Elden Ring took all the best features from the Souls series, pressed them together, and then sprinkled some special new editions on top. From horseback combat to stealth mechanics, Elden Ring answered the prayers of many long-time FromSoft fans. You can even jump now! However, the Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring are among the best new editions. These summons work to aid you in battle, but some players are confused about where to find more Spirit Ashes and how to upgrade them.
Furthermore, one burning question on many minds is when can you use Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring? Sometimes they’re unavailable; other times, you can summon them as you please. There are certain mechanics that the game doesn’t necessarily explain, and players are forced to figure out on their own. So in this guide, we’ll go over where to find more Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring, how you can upgrade them, and when you can use them. As a bonus, we’ll dive into our favorite Spirit Ashes and how to find them.
- How to duplicate Remembrances in Elden Ring
- Is Elden Ring cross-platform?
- What are Evergaols in Elden Ring?
What are Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring
Spirit Ashes are summonable companions (outside of multiplayer and NPC summons) that you can call into your world using the Spirit Calling Bell. If you’re asking yourself, “Wait, what’s the Spirit Calling Bell?” you probably missed an essential NPC.
To get the Spirit Calling Bell in Elden Ring, you must reach the Church of Ellah Site of Grace and rest. Then, continue until you speak with Melina at the Gatefront Site of Grace. She’ll give you a ring that allows you to summon Torrent, your horse. Then, warp back to the Church of Ellah, look at the merchant, and turn around. You’ll meet a witch named Renna who, after speaking with her, gives you the Spirit Calling Bell and the Lone Wolf Ashes.
If you happen to miss Renna, you can buy the Spirit Calling Bell from the Twin Maiden Husks in Roundtable Hold.
Of course, there are far more Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring, awaiting the eager adventure in various dungeons across the Lands Between. So, where should players look to find more Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring?
Where to find spirit ashes in Elden Ring
Spirit ashes aren’t something you can simply buy from merchants in Elden Ring. Instead, you’ll find most of them through exploration. Some present themselves as part of the main story. For example, you’ll unlock the Lone Wolf Ashes right off the bat when you first speak to Renna. However, other ashes are harder to find and require several prerequisite steps.
For instance, many dub the Mimic Tear Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring to be the best summon you can have. These ashes summon a clone of yourself and, once leveled up, work as the perfect tanky companion. Instead of costing FP, the Mimic Tear Ashes cost a sizable chunk of HP. So, if you’re willing to spend a Crimson Tears Flask to clone yourself, we highly recommend it.
Unfortunately, the Mimic Tear Spirit Ashes are locked in Norkon, the Eternal City, a unique area in the Siofra River. You’ll need to beat Starscourge Radhan to access this section of the game.
Here’s where to find some of the best Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring.
The Ancestral Follower
To get the Ancestral Follower Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring, you’ll need to gain access to the Siofra River, a secret underground area. If you don’t already have this area, head to the eastern shore of Limgrave. The entrance is right above the Minor Erdtree, directly north of the Fort Haight West Site of Grace.
Once you’re in the Siofra River, push forward until you come to a lift. Ride the lift and continue until you find the Siofra River Bank Site of Grace. Here is where your quest for the Ancestral Follower Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring begins.
First, you’ll need to light eight fires spread around the area. As you light these fires, pillars on the staircase in front of the River Bank Site of Grace will ignite. Once all eight are lit, you’ll get a message indicating something new is available. Warp back to the River Bank to refill your flasks, and head up the stairs. We’ve marked all the fire locations on the maps below.
- 1. First four fire locations
- 2. Second four fire locations
Interact with the stag skeleton at the top of the stairs, and you’ll be warped to a new area. Enter the fog wall to find the Ancestor Spirit boss fight. This giant stag can be tough to hit with melee weapons, so we recommend using any magic or ranged weapons you can. We took it down easily with the help of Latenna the Albinauric and her Spirit Ashes (which is the next one we’ll cover on this list).
