Somber Smithing Stones are Upgrade Materials in Elden Ring. Somber Smithing Stones are used to upgrade unique Weapons and Shields. This page covers a full list of all the Somber Smithing Stones in Elden Ring which includes information regarding description, location, and usage.
You can visit the Upgrades page to learn more about the Upgrade Mechanics of Elden Ring.
How to use Somber Smithing Stones
Somber Smithing Stones can be used to upgrade unique equipment up to +10 (For upgrading regular equipment, please visit Smithing Stones). You'll need to visit a Blacksmith and have the correct level of Somber Smithing Stone in correlation to the current level of your weapon.
Total upgrade cost
For special upgrades 1 Somber Smithing Stone is required for each upgrade level.
Where to find Somber Smithing Stones?
Smithing Stones can be acquired through exploration, you can visit our Interactive Map and filter by "Upgrade Material" for a complete list. You can also visit the individual Somber Smithing Stone pages listed in the table below for a complete list of locations.
- Smithing Master Iji sells a wide variety of Somber Smithing Stones
Total Number Needed
There are a total of 127 Weapons and 10 Shields in the game that utilize Somber Smithing Stones, and you would need 137 of each to fully upgrade everything. Due to the limited number of Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones, this would require you to reach NG+ 17 (18 playthroughs).
How to get an early max level unique weapon in Elden Ring
[Note: As of patch 1.04, the volcano manor jump skip for Somber Smithing Stone 7 was patched, making a +9 weapon early unreliable]
It is possible to get a +9 unique weapon at the start of the game without defeating any bosses; it just requires some exploration and running away from enemies. From the First Step Grace, follow the road north to the Gatefront Ruins then head east. Cross the bridge to get to a cliff overlooking the northeastern part of Lake Agheel. Sitting on a chair on this cliff is a corpse with a Somber Smithing Stone (1) on it. Head back on the road and follow it south into the Weeping Peninsula. After crossing the Bridge of Sacrifice, keep following the road south to approach Castle Morne. After grabbing the map for the area, split off the path to the left (towards the southeast) and head down onto the beach. The red jellyfish here are guarding a corpse in the water with a Somber Smithing Stone (2).
Teleport back to the Gatefront Ruins and follow the road northwest. At the end of the collapsed bridge, jump down to the cliffside on the left and follow the path up to Liurnia of the Lakes. Grab the Lake-Facing Cliffs grace and make your way north towards the Academy of Raya Lucaria. Grab the Academy Glintstone Key from behind Smarag and enter the academy. Make a beeline for the Church of the Cuckoo Grace just in case you get defeated. Behind the altar in the previous room is a Somber Smithing Stone (3).
Run through the dungeon, past the graveyard, and onto the large waterwheel-like lift. Get grabbed and killed by the Abductor Virgin at the bottom to be taken to Volcano Manor. Instead of following the path here to the Subterranean Inquisition Chamber, you’ll want to jump down onto the lava below. To the left of the lava waterfall, is a large pile of rocks, and to the left of these rocks is a slight protrusion in the floor. If you jump to the left of the protrusion and surf the wall just right, you won’t take and fall damage and can run through the lava to a safe platform with a Burning Slug. Head southwest towards the ruined buildings and climb up the slope you see to your left to get to an area with many cages and cage lifts. Scale the roofs to the southwest to find a corpse with a Somber Smithing Stone (6).
Jump down onto the lava level and go back up the slope to the cage area. Head up the northeastern cage lift and to the right is a Somber Smithing Stone (5). Head up the stairs, making sure to avoid getting hit by the enemy here. Activate the bridge shortcut in the northwest to be able to reach the next smithing stone. You'll find a corpse on the balcony at the far end of the bridge. You can jump up there by jumping from the small iron piece on the side of the bridge to the chain wheel. From the chain wheel, you can then jump up onto the balcony to grab the Somber Smithing Stone (7). (Note that as of Patch 1.04 this jump got patched and is near impossible, requiring tremendous effort. It's recommended to instead cheese the godskin noble with sleeping status effects). Interact with any Site of Grace in the area to be able to leave afterwards. You can be defeated to get back up to the ledge that leads to the Subterranean Inqusition Chamber Site of Grace.
Teleport back to Gatefront Ruins and make your way south to the Dragon-Burnt Ruins in Lake Agheel. Interact with the chest to get teleported to the Sellia Crystal Tunnel. In the tunnel, you’ll find multiple Somber Smithing Stone (4)s. In the main chamber, head up the slope until you are able to jump on the roof of the central storage shed. Jump onto the wooden platform in the east and hop over the barricade blocking the tunnel. Go through the tunnel until you end up in a room with a ladder and wooden walkways above. A stone is found on a body on one of the walkways.
