Materials

Materials are used to improve your weapons at the Blacksmith. There are two types of upgrades you can do, Enhancement, which increases their stats (up to +5 for special weapons, up to +10 for normal ones), and Infusion, which allows you to apply a special Gem that grants unique effects to the weapon.

Enhancement

Enhancement is done with one of three different materials: pure Titanite (Shards, Large Shards, and Chunks), Twinkling Titanite (for unique weapons), and Titanite Scales (for special weapons created from powerful Souls). To reach the maximum level on any item requires a rare Titanite Slab.

It takes 12 basic Titanite for each set of +3 levels, finishing with a Titanite Slab for a total of 36 Titanite of three tiers to reach +9. Twinkling and Scale weapons require 15 of their respective type to reach +4. All weapons require a Titanite Slab to reach max level, be it +10 or +5.

Because Twinkling and Scale weapons are so expensive to upgrade to +4 with a rare material, consider upgrading a few that you enjoy using to +3 instead, and saving the +4 and +5 upgrades for a single weapon you really enjoy using.

Reinforcing a shield has little impact on its defensive attributes, except for Stability, which gains about a point per level. This isn’t a great amount, but in a lot of cases, you’re going to be using your shield for the majority of the game, so there’s no reason not to squeeze every little bit of defensive utility out of it as you can. When you have the Titanite to spare, upgrade your shield to boost its Stability.

Infusion

Infusion uses one of fifteen different special Gems to imbue a mundane weapon with a special attribute. The effects vary from enhancing the attribute scaling on a weapon (how much benefit they get from a high level of Str or Dex for example) to adding elemental damage, or even Poison or Bleed.

There is also a special Gem that can be used to remove an infusion from a weapon—infusions are separate from enhancement, you can have a +7 Blessed weapon, remove the Blessed infusion and you will still have a +7 weapon. This allows you to change your infusions based on need, or simply to experiment with other options on a favored weapon.

Infusing Shields has an odd impact on their stats, you can very slightly boost one elemental resist, at the cost of weakening all other defenses. This is rarely worth it, barring very rare cases where you want to block one specific high damage attack (likely from a boss).

Infusing a shield with a Blessed or Simple Gem can be useful, as you regen HP or FP even with the shield on your back, nice for two handed setups.

Blessed Gem
Infuse to create blessed weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Commonly known as a charm kept by saints.
Used in infusion to create blessed weapons.Special blessed weapons gradually restore HP and heavily damage reanimated foes.Gains Faith scaling, deals 20% greater damage to reanimated undead (Skeletons and the like), and heals HP slowly over time.
It’s worthwhile to make at least one Blessed weapon for the Catacombs of Carthus, and the HP regen ability isn’t bad either. If you’re exceptionally patient you can keep a backup un-upgraded Blessed weapon around solely to use as a source of HP regen, but there are very few situations so dire you actually need to use such a tactic to survive. In most cases you’d be better off simply using a Homeward Bone if you’re that tapped out!

Blood Gem
Infuse to create lacerating weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Slurped by Irithyll slaves.Used in infusion to create lacerating weapons.Such weapons inflict lacerating damage. Most effective with sharp or spiked weapons.
Adds a Bleed effect to a weapon. If the weapon already has a Bleed attribute, slightly enhances the Bleed intensity.Like other status effects, Bleeding effects are generally best on nimble weapons that you can strike with repeatedly, to build up the Bleed quickly and cause it to trigger before it falls off.Bleed and Poison both are slightly enhanced by the Luck attribute, though the effect is small without a heavy investment in the stat.

Chaos Gem
Infuse to create chaos weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Relics of lands scorched by the Chaos Flame.Used in infusion to create chaos weapons.Chaos weapons inflict fire damage, and scale with intelligence and faith.
Adds Fire damage and gives the weapon Int and Faith scaling. Unlike the Fire Gem, which removes all scaling, this gem is worth using if you are planning on investing heavily in Pyromancy (or all types of magic), and thus raising your Int and Faith considerably.

Dark Gem
Infuse to create dark weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Born of disembodied humanity.Used in infusion to create dark weapons.Dark weapons inflict dark damage, and scale with faith.
Adds Dark damage and lets the weapon scale with Faith. Essentially the Miracle caster analog of the Crystal Gem, this gives you a scaling elemental weapon if you plan to invest heavily in Faith.

Fire Gem
Infuse to create fire weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Found in rare cases inside demons.Used in infusion to create fire weapons.Fire weapons inflict fire damage, but lose scaling effects.
Identical to Deep Gems, but adding Fire instead of Dark damage. Quite a few enemies are vulnerable to Fire damage, making this a safe early choice for a solid weapon to upgrade.Even if you plan on investing into Str, Dex, or both, a Fire (or Deep) weapon can often eclipse their scaling damage until your stat levels are raised quite a bit. This makes Fire and Deep weapons ideal early in the game before your stat scaling kicks in heavily.Both types of weapon are strong enough to go all the way to the end of a normal playthrough, though you may wish to move to scaling weapons for NG+ playthroughs.

