How to get Smithing Stones in Elden Ring Nightreign and upgrade weapons

Elden Ring Nightreign Smithing Stones - A beast ambushing Nightfarers.

Puzzling out how to upgrade weapons in Elden Ring Nightreign is a little confusing, especially as its Smithing Stones work a little differently to how they did in the original game. You'll still have to track down this blacksmithing material, but you'll only need one of each kind to upgrade a weapon. Each armament also has a rarity now, which changes what stone you need to use.

Besides the materials, you'll also need to find an anvil out in Limveld, and all the while you're doing this, night is closing in and you're frantically trying to gather as many runes as you can—it's a lot of admin to be honest. So here are the best Smithing Stone locations in Elden Ring Nightreign, plus how the whole weapon upgrade system works.

Elden Ring Nightreign Smithing Stone locations

You can usually find Smithing Stones in tunnels (Image credit: FromSoftware)

Defeating the tunnel boss will reward you with a Smithing Stone 2 (Image credit: FromSoftware)

You can buy Smithing Stone 1 from all merchants, but township merchants have a chance to sell Smithing Stone 2 (Image credit: FromSoftware)

Though you can find Smithing Stone 1 and 2 randomly in Limveld, your best bet for getting them is either:

• Tunnel Entrances: As in the original Elden Ring, tunnels (marked with the tunnel entrance symbol) contain Smithing Stone 1 and 2 as dropped items, and you can get a guaranteed Smithing Stone 2 as a reward for defeating the Stonedigger Troll, Pumpkin Head, or Royal Knight located inside, depending on the mine.
• Merchants (especially in townships): Every merchant on the map sells Smithing Stone 1 and you can find them in a variety of locations, including churches, encampments, outside forts, and even inside the castle. One thing I have noticed, though, is that townships—marked with a little village symbol—contain merchants with a better variety of items for sale, often including a Smithing Stone 2.

How to upgrade weapons in Elden Ring Nightreign

Weapon upgrades in Nightreign cost nothing except for the Smithing Stones (Image credit: FromSoftware)

You'll need an anvil to upgrade a weapon, but you can find one beside every merchant. There are four weapon rarities in Nightreign overall:

• Common (White border)
• Uncommon (Blue border)
• Rare (Purple border)
• Legendary (Gold border)

And in terms of upgrades:

• Common to uncommon (white to blue) with a Smithing Stone 1
• Uncommon to rare (blue to purple) with a Smithing Stone 2

The only way you can upgrade a rare into a legendary is through the Special Smithing Table in the Shifting Earth: The Crater event. Most legendary weapons are fixed, meaning you'll get them directly from bosses, rather than upgrading into them.

Basically, if you want to upgrade your starting weapon into a rare before the Nightlord boss (to keep its affinity, for example), you'll need a Smithing Stone 1 and a Smithing Stone 2.