Rakshasa's Great Katana
Rakshasa's Great Katana is a Shadow of the Erdtree weapon dropped by Rakshasa in Eastern Nameless Mausoleum. It combines great-katana reach, innate blood loss, and the fixed Weed Cutter skill for repeatable sweeping pressure.
Key Takeaways
Rakshasa's Great Katana is a DLC great katana built around reach, bleed pressure, and an aggressive risk-reward passive.
Distinctive weapon
It is a unique Great Katana with innate blood loss buildup, giving its attacks a status-pressure role alongside physical damage.
Signature skill
Its fixed Weed Cutter skill performs a broad low sweeping attack, making space control and repeated close-range pressure central to its use.
Acquisition condition
The weapon is obtained from Rakshasa in the Shadow of the Erdtree area, so it requires access to the DLC and the relevant boss encounter.
Main strength
Its long great-katana reach and innate bleed make it effective when a build can maintain pressure without giving opponents time to punish recovery.
Main limitation
The weapon’s aggressive damage-oriented effect comes with greater incoming-risk, so its offensive advantage is not a defensive upgrade.
Fixed progression
It follows the unique-weapon Somber reinforcement path and retains its distinctive skill rather than functioning as an ordinary infusable great katana.
Comparison point
Compared with standard katanas, it offers more reach and a heavier great-katana moveset, but demands more commitment and does not provide the same skill-customization flexibility as an infusable weapon.
Overview
Rakshasa's Great Katana is a unique Great Katana in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. It combines the class's extended reach and deliberate attacks with the Weed Cutter skill and a dangerous tradeoff that makes its wielder take increased damage.
This weapon is designed for aggressive close-range play rather than the lighter, faster rhythm associated with ordinary Katanas. Its Great Katana moveset gives attacks more presence and reach, while its blood-loss capability adds pressure during sustained engagements without making it a universal replacement for every katana build.
Its defining cost is built into the weapon itself: the wielder takes increased damage while using it. That drawback rewards players who can maintain spacing, recognize attack openings, and avoid trading blows. The weapon therefore offers offensive pressure at the expense of a less forgiving margin for error.
Rakshasa's Great Katana also carries Weed Cutter, a distinctive spinning slash that gives the weapon a committed area-of-effect option. The skill helps it handle clustered enemies and punish openings, but its commitment means that careless use can expose the player to retaliation.
As downloadable-content equipment, it belongs to Shadow of the Erdtree rather than the base-game weapon roster. It is associated with Rakshasa and a dedicated DLC encounter, making it a progression choice for players seeking a specialized Great Katana with a clear risk-and-reward identity rather than a neutral all-purpose sidegrade.
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.
- CategoryGreat Katanas
- Damage TypeSlash/Pierce
- Primary ScalingStr D / Dex C
- Weight10.5
- SkillAsh of War (varies)
- Str Req18
- Dex Req20
- How to ObtainShadow of the Erdtree - Rakshasa boss/loot
- DLCShadow of the Erdtree
Figures verified against Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
Compared to similar great katanas
| Weapon | Str Req | Dex Req | Weight | Primary Scaling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rakshasa's Great Katana | 18 | 20 | 10.5 | Str D / Dex C |
| Great Katana | 16 | 26 | 9 | Dex C |
| Dragon-Hunter's Great Katana | 16 | 26 | 9 | Dex C |
Requirements, scaling grades and weight are the game’s own published figures. From Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
How to Obtain
- Shadow of the Erdtree expansion access.
- Reach the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum in Gravesite Plain; no additional quest, NPC, or key-item prerequisite is required.
- The weapon is not normally missable because Rakshasa remains available after the surrounding story advances. If it was not obtained in the current cycle, the recovery route is another playthrough or NG+ cycle.
- 01Enter Shadow of the Erdtree and travel to the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum in Gravesite Plain. The mausoleum is the dungeon associated with Rakshasa; no vendor, quest reward, or random enemy drop is involved.
- 02Defeat Rakshasa, the boss inside the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum. Rakshasa's Great Katana is awarded as the guaranteed boss reward after the fight; it is obtained once per playthrough rather than through a drop-rate roll.
Availability
Requires Shadow of the Erdtree expansion required
Rakshasa's Great Katana is DLC-exclusive and does not appear in the base-game weapon pool.
Requires Shadow of the Erdtree required; access to its content is required
No separate vendor price or stat-proficiency gate is established for this weapon.
Mechanics and Handling
Rakshasa's Great Katana uses the Great Katana moveset: deliberate, long-reaching slashes that reward spacing rather than repeated point-blank trading. Its attacks occupy broad horizontal lines, making the blade effective at catching an advancing enemy or controlling the space immediately in front of the wielder, but their commitment leaves less room for reaction if an attack is started at the wrong distance.