Once defeated, the Ancestral Follower Spirit Ashes will be yours.
Latenna the Albinauric
Latenna the Albinauric is an NPC you’ll meet after beginning the Grand Lift of Rold sidequest. Head to the Village of the Albinaurics, southwest of the Academy. Ride up the hill, defeat the fire mage, and look for some large pottery against the cliffside. You should also see a cluster of messages on the ground. Attack the pottery to reveal a cloaked NPC. The image below has an NPC marker that shows where he’s hiding.
He’ll give you half of the Haligtree Secret Medallion needed to operate the Grand Lift of Rold. Then he tasks you with securing the other half. This is similar to the Grand Lift of Dectus questline.
Warp back to Roundtable hold, and Ensha of the Royal remains (the NPC formally standing outside Sir Gideon’s office) will attack you. Defeat him, and the game will enter a loading screen, at which point the normal Roundtable Hold reappears. You’ll also get the Royal Remains armor (as seen in the images above) which slowly restores your HP when wearing it.
Speak with Gideon to learn of an Albinauric woman hiding in a cave somewhere in Lake Liurnia. Specifically, she’s in the Lakeside Crystal Cave, west of the Laskyar Ruins. We’ve marked the location below.
Fight through the cave and defeat the dungeon boss (another Bloodhound Knight). Once you emerge on the other side, you’ll discover the Slumbering Wolf’s Shack. Speak with Latenna and show her the medallion. This continues the Grand Lift of Rold questline and unlocks Latenna the Albinauric Spirit Ashes.
The Greatshield Soldier Spirit Ashes
Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring tend to serve one of two purposes. On the one hand, the spirits you summon deal decent damage in boss fights and prove to be helpful companions. On the other hand, the spirits act as fodder, distracting bosses while you heal or attack them from behind. The Greatshield Soldier Ashes are perfect for the latter.
You find these Ashes in Nokron, the Eternal City, an area only accessible after beating Starscourge Radhan. Warning, minor spoilers ahead!
After beating Rdhan, you’ll see a meteor shoot down from the sky and crash somewhere in the Lands Between. Warp to the Fort Haight West Site of Grace and look to your left. You’ll see a bunch of floating debris from the meteor impact. Ride around to the right side of the crater and start making your way down. Be careful; one wrong move sends you plummeting to your death.
Keep going until you reach the Nokron, Eternal City Site of Grace. The path ahead is pretty linear, so you shouldn’t get lost. From the Eternal City Site of Grace, head towards the gazebo and bear right. You’ll come across two graveyards, one on the left and one on the right. You’ll find the Greatshield Soldier Spirit Ashes on a corpse in the cemetery on the right.
Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff
Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff is a legendary set of Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring. These ashes, however, require 108 FP to cast, which is more than the base FP you probably started the game with. However, the investment is well worth the companion. For reference, this requires 22 Mind.
You’ll find these ashes in the Sainted Hero’s Grave, a dungeon west of Lyndell, The Capital City. Head west from the Rampartside Path Site of Grace until you see lightning shooting down from the sky. The dungeon is up on a high cliff, so it’s inaccessible from the road below if you, for example, started at Atlus Highway Junction.
Upon arrival, you’ll find a Black Knife Assassin boss guarding the entrance. Summon your trusty spirits (the Greatshield Soldiers worked really well) and strike when he stops dancing around the battlefield. Once defeated, you’ll gain entrance to the dungeon.
Rest at the Site of Grace and proceed forward. You’ll see an in-game message saying, “Shadow bathes in light and knows weakness.” This will make sense later. Before moving left, walk up and attack the illusionary wall in front of you. Here, you find the Crimson Seed Talisman guarded by an easy enemy. This Talisman increases the amount of HP healed by your flasks.
Head into the dungeon. When you encounter shadowed enemies, lure them into a source of bright light emitting from the walls. You’ll know it when you see it. You can attack them once they enter the light.
