Where to find all Backhand Blades in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

If you like collecting weapons in Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree will provide you with ample opportunities to get some pretty great weapons, and the Backhand Blade is one of the new weapon types that you will come across.

There are three Backhand Blades in the DLC, so here’s how to get all of them, including their stats and best builds.

How to get Backhand Blade

To get the Backhand Blade, simply travel north of the Scorched Ruins Site of Grace which is available right at the beginning of your Shadow of the Erdtree journey. Once you travel to the desired location, you’ll find a small altar where the weapon will be located.

You don’t need to fight any enemies around here, not even the giant Furnace Golem in that area. However, make sure to stay out of its attack range as it will cause devastating damage and one-shot you if it spots you, even from a considerable distance.

Backhand Blade stats

Category	Detail
Attack Power
Physical	105
Magic	0
Fire	0
Lightning	0
Holy	0
Critical	100
Guarded Damage Negation
Physical	40
Magic	30
Fire	30
Lightning	30
Holy	30
Guard Boost	15
Attribute Scaling
Strength	D
Dex	D
Attributes Required
Strength	10
Dex	13
Weight	2.0

The Backhand Blade scales for Strength (D) and Dex (D). These attributes can be altered by adding different Ashes of War, and upgrading the weapon will improve the stats and scaling.

FromSoftware

You can upgrade the Backhand Blade up to +25 and will need regular Smithing Stones to do it.

Best playstyle for Backhand Blade

The best playstyle for Backhand Blade would be fast-paced close-quarters where your Poise might be heavily tested against the enemies. Poise is more important for Strength builds most of the time, but if you don’t want to be staggered mid-combo, make sure that your Poise is high enough.

The Backhand Blade has pretty fluid overall animations, but there may not be many invisibility frames to exploit while using this weapon. So all you have to do is make sure that you upgrade your Strength and Dexterity stats (if on base Ash of War) as much as possible, to get the best out of this weapon.

How to get Smithscript Cirque

The Smithscript Cirque can be found within the Ruined Forge of Starfall Past in the Scadu Atlus region. The Ruined Forge is a dungeon so be prepared to face a lot of enemies while exploring it.

However, it’s worth remembering that to get to this region, you’ll have to defeat Renalla, Twin Moon Knight.

While exploring the Dungeon, the second big door that you will come across will open into a circular room with a pit in the middle and two Rock Giants inside. The Smithscript Cirque can be looted from a body by the pit.

You can either deal with the Giants first and then pick up the weapon, or you can sneak your way to the sword and make a run for the doors after collecting it.

Smithscript Cirque stats

Category	Detail
Attack Power
Physical	100
Magic	0
Fire	0
Lightning	0
Holy	0
Critical	100
Guarded Damage Negation
Physical	40
Magic	30
Fire	30
Lightning	30
Holy	30
Guard Boost	25
Attribute Scaling
Strength	D
Dex	D
Intelligence	E
Faith	E
Attributes Required
Strength	10
Dex	13
Faith	11
Intelligence	11
Weight	2.0

Smithscript Cirque playstyle

The Smithscript Cirque is a weapon that you can throw at your enemies, so it’s okay if you keep some distance between yourself and your target. You cannot infuse this weapon with any Ash of War.

The weapon skill for the Smithscript Cirque is called Blind Spot, which was introduced along with the new DLC, and when activated, it allows you to jump into the enemy’s blind spot and damage them.

Considering that you’ll be moving a lot into the enemy’s melee attack range, make sure you build into Strength and Dexterity because that’ll help you keep your Poise up. That aside, the weapon scales better with Strength and Dexterity, so it’s best to use it with builds that focus on these stats.

Where to find Curseblade Cirque

Unlike the other Backhand Blades in the Shadow of the Erdtree, the Curseblade Cirque is a random drop that you will get by defeating Curseblade enemies.

There are two locations where you easily come across these Curseblade enemies. These locations are as follows:

Gravesite Plains

From the Gravesite Plains Site of Grace, travel straight towards the arched structure in front of you. A Curseblade enemy spawns on top of this structure, and will jump down to meet you when you reach closer.

Stagefront

From the Stagefront Site of Grace, turn around and head down the staircase. You’ll find a Curseblade enemy patrolling the area here. If you’re lucky, its back will be turned towards you so you’ll be able to land a sneak attack easily.

Keep alternating between these two locations to farm these enemies and you will eventually receive the Curseblade Cirque. This is one of the earliest weapons that you can get in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, so it’s worth gunning for as soon as you unlock both these Sites of Grace.

Curseblade Cirque stats

Category	Detail
Attack Power
Physical	108
Magic	0
Fire	0
Lightning	0
Holy	0
Critical	100
Guarded Damage Negation
Physical	55
Magic	39
Fire	39
Lightning	39
Holy	39
Guard Boost	45
Attribute Scaling
Strength	E
Dex	C
Attributes Required
Strength	9
Dex	22
Weight	2.0

Curseblade Cirque playstyle

Unlike the other Backhand Blades that are available in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, the Curseblade Cirque works best with Dexterity builds.

While it scales very well with the Dexterity attribute, it requires you to invest quite a few points in this stat too, as reflected in the table above. This weapon can’t be infused with any Ash of War because it comes with its own unique skill, Deadly Dance.

When activated, you will spin forward with the weapon, slashing through your enemy, and the combo can be ended there or you can follow it up with an axe kick.

Although you will come across the Backhand Blade weapon type early on in the game, it can take you quite far into the Elden Ring DLC, so make sure that you upgrade it to +25 as soon as possible as only then it will be able to take on the bosses in the massive world of Shadow of the Erdtree.