How to Get Ash of War: Thunderbolt in Elden Ring

This article is part of a directory: Elden Ring Guide Hub: Weapons, Items, Tips, Tricks, Bosses, & Builds

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As you embark on your journey into The Lands Between, Gatefront Ruins will be one of the first ruins you encounter, where you will learn the ability to apply Ashes of War. In Elden Ring, Ashes of War are weapon skills accompanied by melee weapons. Some weapons have unique skills that can’t be altered, but there are many standard weapons that can make use of Ashes of War to enhance their attacks.

Usually, melee builds lack ranged attacks, and there are Ashes of War meant to give them movements to close distances and hit enemies from long range. Elden Ring has some fantastic Ashes of War for players wanting long-range attacks, such as Sacred Blade, Storm Blade, and Thunderbolt. Out of all these skills, Thunderbolt can be quite deadly and strong, especially in PvP, because of its delayed animation making it harder to dodge and chain casting allowing players to spam the skill repeatedly.

Thunderbolt is one of the many weapon skills used by the Leyndell Knights commonly found in Altus Plateau. This skill grants Lightning affinity to weapons by default, which adds better Dexterity scaling to the detriment of Strength. Here’s how you can get the Ash of War: Thunderbolt in Elden Ring.

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Elden Ring: Best Ashes Of War, Ranked

Ashes of War provide essential buffs for Elden Ring players, but some are more powerful and more useful than others.

Where to Find Ash of War: Thunderbolt in Elden Ring

To get the Thunderbolt Ash of War, you will first have to reach Leyndell, Royal Capital located on the east side of Altus Plateau. You can enter the capital after defeating the Draconic Tree Sentinel and obtaining two great runes from Shardbearer bosses. After entering Leyndell, go ahead to find the East Capital Rampart site of grace and then head southeast to reach the main street of Leyndell. Go down the street to face an Erdtree Avatar enemy and take a right turn behind its back to reach the Avenue Balcony grace site.

From the Avenue Balcony Site of Grace, descend the stairs on the west side, then jump down into the small town to the west. As you enter the town, listen for the sounds of a scarab. The scarab is located in the town's courtyard, just before the well leading to the Subterranean Shunning Grounds. Destroy the scarab to obtain the Ash of War: Thunderbolt. Beware of the Black Dumpling Albinaurics roaming the town; their attacks can be lethal if you're bitten.

How To Use Ash of War: Thunderbolt in Elden Ring

Elden Ring - Thunderbolt Ash of War Description-1

Ash of War: Thunderbolt is usable on all melee weapons in Elden Ring, including daggers, swords, greatswords, katanas, axes, hammers, and spears. After obtaining the Thunderbolt weapon skill, you can apply it to a compatible armament at any Site of Grace. If you've forgotten to collect the Whetblade during your playthrough, you can visit Master Hewg to grant the Thunderbolt skill to a weapon.

When using the Thunderbolt skill, you will raise your weapon and fire a bolt of lightning at the target. It also coats the weapon with a Lightning aura. Repeat this skill to continuously fire lightning bolts. There are a few easy ways to increase the damage output of the Ash of War: Thunderbolt. You can use the Shard of Alexander for a 15% damage increase, the Lightning Scorpion Charm for a 12% boost to lightning attacks, and drink the Lightning-Shrouded Cracked Tear for another 20% boost to lightning attacks.