Ash of War: Waves of Darkness

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Affinity Magic
Skill Waves of Darkness
Effect Grants affinities and skills to an armament.

Ash of War: Waves of Darkness is an Ash of War and Upgrade Material in Elden RingAsh of War: Waves of Darkness provides Magic affinity and the Waves of Darkness Skill. Ashes of War can be equipped on Weapons and Shields to modify the Skill or an equipment, or to apply affinities that modify scaling values.

 

This Ash of War grants an armament the Magic affinity and the following skill:

"Waves of Darkness: Plunge armament into the ground to release three waves of darkness. Follow up with a strong attack to swing the armament in a sweeping strike."

Usable on greataxes, warhammers, and colossal weapons.

 

Ash of War: Waves of Darkness Location in Elden Ring

Where to find Ash of War: Waves of Darkness:

 

Ash of War: Waves of Darkness Elden Ring Guide

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Waves of Darkness Demonstration

 

 

 

 

Elden Ring Ash of War: Waves of Darkness Notes & Tips

  • Tips go here

 

Elden Ring Ashes of War
Ash of War: Assassin's Gambit  ♦  Ash of War: Barbaric Roar  ♦  Ash of War: Barrage  ♦  Ash of War: Barricade Shield  ♦  Ash of War: Beast's Roar  ♦  Ash of War: Black Flame Tornado  ♦  Ash of War: Blood Blade  ♦  Ash of War: Blood Tax  ♦  Ash of War: Bloodhound's Step  ♦  Ash of War: Bloody Slash  ♦  Ash of War: Braggart's Roar  ♦  Ash of War: Carian Grandeur  ♦  Ash of War: Carian Greatsword  ♦  Ash of War: Carian Retaliation  ♦  Ash of War: Charge Forth  ♦  Ash of War: Chilling Mist  ♦  Ash of War: Cragblade  ♦  Ash of War: Determination  ♦  Ash of War: Double Slash  ♦  Ash of War: Earthshaker  ♦  Ash of War: Enchanted Shot  ♦  Ash of War: Endure  ♦  Ash of War: Eruption  ♦  Ash of War: Flame of the Redmanes  ♦  Ash of War: Flaming Strike  ♦  Ash of War: Giant Hunt  ♦  Ash of War: Glintblade Phalanx  ♦  Ash of War: Glintstone Pebble  ♦  Ash of War: Golden Land  ♦  Ash of War: Golden Parry  ♦  Ash of War: Golden Slam  ♦  Ash of War: Golden Vow  ♦  Ash of War: Gravitas  ♦  Ash of War: Ground Slam  ♦  Ash of War: Hoarah Loux's Earthshaker  ♦  Ash of War: Hoarfrost Stomp  ♦  Ash of War: Holy Ground  ♦  Ash of War: Ice Spear  ♦  Ash of War: Impaling Thrust  ♦  Ash of War: Kick  ♦  Ash of War: Lifesteal Fist  ♦  Ash of War: Lightning Ram  ♦  Ash of War: Lightning Slash  ♦  Ash of War: Lion's Claw  ♦  Ash of War: Loretta's Slash  ♦  Ash of War: Mighty Shot  ♦  Ash of War: No Skill  ♦  Ash of War: Parry  ♦  Ash of War: Phantom Slash  ♦  Ash of War: Piercing Fang  ♦  Ash of War: Poison Moth Flight  ♦  Ash of War: Poisonous Mist  ♦  Ash of War: Prayerful Strike  ♦  Ash of War: Prelate's Charge  ♦  Ash of War: Quickstep  ♦  Ash of War: Rain of Arrows  ♦  Ash of War: Raptor of the Mists  ♦  Ash of War: Repeating Thrust  ♦  Ash of War: Royal Knight's Resolve  ♦  Ash of War: Sacred Blade  ♦  Ash of War: Sacred Order  ♦  Ash of War: Sacred Ring of Light  ♦  Ash of War: Seppuku  ♦  Ash of War: Shared Order  ♦  Ash of War: Shield Bash  ♦  Ash of War: Shield Crash  ♦  Ash of War: Sky Shot  ♦  Ash of War: Spectral Lance  ♦  Ash of War: Spinning Slash  ♦  Ash of War: Spinning Strikes  ♦  Ash of War: Spinning Weapon  ♦  Ash of War: Square Off  ♦  Ash of War: Stamp (Sweep)  ♦  Ash of War: Stamp (Upward Cut)  ♦  Ash of War: Storm Assault  ♦  Ash of War: Storm Blade  ♦  Ash of War: Storm Stomp  ♦  Ash of War: Storm Wall  ♦  Ash of War: Stormcaller  ♦  Ash of War: Sword Dance  ♦  Ash of War: Thops's Barrier  ♦  Ash of War: Through and Through  ♦  Ash of War: Thunderbolt  ♦  Ash of War: Troll's Roar  ♦  Ash of War: Unsheathe  ♦  Ash of War: Vacuum Slice  ♦  Ash of War: Vow of the Indomitable  ♦  Ash of War: War Cry  ♦  Ash of War: White Shadow's Lure  ♦  Ash of War: Wild Strikes  ♦  Lost Ashes of War  ♦  Messages



