Weaponsupporting

Uchigatana

Uchigatana is the Samurai’s starting katana and a fixed pickup in Deathtouched Catacombs. Its innate bleed, Unsheathe, excellent ordinary customization, and balanced reach make it a dependable Dexterity or status weapon from the opening hours through endgame.

Importance

supporting

Elden Ring · weapon

Key Takeaways

Uchigatana is a flexible Katana whose fast attacks, innate Blood Loss buildup, and changeable Ash of War support several Elden Ring builds without locking it to one damage setup.

A customizable Katana

Uchigatana uses the Standard reinforcement path and can accept Ashes of War and compatible affinities, allowing its scaling and damage profile to change with the build.

Its defining weapon skill

Unsheathe lets the wielder quickly draw the blade into a distinct light or heavy attack, giving the weapon a more committed option than its ordinary slashes.

Innate Blood Loss

The weapon applies Blood Loss buildup through its attacks, making repeated hits especially relevant to bleed-oriented setups while retaining ordinary physical damage when that status is not triggered.

Requirements and availability

It requires 11 Strength and 15 Dexterity. It can be found in Deathtouched Catacombs, while the Samurai starting class begins with one.

A strong general-purpose option

Its attack speed, reach for a Katana, innate status effect, and upgrade flexibility make it useful for both straightforward Dexterity builds and more specialized affinity setups.

Customization versus fixed alternatives

Compared with fixed-skill Katanas such as Rivers of Blood, Uchigatana gives up a signature unique skill but offers greater control over its Ash of War and affinity choices.

Overview

Uchigatana is a standard katana in Elden Ring, defined by a fast close-range moveset, innate Hemorrhage buildup, and the Unsheathe weapon skill. It is available in the base game and remains useful across a wide range of Dexterity and bleed-oriented builds.

The Uchigatana is a conventional, customizable katana rather than a unique weapon with a fixed upgrade identity. Its attacks favor quick pressure and repeated hits, while its innate Hemorrhage buildup gives sustained attacks a status-oriented role in addition to their physical damage. The weapon’s familiar handling makes it a practical early choice without restricting the player to a single build path.

Unsheathe is the weapon’s defining feature. It changes the usual katana presentation into a deliberate sheathing-and-draw attack, giving the weapon a more committed option for punishing openings or interrupting vulnerable enemies. Because the skill is tied to the Uchigatana’s standard configuration but can be changed through Elden Ring’s Ash of War system, the weapon can be adapted rather than treated as a permanently fixed package.

The Uchigatana occupies an unusual place in progression: it can serve as an early main weapon, but its usefulness does not depend on being replaced immediately by a later katana. Its base-game availability includes the Samurai starting loadout and an obtainable copy in Limgrave, while additional copies and alternative katana designs support different progression choices. This page concerns the ordinary Uchigatana, not a separate DLC weapon or a transformed variant.

Its closest comparisons depend on the intended role. Nagakiba offers a different reach-and-requirement profile, while weapons such as Moonveil emphasize a fixed special skill and different attribute demands. The Uchigatana instead stands out for combining katana speed, innate Hemorrhage, and Ash of War flexibility, making it a broadly adaptable choice for players who want to tune the weapon around their character rather than build around one exclusive effect.

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.

Category
Katanas
Damage Type
Slash/Pierce
Primary Scaling
Dex C
Weight
3.5
Skill
Unsheathe
Str Req
11
Dex Req
15
How to Obtain
Rescue Nakamura, Chapel of Anticipation area / Deathtouched Catacombs

Figures verified against Consolidated Game Weapons Database.

Compared to similar katanas

Weapon	Str Req	Dex Req	Weight	Primary Scaling
Uchigatana	11	15	3.5	Dex C
Dragonscale Blade	11	16	4.5	Dex C
Nagakiba	12	18	5	Dex C
Serpent-Bone Blade	11	20	5	Dex C
Meteoric Ore Blade	11	20	5.5	Dex C / Int D

Requirements, scaling grades and weight are the game’s own published figures. From Consolidated Game Weapons Database.

How to Obtain

Before you start

No quest, boss defeat, key item, DLC, New Game Plus, or story-progress prerequisite is required for the Deathtouched Catacombs pickup.
The dungeon pickup is one item per playthrough. A Samurai can therefore possess the starting Uchigatana and the separate Deathtouched Catacombs copy.

01In northern Limgrave, enter Deathtouched Catacombs. From the dungeon’s main passage, follow the accessible side route to a chamber with a corpse hanging over a ledge; loot that corpse to obtain the Uchigatana. The pickup is guaranteed and does not require defeating a boss.
02A Samurai character also begins the game with an Uchigatana. Characters of other starting classes can obtain the dungeon weapon instead; the catacomb remains accessible after character creation, so this route is not missable through normal progression.

