If you're short on Elden Ring Smithing Stones, you might be wondering the best places to find them. The Lands Between can be tough when you venture into new areas, especially as bosses and even low-tier enemies get a lot more health. Obviously, you want to level up, but you'll want to start upgrading your weapons too. These upgrades are separate to Ashes of War, and require you to use Smithing Stones—or Somber Smithing Stones—for each upgrade.
If you want to upgrade a weapon fully, you'll need to get your hands on an Elden Ring Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, or its regular counterpart. These are pretty rare though, so you'll need to think carefully before using these. This guide will walk you through where to get Elden Ring Smithing Stones, some good farming locations, and how to find vendors in the later game who let you purchase the higher rarity variants so you can hit like a hammer.
Smithing Stones
Elden Ring Smithing Stones farming locations
Regular Smithing Stones are used to upgrade normal equipment, up to +25. There are various levels of Smithing Stones, denoted by their number, and you need to use the type that corresponds with your current equipment and the level you want to raise it to.
Here's a list of the different Smithing Stones:
- Smithing Stone (1): Reinforce armaments up to +3
- Smithing Stone (2): Reinforce armaments up to +6
- Smithing Stone (3): Reinforce armaments up to +9
- Smithing Stone (4): Reinforce armaments up to +12
- Smithing Stone (5): Reinforce armaments up to +15
- Smithing Stone (6): Reinforce armaments up to +18
- Smithing Stone (7): Reinforce armaments up to +21
- Smithing Stone (8): Reinforce armaments up to +24
- Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone: Reinforce armaments up to +25
While you can get them all over, the best early game location is the Limgrave Tunnels dungeon in West Limgrave, since the miner enemies in there drop them. They are quite tanky, though.
You can also find Elden Ring Bell Bearing items to unlock Smithing Stones at a vendor in Roundtable Hold.
Somber Smithing Stones
Elden Ring Somber Smithing Stones: How to get them
Somber Smithing Stones are used to upgrade unique equipment, up to +9. While the number doesn't sound as impressive as the +25 boasted by normal gear, unique weapons are generally of a much better quality from the get-go.
Like normal Smithing Stones, they have various levels and you need the specific type to upgrade to the next level. Each type of Somber Smithing Stone only upgrades your equipment by one level.
Here's a list of the various Somber Smithing Stones:
- Somber Smithing Stone (1): Reinforce special armaments to +1
- Somber Smithing Stone (2): Reinforce special armaments to +2
- Somber Smithing Stone (3): Reinforce special armaments to +3
- Somber Smithing Stone (4): Reinforce special armaments to +4
- Somber Smithing Stone (5): Reinforce special armaments to +5
- Somber Smithing Stone (6): Reinforce special armaments to +6
- Somber Smithing Stone (7): Reinforce special armaments to +7
- Somber Smithing Stone (8): Reinforce special armaments to +8
- Somber Smithing Stone (9): Reinforce special armaments to +9
- Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone: Reinforce special armaments to +10
In the later game, once you get to West Liuria, you can buy Somber Smithing Stones from Iji the Blacksmith on the road up to Caria Manor. He's a friendly sort, and will even warn you from entering the manor, which is good advice to any sane person. You can use Iji as a blacksmith, or head back to the ever-reliable Smith Master Hewg in the Roundtable Hold.
Like regular Smithing Stones, you can get Somber Stone Miner's Bell Bearings that unlock the ability to purchase Somber Smithing Stones from the Twin Maiden Husks in the Roundtable Hold. You can find one of these by the First Church of Marika in the West Mountaintops of the Giants later in the game. There are more scattered around the world there, so keep your eyes open.
Finally, killing Scarabs, Elden Ring's invisible enemies, can grant you with some of the rarer Smithing Stones, and you'll find a lot of these in the Mountaintops of the Giants, and in other locations throughout the Lands Between.
Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones
Elden Ring Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones
Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones are used to upgrade normal weapons fully. Smithing Stones will only take your weapon up to +24, so you need the Ancient Dragon version to bring it up to +25.
These are mostly found in endgame areas of the Lands Between and are much rarer than regular Smithing Stones.
- Caelid: Give nine Deathroot to Gurranq in Bestial Sanctum.
- Mountaintops of the Giants: To the southeast of the Church of Repose Site of Grace.
- Mountaintops of the Giants: At the waterfall directly east of the Cave of the Forlorn.
- Crumbling Farum Azula: On a floating platform on the lower level near the Dragon Temple Lift.
Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones
Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones
As you've probably guessed, these rare consumables are used to fully upgrade unique weapons to +10. Like the regular Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones, these are mainly found in endgame areas and are pretty scarce.
- Moghwyn Palace: In a chest beneath the statue near the Dynasty Mausoleum Midpoint Site of Grace.
- Ephael, Brace of the Haligtree: Use the needle item from the Millicent quest on Malenia's flower.
Finally, killing Scarabs, Elden Ring's invisible enemies, can grant you some of the rarer Smithing Stones, and you'll find a lot of these in the Mountaintops of the Giants, and in other locations throughout the Lands Between.