Exit the tunnel and make your way towards the Divine Tower of Caelid in Dragonbarrow. On a small dead branch just before you get to the tower, you’ll find a Teardrop Scarab that drops a Somber Smithing Stone (8) (careful it explodes). Follow the cliff here southeast and when you get to the lower cliff ledge, head north on this lower ledge to find a group of corpses sitting on chairs, one of which has a Somber Smithing Stone (9).
The quickest way to get an Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone is by doing Varre's quest. You will have to kill at least one shardbearer to progress his quest, but with up to 9 Somber Smithing Stones, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Finish Varre’s quest to receive the Pureblood Knight's Medal (you can get maiden blood from the dead maiden in the Church of Inhibition). Using it takes you to the Dynasty Mausoleum Entrance Grace. Progress through the mausoleum, running and doing your best to dodge enemies attacks until you reach the next Site of Grace, Dynasty Mausoleum Midpoint. From the grace, you should be able to see a large statue surrounded by many Albinaurics and a Sanguine Noble. In front of that statue is a chest with a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone in it. It may take a death or two to open it if you’re low level at this point.
Somber Smithing Stones Table for Elden Ring
Quick Search of All Somber Smithing Stones
| Special | Upgrade material | Unit costs in runes | Cumulative costs in runes |
|---|---|---|---|
| To +1 |
|
2,000 | 2,000 |
| To +2 |
|
3,000 | 5,000 |
| To +3 |
|
4,000 | 9,000 |
| To +4 |
|
6,000 | 15,000 |
| To +5 |
|
9,000 | 24,000 |
| To +6 |
|
12,000 | 36,000 |
| To +7 |
|
16,000 | 52,000 |
| To +8 |
|
20,000 | 72,000 |
| To +9 |
|
25,000 | 97,000 |
| To +10 |
|
- | 97,000 |
AnonymousMan I better get to the grind. 13,289,000 runes if you buy all the materials to upgrade all somber items.
- Anonymous
While it's easier to upgrade somber weapons than normal ones, i think that speaks directly to the design philosophy of the game. It's easier to upgrade somber weapons, but they don't let you change the ash of war. I think FromSoft prioritised Infusions over unique weapons.
- Anonymous
They're is not 137 + shield. I still have 34 of each somber left after farming those poor albinauric.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
can you farm most of them? obviously except the last one. I checked every page and for stone 6 and 9 there's no information about drop rate from enemies, while all others have a chance to drop, even though it's small. it doesn't make sense for 6 specifically, because you can farm 7, 8, but not 6 - is that true or wiki doesn't have all info?
- Anonymous
you can zip to somber stone +7, then skip godskin noble straight to serpent hunter
- Anonymous
if your timing is good you can use a ruptured tear physick to boost yourself onto the railing for somber stone 7
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Its like they mixed up what titanite shard and twinkling titanite for the game. Somber weapons are easier and less costly to upgrade than the normal counterpart
- Anonymous
This is by far the most useful wiki I have ever been too. More useful than the how to medical wiki
- Anonymous
You only need one per level. That's right, just one. What a fantastic system! These stone aren't too rare, so now I can upgrade and use a whole bunch of weapons.
- Anonymous
For the Godskin noble, you can either use mid-air attack redirects to jump around the edge of the church and then up the hill, or you can get rotten stray ashes to +4 and some sleep pots (or st trina's sword). Get it infected with rot from the stray and put it to sleep, then don't hit it at all. It'll occasionally wake up, but the Trina's weapon art and 2-3 hits will put ti back down again and it'll just quietly die from the rot.
- Anonymous
The sleep status cheese for the godskin noble might not work on the one in the temple of eiglay. If you read its wiki page there is a comment saying direct hits from sleep pots had no effect on this particular godskin noble. I can vouch for that comment being genuine because it was the same for me as well, I tried sleep pots on it for my first two attempts, I got four or five direct hits on it both times while it was focused on my spirit summons and they had zero effect.
I don't know if that godskin noble is just different or if it's bugged somehow, I'd have thought bugged more likely than one of them being different to all the others and sleep arrows worked exactly as they are meant to on both the apostle and noble in spiritcaller's cave. And the sleep pots worked on the apostle at windmill village. I'm only making this comment in case anyone else plans on using sleep pots as part of their strategy for dealing with this boss and also finds they have no effect on it can at least have a backup ready.
