How To Upgrade Ashes in Elden Ring

This post was last updated on March 1, 2023

Elden Ring has plenty of new features not present in Dark Souls. Spirit ashes are a super useful example of one. Whether you use them during tough boss fights or to help defend against large groups of enemies while exploring, they often come in handy.

As the game progresses and the bosses get harder, you may find that the standard spirit ashes start to feel less useful. Thankfully, like weapons, you are able to upgrade your spirit ashes to help them keep up.

However, as with most things in Elden Ring, there are a few steps and conditions that must be met in order to unlock the ability to spirit tune. Read on as we go through each step of unlocking spirit tuning to upgrade ash summons.

Where to Start

The first thing you need to do to get your spirit ashes upgraded is to find Roderika, as she is the only NPC that can do it. You can find her at the Stormhill Shack in Stormhill. You will find it as you head towards Stormveil Castle; it will be on the right side of the path.

She will be sitting on the floor, and when you approach her, her name will show up as Heartbroken Maiden. Once you speak with her, she will give you the Spirit Jellyfish ashes and unlock the sitting sideways pose. You will need to speak with her a couple of times while she is sitting there to start her quest.

If you have not met her and can’t find her in the shack, she will move to the Roundtable Hold once you rest at a Liurnia of the Lakes Grace.

When you have used all her dialogue, you will next need to head to Stormveil Castle. As you progress through the dungeon, you will come across an area with a mini-boss fight against a Grafted Scion. There will be a pile of bodies in one of the side rooms and some enemies. Pick up the blue glowing item atop the bodies to get Chrysalid’s Memento. 

If you haven’t been to Liurnia of the Lakes, you need to take Chrysalid’s Memento to Roderika to move her to the Roundtable Hold. Either way, bring Roderika the memento.

 Roundtable Hold

Once you have Roderika in the hold, the next thing you need to do is unlock her ability to spirit tune (if you somehow have not unlocked the Round Table Hold by now, you need to rest at sites of grace until Melina speaks to you and offers to take you there).

Head to the hold, and she should be standing near the fireplace in the main hall. Simply speak to her until there is no more dialogue. 

Next, you need to speak to smithing Master Hewg in the hold and ask him about Roderika. Then go back to Roderika and speak to her about what you spoke to Master Hewg about. Finally, return to Hewg one last time to convince him to teach her how to spirit tune.

This will unlock her ability to spirit tune, and the next time you return to the Roundtable Hold she will have set up shop in the same room as smithing Master Hewg. You will just need to interact with her to bring up her store.

Spirit Tuning

With Roderika’s spirit tuning business up and running, you can now visit her to upgrade your spirit ashes. All it will cost is a set amount of runes and either a Grave Glovewort or Ghost Glovewort. The type of glovewort you use is determined by whether or not your spirits are renowned ashes.

As the spirit ashes go up in level, you will need a different band of Glovewort each numbered 1–9. There are only six Great Grave Glovewort and four Ghost Glovewort in the game, so you are limited in the number you can upgrade to +10. Each upgrade will allow your summons to do more damage in battle.

How To Get Grave Glovewort

Grave Glovewart, the more abundant of the two types of Glovewort, can be found throughout the map, most commonly in catacombs and gravesites. You will use it to upgrade the standard spirit ashes. This includes Depraved Perfumer Carmaan, Banished Knight Engvall, the lone wolf ashes, and the Spirit Jellyfish.

You can also unlock the ability to buy the Grave Glovewort, numbers 1–9, after finding the three Grave Glovewort Picker’s Bell Bearings and handing them over to the Twin Maiden Husks store.

Here are the locations of the six Great Grave Gloveworts in the game: 

• Consecrated Snowfield: Two dropped by the Putrid Grave Warden Duelist.
• One found in the Giant-Conquering Hero’s Grave: In the large hall with the Troll. Defeat it and check the very back for the glovewort.
• Crumbling Farum Azula: Two can be found here. The first in a recess next to the Crumbling Beast Grave Depths site of grace. The second, in the heavily-ruined section in the northwest leading to the Dragon Temple site of grace.
• Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree: Found in the center of the second lake of rot.

