Spirit Ashes provide invaluable tactical support in Elden Ring, drawing enemy aggression and dealing significant damage during tough boss encounters. However, relying on base-level summons quickly becomes ineffective as you progress into tougher regions of the Lands Between. Learning how to properly upgrade your spectral companions ensures they remain durable and powerful allies throughout your entire journey.
Unlocking Spirit Tuning with Roderika
Before you can enhance any summons, you must first unlock the Spirit Tuning mechanic by completing Roderika's initial questline. You will first encounter Roderika resting inside Stormhill Shack near the entrance to Stormveil Castle. After speaking with her and retrieving the Chrysalids' Memento from the castle, she will relocate to Roundtable Hold.
Once at the hub area, speak repeatedly with Roderika and Master Hewg the blacksmith to mediate their conversation. Master Hewg will eventually agree to train Roderika in the art of spirit tuning, allowing her to open a workshop across from his anvil. From this point onward, visiting Roderika at Roundtable Hold allows you to upgrade your preferred Spirit Ashes using Runes and special flora.
Grave Glovewort for Standard Spirit Ashes
Upgrading standard spectral summons requires a specific category of plant material known as Grave Glovewort. Standard summons include common multi-entity groups like Lone Wolves, Wandering Nobles, and Skeletal Militia. These upgrade materials range from Grave Glovewort [1] up to Grave Glovewort [9], with Great Grave Glovewort needed for the final boost to +10.
Grave Gloveworts are most frequently harvested within the underground Catacombs scattered across every major territory. Exploring these dark dungeons allows you to gather the necessary tiers to steadily improve your standard summons' health pool and attack power. Keeping a reliable stock of these plants guarantees your basic crowd-control summons stay competitive in mid-game zones.
Ghost Glovewort for Special Legendary Summons
Famous elite and named spirit companions demand a rarer resource known as Ghost Glovewort for their enhancements. Renowned allies such as the Mimic Tear, Black Knife Tiche, and Lhutel the Headless fall into this special legendary classification. Like their standard counterparts, Ghost Gloveworts scale from tier 1 to tier 9, culminating in the Great Ghost Glovewort for maximum enhancement.
These distinct white flowers thrive primarily in subterranean environments, particularly within Eternal Cities like Nokron and Nokstella. Because legendary summons possess unique abilities and exceptional stats, upgrading them yields dramatic performance increases during end-game confrontations. Investing your Ghost Gloveworts into top-tier summons can fundamentally change the outcome of demanding boss battles.
Key Farming Locations and Glovewort Picker's Bells
While exploring dungeons yields a steady supply of upgrading plants, acquiring Glovewort Picker's Bell Bearings allows for infinite purchasing capabilities. Offering these ancient bell items to the Twin Maiden Husks at Roundtable Hold unlocks various tiers of gloveworts for direct purchase. This vendor method eliminates the tedious task of manually searching individual dungeons for specific upgrade materials.
You can discover Grave Glovewort Bell Bearings in places like Wyndham Catacombs and Giants' Mountaintop Catacombs. Meanwhile, Ghost Glovewort Bell Bearings are hidden deeper within Ainsel River, Nokstella, and Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. Collecting all bell bearings empowers you to experiment with different Spirit Ashes whenever you enter a new combat challenge.
