Elden Ring Smithing Stone locations and how to use them

Everything you need to know about upgrading your weapon.

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Elden Ring Smithing Stonesare vital for upgrading your weapons so you can deal that little bit of extra damage to cope with harder early game areas like Caelid and Liurnia. If there’s one surefire way to make a boss easier, it’s to deal more damage, and that’s essentially what Smithing Stones let you do.

There are two variants to be found throughout the game; regular Smithing Stones which are used to upgrade regular weapons, while Somber Smithing Stones are required for unique weapons, such as those you’d get with a boss remembrance. Early on, you can find both stones in the tunnel dungeons and as drops from particular enemies, but eventually you’ll want to unlock them for purchase using a Bell Bearing.

In this Elden Ring Smithing Stones guide, I’ll explain how these materials work, as well as where to find Bell Bearings and Ancient Dragon variants for those endgame upgrades.

Elden Ring Smithing Stones

Smithing Stones are used to upgrade normal weapons up to +25. There are eight levels of Smithing Stones and each one will raise your weapon level in increments of three.

Here’s are all of the different Smithing Stones:

The cost of each Smithing Stone level increases by two each time. This means to fully upgrade a weapon, you need twelve of each type ranging from (1) to (8). For the Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, you just need a single one.

You can find Smithing Stones throughout the game, though they are usually plentiful in ‘tunnel’ dungeons. The best way to get Smithing Stones, though, is ultimately to find a Smithing Stone Miner’s Bell-Bearing. You can give these to the Twin Maiden Husks in the Roundtable Hold and it will allow you to buy an unlimited supply of specific Smithing Stones.

Here’s where to get each one:

Elden Ring Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone locations

Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones are used to upgrade normal weapons fully, but there are no Bell Bearings that unlock them for purchase, meaning you have to find them in the world. Just like Titanite Slabs in Dark Souls, one of these stones is used to upgrade the last weapon weapon level, bringing it up to +25.

They are mostly found in endgame areas of the Lands Between or received as quest rewards:

Elden Ring Somber Smithing Stones

Somber Smithing Stones are used to upgrade unique equipment, up to +10. While the number doesn’t sound as impressive as the +25 boasted by normal gear, unique weapons are generally of a much better quality from the get-go, and often feature unique skills.

Unlike regular Smithing Stones, the Somber variant are numbered for their upgrade level, meaning you only need one of each and a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone to upgrade a weapon fully.

Here’s a list of the various Somber Smithing Stones:

You can also get these in ‘tunnel’ dungeons, orbuy up to level four from Iji the Blacksmith. He’s a friendly sort, and will even warn you from entering the manor, which is good advice.

There are also Bell-Bearings that unlock them for purchase from the Twin-Maiden Husks:

Elden Ring Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone locations

As you’ve probably guessed, these rare consumables are used to fully upgrade unique weapons to +10. Like the regular Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones, these are mainly found in endgame areas and are pretty scarce:

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Sean’s first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you’ll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.

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