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    • Anonymous

      Has this ash of war been fixed? It used to be that due to the final wave would knock back/stagger the enemy in such a way that the follow-up attack would always miss.

      • Anonymous

        This saved me in invasions so many times. People's brains turn off when they outnumber you, and that thing is great for punishing that.

        • Anonymous

          This Ash of War always confuses me. When I use it as invader (because its a great get-off-me tool), even if I hit with my weapon people are always able to roll out of it. But when I get with it as cooperator, I am stunlocked for the entire duration of the combo, including the follow up attack. Which of course despite having 2000hp and wearing very heavy armour, it almost one shots me still.
          Might be just a git gut skill issue moment by me, but it bugs me a bit considering the hyper armour makes this Ash of War almost zero-risk.

          • Anonymous

            Why leave up the pre patch information ... No one is playing without the current patch.... Just list what it does with current game version...

            • Anonymous

              This on a cold-infused big weapon (Large Club in my case) really saved me on Malenia. Great poise damage, staggers her out of most things, usually allows you to do additional action (drink/buff/R2) along with the 3rd wave, pretty good damage. Also, using it right after a poise-broken crit feels almost cheap.

              I imagine using it on a Bleed+Cold weapon (like cold Great Stars) would work even better.

              • Anonymous

                This AoW is pretty sick. You can put it on the celebrant skull great club and utilize it very effectively in a build that typically might wield the moonlight great sword. The damage is pretty good at high levels of int, it causes AoE stagger and you can even use it from around corners to cheese would-be ambushers. A great weapon for my spellcaster kit.

                • Anonymous

                  This is a great skill in PVP with frost bite. Easily knocks down players trying to rush you, and the final swing procs frost. Love using it with the zweihander too.

                  • Anonymous

                    This thing is a stamina hog! But I LOVE IT! lol. Zweihander at +13 - it's not a boss melter but it clears a room nice.

                    The waves do not proc frostbite - but the weaponpart - if it's a direct connect - appears to insta proc. That is not something you can reliably hit consistently! But if knock the person down first .... :3 YESSSS

                    • Anonymous

                      I was having trouble with the follow up swing, the waves slamming down killed anything before I could land it. But I put it on a zweihander for Niall at castle sol and it worked very well.

                      • They fixed the description, it now states great spears as well. The patch notes said ''Fixed a bug that caused Weapon Arts to be incorrectly used with specific combinations of weapon and Weapon Arts.'' so I thought they removed my favorite combo but they also updated the description.

                        • Anonymous

                          No one expects the caster with the large curved club to invade they're world. Usually aren't ready for the caster to stand their ground and drop this ash as the host and his phantoms rush him either. 10/10 would magic bonk again

                          • Anonymous

                            They should have made it possible to put this on staves since it’s a good defensive option. Currently, sorcery is all about moonveil burst damage and Carian Slicer pressure. Imagine if after you put your Terra Magica down, you could defend that space. Just a thought.

