Elden Ring: How to Use Ashes of War

Elden Ring offers a large amount of consumable and usable items, making previous entries in the Soul-like Genre pale in comparison. One of these items, the Ashes of War, is a new item introduced to players. But what exactly does it do for you?

Thankfully, we are here to help you find out how to obtain and use this new and exciting item, and what it may do to help you to bring your gameplay up to the next level.

Ashes of War – What are they good for?

The Ashes of War are special items that are new to the series, and what they allow you to do is replace the Weapon Skills and Affinities of your current gear with new ones. What this means, is that you’re able to apply Ashes of War to your Sheilds and Weapons, to change their skills and modify them to fit your current build and playstyle.

There are currently 12 different Ashes of War;

• Standard Ashes of War – Respect the weapon’s original scaling and damage. No special properties, but Skills may still be selected
• Keen Ashes of War – Increases Dexterity scaling, decreases Strength and Base Damage
• Quality Ashes of War – Balances Strength and Dexterity Scaling, decreases Base damage
• Lightning Ashes of War – Adds Lightning Damage, Increases Dexterity scaling, decreases Base Damage and Strength scaling
• Magic Ashes of War – Adds Magic Damage and Intelligence Scaling, Reduces Base Damage and Strength/Dexterity Scaling
• Sacred Ashes of War – Adds Holy Damage and Faith Scaling, decreases physical damage & most damage negation
• Heavy Ashes of War – Increases Strength scaling, decreases all other scaling types.
• Fire Ashes of War – Adds Fire Damage, decreases default scaling
• Poison Ashes of War – Increases Strength, Dexterity, and Arcane Scaling, Adds Poison buildup to attacks
• Cold Ashes of War – Adds Frostbite buildup to attacks and increases Intelligence scaling. Decreases all other scaling types
• Blood Ashes of War – Adds Arcane scaling, adds Bleed buildup attacks, but Decreases all other scaling types
• Occult Ashes of War – Adds Arcane scaling, decreases all other scaling types. Undead enemies are no longer able to revive, as well

Every set of Ashes of War offers different strengths and weaknesses to their respective weapons, as well as adding unique skills to your new weapon or shield setup.

To use Ashes of War, you must visit a Site of Grace and select the Ashes of War menu prompt, but this is only unlocked after collecting your first Ash of War. You can also preview the stat boosts and negations on the menu screen, so you’ll know what you’re getting yourself into before you equip it to your item. To find your first Ash of War, you may not have to work too hard, or at least hard in the sense of Elden Ring. You can purchase them from NPC’s, and get them as drops from enemies as well.

Elden Ring is out now for the PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, and PC.