How to change an item’s affinity using whetstones – You unlock the ability to change a weapon’s affinity when you obtain your first Whetstone Knife. Using a whetstone, you can apply Ashes of War to your weapons to upgrade them with affinities and other special status effects, according to the type of Ashes you use.
- Furthermore, there are different types of whetstones you can collect, which further expand your customisation options, since there are some affinities that are only made available by using certain whetstones.
- Below is a list of all the types of whetstones we’ve found in Elden Ring so far, as well as the areas in which we’ve picked them up.
This list of locations isn’t comprehensive, though, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for them (probably literally, this is a Soulsborne game after all).
Whetstone Knife: The most basic whetstone, this allows you to change your weapon’s affinity based on the properties of the Ashes of War you use to imbue it. You’ll find your first one at the Gatefront Ruins in Limgrave, which initially unlocks the ability to upgrade weapons. Iron Whetblade: Allows you to change your weapon’s affinity based on the properties of the Ashes of War you use, with additional opportunity to apply Heavy, Keen, and Quality affinities. We found one at Stormveil Castle in Limgrave. Glintstone Whetblade: Allows you to change your weapon’s affinity based on the properties of the Ashes of War you use, with additional opportunity to apply the Magic and Frost affinities. We found one at the Academy of Raya Lucaria in Liurnia. Black Whetblade: Allows you to change your weapon’s affinity based on the properties of the Ashes of War you use, with additional opportunity to apply the Blood, Occult, and Poison affinities. We found one in Nokron, The Eternal City. Sanctified Whetblade: Allows you to change your weapon’s affinity based on the properties of the Ashes of War you use, with additional opportunity to apply the Sacred and Lightning affinities. We found one in the Fortified Manor in Leyndell, the Royal Capital.
For more on your choice of weaponry to help you survive in the Lands Between, see our best weapons in Elden Ring guide. If you’re right at the start of your journey and are struggling to pick an origin for your character, be sure to take a look at our Elden Ring best class page.
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Contents
How do you apply affinity to weapon Elden Ring?
Choosing an Affinity in Elden Ring – Affinities can be granted to compatible armaments while selecting an, This can be done at after obtaining the or by speaking to a Smithing Master. You can expand your selection of affinities by obtaining, are defined by type, determining which other affinities can be granted:
- Physical – Standard, Heavy, Keen, Quality
- Magic – Magic, Frost
- Flame – Fire, Flame Art
- Golden – Lightning, Sacred
- Occult – Poison, Blood, Occult
Example:
- has the Lightning affinity, which makes it a golden-type ash of war.
- : “When applying an affinity using physical or golden-type ashes of war, an additional affinity of sacred or lightning can be chosen.”
- : “When applying an affinity using ashes of war, an additional affinity of heavy, keen, or quality can be chosen.”
Any applicable armament with any affinity can be buffed by (e.g., ), but only armaments with Physical Affinities can be buffed with,, or (e.g.,, or ). However, remember that certain armaments cannot be buffed, regardless of their affinity (e.g.,,,, etc.).
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Can you change affinity without changing Ash of War Elden Ring?
r/Eldenring – PSA: You can change Affinities (Scaling) without changing your Ash of War. There are items called “Whetblades” that, when obtained, grant additional affinity options when selecting your Ash of War. For example, if you wanted “Spinning Weapon” for your Dex build, you’d be upset to find that it only scales with Magic.
However, obtaining the “Iron Whetblade” will grant the Quality, Keen and Heavy affinities to your ashes of war. So you’d be able to choose Keen for your Spinning Weapon Ash to match your Dex build. There are several whetblades in the world that provide different affinity options. The Sanctified Whetblade offers the Sacred affinity and the Glintstone whetblade offers the Cold/Magic affinities.
Just thought you guys should know this in case you planned on altering your build or completely ruling out an Ash of War you really wanted. You can really have anything you want in this game! : r/Eldenring – PSA: You can change Affinities (Scaling) without changing your Ash of War.
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How does affinity work in Elden Ring?
All weapon Affinities in Elden Ring and what they do 
When you begin gearing up in Elden Ring you’ll want to make sure you’re taking the right weapons and items for your desired build, which you can do with the right affinity. Affinities let weapons deal unique damage while scaling off the user’s stats. This means a player could reach the minimum required stat to wield a weapon before altering its affinity to get the most value. 
Image via FromSoftware There are 12 different weapon affinities in Elden Ring, each of which deals a unique kind of damage to foes. You’ll find Affinities on every weapon that you pick up, craft, or purchase in the game. Here is a rundown on how each Affinities works.
