Conan Exiles Best Weapons 2026: Tier List, Damage Values and Scaling

There is no single name that answers the question of the Conan Exiles best weapons in 2026. Three things decide it: the weapon category and its moveset, the raw damage plus armor penetration, and whether the weapon scales with Strength or Agility. Pick the wrong attribute and you throw away a big part of the weapon's potential. This guide sorts the top weapons by category, lists documented damage values and tells you where to get them.

⚔️ Strength or Agility: what does the damage depend on?

Since the big attribute rework, every weapon category scales with one of the two combat attributes. That is the biggest lever for your build: a katana in a pure Strength build hits much softer than in an Agility build. Roughly, the categories break down like this:

Rule of thumb: Strength weapons are mostly the heavy, slow breakers with high armor penetration and Sunder. Agility weapons are the fast blades that build damage over time through Bleed stacks. Ranged weapons like bows are their own category and only come up briefly in the values below. If you're not sure where your points belong, the details are in our Conan Exiles attributes guide.

🗡️ Best legendaries by category (with values)

Legendary weapons sit at the top end of base damage. The values below come from documented weapon stats in the Enhanced item database and serve as a guideline. Small balance changes per patch are possible.

🔪 One-handed swords

• Sword of Champions: 83 damage, 20% armor penetration, Bleed. A solid all-round one-handed sword.
• Blade of the Adventurer: an Agility-leaning one-handed sword with an attribute bonus, a common top pick for Agility builds.

🗡️ Two-handed swords

• Mastodon Killer: 83 damage, 22% penetration, Cripple.
• Annihilator: 75 damage, 33% penetration, Cripple, plus an execute effect: any hit on an enemy below 10% health kills it instantly.

🪓 Great axes

• Scythe of Thag: 90 damage, Bleed. One of the highest base damage values among two-handed weapons.
• Morning Sun: 88 damage, Sunder.

🔨 Two-handed maces

• Hanuman's Gada: 96 damage (115 on heavy attacks) with a hefty 45% armor penetration, Sunder. For pure Strength builds against well-armored targets it is hard to beat.

🌸 Katanas

• Musashi's Black Blade: 74 damage, 13.5% penetration, Cripple. A top pick in Agility builds thanks to its fast moveset.

🗡️ The Predatory Blade and bows

• The Predatory Blade: a legendary sword from the Unnamed City with Cripple and its own Predatory effect, not a dagger pair. According to the community wiki it drops from the boss The Brute in the Unnamed City; the GamerGuides database doesn't list that boss, though.
• Reach of the Red Mother: 34 damage, the highest documented base damage among bows.

📦 Craftable weapons: Star Metal and Dragonbone

Not everyone wants to rely on loot drops. Two craftable tiers set the standard in 2026:

• Star Metal weapons: the second-strongest crafting tier with very good durability. You get the ore from meteorites that crash in the frozen north and need to be broken open first.
• Dragonbone weapons: the highest base damage among craftable weapons. According to the Conan Exiles wiki, you learn the recipes by interacting with a stele at the bottom of The Sinkhole. You craft them at a Blacksmith's Bench; the Dragonbone Two-Handed Sword takes 10 Dragonbone, 1 Dragonhorn and 1 Weapon Handle. You don't need Star Metal for it. Dragonbone and Dragonhorn drop from dragons, for example the Undead Dragon.

A Dragonbone two-hander in a Strength build is the reference point many other weapons get measured against. For the right setup around it, see our Conan Exiles Strength build.

🗺️ Where to find the top weapons

💡 The often overlooked data point: armor penetration beats raw damage

The biggest payoff for PvP and late bosses isn't in the raw damage number. Hanuman's Gada does have a high 96 damage, but its real strength is the 45% armor penetration plus Sunder. Against a heavily armored enemy it deals more effective damage than a weapon with nominally higher damage but low penetration. Rule of thumb: against unarmored targets, raw damage and Bleed count. Against armored targets, high penetration and Sunder win. That's why it pays to carry two weapons for different situations.

Don't underestimate this either: a strong fighter thrall effectively multiplies your weapon damage, because it deals damage on its own. Which companions are worth it is covered in the Conan Exiles best thralls guide and the thralls guide.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions about Conan Exiles Best Weapons

What is the best weapon in Conan Exiles in 2026?

There is no single best weapon. For Strength builds against armored targets, Hanuman's Gada (96 damage, 45% penetration) is top. For Agility, the katana Musashi's Black Blade or fast Bleed weapons like daggers and katanas that stack damage over time.

Do all weapons scale with Strength?

No. Heavy weapons like maces, great axes and most swords scale with Strength, fast blades like daggers, katanas and short swords with Agility. Pick your attribute to match the weapon.

Loot or craft: which is better?

Dragonbone weapons offer the highest craftable base damage and you can make them reliably. Some legendaries beat that in their niche, but they depend on drops and legendary chests.

Where do I learn the Dragonbone weapon recipes?

According to the Conan Exiles wiki, at a stele at the bottom of The Sinkhole. The recipe stays learned even after a Potion of Natural Learning.

✨ Bottom line

The best weapon in Conan Exiles always comes down to category, scaling attribute and what you need it for. Build your character clearly around Strength or Agility, pick a weapon that scales with it, and against tough targets look at armor penetration and Sunder before the bare damage number. Craftable Dragonbone weapons are the reliable standard. Hand-picked legendaries are the situational upgrade.

As of October 11, 2026 (Conan Exiles Enhanced, patch 3.0.0 from October 6, 2026). Weapon values were checked against the Enhanced item database conanexiles.gaming.tools, Funcom's official patch notes and the Conan Exiles Wiki on Fandom (it calls itself the "Official Conan Exiles Wiki" and is linked from Funcom's site conanexiles.com, but by its own description it is written by players). Small value changes per patch are possible, so check the current patch notes before a new build.