Grave Glovewort Picker’s Bell Bearing

• Glovewort Picker’s Bell Bearing [1], Altus Plateau. Wyndham Catacombs
• Glovewort Picker’s Bell Bearing [2], Mountaintops of Giants. Giants Mountaintops Catacombs
• Glovewort Picker’s Bell Bearing [3], Crumbling Farum Azula. Crumbling Beast Grave Site

Good Standard Spirits Worth Upgrading

Besides the lone wolf spirit ashes and the spirit jellyfish ashes, there are several great spirit summons to use in the game.

1. Banished Knight Oleg Ashes: A Tanky Damage Sponge

Found in the Fringefolk Hero’s Grave (you’ll need 2 Stonesword Keys to open the Imp Keystone). Make your way through the area and face off against the Ulcerated Tree Spirit boss to unlock the spirit ashes.

2. Latenna the Albinauric Ashes: A Stationary Turret With Good Range

Picked up from Letenna at Slumbering Wolf’s Shack. Depending on how far you are you might need the  Haligtree Secret Medallion (Right)

3. Greatshield Soldier Ashes: A Great Distraction Tool

Found on a corpse in a graveyard in Nokron, Eternal City.

4. Ancestral Follower Ashes: A Strong Backup

Dropped by Ancestor Spirit in Sofra River

Ghost Glovewort 

Ghost Glovewort can be used to level up the renowned spirit ashes. Like Grave Glovewort you can find it through general exploration. The majority of them can be found in higher-level dungeons and underground areas like the Mohgwyn Palace, the two eternal cities, and the Sofra River.

Like the Grave Glovewort there are three Ghost Glovewort bell bearings scattered around to find so you can later buy from the twin maiden husks instead of searching for the Ghost Glovewort.

Here are the locations of the four Great Ghost Glovewort in the game: 

• Can be obtained from a chest near the Dragonkin Soldier of Nokstella. 
• Found in a chest under the massive skeleton statue in Night’s Sacred Ground.
• Found in a chest at the back of a narrow room in Nokstella, Eternal City. 
• Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum: In the cave after the Dynasty Mausoleum Midpoint site of grace, in a lower section filled with walking corpses.

Ghost Gravewort Picker’s Bell Bearing Locations:

• Ghost Glovewort Picker’s Bell Bearing [1], Nokron, Eternal City. Entrance
• Ghost Glovewort Picker’s Bell Bearing [2], Nokstella, Eternal City. Entrance
• Ghost Glovewort Picker’s Bell Bearing [3], Haligtree. Drainage Channel Site of Grace.

Which Spirit Ashes Are Renowned?

There are only six renowned ashes in Elden Ring. So it means there will be two that you won’t be able to upgrade to 10. The ashes are:

• Lhutel the Headless Ashes– collected from tombsward catacombs in the Weeping Peninsula
• Black Knife Tiche Ashes – You need to complete the Alecto, Black Knife Ringleader boss fight in the Ringleader’s Evergaol
• Redmane Knight Ogha Ashes – Dropped by the Putrid Tree Spirit in the War-Dead Catacombs
• Mimic Tear Ashes– In a chest locked behind an imp statue door in Night’s Sacred Ground
• Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff Ashes – Dropped by the Ancient Hero of Zamor boss inside the Sainted Hero’s Grave in the Altus Plateau
• Cleanrot Knight Finlay Ashes – In Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree

It is worth noting that even if you have +10 Mimic Tear Ashes, its stats are still tied to yours, so make sure you have suitable armor and weapons equipped when you summon it in order to let it do decent damage. 

Why You Should Upgrade Spirit Ashes

Spirit summons are a great feature in Elden Ring. But even the renowned ashes need to get buffed. Once you get to the Altus Plateau, you will see that the enemies are a lot tougher. Regardless of whether you use your spirit ashes as a tank or damage dealer, if they aren’t levelled up, they aren’t going to be able to do much.

Many bosses in the late game will easily one shot base spirit ashes, and seeing as you can’t re summon, it is better to keep them upgraded just for good measure. Regardless of the summons being standard spirit ashes or renown ashes.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Elden Ring players definitely need to use and upgrade spirit ashes. The process to unlock it might seem long, but it is actually quite linear compared to how convoluted some of the other quest lines are in Elden Ring. The biggest thing you need to look out for is picking up Chrysalid’s Memento to hand off to Roderika.

Having a spirit on your side will make many boss battles and encounters with enemies a breeze, whether it’s the Lone Wolf ashes or Banished Knight Oleg, and you’ll wish Dark Souls had it as a feature.