Whetblades in Elden Ring are Key Items which allow the use of Ashes of War at Sites of Grace to bestow Skills and Affinities. This page covers their names, affinities they unlock, and Locations.
Whetblades are kept in New Game+. They are also unique, meaning that they cannot be found in subsequent Journeys. There are 5 Whetblades needed to access all affinities.
Click here to scroll down for information on Affinities ↓
Elden Ring Whetblades
Whetblades Table for Elden Ring
Quick Search of All Whetblades
| Name | Usage | Location |
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Unlocks ability to use Ashes of War to grant Skills and Affinities to armaments |
Gatefront Ruins Near the center of the ruins, a set of stairs leads to a small room with a chest containing it and the Ash of War: Storm Stomp. |
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Unlocks affinity upgrades: Heavy, Keen, and Quality |
Stormveil Castle Can be looted off a corpse found in the armory room, through the north-western door in the hall with the Grafted Scion. You will need to use the Stonesword Key on the imp statue to dispel fog gate blocking the doorway. Note: the other Stonesword Key door in Stormveil Castle, the one guarded by Giant Rats, is the wrong door. |
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Unlocks affinity upgrades: Magic and Cold | Raya Lucaria Academy Looted from a corpse hanging off the window ledge of an office balcony. From the Debate Parlor site of grace, head north into the courtyard, and then west of the fountain, up the collapsed stairs, past the kneeling Commoners, and into the room with the Twinsage Sorcerer |
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Unlocks affinity upgrades: Fire and Flame Art | Redmane Castle From the Chamber Outside The Plaza site of grace, head out the south-side door, west past the flamethrower enemies, and then to the door past the Abductor Virgin and hanging bodies |
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Unlocks affinity upgrades: Lightning and Sacred | Fortified Manor, Leyndell From the West Capital Rampart site of grace, head to the south-west side of the manor and enter from the roof near the Erdtree root. Once inside, it can found on a corpse laying next to an anvil |
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Unlocks affinity upgrades: Poison, Blood, and Occult | Nokron, Eternal City Found on a corpse slumped in front of an altar in Night's Sacred Ground |
All Whetblades in Elden Ring
Whetstone Knife
Whetstone with a cipher inscription, made to look like a small knifeblade.
Allows the use of ashes of war at a site of grace to bestow new battle arts and affinities to armaments as skills.
The battle arts and affinities will depend on the ashes of war used.
Glintstone Whetblade
Glintstone whetblade with a cipher engraved. Can be used as a whetstone knife.
When applying an affinity using physical or magic-type ashes of war, an additional affinity of magic or frost can be chosen.
Iron Whetblade
Iron whetblade with a cipher engraved. Can be used as a whetstone knife.
When applying an affinity using ashes of war, an additional affinity of heavy, keen, or quality can be chosen.
Red-Hot Whetblade
Red-hot whetblade with a cipher engraved. Can be used as a whetstone knife.
When applying an affinity using physical or flame-type ashes of war, an additional affinity of fire or flame art can be chosen
Black Whetblade
Black whetblade with a cipher engraved. Can be used as a whetstone knife.
When applying an affinity using physical or occult-type ashes of war, an additional affinity of poison, blood, or occult can be chosen
Sanctified Whetblade
Sanctified whetblade with a cipher engraved. Can be used as a whetstone knife.
When applying an affinity using physical or golden-type ashes of war, an additional affinity of sacred or lightning can be chosen
Affinities in Elden Ring determine an armament's attribute scaling, attack power, guard boost, guarded damage negation, and passives. Affinities are represented by both an icon in the inventory and as a prefix to the armament's name.
- See Damage Types to identify the best sources and resistances for all damage types.
- See Status Effects for all status buildups and other effects applied to your character.
- See the Weapons Comparison Tables or the Shields Comparison Tables to see armaments at their maximum upgrade level and for each affinity.
Choosing an Affinity in Elden Ring
Affinities are granted when using an Ash of War at a Site of Grace or while speaking to Smithing Master Hewg.
Players can expand their selection of affinities by obtaining Whetblades.
Ashes of War Types in Elden Ring
The affinity an Ash of War provides to an armament determines its type:
- Physical
- Standard
- Heavy
- Keen
- Quality
- Magic
- Magic
- Frost
- Flame
- Fire
- Flame Art
- Golden
- Lightning
- Sacred
- Occult
- Poison
- Blood
- Occult
These types determine which other affinities could be applied when selecting an Ash of War, assuming you have the required whetblade.