                            • Anonymous

                              Cool gravity magic which scales off int that would've been a wonderful spacing tool for casters and something other than Rock Sling, yet isn't accessible to gravity casters without completing 70% of the game, carrying around a giant unwieldy slab of steel and putting X points in STR. Thanks so much.

                              • Anonymous

                                I have mine on a +25 cold crescent moon axe and it does pretty decent damage. But the follow up R2 seems redundant I haven't been able to land it one single time, the second or third shockwave kills anything I've been trying to test it out on. I'm going to give it one more try at mountaintop of the giants and if I can't land the follow up R2 on the trolls that I'm assuming have a decent health pool I'm changing it out for something I can get full value for the FP cost of casting it.

                                • Anonymous

                                  Haha i just landed full force of it with followup against full bullgoat rune arced multibuffed guy and it killed him for 2,5k hp :D Priceless moment

                                  • putting this on brick hammer feels like cheating. gives the hammer more crowd-control utility obviously, but 1-on-1 hit them with the waves -> charge brick hammer while they're staggering -> break poise + crit -> waves again while they're recovering from crit

                                    • Anonymous

                                      80 int build here, been using this in PvP for a while.

                                      Update fixing it feels nice but does anyone else feel like the wave damage was nerfed?

                                      • Anonymous

                                        I typically come to these comments for ideas, thought I'd a combo I found on my own. Waves of Darkness can be put on Heavy Butchering Blade, which has "Hitting an enemy restores 1% HP per hit", the blade can then be used with Bloodflame Blade incantation, which can then trigger Lord of Blood's Exultation. You will gain the life even without using a normal attack, just spam WoD.

                                        • Anonymous

                                          WOOO! The R2 follow up is fixed and actually works now. But I want to know something that doesn't seem to be anywhere... How does this skill scale in damage? does it scale with INT or something else like just upgrade level or total AR? I'm planning to use this on a strength heavy gravity themed build and I wanna choose the right weapons to put this sick WA on.

                                          • Anonymous

                                            Been invading with this outside Melania's door. It's real nice there. Nice and tight space where nobody can run away. Muahahaha...

                                            • Anonymous

                                              Rather than nerfing or buffing things they NEED to fix obviously broken things like this. Like cool you nerfed moonveil but this ash STILL doesn't work properly

                                              • Anonymous

                                                Rarely seen in PVP, which is actually a good thing since that means most people don’t know how it works.

                                                • Anonymous

                                                  This helped me handle Commander Nialls summoners very quickly right at the start.
                                                  Bugged is annoying but still useful.

                                                  • Anonymous

                                                    Most enemies that can be staggered are stunlocked and hit with the three waves easily, even Malenia (though she may dodge the third strike). I wish they fixed this ash already so we could use it to its full potential

                                                    • Anonymous

                                                      Great Stars is one of the best weapons for this, because you get healed every time you hit something with Great Stars. While normally you only get healed very slightly, Waves of Darkness attacks 3 times and every attack can hit multiple enemies, so you can get many slight heals at once, which can result in decent healing

                                                      • Anonymous

                                                        even without the followup its absurdly strong. playing RL65, ive been hit for over 1k per wave, with the initial hit also doing around 1k. Rather fight moonveil lol

                                                        • Anonymous

                                                          If I could put this on a staff I'd happily class have rock sling and Waves of Darkness as my only two purple spells for a gravity mage build.

                                                          Thanks for the dopamine high with rocks long but the one sniff of purple then nothing for most of the game is mean

                                                          • Anonymous

                                                            I am definitely getting hits with the follow up R2, but the AOE just pushes enemies out of range. When used without FP the follow up connects.

                                                            • Anonymous

                                                              I can confirm the follow up attack still does nothing. Just tested it by changing weapons, leveling up, and activating godrick's rune. It never did anything after each of these steps.

                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                Bugged or not, Waves of Darkness is amazing on Great Stars. At level 130 I have 30str and 50int, the AR is above 700 when set to Magic. Without other buffs I was able to rain down on Tiche before she could get a melee slash in. With mimic tears I was able to consecutively stun Malenia into a fast defeat.

