All Whetblade Locations (& How to Use Them)

Elden Ring offers plenty of flexibility when it comes to altering armaments, including the ability for players to change their weapons’ affinities using items called Whetblades. These tools can be found throughout the Lands Between, giving you the power to change the damage scaling on a particular weapon. Some can even provide additional types of damage, such as Fire, Cold, Poison, or other interesting options.

While Ashes of War also provide an Affinity, Whetblades let players alter a weapon’s scaling and damage without losing its weapon skill. To apply different affinities to armaments in Elden Ring, players must first unlock Ashes of War in Elden Ring by obtaining a particular item — the Whetstone Knife. This tool acts as a catalyst, giving you the skills you need to start upgrading your favorite weapons.

How To Change Weapon Affinities In Elden Ring

Use Any Site of Grace Or Blacksmith

Once players have obtained a Whetblade in Elden Ring, the affinities it can provide will be available when they change Ashes of War at a Site of Grace. There are a total of five Whetblades to locate, with their respective affinities available when unlocked in the table below:

Whetblade	Affinity Unlocked	Description	Whetblade Map Location
Iron Whetblade		Adds Strength scaling Adds Dexterity scaling Adds/balances Strength & Dexterity Scaling
Glintstone Whetblade		Adds Intelligence scaling & Magic Damage Adds Intelligence scaling, Magic Damage & Frost buildup
Red-Hot Whetblade		Adds Strength scaling & Fire Damage Adds Faith scaling & Fire Damage
Black Whetblade		Adds Poison buildup Adds Blood Loss buildup Adds Arcane buildup
Sanctified Whetblade		Adds Dexterity scaling & Lightning Damage Adds Faith scaling & Holy Damage

With these special tools, players can fine-tune almost any armament to support their Elden Ring character’s build, though a few special weapons in the game have unique skills and cannot be altered with Ashes of War or Whetblades.

To begin this process, players must first acquire the Whetstone Knife. This essential item unlocks the ability to upgrade other weapons with varying affinities. For instance, a weapon that couldn’t previously have the Bleed effect can now be altered to include it.

Either in the Blacksmith menu or at a Site of Grace in Elden Ring, you can select the “Ashes of War” option to start customizing your weapon’s Affinity. After doing this, follow these quick steps to change aspects of your arsenal:

1. Choose the weapon you want to customize once in the “Ashes of War” menu.
2. Select a compatible Ash of War with a passive effect and add it to your weapon.
3. Upon doing this, go to the follow-up menu labeled “Affinity Granted.”
4. Pick a desired Affinity from a list of available options.

This mechanic allows players to change their weapons’ stat and element affinities. Some obscure skills, like Poison or Bleed, are not explicitly stated to be available for fusing into your weapon, but this system still allows for them to be added. The new capabilities your weapon receives can drastically change your build, playstyle, and advantages over certain enemy types in the game.

After procuring the Whetstone Knife, players can proceed to locate the remaining Whetblades to further enhance their weaponry, ensuring their character’s build is well-supported throughout their adventure in Elden Ring.

Whetstone Knife Location

Look Around The Gatefront Ruins

The Whetstone Knife can be found in the starting area, Limgrave in Elden Ring, specifically at Gatefront Ruins. To locate it, begin at the “Gatefront Ruins” Site of Grace and head towards the center of the area, being mindful of the soldiers and wolves patrolling the area.

Look out for a set of stairs near a wheelbarrow, marked by a glowing torch above. These stairs descend to a small underground room. Open the door to discover a chest containing the Whetstone Knife and the Ash of War: Storm Stomp.

With the Whetstone Knife, you can now manually apply affinities to your weapons. Additionally, the remaining five Whetblades each offer unique new affinities, as previously shown, that can be equipped to further enhance your armament.

Iron Whetblade Location

Search The Expansive Stormveil Castle

The Iron Whetblade can provide the following Affinity types:

• Heavy — increases a weapon’s Strength scaling (while decreasing all other scalings)
• Keen — increases a weapon’s Dexterity scaling (decreases Strength and Base Damage)
• Quality — balances both Strength and Dexterity (decreases Base Damage)

The trade-offs of all Affinity types here provide multiple kinds of risk and reward for players whose builds are steered toward a certain path. Many aspects of this Whetblade are designed for players who solely use physical damage, rather than magic or elemental additions.

