Should you choose Axe of Godrick or Grafted Dragon in Elden Ring?

In Elden Ring, players are faced with a near-infinite number of choices that have the potential to influence gameplay experiences. Players must decide what attributes to level up, which NPCs to interact with, and select a weapon or playstyle that suits them all while trying to make sense of a world falling apart. While it may seem daunting to those who have yet to take the plunge into the Lands Between, many of these decisions are changeable and can be readjusted.

Compared to previous FromSoftware titles, Elden Ring is more lenient and forgiving. Not interacting with an NPC at a specific point does not always break a questline and players can respec very early using Larval Tears found around the world. This makes specializing into a specific build or choosing a particular weapon very safe and not playthrough locking.

With that in mind, many are wondering what to do with specific boss Remembrances and if they should select the weapon over the incantation alternative or vice versa. Godrick the Grafted is one of these bosses, and here, we’ll go over some of the pros and cons of the two options offered to players.

Remembrance of the Grafted

Upon defeating Godrick the Grafted, players are awarded Godrick’s Great Rune as well as the Remembrance of the Grafted. These Remembrances are given to players for defeating specific bosses and can be turned in for different equipment or spells. This is comparable to boss souls in previous FromSoftware titles.

The Remembrance of the Grafted can be turned into Enia, the Finger Reader, in the Roundtable Hold. There are two options to purchase with this Remembrance. The first is Axe of Godrick and the other is the Grafted Dragon.

Axe of Godrick

This powerful Greataxe primarily scales with both Strength and Dexterity. To use this weapon with one hand, players must have 34 Strength and 22 Dexterity. A combination of attribute boosting talismans can push players up to the level requirement, but this is not recommended due to the weapon’s damage scaling Strength and Dexterity. Players can use the weapon two-handed with as low as 24 Strength due to the 50-percent Strength increase that comes from two-handing weapons.

The exclusive weapon art on this Greataxe is “I Command Thee, Kneel!” and emits an AoE shockwave or earthquake that damages those around it. It is not chargeable, so it does not see benefits from Godrey’s Icon, but its damage would increase with the Shard of Alexander.

Grafted Dragon

The other option is the Grafted Dragon. This is a fist weapon that primarily scales with Strength, but also offers small scaling in Dexterity and Faith. Unlike the Axe of Godrick, the Grafted Dragon cannot be two-handed, so 20 Strength is a hard requirement to use this. Additionally, players must have 14 Dexterity and 16 Faith to use this weapon.

The unique weapon art of the Grafted Dragon is “Bear Witness!” in which the player hoists the dragon toward the sky and spews fire over a wide area in front of them. It is a rather low damage weapon art that does fire damage over time.

Which is better?

Those deciding between the two weapons should know that they have the ability to get both of them by acquiring an additional Remembrance of the Grafted from the Walking Mausoleums scatter around the Lands Between. There are a limited number of these Mausoleums and those who wish to acquire every boss weapon, skill, or armament will have to complete the game a second time on the same character by advancing to Journey No. 2.

The Grafted Dragon is the better option to take as it opens up a decent off-hand weapon art that can do damage over time. It also does not have as harsh of a level requirement to use, unlike the Axe of Godrick. Those not looking to dump too many levels into attributes they aren’t using may find the Grafted Dragon a decent option, especially Intelligence or Faith-based builds.

The Axe of Godrick has a decent weapon art, but the scaling at +10 is rather poor for a boss weapon and will not have the competitive damage output of some other weapons found later in the game when reinforced to +10 or +25.