The weapon also carries innate Blood Loss buildup. This gives successful attacks value beyond their physical damage, although the buildup does not remove the weapon's need for careful spacing: missed swings and poorly timed follow-ups still expose the wielder to retaliation. Its large blade can be used two-handed for a more committed melee stance, while its normal weapon attacks remain the primary way to apply pressure between openings.
Weed Cutter: the weapon's distinctive skill
Weed Cutter is Rakshasa's Great Katana's unique weapon skill. The wielder sweeps the blade in a spinning horizontal cut, and a follow-up input performs another slash. The skill is most useful when an opponent is within the katana's effective reach and committed to an action; its coverage can catch targets that would avoid a narrowly aimed single strike. It is not a substitute for spacing, since starting the spin at an unsafe distance can leave the wielder exposed before the sequence finishes.
The cursed risk-reward effect
While wielded, Rakshasa's Great Katana has a built-in effect that increases damage dealt and also increases damage received. The trade-off is always relevant in ordinary play, not merely during the weapon skill: aggressive trades become more dangerous, while clean spacing, rolls and punish windows make better use of the offensive benefit. This effect is separate from Blood Loss buildup and should be treated as a reason to avoid absorbing hits rather than as permission to trade through them.
Handling priorities
The weapon is at its most reliable when the user begins attacks from just outside an enemy's immediate range, then stops after a confirmed opening instead of forcing the full sequence. Weed Cutter can extend pressure after a successful read, but the follow-up should be reserved for situations where the target remains in range or is staggered. Against highly mobile enemies, preserving stamina and waiting for a recovery animation is generally safer than relying on the weapon's increased damage to compensate for a missed swing.
Upgrades and Variants
Strengths, Weaknesses and Best Uses
Strengths
- Great Katana reach gives its normal attacks useful spacing against enemies that outrange regular katanas, while its innate Bleed buildup adds a status-pressure option against susceptible targets.
- Weed Cutter provides a weapon-specific downward slash that can be followed by another cut, giving the wielder burst pressure when an opening is long enough for the committed sequence.
- Its great-katana moveset can keep pressure on staggerable PvE enemies while still benefiting from katana-style slash attacks and Bleed buildup.
Weaknesses
- Great Katana attacks and the Weed Cutter sequence demand more commitment than faster katana attacks, making missed swings costly against agile enemies or during narrow punish windows.
- Weed Cutter is the weapon's fixed skill, so the weapon cannot be tailored with another Ash of War or affinity to solve a particular matchup.
- Bleed contributes less against enemies that resist or cannot suffer Hemorrhage, leaving the weapon more dependent on its physical attacks and spacing in those encounters.
Best uses
- Use it as a reach-focused Bleed weapon in PvE against bleedable enemies, especially when maintaining distance matters more than rapid light-attack recovery.
- Use Weed Cutter during a confirmed stagger, recovery animation, or other opening that can safely accommodate its follow-up cut rather than starting it into an active enemy attack.
- Choose it for a Great Katana moveset with a fixed offensive skill; choose a more customizable weapon when Ash of War or affinity flexibility is the priority.
Compared With Similar Weapons
| Weapon | Class and progression | Distinctive mechanic | Choose it when... |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rakshasa's Great Katana | Weed Cutter weapon skill and a risk-reward passive that increases damage dealt and damage taken | You want an aggressive, high-commitment great-katana playstyle built around its fixed identity. | — |
| Great Katana | Overhead Stance by default, with Ash of War and affinity flexibility | You want to tune the weapon to different attributes, affinities, or skills rather than use a fixed unique weapon. | — |
| Dragon-Hunter's Great Katana | Dragonwound Slash gives it a distinct anti-dragon attack profile | You want a great katana with a specialized dragon-hunting skill instead of Rakshasa's more general aggressive pressure. | — |
| Sword of Night | A lighter katana alternative with its own fixed skill and a different handling profile | You prefer katana moves and mobility over the great-katana class's larger commitment and reach. | — |
Used In
- RakshasaRakshasa's Great Katana is obtained by defeating Rakshasa at the Eastern Nameless Mausoleum in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.
- Eastern Nameless MausoleumThe isolated mausoleum in the Shadow Realm where the Rakshasa boss encounter takes place and the weapon is acquired.
- Shadow of the ErdtreeRakshasa's Great Katana is downloadable-content equipment introduced in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.
Lore and Design
Rakshasa's Great Katana is explicitly associated with Rakshasa, the bloodthirsty swordswoman encountered in Shadow of the Erdtree. Its item description presents the weapon as hers rather than as a named heirloom tied to a wider faction, lineage, or established school of swordsmanship. This gives the katana a direct character connection, but the available text does not establish a broader history for the blade or explain its manufacture.
The weapon's lore is therefore narrow but meaningful: it reinforces Rakshasa's identity as a violent, individualistic warrior and ties the weapon to her optional boss encounter. No documented developer commentary or official design material is established here, so claims about real-world inspiration, intended symbolism, or the katana's supposed cultural origin should be treated as unverified rather than presented as canon.