I Tested Every Spirit Ash So You Don't Have To
Here's a confession: on my first playthrough, I used the Lone Wolf Ashes until Leyndell. Three wolves. Against Morgott. It did not go well.
I didn't know Spirit Ashes had tiers. I thought they were all roughly the same — just different flavors of distraction. Then I found the Mimic Tear in Nokron and watched it solo the Godskin Duo while I sat in a corner eating boiled crab. That was the moment I realized I'd been playing on hard mode for 60 hours for absolutely no reason.
Since then I've tested every Spirit Ash against every major boss across 400+ hours and multiple NG+ cycles. Here's what actually works — and what's just taking up space in your inventory. If you haven't settled on a build yet, our Elden Ring best builds tier list will tell you which summons pair best with each archetype.
The three summons that actually change the game:
- Mimic Tear for melee builds — it's literally you, but with triple your HP and better AI than most co-op partners
- Black Knife Tiche for casters — percentage-based damage that doesn't care if the boss has 15,000 HP or 150,000
- Dung Eater Puppet for anyone who wants a tank that actually holds aggro instead of dodge-rolling into a corner
How I Actually Rank These Things
| Tier | What It Means | |------|---------------| | S | I'd bring this to a blind first attempt against a boss and feel confident | | A | Works against 90% of bosses, just not quite as brainless as S-tier | | B | Good if it fits your build, mediocre otherwise | | C | I used it once for the aesthetic, never touched it again | | D | Why did FromSoftware even put this in the game |
S-Tier: The "This Feels Like Cheating" Club
Mimic Tear
Location: Night's Sacred Ground, Nokron Eternal City (Stonesword Key fog door). FP Cost: 660 HP (uses health, not FP) Best for: Any melee build.
The Mimic Tear creates an exact copy of your character — weapons, armor, talismans, consumables, everything. At +10 it gets roughly triple your HP. It can use your Ash of War, throw your pots, and chug your flasks.
I remember summoning it against Malenia for the first time. My Mimic opened with a jumping heavy, staggered her out of Waterfowl Dance startup, and then threw a freezing pot to cancel the next one. I just stood there watching my own character play better than me. It was humbling.
Here's the trick most guides miss: equip Shabriri's Woe (the talisman that makes enemies target you) before summoning, then swap it off. The Mimic keeps the taunt effect. Every boss in the game will ignore you and focus on your unkillable clone. Also — put Raw Meat Dumplings and Warming Stones on your item bar before the summon. The Mimic uses them to heal itself constantly.
The downside nobody talks about: the Mimic is dumb as rocks against certain bosses. It will stand in Malenia's Waterfowl Dance and facetank the entire combo, healing her for 30% of her HP bar. Against Fire Giant it rolls directly into his AoE fire pools and dies before phase 2. And on pure caster builds the Mimic is useless — it copies your 12 Vigor and dies to a sneeze.
Black Knife Tiche
Location: Ringleader's Evergaol, Moonlight Altar (finish Ranni's questline). FP Cost: 132 Best for: Casters, INT/FTH builds, anyone who fights at range.
Tiche is an invisible death machine. She dodges constantly, applies Destined Death (percentage-based HP burn that also reduces max HP), and is nearly impossible for bosses to hit.
My favorite Tiche moment: Fire Giant, NG+4. The boss had roughly 60,000 HP. My spells were hitting for maybe 400 damage each. Tiche landed Destined Death and it ticked for over 5,000 damage over the duration while I panic-rolled around the arena. She basically killed him for me.
Why she's S-tier and not just A: percentage damage means she never falls off. At NG+7 where everything has doubled HP, the Mimic's flat damage starts struggling but Tiche hits exactly as hard as she did in NG. She's also the best summon for Malenia specifically — she dodges Waterfowl Dance instead of feeding the boss HP like the Mimic does.
Her one weakness: the Destined Death projectile can whiff against fast bosses. Malenia and Maliketh will dodge it if they're in an attack animation. Solution: throw a spell to draw aggro first, then let Tiche fire. She doesn't miss stationary targets.
Dung Eater Puppet
Location: Subterranean Shunning-Grounds. Give Dung Eater Seluvis's Potion or 5 Seedbed Curses, then pick Seluvis's Puppet option. FP Cost: 118 Best for: Any build that needs something standing between you and the boss.
Here's the thing about most tank summons: they don't hold aggro. The boss hits them once and immediately turns back to you. Dung Eater Puppet is different. He has a greatshield, heavy armor, massive HP, and some kind of AI that actually makes bosses want to fight him. He also applies a unique debuff that reduces enemy damage negation — which stacks with other defense-reducing effects.
I didn't believe the hype until I tried him against Godfrey. Godfrey spent the entire first phase trying to kill the puppet while I stood behind him casting Comet Azur for free. The Dung Eater never dropped below half HP. It was almost boring. Almost.
The cost: you lock yourself out of the Dung Eater's ending and his armor set. Honestly? Worth it. The ending is depressing anyway and the armor makes you look like a sewer goblin.
A-Tier: Excellent, Just Not Brainless
Lhutel the Headless
Location: Tombsward Catacombs, Weeping Peninsula. FP Cost: 104 Best for: Early game carries, available from minute one.
Lhutel carries you through the first 60% of the game. She throws a spear at range, teleports to dodge attacks, and has a greatshield for physical damage. Her teleport dodge is genuinely impressive — I've watched her ghost through attacks that would one-shot most players.
The catch: her damage falls off a cliff after Leyndell. No percentage scaling, no special debuffs, just flat numbers that stop being impressive around the time you hit the Mountaintops. Still, getting her at the start of the game is like having a co-op partner who never steals your runes.
Omenkiller Rollo
Location: Fell Twins boss room, Altus Plateau. FP Cost: 113 Best for: Bleed builds.
Rollo is pure aggression in summon form. Dual cleavers, fire breath, a gap-closing leap attack that staggers medium enemies, and he bleeds everything. Against Mohg I used Rollo plus my own bleed build and we triggered hemorrhage five times before the boss finished his phase transition speech.
He drops to B-tier against bleed-immune bosses (Radagon, Elden Beast, any gargoyle). But against anything with blood — which is most bosses — he's the best non-S-tier summon in the game.
Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff
Location: Sainted Hero's Grave, Altus Plateau. FP Cost: 108 Best for: People who don't want to swap summons between fights.
Kristoff is boring and I mean that as a compliment. Greatshield, lightning spear for range, lightning halberd for melee, a solid AoE attack. He has no dramatic weaknesses. He works against every boss in the game. If you're tired of min-maxing and just want a summon that shows up and does its job, Kristoff is your guy.
His lightning attacks deal split physical/lightning damage, so bosses resistant to one type still take the other. Smart design. I wish more summons worked this way.
DLC: Divine Bird Warrior Ornis
Location: Charo's Hidden Grave, Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. FP Cost: 120 Best for: DLC bosses, Faith builds.
The DLC's standout summon, and it's not even close. Ornis flies above ground AoEs — which is huge, because DLC bosses love covering the floor in death puddles. He also buffs your weapon with divine damage. Against Scadutree Avatar and Romina he survived the entire fight while my other summons died in the first 30 seconds.
B-Tier: Good If You Know What You're Doing
Banished Knight Engvall
Location: Murkwater Catacombs, Limgrave. FP Cost: 100
Engvall is your early game workhorse. Storm Assault — his multi-hit halberd combo — staggers Margit and Godrick in 3-4 hits. He's tanky enough to survive while you learn boss patterns. Falls off hard after Leyndell but carries the early game beautifully.
Redmane Knight Ogha
Location: War-Dead Catacombs, Caelid. FP Cost: 106
Ogha swaps between greatbow sniping and greatsword melee. His tracking rain-of-arrows attack hits flying enemies that most summons can't touch. Against dragons he's constantly pelting them from range. His AI is smarter than average — he switches to melee when the boss closes in instead of trying to shoot at point blank like an idiot.
DLC: Taylew the Golem Smith
Location: Taylew's Ruined Forge, Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. FP Cost: 135
Taylew has roughly 60% physical damage reduction. Against pure-physical bosses (Godfrey, Hoarah Loux) he's functionally immortal. I watched him tank Godfrey's entire phase 2 combo without his HP bar moving. Against anything with elemental damage — magic, fire, lightning — he melts. Zero ranged options. Put him against the right boss and he's S-tier. Put him against the wrong boss and he's a very expensive paperweight.
C-Tier: I Wanted These to Be Good
Cleanrot Knight Finlay
Location: Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. FP Cost: 127
Finlay has incredible lore — she canonically carried a wounded Malenia all the way from Caelid to the Haligtree. In gameplay she's... fine. Holy damage (the most-resisted element in the game), overly passive AI, blocks more than she attacks. I used her for 10 minutes and went back to Kristoff.
Nightmaiden & Swordstress Puppets
Location: Nokstella Eternal City (Seluvis questline). FP Cost: 97
Two summons, one slot. The Nightmaiden casts spells and heals, the Swordstress fights in melee. They split boss aggro between them which is genuinely useful. The problem: they share an HP pool and sometimes both eat the same AoE and die together. Against single-target melee bosses without wide attacks they're surprisingly effective. Everywhere else they're a gamble.
DLC: Curseblade Meera
Location: Bonny Village, Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. FP Cost: 110
Visually stunning — spinning blade dancer with bloodflame effects. She bleeds faster than Rollo but has half his HP. In the wrong fight she dies in 10 seconds. High ceiling, low floor — the kind of summon you use when you've already beaten the game and just want to see cool animations.
D-Tier: Why Do These Exist
Lone Wolf Ashes
Your starter summon. Three wolves that die to the first boss AoE. Fine for Limgrave field bosses. Replace the moment you get anything else. I have no idea why anyone would use these past Stormveil.
Wandering Noble Ashes
Five nobles shuffling around doing nothing. They barely attack. They don't draw aggro. They exist purely as a meme. FP cost 28 for a joke that stops being funny after 30 seconds.
Land Squirts
Explode on death for minor poison buildup. Their only real use case is triggering poison-related talisman effects. Everything else about them is terrible.
What I've Learned After Testing Everything
The S-tier summons all share one thing: scaling that bypasses flat numbers. Mimic Tear scales with your gear (infinite ceiling). Tiche uses percentage damage (works at any NG+). Dung Eater debuffs enemy defenses (multiplicative value). Everything below S-tier deals fixed damage that eventually falls off.
This is also why I think FromSoftware's Spirit Ash balance is kind of a mess. They gave us 60+ summons but only 3-4 are worth upgrading to +10. The rest exist for variety's sake but you're actively handicapping yourself by using them. I wish more niche summons had percentage-based mechanics or unique synergies.
Which Summon for Which Build
| Your Build | Use This | Don't Use This | |------------|----------|----------------| | Strength | Mimic Tear | Tiche (she won't hold aggro for melee) | | Dex/Bleed | Mimic Tear or Rollo | Dung Eater (you need bleed stacks, not tanking) | | Intelligence | Tiche | Mimic (copies your 12 Vigor, dies instantly) | | Faith | Tiche or Ornis (DLC) | Kristoff (redundant lightning) | | Arcane | Mimic Tear or Rollo | Any non-bleed summon |
The DLC Switched Everything Up
Shadow of the Erdtree bosses have massive AoE attacks that delete traditional summons. The ones that fly (Ornis) or have massive damage reduction (Taylew) gained value. Meanwhile Scadutree Blessing levels don't apply to Spirit Ashes — they use your base stats, not blessed stats. So your +10 Mimic Tear is actually weaker relative to DLC enemies than base game enemies.
For DLC specifically: Tiche (percentage damage) and Ornis (avoidance) are your best options. Mimic Tear is still fine but not the no-brainer it is in the base game.
FAQ
Does upgrading actually matter?
Yes — massive difference. A +10 Spirit Ash has roughly triple the HP and 2.5x the damage of +0. Upgrade your main summon to +10 before any late-game boss. Ghost Glovewort for legendary ashes, Grave Glovewort for standard — both found in catacombs.
Can I use Spirit Ashes in co-op?
No. Disabled in multiplayer. Choose between human summons or your spirit — can't have both.
Do Spirit Ashes increase boss HP?
No. Unlike summoning players (which scales boss HP per phantom), Spirit Ashes are pure upside. Use them every fight. There's zero downside.
Best summon for Malenia?
Black Knife Tiche. Malenia heals on every hit, including blocked hits. Mimic Tear gets shredded by Waterfowl Dance and feeds her HP. Tiche dodges most of it and Destined Death offsets the healing. Cheesy approach: Tiche + bleed build + Frost Pots to cancel Waterfowl.
Are DLC summons worth upgrading?
Ornis (A-tier) and Taylew (B-tier but situationally S) are worth it. Meera, Jolan, Anna are outclassed by base game options. You'll find enough Ghost Glovewort in the DLC to +10 one DLC summon without sacrificing a base game one. If you haven't entered the DLC yet, read our Shadow of the Erdtree preparation guide first — you need the Scadutree Blessings more than a new summon.
Where's the best place to farm Ghost Glovewort?
Nokron → Night's Sacred Ground (Glovewort 4-6). Mohgwyn Palace → Palace Approach Ledge-Road (7-9). Elphael → Brace of the Haligtree (Great Ghost Glovewort for +10). There are exactly 6 Great Ghost Glovewort in the base game, more in the DLC. You need 1 per legendary ash.