Below is an example of how to know which affinities are available with your Ash of War:
| Name | Description |
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This Ash of War grants an armament the Lightning affinity [...] |
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When applying an affinity using physical or golden-type ashes of war, an additional affinity of sacred or lightning can be chosen. |
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When applying an affinity using ashes of war, an additional affinity of heavy, keen, or quality can be chosen. |
Simple Table
Detailed Table
Elden Ring Affinities Simplified Guide
| Types | Whetblades | Affinities | What it Does | When to Take |
Physical |
- |  Standard |
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 Heavy |
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 Keen |
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 Quality |
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Magic |
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 Magic |
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 Cold |
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Flame |
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 Fire |
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 Flame Art |
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Golden |
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 Lightning |
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 Sacred |
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Occult |
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 Poison |
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 Blood |
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 Occult |
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Elden Ring Affinities Detailed Guide
| Types | Whetblades | Affinities | Positive Effects | Negative Effects |
Physical |
- | Standard |
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Heavy |
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Keen |
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Quality |
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Magic |
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Magic |
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Cold |
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Flame |
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Fire |
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Flame Art |
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Golden |
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Lightning |
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Sacred |
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Occult |
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Poison |
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Blood |
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Occult |
Affinities Notes & Tips in Elden Ring
- What does "Improves [Attribute] scaling upgrade multiplier" mean?
For the Cold, Poison, and Blood affinities, the armament's base attribute scaling is reduced, but its scaling upgrade multiplier is increased, making its upgrades more important (e.g., A Standard Zweihander +25 has a Str/Dex scaling of D/C, but a Cold Zweihander +25 has a Str/Dex scaling of C/C). - All Occult type affinities added by the Black Whetblade have several counterintuitive interactions with status effects, so here is a break down:
- All Occult Type affinities will lower all native Status buildups on the weapon they are applied to, but will allow these buildups to scale with the Arcane attribute.
- Poison and Bleed affinities will add Arcane scaling Blood Loss or Poison buildup to a weapon if applied, respectively. This added Blood Loss buildup will override any Bleed buildup the weapon might have natively, they do not stack! Same thing for native Poison and the Poison affinity.
- The Bleed Affinity will not override native Poison buildup, or vice versa.
- Native Status Effect buildups, such as Madness, Scarlet Rot, or Sleep will never be overwritten by any Occult Type affinity.
- The Occult affinity will result in better AR but lower status buildup for most weapons on builds that invest in Arcane primarily. For most weapons the AR gained by this is significantly higher than the loss in buildup.
- A weapon can inflict multiple status effects as a result of having an Occult Type Affinity applied to it, e.g. a Blood Infused Venomous Fang will inflict both Bleed and Poison with each strike and both buildups will scale with Arcane.
- With point 1. and 5. in mind the following general rule can be formed. Weapons with native Bleed buildup prefer the Occult Affinity for maximizing AR at the cost of slightly lower buildup. But weapons without native status effects, or native non-Blood Loss buildups will benefit from having Blood Loss buildup added by the Blood affinity. E.g. On a build aiming to make use the Curved Sword Power Stance moveset, an Occult Scavenger's Curved Sword (native Bleed) and a Blood Bandit's Curved Sword (no native bleed) would be ideal to maximize both AR and Blood Loss buildup simultaneously.
- All armaments can be buffed by Skills (e.g., Flaming Strike), but only armaments with Physical Affinities can be buffed with Sorceries, Incantations, or Greases (e.g., Scholar's Armament, Order's Blade or Drawstring Magic Grease). However, remember that certain armaments cannot be buffed, regardless of their affinity (e.g., Sacred Seals, Glintstone Staves, Bows, etc.).
Anonymousthe "when to take" section of the cold infusion is a bit misleading. the few cold-infused weapons i've used ALL scaled better with str or dex than int. int did increase the damage as well, but the infusion is definitely best with a str/dex build that has *some* int.
- Anonymous
No bloodflame, madness, sleep, rot or death whetblades in the dlc. Not even a fast poison one. Because fromsoft pretends to care about pvp balance despite their absolute lack of interest (or straight up incompetence) at putting pvp participants on even grounds.
- Anonymous
For what it's worth, flame art will significantly outperform fire at 54 strength and 45 faith, even when twohanding
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
It would be cool if we had more control over how the infusion affects the scaling on the weapon, if only to better match the scaling of special weapons found throughout the game.
- Anonymous
am i the only one just now noticing the human hand in quality
- Anonymous
we should have gotten whetblades for a Sleep int/arc magic damage infusion, Frenzy str/dex/int/fth fire damage infusion, Ghostflame int/fth magic + frostbite, and Shadow int/fth holy infusion.
- Anonymous
Shame SOTE didn’t give us rot, madness, or deathblight whetstones
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Gotta say I don't like the placement of the Sanctified Whetblade. I understand gating certain items so that they don't break the early game, but Holy infusion is terrible by that point and Lightning is just decent. It takes until Leyndell to get it and that is squarely the start of the endgame. The game is over. You just do not have Lightning or Holy infusion until they are no longer powerful.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I don't have red hot but I do have the option to turn a greatsword with FotR into fire affinity. Not flame art though ?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
so comment down below if i am right or not but do they basically allow you to add passive effects?
- Anonymous
If anyone's wondering why you'd ever pick Magic instead of Cold infusions given the above: Magic infusion will split the weapon's damage roughly 50:50 while Cold will be more around 70:30 in favour of physical damage. Essentially, if maximum magic damage is what you want, go with Magic, if you're more bothered about proccing Frostbite, (obviously) go with Cold.
- Anonymous
12 Smithing Stones (of each tier) then an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone to max-out one Armament.
Most players would rather stick to Somber Smithing Stone weapons, but I assume many don't realize how advantageous customizable weapons can be with the right infusion & Ash of War, in mind.
The whetblades scales off of Strength/Dexterity/Quality/Intelligence/Faith/Arcane, respectably.
There's no such thing as a bad weapon!
It's a matter of making sure you allocated your stats, wisely to get most Attack Power & scaling out of the weapon.
Don't forget about the Ash of War(s) and their properties!
- Anonymous
I think infusions should have additional effects once leveling attributes past the hardcaps. Like, avobe 80 points on a stat would give you an extra effect.
Heavy would change to beast past 80 strength, wich would give earthshaker, cragblade or similar effects to charged r2 attacks, while keen would change to waterfoul past 80 dex, adding a flurry of slashes to the final r1 combo or to a charged r2. Quality could change to hawk past 60 str and 60 dex, adding wind on r1 combos and stomps on r2.
Fire infusions past 80 strength would change to flame of ruin, where charged r2 shoots out magma proyectiles and flame art past 80 faith would change to frenzied flame, applying madness buildup and lingering three finger's flame trails on jumping r2 attacks.
Magic past 80 int would change to primeval, wich would involve gravity effects/magic waves on charged r2, and cold would change to lunar past 80 int, granting magic damage reduction debuff once frostbite procs.
Lightning would change to storm past 80 dex, adding wind and lightning to final combo attacks with extra poise damage. Holy would change to sacred past 80 faith, wich adds a little of lifesteal per hit.
Poison would change to rot past 80 arcane, granting extra damage on rot proc, and blood would change to curseblood past 80 arc, wich changes to bloodflame and heals on proc.
Occult could change to uncanny past 80 arc, wich would scale damage up to x4 with consecutive hits wich would be shown by the weapon glowing red (like echoaid weapons)
I have nothing to add to standard. Death past 50 on every attribute, maybe? Idk. Just some ideas around.
- Anonymous
We missed out on having deathblight applicable scaling and weapon arts. We got **** for everything else thats useful. You know how fire a deathblight Brick Hammer would be? Smack that seedbed right into that bh stepping *******
- Anonymous
Imagine if Flame Art was converted to be DEX-scaling rather than FAI, and there was a new "Ancient" affinity that added Lightning damage and scaled with Faith.
Prelate's Charge would swap to being Fire, and Flaming Strike would be part of the new Flame Art. Then add two or three new Ashes for Ancient affinity.
- Anonymous
day 334 of malding that lightning weapon damage isnt tied to faith and that fire weapon damage is barely tied to faith
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The coexistence of Fire and Flame Art intrigues me, as it means that there can be two versions of an infusion with different scaling, what if we had a version of frost with INT/FAI scaling magic damage, representing Ghostflame, or a Golden Order version of the holy infusion with INT/FAI scaling holy damage
Can we please stop calling AP AR? It's attack power in Elden ring. AP
What I feel is missing is a Faith Lightning damage infusion that grants Faith/Dex scaling, a Fire infusion that gives Str/Faith, and a Blood or Occult infusion that grants Faith/Arcane.