Hollow Gem
Infuse to create Hollow weapon
A gem of infused titanite. A stone plentiful in Londor, land of Hollows.Used in infusion to create Hollow weapons.Hollow weapons are said to peer into the essence of its wielder, whose luck boosts attack.
An unusual infusion, the Hollow Gem gives a weapon enhanced scaling with Luck. As this is generally not a stat you can afford to raise early in a character’s life, this puts the Hollow Gem in a limited niche for characters making use of Poison or Bleed effects (which slightly benefit from Luck as well).

Lightning Gem
Infuse to create lightning weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Found in the aftermath of dragon hunts.Used in infusion to create lightning weapons.Lightning weapons inflict lightning damage, and scale with faith.
Adds Lightning damage and grants Faith scaling. Miracle users are already specialists in dealing Lightning damage with spells, this infusion lets you benefit from the Faith investment on your weapon as well.

Crystal Gem
Infuse to create crystal weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Introduced to Lothric by the Crystal Sages.Used in infusion to create crystal weapons.Crystal weapons inflict magic damage, and scale effectively with intelligence.
Adds Magic damage and Int scaling to a weapon. Ideal for casters focusing on Sorceries. A backup Magic damage weapon isn’t a bad idea for places where you are dealing with Fire resistant foes (such as the fire demons in the Smouldering Lake).

Deep Gem
Infuse to create deep weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Found in the dregs of the Cathedral of the Deep.Used in infusion to create deep weapons.Deep weapons inflict dark damage, but lose scaling effects.There is a darkness that lies beyond human ken.
A flat non-scaling Dark damage addition, weapons infused with a Deep Gem lose scaling effects, but gain a good amount of flat damage, making them suitable for characters not investing heavily in Str or Dex.

Heavy Gem
Infuse to create heavy weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Famously used to forge Farron greatswords.Used in infusion to create heavy weapons.A warrior can appreciate a heavy weapon, for they scale effectively with strength.
Removes other scaling to boost (or provide) strong Str scaling.Ideal for a brute force melee character, a Heavy Str weapon can be boosted to significant levels of physical damage fairly early in the game.

Large Titanite Shard
Reinforce weapon to +6
Titanite shard for weapon reinforcement. A larger shard that reinforces weapons to +6.Titanite shards are fragments of the Legendary Slabs. Titanite is etched into weapons to reinforce.
Medium strength reinforcement, Large Titanite Shards let you get your weapons up to scratch with enemies throughout the mid game. Once you can purchase these, it’s well worth upgrading several weapons to +6 to have different elemental options open.

Refined Gem
Infuse to create refined weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Forged the weapons of Lothric knights.Used in infusion to create refined weapons.Refined weapons are difficult to wield properly, and scale effectively with strength and dexterity.
Provides a weapon with enhanced Str and Dex scaling. Because it requires both, this infusion is weaker than Heavy or Sharp (and sometimes even Raw) unless both of your stats are raised to a high level.If you are planning on making use of certain weapons with naturally high base Str and Dex requirements, this can be a useful infusion, and you gain the benefit of good ranged weapon potential as well, but this is the most demanding of the physically oriented infusions.

Poison Gem
Infuse to create poison weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Discovered in the rotted forest of Farron.Used in infusion to create poison weapons.Such weapons inflict poison-laced damage that gradually eats away at foes.
Adds a Poison effect to a weapon, or slightly enhances an existing one. Otherwise functions identically to the Blood Gem, simply enhancing Poison instead.Like Bleed, Poison also benefits slightly from enhanced Luck.

Sharp Gem
Infuse to create sharp weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Forged the unique curved swords of Carthus.Used in infusion to create sharp weapons.A swordsman can appreciate a sharp weapon, for they scale effectively with dexterity.
Similar but not identical to the Heavy Gem, the Sharp Gem boosts Dex scaling, making it ideal for Fencer archetype characters interested in focusing on Dex based weapons and bows.

Simple Gem
Infuse to create simple weapon
A gem of infused titanite, said to be an object of infatuation for victims of stunted development.Used in infusion to create simple weapons.Simple weapons inflict magic damage and restore FP very gradually, to help even a simpleton muster some mettle.
Simple weapons add Magic damage, benefit from Int scaling, and provide slight FP regeneration. This effect is small, but over the course of a lengthy expedition away from a Bonfire, it can add up to a decent amount of free FP, giving you some extra uses of your weapon skills and spells.Compared to Crystal weapons, they have better physical damage bonuses, and slightly less Magic damage, but you gain the FP regen in exchange.

