Elden Ring Spirit Ashes Summons: How to use and upgrade your NPC allies

Elden Ring is the most accessible Souls-style release by FromSoftware ever - though despite this fact, it's honestly no less unforgiving in difficulty - it just has more options to help everybody get through battles. One of the major features that can seriously assist is Spirit Summoning, the ability to call upon AI-controlled Spirit Ashes characters to assist you in fights.

Spirit Summoning shouldn't be confused with traditional Souls Summoning, where you call upon real life players from other worlds to come to your version of the Lands Between to help you as a co-op partner. Elden Ring also has some AI based versions of these summons, where story Tarnished can come assist you - but these are always marked by Golden co-op summoning signs which appear on the floor like messages. Spirit Summoning, meanwhile, takes the form of Spirit Ashes items you equip and then use to call ghostly spirits to your aid.

While you can find Ashes out in the world right from the start of the game, the method of how to use ashes is one that actually has to be unlocked - and as we on RPG Site learned during the review process, it can actually be easily missed. One of our two reviewers picked up this ability in the first few hours of the game, while the other didn't get it until some thirty hours in. So here, we'll explain how to unlock Spirit Summoning in Elden Ring, how to use ashes, and a little more besides:

• How to get the Spirit Calling Bell
• How to use Ashes to Summon
• How to Unlock Ashes Upgrades
• Spirit Ashes List

How to get the Spirit Calling Bell to Unlock Summons

Basically, getting your hands on the Spirit Calling Bell requires you to travel to a specific place once you've advanced some of Elden Ring's story a little ways - and if for some reason you don't return to that place, it's easy to not get the item in question.

Specifically, to unlock the Spirit Calling Bell required to summon, you'll need to return to the Church of Elleh Site of Grace once you've advanced the story a little way.

The story advancement required is that you must have accepted Melina's accord to make her your Maiden, at which point she gives you the ability to summon Torrent, your horse. That happens the first time you reach the Gatefront Site of Grace, which is at the base of Stormhill, just north of 'The First Step', the first Site of Grace you find after leaving the tutorial area and entering the open world for the first time. 

The next time you return to the Church of Elleh Site of Grace, a Witch should be present - she'll call out to you. It's tough to miss as the whole area gets bathed in a blue mist; if she's not there, try travelling away and back again, or returning at night time.

Talk to Renna; she will ask if you have the ability to summon Torrent. Tell her "I can call the spectral steed", and she will give you the Spirit Calling Bell, which is a key item used to summon spirits, as well as Lone Wolf Ashes, which will be your first spirit unless you chose the Imp Ashes as your Keepsake from Elden Ring's starting gifts. Unlocking the spirits now can be a key progression point, and help you to beat Margit the Fell Omen, the first progression-blocking boss.

As for Witch Renna? She says you will not see her again - but depending on which side quests you pursue and which ending you're going for, you might... remember to keep note of what NPCs ask of you going forwards.

How to Use Ashes to Summon Spirits in Elden Ring

With the Spirit Calling Bell in hand, you can now summon spirits to assist you, which means you can use the Ashes items. There are some rules, however:

• Consuming Spirits costs FP, which means it is a magical attack. You'll need sufficient FP to summon, which is governed by your Mind Stat and certain accessories. That means your choice of starting class will determine a little around which spirits, if any, you can summon.
• You can only Summon Spirits from Ashes if you're near a Rebirth Monument; these are little stone sculptures that are placed around the world. Basically, you'll always find Rebirth Monuments near difficult combat segments and in the rooms of practically every boss in the game - so you'll always be able to summon for battles like that, but not necessarily everywhere in the open world.
• You can only summon one spirit at a time, and only one for each Rebirth Monument nearby. Which basically means there's one per fight, and once it's defeated, you can't summon another. Spirit Ash allies also can't be summoned at the same time as co-op or competitive multiplayer players. 

To actually summon, all you need to do is navigate to your menu, select the summon you want, and use it like any other item.

Like most items you might want mid-battle, it'll make a lot of sense to bind your favorite Spirit Ash summon to your Quick Item toolbar using the equipment menu, which means you can then activate them the same way you might heal or use other items like crafted grenades.