Eventually, you’ll find a room with a floor that looks pretty unstable (believe us, it is.) Don’t jump on it just yet. Walk around to the back of the room to find a bonus set of Spirit Ashes, the Lyndell Soldier Ashes.
Break through the floor and fend off the shadow gargoyles below. There are four of them, so be careful. We found a shield to be most effective when fighting these enemies. Let them bounce off and then attack while they’re staggered. Pull the lever to open the doors in front of you. This, however, sets off a series of guillotines you’ll have to navigate.
Avoid the falling blades of death until you find a ladder tucked into the wall at the far end of this area. It’s right before the locked door and shortly after the enemy on horseback spawns. Climb the ladder and drop down on the other side. Defeat the enemy that spawns (be wary of poison) and keep moving. Eventually, you’ll find a shadowed minotaur enemy. They’re the same ones from Lyndell City. Get his attention, and then lure him back to where you fell through the floor earlier by jumping off the bridge to the right as you’re exiting his room.
Once defeated, you’ll get a message saying, “Somewhere, a heavy door has opened.” Head back through the guillotine gauntlet and through the door. You’ll come upon a Stake of Marika and a fog wall. Behind the fog wall is the Ancient Hero of Zamor boss fight. This boss reminded us of the Dancer from Dark Souls 3 (but isn’t nearly as hard). Avoid the frost damage and defeat the boss to claim the Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff Spirit Ashes.
Omenkiller Rollo
The Omenkiller Rollo Spirit Ashes are a late-game must-have. They, however, require several prerequisites before you’re allowed to unlock them. To unlock the Omenkiller Rollo Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring:
- Gain access to the Grand Lift of Dectus
- Defeat at least two demi-gods to enter Lyndell, the Capital City
- Fight through Lyndell
- Defeat Morgott, the Omen King
Once you’ve met those prereqs, you can start thinking about the Omenkiller Rollo Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring.
After defeating Morgott, warp to the Avenue Balcony Site of Grace. Head up the stairs, run left, and don’t stop running for anything. Open the door at the other end (if you haven’t already) and head up the stairs ahead of you. Bypass the enemies and look for an entrance on the left side of the wall.
Ride the lift up and keep going forward. Deal with the enemies ahead of you or run past them. It’s your choice. Run through the door (which was previously shut if you’d been up there before) and avoid or kill the enemy on horseback. He can be hard to run away from, but it’s doable. Use the debris in the road to your advantage, and he’ll get stuck on it as he chases you.
From here, you can turn right to begin a boss fight or ride the lift down to find a Site of Grace. We advise riding the lift down as it makes the journey back much shorter if you die in the boss fight.
Ride the lift back up and head down the south-facing bridge. Keep going until your screen turns black and the boss fight begins. Here, you’ll face the Fell Twins, two squishy brothers armed with deadly weapons (but aren’t they all?)
We highly recommend going in with Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff for this fight. He was strong enough to occupy one brother while we dealt with the other. Use a two-handed weapon to interrupt their attacks, but don’t get greedy. You can get two hits in before either brother attacks through your strikes. We used a +6 Bloodhound’s Fang for this fight and quickly took them down by spamming Bloodhound’s Finesse, the weapon’s default Ashes of War.
Once you kill the Fell Twins, Omenkiller Rollo’s Ashes will be yours to claim. Like Kristoff, Omenkiller Rollo is a Legendary summon but costs 113 FP. However, if you can summon Kristoff, you can probably summon Rollo (perhaps only needing one more Mind stat point). If you’re a few FP short, you can always equip the Cerulean Amber Medallion to boost your total FP and then change it after summoning Rollo.
Lhutel the Headless
You’ll be kicking yourself if you missed these Spirit Ashes early on (we know we were). What she lacks in a head she makes up for in a greatshield. Lhutel the Headless is an excellent combination of Kristoff and the Greatshield Soldiers. She’ll tank enemy attacks, providing plenty of time to heal and regroup. Here’s where to get the Lhutel the Headless Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring.
Head to the Weeping Peninsula, and look for the Tombsward Catacombs, north of the Minor Erdtree. See the image below for the exact location.
