Elden Ring took several features from the Souls series and combined them into a masterpiece. Ashes of War are one such mechanic, as they work similarly to weapon arts from Dark Souls 3. While there are a few minor differences, both mechanics give your weapons special attacks and abilities to aid you in battle. So, where do you find more Ashes of War in Elden Ring, how do you swap them out, and how can you duplicate your favorite Ashes?
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What are Ashes of War in Elden Ring?
Ashes of War are special enchantments you can apply to most of your weapons. They grant your weapons, bows, and shields with unique abilities triggered by pressing a button. Some of those abilities grant you actual attacks, while others grant more passive status effects. For example, Storm Stomp triggers an attack that can daze and damage enemies. On the other hand, Endure increases your overall poise, allowing you to tank through attacks (similar to Perseverance in Dark Souls 3).
However, that’s only scratching the surface of Ashes of War in Elden Ring. These abilities also change your weapon scaling to deal more damage based on your stats. For example, let’s say we wanted to add Storm Stomp to a weapon. We also have the option to make that weapon a quality, magic, fire, flame art, or cold armament. Each elemental perk, also known as weapon affinity, scales with different attributes, thus making the weapon viable for all builds. You can tailor it to your current build as long as you have the stat requirements to wield the weapon.
Ashes and weapon scaling
- 1. A standard dagger with no Ashes of War.
- 2. A magic dagger that scales with Intelligence.
Let’s keep things simple and use this standard dagger as an example. The dagger scales with strength and dexterity attributes at face value — meaning builds with high strength/dexterity will do more damage with the dagger, particularly higher dexterity. But if we turn it into a magic dagger, the scaling switches to our intelligence stat. The build we’re running in this playthrough is not tailored to deal magic damage. However, if we increased our intelligence stat or reallocated our attributes at Rennala, we could deal more damage with magic weapons.
Some weapons cannot be altered. These include boss weapons and special weapons found through exploration. For example, we’ve fallen in love with Bloodhound’s Hang, a curved greatsword; however, we’re stuck with its base stats as it’s a special weapon, and we can’t equip it with Ashes of War in Elden Ring. This weapon does fit perfectly in our strength/dexterity build, and the passive blood-loss-buildup perk is excellent for taking chunks of health out of challenging enemies and bosses susceptible to bleeding.
Finally, some Ashes of War only work on certain kinds of weapons. The description indicates which types of weapons can equip the Ashes, along with a more detailed explanation of what the attack does. For example, Lorretta’s Slash can only be attached to polearms and twinblades, and immediately grants magic affinity. Alternatively, Quickstep works with any melee weapon, granting you the ability to sidestep away from damage instead of rolling. Yes, Quickstep on an ultra greatsword is as silly as it sounds.
Where to find Ashes of War in Elden Ring
Finding Ashes of War in Elden Ring isn’t as simple as marking their location on the map. They range from random drops to boss rewards. Sometimes you’ll find new ones after killing unique enemies, which aren’t necessarily bosses but far deadlier than regular enemies. Giants and stone golems are two examples, but several more wander The Lands Between.
We’ve found Teardrop Scarabs can also drop new Ashes of War. These are the ant-looking enemies that replenish your flasks after killing them. Even if you have full flasks, these guys are worth tracking down if you’re looking for new Ashes of War in Elden Ring. Some of these scarabs range in size and occasionally explode after they’re killed. Exercise a little bit of caution to avoid losing a chunk of health. However, new Ashes of War are probably worth a trip back to the nearest site of grace.
Most weapons come with default special abilities that you might like more than your current Ashes of War. The best way to build out your arsenal is to gather them passively. You’ll find Ashes of War in Elden Ring through exploration and combat as well, essentially tripping over them as you explore The Lands Between. Establishing your build and then duplicating your preferred Ashes of War feels like the better route to take. So how do you duplicate Ashes of War in Elden Ring, and what is the point?
How to duplicate Ashes of War in Elden Ring
As it stands, you can only equip Ashes of War to one weapon at a time. If you want to add those Ashes to another weapon, you’ll have to remove them from the first weapon. Thankfully, the game prompts and does this for you with your approval. So, if you equipped Poison Mist to your Halberd but prefer it on your Claymore, you’ll have to remove it from the Halberd to add it to the Claymore. But with Ashes of War duplication, you can have both!
To duplicate Ashes of War in Elden Ring, head to Roundtable Hold and speak with Smithing Master Hewg. Here, you can equip Ashes to different weapons. You can choose to duplicate the Ashes you already have below that. You will need to spend one Lost Ashes of War to duplicate them, so choose wisely. Lost Ashes aren’t easy to come by, but we’ll explain where to find them later on.
Duplicated Ashes of War appear twice in a row when you open the menu. You’ll know which are currently equipped to a weapon by the sword icon in the top-left corner. Furthermore, you can duplicate Ashes of War as often as you please. So, if you’re running a full bleed build and want blood-loss buildup on all your weapons, you’ll need to duplicate Ashes with that passive perk. In this instance, we duplicated Blood Slash.
Where to find Lost Ashes of War in Elden Ring
Lost Ashes of War are the key to duplicating your favorite Ashes at the blacksmith. But, as mentioned, they’re not easy to come by. Here’s where you can find a handful to get you started on your Ashes-duplication mission. Keep in mind most of these are purchased from various merchants throughout The Lands Between. So make sure to save up some runes as they cost between 3,000 and 5,000 runes each.
- At the top of the long staircase leading into the Capital City of Leyndell
- At the Isolated Merchant’s Shack on the western shore of the Weeping Peninsula
- The Nomadic Merchant in Ainsel River
- Isolated Merchant’s shack on the northern shore of Caelid, east of the Minor Erdtree Catacombs site of grace — he has two for sale.
