The Sacred Relic Sword looks like a Faith weapon and swings like a Dexterity one — and that split is the part most guides skip. Its normal attacks scale off Strength, Dexterity, and Faith, favoring Dexterity by a wide margin. Its signature skill, Wave of Gold, ignores that scaling completely and computes its damage from Faith alone. Pump Dexterity thinking it’ll make your Wave of Gold hit harder, and it won’t move the number at all.
This guide covers the full acquisition route, the exact stat requirements and scaling grades, and the Faith breakpoints Wave of Gold actually uses — the numbers that decide whether your build is wasting stat points.
Quick Start Checklist
- Defeat the Fire Giant and burn the Erdtree at the Forge of the Giants
- Clear Crumbling Farum Azula and defeat Maliketh, the Black Blade
- Defeat Godfrey/Hoarah Loux and Radagon of the Golden Order in Leyndell, Ashen Capital
- Defeat the Elden Beast to receive the Elden Remembrance
- Return to Roundtable Hold and trade the Remembrance with Enia — choose the Sacred Relic Sword over Marika’s Hammer, or duplicate the Remembrance first if you want both (see below)
- Meet the 14 Str / 24 Dex / 22 Faith requirements before you can wield it two-handed at 10 Str
- Decide your stat split before upgrading — Faith investment is what scales Wave of Gold, not the weapon’s upgrade level alone
How to Get the Sacred Relic Sword
There’s no hidden chest or optional boss drop here — the Sacred Relic Sword is a postgame reward tied directly to finishing the main story. You get it by defeating the Elden Beast and trading its Elden Remembrance with Enia at Roundtable Hold[1][4]. The full route:
- Progress through Mountaintops of the Giants and defeat the Fire Giant
- Burn the Erdtree at the Forge of the Giants
- Clear Crumbling Farum Azula, including the Godskin Duo, and defeat Maliketh, the Black Blade
- Return to Leyndell, Ashen Capital, and defeat Sir Gideon Ofnir and then Godfrey/Hoarah Loux at the Elden Throne
- Pass through the golden fog wall to fight Radagon of the Golden Order and the Elden Beast
- Take the Elden Remembrance you receive to Enia at Roundtable Hold
There’s a gotcha most walkthroughs leave out: Enia only lets you claim one reward per Remembrance[6]. Trade the Elden Remembrance for the Sacred Relic Sword and Marika’s Hammer is gone for that playthrough — and vice versa. If you want both, duplicate the Elden Remembrance with a Walking Mausoleum (or a Remembrance Duplication Coffin in the DLC) before you spend it, then trade the duplicate for the second item[6]. This works for any Remembrance Enia offers a choice on, not just this one — worth knowing before you commit a rare Remembrance to a single reward.
Stats and Scaling: What You Actually Need
The Sacred Relic Sword requires 14 Strength (or 10 with a two-handed grip), 24 Dexterity, and 22 Faith to wield without a penalty[1][4]. That Faith requirement is easy to misread as “this is a Faith weapon” — it isn’t, not for the swing itself.
| Upgrade Level | Strength Scaling | Dexterity Scaling | Faith Scaling | Physical / Holy AR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| +0 (Standard) | E | D | D | 118 / 76 |
| +5 | E | D | D | 203 / 131 |
| +8 to +10 | D | C | D | up to 289 / 186 |
Dexterity is the scaling that actually moves your regular R1/R2 damage — the wiki’s own analysis is blunt about it, noting the sword “scales by far the best with Dexterity, with both Strength and Faith providing more moderate benefits”[3] despite its holy, golden appearance. The 22 Faith requirement gets you through the door; it doesn’t make your normal swings a Faith build.
Version note: these are the live requirements and scaling grades as of patch 1.16.1, the most recent base-game update (released October 2024, with no base-game patch since)[7]. An early build of the game (version 1.00) shipped with different requirements — 15 Str, 16 Dex, 20 Faith — before being adjusted[3], so don’t trust numbers from very old guides or videos without checking the date.
The Part Everyone Gets Wrong: Wave of Gold Scales Only on Faith
Here’s the mechanism that separates the Sacred Relic Sword’s normal attacks from its weapon skill, and it’s the reason a pure-Dexterity build underperforms with this weapon despite the Dex-favoring scaling above. Wave of Gold — the expanding arc of holy light the sword fires after a roughly two-second wind-up — deals 100% Holy damage calculated entirely from your Faith stat[2]. Strength and Dexterity contribute nothing to it. The skill has its own scaling formula, separate from the weapon’s Str/Dex/Faith grades that govern everything else you do with this sword.
That means two players holding an identically upgraded Sacred Relic Sword can have wildly different Wave of Gold damage depending purely on how much Faith they’ve invested, regardless of their Dexterity. At +10 upgrade, the skill’s base Attack Power moves like this as Faith increases[2]:
| Faith Invested | Attack Power (close range) | Attack Power (far range) |
|---|---|---|
| 22 (minimum to wield) | 1,279 | 1,177 |
| 45 | 1,475 | 1,357 |
| 80 | 1,616 | 1,487 |
Going from the minimum 22 Faith to 45 buys roughly 15% more Wave of Gold Attack Power for 23 stat points — a reasonable return. Pushing from 45 to 80 costs more than double the points for about 10% more AP, past the point of real efficiency for most builds. The skill also loses damage the farther out the wave travels: about 20% against enemies at range in PvE, rising to 35–40% against players in PvP[2], and its stance-damage (poise break) drops from 6 near the caster to 0 at the wave’s edge[2] — it’s a crowd-clearing tool up close, not a reliable stance-breaker at range.
