Elden Ring is full of different Spirit Ashes for players to collect and summon - more than 60 of them - but not all of them are worth spending the upgrade materials on to get them to higher levels, and a handful can be considered the worst Spirit Ashes in Elden Ring. While it's easy to put points into early-game Spirits like the Skeletal Militiamen or Jellyfish, and the game provides more than enough resources to substantially upgrade several different Spirits, there are some others that could fool players into thinking they're more worth the trouble than they actually are.
Elden Ring's Spirit Ashes are awesome for a variety of reasons, and are just one of the many tools available to players to help navigate some of the game's more difficult scenarios. They can be upgraded using Grave Glovewort flowers found throughout Elden Ring's many optional dungeons, and the Elite and Legendary Spirit Ashes can be upgrading using a complimentary item know as a Ghost Glovewort in exactly the same fashion. Spirit Ashes aren't customizable, however, so players will want to make sure they're confident in which Spirits they choose to upgrade.
Roderika can upgrade Spirit Ashes at the Roundtable Hold, but players who haven't discovered more than a handful of Elden Ring's summonable Spirits yet may want to hold off until later in the game before they fully commit to upgrade an earlier summon all the way. Spirit Ashes of both the elite and regular variety can be upgraded to +10, and while there are a number of Spirits that can be considered objectively the worst, exactly which will end up being the most useful to any given character will depend on its build and stats. While it's impossible, given limited space, to talk about all the lower-tier Spirits in a single article, here are a few of the worst.
Elden Ring's Miranda Sprout & Land Squirt Are Two Of Its Worst Spirit Ashes
The biggest problem with Elden Ring's Miranda Sprout and Land Squirt Spirit Ashes are the fact that neither of them can move. They're entirely stationary, which makes them sitting ducks for just about any enemy they're summoned against. Though each of them do offer poison attacks of reasonable power, neither of them holds a candle to the Jellyfish Spirit, which is mobile, flying, and has poison attacks it can fire at range. It may be a little less tanky, though in the early game can do well enough once upgraded, but its ranged attacks make it useful for keeping the Super Armor of Elden Ring's tanky bosses like Godrick from regenerating while a player character keeps the boss' attention. Unfortunately, neither the Miranda Sprout or Land Squirt can say the same.
Elden Ring's Skeleton Spirit Ashes Are Only Useful Because They Respawn
Much like the Skeletal Militiaman Ashes, which provide a pair of skeletons wielding spears, the Skeletal Bandit is only of some use because it can come back to life after being defeated. Despite this ittedly useful ability, which can be of use in earlier boss fights especially after some upgrades, these are among the worst options players can choose, with the Skeletal Bandit ranking lower because it's only a single combatant.
The Nomad Ashes In Elden Ring Aren't Worth The Effort
The Nomad Spirit Ashes rank among Elden Ring's worst summons. No matter how much effort one might put in while exploring Elden Ring's big map and upgrading the Nomad, the primary issue will remain one of speed. While the Nomad's AOE attack can dish out some damage among the ranks of a group of enemies, the Nomad itself has very little HP and doesn't move very quickly. Since it's not summoned as part of a small group or even a pair, it ends up being worse than epically wimpy summons like the Wandering Nobles, who at least have the advantage of "strength" in numbers.
Elden Ring's Noble Sorcerer Might As Well Be Throwing Rocks
Perhaps Elden Ring's most obviously bad Spirit summon, the Noble Sorcerer Spirit Ashes unleash a magical companion that's at least ambulatory, but his many detriments become immediately apparent. He's perilously slow, hobbling across the field with only slightly more alacrity than one would expect from an old man with a cane, and his only attack is occasionally slinging a largely ineffective glintstone pebble spell at his enemies. One has to wonder whether or not an actual pebble wouldn't be equally as useful.
Much better options for those requiring magical or ranged to supplement their Ashes of War for Elden Ring's biggest bosses would be the Twinsage Sorcerer or, even better, the Raya Lucarian Soldiers. The latter have fairly weak magical attacks they can use at range, though since they summon in a group of 3, it can be considerable help, and they also can act as decent melee combatants with a reasonable amount of HP, at least for the mid-game.
Redmane Knight Ogha Might Trick You Into Upgrading Him
Redmane Knight Ogha certainly isn't the worst choice as far as Spirit Ashes to upgrade in Elden Ring, but he's a bit dangerous in that he can convince you he's more worthwhile than he actually is, especially given his status as a Legendary Spirit. There are much better choices when it comes to Elden Ring Elite Spirits, like Lhutel the Headless, the Mimic Tear, or even some of the standard group-summon Spirits. He has a powerful ranged attack, but an exclusively ranged Spirit may end up being more useful, and he's not as tanky as some of the more powerful melee fighters. He can be the best of both worlds, but that very fact may make him inadequate for any job a player ultimately needs him to do.
In the end, all of Elden Ring's Spirit Ashes can be useful in the right circumstances, and there's nothing wrong with players upgrading several of them for different situations. Whatever a player most enjoys is ultimately the right call, and even some of the lowest-tier Spirits in Elden Ring are still potentially quite useful (even those listed here) when upgraded to their max level. Players can take their build into when choosing which to upgrade, tactically create a squad of upgraded Spirits to have at their disposal situationally, or they can choose to upgrade the ones they happen to like the most, even if the Spirit isn't the most effective.
Many players may also decide that they want to do challenge runs without using Spirits at all, or only upgrading the most obviously bad of them to their highest level. Ultimately, Elden Ring is all about character choices, and choosing which Spirit Ashes to use is a choice for every player to decide for themselves.
