One of Elden Ring's unique features is item crafting. By using materials you harvest from the Lands Between, you can craft powerful consumable items to enhance your damage, purge debuffs, and much more. Even if you typically don't dabble with crafting systems in RPGs, you might want to make an exception with Elden Ring.
Unlocked fairly early in your journey, crafting is your main source of consumable items and ammunition for ranged weapons. Just about every build in Elden Ring can benefit from using the consumables on offer here. Let's go over how to unlock the crafting system, gather materials, and unlock new recipes throughout your playthrough.
How To Craft Items
A Crafting Kit is required to start making items in Elden Ring. You can purchase a Crafting Kit from Merchant Kale at the Church of Elleh for 300 Runes. Once purchased, you'll be able to access the "Item Crafting" interface. Crafting can be done anywhere in the Lands Between, not just at Shrines of Grace.
Elden Ring's crafting system allows you to create consumables and ammo types at will to suit your needs. Need to stock up on arrows? Find some nearby bones and turn them into ammo. Are you stuck in a poisonous cave? Craft some Neutralizing Boluses from cave moss. Of course, you won't be able to craft everything at the start. Players will need to scavenge for crafting resources and cookbooks to unlock the Crafting Kit's true potential.
Gathering Resources
You won't be able to craft anything unless you have the necessary materials. The crafting UI will tell you which items you'll need to make a particular item. Resource requirements vary wildly based on the item in question, although most materials you'll need are enemy drops or items you scavenge in the Lands Between.
For example, let's say that you wanted to make some Roped Fire Pots to damage enemies chasing you. The recipe requires a mushroom, smoldering butterfly, and a piece of string. Mushrooms emit a bright glow in the open world, so they're fairly easy to find. Smoldering butterflies typically reside near source of campfires, and string can be obtained by slaying demi-human enemies. The crafting interface gives you a rough idea of where you'll find each resource in the recipe, so don't worry about memorizing where each crafting material comes from.
For some consumable items, you'll also need a cracked pot to make the item. This item is typically sold by merchants for a small fee. Crafted consumables do not recharge when used, so be mindful of which consumables you craft and how many.
Finding Cookbooks
Cookbooks are your main source of unlocking new crafting recipes in Elden Ring. Despite the name, cookbooks unlock more than just consumable recipes. You can find them as you would any other item in Elden Ring. Keep an eye out for merchants that sell cookbooks, as that will be your main source of crafting recipes in the early game.
Every Cookbook Location
We haven't found every cookbook as of writing this guide, but we'll list the cookbooks we have currently found. We'll update this guide in the future once we've found the rest of Elden Ring's cookbooks.
|
Cookbook |
Recipes |
Location |
|---|---|---|
|
Nomadic Warrior's Cookbook [1] |
|
Purchased from Merchant Kale for 500 Runes. |
|
Nomadic Warrior's Cookbook [2] |
|
Purchased from Merchant Kale for 500 Runes. |
|
Nomadic Warrior's Cookbook [7] |
|
Found on a corpse atop a destroyed bridge north of Stormhill Shack. |
|
Armorer's Cookbook [2] |
|
Purchased from the Nomadic Merchant (Limgrave Shore) for 400 Runes. |
|
Missionary's Cookbook [1] |
|
Purchased from Merchant Kale for 500 Runes. |
Crafting Tips
- Purchase cookbooks whenever a merchant is selling them. The same applies for cracked pots.
- While roaming the Lands Between, swing by any bushes or glowing flora to claim some easy crafting materials.
- If you're struggling to find certain enemy-specific crafting materials, consider increasing your Arcane stat.
- Should you be short on ammo, farm wolves to craft Bone Arrows.
- Boluses are Elden Ring's version of moss clumps. Make them whenever possible to counter poison, bleed, and other deadly status ailments.