Ashes of War are unique to Elden Ring. They allow players to customize their favorite weapons with skills and even provide different ways for weapons to scale into the late-game. However, the best Ashes will turn your Tarnished from a sad living-impaired zombie to a god-slaying machine. With over 90 Ashes of War to choose from, your Tarnished has plenty of options to try.
To help you figure out which skills work best for your build, we’ve made a list of the best Ashes of War to use in your adventures.
Do you prefer to sling spells? Here’s our list of the Best Sorceries in Elden Ring.
1. Bloodhound’s Step
Widely considered to be the most powerful Ash of War, Bloodhound’s Step is the closest players will get to full invulnerability in Elden Ring. Based on the data taken from the game’s files found here, Bloodhound’s Step gives invulnerability for 40 frames with an extremely small delay between each dodge (between 4-10 frames). This means, assuming perfect timing, if a person uses Bloodhound’s step repeatedly in a second, they will be invulnerable for 93% of that second (56 frames out of 60). Thankfully, this is restricted by FP and Stamina costs so players can’t do this infinitely.
Eligible Weapons: All melee armaments.
Affinity: Keen
Cost:
- FP Cost: 5
- Stamina Cost: 12 (18 if there’s no FP)
Effect: Teleport in a direction.
Location: Slay the Night’s Cavalry at the bridge in front of Lenne’s Rise.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Lenne’s Rise
Its only downside is how each dodge covers a large distance, forcing players to choose between the assured safety of Bloodhound’s Step (unless you’re near a ledge) or the increased opportunities to counter-attack with a regular dodge.
2. Seppuku
As of patch 1.04, Bleed is in an extremely strong state Seppuku helps push that power to a level where players are melting bosses in a matter of seconds.
Eligible Weapons: Swords and Polearms that are able to thrust.
Affinity: Blood
Effect: Sacrifice 10% of your HP for 30 flat attack and 84 Bleed (118 Bleed with 80 Arcane) for 60 seconds.
Location: Dropped by an invisible scarab to the east of the Freezing Lake.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Freezing Lake
The easiest way to take advantage of this Ash of War is to dual-wield a fast-hitting weapon that innately applies bleed. The most popular choices are Uchigatanas or Nagakibas. After that, focus on your Arcane stat and equip the White Mask helmet and the Lord of Blood’s Exultation talisman which increase your damage by 10% and 20% respectively after triggering Blood Loss on a target. Now cast Seppuku, which triggers Blood Loss on yourself and enjoy blending enemies.
3. Carian Retaliation
Even after its recent nerfs, Carian Retaliation is still one of the best Ashes of War for shields. If you read our guide to parrying then you’ll know how good this Ash of War is, but by equipping this to a shield, you’ll triple the size of your parry window, making all parries easier without consuming FP.
Eligible Weapons: Small or medium shields.
Affinity: Standard
Cost:
- FP Cost: 8
Effect: Transforms incoming spells into Glintblades.
Location: Purchase from Pidia, Carian Servant for 3,000 Runes.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Royal Moongazing Grounds
In fact, FP is only consumed if you successfully parry a magical attack. Once that happens, you’ll create three Glintblades around yourself that will bolt toward your target when you get close enough to them. Each blade is extremely powerful, dealing damage based on your shield’s stats and affinity.
4. Raptor of the Mists
The usefulness of Raptor of the Mists is sorely underrated. Besides having an aesthetically awesome look to the entire skill, almost every single part of this Ash has a use. The initial crouch can be used to duck horizontal attacks, allowing for lightning-fast counter attacks without messing up your spacing.
Eligible Weapons: All melee armaments.
Affinity: Keen
Cost:
- FP Cost: 14
Effect: Crouch down and then, if you’re attacked, teleport into the air.
Location: Found by helping Bloody Finger Hunter Yura slay Bloody Finger Ravenmount Assassin.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Raya Lucaria Main Gate
The teleportation is the perfect skill to punish any attack with a long lag at the end of their attacks, like an invader’s jumping attacks or Ashes of War. On top of that, this teleportation will also protect you from the obnoxious chariots in any Hero’s Grave puzzles. Just make sure you get this Ash before going to the mountaintops, otherwise you’ll have to wait until New Game+ to get it.
5. Lion’s Claw
Patch 1.04 transformed this Ash of War from a mediocre attack to a powerhouse of an ability. Against small enemies, Lion’s Claw provides enough hyper armor (meaning weak attacks won’t interrupt you) to land the final swing which is more than enough to flatten those enemies.
Eligible Weapons: Swords, Axes, and Hammers.
Affinity: Heavy
Cost:
- FP Cost: 12
Effect: Gain a megaton of hyper armor, then somersault forward and strike foes with your weapon.
Location: Slay a Lion Guardian at Fort Gael.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Fort Gael North Site.
For bosses, Lion’s Claw is fast enough to take advantage of most openings and it deals a ridiculous amount of stance damage, breaking Melania in three casts with the Greatsword. It’s high Poise damage is why this Ash of War is best used on a colossal weapon or a large weapon like the Greatsword.
6. Royal Knight’s Resolve
A colossal weapon’s best friend and a Host of Fingers’ worst nightmare. Thanks to its short duration and massive buff, Royal Knight’s Resolve is one of the best tools to punish slow attacks or to create devastating critical strikes. This is only possible because of Resolve’s fast cast speed, which can be done just before a punishing attack. If you add this to the Misericorde then your critical strikes will be dealing a colossal amount of damage.
Eligible Weapons: All melee armaments.
Affinity: Quality
Cost:
- FP Cost: 15
Effect: Increase the damage of your next attack by 80% for 10 seconds.
Location: Inside a passage requiring two Stonesword Keys in Volcano Manor. Use the cages to jump down to the bottom and the Ash of War is near the fireplace.
- Nearest Site of Grace: Temple of Eiglay
In PvP, Royal Knight’s Resolve is wonderful for deleting a player’s health bar. Just be aware that opponents who see you use this will usually run away to time out the buff, so bring ranged weapons that will capitalize on that behavior.
Need more help in Elden Ring? Here are the Best Talismans for Everyone and the Best Consumable Items.
