Elden Ring: Where to find Smithing Stones to upgrade weapons

Elden Ring has Smithing Stones and Somber Smithing Stones. These are important materials that are necessary if you wish to boost your character’s offensive capabilities further. Here’s our Elden Ring guide to help you find Smithing Stones and Somber Smithing Stones for weapon upgrades.

Note: For more information, check out our Elden Ring guides and features hub.

Elden Ring guide – Smithing Stones and Somber Smithing Stones for weapon upgrades

If you wish to upgrade your weapons in Elden Ring, don’t just rely on a beginner’s crafting table like the one in the Church of Elleh. Instead, wait until you reach the Roundtable Hold where you’ll meet Smithing Master Hewg. He is the only NPC in the game with a means of upgrading your weapons past a certain limit.

Now, to upgrade our weapons, we’re going to need those Smithing Stones and Somber Smithing Stones in Elden Ring. There’s a key difference between the two:

• Smithing Stones – These are used for regular/generic weapons. We can base it solely on names like Longbow, Hammer, Mace, Kite Shield, Buchering Knife, Nightrider Flail, and so on.
• Somber Smithing Stones – However, there are those with more unique names, and these require Somber Smithing Stones. If a weapon seems like it was once in a character’s possession, it dropped from a boss, it has a special skill, or it’s more thematic, then it’ll likely need Somber Smithing Stones instead. Examples include Ghiza’s Wheel, Serpent Hunter, Rosus’ Axe, and Fallingstar Beast Jaw.

So, how exactly does the process work? Well, these materials have tiers (i.e., Smithing Stone [1], Smithing Stone [2], and so on). Each tier represents up to three level-ups for your weapon, meaning that Smithing Stone [1] is used for Weapon +1, Weapon +2, and Weapon +3.

Then, when you’ve got Weapon +4, that’s when you start using Smithing Stone [2]. Naturally, the cost in materials will also increase per level for that particular tier.

So, where exactly do we find Smithing Stones and Somber Smithing Stones in Elden Ring? To be frank, they’re everywhere. They could be in the overworld on some rocks or at the edge of cliffs or handed out as rewards. They may also be found in dungeons or dropped by bosses. White Dung Beetles and certain enemies, like the bigger Spider Hands that you encounter (as seen in the image above) may drop these, too.

Likewise, whenever you see a damaged statue that seems to be glowing, try to find a larger mob nearby. Monstrous enemies like Trolls and Runebears have attacks that will destroy the statue, allowing you to pick up the Smithing Stone/Somber Smithing Stone inside.

Other reliable locations include mines/tunnels. These kinds of dungeons will often have crystals that can be picked up.

Those with an orange glow are Smithing Stones, whereas the ones with a silver glow are Somber Smithing Stones.

If you’re already in Liurnia of the Lakes, then you might’ve gone northwest to Caria Manor. Along the road, you’ll meet a Golem NPC named Smithing Master Iji.

He sells Somber Smithing Stones as well, though they’re fairly limited.

Last but not least, you’ll also want to collect Bell Bearings for the Twin Maiden Husks. This vendor NPC in the Roundtable will sell materials in exchange for runes.

There’s also no purchase limit, allowing you to buy as many as you want if you have the runes to spare. Just go ahead and farm runes whenever you’re free. With that in mind, you should be able to fully upgrade your favorite weapons in Elden Ring.

Elden Ring is available via Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.