Best Elden Ring Spirit Ashes and locations
If you're looking for some powerful Spirit Ashes to give you an edge in a fight, here's where to find them in Elden Ring.
Update: With the release of the new Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, we've updated this page with new suggestions from both the base game and Shadow Realm. We've also updated the commentary on some entries to better reflect the current power level of the best Spirit Ashes.
Using Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring is a vitally important system that can swing the tide of many battles across The Lands Between. By calling on the ghosts of powerful warriors and creatures, you can inflict statuses, deal damage, and distract the attention of even the strongest opponents.
The ability to summon other players in co-op, or NPCs to aid you on your journey remains in Elden Ring. But there’s also a new, different kind of summon that you can call on in many areas of the world; Spirit Ashes. Whether you need a boost in a boss fight, want to thin the herd before dealing with a major roaming mini-boss, or need to simply cut down on the game’s inherent level of challenge, this is your guide to the best Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring, and all things to do with Summoning Spirits.
How do you get the Summoning Bell in Elden Ring?
After speaking to your maiden, Melina, and acquiring the ability to summon Torrent in Elden Ring, return to the Church of Elleh Site of Grace – where you met the first merchant, Kale.
The Spirit Calling Bell is the tool that will allow you to call on these souls - your Spirit Ashes - to help you in the fight. You can also acquire the same bell from the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold when you get there.
Renna will also give you your first Spirit Ashes for summoning: Lone Wolf Ashes. This one summons three large spectral wolves that can pull aggro, distract enemies, or keep a boss occupied while you dish out damage.
How do you use Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring?
Now that you have the bell and your first set of Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring, all you need to do is bind that Spirit Ash (not the bell) to your pouch or belt for easier access. When you click the button, your character will pull out the bell and summon the chosen Spirit Ashes. This process takes a few seconds and requires FP (blue meter), with the cost varying depending on how powerful the Spirit Ash is.
However, Spirit Ashes can only be summoned in the range of a Rebirth Monument. Those are short stone obelisks which you’ll find in various parts of the open world, and in boss rooms.
You will know when you're in range of a Rebirth Monument by the ghostly gate icon on the left-hand side of your screen. When you’re near one, the left side of your HUD, towards the bottom, will show a white glowing icon similar to a gravestone – indicating a monument is nearby.
Only one Spirit Ash can be active at a time, and only one can be summoned per Rebirth Monument. You also won’t be able to summon them in multiplayer, for obvious reasons. Summoning Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring might feel a bit like cheating for longtime Souls players, but it's a neat new mechanic, and one that is very useful and well designed.
How do you get more Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring?
The spirit summons themselves are called Spirit Ashes, if you haven't already realised, and you’ll have plenty of them by the time you’re done with Elden Ring. Spirit Ashes are found in chests, dropped as loot, and earned as rewards. The more you explore, the more of them you're going to have.
How do you upgrade Spirit Ashes with Grave and Ghost Gloveworts in Elden Ring?
A little later on, you will gain the ability to upgrade Spirit Ashes. This can be done for a fee, and you’ll need Grave Gloveworts to upgrade standard Spirit Ashes, and Ghost Gloveworts for the more special, named Spirit Ashes. Gloveworts can be found in many of the game’s smaller dungeons, called Catacombs, and as loot in the open world.
You won’t be able to upgrade any of your Spirit Ashes, however, until you complete the initial part of Roderika’s quest. Roderika is an NPC that can first be found at the Stormhill Shack south of the broken bridge in Limgrave West. After speaking to her, she’ll relocate to the Roundtable Hold. To advance that quest, speak to the blacksmith - Master Hewg - where you’ll find a conversation option about him watching over Roderika, which later turns into you convincing him that it’s her wish to learn spirit tuning.
You’ll have to go back and forth between them until he’s convinced she wants to learn, at which point she’ll set up shop in front of his smithing table, allowing you to upgrade your Spirit Ashes.
Grave and Ghost Glovewort can typically be found in dungeons across The Lands Between, but by collecting all the various Bell Bearings for them, you'll be able to buy an infinite amount of the materials from Twin Maiden Husks in Roundtable Hold.
We did a deep dive into where you can find all of the Grave and Ghost Glovewort Bell Bearings here. Take caution, though, as many of them are found in late-game areas like the Mountaintops of Giants and Crumbling Farum Azula.
General Elden Ring Spirit Ashes tips
Elden Ring treats Spirit Ashes as individual NPCs. Because of this, they can benefit from various buffs and group heals you might be able to cast/apply. Keep that in mind if you want to extend their fighting duration.
It’s also worth noting that certain summons spawn one ally, while others come in groups. Read the Spirit Ash description to understand if it’s worth the FP cost.