Standard: The standard affinity is how weapons scale at default in Elden Ring, Its effects vary from weapon to weapon to compliment respective playstyles. Heavy: Heavy weapons are perfect for those going for a brute force build as they scale best with the user’s Strength, however, this comes at the cost like all affinities by reducing its scaling with other attributes. Quality: With the Quality affinity your weapon will scale with a balance of Strength and Dexterity. Keen: The Keen affinity will scale best with Dexterity. Magic: Having the Magic affinity means your weapon will boost with Intelligence while default scaling is reduced. Weapons with this affinity will be split with both physical and magic damage. Fire: The Fire affinity will make a player’s weapon deal both fire and physical damage. Sacred: The sacred affinity will see the damage of a weapon become physical and holy type. Lightning: Having the Lightning affinity will pair best with intelligence and also see the weapon’s damage become split between physical and lightning. Poison: As the name indicates, this affinity will make your weapon poison enemies. It scales best with strength, dexterity, and arcane. Cold: The Cold affinity scales with Intelligence while also adding Frostbite to your attacks. Blood: If you’re looking to bolster your Arcane offense you have multiple options. One of these is Blood which will add a bleed to your attacks. Occult: The other option is Occult which, on top of scaling well with Arcane, will prevent undead enemies from automatically getting back into action.
This article includes affiliate links, which may provide small compensation to Dot Esports. : All weapon Affinities in Elden Ring and what they do
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How do you change weapon quality Elden Ring?
Master Hewg at Roundtable Hold – Elden Ring players who want to upgrade weapons past +3 can do that with the help of Blacksmith Hewg, which is located at the Roundtable Hold. Once you’re there, just head right of the main room, and you’ll spot the Smithing Master Hewg, who can upgrade your weapons up to +10 or +25, depending on the weapon. 
image credit: eldenring.fandom.com | Smithing Master Hewg — a blacksmith that can be found at the Roundtable Hold You can also upgrade Staffs and Sacred Seals if you want to use Sorceris or Incantations,
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How do I change my Ash of War affinity?
Elden Ring Ashes of War Affinities Explained – There are lots of systems and stats in FromSoftware’s newest title, and very few of them are explained well to players. Affinities may seem complicated to begin with, but they can be very useful once you know how each type affects your damage output.
- Basically, applying different types of affinities will alter what type of damage you do, and how you defend yourself against that damage type.
- The higher certain attributes are, the more damage you will do with that affinity type applied to your weapon,
- This will negatively affect the weapon’s other attributes.
For example, applying the Sacred affinity will strengthen your Holy damage and defence, but lower your physical damage and defence. This scaling is easily represented by a grade. C is better than D, B is better than C, and so on. The higher your grade, the more damage you will do.
Attack Power and Damage Negation numbers can also be checked to see exactly how changing affinities affects your character stats. Every weapon will have a select few affinities it can be changed to. You can’t change a unique weapon’s affinity, or apply its skill to other weapons through the Ashes of War system.
You can, however, add more affinities to standard weapons if you have Iron, Glintstone, or Black Whetblades. The following table explains every Ash of War affinity type in Elden Ring, and what attribute strengthens it:
| Affinity Type | Corresponding Attribute |
| Standard | N/A (Check individual weapon description) |
| Heavy | Strength |
| Keen | Dexterity |
| Quality | Strength and Dexterity |
| Magic | Intelligence |
| Sacred | Faith |
| Fire | Strength (Adds fire damage) |
| Lightning | Dexterity (Adds lightning damage) |
| Cold | Intelligence (Builds frost on hit) |
| Blood | Arcane (Builds bleed on hit) |
| Occult | Arcane (Stops undead enemies reviving) |
| Poison | Strength, Dexterity, and Arcane (Builds poison on hit) |
Can you reuse affinity Elden Ring?
How to equip an Ash of War – To equip an Ash of War, once you have a Whetstone Knife, visit a Site of Grace. The option for Ashes of War should now be visible, and it’s this menu where you can equip an Ash of War. 
From here, you can select a weapon and assign an Ash of War. Not all Ashes of War will work for every weapon – but you’ll see which are available as you select a weapon. Once an Ash of War has been assigned to a weapon, it cannot be equipped to another without unequipping it first. 
In summary – Ashes of War are reusable, nor are Weapon Arts replaced for good. This allows you to experiment and try which Ashes of War work best for your weapons of choice. Finally, though an Ash of War can only be used on one weapon at a time, you can acquire a second of that type for another weapon once you have found a Lost Ash of War and visited a Blacksmith. 
A Blacksmith will be available in the Roundtable Hold, of which access becomes available in the Site of Grace just before the Margit fight. In other words – not long into the game at all.
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Can you change unique weapon affinity Elden Ring?
