How to Activate Ashes of War : How to Use Ashes of War in Elden Ring
Ashes of War in Elden Ring allow you to add powerful special moves to your weapons, as well as change their stat scaling between different forms. The game will not tell you how to get started with Ashes of War because you’ll need a specific item. The similarly named Spirit Ashes only add to the confusion. You can learn how to use Ashes of War in Elden Ring, including how to unlock the ability to swap them between your weapons in this guide.
You must first obtain the Whetstone Knife in order to use Ashes of War in Elden Ring. One of the most important items in the game’s first area. It can be found at the bottom of a flight of stairs in the Gatefront Ruins.
The Whetstone Knife will allow you to wear Ashes of War while resting at a Site of Grace. Select Ashes of War from the menu on the left, and then choose the weapon you want to change its settings for. You may not be able to use every one of the Ashes of War you find on your weapon of choice because they are only applicable to specific types of weapons.
In many cases, you’ll be prompted to select an Affinity for a weapon after applying an Ashes of War. There’s a lot to cover here, but each of these changes the weapon’s damage type and damage scaling to a different set of stats.
How to Activate Ashes of War :
- Select “Ashes of War” from the menu at a Site of Grace (this only becomes available after you have collected the Whetstone Knife).
- From here you can see a preview of how the Ash will affect your weapon or shield, and you can choose to apply just the skill, or to apply both, which serves as an optional Prefix.
- Equipment scaling can be adjusted to match your character’s stats by using Ashes of War.
- As a reminder, you can “unenchant” your Weapon or Shield at a Site of Grace by selecting the Ashes of War tab, and clicking on the Weapon or Shield and selecting “Unenchant” to remove the effects from an Ash of War and return the Weapon or Shield back to its original scaling and skill level.
Glintstone Swords, Bows, and Sacred Seals cannot be infused with the Ashes of War. You can’t infused unique weapons like the Dragonscale Blade to change their prefixes and skills.
Although you can obtain multiple Ashes of War to enchant multiple weapons and shields, you can only apply one Ashes of War to a single weapon or shield at a time. You must first remove it from the Ashes of War tab before you can reassign it to another Weapon or Shield. Experimenting with a variety of Ashes of War builds and playstyles is encouraged because it costs nothing to do so.
For the first time in a From Software game, you can alter the damage type and scaling of your Weapon and Shield using only your Ashes of War. You will need to upgrade your weapon or shield with either Smithing Stones or Somber Smithing Stones to increase your Damage and Scaling, and the exact effect of these Upgrade Materials will change based on the Ashes of War slotted. For instance, they may increase Intelligence Scaling or Strength Scaling, as well as base damage, for example. If you upgrade most weapons down one “path,” and then switch around Ashes of War, you’ll see their effects.
Found an additional Blood Ash of War: Blood Blade. Out for the rest of the week though sadly so gotta ask someone else to follow up. Can be found west of the exit from Magma Worm Makar. NNW corner of map at large, west of capitol. Drops from a bug.
Where to Find Ashes of War In Elden Ring
To obtain Ashes of War in Elden Ring, you can obtain them from enemies, NPCs, or dead bodies scattered throughout the game world. Because these Ashes of War aren’t dropped or placed at random, you can count on finding them on every playthrough. In this way, you’ll be able to get your Build off the ground quickly by going straight to the ones you already like. The locations of each Ashes of War, as well as other useful information, can be found on their respective pages.
- Drops from Bosses and Enemies
- Looted from corpses
Ash of War can only be attached to one item at a time, but it is possible to create multiples of the same item. To do so, you’ll need a special piece of equipment. You must have the Lost Ashes of War in order to visit a blacksmith. To get your hands on the Ash of War, all you need to do is hand this over.