Spirit Ashes are summonable NPC's that players can use to aid them in combat during their adventure through Elden Ring.

If you're wondering how to upgrade your Spirit Ashes summons in Elden Ring, we've got a handy guide on the side quest you need to complete to gain the ability.

Spirit Ashes are one of the most integral new features that FromSoftware added to Elden Ring when it launched back in 2022. The mechanic takes the summoning system found in Dark Souls (which still exists in the same form in Elden Ring, mind you) and allows players to take advantage of the support of NPC helpers, which take the form of many different things in the game – be it jellyfish, a pack of wolves, or even a copy of yourself.

Like weapons and armour, these Spirit Ashes can be upgraded to become even more powerful allies as your adventure continues, but actually getting the ability to upgrade these helpers is a bit more convoluted than weapon upgrades.

How to upgrade summons in Elden Ring

Upgrading summons in Elden Ring requires that you complete a questline relatively early on in your adventure. On the way up to Stormveil Castle (where you fight Margit, the Fell Omen) you come across an area on the pathway up to the castle, where you'll find the Stormhill Shack Site of Grace. In the Stormhill Shack resides an NPC, a woman named Roderika, and you're going to want to keep badgering her and exhausting her dialogue options, after which, you'll will receive the Sprit Jellyfish Ashes.

Now you'll want to head to Stormveil Castle (meaning you need to have beaten Margit) and look for the Grafted Scion miniboss. In the room opposite that boss fight, you'll come across a pile of corpses with a shiny item adorning the top of it, head up and grab it and you'll then have the Chrysalids' Memento. Head back to Roderika and give the item to her and she'll head off to the Roundtable Hold.

Alternatively, she will move to the Roundtable Hold after you've visited the Liurnia of the Lakes region and interacted with a Site of Grace there, so if you can't find her in Stormhill Shack, have a look there. If you first meet her here, go and talk to her and exhaust her dialogue options for her to give you the Spirit Jellyfish Ashes.

You'll then need to chat with Smithing Master Hewg and ask him about Roderika. Once you've done that, speak to Roderika again and tell her what Hewg said about her gift, and then head back to Hewg and chat with him again, selecting the dialogue options to let him know that Roderika is interested in learning more.

After you've completed this step, leave the Roundtable Hold and on your return, Roderika will be sitting in the room with Smithing Master Hewg. Talking to Roderika now will grant you the ability to upgrade your Spirit Ashes. You'll need to use a mixture of Runes and either Grave or Ghost Gloveworts (which are essentially Smithing Stones for Spirit Ashes) depending on what type of Spirit Ash you want to upgrade, and you can now upgrade these as you would normal weapons and armour.