Elden Ring Spirit Ashes: The best early and late-game spirit summons

Getting in the spirit of things

FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

Equipping yourself with the best Elden Ring Spirit Ashes gives you an extra advantage in some of the RPG's tougher fights. These handy summons take some of the pressure off you when you're facing challenging foes, and some even heal you in addition to distracting your opponent. You can use them for most Elden Ring bosses as well, so don't hesitate to ring your spirit bell if you need a bit of help.

Our Elden Ring Spirit Ashes guide breaks down the best spirit summons for the early, mid-, and late-game, including where to get them.

If you're after more Elden Ring help, check out our guide for the best weapons in Elden Ring and our full Ranni's quest walkthrough.

Elden Ring Spirit Ashes for the early game

Every hero needs a little help at the start / FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

These are the summons that will help see you through Limgrave and, potentially, most of Liurnia as well. They aren’t suited for tougher challenges, though, so don’t waste too many resources leveling them up.

Fanged Imps Spirit Ash

The Fanged Imps are a solid choice if you pick them as your starting keepsake, but they aren’t worth tracking down later in their natural habitat. The duo attack quickly and can inflict bleed on enemies, a status effect that quickly wears foes down, but is far out of your reach in the early game. The downside is that the imps have low HP and will probably get knocked out pretty quickly by the time you’re finished with Limgrave. They really are for the early early game

Where to get Fanged Imp Ashes: Choose it as your keepsake before the game begins OR purchase from the Isolated Merchant near Raya Lucaria (not recommended)

Jellyfish Spirit Ash

The Jellyfish is an excellent shield thanks to a sizeable amount of HP. It might inflict poison with its attacks, which is useful, but the main use is just to distract enemies with its gelatinous splendor and linger long enough for you to do whatever it is you need to do.

Where to get Jellyfish Spirit Ashes: Roderika gives it to you when you speak in the Stormhill Shack. If she isn’t there or doesn’t gift you the Jellyfish, speak with her in Roundtable Hold until she does.

Lone Wolves Spirit Ash

You get the Lone Wolves when you get the spirit summoning bell, so if you’re using ashes at all, there’s no way to miss this one. The Wolves don’t do a ton of damage at once, but when the dog trio gangs up on a single enemy, they can certainly make life difficult for it. More importantly, the fact that there are three wolves means you have more distractions to keep foes occupied and away from you. I kept mine around until after Liurnia and even used them to bring down Rennala.

Where to get Lone Wolf Ashes: Received at the Church of Elleh

They might not look like much, but Godrick Soldiers are a pretty big help / FromSoftware/Bandai Namco

Godrick Soldier Spirit Ash

The name might be singular, but this summon brings two Godrick soldiers to your side. One has a sword and the other a crossbow, and they have a pretty high chance of staggering enemies with their attacks. They also have sturdy shields, so they won’t get mowed down easily.

Where to get Godrick Soldier Ashes: Near a grave in the cemetery west of Stormhill

Elden Ring Spirit Ashes for the mid-game

Some players say Elden Ring’s mid-game starts after you defeat Radahn and covers the area between there and the Fire Giant – basically, your time in Nokron, Nokstella, and Leyndell. It’s a pretty murky category given how non-linear Elden Ring is, so we’ve included some strong summons you can get before Radahn as well. 

Banished Knight Engvall Spirit Ash

Engvall wasn’t there in the base game, but ever since Fromsoft added him in a later patch, he’s been a strong choice once you have the FP needed to summon him. He has crowd control abilities and can fight with ranged and melee weapons, and he’s pretty tanky as well. Engvall is well worth the 100 FP it takes to summon him.

Where to get Banished Knight Engvall Ashes: Dropped from Murkwater Catacomb’s boss in Limgrave

His banishment is your gain / FromSoftware/GLHF

Bloodhound Knight Floh Spirit Ash

You can get your very own Bloodhound Knight, if you’re tenacious enough to deal with Gelmir Hero’s Grave. Like the Bloodhound enemies you’ve doubtlessly faced by this point, Floh moves quickly, attacks everything in sight, and hits hard. They’re an excellent ally, and you can reach and clear the dungeon in question well before challenging Radahn in Caelid.

Where to get Bloodhound Knight Floh Ashes: Drops from the boss in Gelmir Hero’s Grave

Finger Maiden Therulina Spirit Ash

You might recognize Therulina from the Radahn battle. Her spirit summon acts the same way she did in that fight, prioritizing healing and supportive Incantations, with a few Holy Pots thrown in for good measure. She’s a little brittle and won’t actually help you defeat enemies, but as one of just a small handful of support summons, she’s excellent at keeping you alive a little bit longer.

