Items

Most of what you pick up in the Lands Between is clutter: crafting herbs, a few runes, another Rune Arc. A small number of items decide how the game goes. Smithing Stones set how hard you hit, Crystal Tears turn the Flask of Wondrous Physick into a boss-fight buff, prayerbooks and scrolls decide which spells the merchants will sell you, Stonesword Keys and medallions open whole regions, and a handful of quest items have to be carried to the right person or a storyline quietly fails.

This guide sorts every item page on our wiki by what the item is for rather than by name. Upgrade materials come first, then the flask system and its tears, then the books that unlock spells, then keys and quest items, then the runes and Remembrances that bosses leave behind, and finally the consumables, ammunition, torches and Whetblades. Each table tells you what the item does and where to get it, and every name links to a page with the full route.

Upgrade materials

Two stone tracks upgrade weapons. Regular Smithing Stones come in eight tiers plus the Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone and take a standard weapon to +25; Somber Smithing Stones come in nine tiers plus the Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone and take a unique weapon to +10. Both pages list every tier's locations, prices and the Bell Bearings that add them to the Twin Maiden Husks' stock, with the mid-game Smithing Stone [4] tier that most players run short of mapped region by region. Spirit Ashes upgrade with Gloveworts instead: Grave Glovewort for ordinary ashes and Ghost Glovewort for the renowned ones, both covered in Glovewort and on the tier pages for Grave Glovewort [4], Ghost Glovewort [7] and Ghost Glovewort [8].

For the mechanics behind the stones, read How To Upgrade Weapons, and for a shortcut to a maxed weapon before the endgame, How to Get an Early Max Level Weapon and How To Get Unlimited Smithing Stones.

The Flask of Wondrous Physick and Crystal Tears

The Flask of Wondrous Physick sits in front of a statue at the Third Church of Marika, reachable within your first hour. It holds two Crystal Tears, refills at every Site of Grace, and drinks as one free buff before a fight. Around thirty tears exist; they drop from the Erdtree Avatars that guard Minor Erdtrees, sit on altars, or come from bosses. Your two healing flasks are a separate system: the Sacred Flask page explains how Golden Seeds add charges and Sacred Tears strengthen them.

Crystal Tears Locations lists every tear in the game, and Best Flask of Wondrous Physick Mixes pairs them into six mixes for melee, casters and rune farming. The Teardrop Scarabs that scuttle away from you are worth chasing for the same reason: they refill flask charges and occasionally drop an Ash of War or a spell.

Scrolls, prayerbooks and cookbooks

Merchants sell spells, but only the ones they know. Hand a sorcerer a scroll or a cleric a prayerbook and their inventory grows. Sorcery scrolls go to Sellen, Seluvis or Thops; prayerbooks go to Brother Corhyn or Miriel. Cookbooks work the same way for the crafting menu, adding recipes the moment you pick them up; Cookbook Locations maps the full set and Crafting explains the kit.

Keys, medallions and the items that open the map

Several regions and dungeons stay shut until you carry the right object. The Glintstone Key behind Glintstone Dragon Smarag opens the Academy of Raya Lucaria; the two halves of the Haligtree Secret Medallion open the Grand Lift of Rold's second route to the Consecrated Snowfield and, beyond it, the Haligtree; the Imbued Sword Keys activate the Four Belfries portals to the Chapel of Anticipation, a slice of Farum Azula and Nokron. Stonesword Keys are the everyday version: seventy in the world and twenty more from merchants, each spent once on an imp statue to open a dungeon door or a Stonesword-locked evergaol. Map Fragments, nineteen of them, fill in the map itself.

Quest items you must not sell

Slots, bells and unlocks

Three items raise hard caps on your character. Memory Stones, eight in all from towers and bosses, add spell slots; the Talisman Pouch, three in all from Margit, Enia and Godfrey, adds talisman slots; and the Spirit Calling Bell from Renna at the Church of Elleh switches on Spirit Ashes entirely. The Wraith Calling Bell from the Laskyar Ruins is a different object, a reusable tool that fires magic wraiths for 7 FP. The Stranded Graveyard page collects everything in the tutorial cave, including the Haligdrake Talisman most players walk past.

Runes, Great Runes and Remembrances

Runes are levels and currency at once, and Golden Runes are the consumable version lying on corpses, worth cracking early when a few hundred runes is a level. The Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot raises drops by 30 percent for three minutes and pairs with the Gold Scarab talisman for every farming route in our Rune Farming guide. Great Runes are what shardbearers drop: each must be activated at a Divine Tower and then switched on with a Rune Arc, which is why that page doubles as a farming guide. The Great Rune of the Unborn from Rennala is the odd one out, granting the Rebirth respec instead of a buff, and Rykard's Great Rune heals you on every kill once activated at the Divine Tower of West Altus.

A Remembrance is the other boss drop that matters. Fifteen exist, each tradeable with Enia for one of two rewards or consumed for runes, and a Walking Mausoleum can copy one so you take both. Dragon Hearts are the equivalent currency for dragons: every dragon kill yields one, and the Church and Cathedral of Dragon Communion exchange them for breath incantations. The Great Runes Locations Guide and the bosses guide cover which boss drops which.

Consumables, crafting materials and headgear oddities

Arrows and bolts

Ammunition is where an archer's damage actually lives, since bows scale poorly. Arrows covers the twelve merchants and the carry limits, and the crafted status arrows are the reason to collect cookbooks: Bloodbone Arrows for blood loss, Rotbone Arrows for scarlet rot, Magicbone Arrows for magic damage and Fire Arrows bought or crafted as Firebone Arrows. The ninety Black-Key Bolts scattered across the map inflict rot from a crossbow. Best Arrows And Bolts ranks them and How To Switch Arrows covers the controls.

Torches and light

The Lantern, 1,800 Runes from the Isolated or Nomadic Merchant, hangs from your belt and frees both hands, which makes it the only light source most players need. The torches earn their slot with side effects: the Sentry's Torch reveals invisible enemies and illusory walls, the Beast-Repellent Torch calms animals, and the Ghostflame Torch from Nokron is strong enough to carry a torch-only build.

Whetblades

The Whetstone Knife in the Gatefront Ruins cellar is what lets you apply Ashes of War at all, and each Whetblade after it unlocks a family of affinities: the Iron Whetblade in Stormveil for Heavy, Keen and Quality, the Black Whetblade in Nokron for Blood, Poison and Occult, and the rest in Whetblades Locations Guide. How the affinities themselves work is in our weapons guide.

Elden Ring items FAQ

How many Stonesword Keys are there?

Seventy in the world plus twenty more sold by merchants, and each is consumed by the imp statue it opens. Spend them on the doors our Stonesword Keys page marks as worth it.

How many Larval Tears and Memory Stones exist?

Eighteen Larval Tears, each good for one respec with Rennala, and eight Memory Stones, which with the Moon of Nokstella talisman take your spell slots from two to twelve.

What do I do with Deathroot?

Feed it to Gurranq at the Bestial Sanctum. Nine exist, and each one is traded for a bestial incantation, an Ash of War or, at the sixth, the Stone of Gurranq.

Which prayerbook or scroll should I find first?

Sorcerers want the Academy Scroll and Royal House Scroll, both in the first two regions. Faith characters want the Dragon Cult Prayerbook for Lightning Spear and the Godskin Prayerbook from Stormveil.

Can I sell key items?

No, key items cannot be sold or dropped, which is a safety net. The things you can lose are consumables and Crystal Tears you never pick up, so check the Minor Erdtrees.