There are around 100 different skills in total, and in addition to a weapon's default skill, more can be found as items called Ashes of War - which can be discovered through a variety of ways that include exploration, defeating enemies and tracking down Teardrop Scarabs, as well as purchasing them from NPCs.
Equipping Ashes of War Weapon Skills
Using Ashes of War will allow you to have free reign to interchange skills between a large variety of weapons - though certain powerful weapons will have unique skills that cannot be swapped out. Once you have collected an Ash of War and the Whetstone Knife from the Gatefront Ruins, you use the menu when resting at a Site of Grace to view each of your melee armaments, ranged weapons, and shields.
From this menu, you can see the weapon's default skill, and replace it with one of the Ashes of War if it is the right type. You can choose to replace just the Weapon Skill, or you can also choose to adjust it's attribute scaling. This can make the weapon more effective if your character has higher Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, or Faith - or give your weapon the ability to deal magical or elemental damage.
As you find more types of Whetstones, you'll be able to choose different types of scaling than the weapon's default scaling type:
- Iron Whetblade - Allows additional affinities of Heavy, Keen, or Quality
- Glintstone Whetblade - Allows additional affinities of Magic or Cold
- Red-Hot Whetblade - Allows additional affinities of Fire or Flame Art
- Black Whetblade - Allows additional affinities of Poison, Blood, or Occult
| Ashes of War Scaling Build | Increases | Decreases |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | Strength Scaling Dexterity Scaling | Base Physical Damage |
| Keen | Dexterity Scaling | Strength Scaling Base Physical Damage |
| Heavy | Strength Scaling | Base Physical Damage |
| Magic | Intelligence Scaling Magic Damage | Strength Scaling Dexterity Scaling Guarded Damage Negation (excluding Magic Defense) |
| Fire | Strength Scaling Fire Damage Fire and Lightning Damage Negation | Base Physical Damage Dexterity Scaling All Other Damage Negation |
| Flame Art | Faith Scaling Fire Damage Fire and Lightning Damage Negation | Strength Scaling Dexterity Scaling Base Physical Damage All Other Damage Negation |
| Poison | Arcane Scaling Poison Damage Buildup | Base Physical Damage Physical Damage Negation Strength Scaling Dexterity Scaling |
| Blood | Arcane Scaling Blood Buildup | Base Physical Damage Physical Damage Negation Strength Scaling Dexterity Scaling |
| Cold | Magic Damage Intelligence Scaling Frost Damage Buildup | Base Physical Damage Physical Damage Negation Strength Scaling Dexterity Scaling |
| Occult | Arcane Scaling | Base Physical Damage Strength Scaling Dexterity Scaling |
| Lightning | Dexterity Scaling Lightning Damage | Strength Scaling Dexterity Scaling Physical Damage Guarded Damage Negation |
| Sacred | Faith Scaling Holy Damage | Base Physical Damage Guarded Damage Negation (excluding Holy Defense) |
Below is a list of the different Ashes of War that you can find and collect in your adventures. Click on an individual one to learn more about it, and where it can be found.
