The Most Mysterious and Secret Elden Ring Items Explained

If you’re anything like me, you’ve collected buckets full of items elden ring and let them languish in your inventory. Maybe that’s because you forgot you had them, overwhelmed by the number of weird mysteries out there. Or maybe you just have no idea what to do with them – of course that’s why I’ve been hoarding Ruins Fragments and Golden Runes without knowing how to use them.

I’ve learned a lot from my colleagues about these strange and little-explained items found in around the world elden ring. Let me be the one to ask—and answer—the questions you’re too afraid to ask.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

What are golden runes?

It feels like everything is in there elden ring is a rune, and that runes are used for everything. That’s all partly true. Runes are both currency and experience points elden ring. Gold runes are not automatically added to these lists: after you pick up a gold rune and add it to your inventory, it just stays there.

It’s actually a consumable item that gives you varying amounts of runes once you click the use button in your inventory. Using up your Golden Runes is a good way to level up quickly, as you get a lot of runes at once. If you don’t redeem them, Golden Runes will stay with you even if you die, almost like a backup wallet of runes you haven’t “spent” yet.

Hot Tip: You can find golden runes in the glowing skulls scattered around the world of elden ring. To get the Golden Rune out of the skull, you can crush it with your weapon or under Torrent’s hooves.

And ruin fragments? What are these?

OK. Ruin fragments are not runes at all. These are basically rocks that you find nearby elden ring, which are required to craft certain stone-related items such as the Glowing Stone or Rainbow Stone. (By the way, you need a crafting kit to craft items.)

What do you use Rainbow Stones or Glowstones for?

A big question I had when I first started playing elden ring That’s why I needed colorful, glowing stones. Well, there are a variety of ways you can use these. For one, you can throw them at enemies. You can also use them to glow elden ring‘s Dark Spaces, of which there are many. However, a torch or lantern to hold on to is probably a better choice for searching dark corridors and caves. If you haven’t found these items yet, glowing rocks will also work.

The other useful way to use these items is to drop them off cliffs and into holes to test for potential fall damage. If you’re like me, you may have fallen into some holes unhelpfully labeled with a message instructing you there was a cave to explore… and you may have quickly figured out, like me, that it was a trap. You can use these s tones to “test” such areas. You’ll need to pay close attention to the sound the stone makes as it hits the ground – the higher the pitch, the more likely you are to die from fall damage.

Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon

Are Rowa raisins useful?

You cannot eat Rowa Raisins in it elden ring, but your ride buddy torrent can. And it should! Torrent takes damage like you. Rowa Raisins are made from Rowa Fruits, and by equipping them you can feed your buddy Torrent while riding him. Of course, torrent dying isn’t the end of the world; If you wait a few seconds, you can summon him again. (Except in certain situations where Torrent can only be revived with a Flask of Crimson Tears.) Regardless, if Torrent suddenly dies, it will likely put you at a disadvantage against enemies, as you’ll need to recover from a fall to the ground to your vanishing Horse.

The other thing you can do to heal Torrent is to drink a flask of Crimson Tears while riding, which also heals you and him slightly.

What is a stone sword key? how many do i need

These can easily be confusing. Although they look like a small stone knife, they are actually a key. You can use them to open stone gargoyle statues. Some statues require two keys to open, others one, which isn’t always immediately obvious.

The other thing about Stonesword Keys is that they are for single use only. So think about when and where you use them before you take the plunge. For example, if you only use one of these keys on a gargoyle statue that requires two keys to open, the path will remain blocked until you manage to find another key and use it on the same statue. However, there is no reason to hoard them. You should be able to find enough of these around the world and even be sold by some merchants.

What do scarabs do?

Scarabs are bugs that you will see wandering around the world elden ring, pushed big sparkling balls covered in golden glitter. You can fight these scarabs and they will drop items – usually spells or Ashes of War. But some scarabs are either red or blue (Crimson and Cerulean Teardrop Scarabs), and defeating these scarabs will refill your respective flask with Crimson or Cerulean Tears. This makes them immensely helpful in tracking them down – unless you’ve just rested in a place of grace, in which case you don’t need to hunt them down.

What is gloveweed?

Gloveweed is a useful item once you’ve met and helped Roderika, and she’s settled in the Round Table Keep. You can trade in their glove herb to improve your summoning and make your spirit friends more powerful. There is also another item called Ghost Glovewort that is used for legendary summons. Both items are pretty rare, so use them on the spirits you like – probably the jellyfish.