the recovery animation. Light attacks are useful for controlled pressure, while the heavier swings commit the player longer and are easier to punish if they miss.
As a greataxe, it is primarily a spacing-and-commitment weapon rather than a defensive one. It does not provide a special blocking or parrying function, and its attacks should not be treated as a substitute for a shield or dedicated defensive skill. Two-handing improves its handling through Elden Ring's normal two-handed strength rules, but it does not change the weapon into a separate moveset category.
Barbaric Roar and the follow-up heavy
The Great Omenkiller Cleaver's weapon skill is Barbaric Roar. The roar temporarily changes the character's attack behavior, and the skill's follow-up heavy attack becomes a distinctive multi-hit sequence rather than the weapon's ordinary heavy attack. This gives the cleaver a way to convert an opening into sustained close-range pressure, but the sequence still requires commitment; it is most appropriate after a stagger, a whiffed enemy attack, or another situation in which the opponent cannot immediately retaliate.
Because Barbaric Roar changes the heavy follow-up, the player should not assume that the normal charged-heavy timing and the roar-enhanced option serve the same purpose. The skill is a deliberate part of the weapon's identity, while the ordinary greataxe attacks remain the safer choice when the opponent is still mobile.
Spacing, recovery, and target selection
The cleaver's attack arcs are most useful against clustered enemies and large targets that are difficult to move around. Against a single quick enemy, the long recovery on committed swings makes missed attacks costly. Shorter openings favour a single light attack or repositioning instead of forcing the full sequence.
No weapon-specific ammunition, reload cycle, or resource magazine governs its attacks. Its practical resource consideration is the FP cost of Barbaric Roar, while ordinary attacks use the normal stamina rules for melee attacks. The weapon has no separate break-state or durability loop that changes its moveset during ordinary Elden Ring play.
Upgrades and Variants
Strengths, Weaknesses and Best Uses
Strengths
- Innate blood loss buildup gives ordinary hits a status-pressure role without requiring a status-focused Ash of War.
- As a greataxe, its broad swings can cover space in front of the wielder and punish groups that remain close together.
- Its compatible Ashes of War and affinities let the weapon adapt to strength, dexterity, or status-oriented setups instead of locking the player to one scaling path.
- Wild Strikes provides sustained close-range pressure when the user can safely stay within melee distance.
Weaknesses
- Greataxe attacks require commitment, leaving the wielder vulnerable if an enemy sidesteps, interrupts, or attacks from outside the swing.
- Its close-range moveset is less forgiving against highly mobile enemies and bosses with short punish windows.
- Wild Strikes consumes attention and stamina during a sustained sequence, so continuing after an enemy disengages can create an unsafe opening.
- The weapon's value depends on landing repeated melee hits; enemies resistant to bleed reduce the benefit of its innate status pressure.
Best uses
- A bleed-capable strength or hybrid melee setup that wants a slower weapon with built-in status pressure.
- Close-range PvE encounters where broad swings can hit multiple nearby enemies or maintain pressure on a staggerable target.
- A customizable greataxe loadout where the player wants to change Ash of War or affinity as the build develops.
Compared With Similar Weapons
| Weapon | Class or role | Build and handling distinction | Choose it instead when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Omenkiller Cleaver | The lighter family alternative is generally easier to fit into a strength-focused loadout and use in tighter spaces. | You prefer the family moveset with lower commitment rather than the Great variant’s heavier attacks. | — |
| Rusted Anchor | Favors straightforward physical damage and thrusting heavy attacks rather than the Omenkiller family’s distinctive cleaver profile. | You want a simpler physical-damage option for a strength build. | — |
| Executioner’s Greataxe | Shares the heavy greataxe role but emphasizes critical-hit opportunities, while the Great Omenkiller Cleaver is the more specialized family choice. | Your build and playstyle create frequent riposte or backstab openings. | — |
| Prelate’s Inferno Crozier | Trades greataxe handling for greater attack commitment and a different skill and damage profile. | You are willing to accept slower, heavier attacks in exchange for a colossal-weapon moveset. | — |
Used In
- OmenkillerThe Omenkiller at the Village of the Albinaurics drops the Great Omenkiller Cleaver.
- Village of the AlbinauricsThis Liurnia location is the setting for the Omenkiller encounter associated with the weapon.
- Omenkiller RolloThis Spirit Ash summon fights with paired cleavers modeled on the Omenkiller weapon family.
Lore and Design
The Great Omenkiller Cleaver is associated with the Omenkillers, ruthless hunters who wield oversized cleavers against Omen. Its item lore describes the weapon as heavy and blunt, while emphasizing the grievous wounds it inflicts. The description also says that Omenkiller cleavers are fashioned in the image of the Omen King, establishing an explicit symbolic connection without identifying the weapon as belonging to that figure.
The lore presents the cleaver as an emblem of the Omenkillers’ role and methods rather than as a named relic tied to a specific historical event. No documented developer commentary or development history is established here, so claims about real-world inspiration, intended cultural references, or the designers’ motives should not be added. The weapon’s significance is therefore best treated as factional and thematic: its form reflects the hunters’ violent pursuit of Omen and their association with the Omen King.
Trivia
- A single playthrough can provide two Great Omenkiller Cleavers: one from the Omenkiller in the Village of the Albinaurics and another from the Omenkiller encountered in Perfumer’s Grotto. This makes dual-wielding two copies possible without relying on a trade, New Game Plus, or a second character.