How To Upgrade Weapons in Elden Ring

Elden Ring presents players with a brutal world filled with challenging enemies and formidable bosses. While character leveling provides incremental stat improvements, weapon upgrading delivers exponential damage increases that can make or break your progression. A fully upgraded weapon at +25 deals approximately 250% of its base damage, making this system absolutely essential for success.

The weapon enhancement process requires strategic resource gathering and understanding upgrade locations. Many players struggle with the material requirements and progression thresholds, which is why mastering this system early provides a significant advantage throughout your journey.

Proper weapon upgrading transforms difficult encounters into manageable challenges. Each upgrade tier provides not just raw damage increases but also improves weapon scaling, making your attribute investments more effective.

To begin enhancing your armaments, you’ll need to locate Smithing Stones scattered throughout the Lands Between. Your initial upgrade station awaits at the Church of Elleh in Limgrave, accessible immediately after obtaining Torrent.

Interacting with the anvil at Elleh opens the weapon enhancement interface, but this location has significant limitations. You can only achieve upgrades up to +3 here, which serves as an introduction to the system rather than a complete solution.

For serious progression, you must locate Smithing Master Hewg at the Roundtable Hold. This NPC becomes available after visiting any Site of Grace outside Limgrave or defeating Margit. Hewg provides access to the full upgrade spectrum, including the crucial ability to ascend weapons past key thresholds.

Hewg’s services extend beyond basic upgrades, offering weapon infusion and ash of war applications. Building rapport with him through repeated visits unlocks additional dialogue and lore insights.

Elden Ring categorizes weapons into two distinct upgrade paths with different requirements. Standard weapons follow the traditional progression to +25 using regular Smithing Stones, while unique armaments classified as special weapons utilize Somber Smithing Stones and cap at +10.

Normal weapons offer greater customization through ash of war applications and typically have more versatile move sets. Special weapons often come with built-in skills and unique properties but lack flexibility in customization.

Both upgrade types consume Runes alongside their respective stone types. The cost increases significantly at higher upgrade levels, so plan your Rune expenditures carefully between leveling and upgrading.

Normal Weapon Upgrade Requirements:

Standard armaments require progressively higher-tier Smithing Stones as you advance through upgrade levels. The table below details the precise material progression:

Efficient Smithing Stone acquisition separates novice players from seasoned Tarnished. Early game stones (1-2) can be purchased from the Twin Maiden Husks at Roundtable Hold after acquiring specific bell bearings. Mid-tier stones (3-6) become available through exploration of mines marked on your map with black and orange outlines.

Common upgrade mistakes include wasting higher-tier stones on weapons you’ll eventually replace and neglecting to upgrade your shield for better damage reduction.

Optimization tip: Focus on upgrading one primary weapon rather than spreading resources thin across multiple armaments. The damage increase from +0 to +3 is more significant than from +20 to +25, making early upgrades particularly valuable.

Advanced players should prioritize obtaining the Smithing Stone Bell Bearings to unlock unlimited purchases. The first bearing located in the Raya Lucaria Crystal Tunnel allows buying unlimited Smithing Stones (1) and (2), dramatically simplifying the upgrade process for subsequent playthroughs.

Time investment for farming all necessary materials varies significantly based on knowledge of locations. Experienced players can fully upgrade a weapon in approximately 4-6 hours of focused material gathering.

For those struggling with specific encounters, check out our Weapons Unlock guide for additional combat strategies. Understanding weapon scaling mechanics through our Complete Guide provides additional context for maximizing your build effectiveness.

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