Beyond that, some summons may have weak melee damage, because they’re intended to cause an elemental effect, such as those that inflict poison damage. Considering how most enemies in Elden Ring are weak to certain elements, it sometimes pays to go for something without the raw damage because of its potential to drain the life of your enemies in other ways.
Best Elden Ring Spirit Ashes for the early game
As for Spirit Ashes that actually use FP as a resource, while the starting Lone Wolves are genuinely quite good, you can snag some awesome Spirit Ashes from very early on in Elden Ring.
These powerful allies will really swing the tide of battle in your direction whenever you get to use them, which is more often than you would expect.
Fanged Imp
Considering you can grab the Fanged Imp Ashes before you're even able to summon them in Elden Ring, they're rather nifty creatures. If you've ventured into any early-game Catacombs already, you might've even seen how awful these guys are to come up against.
The Fanged Imps are nimble, swift, and can deal plenty of bleed damage at once. They aren't the best summon, but they're solid when you're first starting out.
Acquiring them is easy too - if you haven't started the game yet. Simply choose the Fanged Imp Ashes as your Keepsake during character creation, and these guys will be yours as soon as you set foot in The Lands Between. Alternatively, you can buy the ashes from the merchant located at the Main Academy Gate.
Spirit Jellyfish
You probably already found this helper in Elden Ring, but it's deceptively good.
While the strength of some Spirit Summons is how they distract enemies from attacking you, the Jellyfish is more of a support. When enemies are outside of its melee range, it spits poison-inflicting acid from a distance. Additionally, they seem to take a lot of damage, so can be pretty useful for distracting an enemy so you can chip away at range.
This is particularly helpful with the first brick wall boss in Elden Ring, Margit the Fell Omen, who is particularly weak to poison.
You find the Spirit Jellyfish at the Stormhill Shack, southeast of Stormveil Castle. They're given to you after first speaking with Roderika here.
This particular summon also has a Jellyfish sister that you can reunite them with at Stargazer Ruins in the Mountaintops of the Giants, if you're a fan of small tidbits of lore.
Skeletal Militiamen
The Skeletal Militiamen are two skeleton summons that are great to have during the early-game. With the ability to take plenty of aggro between them, and the fact they can resurrect each other, the Skeletal Militiamen are another solid Summon to grab.
You get them for completing the Tibia Mariner boss at Summonwater Village past Saintbridge to the east of Stormveil Castle.
Radahn's Soldiers
Perhaps better used in Elden Ring's mid-game, you can pick up a duo of brutal, aggressive soldiers by exploring the War-Dead Catacombs in Limgrave.
These Spirit Ashes appear as a pair of soldiers, and when summoned, they will flock to the first enemy that they see and begin swinging their fiery swords at them recklessly. They're great for boss fights or flocks of smaller enemies, and can tank quite a lot of damage before they disappear.
Lhutel the Headless
For a ranged Summon with a bit more style and power than some of the other options, check out Lhutel the Headless.
They throw spectral lances at your enemies, as well as engaging them with melee spear combos. They often teleport too, and this can sometimes be a bit of a nuisance when you want a summon to take all the aggro for you.
To add Lhutel to your arsenal, you need to complete Tombsward Catacombs on the Weeping Peninsula to the south of the starting area.
Tombsward Catacombs is in the middle of the area, to the northwest of Castle Morne. You can get their by heading south from the Bloodhound Evergaol across the bridge.
Bloodhound Knight Floh
Bloodhound Knight Floh is a rather powerful Spirit Ash that you'll find during the mid-game. If you've spent any time at all exploring the caves and Evergaols of Elden Ring, you might've fought with one already, and will be well aware how powerful - and fast - these guys are.
When summoned, Floh will immediately begin attacking the nearest enemy with moves that you'll be familiar with. They'll attack relentlessly, not giving enemies much room to breathe. That said, they are knocked back and stunned quite easily, so you'll need to be attacking relentlessly alongside them to get the most out of this Spirit Ash.
To find the Bloodhoug Knight Floh Spirit Ashes, you'll need to venture up to Gelmir Hero's Grave near the Volcano Manor area of The Lands Between. Defeat the boss there, and you'll be rewarded with the Spirit Ashes.
Best Elden Ring Spirit Ashes for the late game
Once you've found your feet in The Lands Between, you can find a lot more powerful allies to call upon if you're willing to look.
Some of them even appear as bosses you have faced earlier in your adventure, which makes it a real treat to have them fight on your side.
Mimic Tear
Probably the most useful Spirit Summon, once you can finally access the area it's found in, is the Mimic Tear.
Despite its nerf in a post-launch patch, this powerful tool summons an exact copy of your Tarnished, right down to the gear and weapons they have equipped, to join you in battle.
The Mimic Tear is found past a Stonesword Key gate in the Night's Sacred Ground area of Nokron, the Eternal City.