How to upgrade Spirit Ashes to make Summons more Powerful

Another optional piece of the Spirit calling mechanic in Elden Ring is the ability to upgrade them. This works very similarly to upgrading weapons, meaning you'll need Runes as a currency to pay for the upgrades, plus Grave Gloveworts, a specific item, to actually perform the upgrade.

Unlike weapon upgrades, you can't do it yourself and won't find the NPC who can do it at Roundtable Hold when you first visit. Instead, you need to find and rescue them from The Lands Between. Specifically:

• You'll need to find Roderika at Stormhill Shack, an NPC hiding out in a dilapidated building as you head up Stormhill towards Stormveil Castle.
• Talk to Roderika and exhaust her dialogue options. She'll give you a summon, the Spirit Jellyfish. She is despairing, but you can help.
• Look out for a side room in the Stormveil Castle legacy dungeon, just off a large banquet hall type room with a huge grafted enemy. This room has a pile of bodies in it. Atop the pile is a key item. Grab it.
• Return to Roderika and give her this item. She will then move on to Roundtable Hold.
• At Roundtable Hold, go back and forth speaking to Roderika and Master Hewg, the blacksmith, to advance their relationship. You may need to fast travel away and back a few times to advance the plot here. 
• Eventually, Master Hewg will train Roderika, which in turn unlocks her to upgrade your spirits. She works opposite his smithing table, and will remain to help you for the rest of the game.

Upgrading spirits makes them stronger across the board - meaning more health, more damage dealt, and generally just better performance. It's well worth doing.

In terms of where to get the resource, like Smithing Stones, Grave Gloveworts and Ghost Gloveworts are both found throughout the game world of Elden Ring. As the names suggest, these are commonly found where you'll find the dead - in places like Catacombs and Graveyards - though they can spawn anywhere.

Keep an eye out for these ghostly flowers that have a white glow, anyway - you'll want to upgrade your favorite spirits often, if you have a spirit-friendly character build.

Keeping summons upgraded has great benefits; like weapons and weapon upgrades, spirits and their levels carry over into New Game Plus, so can be a portable piece of your character build across multiple play-throughs.

Summonable Spirits in Elden Ring

We've tried to find as many spirits as we could during our extensive review play-through of Elden Ring. Here's a list of all the summon spirits we were able to find - and we'll add more as we find and unlock more. They break into two categories...

Normal Ashes

These ashes basically always feature 'normal' enemies that you find in the game - you're just able to summon them to your side. These are often found as loot in dungeons and other similar locations, or given as rewards for minor quests.