                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                  What's up with all this misinformation?, Is it still bugged or not? I can't test it myself since I've gotta do NG+ to get the remberence again (all mausoleums used up).

                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                    I really wish they would fix the bug on this weapon art. It's definitely my favorite one in the game, the bugged follow-up just really bothers me so I don't use it near as much as I would if it worked properly. I know it's really powerful without it and the follow-up would only be marginally helpful anyways, it just really rubs me the wrong way that I don't have the option to use it even if I wanted to lol.

                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                      Just tested: follow-up attack is still missing a hitbox as of today in patch 1.04. Will the Giant Dads of the world ever be able to fully power up their bass cannons? The world may never know...

                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                        So the follow-up swipe is bugged to not have a hit box, but if it did, wouldn't it end up knocking enemies out of the AoE for the last damage pulse?

                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                          Still bugged. Spin attack follow up does nothing, and even the waves let people stand in it and they just don't get hit.

                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                            Would have liked this on a staff so gravity casters had something other than rock sling for 80% of the game.

                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                              Bugged as of yet.

                                                                              How do we know it's a bug? If you run out of FP on the first part, the follow-up actually DOES have a hitbox.

                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                The initial smash and follow-up sweep are based on your weapon's AR, but the waves scale with Affinity Scaling + Int. For efficient damage output, use with 50 Int and a fully upgraded Magic weapon.

                                                                                • Anonymous

                                                                                  Alright, so even though it looks like this is a gravity specific WA, it does not force your damage to a specific element, nor does it require intellect to scale. Much like any basic attacking WA, this skill scales primarily off your AR and will deal any physical and/or elemental damage that your weapon may have. Additionally, it will apply ailments like bleed, and it seems to work with weapon buffs like Bloodflame and Blackflame blade. Weapons with on-hit effects also apply.

                                                                                  • Anonymous

                                                                                    this is buggd as hell, using this with scholars armament, i get substantialy higher damage with lower ar, i suspect the weapon buff is counted twice for some reason.

                                                                                    • Anonymous

                                                                                      This skill does insane damage. I've hit 10k+ with a single cast on a giant, I killed NG+ Morgott with it in 4 casts and an R2. Brick Hammer Magic Enchanted +25, 40 str 40 int. Buff yourself with Golden Vow, Magic Damage physic. Regularly hits most enemies for 1000+ per wave. I got my 10k hit with those buffs as well as 30% from poisoning myself, the 30% magic damage circle buff, skill damage / magic damage talisman, and the perfumers enrage.

                                                                                      • Anonymous

                                                                                        As of patch 1.03, this ash of war is still currently bugged, where the final sweep still does not register. A shame too, because this is definitely one of the stronger ashes in the 'Gravitas' type family.

                                                                                        • Anonymous

                                                                                          Latest patch (1.03) did not fix the heavy follow-up whiffing even on large, high poise enemies that wouldn't stagger and iframe like another commenter pointing out might be the cause. Ash of War: Golden lands has the weapon animation and heavy follow-up and the heavy follow-up works on that.

                                                                                          • Anonymous

                                                                                            So, while the followup R2 doesn't seem to work, you can cancel the followup input window by crouching. This lets you charge an R2 or poke with a crouch R1 while the shockwaves are still going out.

                                                                                            • Anonymous

                                                                                              Pretty sure the issue with the follow up is caused by the hit animation of the shockwave. It appears the shockwave hot grants a sort of immunity like one stagger animations and what not. I base this assumption purely on my incredibly limited testing and just some guess work to try and explain the unfortunate truth that part of this skill doesn't seem to work. Otherwise the shockwaves are still strong as ****

                                                                                              • Anonymous

                                                                                                For me waves register BUT the whirling attack after waves does not! Does anyone know when they will fix it?

                                                                                                • Please fix this ashes, it is currently bugged and either the first waves wont register as hits on real players or the final sweep attack wont register as a hit on normal enemies, tested many times and they do nothing

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