Claymores are hard hitters, but which one is right for your needs?
Claymore characters have the reputation of having some of the most powerful DPS characters in the game. Their heavy attacks can stagger enemies. With the right battle conditions, you can even stun-lock opponents until they’re defeated.
Your claymore characters also have the added benefit of having a lot of good weapon options. From easy-to-get four-star weapons to gacha five-star claymores, there’s always something good to choose from.
Want to equip your claymore characters with powerful weapons? Let’s check them out!
10. Sacrificial Greatsword
Cast one elemental skill and get another charge for free
Nearly all the weapons in the Sacrificial Series have one common effect. Resetting your character’s elemental skill cooldown to let you cast it again. That’s pretty much what the Sacrificial Greatsword does.
By letting you cast your elemental skill more than once in a short period of time, this will help generate energy particles. More energy particles mean that your elemental burst is recharged faster.
The Sacrificial Greatsword is a powerful weapon because:
- It helps you with your energy problems. Thanks to its Energy Recharge (ER) substat, the Sacrificial Greatsword brings your elemental burst back as soon as possible.
- For a four-star weapon, the Sacrificial Greatsword has a really good ATK stat. In the early parts of the game, this makes it a viable weapon for your DPS characters.
- This is one of the weapons in the game that get better with refinement. When refining this weapon, the chances of it resetting your skill’s cooldown increase. This becomes more helpful for claymore characters with longer cooldowns.
Sacrificial Greatsword (4-star) details:
- Base ATK: At Level 1, its value is 44 ATK. Meanwhile, at Level 90, this reaches a high value of 565 ATK.
- ER Substat: Gives 6.7% ER at Level 1 and 30.6% ER at Level 90.
This four-star weapon is always available in the permanent/standard wish banner. Here’s a quick guide on how to use Genshin’s wish system:
9. Prototype Archaic
The Prototype Archaic is a reliable weapon that fits any occasion
Widely regarded as one of the best craftable claymores, the Prototype Archaic is a solid option for your DPS. Though, older players will be more familiar with its original name—the Prototype Aminus.
Its sleek black and gold palette also makes it easy on the eyes. Thanks to its substat and interesting effect, this weapon is a friendly free-to-play choice.
The Prototype Archaic’s power is due to:
- Its focus on ATK. Apart from the high base ATK, the weapon’s substat also increases your character’s ATK by a certain percentage.
- ATK is important, sometimes more than Crit. An increase in ATK is directly equivalent to an increase in damage output.
- Aside from that, the Prototype Archaic also gives an additional source of damage thanks to its passive effect. Every time you do a normal or charged attack, there’s a 50% chance that you would deal another AoE damage.
- This AoE is quite small, but it deals damage equivalent to 240% of your character’s ATK.
Prototype Archaic (4-star) details:
- Base ATK: Gives 44 ATK at Level 1, up to a similarly high 565 ATK at Level 90
- ATK% substat: An additional 6% ATK at Level 1 and 27.6% ATK at Level 90
This is a craftable weapon and is a good choice for free-to-play gamers. To learn more on how to craft, check out this guide:
8. Luxurious Sea-Lord
Ah, yes. A sea captain and her fish sword.
Game developers have quite the personality. They paired one of their strongest 4-star claymores with one of their most ridiculous weapon designs. The Luxurious Sea-Lord is a great choice to give to your characters—if you’re not distracted by how it looks.
For many characters, their elemental burst is the peak of their strength. And that’s why this weapon is one of my personal favorites. It literally buffs your character’s burst damage.
Consider equipping the Luxurious Sea-Lord not because of how it looks. But because of how powerful it is.
- The Luxurious Sea-Lord increases elemental burst damage by 12%. Because this weapon was given for free during one of Genshin’s events, players can refine this up to Refinement 5. At this level, the weapon can compete against even 5-star weapons.
- Refinement 5 increases elemental burst damage by 24%! This is good for many claymore characters, but especially on Beidou, Eula, Itto, and Noelle. These characters have broken elemental bursts that benefit a lot from the Luxurious Sea-Lord.
