Sword of Darkness - Elden Ring Guide - IGN (2024)

The Sword of Darkness is a legendary straight sword weapon found in Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. It can only be acquired by holding up the Stone-Sheathed Sword at the altar of darkness in the Ruins of Unte. Straight swords are generally reliable all-purpose weapons that mix speed and power along with standard and piercing attacks for those investing in Strength and Dexterity. The Sword of Darkness also deals Holy damage, and can be interchanged for the Sword of Light.

How to Get the Sword of Darkness

In order to unlock the Sword of Darkness, you must first have found the Stone-Sheathed Sword, which can be claimed from the first of three altars you find in the Shadow Realm. The earliest altar to find it in is located in the Fog Rift Catacombs, the mini dungeon in a small misty valley northwest of Castle Ensis in Gravesite Plain.

Once you've obtained the Sword of Darkness, you will need to find the Altar of Darkness, and you’ll need to enter a hidden area below the Shadow Keep.

This can be done from the Main Gate after beating the Golden Hippopotamus, and getting to the drawbridge area that leads to the Specimen Storage part of the keep. Before heading across the drawbridge, look instead along the right path among the small boat pyres for a ladder leading down into the inner moat.

Follow the passage through a waterfall underground to a chamber with a collectible painting of “The Domain of Dragons”. To the right, attack the blank wall to reveal an illusory wall, which will lead to a stone coffin to take you under the keep.

This leads to a basin where you can find the large Ruins of Unte and many broken Furnace Golems (including one that will rise up out of the water to the south).

The secret lies within the ruins, but the entrance is blocked by an inactive Furnace Golem. You can look for some ruined buildings to the north to take you out onto the rooftop balconies, and toss a Hefty Fire Pot into the Furnace Golem to reactivate it, and gain entry into the ruins.

(If you don’t want to tangle with a Furnace Golem, it’s also possible to use Torrent to double jump partway up the ruins east wall and hop to the lowest broken point of the wall to get in from the back).

Thankfully, the Furnace Golem you awaken doesn't have armored legs, so it is possible to keep striking its legs to stagger it repeatedly and make it fall down, and then stab its face plate to deal massive damage - but try not to stray too far from the ruins lest the other Furnace Golem in the area rise up as well!

Inside the ruins in a large flower field, and the Altar of Darkness. If you still have the Stone-Sheathed Sword, you can raise it to the night, and be awarded the Sword of Darkness.

If you found this altar first and claimed the Stone-Sheathed Sword at this location, then the Altar of Darkness will instead be located inside the Fog Rift Catacombs.

Note that while you have the Sword of Darkness, you can swap it at the Altar of Light in the Western Ancient Ruins of Rauh west of Shadow Keep for the Sword of Light. You can keep swapping between the two legendary swords as much as you like, as any upgrades you have in one sword apply to the other.

Sword of Darkness Description

"Sword of darkness, pulled from its stone scabbard at an altar. From the quick of the root, wandering coils of darkness coalesce and release, their eddies and vortices giving form to the dark blade."

Default Weapon Skill

The Sword of Darkness's Default Weapon Skill is Darkness: Raise the sword aloft and cleave surroundings with darkness. Deals holy damage and temporarily reduces holy damage negation.

• Skill FP Cost: 30 FP
• Cannot be infused with other Ashes of War, nor can it be buffed with consumables and grease.

Weapon Stats

• Attack Type: Standard/Pierce
• Weight: 4
• Upgradable with Somber Smithing Stones