For a Samurai build who wants to level up quickly in the latest expansion, I prefer to prioritize finding one of the newest weapons that fits our play style, Great Katana. Many players are also looking forward to getting this weapon. If you want to get Great Katana as early as possible in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree without being spoiled, then don’t miss this guide.

In this guide, I tell you the best way to get the earliest Great Katana in the game, as spoiler-free as possible so that you can get a fresh experience before venturing into the core of DLC. At the same time, here I also provide my first impressions of Great Katana. Without further ado, let’s get started!

Great Katana Breakdown

Great Katana is a new weapon in Shadow of the Erdtree. This Heavy weapon is a sound choice for those who like to use Katana but want to stance-break more effectively and deal more damage at the same time.

Great Katana scales primarily with Strength and Dexterity, making it one of the best weapon choices for Dexterity and Arcane Builds.

In addition, this weapon comes with Ash of War: Overhead Stance. When using Ash of War, you can enter a stance that holds Katana high above your head. Normal attacks will push you forward for a downward slash, while heavy attacks will do a series of overhead slashes.

Location

To get this super cool weapon, we still need to access DLC. You need to first defeat Starscourge Radahn, then go to Mohgwyn Palace and defeat Mohg, Lord of Blood.

Once you’ve completed both of these steps, you can interact with Miquella’s Cocoon, which is located in Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum, where you’ll fight Mohg, thus entering Land of Shadow and starting DLC.

Although we need to enter DLC to get this weapon, luckily, we don’t have to fight any bosses in Land of Shadow.

Once you enter DLC area, we just need to head straight to it. This is a real Godsend, as it’s not far from your first Site of Grace, Gravesite Plain.

From Gravesite Plain Site of Grace in DLC, we need to head north. To speed things up, you can ignore all the enemies you may encounter along the way. Of course, if you’re not in a hurry, you can just hack and slash around to collect some Elden Ring Runes.

Our goal is to reach a lake located just north of our current location. Now, if you look at the map, you’ll see that there are three large lakes around this area, but the one we need to go to is the middle one.

Once you reach the location, you’ll notice a sleeping dragon. You don’t need to fight this mini-boss, as you can get around it by crouching down. Note that there is a corpse near the dragon, and that’s the corpse we need to loot. Slowly crouch down close to the corpse and loot it to get Great Katana. It’s totally simple and easy.

Personal Impressions

Great Katana looks and feels great when wielded. I knew this weapon would resonate with me the first time I saw it, and it didn’t disappoint. All of its current moves are really refreshing.

Its normal attack reminds me of Monster Hunter’s Longswords, especially when performing an upward swing. Its basic skill Overhead Stance is definitely familiar and Sekiro players will notice it immediately because it is similar to Ichimonji Combat Arts. There is no doubt that this skill hits like a truck.

However, because of its long preparation time, doing this stance may be intimidating to some people. But since I go for skill, I am happy with it. Of course, if you don’t like this skill, you can always change it.

Not to mention that we will see a lot of new Ashes of War in DLC area, which makes this weapon have a longer range, so I think it will be a deadly tool when playing PVP.

As for damage, Great Katana hits hard at the maximum upgrade, but its slow attack speed is very obvious. When dealing with fast-moving targets or bosses, such as Maliketh, the Black Blade and others, the safest attack we can perform per opening is two or three hits.

Conclusion

Overall, Great Katana feels really good so far and it hasn’t been disappointed. I can’t wait to build around it, and just thinking about the different Samurai theme setups we can get from it makes me excited.

So, expect me to provide an early Samurai Build in case you want to use such a build for your first play with this weapon in DLC. My major goal is to get you to master this weapon, so stay tuned.

Anyway, I hope you found this quick guide useful. Of course, this is not a be-all and end-all guide for Great Katana, as we’re sure to discover more potential for this legendary weapon as time goes on. Do you think this DLC is worth trying so far? If you already own this weapon, please share your experience with us!