• Albinauric Ashes:
  • Summons 2 Albinauric spirits
  • Found in Liurnia, in a graveyard near Caria Manor, the optional dungeon
• Ancestral Follower Ashes:
  • Summons ancestral follower spirit
  • Dropped by the Ancestor Spirit boss, which is accessed by lighting all of the torches in Siofra River, then interacting with the ancestor corpse in that area
• Archer Ashes:
  • Summons 2 archer spirits
  • Looted from a corpse in Nokstella, Eternal City
• Avionette Soldier Ashes
  • Summons 2 Avionette soldiers
  • Found as loot in the Raya Lucaria Academy dungeon
• Azula Beastman Ashes:
  • Summons 2 Azula Beastman spirits
• Clayman Ashes:
  • Summons 2 Clayman spirits
• Crystallian Ashes:
  • Summons a Crystallian spirit
• Demi-Human Ashes:
  • Summons 5 demi-human spirits
  • Dropped by the dungeon boss of the Impaler Catacombs, a small optional dungeon in the Weeping Penninsula, just south-east of the Bridge of Sacrifice
• Fanged Imp Ashes:
  • Summons fanged imp spirits
  • Available as a Keepsake gift item during character creation, and is later sold by the Isolated Merchant just north of the South Raya Lucaria Academy gate for 2000 Runes
• Fire Monk Ashes:
  • Summons a Fire Monk Spirit
• Giant Rat Ashes:
  • Summons 3 giant rat spirits
• Glintstone Sorcerer Ashes:
  • Summons glintstone sorcerer spirit
  • Earned by defeating the Spirit-Caller Snail boss in the Road's End Catacombs dungeon, which is in south-western Liurnia
• Godrick Soldier Ashes:
  • Summons 2 Godrick Soldier spirits
  • Looted from a graveyard on the lower-west of Stormhill, surrounded by Jellyfish
• Greatshield Soldier Ashes:
  • Summons 5 greatshield soldier spirits
  • Discovered in Nokron, the Eternal City, an underground zone only accessible after beating Lord Radahn. It's on a corpse among gravestones
• Haligtree Soldier Ashes:
  • Summons 4 Haligtree Soldier spirits
• Kaiden Sellsword:
  • Summons a Kaiden Sellsword spirit
  • A drop by defeating the Erdtree Burial Watchdog boss of the Cliffbottom Caracombs dungeon, which is hidden in an eastern cliff edge of Liurnia
• Kindred of Rot Ashes:
  • Summons a single Kindred of Rot spirit
• Land Squirt Ashes:
  • Summon 3 Land Squirts
  • Found in Liurnia of the Lakes, among Land Squirt enemies
• Leyndell Soldier Ashes:
  • Summons 2 Leyndell soldier spirits
• Lone Wolf Ashes:
  • Summons 3 lone wolf spirits
  • Given to you by the mysterious witch at Limgrave's Church of Elleh at the same time you unlock the spirit bell
• Mad Pumpkin Head Ashes:
  • Summons mad pumpkin head spirit
  • Drops from the bosses at the end of the Minor Erdtree Catacombs, found near the Caelid Minor Erdtree
• Man-Serpent Ashes:
  • Summons a Man-Serpant spirit
• Mausoleum Soldier Ashes:
  • Summons 5 Mausoleum Soldier spirits
• Marionette Soldier Ashes:
  • Summons 2 Marrionette Soldier spirits
  • Found in the Raya Lucaria Academy, on a corpse near the graveyard area
• Miranda Sprout Ashes:
  • Summons 5 Miranda Sprout spirits
  • Behind an illusion wall in Caelid Catacombs
• Noble Sorcerer Ashes:
  • Summons noble sorcerer spirit
  • A reward for defeating the boss of the Stormfoot Catacombs in Limgrave
• Nomad Ashes:
  • Summons a Nomad Spirit that can deal fire damage
• Oracle Envoy Ashes:
  • Summons 4 Oracle Envoy spirits
• Page Ashes:
  • Summons a spirit of a page, wielding crossbow and sword
  • Found in the Cliffbottom Catacombs dungeon, which is set into the eastern cliffside of Luirnia
• Putrid Corpse Ashes:
  • Summons 4 Putrid Corpse ashes
• Radahn Soldier Ashes:
  • Summons 2 Radahn Soldier spirits
• Raya Lucaria Soldier Ashes:
  • Summons 3 Raya Lucaria soldier spirits
  • Hidden in a chest that's found inside the Road's End Catacombs dungeon, in south-western Liurnia. This is behind an illusiory wall
• Rotten Stray Ashes:
  • Summons rotten stray spirit
• Skeletal Bandit Ashes:
  • Summons skeletal bandit spirit
  • Dropped by the Tibia Mariner boss that's found in Liurnia of the Lakes, just south of the Carian Study Hall tower
• Skeletal Militiaman Ashes:
  • Summons 2 skeletal militiaman spirits
  • Dropped after you defeat the Tibia Mariner boss, which is found in Summonwater Village in north-eastern Limgrave
• Soldjars of Fortune Ashes:
  • Summons 3 little living jar spirits
• Spirit Jellyfish Ashes:
  • Summons spirit jellyfish
  • Given to you by Roderika at the Stormhill Shack in Limgrave - which you need to do in order to unlock Spirit Ashes upgrades
  • If Roderika is unavailable, you can also find one on a corpse in Stormhill
• Twinsage Sorcerer Ashes:
  • Summons Twinsage sorcerer spirit
  • A drop from the Cemetery Shade boss found within Black Knife Catacombs, a small dungeon in the Liurnia of the Lakes area
• Wandering Noble Ashes:
  • Summons 5 wandering noble spirits
  • Found in the Stormfoot Catacombs in Limgrave
• Warhawk Ashes:
  • Summons a Warhawk Spirit
• Winged Misbegotten Ashes:
  • Summons a Winged Misbegotten spirit
  • Found in the Unsightly Catacombs, on a corpse surrounded by these enemies. These catacombs are far West in West Atlas 

