Elden Ring Smithing Stones: Where to farm and buy Smithing Stones

Learn where to farm and buy Smithing Stones in Elden Ring

Looking for Smithing Stones in Elden Ring? Smithing Stones are one of the most important items in Elden Ring , as they allow you to upgrade your weapons. Weapon upgrades will massively improve your weapon and are much more important than simply levelling up in the early stages, so you’ll rely on Smithing Stones to beat bosses across the Lands Between.

In this guide, we’ll break down the differences between Smithing Stones and Somber Smithing Stones and cover where to find them. We’ll also explain how to buy Smithing Stones and the best places to farm them, so that you’ve always got plenty stored in your inventory.

Throughout this guide, we will mention many locations and NPCs that you may not have met. If you want to explore the main regions of Elden Ring, follow our main quest walkthrough to find an easy guide through the Lands Between. If you want to know more about the various NPCs you can find, check out our Elden Ring sidequest guide , which will help you complete all of the game’s quests, if you want to 100% that before starting Shadow Of The Erdtree .

On this page:

• Elden Ring Smithing Stones
• Elden Ring Somber Smithing Stones
• Elden Ring Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones

Elden Ring Smithing Stones

Regular Smithing Stones in Elden Ring come in a range of tiers, from 1 to 8. Each tier of Smithing Stone will upgrade your weapons up to a certain level: for instance, Tier 1 Smithing Stones can upgrade a weapon from +0 to +3, whereas Tier 8 Smithing Stones can upgrade a weapon from +21 to +24. Most weapons will cap at +25, which requires an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone. Special weapons and legendary armaments require Somber Smithing Stones, which we’ll cover later in this guide.

You can upgrade regular weapons by a few levels at an anvil in the Church of Elleh, but you’ll need to head to an actual blacksmith to upgrade weapons further. There are two blacksmiths in Elden Ring: Smithing Master Hewg , located in the Roundtable Hold , and Smithing Master Iji , found South of Caria Manor near the Kingsrealm Ruins. Beware that Iji will move to the Three Sisters upon starting Ranni’s questline in Elden Ring, but he will still be able to upgrade your weapons.

How to buy Smithing Stones: Bell Bearing locations

As you progress through Elden Ring, you’ll find Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearings . You can give these items to the Twin Maiden Husks in the Roundtable Hold, which will then allow you to purchase Smithing Stones. We’ll explain how to get each Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing below:

• Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing (1): Allows you to purchase Smithing Stones (1) & (2). Obtained by killing the Crystalian boss in Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnel.
• Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing (2): Allows you to purchase Smithing Stones (3) & (4). Found in the Sealed Tunnel, on the Capital Outskirts in the Altus Plateau.
• Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing (3): Allows you to purchase Smithing Stones (5) & (6). Found in a cellar in the Zamor Ruins, located in the Mountaintops of the Giants region.
• Smithing-Stone Miner’s Bell Bearing (4): Allows you to purchase Smithing Stones (7) & (8). Obtained by killing the Godskin Duo main boss in Crumbling Farum Azula.

The table below shows the costs of each Smithing Stone at the Twin-Maiden Husks and the upgrades you will get from each tier:

Smithing Stone farming locations

You can find regular Smithing Stones in various mining caves throughout the Lands Between. The Smithing Stones found on the walls of these caves will not respawn, but those dropped by the enemies within are unlimited. This means you can farm Smithing Stones in Elden Ring .

Since enemies that drop Smithing Stones can respawn, you can farm them if you know where to go. Below, we’ll list where to farm Smithing Stones in Elden Ring:

• Smithing Stones (1) & (2) : Dropped by Miners in Limgrave Tunnels, located along the Northern edge of Agheel Lake in Limgrave.
• Smithing Stones (3) & (4) : Dropped by Soldiers and Miners in Gael Tunnel, which connects Limgrave and Caelid.
• Smithing Stone (5) : Dropped by Imps in the Subterranean Shunning-Grounds beneath Leyndell, Royal Capital.
• Smithing Stone (6) & (8) : Dropped by Miners in the Yelough Anix Tunnel, Consecrated Snowfield.
• Smithing Stone (7) : Dropped by Haligtree Soldiers at Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree.

Smithing Stones (5) and higher are rare drops, but you can increase the likelihood of finding them by raising your Arcane stat or using the Silver-Pickled Fowl Foot item . To farm Smithing Stone (6) and above, you’ll need to reach the Consecrated Snowfield . You can learn how to reach this area using our guide on how to find and defeat Malenia, Blade of Miquella .

Elden Ring Somber Smithing Stones

Somber Smithing Stones allow you to upgrade special weapons, as mentioned earlier. These are usually the best weapons in Elden Ring , so you’ll need a lot of Somber Smithing Stones if you want to beat some of Elden Ring’s hardest bosses .

Somber Smithing Stones function a little differently from the regular type. Somber Smithing Stones range from tiers 1-9. Somber Smithing Stones (1) will upgrade your special armaments to +1, Somber Smithing Stones (2) to +2, and so on up to +9. Special armaments cap at +10, which requires a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.

How to buy Somber Smithing Stones: Bell Bearing locations

Though Somber Smithing Stones are rarer, you can still buy them using Bell Bearings. However, you’ll need to find Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearings, which we’ll cover below:

• Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing (1): Allows you to purchase Somber Smithing Stones (1) & (2). Obtained by killing the Fallingstar Beast in Sellia Crystal Tunnel, Caelid.
• Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing (2): Allows you to purchase Somber Smithing Stones (3) & (4). Obtained by defeating the Crystalian bosses at the end of the Altus Tunnel in the Altus Plateau.
• Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing (3): Allows you to purchase Somber Smithing Stones (5) & (6). Located at the First Church of Marika, found on the Southern edge of the Freezing Lake in the Mountaintops of the Giants region.
• Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing (4): Allows you to purchase Somber Smithing Stones (7) & (8). Located at the Tempest-Facing Balcony, an area in Crumbling Farum Azula.
• Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearing (5): Allows you to purchase Somber Smithing Stone (9). Also located in Crumbling Farum Azula, in a building below the Beside the Great Bridge Site of Grace.

Below, you can find the cost of every Somber Smithing Stone at the Twin-Maiden Husks and the upgrade attained from each Somber Smithing Stone tier:

Somber Smithing Stone farming locations

Like the regular Smithing Stone Bell Bearings, the Somberstone versions are usually found in late-game areas and you might need some Somber Smithing Stones earlier in your adventure. Though they drop very rarely, you are able to farm or retrieve some of the lower-level Somber Smithing Stones earlier in the game.

Below, we’ll explain where to farm Somber Smithing Stones in Elden Ring:

• Somber Smithing Stones (1) & (2): This isn’t technically farming, since you don’t need to kill anything, but you can purchase infinite Somber Smithing Stones (1) & (2) from Smithing Master Iji at the Kingsrealm Ruins.
• Somber Smithing Stones (3), (4), and (5): Rarely dropped by the Glintstone Miners in Sellia Crystal Tunnel, a mine found northwest of Sellia, Town of Sorcery.

It seems that you can’t farm Somber Smithing Stones (6) and above at this time, but you will find them as loot in late-game areas. If you want to get unlimited amounts, you’ll need to find the Somberstone Miner’s Bell Bearings as mentioned above.

Elden Ring Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones

Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones are the highest tier Smithing Stone, allowing you to upgrade your regular weapons to +25. Likewise, Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones let you upgrade special weapons to +10, which is the maximum level for unique and legendary armaments.

Since these are the best Smithing Stones in Elden Ring, they are incredibly limited and difficult to find. This means you should be cautious about which weapons you choose to upgrade. Once you run out, you’ll need to start a New Game+ to continue upgrading weapons to the max level.

Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone locations

Below, we will list where to find all 13 Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones in Elden Ring:

1. Complete Nepheli Loux’s sidequest to receive this Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone as a reward.
2. After completing Nepheli’s quest, speak to the Stormveil Castle Gatekeeper, who will sell you an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.
3. Follow Sorceress Sellen’s quest and choose to kill her at the end. Jerren will reward you with an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.
4. Follow the cliffs South of the Church of Repose in the Mountaintops of the Giants. You will find an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone in a large skull.
5. Obtained by giving Gurranq a 9th Deathroot at the Bestial Sanctum in Caelid.
6. Kill the Night’s Cavalry bosses in the Consecrated Snowfield .
7. Found within the Yelough Anix Tunnel, near the Alabaster Lord boss.
8. Found in the waterfall near Great Wyrm Theodorix .
9. Slay the dragon that drops down on the curved walkway shortly after arriving in Crumbling Farum Azula.
10. At the top of the large staircase shortly after the Dragon Temple, you’ll find some rubble that creates a bridge up to a higher ledge. You will find an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone on a corpse on this ledge.
11. Slay the wounded dragon that calls down a red thunderstorm in Crumbling Farum Azula.
12. Found on a statue that’s guarded by some Beastmen in Miquella’s Haligtree, near the Haligtree Town Plaza Site of Grace.
13. After killing Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree, you will find a chest nearby that contains the final Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.

Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone locations

Below, we will cover where to get all 8 Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones in Elden Ring:

1. Complete Latenna the Albinauric’s quest to receive a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone as your reward.
2. Kill the wounded dragon that calls down the red thunderstorm and then look behind it to find a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone nearby.
3. After returning from Crumbling Farum Azula and spawning in Leyndell, Ashen Capital, head towards the dragon statue and climb the ladder in the room hidden behind the structure. At the top, follow the walkway along until you reach a balcony, where you can hop down to find a corpse in the ash dunes below. This corpse holds a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.
4. You will receive a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone after defeating Anastasia for the third time. Anastasia invades in the following locations: Smouldering Church (Caelid), Corpse-Stench Shack (Mt. Gelmir), and along the river South of Ordina, Liturgical Town (Consecrated Snowfield). You will get the Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone after the Consecrated Snowfield invasion.
5. From the Prayer Room Site of Grace in Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree, follow the walkways northwest and use the sloped support beams to climb into a small room with a chest. Inside, you will find a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.
6. Head back to the Prayer Room Site of Grace and head back outside. Immediately turn right and start climbing over to the Eastern walkway, where you will find a corpse with a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.
7. Complete Millicent’s questline and take her needle to Malenia’s boss fight room. After defeating Malenia, you will find a flower that you can interact with using Millicent’s needle to gain a Somber Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone.
8. Found in a chest guarded by the group of Albinaurics opposite the lift up to the Mohg, Lord of Blood boss fight in Mohgwyn Palace.

That’s everything you need to know about Smithing Stones in Elden Ring. After upgrading your weapons, test them out on the nearest boss using our Elden Ring boss locations guide . To make your character even stronger, take a look at our lists of the best armor sets and best builds in Elden Ring .

Elden Ring

PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , PC

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.

All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.