The Iron Whetblade can be found in Stormveil Castle near the “Rampart Tower” Site of Grace. By taking the elevator down from the tower, you’ll find a small courtyard to the left of the room guarded by one of Elden Ring’s Grafted Scions. There’s an armory through the door on the left with a corpse sitting cross-legged in front of the fireplace, which you can loot to obtain the Iron Whetblade.

Glintstone Whetblade Location

Explore The Libraries Of Raya Lucaria Academy

The Glintstone Whetblade allows players to add two types of magical Affinities to their weapons, including:

• Magic — increases a weapon’s Intelligence scaling (while adding extra Magic damage)
• Cold — increases a weapon’s Intelligence scaling (while adding extra Frostbite buildup)

The Glintstone Whetblade can be found on a corpse in Elden Ring’s Raya Lucaria Academy office near the “Debate Parlor” Site of Grace. Just outside the Debate Parlor, a collapsed staircase leads to a group of magic-wielding Noble Sorcerers kneeling in front of the office with the Whetblade. The corpse is slumped on the balcony, just to the right of the office door.

Red-Hot Whetblade Location

Revisit Redmane Castle After An Important Boss Fight

As the name suggests, Elden Ring’s Red-Hot Whetblade can add the Affinity types listed below:

• Fire — adds Fire damage to a weapon while decreasting all other scalings
• Flame Art — increases a weapon’s Faith scaling and adds less Fire damage

Most doors to Redmane Castle, the place where the Red-Hot Whetblade is located, are closed when you first arrive there. By pursuing missions like Ranni’s quest or the main story, you’ll eventually end up here for the Radahn Festival, a major event where you have to fight Starscourge Radahn in Elden Ring, an incredibly important boss in the game.

Defeating Radahn will unlock areas of the castle when you return to it, including a place close to the “Chamber Outside the Plaza” Site of Grace in the building. By running past the flame-throwing soliders on the left of this Grace Site, you’ll discover a path leading to a secluded room. The Whetblade you seek is within this space, near one of the NPCs who announced the Festival’s beginning before you faced the boss.

Black Whetblade Location

Discover The Item In Nokron, Eternal City

The Black Whetblade is one of the more difficult Whetblades to get in Elden Ring since it’s located in an optional area that can be hard to reach. That being said, this Whetblade provides some of the strongest Affinity types in the game, including:

• Poison — increases a weapon’s Strength, Dexterity, and Arcane scaling while adding Poison damage
• Blood — increases a weapon’s Arcane scaling and Bleed buildup damage (while decreasing all other types)
• Occult — increases a weapon’s Arcane scaling (while decreasing all other types)

The Black Whetblade is found on a corpse slumped in front of the altar in the Night’s Sacred Ground in a hidden area — Nokron, Eternal City in Elden Ring. To reach this area, players will have to traverse the city’s rooftops and ledges. From the stairs with the large, crumbling statues near the “Ancestral Woods” Site of Grace, players can jump onto the dome-shaped roof below to reach a large balcony where a Silver Tear enemy lays in wait.

Just past this balcony, a collapsed arch leads straight to the room with the Black Whetblade. The altar will be just to the left after dropping into the room.

Sanctified Whetblade Location

One Last Secret Within Leyndell, Royal Capital

The Sanctified Whetblade is the final item of its kind, giving you the Affinity types listed below:

• Lightning – increase’s a weapon’s Dexterity scaling and adds extra Lightning damage (while decreasing Base Damage and Strength)
• Sacred — increases a weapon’s Faith scaling and adds extra Holy damage (while decreasing Base Damage)

Both of these damage types and Affinity attachments can be excellent against some of the lategame bosses, who you will be facing by the time you find this Whetstone. The Sanctified Whetblade is located in Leyndell, Royal Capital, one of the more dangerous locations in Elden Ring and often considered the “final” zone of the base game.

To reach this Whetblade, there’s an outdoor area between the “Fortified Manor – First Floor” Site of Grace and the “West Capital Rampar” Site of Grace, with a large tree falling towards the building.

To the right of the tree, players can climb a wooden platform to enter the manor through the door past the collapsed part of the balcony. Elden Ring‘s Sanctified Whetblade is located in the next room in front of a small set of stairs, giving you the last item you need to fully customize your character’s build to its best potential.

Elden Ring

Systems

10/10

Released

February 25, 2022

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence