In Elden Ring, you can summon not only other players for support, but also spirits. For that, you need so-called spirit ashes. What are ashes in Elden Ring, and how do you use them?
The fact that you can get help in From Software games is nothing new. You've always been able to get other players into your game one way or another to help with boss fights or just to have some co-op fun. But Elden Ring has now introduced another completely new mechanic: the Spirit Ashes. They can be incredibly useful, so we will show you what Spirit Ashes are and how you can use them.
What Are Spirit Ashes?
Spirit Ashes are items that you can find anywhere in the game and use to summon a NPC character to help you in fights. With the help of the ashes and the Spirit Calling Bell, you can summon the spirits of enemies who will then fight by your side. This ranges from a group of wolves over skeletons, but there are also powerful warriors like Lhutel the headless or the very popular Mimic Tear. The summoned spirits will fight for you until they are killed, all enemies in the area are defeated, or you leave the area where the spirit can be summoned.Summoning the spirits usually costs FP and, depending on how strong the ghost is, can be quite expensive. However, there are a few ghosts that can be summoned with HP instead of FP. This way, players who rely on a strength build or something similar with only a small amount of FP can also use the Spirit Ashes.
How Do You Use Spirit Ashes?
In order to use Ghost Ashes, you need to fulfill three simple requirements:
- You must have the Spirit Calling Bell
- You must possess and equip the appropriate ash.
- You must be in an area that allows you to summon.
How To Find The Spirit Calling Bell
The Spirit Calling Bell is easy to find, but can also be missed. When you start the game, you will come across a church very soon after being released into the open world. This is the Church of Elleh, which you can also see in this screenshot:
But before you can do that, you'll have to activate three different Sites of Grace in the overworld. Doing this will grant you access to your mount Torrent. Now travel back to the Church of Elleh and talk to the witch who awaits you there. Once you finish talking to her, she will give you the Spirit Calling Bell and the Ashes of the Lone Wolves.
How To Equip Ashes & Summon Spirits
All spirit ashes that you collected can be found in your inventory. You can simply equip them in one of your consumable slots or in your pouch. If you want, you can even equip multiple ashes to be able to summon a different spirit depending on the situation.Now you just need to be in an area that allows you to summon spirits. This is symbolized by the icon of a white tombstone on the left side of the screen. In these areas, you will also always find strange little posts, which look a bit like mini-monoliths. As a general rule, ashes can be summoned in almost every boss fight and in areas with many or heavy enemies.
How Do You Upgrade Spirit Ashes?
Of course, you can also upgrade your favorite spirit ashes. This works similarly to weapons. You will need a certain NPC, runes and the appropriate upgrade materials.
How To Unlock Roderika
To upgrade your ashes, you must first unlock the NPC Roderika. To do that, you first have to find her and complete her series of quests. We'll show you how to do that:
- Follow the path up from the Site of Grace at the castle gate through the gate to the next Site of Grace "Stormhill Shack".
- Roderika sits in the shack, talk to her until she gives you a gesture and the jellyfish spirit ashes.
- Follow the path until you reach the Site of Grace "Castleward Tunnel".
- After defeating the boss here, you will gain access to the Roundtable Hold - Elden Ring's version of the Firelink Shrine from Dark Souls.
- To unlock Roderika in the Roundtable Hold, you must now continue to fight your way through the fortress.
- Fight your way to the Site of Grace "Rampart Tower".
- From here, go outside and climb down onto the rooftops after the birds on the right side. Continue running here until you reach a ladder, which you take downward. Follow the path until you can turn right into the dining room.
- Go back outside and look around. You should see the hanging corpse of a giant here and below it a mountain of corpses with two dogs. Kill the dogs and grab the "Crysalids' Memento".
- Travel back to "Stormhill Shack" and give the "Crysalids' Memento" to Roderika.
- If you travel to the Roundtable Hold now, Roderika should be there. Talk to Roderika and the blacksmith alternately until all dialogue options are used up.
- Then travel away and back to the Roundtable Hold once. Roderika should now be sitting across from the blacksmith, and you can upgrade your spirit ashes with her.
Depending on what type of ash it is, you can now level up your spirits at Roderika with Ghost Gloveworts or Grave Gloveworts. Normal ashes need the Grave Gloveworts, while named and legendary spirits like Lhutel or the Mimic Tear need Ghost Gloveworts. This will increase the damage and HP of your spirits.
What Are The Best Spirit Ashes?
What the best spirit ashes are is of course quite subjective and also depends on what build you're rocking. As mentioned earlier, summoning spirits usually costs FP and some spirits here require well over 100 FP. Characters who focus primarily on strength often don't have 100 FP at all, so for them some spirits are ruled out from the start.In the following, we will give you a list of some very good spirit ashes, but the choice is ultimately up to you:
Spirit | Abilities | Cost |
Mimic Tear | Copies your character with armor, weapons and abilities. Is still extremely strong even after his damage was nerfed. | 660 HP |
| Lone Wolf Ashes | Not particularly strong, but available right at the beginning of the game and very cheap. The three wolves help immensely by being able to distract even several opponents at the same time. | 55 FP |
| Cleanrot Knight Finlay | Very much a late game ash, but it is extremely strong. This spirits boosts your physical resistance and can attack with a scythe that shoots projectiles, in addition to its strong melee attacks. | 127 FP |
| Ancestral Follower | Another good choice for those who don't have too much FP. The Ancestoral Follower is really tanky and can attack with axes in melee as well as with his bow in ranged combat. | 86 FP |
Of course, there are tons of great ashes, these are just a few tips from our side. In general, though, it never hurts to have a spirit around that can distract and tank enemies for you. If you are a squishy ranged fighter yourself, it is even more important to have a good melee fighter with a lot of HP by your side.