Mechanics and Handling

The Uchigatana’s handling combines the Katana class’s quick slashes with a useful thrusting heavy attack. Its attacks come out fast enough to punish short openings, while its reach lets the wielder maintain spacing against many humanoid enemies. The weapon’s innate blood loss buildup adds pressure over repeated hits rather than changing every individual strike into a burst-damage attack.

Katana Moveset and Spacing

The normal attack chain uses compact slashes that work well when circling or fighting multiple nearby targets. The heavy attack is a forward thrust, giving the Uchigatana a narrower attacking line and a different spacing tool from its horizontal light attacks. Running, jumping and crouching attacks alter the timing and approach angle, but the weapon remains most dependable when used to take short openings rather than trade through large enemy swings.

The Uchigatana can be wielded in either hand. Two-handing changes how the weapon is handled and allows Strength to contribute more effectively to its requirements, while dual-wielding Katanas enables paired attacks at the cost of giving up a shield or other off-hand option. These choices change its attack patterns and defensive options rather than changing the weapon into a separate variant.

Blood Loss Pressure

Each qualifying hit contributes the weapon’s innate blood loss buildup to the target’s status meter. When that meter fills, the target suffers Hemorrhage, making sustained contact particularly relevant against enemies that can bleed. Enemies immune or highly resistant to blood loss remove much of this advantage, so the Uchigatana’s slashing moveset and physical damage remain important even when its status effect is unavailable.

Unsheathe

Unsheathe places the character in a brief sheathed stance before releasing a special attack. Its light follow-up produces a fast horizontal cut, while its heavy follow-up delivers a stronger forward slash with a different commitment and approach. The skill is useful for converting a short opening into concentrated damage, but it consumes FP and requires deliberate timing; repeatedly entering the stance in front of an active enemy can leave the wielder exposed. Unsheathe is the Uchigatana’s default skill, and the weapon’s Ash of War compatibility allows its skill and affinity to be changed when the relevant system requirements are met.

Upgrades and Variants

Strengths, Weaknesses and Best Uses

Strengths

Innate Hemorrhage buildup gives ordinary attacks a status-pressure role without requiring a Blood affinity or temporary buff.
Its Unsheathe skill offers a quick horizontal cut and a more committed thrust, giving the weapon both a responsive punish option and a stronger opening attack.
The katana moveset is fast enough to apply repeated hits while retaining useful spacing, and the weapon can be customized with Ashes of War and compatible affinities.
Its relatively low equipment burden makes it practical for Dexterity-focused characters and for builds that want a reliable sidearm rather than a heavy primary weapon.

Weaknesses

Hemorrhage contributes little against enemies that are immune or highly resistant to the status, so its innate buildup is not a universal damage advantage.
The weapon’s reach is shorter than longer katana alternatives such as Nagakiba, making spacing and safe punish windows less forgiving against large or far-reaching enemies.
Unsheathe consumes FP, and relying on the skill for burst therefore competes with spellcasting, summons, or other FP-based tools.
As a light weapon, it offers less stagger and poise pressure than heavier melee classes; trading directly with large attacks is usually a poor use of its speed.

Best uses

A general-purpose PvE katana for players who want fast attacks plus a reliable Hemorrhage threat.
Dexterity builds that prefer Keen customization, or status-focused builds that can use Blood or other compatible affinities when the target is susceptible.
Punishing recovery windows with Unsheathe rather than attempting prolonged trades against heavily armored or high-poise opponents.

Compared With Similar Weapons

Compared With Similar Weapons
Weapon	Class and role	Distinctive trade-off	Build flexibility
Nagakiba	Offers more reach than Uchigatana, but is heavier and has higher attribute requirements	Infusible and compatible with changeable Ashes of War	—
Wakizashi	Shorter reach and dagger moveset, but can complement a katana in a dual-wield setup	Infusible and compatible with changeable Ashes of War	—
Hand of Malenia	Uses the distinctive Waterfowl Dance skill, but lacks Uchigatana's general-purpose customization	Fixed unique weapon with a fixed skill and Somber reinforcement	—

Lore and Design

The Uchigatana is presented as a katana associated with samurai from the Land of Reeds. Its item description identifies it as a curved, single-edged blade and highlights its capacity to inflict blood loss, connecting the weapon’s combat identity to the in-game reputation of its makers and users. The description also places the weapon within the setting’s wider pattern of regional arms and martial traditions, rather than tying it to a named character or faction. The Uchigatana is additionally used as the Samurai class’s starting weapon, giving that class an early mechanical and thematic link to the Land of Reeds. No documented developer commentary or official design history is established here, so visual resemblance to real-world swords is not treated as evidence of a specific inspiration.

Trivia

“Uchigatana” is a Japanese sword term rather than the personal name of a unique legendary blade. Elden Ring uses the term directly for the weapon, while reserving more individualized names for other katanas such as Moonveil, Rivers of Blood, and Hand of Malenia.