Titanite Scale
Reinforce soul-transposed weapon to +4
Titanite altered by a soul. Reinforces soul-transposed weapons to +4.Weapons forged by soul transposition can only be reinforced by titanite of the same kind.In rare cases, crystal lizards devour souls, growing to monstrous proportion and leaving these great scales.
Weapons created from powerful Souls by Ludleth using the Transposition Kiln can only be reinforced using these rare scales. Typically only found on Ravenous Crystal Lizards, you need to be choosy about which soul-transposed weapons you decide to improve on any given playthrough due to their rarity.

Titanite Slab
Reinforce weapon to highest level
Titanite slab for weapon reinforcement, said to once belong to the gods. Reinforces weapons to their highest level.Titanite slabs are smithing materials of the gods, and weapons reinforced with slabs will be admired no less than their precious legendary weapons.
Rare and powerful, complete slabs of Titanite are necessary to infuse any type of weapon to its maximum level.Because these are so rare, and because you only gain comparatively slight benefits for the jump to the final level, don’t sweat having multiple weapons ‘stuck’ at +9. Save the Slabs for your absolute favorite weapons, particularly if you plan on venturing into NG+ with them.

Raw Gem
Infuse to create raw weapon
A gem of infused titanite. Forged the weapons of Lothric foot soldiers.Used in infusion to create raw weapons.Raw weapons are easily wielded and have higher attack, but lose scaling effects.
Raw weapons lose all scaling, but gain enhanced physical damage in exchange. This is essentially the raw physical version of the Fire or Deep gems, giving you flat damage at the cost of scaling.As with the other two, Raw weapons are useful for characters not planning to invest heavily in Str or Dex, and without an element attached to the weapon, this leaves you free to use elemental enchantments, either from consumable items or spells, and you don’t need to worry about Fire or Dark resistant enemies.

Shriving Stone
Undo weapon infusion
A gem of infused titanite. Also known as stark stone.Reverses weapon infusion.Has the benefit of undoing the effects of infusion without reducing the reinforcement level.
The Shriving Stone is a special type of gem that allows you to remove an infusion from a weapon—but removing the infusion does not affect the reinforcement level, so a +4 weapon stays +4, it simply loses whatever gem effect you had applied. This is useful for ‘redoing’ a weapon if you decide you want to change its infusion type.

Titanite Chunk
Reinforce weapon to +9
Titanite chunk for weapon reinforcement. Reinforces weapons to +9.Few records of chunks exist, and once one was discovered in Lothric, the race to locate Legendary Slabs began, but there have been no reports of success.
The high-tier Titanite material, these are relatively rare until later in the game, and are required to boost your weapons to penultimate level.

Titanite Shard
Reinforce weapon to +3
Titanite shard for weapon reinforcement. Reinforces weapons to +3.Titanite shards are fragments of the Legendary Slabs. Titanite is etched into weapons to reinforce.
The basic upgrade material, Titanite Shards can enhance your mundane equipment up to +3, giving you a slight edge early in the game.As these become quite common (and buyable) not too far into the game, don’t hesitate to upgrade your less frequently used gear to +3—ranged weapons if you only use them occasionally, your shield, alternate weapons and the like.

Twinkling Titanite
Reinforce soulbound weapon to +4
Twinkling titanite for weapon reinforcement. Reinforces soulbound weapons to +4.Soulbound weapons cannot be reinforced with ordinary titanite, nor can they be infused.Unless one uses this twinkling titanite, which reinforces these weapons without reversing their bolstered strength.
Twinkling Titanite is necessary to upgrade unique soulbound weapons. These are weapons that are not soul-transposed (created by Ludleth from powerful Souls), and not mundane weapons found or purchased.Twinkling Titanite is fairly rare, though not quite so much as Titanite Scales. Experiment with unique equipment before you decide to use your Twinkling Titanite on it, you want to get the most value from your limited supply.

Weapon Enhancement and Infusion Examples

To demonstrate the effect of Infusions on a weapons statline, we’ve included this chart of a simple Long Sword, imbued with every different Gem in the game at minimum (+0) and maximum enhancement (+10), and at four different stat levels – 10 in every stat, 20, 40, and finally 99.

This should give you a feel for the impact of enhancement, infusion, and attributes on a common weapon. Because weapon scaling improves as a weapon is leveled up, this can result in some cases where at one combination of enhancement level and character attributes, an infusion pulls ahead or falls behind where it was at the previous attribute level.

In general, the non-scaling and single attribute infusions are best in your first playthrough, while the more demanding scaling and multi-attribute infusions work best at the tail end of a playthrough, or when you venture into New Game Plus territory.

Weapons that have different beginning scaling attributes respond slightly differently to the infusions that affect attribute scaling, but the general principles outlined in this table apply across all weapons in the game.

KEY: p = Physical damage, m = Magic damage, f = Fire damage, d = Dark damage, l = Lightning damage

* Poison Longsword has 33 Poison effect.* Blood Longsword has 33 Bleed effect.