Where to get Finger Maiden Therulina Ashes: Purchase from Seluvis after confronting him about his puppet store

Banished Knight Oleg Spirit Ash

Oleg is a lot like Engvall, but hits slightly harder with his dual-blade setup. He’s just as tanky and aggressive, and he definitely won’t leave you to fend for yourself against any foe.

Where to get Banished Knight Oleg Ashes: Defeat the Ulcerated Tree Spirit in Fringefolk Hero’s Grave

Torrent and tortured souls / FromSoftware/GLHF

Greatshield Soldier Spirit Ash

These guys are excellent. Summoning them brings five stalwart tanks to your side who corral foes and keep you safe with their nearly unbreakable formation. Their attacks also stack Ghostflame and Frostbite damage, which is a good way to wear down tough foes quickly.

Where to get Greatshield Soldier Ashes: Pillage off the body of a Hawk soldier in Nokron: Eternal City

Nightmaiden and Swordmistress Puppets Spirit Ash

You definitely need to level these two up so they can last more than a few seconds, as they’re very glass cannon-like for the first few levels. After that, though, the puppets excel at attacking multiple enemies and keeping them from getting out of hand. They’ll group them from afar so you can rush in to deal final blows or escape and deal with something else, and their mix of magic and physical attacks will even stunlock single-target foes on occasion. They’re worth keeping around even into the late game.

Where to get the Nightmaiden and Swordmistress Puppets Ashes: In a chest in Nokstella, in a room locked by a Stone Sword imp, guarded by two Nox Monks

Elden Ring Spirit Ashes for the endgame

You'll need to up your spirit game as you get closer to the end / FromSoftware/GLHF

Any of the legendary Spirit Ashes – Tiche, Lhutel, Ogha, and so on – are worth your time, so we’ve only included a few of those below. Alongside them are top-notch Ashes that don’t count as legendary, technically, but work just as well and often with less FP invested. These are the summons you'll want to consider taking with you if you play the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. You'll need all the help you can get against its new bosses.

Dung Eater Puppet Spirit Ash

The Dung Eater Puppet is one of Elden Ring’s strongest and most versatile summons, which it better be, since you actually lock yourself out of an ending to get it. The summon does literally summon the Dung Eater, and he uses a bleed-inflicting sword up close and spirits of his own from afar. He’s tanky enough to handle bosses, and the extra bleed complements your own bleed build as well, if you’re working on one.

Where to get Dung Eater Puppet Ashes: Obtain from Seluvis in Ranni’s Rise after using his potion on the Dung Eater

Latenna the Albinauric Spirit Ash

Latenna is one of the best ranged Spirit Ashes you can get, though that comes at the expense of any melee utility. She fires a strong magic arrow at foes and deals heavy damage from a distance, but she’ll suffer up close. Latenna doesn’t move from the spot where you summon her. Make sure to think carefully before giving the bell a tinkle.

Where to get Latenna the Albinauric Ashes: Obtain from Latenna in Wolf Slumber Shack after helping Albus and obtaining the right half of the Haligtree Medallion

Black Knife Tiche Spirit Ash

Black Knife Tiche is the new Mimic Tear, the best Spirit Ash for pretty much any situation, whether it’s taking down Malenia or just dealing with pesky late-game enemies. Tiche is fast, deadly, and hits hard, and on top of that, she inflicts a status effect that slowly saps the target enemy’s health. You really can’t go wrong with this one, but you’ll need a lot of FP. Summoning Black Knife Tiche takes 134 FP.

Where to get Black Knife Tiche Ashes: Defeat Alecto, Black Knife Ringleader in Liurnia’s Ringleader Evergaol

Why fight when you can let someone else do it? / FromSoftware/GLHF

Lhutel the Headless Spirit Ash

Lhutel is one of the strongest summons in Elden Ring, and he does it all. He shields. He teleports. He attacks up close and far away, and he’s got a lot of HP as well. The downside is the massive amount of FP it takes to summon him, which is just slightly less than it takes to bring Tiche to the field.

Where to get Lhutel the Headless Ashes: Defeat the Cemetery Shade in Limgrave’s Tombsward Catacombs

The Mimic Tear Spirit Ash

Finally is the Mimic Tear, but with a caveat. The Mimic Tear is nowhere near as useful as it used to be. It’s less capable in battle, won’t heal, sometimes won’t even attack, and displays little of the agile, intelligent behavior it did when Elden Ring first launched. It’s still good at distracting enemies, but don’t expect anything much more than that.

Where to get the Mimic Tear Ashes: Defeat the Mimic Tear boss in Nokron: Eternal City.

For more help, head over to our Elden Ring progression route guide for some tips on the best road to take.