- Anonymous
I’m kinda disappointed they need to add sleep rot madness and especially death blight build up whetblades
- Anonymous
praying that we get a whetblade that adds sleep buildup in the dlc
I wish there was a rot one. Oh well. Atleast we got bleed and poision
- Anonymous
I need someone to explain something for me please, I know asking what I'm about to is showing how clueless I am but it can't be helped because I'm not getting the full picture. The whet-blades found as you progress allow a weapon's affinity to be changed to cold or occult or whatever, but I don't really understand how the scaling for all this works, every AoW I've looked at and used has a pretty drastic impact on base damage, and what I gain from the skill or affinity doesn't come close to the damage I could do without using it, maybe because of how it scales afterwards, this is where I get stuck, I've been wary of using most AoW skills or affinities because of how big a difference I see on Lordsworn's greatsword after I give it cold affinity or whatever, I'm having trouble putting any skill onto the weapons I use most because of this massive reduction I see in its base damage, so I can't help feeling I'm going to be worse off in terms of the damage I can do than I'f I had only used AoW that already have the heavy affinity. So I'm hoping someone will take the time to give me an idea of which affinities and skills scale with which attributes, much appreciated.
- Anonymous
I really think they missed out on the opportunity for making infusions/ashes of war for the other ailments, like yeah Madness and Death Blight only work on humanoid stuff and yeah Death Blight and Sleep don't have their infliction scaled to arcane(or any scaling at all for that matter) but like
Rot would be fair and balanced by just making it a very low amount of infliction and with less arcane scaling and damage, certainly more fair than an Incantation that levitates you above enemy attacks and covers 30 meters in front of you in rot infliction and damage
Death Blight could be balanced exactly how it is on Fia's Mist and the Eclipse Shotel with it just having an absolutely miniscule amount of infliction(and it's not like the not having Arc scaled infliction thing matters seeing as Cold is an infusion and Frostbite infliction has no scaling either)
Sleep has the same situation as Death Blight where as long as they just made it a medium amount of infliction (not too little so it works on PVE enemies and not too much so it isn't broken in PVP) and it'd be great, and once more Cold exists so the lack of arcane scaling wouldn't stop it
And then Madness, which I feel has the biggest case to exist as not only would it have arcane scaling for the madness infliction, but seeing as madness is so exclusively linked to the flame of frenzy(not being inflicted any other way) it would be another avenue of fire element infusion with actual faith and/or arcane scaling which would be useful regardless of madness only working on human enemies since there are only TWO flame(fire + faith scaling) ashes of war in the entire game and both are very late(Prelate's Charge in Mountaintops Of The Giants and Black Flame Tornado in Farum Azula) meaning that the only way to get fire infused weapons with faith scaling instead of strength scaling(for a faith build obviously) is to either grab the Red Hot Whetblade in Redmane Castle or wait that long which is saddening, a couple madness ashes of war and a madness infusion with fire damage and either faith, arcane or faith and arcane scaling would be neat and helpful since it's give slightly earlier access to faith builds to use fire weapons with actual scaling and thereby actual damage returns
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Why isn't there one for madness? It would make sense to have one since there's one for poison and bleed.
- Anonymous
as someone who's reached NG+4 I can vouch for the fact they do carry over
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
i'm more disappointed at no coldflame or deathflame etc. i really feel like that coulda been a cool one.
- Anonymous
That's a pity they didn't make similar item to level weapons instead of smithing stones.
- Anonymous
If they did implement a whetblade for scarlet rot and the others, it would have to be a serious scaling nerf and damage nerf. Like going from B in STR to E and base damage 310 to 210. Otherwise it would be broken in both PVP and PVE. Much like how frost and bleed are currently
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
"STR build OP, DEX build OP, ARC build OP" mfs just blatantly ignoring these things is really getting on my nerves. It's been over two years. You'd think at this point people have realized that every build has access to at least 3/4 of the game's weapons and ashes of war, provided they meet the requirements. Your "build" is mostly about how stat efficient you are with the options you're using, not about whether or not you can use them at all. In DS1, a strength build can't use an uchigatana satisfactorily, even if they meet the dex requirement, because it has no strength scaling. In ER, and DS3 for that matter, you simply slap on a heavy infusion and you're good to go.
Anyone who claims, for example, that strength specifically is broken because of Greatsword Lion's Claw, is moronic. You can use the exact same strategy on a dex build, on a faith build, on an arc build, and even on an int build. Again, provided you meet the weapon requirements. The ash of war system is incredibly open in this regard.
Your stats will be a little more bloated or spread out, but most equipment outside of spells is freely available to you. The only thing preventing you from using it, unless you're optimizing stat spread, is your mental barrier.
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