- Anonymous
Theres Many things elden ring did wrong but this aint one of them. I despise titanite scales and demon titanite so much.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
an easier way to jump off the lavafall is to just grab the long tail cat talisman which is right behind the abductor virgin that takes you to volcano manor in the first place
- Anonymous
Has the jump down by the lavafall after being taken by the Abductor Vigin been patched? I keep trying and instantly die when I land.
- Anonymous
Patch 1.04 patched the bridge jump skip for +7 stone? Are they certain? I showed it to one of my friends the other day and he still did it.
- Anonymous
If you're willing to do some... no, LOTS of dodging and use the "wrong warp" glitch (Crumbling Farum Azula), you can still get SSS7 by getting the bell bearing (#4) there.
- Anonymous
patch 1.04, I can confirm the volcano manor jump off of the bridges wheel is still possible. however to make the jump it seems you might need to be light weight and aim to the right corner of the ledge now and spam the jump button once in the air. took about an hour but it is still possible even with the ledge size reduction.
so if anyone is wondering, "Don't give up!"
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Instead of just Cumulative costs, could the actual amount of stone required to level be included?
Did some brute force check, and asked my partner to upgrade 6 daggers to +1 to +6 each.
When she dropped them, I could only pick up base one.
Upgraded Reduvia to +1. (Somber)
Could pick up daggers base, +1, +2
Upgraded Reduvia to +2. (Somber)
Could pick up daggers base, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5.
This seems to confirm what was probably first hunch of anyone who saw normal/somber leveling paths, that somber counts as x2.5 normal upgrade, rounded down.
- Anonymous
The links on this page are mostly broken. Please fix that team.
- Anonymous
somber ancient dragon smithing stone has incorrect link
should be https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Somber+Ancient+Dragon+Smithing+Stone
but is https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Somber+Smithing+Stone+[10] which is broken :)
- Anonymous
so whats the diffrence to weapons with "normal" upgrades? are these better cause statswise i doesnt look like it
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
1-4 bought from Liurnia blacksmith Iji
5,6,7 in volcano manor after getting killed by academy Iron maiden
8,9 from base of Caelid divinr tower.
Ez +9 zero bosses defeated.
And can find runes needed from sleeping dragon.
- Anonymous
1-4 bought from Liurnia blacksmith Iji
5,6,7 in volcano manor after getting killed by academy Iron maiden
8,9 from base of Caelid divinr tower.
Ez +9 zero bosses defeated.
And can find runes needed from sleeping dragon.
- Anonymous
I cannot for the life of me find a strength weapon that uses these besides ones that have faith or int scaling
- Anonymous
I feel like there are a lot more weapons needing somber stones than weapons needing the normal ones. might be a misconception
- Anonymous
Pretty quick way (IMO) to get a weapon to +6.
(1) Limgrave Tunnels, growing somewhere (Can't remember where).
(2) Find Blaidd and beat Darriwil, Blaidd will give it to you.
(3) Rare drops from the miners in Sellia Crystal Tunnel, the place that the chest in Dragon Burnt Ruins sends you to.
(4) Sellia Crystal Tunnel, growing somewhere (Can't remember where).
(5) Sellia Crystal Tunnel, growing somewhere (Can't remember where).
(6) Kill the boss of Sellia Crystal Tunnel.
So we are stuck at +6, but once you get the Somber (7), you can go straight to a +9 weapon relatively early compared to regular weapons. Earliest Somber (7) I've come across seems to be the one at Volcano Manor, like most others.
Somber (8) and (9) are pretty close to each other, and both can be found in Dragonbarrow.
(8) Roughly northeast on a scarab from the Dragonbarrow West grace.
(9) At the bottom of the Divine Tower you can see near where you killed the scarab, but outside. Relatively easy to get to, no need to drop down the cliff as there's a path to it.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
how many weapons use these? trying to figure out how many to buy before new game plus
- Anonymous
how many of these stones are in the game? I wanna know how many weapons/staves I can upgrade with this.
- Anonymous
I found a Somber Smithing Stone (2) as a drop in Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnel. The miners wearing backpacks can drop them, not sure about the drop rate.
- Anonymous
I know they can't be infused but can somber weapons be buffed?
- Anonymous
Alright so, quick powering up: you can buy somber 1-4 from Iji, you can get a early 5 north of Commander O’Neil, where you find the glintstone crystal, 6 at Gelmir, west from where you get Golden Vow, 7 either the Sewer where Dung Ester is jailed, or Volcano Manor (I strongly advise the sewers, you don’t even need to beat Godfrey shade), 8 and 9 close to where you beat the mother dragon Greyoll and activate Radahn’s ruin, and 10, either Consecrated Snowfield with Anastasia, or Mohgwyn’s palace
23
+14
-1