The Drake Sword is a straight sword in Dark Souls.
In-Game Description
- This Sword, one of the rare dragon weapons, is formed by a drake's tail. Drakes are seen as undeveloped imitators of the dragons, but they are likely their distant kin.
- The sword is imbued with a mystical power, to be released when held with both hands.
Availability[]
The Drake Sword is obtainable in the Undead Parish. To obtain the sword, the player must deal 240 damage to the Hellkite Dragon's tail to sever it when in the base game cycle, placing the sword in their inventory. One method of doing this is to stand on the right side of the bridge under the drake and shoot its tail with a bow. Another method is to simply wait for the dragon to land, run to the right side and attack the tail a few times. This is best done with a weapon that is at least +5. The drake's tail will respawn, but the sword can only be obtained once per playthrough.
Characteristics[]
The Drake Sword entirely lacks Stat Scaling and is hard to upgrade, making it a weak pick even in the early game. Once the player has upgraded their weapon to Standard +5, quite a few weapons picked up before or just after Drake Sword will be comparable or entirely out-damage its 200 AR at +0. For instance theZweihander, at minimum stats to wield two-handed at +5, will have 257 AR which immediately outperforms Drake Sword. Claymore, Halberd, Reinforced Club, and Club will all deal damage comparable to Drake Sword at +5 with the minimum stats to two-hand each weapon. Drake Sword is not worth the arrows used to cut the Hellkite Drake's tail and should not be acquired outside of it being needed for the Knight's Honor Achievement since all Standard path weapons are able to be upgraded to +5 almost immediately upon entry into Undead Parish and meeting Andre of Astora.
The Drake Sword upgrades quite poorly, gaining 20 base damage per upgrade, costing 10,000 souls and requiring rare Dragon Scales. This is less of an increase in base damage than even the low base damage Dagger gains when going from +0 to +5, a process which costs 7,700 souls, if all materials are purchased. Furthermore, base damage is used in the calculation for scaling, and upgrades to scaling weapons may also increase the parameter bonus directly, making the gap in damage even larger in practice.
When wielded with both hands, the strong attack unleashes a ranged vertical cleave (similar to the Stormruler from Demon's Souls) at the cost of 30 weapon durability, degrading and then breaking the weapon quickly. Unlike most dragon weapons, the Drake Sword cannot be enchanted. It grants 15 points of Flame and Magic Defense when wielded. This effect remains active when in the off-hand and two handing a weapon in the right.
Scaling Percentages[]
- Strength - 0%
- Dexterity - 0%
- Intelligence - 0%
- Faith - 0%
Moveset[]
| Attack | Description |
|---|---|
| One-handed Weak Attack |
Swings moderately quickly from left to right. |
| One-handed Strong Attack |
Swings more slowly from right to left. |
| Two-handed Weak Attack |
Vertical swings, medium-fast speed. |
| Two-handed Strong Attack |
Releases a linear shock wave down a short distance from the player's line of sight. |
| Jump Attack | Nearing the end of the jump's arc, the wielder stabs down towards the ground. |
| Running Attack | Swings from left to right when running |
| Rolling Attack | After performing the roll, the wielder makes an upward swing. |
| Kick | Standard Kick. |
| Left-handed Weak Attack |
Standard block. |
| Left-handed Strong Attack |
Horizontal swing. |
Upgrades[]
Requires: Dragon Scales and 10,000 souls per upgrade.
| Variation | Attack Values | Parameter Bonus | Damage Reduction | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Drake Sword | 200 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 50 | 10 | 35 | 35 |
| Drake Sword +1 (Dragon Scale ×1) | 220 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 50 | 10 | 35 | 35 |
| Drake Sword +2 (Dragon Scale ×1) | 240 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 50 | 10 | 35 | 35 |
| Drake Sword +3 (Dragon Scale ×2) | 260 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 50 | 10 | 35 | 35 |
| Drake Sword +4 (Dragon Scale ×2) | 280 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 50 | 10 | 35 | 35 |
| Drake Sword +5 (Dragon Scale ×4) | 300 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 50 | 10 | 35 | 35 |
Gallery[]
Videos[]
| Dragon Weapons |
|---|
| Dragon Bone Fist • Dragon Greatsword • Dragon King Greataxe • Dragon Tooth • Drake Sword • Moonlight Greatsword • Obsidian Greatsword • Priscilla's Dagger |
| Tail Weapons |
|---|
| Dragon Greatsword • Dragon King Greataxe • Drake Sword • Guardian Tail • Gargoyle Tail Axe • Moonlight Greatsword • Obsidian Greatsword • Priscilla's Dagger |