Yes, it’s possible to change the affinity without changing (technically you’d need to change it though) weapon’s skill. To do this, you have to change the skill to same skill that your preferred weapon has – for example, if you want to change the Long Sword’s affinity, you’d need Square Off Ashes of War, and you also need specific whetblade for the affinity that you want to have.
Iron Whetblade for Quality / Keen / Heavy Glintstone Whetblade for Magic / Cold Red-Hot Whetblade for Fire / Flame Art Black Whetblade for Poison / Blood / Occult Sancrified Whetblade for Sacred / Lightning
I’ll update this post if I find more whetblade.
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Can you put any affinity on any Ash of War?
Elden Ring Whetblade locations – 
(Image credit: Bandai Namco) Affinities are tied to Ashes of War, but by finding special items called Whetblades you can expand your options, each one essentially adding two or three new Affinities to your roster. Find them all and you’ll effectively be able to add any Affinity to any compatible weapon. We’ve listed their locations below for you to check out. Swipe to scroll horizontally
| Whetblade | Affinities | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Whetstone Knife | None (used to apply Ashes of War at Sites of Grace) | Gatefront Ruins, Limgrave: The soldiers camp by the Stormgate. Find the stairs in the Southeast side to find a treasure chest with the Whetstone and the Storm Stomp Ash of War. |
| Iron Whetblade | Keen/Heavy/Quality | Stormveil Castle, Limgrave: Behind a Stonesword Key door on the West side of the Castle past the Grafted horror with many arms. |
| Glintstone Whetblade | Magic/Cold | Raya Lucaria Academy, Liurnia of the Lakes: After killing the Red Wolf, head West at the courtyard fountain and head up the slope to find a corpse on a balcony by some kneeling undead. |
| Red-Hot Whetblade | Fire/Flame Art | Redmane Castle, Caelid: From the Chamber Outside the Plaza Site of Grace run back past the flamethrower turrets and take the Northwest path towards the tower straight ahead. Evade the Iron Maiden and once you’re inside, you should find the Whetblade. |
| Sanctified Whetblade | Lightning/Sacred | Fortified Manor, Leyndell, Royal Capital: Climb the dragon’s wing from the Avenue Balcony Site of Grace, then head left and up the wooden balcony when you reach the main doors. Head inside the little side-door to find the Whetblade on an anvil. |
| Black Whetblade | Poison/Blood/Occult | Night’s Sacred Ground, Nokron: Found on a corpse in front of an altar in the church. |
How do I make my sword better Elden Ring?
Sword of Night and Flame build stat requirements – The Sword of Night and Flame has a mixed bunch of stat requirements, as you’ll need:
12 Strength 12 Dexterity 24 Intelligence 24 Faith
After meeting these requirements, we recommend putting points into Strength, to further boost your melee damage, and Intelligence, which will increase the damage of your Comet Azur. To boost your melee damage further, make sure you know where to find Smithing Stones in Elden Ring, 
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Are weapons stronger in NG+ Elden Ring?
There Are No New Weapons, Enemies, Items, or Bosses In NG+ – 
Unfortunately there are really no other major differences between New Game Plus and a regular playthrough of Elden Ring, Dark Souls required players to go to at least New Game +2 to get all achievements for the game, Dark Souls 2 changed enemy and item placements and added stronger items for players to discover, and Dark Souls 3 made all upgraded versions of rings only accessible in subsequent playthroughs.
- All FromSoftware games have had some kind of New Game Plus mechanic, but it would be remiss to say that Elden Ring ‘s feels a bit lacking compared to other offerings in the past.
- It’s still a worthy experience for all players to take on when looking for more challenge after beating the Elden Beast – but try going for a different ending or using a completely different build to make it more worthwhile.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S. MORE: Complete Guide To Elden Ring: Weapons, Tips, Tricks, Bosses, & Builds
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What is the strongest weapon type in Elden Ring?
Best Elden Ring quality weapon: Bloodhound’s Fang – 
(Image credit: Windows Central)
Stat requirements: STR 18, DEX 17 Scaling: STR D, DEX C
Quality weapons — weapons that work best with a relatively even split of both Strength and Dexterity — aren’t as effective in Elden Ring as they’ve been in previous Soulsborne-style games. With that said, some of them are still incredibly capable, and the best of these is arguably the Bloodhound’s Fang.
This Curved Greatsword ends up with C Strength scaling and B Dex scaling when upgraded and outputs a ton of damage, especially when you use its Bloodhound’s Finesse Ash of War. Its range is fairly long, too, and as a bonus, it also inflicts bleed buildup with every hit. You can acquire the Bloodhound’s Fang by defeating Bloodhound Knight Darriwhil at the Forlorn Hound Evergaol in southern Limgrave, just before the bridge that leads to the Weeping Peninsula,
For more information about this encounter, check out our guide on how to complete Blaidd’s quest in Elden Ring,
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How do you change weapon ashes?
