Crafting in Elden Ring lets you turn plants, bugs and animal parts into arrows, pots, greases and buff food. You need the Crafting Kit to do it at all, and every recipe is unlocked by a cookbook, so the sooner you pick both up, the more useful all that loot in your pockets becomes.
How crafting works
The first thing to buy is the Crafting Kit. Merchant Kalé sells it for 300 runes at the Church of Elleh, and once you own it an Item Crafting option appears in the main menu. From there it’s simple: pick a recipe, and if you’re carrying the materials, the item is made on the spot.
- Craft anywhere. You don’t need a Site of Grace. The only restriction is combat: once an enemy is fighting you, the menu is locked.
- Straight into your pouch. Crafted items go directly to your consumables, and if you’ve slotted an item and run out, crafting more refills that slot automatically. That makes it easy to restock arrows or pots between fights.
- Containers come back. Thrown pots and perfumes need an empty container on top of the materials: the Cracked Pot, Ritual Pot or Perfume Bottle (there’s also the Hefty Cracked Pot). Using the item returns the empty container, and the number of containers you own is what caps how many of those items you can carry. You can even pick Cracked Pots as a keepsake when you create your character.
Crafting covers bone arrows and bolts and most consumables. It does not make key items, tools, upgrade materials or most multiplayer items, so Smithing Stones still have to be found or bought; see Upgrading Weapons.
The cookbook system
The kit alone teaches you very little. Recipes come from cookbooks, and there are 59 of them scattered across the Lands Between, some lying around as treasure and others sold by merchants. Each one adds its recipes to the crafting menu the moment you pick it up, with nothing to read or equip.
Kalé is also your first cookbook seller. He has the first two Nomadic Warrior’s Cookbooks for 500 runes each, and they pay off right away:
- Nomadic Warrior’s Cookbook [1] teaches Bone Arrows, fletched Bone Arrows and Bone Bolts, which is cheap ammo if you use a bow or crossbow.
- Nomadic Warrior’s Cookbook [2] teaches the Glowstone, the Invigorating Cured Meat and the white cured meat version.
The Nomadic Warrior series goes all the way up to [24]. There are many other series too, for example the Missionary’s Cookbook, Armorer’s Cookbook, Glintstone Craftsman’s Cookbook, Perfumer’s Cookbook, Fevor’s Cookbook, Frenzied’s Cookbook and Ancient Dragon Apostle’s Cookbook. In Shadow of the Erdtree you’ll also run into books like the Forager Brood Cookbook and the Greater Potentate’s Cookbook.
Most useful recipes
You don’t need to craft everything. These are the recipes worth keeping stocked, with exact ingredients and the cookbook that teaches each one:
| Item | Ingredients | Cookbook | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Pot | Cracked Pot, Mushroom, Smoldering Butterfly | Nomadic Warrior’s [7] | Thrown explosion of fire damage |
| Roped Fire Pot | Same as Fire Pot, plus String | Nomadic Warrior’s [7] | Fire damage thrown behind you |
| Fire Grease | Root Resin, Smoldering Butterfly | Armorer’s [1] | Coats your weapon in fire |
| Blood Grease | Root Resin, Bloodrose | Nomadic Warrior’s [6] | Adds Blood Loss to your weapon |
| Magic Grease | Root Resin, Crystal Bud | Glintstone Craftsman’s [5] | Coats your weapon in magic |
| Lightning Grease | Root Resin, Fulgurbloom | Ancient Dragon Apostle’s [1] | Coats your weapon in lightning |
| Bone Arrows and Bolts | Thin Beast Bones (Flight Pinion for fletched arrows) | Nomadic Warrior’s [1] | Cheap ammo you can craft mid-dungeon |
| Neutralizing Boluses | Cave Moss, Herba, Great Dragonfly Head | Armorer’s [2] | Lowers poison buildup and cures poison |
| Stanching Boluses | Cave Moss, Herba, Land Octopus Ovary | Nomadic Warrior’s [7] | Lowers Blood Loss buildup |
| Pickled Turtle Neck | 3 Rowa Fruit, Turtle Neck Meat, Herba | Nomadic Warrior’s [3] | Faster stamina recovery for a while |
| Exalted Flesh | 5 Rowa Fruit, Lump of Flesh, Hefty Beast Bone, Arteria Leaf | Armorer’s [3] | Temporary physical attack boost; limited by the rare Arteria Leaf |
| Silver-Pickled Fowl Foot | 3 Rowa Fruit, Four-Toed Fowl Foot, Silver Firefly | Missionary’s [3] | Temporary item discovery boost for farming runs |
| Holy Water Pot | Cracked Pot, Mushroom, Tarnished Golden Sunflower | Missionary’s [1] | Thrown holy damage (uses FP) |
| Rowa Raisin | Rowa Fruit | None needed | Heals Torrent while riding |
The Furlcalling Finger Remedy, made from Erdleaf Flowers, is also worth keeping a stack of if you play online co-op (see Multiplayer and Summoning).
