How To Upgrade Ashes Elden Ring Complete Spirit Ash Upgrade Guide
Spirit Ashes serve as indispensable allies in Elden Ring, offering crucial tactical support during demanding boss encounters and intense battles across the Lands Between. Enhancing these spectral companions significantly increases their health pool, defensive stats, and damage output. Mastering the upgrade process ensures your summons remain effective as you confront increasingly formidable challenges.
Unlocking Spirit Tuning with Roderika
Before you can upgrade any Spirit Ashes, you must first unlock the Spirit Tuning service by interacting with an NPC named Roderika. You will initial encounter her inside the Stormhill Shack in Limgrave, where exhausting her dialogue begins her storyline. After moving forward in the main narrative or completing her initial requests, she will relocate to the central hub known as the Roundtable Hold.
To complete her transition into a Spirit Tuner, you must alternate conversations between Roderika and the local blacksmith, Smithing Master Hewg. Once you exhaust all dialogue options regarding her talent and reload the area by resting at a Site of Grace, she will set up her workshop directly across from Hewg. From this point onward, she can perform Spirit Tuning in exchange for gathered materials and runes.
Gathering Grave and Ghost Gloveworts
Upgrading your summons requires specialized plant items known as Gloveworts, which are primarily harvested inside catacombs, crypts, and subterranean dungeons. The game divides Spirit Ashes into two main categories, each requiring its own unique upgrade material. Standard summons require Grave Gloveworts, whereas elite or Legendary summons depend on Ghost Gloveworts.
Both varieties of Glovewort exist in numbered tiers ranging from tier 1 up to tier 9. Upgrading a summon from base level to +9 requires exactly one Glovewort of each corresponding numerical rank. Reaching the absolute maximum upgrade level of +10 requires rare Great Grave Gloveworts or Great Ghost Gloveworts, which are limited in quantity per playthrough.
Maximizing Your Summons for Combat
Investing in Spirit Ash upgrades directly impacts how long your summons can distract powerful bosses and survive destructive area-of-effect attacks. High-tier summons can draw enemy attention, allowing players essential breathing room to cast spells, heal, or recover stamina during combat. Choosing the right summon to complement your preferred playstyle makes a noticeable difference in tactical efficiency.
Because high-level Gloveworts are scarce early in the game, it is best to focus your upgrades on a select few versatile summons initially. Once you locate specific Bell Bearings later in your adventure, you can purchase unlimited Gloveworts up to tier 9 from merchants at the Roundtable Hold. This unlocks the ability to experiment with various summons across different battle scenarios.