The Reed Great Katana sits on a corpse atop the giant grey mound beside Greyoll in Caelid’s Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow, and you can run straight there from the start of the game with no bosses to beat — you just need the Tarnished Edition content for it to appear.
The Reed Great Katana is one of the new weapons folded into the Tarnished Edition content, and it’s a big deal for anyone who likes carving with a blade: it’s the first Great Katana you can pick up in the Lands Between rather than the Realm of Shadow. Better still, it’s tucked away in Caelid on a corpse you can reach almost immediately, so a fresh character can be swinging a bleed weapon long before most players clear their first major boss.
What the Reed Great Katana is and why grab it early
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Weapon class | Great Katana |
| Damage type | Slash/Pierce |
| Passive | Blood loss buildup (55) |
| Skill | Overhead Stance |
| Requirements | 18 Str / 16 Dex |
| Weight | 10 |
| Location | Top of the grey mound beside Greyoll, Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow, Caelid |
| Requires | Tarnished Edition content |
This is a full Great Katana-class weapon that deals Slash/Pierce damage — quick and charged attacks slash, while a dodge attack turns into a stabbing motion that pierces, which is exactly what you want against Caelid’s dragons. It carries native Blood Loss buildup (55), so it stacks bleed as you swing, and it ships with the Overhead Stance skill. At the start of the game it lands around D scaling in both Strength and Dexterity, making it a natural fit for a strength/dex bleed build.
Key What makes it worth a special trip is the timing: you can hold it on a brand-new save. The stats below are the ones that matter when you’re deciding whether your build can wield it right now.
How to get the Reed Great Katana in Elden Ring Tarnished
Here’s the full run from Limgrave up into Caelid, doable straight off a fresh save as long as you have Torrent for the spiritsprings.
STEP 1/14
Ignore the golden soldier
Skip the golden soldier ahead and ride straight up toward the Gatefront Ruins.
STEP 2/14
Cross to the Third Church of Marika
Head down by the bridge and across to the Third Church of Marika.
STEP 3/14
Get inside and ready Torrent
Climb up around the church, and make sure you have Torrent, because you’ll need him from here on.
STEP 4/14
Ride the spiritsprings up
Use the little spirit streams behind the church to leap up the chain of them on Torrent.
STEP 5/14
Push toward the large tree
Continue toward the large tree without approaching it, and skip the church up top — the invasion waiting there is a rough fight this early.
STEP 6/14
Hop the wall as the sky reddens
When the sky turns red a wall appears for you to jump, which means you’re almost there.
STEP 7/14
Cross the beetle field
Run the path across, grabbing beetles if you like, but steer clear of the birds and the dogs, since the dogs hit surprisingly hard.
STEP 8/14
Skirt the white aggro groups
Jump around the large white groups ahead, as they have a wide aggro radius and are best avoided.
STEP 9/14
Jump the gap past the dog
Leap across the gap here, dodging the dog on the far side.
STEP 10/14
Rest at the grace
A Site of Grace sits just ahead at Dragonbarrow West, so rest there before the last push.
STEP 11/14
Pass the tower and golden tree
Carry on with the tower on your left and the golden tree ahead, avoiding the dragons on the way — they’re real, not a trick of the light.
STEP 12/14
Reach the large grey mound
Push past to the large grey mound sitting near the paralyzed dragon, which is your target.
STEP 13/14
Climb the side by the paralyzed dragon
Ride up the side closest to the dragon, since that’s the easier climb and it’s safe while the dragon is paralyzed.
STEP 14/14
Take the katana off the corpse
At the top of the mound, loot the corpse to claim the Reed Great Katana.
There are two handy ways in if you get turned around: come up from the Dragonbarrow Fork through the cave and jump the spiritspring near it, or approach from the back section by the Minor Erdtree, where another spirit stream lifts you onto the upper plateau.
Video help
Ashes of War and bleed builds for the katana
Out of the box the weapon runs Overhead Stance, but it takes a wide selection of Ashes of War, so you can retune it to whatever your build wants. Bloodhound’s Step is an easy recommendation if you’re newer to these games — the dodge it grants makes staying alive in Caelid a lot less stressful. Between that flexibility and its native 55 bleed, it slots in nicely as an early strength/dex bleed weapon that punches above where you’d expect a starting character to be.
While Greyoll stays paralyzed, chip it with the katana’s bleed — the blood loss deals percentage-based damage, so a motionless dragon becomes an easy early rune source before you ride off.
Related Elden Ring guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have to fight or kill Greyoll to get the weapon?
No. Greyoll is paralyzed and won’t react while you climb, so you never have to engage the dragon at all — you simply scale the mound beside it. There’s only a small enemy up by the corpse to watch for, and the dragon itself is safe to ignore or chip for runes.
Can you really get it on a fresh file?
Yes — the route requires no boss kills and no story progress, so a brand-new character can make the run. The one thing you can’t skip is Torrent, since the spiritsprings behind the Third Church of Marika are the only way up, and you unlock him very early anyway.
Why is the corpse empty for me?
The pickup only exists if you own the Tarnished Edition content. Without it there’s no glow and no prompt on the corpse — the spot is simply bare, which is what trips up players trying to grab it on vanilla Elden Ring.
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