Messing up a build in Elden Ring is basically a rite of passage. You put way too many points into Strength, realized you actually want to cast giant blue moons at people, and now your character is a mess. It happens. The good news is that Rennala can fix your mistakes, but she won't do it for free. You need Larval Tears. These things are rare. Honestly, they're some of the most precious items in the Lands Between because they represent the only way to pivot your playstyle without restarting a seventy-hour save file.
Finding larval tear locations in Elden Ring isn't just about walking up to a glowing item on the ground. FromSoftware loves to hide these behind "traps." You'll see a weak enemy—maybe a pathetic noble or a literal lobster—and the moment you hit it, it transforms into something terrifying like a Runebear or a Grafted Scion. If you don't know which enemies are actually mimics, you're going to spend a lot of time wandering around Limgrave wondering why you’re still stuck with 40 Dexterity and a weapon that scales with Faith.
Where to Look First: The Limgrave and Liurnia Basics
Limgrave is where most people start their hunt, but it’s easy to walk right past the first tear. There is a specific Wandering Noble cowering near the Agheel Lake South Site of Grace. He looks like every other hollowed-out guy in the game, but if you kill him, he turns into a Lesser Runebear. It’s a jump scare, for sure. Kill the bear, get the tear. That’s the pattern.
Liurnia of the Lakes is much more generous. This is the "home" of rebirth since Rennala sits in the Raya Lucaria Academy, so it makes sense there are more tears here. You can find one just sitting in the Village of the Albinaurics. It’s in the graveyard area, surrounded by those creepy, crawling villagers. No transformation is required for that one; you just pick it up.
But then there's the lobster.
North of the Folly on the Lake Site of Grace, there are giant crawfish—snipers of the swamp. One of them is a mimic. When you "kill" it, a Grafted Scion emerges. This fight is a nightmare if you’re underleveled, but the Scion drops a Larval Tear. It’s worth the stress. Also, don't forget Pidia. Pidia is a Carian Servant hiding on a balcony in Caria Manor. You have to drop down from the cliffs of the Three Sisters sub-region to find him. He sells one for 3,000 Runes. It’s basically the cheapest "get out of jail free" card in the game.
The Underground Secrets: Siofra and Nokron
If you want the real motherlode of larval tear locations in Elden Ring, you have to go down. Deep down. The underground regions, specifically Nokron, Eternal City, are where the Silver Tears live. Since these creatures are literally made of the same substance as the Larval Tears, they drop them frequently.
Once you defeat Starscourge Radahn and the meteor hits the Mistwood, you can enter Nokron. This place is a gold mine.
- Check the building near the first Site of Grace in Nokron; there's a corpse with one.
- In the gazebo area further in, there’s another sitting out in the open.
- The Mimic Tear boss fight itself? That’s an easy one. Kill your own reflection, and you get two tears. It’s poetic, really.
There’s also an abandoned merchant in Siofra River who sells one. Getting to him is a pain because you have to climb some scaffolding and drop down behind a waterfall, but he’s there, sitting in a ruin, waiting for your runes.
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Why Caelid is a Nightmare for Respecs
Caelid doesn't have many tears, which is typical for a place that’s basically a giant rot-infested graveyard. There is one, though, and it’s annoying. Near the Cathedral of Dragon Communion, there is a lone Wandering Noble. Again, he looks harmless. Kill him, and he becomes a Decaying Ekzykes-style target—actually, he turns into a Great Wyrm-tier threat (specifically a colossal Crow). It’s a brutal fight because of the narrow terrain.
The Mimic Hunt: Don't Trust Anything
The game designers were being particularly cruel with the mimic placements in the mid-to-late game. In Altus Plateau, there’s a ruin called the Woodfolk Ruins. You’ll see a bunch of those tall, spindly "Wormface" enemies. One of the smaller ones is actually a Lesser Wormface that drops a tear upon death.
Then there’s Mt. Gelmir. Near the Road of Iniquity Site of Grace, you’ll find a scorched corpse that transforms into a Colossal Wormface. These fights are never easy, but by this point in the game, your build is probably specialized enough that you can handle the burst damage. If it isn't? Well, that's why you're hunting the tears in the first place.
The Concentrated Snowfield Gamble
By the time you reach the Consecrated Snowfield, you're looking for those final few respecs to optimize for the DLC or the final bosses. There is a noble half-buried in the snow near the Inner Consecrated Snowfield Site of Grace. He’s stuck between two other nobles. Attack him, and he transforms into a Runebear. This bear is significantly harder than the one in Limgrave. It has more health, hits like a freight train, and the visibility in the snowstorm makes the fight feel like a horror movie.
Strategy: How to Use Your Tears Wisely
Since there are only about 18 Larval Tears per playthrough, you can’t just respec every time you find a cool new sword. You have to be tactical.
- Level Check: Don't respec until you are at least level 60-70. Before that, your stats are too low for a "build" to really matter.
- Stat Minimums: Always check the requirements for your "goal" weapon before talking to Rennala. There is nothing worse than respeccing into Intelligence only to realize you’re one point short of using the Dark Moon Greatsword.
- Soft Caps: Remember that stats like Vigor have soft caps at 40 and 60. If you’re pouring points into 80 Strength but only have 20 Vigor, no amount of Larval Tears will save you from getting one-shot by a boss.
Common Misconceptions About Larval Tears
A lot of players think you can farm these from the Silver Tears in Nokstella. You can't. Those giant silver balls that roll at you in the Eternal Cities drop a Larval Tear the first time you kill them, but they don't respawn with the item. Once you've cleared out the "ball" drops in Nokron and Nokstella, those sources are dried up until New Game Plus.
Also, the DLC—Shadow of the Erdtree—added its own set of Larval Tears, but they work differently. They only appear at night in specific locations marked by glowing stone circles. If you're looking for the original game’s tears, the "transformation" method remains the most reliable way to find them in the wild.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Session
If you’re staring at your stat screen with regret, here is exactly what you should do right now to fix it:
- Fast travel to the Agheel Lake South Site of Grace. Head east toward the cliffside. Look for the lone noble standing by himself. Kill him, beat the bear, and grab your first easy tear.
- Head to the Village of the Albinaurics in Liurnia. It’s under the massive plateau in the southwest. Run past the enemies to the well-lit graveyard area. Pick up the tear from the ground. No fight necessary.
- Buy the tear from Pidia. Go to Caria Manor, finish the boss, then loop back around the cliffs to the rooftops. He’s the most reliable source for a "purchasable" respec early on.
- Commit to a build path. Before you spend that tear at Rennala, use an online builder to map out your points. Make sure you have enough Vigor to survive and enough Endurance to actually swing your weapon more than twice.
Once you have these items, the game opens up. You aren't locked into a "bad" character. You're just one Larval Tear away from a completely different experience. Just watch out for the lobsters. Seriously.