- While this weapon has a relatively low base ATK, it makes up for it with its ATK substat. The Luxurious Sea-Lord can still reliably provide enough ATK for your DPS.
- It can also deal an additional instance of damage. This is equivalent to 200% ATK every 15 seconds. Though, for the most part, you wouldn’t probably notice it.
Luxurious Sea-Lord details:
- Base ATK: 41 ATK at Level 1 up to a relatively low 454 ATK at Level 90.
- ATK% substat: 12% ATK increase at Level 1. This reaches a 55.1% ATK increase at Level 90.
The Luxurious Sea-Lord was given for free during one of Genshin’s special events last September 2021. Sadly, this was an event-only 4-star weapon. Genshin hasn’t made event-only weapons available for players who missed out.
If you missed out on the Luxurious Sea-Lord, you can choose another weapon in this list.
7. Akuoumaru
Akuoumaru fits Eula’s aesthetics so well
In many ways, the Akuoumaru is kinda like the Luxurious Sea-Lord. Except that it’s a bit more available for players to wish for. This gorgeous claymore is definitely a must-have for your characters.
Like the Luxurious Sea-Lord, the Akuoumaru’s emphasis is on your character’s elemental burst. As such, it’s also gonna be a great choice for Beidou and Eula. But it does have an interesting gimmick that you should watch out for.
Here’s why you should definitely consider the Akuoumaru.
- It strengthens your character’s elemental burst. But it’s not as straightforward as the Luxurious Sea-Lord. This buff depends on your team.
- The Akuoumaru totals the elemental burst cost of your entire team. From this sum, the weapon takes a certain percentage as the elemental burst buff. Sounds complicated? Let’s use an example.
- Say you have a Refinement 1 Akuoumaru given to Eula. Your other team characters are Beidou, the Raiden Shogun, and Jean. The total burst cost is 330 energy (90 for the Raiden Shogun and 80 for the other three).
- At Refinement 1, the Akuoumaru multiplies the total burst cost by 0.12. In our example, 330 x 0.12 = 39.6. So, the Akuoumaru gives Eula an increase of 39.6% elemental burst damage. Though, note that the Akuoumaru has a maximum cap.
- At higher refinements, the multiplier to the burst cost and the maximum cap increase. If you have a Refinement 5 Akuoumaru, the multiplier is 0.24% and the maximum increase to the elemental burst damage is capped at 80%.
- Obviously, the Akuoumaru benefits a lot from refinements.
- This weapon also has a good ATK stat and ATK% substat.
Akuoumaru (4-star) details:
- Base ATK: 42 ATK at Level 1 and 510 ATK at Level 90
- ATK% substat: Adds 9% ATK at Level 1 and 41.3% ATK at Level 90
This weapon is not available on the permanent/standard banner. Instead, players have to wait for it to be featured again on the weapon event banner. Here’s a guide on the different wish banners of the game:
6. Serpent Spine
Badass design, even more badass effect
Our most powerful four-star claymore in this list is none other than the Serpent Spine. Apart from how cool it looks, this weapon has an interesting effect that lands it high on our list.
The Serpent Spine buffs your characters and is a suitable weapon for your DPS. But it does have a caveat that can be very challenging for unskilled players. Let’s check it out.
- The Serpent Spine provides a 6% increase to your character’s outgoing damage. It doesn’t buff just elemental burst or skill, but everything. That includes normal and charged attacks.
- But its trade-off comes with the fact that it makes your character more vulnerable. Other than the buff, this weapon will make your character receive 3% more incoming damage from enemies.
- This effect stacks up to 5 times. At Refinement 1, this means that your character can dish out a 30% increased outgoing damage. But at the same time, your character will receive a maximum of 15% increased incoming damage.
- The negative effect on your character is reduced at higher refinements, though. If your Serpent Spine is at Refinement 5, outgoing damage is increased by 50%. Incoming damage is reduced to a max of 10%.
- You can get around this by either giving your character a shield or by mastering your dodging skills. The first option is usually the easiest.
