For the first time in a FromSoftware game, players have the option to craft items in Elden Ring instead of purchasing them from NPC vendors or farming enemies for drops. This is an incredibly useful system, but unfortunately, players don't have access to it right away. On top of that, you won't have many crafting recipes available to you once you can craft, limiting how impactful the item crafting mechanic is in Elden Ring's early game.
For those reasons, we've put together this detailed guide on everything you need to know about item crafting in Elden Ring and its upcoming DLC expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree. This includes where and how to get the Crafting Kit you need, how to craft items with it, and how you can get additional crafting recipes as you progress through the game.
Elden Ring: Crafting Kit location
While players don't start off with the Crafting Kit in Elden Ring, they need to craft items, obtaining it is incredibly easy and can be done within minutes of starting a new game. All you need to do is head to the Church of Elleh in Limgrave and purchase the Crafting Kit from Merchant Kalé, an NPC dressed in red clothing located there. The Crafting Kit costs 500 runes, so make sure you have enough before attempting to buy it. The map location of the Church of Elleh and an image of Merchant Kalé are shown above.
Note that while the trek from the game's starting location and the Church of Elleh is a short one, you will need to watch out for the Tree Sentinel miniboss in the area (the large warrior on horseback with gold armor and a large halberd). If you've just started the game, you should avoid this boss for now until you level up a bit.
Elden Ring: How to craft items
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Since you've obtained the Crafting Kit, you now have the ability to craft items. To do this, press the Start button on your controller and select the Item Crafting tab. This will bring up a menu that shows you everything you can currently craft; fully lit up items can be crafted, while grayed out items cannot be.
Whether or not you can craft an item is determined by the type and amount of crafting materials you've collected throughout your playthrough. If you don't have the right materials to craft an item, or a sufficient amount of the right materials, you'll be unable to create them. You can check which materials you need for crafting an item by selecting it in the crafting menu. This will show you the item's crafting recipe.
Crafting materials can be found all throughout the Lands Between, and generally stand out from Elden Ring's normal terrain and flora in some way. Most colorful and vibrant items in the game are crafting materials, and it's common for defeated enemies and wildlife to drop crafting materials as well. Most types of crafting materials will also respawn after you leave the area and come back after a while, too, so you don't need to worry about ever permanently running out of them.
Elden Ring: How to find crafting recipes
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If you want to expand the number of different items you can craft, you'll need to find additional crafting recipes in Elden Ring's world and Shadow of the Erdtree's Land of Shadow. These come in the form of items called Cookbooks, and they can be obtained in a variety of different ways, including:
- Found in various locations throughout the open world
- Found at the end of dungeons
- Purchased from an NPC vendor
- As a guaranteed drop from a miniboss
Note that while Cookbooks unlock crafting recipes for you to use, they do not provide you with the crafting materials needed to make items.
Elden Ring is finally here, and it's available for $60 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC. It's one of the best Xbox games you can play right now if you're a fan of challenging RPGs, and we strongly recommend it (check out our review of Elden Ring to see why we do). Plus, you can continue the challenging adventure with the new Shadow of the Erdtree expansion which has a $39.99 MSRP.