Nokron is accessed as part of your ongoing relationship with Ranni the Witch, and to get your hands on the Mimic Tear, you first need to speak to her in her tower at the top of Caria Manor and accept her request. Then, you'll need to complete a few more steps to actually get the summon, which we have detailed in our guide on how to get the Mimic Tear.
The Mimic Tear isn't a conventional summon, since it uses HP to create the doppelganger rather than FP. This means it stands out from the rest of the roster of summons for more reasons that just its extreme usefulness.
Greatshield Soldiers
Sometimes the main point of Spirit Summons is just to distract a tough oppenent, and there's no better ally for this than the Greatshield Soldiers. In fact, they're so good at taking the aggro of bosses, it's not a stretch to say the Greatshield Soldiers are the best Spirit Ash in Elden Ring!
They have both quality and quantity on their side, as 5 different skeleton soldiers get summoned at once - meaning they have a better chance of helping you out for longer. Team this Spirit Ash with the Lord's Heal Incantation, allowing you to heal them, and they'll be able to stick around and take aggro for even longer.
You can use this to great effect with oppressive bosses like Rellana, Twin Moon Knight or Commander Gaius from the DLC, who can both be ranged down easily while distracted by your best skeleton friends.
Like the Mimic Tear above, the Greatshield Soldiers are found in Nokron, Eternal City. But this time, they're just in the top right corner of the courtyard right in front of the Nokron, Eternal City Site of Grace.
Crystalian
You fought the Crystalian at the bottom of the Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnel where you get the first Smithing Bell. And just from that you should know how much punishment it can take from regular physical attacks.
Against foes that use blunt and pointy objects rather than magic, the Crystalian can go the distance - but for the most relentless of enemies, those who deal constant Strike damage without taking a break, Crystalian will crumble. That's okay though, you can just whip out one of the following Spirit Ashes if this happens.
To add it to your inventory, you need to explore the Selia Hideaway in the northeast of Caelid. The entrance is behind a secret hidden wall in the cliff face at the map location.
Dung Eater Puppet
Ah, the loathsome Dung Eater. This bizarre character lives up to his title, hated by all and destined to suffer for underneath Leyndell for eternity after cursing and killing plenty of folk. The Dung Eater Puppet Spirit Ashes, however, are among some of the best to use. As a result, they're also quite difficult - or at the very least, long-winded - to get your hands on.
Dung Eater Puppet Spirit Ashes can attack using both ranged attacks and melee attacks, making it incredibly versatile to use in troublesome boss fights. When in melee range, they'll also inflict Bleed build-up, which can be devastating as it is, but even worse for your opponent if you're running a Bleed build.
To get your hands on the Dung Eater Puppet Spirit Ashes, you've got some work cut out for you. First things first, you want to have met Ranni at Ranni's Rise (you'll know exactly when you've done this), but you cannot continue with Ranni's questline any further for now. After that, go and speak with Seluvis downstairs.
You also won't be able to speak to Seluvis here if you have kicked off proceedings with the Radahn Festival. You will need to beat Radahn in his boss fight, first.
After a brief chat with Seluvis, he'll ask that you give his potion to Nepheli Loux. Don't do that. Instead, go ahead and do Dung Eater's questline until he takes himself off to the Subterranean Shunning Grounds. Return to Seluvis following this, who can be found in a lab by his tower. Chat with him, and you'll soon unlock the ability to purchase items from him.
If you have given Seluvis' potion to the Dung Eater, you should then be able to buy the Dung Eater Puppet Spirit Ashes from Seluvis here.
Rotten Stray
As anyone that's been afflicted with the status can tell you, Scarlet Rot is very powerful.
You might also have noticed that dog enemies are really annoying to fight. Combine the two into one summon and you have the Rotten Stray, which can inflict Scarlet Rot, as well as deal decent regular damage, for a low FP cost.
You fight it in the middle of Caelid just to the north ofthe Sellia Under-Stair Site of Grace. Loot it from the corpse guarded by the dog in the ruined building.
Black Knife Tiche
Now, if you want a really powerful summon who might even outdo you in battle, the Black Knife Tiche Spirit Ashes are what you should seek. This summon is no stranger to controversy, with some suggesting that Tiche makes some fights too easy.
However, if you're banging your head against the wall trying to take on a boss, they might be worth a try.
The Black Knife Tiche Spirit Ashes can be acquired by completing the Ringleader's Evergaol in north Liurnia and defeating Alecto, Black Knife Ringleader.
Redmane Knight Ogha
The Redmane Knight Ogha Spirit Ashes are a drop from the boss at the end of War-Dead Catacombs. This particular cave is found inside of Starscourge Radahn's boss arena, and thus, is only available after defeating him.
Once you do, have fun fighting the Putrid Tree Spirit in this cave! Once it's over, Redmane Knight Ogha is all yours. They're a phenomenal ranged summon for slowly chipping away at an enemy's health bar, especially when it comes to bosses with AoE attacks.