The practical takeaway: if you only care about Wave of Gold, Dexterity past the 24 requirement is close to wasted on this weapon. If you care about both the skill and your regular swings, Fextralife’s own build testing found a roughly 50 Dexterity / 50 Faith split (with Strength left near the 15-point minimum) trades a small amount of regular-attack damage for about 10% more Wave of Gold damage per cast[5] — worth it if the skill is doing most of your killing.
Build by Player Type
| Player Type | Priority | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New player | Meet the 14/24/22 minimums, ignore Wave of Gold’s stat math for now | You’ll clear most early postgame content on the weapon’s Dex-favoring normal-attack scaling alone; the skill’s FP cost (42, plus a heavy 75 stamina) punishes spamming before you have the resources to sustain it |
| Casual player | Push Faith to ~45, keep Dexterity where it lands naturally | The 22-to-45 Faith range is the efficient part of the Wave of Gold curve — noticeable damage gain for a manageable stat investment, without committing to a full hybrid respec |
| Hardcore / optimiser | Run the ~50 Dex / 50 Faith split, add Shard of Alexander and Carian Filigreed Crest | Shard of Alexander adds 15% to the skill’s attack power and Carian Filigreed Crest cuts its FP cost by 25%[5], directly addressing Wave of Gold’s biggest limiter — how many casts you can afford before resting |
| Completionist | Duplicate the Elden Remembrance before spending it | Claiming the Sacred Relic Sword alone permanently forfeits Marika’s Hammer from that Remembrance[6] — duplication via a Walking Mausoleum is the only way to end the run holding both |
If your build already runs Faith incantations, the Sacred Relic Sword slots in as a melee option that doesn’t compete for a second weapon slot — see our Faith incantation breakpoint guide for how much Faith your spell loadout already wants, since that number should drive your split more than the sword’s own minimum.
When to Reach for It — and When Not To
Wave of Gold’s wide arc and generous hitbox make it a genuine crowd-clear tool: one cast can hit every enemy standing in a line in front of you, which is why it’s a popular pick for rune-farming rotations against grouped weak enemies rather than single hard-hitting bosses[4]. The specific spot most farming routes use is the Ledge-Road Site of Grace on the way to Mohgwyn Palace, where a single Wave of Gold cast can wipe an entire pack of jar-carrying Dane enemies at once — geared runs pairing that spot with the Golden Scarab talisman (boosts rune acquisition) report roughly 6,000,000 runes per real-world hour[1], though that figure assumes an optimized loop with minimal downtime between casts, not a first attempt. Against a single boss with a small hurtbox, a two-second wind-up that most bosses can simply walk out of is a liability, not an asset — treat it as a room-clearing and burst-damage-on-an-opening tool, not a primary boss-fight combo piece.
Use Wave of Gold when: you’re facing multiple grouped enemies, you have an FP-cost reduction talisman equipped, or a boss has just been staggered and can’t dodge the wind-up.
Skip it when: you’re fighting a single mobile boss with no stagger window, or your FP pool can’t absorb a 42-cost miss.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does upgrading the Sacred Relic Sword increase Wave of Gold’s damage, or only Faith?
Both, but not equally. Upgrade level raises the skill’s base Attack Power ceiling — the 1,000+ AP figures only apply at +10 — while your Faith stat determines where you land within that ceiling[2]. An unupgraded sword with 80 Faith will still hit noticeably softer than a +10 sword at the same Faith, so don’t treat Faith investment as a substitute for actually upgrading the weapon.
Should I two-hand the Sacred Relic Sword instead of splitting stats with Faith?
Two-handing only boosts the Strength half of the scaling equation (and lets you meet the Strength requirement at 10 instead of 14) — it does nothing for Dexterity or Faith, and nothing at all for Wave of Gold’s Faith-only damage[1][2]. If your build already has spare Faith from an incantation loadout, that Faith is doing more for your skill damage than freeing a hand ever will.
Is the Sacred Relic Sword worth using over a dedicated Faith incantation build?
It’s a supplement, not a replacement. Wave of Gold’s real advantage is that it’s a melee weapon skill, not a spell — no seal, no Sacred Seal scaling to chase, and it keeps working if you’re out of range or line-of-sight for a incantation. It won’t out-damage a min-maxed pure-Faith incantation rotation on a single boss, but it doesn’t need to; it’s there for the fights where a wide, cheap-to-aim AoE beats precision.
Sources
- Sacred Relic Sword — Elden Ring Wiki (Fextralife): https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Sacred+Relic+Sword
- Unique Skill: Wave of Gold — Eldenpedia: https://eldenring.wiki.gg/wiki/Unique_Skill:_Wave_of_Gold
- Sacred Relic Sword — eldenring.wiki.gg: https://eldenring.wiki.gg/wiki/Sacred_Relic_Sword
- Sacred Relic Sword Location, Stats, and Scaling — Game8: https://game8.co/games/Elden-Ring/archives/370999
- Sacred Relic Sword Build Guide – Sword Saint — Fextralife: https://fextralife.com/elden-ring-sacred-relic-sword-build-guide-sword-saint/
- Enia — Elden Ring Wiki (Fextralife): https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Enia
- Patch Notes — Elden Ring Wiki (Fextralife): https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Patch+Notes
Verified against Elden Ring patch 1.16.1, the most recent base-game update as of this writing. Wave of Gold’s Attack Power values may shift with future balance patches — check the wiki’s current numbers before committing a respec around them.
For the rest of the early game, see our Elden Ring beginner’s guide.
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.