You’ve spent dozens of hours trekking through the Lands Between, dodging giant lobsters and getting poked by cleanrot knights, all for one specific reason. You found a legendary weapon. Maybe it’s the Rivers of Blood, the Moonlight Greatsword, or that massive slab of gold known as the Sacred Relic Sword. You’ve pumped it up to +9. It’s strong, sure. But it’s not finished. To hit that final power spike, you need the Ancient Somber Dragon Smithing Stone.
The problem? They’re rare. Like, "less than a dozen in the entire base game" rare.
Elden Ring doesn’t just hand these out for participation. You have to earn them through grueling boss fights, obscure NPC questlines, or by literally trekking to the frozen edges of the world. Honestly, missing even one feels like a gut punch if you’re trying to optimize multiple builds for New Game Plus or PvP. These stones are the only way to get a special weapon to +10, which not only bumps the damage but often pushes the scaling—the letters like B, A, or S—into a higher bracket. It’s the difference between a weapon that’s "good" and a weapon that deletes health bars.
Why the Ancient Somber Dragon Smithing Stone is a Total Game Changer
Think about it this way. Most players hit a wall around Farum Azula or the Haligtree. The enemies there have massive health pools. If your weapon stays at +9, you’re essentially leaving 10% to 15% of your potential damage on the table. That might not sound like a lot on paper. In practice? It’s the difference between a boss dying on your third hit or surviving with a sliver of health and hitting you with a phase-two nuke.
The scaling jump is the real secret. If a weapon has "A" scaling in Strength at level +9, hitting +10 might push it into "S" scaling. This means every point you’ve put into your stats is now working harder for you. It makes your level 150 character feel like a god. Plus, let's be real—the gold text on a +10 weapon just looks better in the menu.
The Consecrated Snowfield: High Stakes and Hidden Treasures
Most people find their first Ancient Somber Dragon Smithing Stone in the Consecrated Snowfield, but only if they’re brave enough to deal with the zero-visibility blizzard. It’s a miserable place. You can’t see five feet in front of you, and those ghostly dragonkin soldiers love to appear out of nowhere.
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If you head to the frozen river that runs through the center of the Snowfield, look for an invasion. Most players call him "Anastasia, Tarnished-Eater." You’ve probably fought her a few times already in Limgrave or Mt. Gelmir. This is her final stand. She spawns on the ice near the "Ordina, Liturgical Town" site of grace. Kill her, and she drops the stone. It’s a straightforward fight, but don't let her catch you with that giant butcher knife—she hits like a freight train in the late game.
Then there’s Latenna. If you actually followed her questline—the one that starts all the way back in Liurnia at the Slumbering Wolf’s Shack—you get a massive reward. You have to take her spirit ash to the Apostate Derelict. It’s that huge, lonely church at the very northern tip of the Snowfield. There’s a massive Albinauric woman sitting there. Summon Latenna in front of her. They’ll have a moment, and Latenna will give you a stone as a thank you. It’s one of the few "peaceful" ways to get one, provided you survive the trek.
Miquella’s Haligtree: The Gauntlet of Pain
If you thought the Snowfield was bad, the Haligtree is worse. It’s beautiful, sure, but it’s a vertical nightmare. There are actually two stones hidden here, and honestly, they’re easy to walk right past because you’re usually too busy screaming at the Battlemages or the Pests.
- The Leonine Misbegotten Shortcut: Near the "Haligtree Promenade" (the area after the first big branch section), there’s a bridge where a Leonine Misbegotten is hanging out. He’s tough, but behind him, tucked into a corner of the battlements, is a chest. Inside? One stone.
- The Loretta Reward: Technically, this one is right after you beat Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree. If you keep heading down towards Elphael, there’s a chest on the high walkways.
Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree, holds another one near the "Drainage Channel" site of grace. You have to go outside, climb up some massive roots, and jump onto a walkway that leads to a chest guarded by some nasty enemies. A lot of players miss this because the pathing in Elphael is so convoluted. You’re basically platforming on the side of a cathedral while things try to shoot you off.
