Where are the Elden Ring Smithing Stones? Becoming all-powerful in Elden Ring requires more than just power-leveling your character. You have to upgrade your weapons to go toe-to-toe with the fiercest foes using Smithing Stones — special materials that increase your armament’s level to improve your gear.
Using the best Elden Ring weapons certainly helps to fight off dangerous enemies, but there comes a time when even the best of the best need a top-up, and that’s where Smithing Stones come in. The open-world game is a veritable treasure trove of items, and knowing where to look for something specific can be difficult. We have the locations of all Elden Ring Smithing Stones in the base game and the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC so that you can narrow your search.
Elden Ring Smithing Stones locations
Regular Smithing Stones can be found out in the world, usually in caves, and can be used to upgrade non-unique weapons. You may need to defeat some Elden Ring bosses to get them. There are eight tiers of Smithing Stones, each capable of taking the best Elden Ring weapons up several levels, up to a maximum of +24.
The most consistent way of getting Smithing Stones is to purchase them, which you can do at the Roundtable Hold. The Twin Maiden Husks will have Smithing Stones available to buy if you give them a Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing, with each of these unlocking a different set of tiers.
Here are the locations of the Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearings:
- Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing [1] – unlocks tier 1 and 2 stones for purchase and is located in Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnel. You must beat the Crystalian (Ringblade) boss to get it.
- Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing [2] – unlocks tier 3 and 4 stones for purchase and is found within the Sealed Tunnel located outside the west gate of Leyndell, Royal Capital.
- Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing [3] – unlocks tier five and six Smithing Stones and is found in the Zamor Ruins in the Mountaintop of the Giants area.
- Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing [4] – unlocks tier seven and eight Smithing Stones and is dropped by defeating the Godskin Duo in the Crumbling Farum Azula.
Elden Ring Somber Smithing Stones
Somber Smithing Stones are used to upgrade unique weapons. You can improve a unique weapon to +9 with these items.
The first two tiers of Somber Smithing Stones can be purchased from Smithing Master Iji, who can be found near the Site of Grace north of the Kingsrealm Ruins. He sells unlimited tier one and two Somber Smithing Stones, while tier three and four are available in limited quantities.
You can also get Somber Smithing Stones of all tiers from the Twin Maiden Husks. Low-level Somber Smithing Stones are available from the get-go, with high tiers requiring Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearings.
Here are the locations of the Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearings:
- Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing [1] – unlocks tiers one and two Somber Smithing Stones for purchase from the Twin Maiden Husks at Roundtable Hold, as well as Glintstone Scrap. It drops from the Fallingstar Beast boss in Sellia Crystal Tunnel in Caelid.
- Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing [2] – unlocks tiers three and four Somber Smithing Stones for purchase from the Twin Maiden Husks at Roundtable Hold, as well as Cracked Crystal. You can find it by defeating the Crystalian (Spear) and Crystalian (Ringblade) boss inside Altus Tunnel in the Altus Plateau.
- Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing [3] – unlocks tiers five and six Somber Smithing Stones for purchase and can be found on a body outside the First Church of Marika in the Mountaintops of the Giants area.
- Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing [4] – unlocks tiers seven and eight Somber Smithing Stones, and Sanctuary Stone for purchase and can be found in Crumbling Farum Azula on a corpse at the edge of the cliffs by the Tempest-Facing Balcony Site of Grace.
- Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing [5] – unlocks tier nine Somber Smithing Stones for purchase and can also be found in Crumbling Farum Azula, this time in the small church close to the Great Bridge Site of Grace.
Elden Ring Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones
Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones are used to max out a weapon. Regular weapons can achieve a +25 with an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, and unique weapons can reach +10 with a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone. These top-tier stones are finite: only 13 Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones and 8 Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones are in the game.
Here are the locations of all 13 Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones:
- The reward for finishing the Nepheli Loux Elden Ring quest.
- Sold by Gatekeeper Gostoc for 20,000 runes in Godrick’s Throneroom.
- Reward from Witch-Hunter Jerren if you side with him during the Sorceress Sellen quest.
- Either feed Gurranq, Beast Clergyman nine Deathroots or kill him.
- Inside the large skull southeast of the Church of Repose Site of Grace in Mountaintops of the Giants.
- Drops from the two Night’s Cavalry mini-bosses in Consecrated Snowfield, guarding the caravan at night, southwest from Inner Consecrated Snowfield Site of Grace.
- On a corpse inside Yelough Anix Tunnel.
- On a corpse in the frozen waterfall close to Great Wyrm Theodorix. You can access it from the Cave of the Forlorn Site of Grace by heading outside, turning left, then keeping to the right as you jump up the ledges to reach the frozen body.
- A drop from the Farum Azula Dragon, who attacks you partway through the area.
- On a corpse that’s on a floating platform north of the Dragon Temple.
- A drop from the Farum Azula Dragon at the back of the plaza southeast of the Dragon Temple Rooftop Site of Grace.
- On a corpse that’s below a statue in Miquella’s Haligtree. The statue is next to a Lesser Leonine Misbegotten.
- Inside a chest on the path after beating Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree.
Here are the locations of all 8 Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones:
- Northwest of the Inner Consecrated Snowfield Site of Grace, near where the river bends.
- In the ruins northwest of the Apostate Derelict Site of Grace. You need to complete Latenna’s quest to get it.
- In Mohgwyn’s Palace, close to the Dynasty Mausoleum Midpoint. Head upstairs to the courtyard with red Albinaurics and the Sanguine Noble, and you’ll find the stone nearby.
- Inside a chest in the Haligtree region. From the Prayer Room Site of Grace, follow the stairs out of the room and jump down when you see the platform overlooking the gazebo. Cross the courtyard and jump onto the branch that leads to a room with the chest.
- On a body in the Haligtree region. From the Prayer Room Site of Grace, make your way to the nearest tower, leaping across the platforms and hopping down onto the walkway. Sneak past the Putrid Avatar that stands guard on the bridge and goes to the end to find the body.
- Complete the Millicent quest line by beating Malenia: Blade of Miquella. Grab the Unalloyed Gold Needle, then return to Malenia’s boss area, where you’ll see a blooming flower. Interact with it to get the smithing stone and Miquella’s Needle.
- From the Dragon Temple Rooftop Site of Grace, kill the dragon and birds, then look for the stone near the gazebo to the left.
- From the Leyndell, Capital of Ash Site of Grace, follow the dragon west until you find a ladder near a building. Climb up and either slay or fight the gargoyle to loot the stone on a nearby corpse.
Elden Ring Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone DLC locations
The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion features additional Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones in case you’ve already exhausted the upgrade materials in your world.
Here are all the Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones and Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones you can find in the Elden Ring DLC:
Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones
- Ruined Forge Lava Intake (Gravesite Plains) – inside the furnace.
- Ruined Forge of Starfall Past (Scadu Altus) – inside the furnace.
- Taylew’s Ruined Forge (Scadu Altus) – inside the furnace.
- Dragon’s Pit (Gravesite Plains) – defeat the Magma Wyrm inside.
- Ancient Dragon Senessax (Jagged Peak) – one of the rewards for killing this boss.
Somber Ancient Dragon Smiting Stones
- Ghostflame Dragon (Gravesite Plains) – kill it to get the reward.
- Ghostflame Dragon (Cerulean Coast) – kill it to get the reward.
- Ghostflame Dragon (Scadu Altus) – kill it to get the reward.
- Ancient Dragon Senessax (Jagged Peak) – one of the rewards for killing this boss.
How to upgrade equipment in Elden Ring
You can perform low-level upgrades to your equipment by heading to the Church of Elleh where you will find a smithing table. These tables give you the option to strengthen your armaments, but you can’t take these upgrades beyond +3. Depending on the item you upgrade, weapons usually receive a buff to their physical attack power and attribute scaling.
To go beyond this limitation, you need to find a blacksmith. Once you unlock the Roundtable Hold, you can access Smithing Master Hewg, an NPC who can take your armaments to new heights. Hewg can strengthen your armaments and duplicate your Ashes of War, but remember to bring some runes to pay for his services.
That’s everything you need to know about Elden Ring Smithing Stones. For more Elden Ring tips, check out our guide to Elden Ring Great Runes, as well as Divine Tower locations. We also have a guide to the best Elden Ring builds, if you want to make light work of the game’s strongest enemies.
Original contributions by Christian Vaz.