Elden Ring: How to use Ashes of War and their purpose

Wandering through Elden Ring you may or may not have noticed Ashes of War. If you have and are wondering what they are or how to use them then you have come to the right place. FromSoftware created Ashes of War as a neat little item in the game to grant new skills onto your weapons and shields.

There are currently three different ways you can obtain ashes of war. The first is simply by killing enemies, including bosses. If you encounter the right enemy, one of their drops may very well be an Ashes of War.

Another way you can get Ashes of War and perhaps the least time-consuming option would be to just purchase them from NPCs. This can get a little pricey though.

The last thing you can do is to loot corpses throughout the game. They aren’t hard to obtain by any means, but it is just whether or not you know where you can obtain them at. These drops and placements will always be at the same location per playthrough, so if you know where to find these enemies, you can go there right away and loot them.

Once you have the Ashes of War, it is time to put them use. However, to actually equip the Ashes of War, you do need one key item to make this all possible. You need to acquire the Whetstone Knife and luckily this can be acquired very early on in the game.

If you travel to the Gatefront Ruins in Limgrave, there will be a little underground area in the camp. The Whetstone Knife is found in that underground area in a chest along with Storm Stomp Ashes of War. Now that you have acquired the Whetstone knife, you can travel to any Site of Grace and a new option titled “Ashes of War” will pop up and you will be able to apply your Ashes onto your weapons and shields.

There are many different types of Ashes of War with each of them better for different weapons and different aspects of each weapon. Certain Ashes of War will have different effects on weapons/shields. Some Ashes of War may affect your weapons/shields more than others, so it is best to take a look at what stats the Ashes of War may be scaling before actually equipping it.

If you felt like you don’t want the Ashes of War on your items anymore, you can un-enchant your weapons/shields at a Site of Grace. It should be taken note that Bows, Light Bows, Glintstone Staves and Sacred Seals cannot be infused with Ashes of War.  Now that you know how to use your Ashes of War in Elden Ring, it is time to get the Whetstone Knife (if you don’t have it already) and put your Ashes to good use. Scaling stats with Ashes of War has ranking grades of D-A, with A being ranked the best.