Sometimes when playing a Souls game, you find yourself feeling like you owe certain weapons and armour a run. Either they were being used and were (unfairly) dumped for another, or they were picked up without the necessary stats and they felt like they would be fun to use. This is a story about the former. Two weapons and one suit of armour. The Wakizashi and the Nagakiba for the weapons, accompanied by the Land of the Reeds armour set. All three of them were owed a run at assisting an Elden Lord.
Essentially, this was a repeat of my first run. My first Elden Ring play through started and finished with the Uchigatana (I’ll always appreciate the sword) and midway through it was paired with the Wakizashi. Paired Katana’s have a unique move set. Despite being a dagger, the Wakizashi can be paired with a Katana and have that same move set. The perks of being a Japanese (well, Land of Reed’s) weapon. After a bit of moping and mumbling about the difficulty about the end of the game (in retrospect: utterly overblown) the Wakizashi was shipped out in favour of other Katana’s. The Nagakiba was one of those Katana’s. This run saw them combining forces. I owed it to them.
Because when I said mid-way through the first run the Wakizashi was replaced, what I really mean is that the Wakizashi was dumped with 95% of the run done. It gave sterling service throughout the play through, and then I decided it wasn’t enough to beat the final bosses. The Serpent Bone Blade stepped into to fight Radagon and the Elden Beast. The Wakizashi came back but was dumped again for the Malenia fight. I told myself I needed some extra to finish the fight. But, on two separate occasions get within one hit of killing Malenia with the Uchigatana and the Wakizashi. It was not the weapons fault – those failures where on me. So, I wanted the Wakizashi to be in my characters hand when all those foes fell. I wanted to give it the wins it deserved – the wins I took from it.
And the weapon that stepped in for the Malenia fight? The Nagakiba (although I would be lying if I didn’t acknowledge the extra range and damage helped). The reasons for this weapon taking centre stage are because I have constantly promised to do a run with it, always bailing on it. I didn’t even fully upgrade it for Malenia – it got stuck on +24. I said I would make a character and use it – the best I managed was it playing second fiddle to the Cross Naginata (along with the Wakizashi funnily enough). I’ve never given the weapon a chance to be a character’s main weapon. So, with the Wakizashi in the offhand, the Nagakiba had a shot at being the main weapon. Together, they carried a run. In all honesty, this run happened about a year or two ago, I just never got around to writing about it. But, with the Elden Ring DLC soon to be with us, I figured it would be a good idea to dust off some of the Elden Ring posts that never made it to this blog and get myself back in a groove.
On the armour front, the Land of the Reed’s set is a set I have always started with, and then dumped. It almost made it to the end of my run with Ooi, my first proper Samurai character but towards the end she switched to the White Reeds set. That meant I had never seen the Land of the Reed’s set in any ending cutscene. And I would have liked to. It’s one of my favourite sets aesthetically. It’s one of my favourite Samurai armours in any game. So, I decided to ride with it from start to finish. Another Samurai character was born, named Sendai.
Of all the Katanas in Elden Ring, the Nagakiba is probably the best, what I would call “pure Katana”. By which I mean a Katana that doesn’t have magic powers – it’s purely a sword. One that doesn’t blast off moon beams or sheds waves of demonic blade as it slashes. It has the longest range of all the Katanas (this might change post-DLC). It’s classed as a Katana for game purposes but it’s an Odachi. In everything but name. The R1’s are regular Katana R1’s – just hitting harder and farther, which is nice. The R2’s are super cool though. Most other Katana’s have enhanced slice attacks for the R2. The Nagakiba has thrust attacks. The charged thrust is wonderful. Lots of damage, and lots of posture damage. And given the length of the weapon, it might as well be a spear when it’s thrusting. The other Katana’s can only thrust when using running attacks, specific ash of wars or being one handed. The Nagakiba has no such restrictions and it’s all the better for it. I am always in favour of a weapon having a handy means of dealing different kinds of damage.
The Ash of War I chose was Unsheathe. I remember using on my first run, not being impressed with it then moving onto other Ashes of War. Then I watched some speed runs and some challenge runs. Turns out I underestimated Unsheathe. I didn’t realise how much damage it was capable of inflicting. I was unaware of how much posture damage it did. I was aware of how cool it looked though. Nice to have it for a full run this time. The damage does confuse me though. Like, there are weapons in Elden Ring that have cosmic vortex beams and create mini volcanoes when they strike the ground. But unsheathing a Japanese (well, Land of Reeds) Blade somehow does more damage (unless it got patched). A curiosity, but a welcome one for the play through.
This was a fun playthrough. Gameplay wise, the paired Katana move set is a lot of fun to use. A nice mixture of slashes and thrusts. Visually, it’s a little and large combo. The Wakizashi is one of the shortest weapons in the game, and the Nagakiba is one of the longest. Watching them come together to wreck gods and men alike was worth waiting for. It was nice to finally see the Wakizashi have a hand in toppling Radagon and the Elden Beast, and the Nagakiba have its moment in the sun. There is also the bonus of it looking semi-realistic with a dagger in the off hand and a sword in the main hand.
At long last, an Elden Lord sat atop the throne, aiding Fia with the trusty Nagakiba and Wakizashi by her side.
It’s going to be fun doing this all over again.
Notes and Asides:
You might notice there is no Malenia footage here. Well, that’s because lazy old me never got around to it. Finished the play through, and moved onto to other stuff. I’ve got a bunch of character’s that need to fight her. And Mogh too. I have three character’s with Mohg dead, so I’m good for the DLC. For 5 other characters though (including Sendai) I’ve got some work to do. I should get around to Mohg soon and I’ll probably run the DLC first before heading back Malenia’s way.
Video Games And Things I Write About Them 