Players need an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone to max out their favorite weapon in Elden Ring. The trouble is that there are a very limited number of them in the world.
While lower-level crafting items are available to players in infinite numbers after they find the appropriate Bell Bearing and bring it to the Twin Maiden Husks in Roundtable Hold, that’s not the case with Ancient Dragon Smithing Stones. There are only a small number of them available in one playthrough. The only way to get more is to enter a new game plus cycle.
The good news is that these items are far more plentiful in Elden Ring than they were in past FromSoftware games, where as few as three weapons could be fully upgraded during a playthrough. Because of that, it’s worth going over the full list of items that can be used to max out weapons. Here’s the location of every Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone and how to find them, as well as which ones are missable.
Here’s the location of every Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone in Elden Ring
Here’s the full list of every Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone that can be found in an Elden Ring playthrough.
- Bring Gurranq nine Deathroots or kill him in the Bestial Sanctum
- Head southeast from the Church of Repose Site of Grace in the Mountaintops of the Giants and look for a huge skeleton, then check inside its mouth
- Defeat the Farum Azula Dragon that attacks on a large, open platform
- From Crumbling Farum Azula’s Dragon Temple Rooftop Site of Grace, drop down between rooftops to spot another Farum Azula Dragon. Kill it for a stone
- From the Dragon Temple Altar Site of Grace in Crumbling Farum Azula, head out the door to the north and drop down between each of the platforms in a generally northwest direction. This leads to a large spiral staircase to the right. Head up and find it on the ground near a cliff, surrounded by Beastmen
- In the Consecrated Snowfield, a convoy is protected by a pair of Night’s Cavalry. The reward for defeating everyone is an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone and the Night’s Cavalry set
- Found in the Yelough Anix Tunnel in the Consecrated Snowfield
- Found outside the Cave of the Forlorn in Consecrated Snowfield. Exit left, move to the wall on the opposite side of the chasm, and run along it to find a lootable corpse
- From Haligtree Town Plaza Site of Grace head back across the bridge to an altar in a rotunda guarded by a Leonine Misbegotten and a group of demi-humans
- After defeating Loretta of the Haligtree, head beyond her arena and find a hidden ladder that leads to a tower
- Obtained by siding with Witch-Hunter Jerren at the end of Sorceress Sellen’s questline
- Obtained from Nepheli Loux at the end of her questline
- Purchasable from Gatekeeper Gostoc at the end of Nepheli Loux’s questline
Most of these items can be obtained safely, but some are permanently missable.
If the player sides with Sorceress Sellen at the end of her questline, Jerren is killed and will not hand over any items. During Ranni the Witch’s questline, players receive a potion to give to Nepheli Loux a potion by Preceptor Seluvis. If the player does this, they cannot obtain two of the stones. This questline was added as part of the 1.03 update and wasn’t available at launch, so some players may find themselves shortchanged by this.
