The sword in the stone scabbard is one of the strangest weapons in the world Elden Ring: Shadow of Erdtreeand I like it very much.
At first glance, the Stone Sheath Sword appears to be a weapon of great power. It starts with a C scale of Strength, which can become a B scale for some Grim Smithing Stones. However, with a little extra effort, the sword can become an incredible weapon of Strength/Faith, imbued with darkness or lightweight.
There are three different altars hidden in the Shadowlands that will give you a sword. Once you have it, the other two altars will allow you to transform it into a Sword of Light or a Sword of Darkness. Each version adds Holy damage and Faith scaling, with the only difference being whether the modern weapon art spits out murky clouds or brilliant lightweight.
You can transform the sword back and forth between Light and Darkness by visiting altars, but you won’t be able to return it to its stone form after the first transformation. If you have the Strength/Faith build, this is an awesome little weapon, so here are the different places you can pick it up.
Mist Rift Catacombs
If you want to get the Stone Sheath Sword as quickly as possible, you need to go to the Mist Rift Catacombs. This expansive dungeon is located in the forest northwest of the Place of Grace in front of the Castle, and you can enter it immediately after entering the Shadowlands.
There are lots of levels to explore in the catacombs and lots of different things to discover, so for the sake of brevity we’ll focus specifically on grabbing the sword here. First you need to get to the elevator that will take you to the second level of the dungeon. From there you’ll find yourself in a long room with an altar at the end and a spiky ceiling towering above it.
Reach the altar, then stand at the railing, which will lower the ceiling. You will see a space in the ceiling that you can jump into, and then you will be able to ride into a secret area. Once you reach the top, trigger the ceiling drop again, this time jump onto the ceiling and run to the back right corner. Here you will find an altar, which contains the Sword in the Stone Scabbard, or, if you have already picked up the sword elsewhere, allows you to transform it into the Sword of Light or the Sword of Darkness.
The ruins of Unte
The second place you can pick up the sword in the stone shield is in the Ruins of Unte below Shadowkeep. Check out our guide on how to get to the Ruins, then start at the Ruins of Unte, Place of Grace. You should see an inactive Furnace Golem wedged into the wall of the building directly in front of you. Sorry about that, but you’ll have to revive the golem. Go up to the roof of the adjacent building and throw a Hefty Furnace Pot at its head.
When the golem gets up, it will unlock the entrance to the courtyard. If you want, fight the golem, or you can follow my example and run past it into the courtyard. Quickly go right to avoid his massive burst of fire and you should notice a tiny altar. He will give you the Stone Sheath Sword or, if you picked up the Sword from the Mist Rift Catacombs, he will allow you to transform it into the Sword of Darkness.
Ancient ruins of Rauh
The old ruins of Rauh are another labyrinthine area in the Shadow of Erdtreeand they also mark the point of no return for DLC. There is an altar hidden in the area that will give you the Sword of Light, assuming you have already picked up the Stone Scabbard Sword from the Mist Rift Catacombs. First, you should go to the Ancient Ruins of Rauh, the Western Place of Grace, and prepare to move quickly.
Head west up the stairs and you will reach a immense square room. On the west side of this room is a hallway that will take you to the elevator. Take the elevator up and you should see a tiny area with a gazebo in the middle.
Run straight past the gazebo into the rot infested area and turn right. There will be another elevator that will take you down. When you get to the bottom, turn left and keep running down the hall until you reach the room with my least favorite enemy in the entire game: Kindred.
If you have the patience of a god or the prowess of a demigod, you can kill all of the Kindred before you continue, but I recommend just running straight to the back of the room. You should see an opening on both the left and right sides of the wall. It doesn’t matter which exit you take, they both lead to the same balcony.
From here you’ll see the tower in the distance, and getting there is as elementary as running straight through the chasm that yaws beneath you. There is an concealed floor here that usually has messages from other players on it, but don’t worry if it doesn’t have any markings on it. The path leads straight to the tower, so it’s straightforward to stay on it. You’ll find the altar as soon as you get to the other side.