How to change Ash of War and Stats Scaling – You can swap the Ash of War to another weapon at a Lost Grace (AKA Bonfire). Changing Ashes of War requires that you have an item in your possession called the Whetstone Knife, which can be found near the beginning of the game. Ashes of War usually only apply to a subset of armaments. For example, some can only be applied to weapons but not shields. Each Ash of War will tell you what it can be applied to and when modifying a specific armament, you will only be shown Ashes of War that can be applied to that specific armament. You cannot apply Ashes of War to armaments with Unique Skills, which usually drop from bosses. A single Ash of War can only be applied to 1 armament at a time, though you can copy the Ash of War if you find Lost Ashes of War. If you remove an Ash of War from an armament, the Skill and scaling will revert back to what they were originally, allowing you to experiment with different Ashes of War to your heart’s content.
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How do I change scaling with Ashes of War?
How to change a weapon’s attribute scaling values – Now we know how to view attribute scaling, there are multiple ways to change a weapon’s values in Elden Ring to make the most of it: Through upgrades at a blacksmith Whilst Smithing Stones can be used to upgrade a weapon’s base damage, using them will will also positively impact its attribute scaling as well. 
This is because a grade in the attribute scaling menu underneath also improves when you upgrade the weapon. You can see that whilst Dexterity stays at grade C, the added blue letter C shows that the scaling gets ever so slightly better thanks to the smithing upgrade. 
Once you have settled on a starting class and starting Keepsake item, you should first work out how to level up, how to respec and use Ashes of War, Need some direction from there? Our Elden Ring walkthrough and Elden Ring boss order can help with where to go next, but we also recommend hunting down Golden Seeds, Sacred Tears, Crystal Tears, Talismans and some of our best weapon and best armor choices.
- If you are approaching the end game, we can help with the Volcano Manor quest and Rykard, Haligtree Secret Medallion locations, solving the Ordina, Liturgical Town puzzle, the Millicent quest, Commander Niall, Morgott, Godskin Duo, Maliketh and Malenia,
- Through Ashes of War and Affinities If you’re happy to spend time experimenting, you can actually make your weapon even stronger and reflective of your character’s stats by changing the letter grades present in the attribute scaling submenu.
To do this go to any Site of Grace and select the Ashes of War menu towards the bottom. 
Now, not every weapon can have its Ashes of War changed, but you’ll first be thrown into a menu splitting up the weapons you have equipped and everything else in your inventory. For this example, we’ve again equipped the Nagakiba and will use that to illustrate how to change a weapon’s attributes. 
Note that which Ash of War you pick (as some are elemental for example) will impact how you change the weapon’s attribute scaling. So take a look at them all and see what works for your build best. 
Once you’ve selected a weapon and an Ash of War, you’ll be met with the Affinity Granted menu. Here you’ll see many different affinities, and each will change the letter values in the Attribute Scaling for that weapon. Some affinities will make certain stats scale better, worse, or even add a new one entirely. 
For example, selecting the “Heavy” affinity on the Nagakiba would increase the Strength scaling from D to B in this instance, but remove Dexterity scaling entirely. If you were going for a Strength build, where you have invested a lot of Runes into the Strength stat and none into Dexterity, changing to this affinity would make the Nagakiba better.
This means changing affinities to better reflect what stats you’ve invested levels into will make a weapon much better. And of course, different Ashes of War gives you different special abilities for the weapon they are equipped to, so keep that in mind. There’s no hard and fast rules around attribute scaling in Elden Ring.
A combination of weapon upgrades, exploring the Ashes of War menu, and taking the time to respec your character into stats for high attribute scaling equipment will help you wield powerful weapons in the game.
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Can you reapply Ashes of War Elden Ring?
What are Ashes of War in Elden Ring? – Elden Ring’s Ashes of War are essentially spells. You can, however, remove and reapply them as many times as you wish to any weapon at Sites of Grace. While these Ashes of War can be replaced at will, each Elden Ring weapon can only contain one at a time.
Change the weapon’s Affinity to increase certain stats and scales while decreasing others. Replace any existing Weapon Skill with a predefined skill.
It’s also worth noting that Ashes of War are restricted to specific weapon and equipment categories. The Ash of War: Thunderbolt, for example, can only be used on melee weapons and not on any other equipment. Likewise, the Ash of War: Parry skill is only applicable on shields and certain minor armaments.
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