You've finally reached Liurnia or maybe even pushed into the red, rotting skies of Caelid. Your weapon is sitting at +9, and you’re feeling pretty good about your damage until you hit a wall. Or rather, a boss that feels like a wall. You check the blacksmith, Smithing Master Hewg, and realize you need a specific yellow-tinted rock to get over the hump. You need Smithing Stone 4.
It’s always the level four stones that trip people up. Honestly, the jump from early-game Limgrave to the mid-game stretch is where Elden Ring stops holding your hand and starts asking if you actually know how to find upgrade materials.
If you're stuck at +9 and can't find that final push to +12, you aren't alone. Most players waste hours farming the wrong enemies or wandering through mines that only drop level 2s. Let’s talk about how to actually get these stones without losing your mind.
The Best Spots for Smithing Stone 4 Right Now
Look, you can find a stray stone here and there on a random corpse in Siofra River, but if you want to actually upgrade your main weapon, you need 12 of these things. Twelve! That’s a lot of scavenging if you don't know the hotspots.
Gael Tunnel is Your Best Friend
If you haven't been to the border of Limgrave and Caelid, go there. Gael Tunnel is basically a gold mine—well, a Smithing Stone 4 mine. There are seven or eight stones just sitting on the walls waiting for you to pick them off. You don't even have to kill the boss at the end if you’re under-leveled; just run in, grab the glowing yellow crystals, and bolt.
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The Ruin-Strewn Precipice
This is the "back way" up to the Altus Plateau. If you’re avoiding the Grand Lift of Dectus, you’ll end up here. It’s a vertical nightmare filled with bats and singing harpies, but it is loaded with stones. I usually find about nine Smithing Stone 4s scattered throughout the various levels and mining tunnels. It’s a slog, but it’s efficient.
Ravine-Veiled Village
Just before you start climbing the precipice, there’s a little area called the Ravine-Veiled Village. Check the walls. Miners are everywhere, and many of them are working right next to the exact stones you need. Watch out for the poison, though. It’s a swampy mess.
Stop Farming and Buy Them Instead
Farming is for people with way more patience than me. You’ll eventually reach a point where you want to try out a new straight sword or a heavy greataxe, and you won't want to go hunting through caves for another 12 stones.
You need the Smithing-Stone Miner's Bell Bearing [2].
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Once you have this, you can just buy an infinite amount of Smithing Stone 4 from the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold for 900 runes each. It changes the game. No more praying for a drop from a random soldier.
Finding the Sealed Tunnel
The Bell Bearing is hidden in the Sealed Tunnel, which is located in the Capital Outskirts of the Altus Plateau. Go to the very bottom of the moat area southwest of Leyndell.
Pro Tip: The entrance is behind an illusory wall. Seriously. Just hit the wall to the west of the Site of Grace.
Inside, you don't even have to fight a boss to get the bearing. It’s in a chest in the first section of the cave. Grab it, warp back to the Roundtable, and never worry about scavenging for level 4 stones again.
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Why +12 is the Most Important Milestone
In Elden Ring, weapon scaling isn't linear. When you hit +12 with Smithing Stone 4, your weapon often jumps up a letter grade in its primary stat.
If your sword has a "C" in Strength, hitting +12 might bump it to a "B." This is where your character's stats actually start to matter. Before this point, most of your damage comes from the weapon’s base power. After +12, your build starts to feel "real."
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Don't be the person who spends three hours farming Raya Lucaria guards. They might drop a stone, but the drop rate is abysmal. You're better off spending twenty minutes getting to the Altus Plateau.
Also, don't hoard them. I see new players saving their Smithing Stone 4s because they think they’ll find a "better" weapon later. Use them now. You can buy more later. If you're struggling with a boss because your weapon is under-leveled, you’re just making the game harder for yourself for no reason.
Quick Checklist for Success:
- Grab the 7 stones in Gael Tunnel immediately.
- Head to Siofra River and check the waterfalls and ruins for easy pickups.
- Rush the Sealed Tunnel in Altus as soon as you can to unlock the shop.
- Focus your upgrades on one or two main weapons first.
If you’ve already cleared Gael Tunnel and you're still short, check the Artist's Shack in Liurnia. Just northeast of it, there's a corpse sitting in a chair looking over the cliff. He’s holding a single stone. It’s a small find, but sometimes that's the one you need to finally get that +12.
Once you've secured your stones, head back to Master Hewg. Your next goal is the level 5 stones, which you'll start finding in the deeper parts of the Altus Plateau and the Siofra River's upper levels. Make sure you have at least 10,800 runes ready if you plan on buying a full set of 12 stones from the Maidens once you have the bearing.