- The Serpent Spine also has a very useful substat: Crit Rate. This helps balance out the build of your character.
Serpent Spine (4-star) details:
- Base ATK: Its Level 1 value is 42 ATK and caps at 510 ATK when it reaches Level 90.
- Crit Rate substat: 6% Crit Rate at Level 1. This increases to 27.1% Crit Rate at Level 90.
This weapon can be bought from the Battle Pass. You can check out this video to learn more:
5. The Unforged
The Unforged is probably the most difficult claymore to carry
From this point forward, the weapons in this list are composed of 5-star claymores. Let’s begin with The Unforged.
This claymore hails from Liyue and is a great option for your DPS because of its high stats and good passive effect. What’s more, if you have a shielder, The Unforged’s effects become stronger.
Equip this weapon to your DPS because:
- The Unforged emphasizes ATK a lot from its main stat, substat, and passive effect. When you give this weapon to a character, you wouldn’t need to worry about stacking ATK. You can focus more on Crit, for example.
- Its passive effect further increases your character’s ATK stat. Each time you hit an opponent, your ATK increases by 8%. The effect stacks up to 5 times, or a maximum of 40% ATK increase.
- Additionally, you would definitely want to run your character with a shielder. When your character is shielded, the ATK increase is doubled. This means that at Refinement 1, the effect caps at 80% ATK increase.
The Unforged (5-star) details:
- Base ATK: Begins at 46 ATK at Level 1 and caps at 608 ATK upon reaching Level 90.
- ATK% substat: Gives a 10.8% ATK increase at Level 1 up to 49.6% ATK increase at Level 90.
The Unforged is a limited-time 5-star weapon obtained through gacha. This means that players can’t obtain it until it’s featured again. Check out official game announcements!
4. Skyward Pride
For energy-hungry characters like Beidou, the Skyward Pride is a godsend
Blue like the skies over Mondstadt, the Skyward Pride is a weapon that looks very regal. This claymore is a universal weapon. What this means is that most if not all claymore characters can use it.
The Skyward Pride has an impressive main stat and an okay substat. Don’t be fooled by its place on this list, because it can hit really hard.
If you have this weapon, consider giving it to one of your DPS characters. Why?
- First of all, because the Skyward Pride has an insanely high base ATK. Ascended all the way to Level 90, it reaches an ATK value of 674 ATK. And you know what that means, higher ATK stat means higher output damage.
- Like the Serpent Spine, the Skyward Pride also buffs your character’s entire kit. From elemental skill, burst, and normal and charged attacks. Specifically, it gives an 8% increase in damage, but without the downside of making you more vulnerable.
- After using your elemental burst, a neat effect happens. For the next few seconds, your normal and charged attacks will create a vacuum blade. This vacuum blade extends forward and deals damage equal to 80% of your ATK stat.
- The Skyward Pride has ER as its substat. For a weapon of this caliber, it’s okay and can definitely help you with energy problems. Because of this effect, the weapon is good for characters with high burst costs, such as Beidou and Eula.
Skyward Pride (5-star) details:
- Base ATK: 48 ATK at Level 1 and 674 ATK at Level 90
- ER substat: Gives an additional 8% ER at Level 1. This caps at 36.8% ER at Level 90.
The Skyward Pride can be obtained from the permanent/standard wish banner. With enough luck, you can get this weapon.
3. Wolf's Gravestone
If you look hard enough, you’ll find one in Mondstadt…
This claymore screams cool with its overall design and color scheme. Its brutish appearance is reflected in how its effects play in battle. Like the Skyward Pride, the Wolf’s Gravestone is a great weapon that you can give to almost any claymore character.
It possesses great stats and can also work to support your entire team’s damage output. It ranks high on our list because of these reasons.
- Like many of the claymores on this list, the Wolf’s Gravestone focuses on ATK stat. Other than its 5-star base ATK, it gives an ATK substat. The weapon’s passive also increases your character’s ATK by an additional 20%.