Where to farm key materials
Most common plants and bugs respawn whenever you rest at a Site of Grace, while some rarer ones, like the Arteria Leaf, are limited. Animal parts drop from creatures, and several merchants (and the Twin Maiden Husks, once you hand them the right bell bearing) sell some materials in unlimited stock.
| Material | Used for (examples) | Good farming spot |
|---|---|---|
| Smoldering Butterfly | Fire Pot, Fire Grease, fire bolts, fire-resistance livers | About eight on a burning patch north-northeast of Warmaster’s Shack, alongside two burning slugs. There are more on the burning pile in Castle Morne‘s courtyard. |
| Root Resin | Every grease | Under the tree just northeast of the Warmaster’s Shack grace. In the DLC the Twin Maiden Husks sell unlimited Root Resin once you give them the Greasemonger’s Bell Bearing. |
| Mushroom | Fire, Fetid, Holy Water and Sleep Pots | Damp areas of Limgrave and Liurnia; a few grow around the Village of the Albinaurics grace. Boc the Seamster gives you ten when you free him. |
| Rowa Fruit | Raisins, fowl feet, Exalted Flesh, cured meats | Bushes everywhere. The main street of Jarburg also has Poisonblooms, Grave Violets and Tarnished Golden Sunflowers. |
| Golden Rowa | Cured meats | The Altus Plateau version of Rowa; four sit right by the Bower of Bounty grace. |
| Erdleaf Flower | Furlcalling Finger Remedy, Grace Mimic | Common everywhere. Three grow next to the Four Belfries grace in Liurnia. |
| Herba | Boluses, Pickled Turtle Neck | Thickets; three on the far side of the nearest tower at the Four Belfries. |
| Cave Moss | Boluses | Dark caves such as Coastal Cave. |
| Thin Beast Bones | Bone arrows, bolts and darts | Sheep, deer and rabbitgaroos drop them often. The big sheep herd next to Craftsman’s Shack is ideal; use area attacks. Unlimited from the Twin Maiden Husks with the Bone Peddler’s Bell Bearing. |
| Sliver of Meat | Cured meats | Herbivores, e.g. the sheep near Craftsman’s Shack or southwest of the Church of Pilgrimage. Unlimited with the Meat Peddler’s Bell Bearing. |
| Flight Pinion | Fletched arrows | Eagles and guillemots on the cliffs and beach west of the Church of Elleh. Use ranged attacks before they fly off. |
| Turtle Neck Meat | Pickled Turtle Neck | Eight turtles around the basement of Summonwater Village. |
| String | Roped pots, drawstring greases | Dropped by Demi-Humans; the first room of Coastal Cave has eight of them. |
| Glintstone Firefly | Magic Pot, magic arrows and bolts | On the big crystals in Liurnia, for example west of the Scenic Isle grace or just outside the Royal Moongazing Grounds toward the Three Sisters. |
| Silver Firefly | Silver-Pickled Fowl Foot | Near cold water out of the sun; the Ainsel River Main grace has six close by. |
| Bloodrose | Blood Grease, bloodbone ammo | Fort Haight (six bushes) or the path up to Rose Church (nine). |
| Arteria Leaf | Exalted Flesh, aromatics | Rare and limited, though the trolls in the Mountaintops of the Giants sometimes drop it. |
Farming tips
- Your Discovery affects how often enemies drop materials. Raise it with Arcane, the Silver-Pickled Fowl Foot or the Silver Scarab talisman.
- Pick spots right next to a Site of Grace, grab everything, rest, and repeat. Most plants and bugs respawn every time.
- Once you have spare runes later on, bell bearings for the Twin Maiden Husks turn the most tedious materials (bones, meat, crystals) into a shop purchase.
- Grab every extra container you come across. They’re what limits how many pots and perfumes you can hold.