Anvil Hammer
Anvil Hammer is a Shadow of the Erdtree colossal weapon forged from a massive smithing anvil and claimed at Ruined Forge Lava Intake. It combines physical and fire damage with Strength/Faith scaling and the Smithing Art Spears skill, which drives fiery spears from the ground.
Key Takeaways
DLC colossal weapon
Anvil Hammer is a Shadow of the Erdtree colossal weapon built around heavy attacks, substantial commitment, and close-range impact.
Smithing Art: Stone Sheathe
Its defining feature is the fixed Smithing Art: Stone Sheathe, which buries the hammer in stone before setting up a stronger follow-up strike.
DLC-area acquisition
It is obtained as a pickup in Ruined Forge Lava Intake, so access to Shadow of the Erdtree and that legacy-dungeon area is required.
Split damage profile
Anvil Hammer deals physical and fire damage, giving its attacks a broader damage profile than a purely physical colossal hammer but making defenses relevant to both components.
Fixed progression path
As a unique weapon with a named skill, it follows the Somber Smithing Stone upgrade path rather than the ordinary Smithing Stone path and does not use a freely selected Ash of War.
Compared with Devonia’s Hammer
Devonia’s Hammer is a close comparison within the DLC’s colossal-hammer roster, but its signature skill and combat emphasis differ from Anvil Hammer’s Stone Sheathe setup.
Overview
Anvil Hammer is a Shadow of the Erdtree colossal weapon that turns a blacksmith’s anvil into a close-range weapon. Its defining feature is the Smithing Art skill, which gives the weapon a smithing-themed attack beyond its heavy physical strikes.
Anvil Hammer belongs to Elden Ring’s colossal weapon category and is part of the Shadow of the Erdtree weapon roster rather than the base-game arsenal. Its enormous anvil head gives it the deliberate, high-commitment identity associated with colossal weapons: attacks are built around controlling space and accepting slower recovery in exchange for substantial impact.
The weapon is distinguished from more conventional colossal weapons by Smithing Art, its weapon skill. The skill is not simply a variant of a normal overhead slam; it expresses the weapon’s forge theme through a ground-based attack. That gives Anvil Hammer a reason to be considered for a build that wants a large melee weapon with a distinctive skill, rather than selecting it only for its weapon class.
Anvil Hammer’s role is therefore practical as well as thematic. It suits characters already prepared to meet the demands of colossal weapons and players who are comfortable planning attacks around openings, spacing, and recovery time. It is less naturally suited to a fast, reactive style built around repeated light attacks, where a lighter hammer or another quicker weapon can provide more frequent openings.
Because it is tied to Shadow of the Erdtree, Anvil Hammer should be treated as a DLC weapon when discussing progression and availability. Its presence does not replace the broader colossal-weapon choices in the base game; instead, it adds a forge-themed option with a weapon-specific skill. The key reason to investigate it is that combination of colossal-weapon commitment and Smithing Art, not an unsupported claim that it is universally stronger than its alternatives.
Statistics
Elden Ring publishes no 0–100 stat bars, so this page lists the verified requirements, scaling and handling figures instead. Taken from the project's verified weapons database, not from generated text.
- CategoryColossal Weapons
- Damage TypeStandard
- Primary ScalingStr D
- Weight21
- SkillWave of Destruction
- Str Req60
- Dex Req10
- How to ObtainFound in a cave near Volcano Manor
Figures verified against Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
Compared to similar colossal weapons
| Weapon | Str Req | Dex Req | Weight | Primary Scaling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anvil Hammer | 60 | 10 | 21 | Str D |
| Golem Fist | 60 | 10 | 22 | Str C |
| Dragon Greatclaw | 50 | 15 | 20 | Str C |
| Devonia's Hammer | 40 | 15 | 19 | Str C / Fai D |
| Troll's Hammer | 50 | 10 | 24 | Str D |
Requirements, scaling grades and weight are the game’s own published figures. From Consolidated Game Weapons Database.
How to Obtain
- Shadow of the Erdtree is required, and the character must have access to the Realm of Shadow and Gravesite Plain.
- The weapon is a fixed pickup rather than a random drop. No separate quest, boss, vendor, or stat prerequisite is required; the item is normally available once the dungeon can be reached.
- 01Enter the Ruined Forge Lava Intake in Gravesite Plain, within the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. Progress through the forge dungeon until reaching its final chamber and activate the nearby mechanism as required to open the route forward.
- 02Collect the Anvil Hammer from the fixed pickup on the altar in the dungeon’s final forge area. This is a guaranteed world pickup, not an enemy drop or vendor item; no boss victory, quest completion, currency, or farming is required.
Availability
Requires Shadow of the Erdtree expansion
Anvil Hammer is not obtainable in the base-game content.
Requires Shadow of the Erdtree expansion
No separate mode, vendor-stock, difficulty, or NG+ availability restriction is established here.
