The exterior joints of specially shaped columns with high-strength reinforcement, and with or without X-shaped reinforcement were tested under low cyclic loading. The damage characteristic, hysteretic curve, bearing capacity, displacement, ductility, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity were compared. The results showed that for the exterior joints of specially shaped columns, the bearing capacity of the HRB500 joint was lower, but the hysteretic behavior, deformability, energy dissipation capacity were increased, the stiffness degradation was postponed. When X-shaped high-strength reinforcement added to the joints, the failure characteristics of the joint was improved, the stiffness degradation was postponed, the deformability, shear capability and energy dissipation capacity were increased, the seismic behavior of specially shaped column joints was improved significantly, and the seismic behavior of the HRB500 joint was improved more.