Crumbling Farum Azula: The Dragon’s Lair
This is where the game stops being nice. You’re in a city literally falling out of the sky. In Farum Azula, the Ancient Somber Dragon Smithing Stone isn't just sitting in a box; usually, a dragon is using it as a paperweight.
There is a specific dragon that sits on a plaza late in the level, just past the "Dragon Temple Rooftop" site of grace. You’ll know it because the area is being pelted by red lightning. This dragon is already at low health, but it’s still incredibly dangerous. If you can take it down—or even just run past it and grab the item behind it—you’ve got your prize.
People often get frustrated here. The lightning strikes are semi-random, and the birds (those bladed-feet monsters) are everywhere. My advice? Use a Greatshield or just sprint like your life depends on it. You don't actually have to kill the dragon to get the stone, but it makes the looting process significantly less stressful.
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Don’t Forget the Mohgwyn Palace Secret
Mohgwyn Palace is terrifying. Between the blood-red lakes and the giant crows that look like they crawled out of a nightmare, most people just want to leave. But if you want that +10 weapon, you have to stay.
Near the "Dynasty Mausoleum Midpoint" grace, there’s a huge statue surrounded by a bunch of enemies. It looks like a ritual site. Inside a chest right at the base of that statue is an Ancient Somber Dragon Smithing Stone. This is arguably the easiest one to get early if you use the White Mask Varré questline to teleport to the palace early in the game. You don't even have to fight a boss. Just dodge the exploding zombies and grab the loot.
Questlines That Pay Off (Eventually)
Two major NPCs hold the keys to these stones, but they require you to actually finish their stories. This is where most people fail because Elden Ring questlines are famously easy to break.
- Nepheli Loux: If you give her the Stormhawk King, make sure Kenneth Haight is alive, and defeat Morgott, she moves to the throne room in Stormveil Castle. Talk to her there. She gives you a stone. It’s a long journey from meeting her in Limgrave, but it’s the most satisfying "good" ending for a character.
- Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman: You need to feed him nine Deathroots. This takes a long time. You’ll be hunting Tibia Mariners and clearing catacombs for hours. Once you give him the ninth one, he gives you a stone and leaves. Just... be careful when you go back to see him. He gets a bit cranky around the fourth or fifth root.
Managing Your Stones: Choose Wisely
Since there are only about 8 of these in the base game (and a few more in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC), you can't just max out every weapon you find. It’s a big commitment.
Before you spend your Ancient Somber Dragon Smithing Stone, take the weapon for a test drive at +9. Go to the Gatefront Ruins or an underground area and see how it feels. Does the Ash of War fit your playstyle? Is the swing speed right? You don't want to waste a legendary material on a weapon that you’ll replace ten hours later.
I’ve seen people dump their first stone into the Grafted Blade Greatsword only to find the Rivers of Blood an hour later and realize they have no way to max it out until the very end of the game. Don't be that person. Plan your build.
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Actionable Steps for the Tarnished:
- Check your inventory for Deathroot. If you have four or five, commit to Gurranq’s quest. It’s a guaranteed stone and some decent incantations along the way.
- Rush the Mohgwyn Palace chest. If you’re at least level 60, you can handle the run to the statue. This is the fastest way to get a +10 weapon before even hitting the Capital.
- Finish Nepheli's quest before killing Maliketh. Some world states change after the "point of no return" in Farum Azula. If you want her stone, do it early.
- Use the DLC. If you have the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, there are more stones scattered throughout the Realm of Shadow, particularly in the later legacy dungeons like Enir-Ilim. It takes the pressure off the limited supply in the base game.
- Look for the red lightning. In Farum Azula, the dragon holding the stone is often surrounded by red lightning. Use that as your visual landmark.
The hunt for these stones is basically a tour of Elden Ring’s most dangerous locales. It’s supposed to be hard. But when you finally see that +10 and your attack rating jumps by 50 points, all that running from giant crows and dodging lightning feels worth it. Go get your upgrade. You're going to need it for what's coming next.