| Ashes of War Name | Requirements | Scaling |
|---|---|---|
| Ash of War - Barbaric Roar | All Melee Weapons (excluding daggers, thrusting swords, and whips) | Heavy |
| Ash of War - Barricade Shield | All Shields | None |
| Ash of War - Beast's Roar | All Melee Weapons | Keen |
| Ash of War - Blood Blade | All Small and Medium Swords | Blood |
| Ash of War - Bloody Slash | All Swords (excluding Colossal) | Blood |
| Ash of War - Bloodhound's Step | All Melee Weapons | Keen |
| Ash of War - Carian Grandeuer | All Swords | Magic |
| Ash of War - Carian Greatsword | All Swords | Magic |
| Ash of War - Charge Forth | All Thrusting Polearms, Heavy Thrusting Swords, Twinblades | Quality |
| Ash of War - Chilling Mist | All Melee Weapons (excluding Whips, Fists, and Claws) | Cold |
| Ash of War - Determination | All Melee Weapons | Quality |
| Ash of War - Double Slash | All Swords and Slashing Polearms | Keen |
| Ash of War - Enchanted Shot | All Light Bows and Longbows | None |
| Ash of War - Endure | All Melee Weapons | Heavy |
| Ash of War - Flame of the Redmanes | All Melee Weapons | Fire |
| Ash of War - Flaming Strike | All Melee Weapons (excluding Colossal and Whips) | Fire |
| Ash of War - Giant Hunt | Large and Colossal Thrusting Weapons, Spears, Twinblades | Quality |
| Ash of War - Glintblade Phalanx | All Swords, Thrusting Polearms (Excluding Colossal Weapons) | Magic |
| Ash of War - Glintstone Pebble | All Swords, Thrusting Polearms (Excluding Colossal Weapons) | Magic |
| Ash of War - Gravitas | All Melee Weapons | Magic |
| Ash of War - Ground Slam | All Melee Weapons (excluding small weapons and whips) | Heavy |
| Ash of War - Hoarfrost Stomp | All Melee Weapons | Cold |
| Ash of War - Holy Ground | All Shields | Sacred |
| Ash of War - Ice Spear | All Thrusting Polearms and Twinblades | Cold |
| Ash of War - Impaling Thrust | All Large Thrusting Weapons | Keen |
| Ash of War - Kick | All Weapons | Heavy |
| Ash of War - Lightning Slash | All Swords, Axes, and Hammers | Lightning |
| Ash of War - Lion's Claw | All Axes, Hammers, Swords (except small and thrusting) | Heavy |
| Ash of War - Lifesteal Fist | All Fists and Claws | Occult |
| Ash of War - Loretta's Slash | All Polearms and Twinblades | Magic |
| Ash of War - Mighty Shot | All Light Bows and Longbows | None |
| Ash of War - No Skill | All Shields and Torches | None |
| Ash of War - Parry | All Small and Medium Shields, Daggers, Curved and Thrusting Swords, Fist and Claw Weapons | None |
| Ash of War - Poisonous Mist | All Melee Weapons (excluding Whips, Fists, and Claws) | Poison |
| Ash of War - Poison Moth Flight | All Small and Medium Swords (excluding Twinblades) | Poison |
| Ash of War - Quickstep | All Melee Weapons | Keen |
| Ash of War - Raptor of the Mists | All Melee Weapons | Keen |
| Ash of War - Repeating Thrust | All Thrusting Weapons | Keen |
| Ash of War - Sacred Blade | All Melee Weapons (Excluding Whips, Fists, and Claws) | Sacred |
| Ash of War - Sacred Order | All Melee Weapons | Sacred |
| Ash of War - Sacred Ring of Light | All Polearms | Sacred |
| Ash of War - Shared Order | All Melee Weapons | Sacred |
| Ash of War - Shield Bash | All Shields | None |
| Ash of War - Shield Crash | All Shields | None |
| Ash of War - Square Off | All Straight Swords | Quality |
| Ash of War - Spinning Slash | All Axes, Polearms, and Swords (except Colossal Swords) | Keen |
| Ash of War - Spinning Weapon | All Small and Medium Swords, Axes, Hammers, Polearms, Staves (Excludes Great Spears) | Magic |
| Ash of War - Spectral Lance | All Polearms (excluding Reapers) | Occult |
| Ash of War - Stamp (Sweep) | All Axes, Hammers, Large Swords | Heavy |
| Ash of War - Stamp (Upward Cut) | All Large Swords, Axes, Hammers | Heavy |
| Ash of War - Storm Assault | Thrusting Polearms, Heavy Thrusting Swords, Twinblades | Quality |
| Ash of War - Storm Blade | All Standard Slashing Weapons | Quality |
| Ash of War - Storm Stomp | All Melee Weapons | Quality |
| Ash of War - Sword Dance | All Swords, Axes, Slashing Polearms (excluding colossal weapons and greatspears) | Keen |
| Ash of War - Thop's Barrier | Small and Medium Shields | Magic |
| Ash of War - Thunderbolt | All Armaments | Lightning |
| Ash of War - Unsheathe | Katanas | Keen |
| Ash of War - Vow of the Indomitable | All Shields | Sacred |
| Ash of War - War Cry | All Weapons (except Daggers, Thrusting Swords, Whips) | Heavy |
| Ash of War - Wild Strikes | All Axes, Hammers, Curved and Greatswords | Heavy |
The list below includes all known weapon skills, the description of their ability, and which weapon they can be found on by default. Skills in bold are unique to certain weapons and cannot be swapped out nor do they have an associated Ash of War.
