If you're playing Elden Ring and you wish your weapons would do more damage, you'll want to get yourself over to some key smithing stone locations as soon as you humanly can.

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Given the fact that Elden Ring is quite low-key in terms of its tutorial content, you could easily play the game for hours without realising that smithing stones are a thing or what you're meant to do with them.

If you look at the weapon you want to upgrade in the smithing menu (the screen that appears when you talk to a Master Smith or visit a Smithing Table), it should show you which smithing stone you need in order to boost it up a notch.

This can have more than one benefit, too, seeing as certain Ashes of War will scale up their effectiveness based on the power level of your weapons. So if you want to get involved with some smithing stone action, read on to learn all the key details.

What are smithing stones in Elden Ring?

In Elden Ring, smithing stones are items that you use to upgrade your weapons (or armaments, as the game likes to call them) and gear.

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You can use smithing stones at a Smithing Table (like the one in the Church of Elleh in Limgrave) or with a Master Smith (like the troll-like dude at Roundtable Hold).

This is a great way to boost your stats up a little more, which is certainly needed with some of the enemies you come up against even very early on. There are two types to be aware of — regular smithing stones and sombre smithing stones — and they each have their own rank as well.

So, for example, your weapon can be increased to a to a +3 effect with a Level 1 Smithing Stone, and the increase is higher depending on the stone. Once you've got that weapon to +3, you'll need to find a Level 2 Smithing Stone to boost it any further, and so on.

If you're not sure which type of smithing stone you need to upgrade your weapon, visit a Smithing Table or a Master Smith and hover over the weapon you want to beef up. It should tell you on the screen which kind of smithing stone you need and how many of them are required (with the number you already possess).

Do enemies drop smithing stones in Elden Ring?

Yes, lots of different enemies will drop smithing stones if you defeat them in Elden Ring, allowing you to loot that handy item from their corpse. The following enemies have been confirmed to drop smithing stones from time to time:

  • Raya Lucarian Soldiers, Liurnia - Smithing Stone 1
  • Stone Diggers at Ravine-Veiled Village, Liurnia - Smithing Stone 4
  • Bladed Lion, Stormveil Castle - Somber Smithing Stone 1 (One time only)
  • Glintstone Diggers at Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnel - Somber Smithing Stone 2
  • Giant Hands at Caria Manor, Liurnia - Somber Smithing Stone 2
  • Bladed Lions, Caelid - Somber Smithing Stone 4 (One time only)
  • Fallingstar Beast, Caelid - Smithing Stone 7, Somber Smithing Stone 6 (One time only)
  • White Dragon, Crumbling Farum Azula - Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone

There may well be more to add to the list here and if we stumble across any other generous vanquished foes we will let you know.

Keep in mind that powering up the Arcane attribute (in the 'Level Up' menu at any Site of Grace) will boost your odds of finding smithing stones, as will using consumables that boost Discovery (like the Silver-Pickled Fowl Foot that you should be able to loot at Stormveil Castle).

Where to buy smithing stones in Elden Ring

Rather than just whacking random enemies and hoping that they drop smithing stones, we'd recommend hunting down the various bell bearings. These items are found at very specific locations, and once you've found one and given it to the Twin-Maiden Husks at Roundtable Hold, this will enable you to buy the relevant smithing stones directly from them.

As the video guide above shows, the first bell bearing will allow you to buy smithing stone 1 and smithing stone 2, the second bell bearing allows you to buy smithing stone 3 and smithing stone 4, the third bell bearing allows you to buy smithing stone 5 and smithing stone 6, and the fourth bell bearing allows you to buy smithing stone 7 and smithing stone 8.

If you don't fancy following along with the video above, we've written out where to find these bell bearings below!

How to buy smithing stone 1 and 2 in Elden Ring

To unlock the ability to buy smithing stone 1 and smithing stone 2, first you need to put in some legwork. Head to the Site of Grace called Academy Gate Town that can be found around the Liurnia of the Lakes in the marshland area. Head north from there, keep following the cliffs and eventually you will come across the Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnel.

Head to the bottom of said tunnel and be ready for a boss fight — so make sure your character is tough enough to handle one — and when you defeat that fearsome foe, you will get the Smithing-Stone Miner's Bell Bearing for your troubles.

Now make your way back to Roundtable Hold and have a chat with the Maiden Husks (those two old cronies in one of the side rooms). Select the option 'give bell bearing' from their menu.

When you give them the item you've just picked up, you'll unlock the ability to buy smithing stone 1 and smithing stone 2 from their inventory any time you're in the area.

How to buy smithing stone 3 and smithing stone 4 in Elden Ring

This time, you need to head to the Sealed Tunnel that is positioned on the map between Liurnia and Altus Plateau (just to the left of the semi-circular area that looks a bit like an old amphitheatre on the map). There's a Site of Grace right here.

Just next to the Site of Grace you'll find a secret path to take. If you whack the wall and keep on walking, rolling through some random debris on the way, you'll eventually uncover an item called Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing 2.

Give this second ball bearing to the Twin Maiden Husks at Roundtable Hold, and they'll permanently add smithing stone 3 and smithing stone 4 to their inventory for you to buy at any time you can afford to do so.

How to buy smithing stone 5, smithing stone 6, smithing stone 7, smithing stone 8 in Elden Ring

You get the gist now, right? The easiest way to buy smithing stones in Elden Ring is to find the relevant ball bearing, give it to the Twin Maiden Husks, and then buy said smithing stone from their inventory.

Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing 3 will add smiting stone 5 and smithing stone 6 to their shop, and you'll find that ball bearing down some stairs at Zamor Ruins (way up in the north of the game's map).

Smithing Miner’s Bell Bearing 4 will enable you to buy smithing stone 7 and smithing stone 8, and you'll receive it by defeating the Godskin Duo boss fight at Crumbling Farum Azula (which you won't be able to reach until quite late in the game).

How to get somber smithing stones in Elden Ring

Somber smithing stones are needed to upgrade certain weapons, and these stones have a different set of bell bearings associated with them — again, you can give these bell bearings to the Twin Maiden Husks to unlock the ability to buy the relevant somber smithing stones. The video below shows you where these special Somberstone Miner's Bell Bearing items are secreted across the map.

Somber smithing stone 1 and somber smithing stone 2 can be bought from Smithing Master Iji in Lirunia. You should run into him naturally near the Site of Grace named Road to the Manor. Or if you want to go after the Somberstone Miner's Bell Bearing 1, which will allow you to buy somber smithing stone 1 and somber smithing stone 2 from the Twin Maiden Husks, you can pick up that bell bearing by beating the boss at Sellia Crystal Tunnel in Caelid.

Somber smithing stone 3 and somber smithing stone 4 can be bought from the Twin Maiden Husks at Roundtable Hold (if you bring them the Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing 2, which will be dropped by a pair of Crystalin bosses at the Site of Grace named Altus Tunnel).

You'll be able to buy somber smithing stone 5 and somber smithing stone 6 after you bring Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing 3 to the Twin Maiden Husks. This particular ball bearing can be found on a corpse near the Site of Grace named First Church of Marika.

Somber smithing stone 7 and somber smithing stone 8 can be bought from the Twin Maiden Husks after you bring them Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing 4 - that ball bearing is found very late in the game near a Site of Grace named Tempest Facing Balcony (up in the Crumbling Farum Azula area of the map).

Note: you cannot buy somber smithing stone 9 in Elden Ring, but you can find it the Divine Tower of Caelid. Just below that landmark on the map is a cliffside path, that leads you to a pile of corpses. Loot them all and you should find somber smithing stone 9.

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