Once inside, you can burn a stonesword key to clear the fog wall ahead of you, leading to a cookbook, but the choice is yours. Proceed through the dungeon, fighting or avoiding skeletons until you encounter a fire-breathing gargoyle contraption.
Once it stops breathing, run towards it and then roll into the tiny inlet on the right to avoid getting burned. Once it stops again, run towards it and attack the gargoyle contraption to lower it. Then, jump on top and strike it again to ride it like a lift. Keep going through the dungeon until you find a lever to open the large doors at the beginning.
Head back to the Site of Grace, rest to de-aggro the skeletons, and then proceed to the boss fight. Here you’ll battle another Cemetery Shade, a common boss in the catacombs scattered through the Land Between. The shade can be tough to wrangle in, as they move around pretty sporadically. However, it should be easy to kill if you have a powerful companion (Like Rollo or Kristoff). Once defeated, the Lhutel the Headless Spirit Ashes will be yours.
Like Rollo and Kristoff, Lhutel is a legendary spirit summon. She costs 104 FP, so if you get here early on, you’ll probably have to wait.
When can you use Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring
It’s frustrating when you want to summon your spirits, but you can’t. It can feel inconsistent at times, as you can always call them during a boss fight but can only occasionally summon them out in the overworld. So when can you use Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring?
You can almost always use Spirit Ashes when heading into a boss fight. Outside of boss fights, you’ll have to be near a rebirth monument, also known as Stakes of Marika, to summon your spirits.
You’ll know when you can use your Spirit Ashes when you see a blue archway icon appear over your equipment. The blue icon appears over the Contagious Fury in the image above, which is the Ashes of War ability attached to our Jellyfish Shield. Now we know we can summon spirits. Furthermore, we know a Stake of Marika is nearby to spawn at when we inevitably die. Once you leave the area, the blue archway icon disappears along with your summoned spirits.
There seems to be some confusion about how many times you can summon spirits. Some players think you can only summon them once per life, meaning you’d have to rest at a Site of Grace to summon them again. That’s not true. You can only summon spirits once per opportunity in Elden Ring. Here’s what we mean.
When the blue icon appears, that means you can summon spirits in that area. Once they die, once you leave the area, or once you send them away, you won’t be able to call them again. However, if you move on and come across another summoning area, you can summon your spirits again. So, as long as you have some juice in your Flask of Cerulean Tears, you can summon spirits multiple times without resting or dying, provided you’re in a new summoning area.
The easiest area to test this is from the Gatefront Site of Grace. You have a camp full of enemies on one side of the gate. On the other, you have a treacherous road full of archers and giants leading up to Stormveil Castle. You can summon spirits on both sides of the gate. However, they disappear when you pass through the gate. You can watch this in action in the video below.
Once we summoned our spirits on both sides, the blue archway icon never came back, meaning we could no longer summon spirits. However, once we rode up to Stormveil castle, the blue icon returned, allowing us to call our wolves for a third time without resting.
Keep in mind that you cannot summon spirits when playing co-op or joining somebody else’s world.
How to upgrade Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring
You can strengthen your Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring by speaking with Roderika in Roundtable Hold. She’s a Spirit Tuner, and has the innate ability to strengthen your Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring. However, you can’t upgrade off the bat.
Speak with Roderika when you first encounter her in Roundtable Hold. She won’t say much, so exhaust all dialogue and head to the blacksmith. Talk to him and ask about Roderika. He’s not the biggest fan, but you’ll eventually convince him to take her under his wing. Exhaust all dialogue, and leave Roundtable Hold. Roderika can be found near the blacksmith when you come back, having set up shop across from her biggest fan. Speak with her to upgrade your Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring.
You’ll have to spend Grave Gloveworts to upgrade normal Spirit Ashes and Ghost Gloveworts to upgrade renowned Spirit Ashes. You’ll find both flowers in the Catacombs scattered throughout the Lands Between.