- It also further boosts your team’s overall ATK thanks to its passive effect. When you attack opponents whose HP is less than 30%, your teammates gain a 20% ATK bonus. Talk about brutal.
- This can be used for more supportive roles. If you have a designated DPS in your team and want to increase their ATK, you can give the Wolf’s Gravestone to any claymore character to provide that ATK bonus.
- This versatility and the easy way that the passive can be triggered make the Wolf’s Gravestone a relevant weapon choice to this day.
Wolf’s Gravestone (5-star) details:
- Base ATK: Level 1 value is 46 ATK and Level 90 value is 608 ATK
- ATK% substat: 10.8% ATK at Level 1 which caps at 49.6% ATK at Level 90.
The Wolf’s Gravestone is also available in the permanent/standard wish banner.
2. Song of Broken Pines
Eula makes it look so easy wielding a heavy weapon like that
At this point, I admit it’s very difficult to choose the top two most powerful claymores. That’s because they are both so great that it doesn’t really matter. In most cases, you’d want to use one of these two weapons for your DPS.
Arriving second on our list is the Song of Broken Pines. This claymore is one of the only two weapons that have the highest base ATK in the game. For this reason, you can give this weapon to anyone just because of its stats.
But it does get better than that.
- Apart from the whopping 741 ATK at Level 90, the Song of Broken Pines gives more ATK to your team. Upfront, the weapon already gives you 16% ATK. But this can be increased when you trigger its special effect.
- You gain 1 stack of “Sigil of Whispers” every time you hit an opponent with normal or charged attacks. When you have 4 stacks, the effect “Millennial Movement: Banner-Hymn” is triggered.
- When this effect is active, it provides your team with an additional 20% ATK buff. Aside from that, you also gain a 12% normal attack speed.
- This is very useful for claymore characters whose attacks tend to be slower. That said, while this weapon is Eula’s BiS,it can work on almost any claymore character.
Song of Broken Pines (5-star) details:
- Base ATK: Starts at 49 ATK and maxes out at a ridiculously high value of 741 ATK at Level 90.
- Physical Damage Bonus: 4.5% Phys DMG Bonus at Level 1 and 20.7% Phys DMG Bonus at Level 90
This is also a limited-time weapon. As such, you can’t obtain it until it becomes featured again.
1. Redhorn Stonethresher
Delinquent Itto with his flaming red BiS
And so, we finally reach the most powerful claymore on our list. And that goes to none other than the Redhorn Stonethresher.
At first glance, you might wonder why I’m putting this weapon at the top of the list because of its emphasis on DEF. The DEF stat is something that not many players usually want except for a few characters.
But thanks to its overwhelmingly powerful stats, the Redhorn Stonethresher deserves its top spot.
- The Redhorn Stonethresher’s main selling point is in its Crit DMG substat. This value caps at 88.2% Crit DMG at Level 90. For comparison, Crit DMG circlets only go up to 62.2%.
- This high Crit DMG stat will definitely make building your DPS characters a lot easier. A balance between ATK, Crit Rate, and Crit DMG stats is what you’re often going for as it’d maximize your DPS.
- The benefits of this stat outweigh its unusual passive. Though its focus is on DEF, the claymore is still definitely usable on other characters.
- The Redhorn Stonethresher increases your DEF stat by 28%. And from your DEF stat, the weapon increases your normal and charged attack damage by 40%. This gives a pretty sizable damage increase.
- Among the 5-star claymores on this list, the Redhorn Stonethresher has the lowest base ATK. Despite this, it’s still a really great choice. Characters who scale off their DEF like Itto and Noelle benefit a lot from this weapon.
Redhorn Stonethresher (5-star) details:
- Base ATK: 44 ATK at Level 1, up to 542 ATK at Level 90.
- Crit DMG substat: 19.2% Crit DMG at Level 1. This reaches a max of 88.2% Crit DMG at Level 90.
The Redhorn Stonethresher is a limited-time weapon. Wait for it to be featured again so you can obtain it.
Conclusion
That concludes the rundown on the most powerful claymores in Genshin. Which weapons do you want to give to your characters now?