Special & Legendary Ashes - the Best Summon Spirits in the game

These ashes feature 'named' characters, and though they're generally not Elden Ring story characters, these spirit summons are more powerful and effective; the best summons in the game. They require the rarer Ghost Glovewort items to upgrade, but they're worth the effort.

Special Ashes

• Banished Knight Oleg: Obtained in the Stranded Graveyard, the area locked behind a Stonesword Key imp at the end of the tutorial area
• Battlemage Hughes: Defeat the Battlemage Hughes boss inside a Caelid Evergaol. 
• Blackflame Monk Amon: A drop from a boss encountered in the Hidden Path to the Haligtree dungeon accessed by using the Haligtree Secret Medallion at the Lift of Rold. Instead of exiting the dungeon to the Snowfield, jump down to invisible platforms to explore the dungeon and find the boss.
• Bloodhound Knight Floh: Your reward for completing the Gelmir Hero's Grave dungeon.
• Depraved Perfumer Carmaan: Looted from the corpse of an unfortunate soul in Volcano Manor; you can get into the room it's in by agreeing to join the Manor, using the key to enter rooms. One of the rooms has an illusion wall. 
• Latenna the Albinauric: Obtained as part of a side quest, where Gideon will send you to find this NPC in search of a medallion. Agree to "take her with you"
• Omenkiller Rollo: Reward for defeating the Fell Twins Boss Fight on the outskirts of Leyndell; follow the eastern rampart rather than taking the grand lift
• Perfumer Tricia: Dropped by defeating Perfumer Tricia and a Misbegotten Warrior, who come as a duo boss, in Mt. Gelmir's Unsightly Catacombs dungeon.
• Stormhawk Deenh: Obtained in the Chapel of Anticipation, which is the area where you die at the very beginning of the game. You can return there via the Three Belfries tepeorters in Liurnia.
• Banished Knight Engvall:

Legendary Ashes

These Ashes are 'legendary', which basically refers to the fact that they're the summonable spirits of major characters who played a significant role in making The Lands Between the place it is. There's six of them total, and there's an achievement for getting them all. We've got a separate page on the Legendary Ashen Remains locations - but here's all six in short:

• Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff: Found in the Sainted Hero's Grave dungeon in the Altus Plateau.
• Black Knight Tiche: Rewarded for beating the Ringleader's Evergaol battle in Moonlight Plateau, which is above south-western Liurnia of the Lakes.
• Cleanrot Knight Finlay: Found in a chest deep within the city of Elphael of the Haligtree - not far from the Prayer Room Site of Grace
• Lhutel the Headless: Dropped by the Cemetery Shade boss of the Tombsword Catacombs in the southern area of Limgrave. 
• Mimic Tear Ashes: Found behind a Stonesword Key door in Nokron Eternal City's Night's Sacred Ground. We've got a separate guide on how to get the Mimic Tear ashes if you want the step-by-step walkthrough.
• Redmane Knight Ogha: Defeat the boss in the War-Dead Catacombs, a mini-dungeon hidden at the very north of Radahn's boss arena in Caelid. 

Puppet Spirit Summons

• Finger Maiden Therolina Puppet: Purchased from Seluvis in his Rise in North-Western Liurnia once you finish Ranni's quests
• Jarwight Puppet: Purchased from Seluvis in his Rise in North-Western Liurnia once you finish Ranni's quests
• Nightmaiden & Swordstress Puppets: Behind a Stonesword Key door in Nokstella, Eternal City; guided by two Swordstress enemies
• Dolores the Sleeping Arrow Puppet:
• Dung Eater Puppet:
• Nepheli Loux Puppet: