Elden Ring Iron Greatsword: Location and Stats

The Elden Ring Iron Greatsword is not a fixed pickup — it is a drop, which is exactly why so many players go looking for it in the wrong place and conclude it is not in the game.

No chest holds it. No corpse holds it. One enemy family drops it, in two reasonably convenient spots, at a rate low enough to be annoying.

Where to get it

It falls from Leonine Misbegotten and Misbegotten Crusader enemies rather than from the world. Two reliable farming spots:

• Leyndell, Royal Capital — from the Avenue Balcony Site of Grace, head toward the Forbidden Lands. Two Misbegotten patrol the route, and the grace is close enough to make resets quick.
• Miquella's Haligtree — a Misbegotten Warrior north of the Haligtree Town Plaza Site of Grace.

The drop rate is low, so expect several kills before it appears. Resting at a nearby grace respawns the enemies for repeat attempts, which is the whole loop: rest, run, kill, rest.

How to make the farm less painful

Two things meaningfully change how long this takes.

• Discovery. Item discovery raises drop rates. The Silver Scarab talisman is the largest single boost, and Silver-Pickled Fowl Feet stack a temporary bonus on top of it. Both are worth using before a long farming session rather than after fifty empty kills.
• Arcane. Your Arcane stat feeds discovery directly. A character with high Arcane farms noticeably faster than one without, which is why a low-Arcane build often feels like the drop is broken.

If you are farming with a build that has neither, budget considerably more attempts.

Requirements and scaling

You need 18 Strength and 10 Dexterity to wield it without penalty. Unupgraded, it carries C scaling in Strength and E in Dexterity, so it rewards a Strength-leaning build.

Stat	Requirement
Strength	18
Dexterity	10
Scaling	C Strength / E Dexterity
Weapon type	Greatsword
Skill	Lion's Claw (changeable)

Eighteen Strength is reachable early, which is the weapon's main appeal — it is a greatsword you can actually hold before the mid-game.

Ashes of War and infusions

It takes Ashes of War, which matters more than the base stats. The default skill can be replaced with anything a greatsword accepts, and the weapon can be infused, so it can be pointed at whatever your build scales with rather than being locked to Strength.

That flexibility is the strongest argument for it. A plain weapon that takes any Ash of War is a better platform than a slightly stronger one that does not.

Upgrade path

It uses regular Smithing Stones rather than Somber ones, so it goes to +25 rather than +10. Regular stones are the common kind — which means the upgrade material is never the bottleneck, only the drop itself.

How it compares

Among early greatswords it sits in the middle. The Claymore is easier to get and does a similar job, which is why most players who are not specifically hunting this weapon end up with that one instead. The Iron Greatsword's case is the higher raw weight of the swing and the Strength scaling; the Claymore's case is that it is sitting in a chest and takes ten minutes to fetch.

Is it worth using

It is a plain, no-frills greatsword rather than a build-defining weapon — a fine stepping stone before you find something with a unique skill, and a perfectly serviceable Ash of War platform for a long time after that.

What it is not is a weapon to farm obsessively for. If an hour of Misbegotten has produced nothing, the honest advice is to take the Claymore, carry on, and let this one drop whenever it drops.