Omenkiller Rollo
The Omenkiller Rollo Spirit Ashes are a drop from the Fell Twins duo boss fight. To start this boss fight, you want to go to the Forbidden Lands Site of Grace and take the elevator back up.
Then, exit to the west, as if you were visiting the Divine Tower of East Caelid. The world will fade to black and the fight will begin, and fortunately, it's a rather easy one.
Once the pair have been defeated, Omenkiller Rollo is all yours, and he's great fun to watch in battle. This summon can be a little hit and miss depending on which attack it opts for, but if things go well and he starts slashing away at an enemy, he's capable of depleting plenty of HP.
Best new Elden Ring Spirit Ashes
Demi-human Swordsman Yosh
With the release of the new Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, there are more new Spirit Ashes than you might think. The first one you should make an effort to collect is Demi-human Swordsman Yosh from Belurat Gaol.
Instead of going through the main gate, head north and turn left at the dragon and you'll find the Gaol.
Make your way through and you'll fight Yosh at the end before collecting his Spirit Ash. He's basically what if prequel Yoda from Star Wars was in Elden Ring - and you can't really go wrong with that, can you?
He's good at getting hits in on big and hard to hit enemies thanks to his wild movements, while his sword attacks deal decent damage.
Fire Knight Queelign
Next up, once you complete Fire Knight Queelign's quest you can get him as a Spirit Ash to make use of his unique Ash of War and solid basic moveset.
A master of Messmerfire and the thrusting sword technique, he costs a lot of FP to summon but is a lot of fun because of the connection to his quest.
Hand over the Iris of Grace at the end of his story to get him.
Swordhand of Knight Jolan
Similarly, at the Cathedral you can also add the Swordhand of Night to your collection as part of Jolan's quest.
Her imposing suit of armor and unique Sword of Night are powerful allies in battle, where she can use them to great effect against enemies both big and small. Again, you need the Iris of Grace to get her.
Horned Warrior
Ever since your first encounter with them in Belurat, Tower Settlement, you've known that the Horned Warriors are not to be messed with.
Cluthching an armory's worth of swords with more Poise than a ballerina, these guys are both tanky and hit like a truck.
But what if I told you there's a way to get a Horned Warrior on your side? Sure, it's from the top of a tower in the final area of the DLC, but at least you can use them against the last boss...
That positioning means they're mostly for New Game+ and taking back to the Lands Between, but the Horned Warrior is still an awesome summon.
Taylew, Golem Smith
You know those giant forge guys who are almost impossible to damage save for a tiny hole on their back that's too high to even reach most of the time? Well it turns out that makes them a pretty great summon, where their natural damage resistance lets them tank hits while you sit back sipping a cocktail (and attacking your enemies with ranged).
You find him in his very own forge, Taylew's Ruined Forge, which is really easy to miss next to the Black Keep, just to the northwest of the entrance.
Inquisitors
If you're a tanky character yourself, or just a better player than me, then maybe you don't want to summon a Spirit Ash to beat bosses for you?
Well the Inquisitors Ash will still beat bosses for you, but they're less focused on drawing aggro and better at slinging powerful spells while also healing you. This summon conjures two Hornsent Inquisitors who cast hexes on your enemies and healing magic on your character.
With one Inquisitor providing ranged support and the other healing you periodically, you can focus on exploiting enemy weaknesses with your own attacks without breaking your rhythm to drink from your flask.
Florissax
It's easy to miss, but there's actually an interaction between Thiollier's quest and Bayle the Dread which lets you take Ancient Dragon Florissax as a summon.
After giving her Thiollier's Concoction and defeating the elder dragon, Florissax will pledge herself to you and reappear as a Spirit Ash.
Do I need to tell you how strong an Ancient Dragon in human form casting the most powerful Dragon Incantations is? I didn't think so.
All Elden Ring Legendary Spirit Ashes locations
There are fewer Legendary Spirit Ashes compared to Legendary Armaments, but you'll still need to get them all if you want the achievement.
- Lhutel the Headless - Dropped by the Tombsward Catacombs boss on the Weeping Peninsula
- Black Knife Tiche - Defeat Alecto in the Ringleader's Evergaol
- Mimic Tear - Found in a chest in Night's Sacred Ground (Eternal City)
- Redmane Knight Ogha - Deafeat Putrid Tree Spirit in War Dead Catacombs
- Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff - Defeat Ancient Hero of Zamor in Sainted Hero's Grave
- Cleanrot Knight Finlay - Elphael. Leave the Prayer Room Site of Grace, descend the stairs, and when you reach the wall with the torch on it, jump down to your right onto the stonework. To your left is a gazebo, where the Finlay ashes are.
There's a huge amount to learn about The Lands Between, so check out our Elden Ring guide.