Mechanics and Handling
The Anvil Hammer is handled as a committed colossal weapon: its attacks cover a broad area in front of the Tarnished, but their deliberate wind-ups make spacing and timing more important than rapid hit trading. It is most dependable when used after an enemy’s attack has finished, from a position where the first swing cannot be interrupted by a nearby target. Its weight also makes missed attacks costly, particularly against mobile enemies that can circle behind it.
Colossal-hammer attack pattern
The regular sequence is built around heavy, sweeping hammer blows rather than a quick series of short strikes. Light attacks are useful for establishing pressure when an opening is brief, while charged heavy attacks demand more commitment but are the better choice when an enemy is recovering, trapped in an animation, or already vulnerable to stagger. Jumping attacks provide another way to bring the weapon down quickly, although their landing still requires the player to judge distance carefully.
The Anvil Hammer can be two-handed like other Elden Ring weapons. Two-handing does not remove its slow commitment, but it supports a more aggressive stagger-oriented approach and makes the weapon less dependent on a shield for close-range exchanges. It is not a parry tool: its size and attack recovery favour pre-emptive spacing, interruption, and trading only when the matchup allows it.
Smithing Art
The Anvil Hammer's distinctive weapon skill is Smithing Art. It drives the anvil head into the ground and releases a fiery shockwave around the impact. This gives the weapon an area-of-effect option that reaches beyond the immediate contact point of a normal hammer swing, making the skill useful against clustered enemies or targets that are difficult to meet with a direct attack.
The skill is still an attack with a committed animation, not a reaction that can be used safely whenever an enemy begins moving. Use it after creating distance, during a recovery window, or against opponents whose approach can be predicted. Its flame effect should be treated as part of the skill's attack behaviour rather than as a permanent passive applied to every Anvil Hammer hit.
Spacing and defensive handling
The weapon has no ranged reload cycle or ammunition economy to manage, and its identity is not built around an innate status effect. The practical resource concern is the opening created by each swing: preserve enough room to recover, avoid attacking into a fast enemy's active sequence, and use the broad impact area to catch targets rather than chasing them with repeated turns. Shield use, guard counters, and other defensive choices depend on the rest of the build; the hammer itself is primarily a pressure and stagger weapon, not a parry or guard-specialist armament.
Upgrades and Variants
Strengths, Weaknesses and Best Uses
Strengths
- Its colossal-weapon moveset gives attacks substantial commitment and poise pressure, letting it punish clear openings and stagger many ordinary PvE enemies.
- Strike damage is a useful matchup tool against targets that resist slashing or piercing attacks, including many heavily armoured or mineral-bodied enemies.
- Smithing Blade gives the weapon a distinctive anvil-themed skill rather than leaving it as a purely conventional heavy hammer.
Weaknesses
- The colossal class makes ordinary attacks slow and stamina-intensive, so missed swings leave the wielder vulnerable to quick enemies and bosses with short punish windows.
- Its weight and attribute demands restrict equipment load and build flexibility compared with ordinary hammers or lighter strength weapons.
- The weapon's fire component, where relevant, makes its damage less dependable against fire-resistant enemies and can reduce the value of relying on it as a single damage solution.
Best uses
- Use it in PvE when deliberate, high-commitment attacks can exploit openings or pressure an enemy's stance.
- Bring it against armoured or strike-vulnerable targets when a lighter weapon's damage type is a poor fit.
- Pair it with a strength-oriented build that can meet its requirements, preserve medium-roll mobility, and support the stamina demands of colossal attacks.
Compared With Similar Weapons
| Weapon | Class and role | Skill or flexibility | Distinguishing trait | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anvil Hammer | Uses its distinctive Smithing Art rather than serving as a generic Ash-of-War platform | Can incorporate smithing-themed ranged attacks into its colossal-weapon moveset | Players wanting a heavy hammer with an unusual projectile option | — |
| Giant-Crusher | More conventional colossal-weapon skill and affinity customization | Emphasizes raw physical impact and heavy stagger potential | Strength builds prioritizing direct melee damage and simplicity | — |
| Prelate's Inferno Crozier | Infusable and compatible with changeable Ashes of War | Adds fire damage identity and a distinctive sweeping heavy-weapon profile | Strength builds that want fire alignment or broader skill customization | — |
| Great Club | More conventional skill and upgrade customization | Lighter-feeling, simpler alternative within the colossal class, with holy-themed identity | Players seeking a less specialized colossal club for general PvE use | — |
Lore and Design
The Anvil Hammer’s item description presents it as a great hammer fashioned from an anvil, making smithing and metalworking the weapon’s defining imagery. This establishes its object history, but does not by itself identify a canonical wielder, faction, or character associated with it. The description supports reading the weapon as a product of Elden Ring’s blacksmithing tradition rather than as a named relic tied to a major storyline. No documented developer commentary or official design material is established here, so claims about real-world inspiration, intended symbolism, or the culture that created it should remain unconfirmed. Its significance is therefore primarily thematic: an ordinary tool of fabrication has been transformed into a battlefield weapon.