The term “iron flesh” refers to a combination of defensive buffs and a great increase in poise. Iron Flesh is a spell in the Dark Souls games, but this effect also appears in Elden Ring—albeit a bit differently.
Table Of Contents
The Only Way to Get the Full Iron Flesh Effect in Elden Ring
The only item that fully gives you the iron flesh effect in Elden Ring is the Ironjar Aromatic consumable. This is appropriate, given the naming convention almost directly refers to the Iron Flesh pyromancy from the Dark Souls games.
What Ironjar Aromatic Does in Elden Ring
The effects of the Ironjar Aromatic are also very similar to the Iron Flesh pyromancy from the Dark Souls games. When used (costs 18 FP), over the course of 40 seconds, Ironjar Aromatic will give you the following effects:
- Causes attacks from weaker foes to be deflected (even without blocking)
- Greatly increases poise
- Greatly increases almost all damage absorption stats
- All resistances get buffed
- Vastly slows down movement speed (as if you’re over your equip load limit)
- Causes dodge rolls to become slow dodge rolls (as if you have a heavy equip load)
- Greatly decreases lightning damage absorption
How to Get Ironjar Aromatics
You can craft Ironjar Aromatics, but only after you obtain its recipe from the Perfumer’s Cookbook [3]. This key item is found in the Auriza Side Tomb, which is a dungeon that lies to the north of Leyndell, Royal Capital.
After you get the recipe, you’ll need three different ingredients to craft Ironjar Aromatics. For every one unit of Ironjar Aromatic, you’ll need one Budding Cave Moss, two Altus Blooms, and three Living Jar Shards.
Budding Cave Moss is the green moss with yellow flowers that you can find in abundance within some caves. As such, it is one of the easier ingredients to gather. Similarly, Altus Blooms are also pretty common but are found in fields and forests of the Altus Plateau region.
As for the Living Jar Shards…well, you’ll have to kill adorable living jars, as they are the only enemy that drops them. Although you can find Living Jar Shards as items on the ground in certain areas, it is, unfortunately, far more efficient to farm living jars to get this crafting material. Such cruelty is the true price for overpowered consumables.
Items That Give You Effects Similar to Iron Flesh
Although there are a few spells that can increase damage negation, let you auto-deflect weaker attacks, or increase resistances, none can truly do all at once. The same can be said for all other consumables. However, there are some that can be used similarly.
Mixing the Leaden Hardtear Into Your Flask of Wondrous Physick
If you mix the Leaden Hardtear into your Flask of Wondrous Physick, you’ll get a short poise buff. This effect will make your attacks uninterruptable, albeit only for 10 seconds. Sadly, it lacks all the other effects that Ironjar Aromatic gives you. As such, you can only rely on a Leaden Hardtear flask to guarantee a small number of uninterrupted attacks.
To get the Leaden Hardtear, you’ll have to defeat the Ulcerated Tree Spirit boss on Mt. Gelmir. Furthermore, you can only mix the Leaden Hardtear into your Flask of Wondrous Physick while resting at a Site of Grace.
Consuming Boiled Prawn and Boiled Crab
If you don’t care about poise and are only after a great amount of physical damage reduction, seek out Blackguard Big Boggart! This foul-mouthed merchant can first be found in Liurnia of the Lakes by the Boilprawn Shack. However, later on, Boggart can be found near the outskirts of Leyndell, Royal Capital.
Boiled Prawns, when consumed, will increase your physical damage negation versus all types (standard, strike, slash, and pierce) by 15% for 60 seconds. You can buy Boiled Prawns for 600 Runes each, making them very affordable. Additionally, you can buy infinite Boiled Prawns from Blackguard Big Boggart from the moment you meet him.
Boiled Crabs give you a similar effect when consumed. However, it’s even better, as the physical damage negation granted will be 20% for 60 seconds! What’s more, Big Boggart will sell infinite Boiled Crabs to you for 600 Runes each. The catch is that he’ll only begin selling Boiled Crabs after he moves to Leyndell’s outskirts.
The Best Time to Use the Iron Flesh Effect
In regards to the true iron flesh effect given by the Ironjar Aromatic item, the best time to use it is in melee combat. Defensively, the overall high damage negation and auto-deflect will make it very difficult for weaker foes to bother you. For example, this can be very handy when dealing with a mob of demi-humans or a pack of wolves.
Offensively, due to the greatly increased poise, you won’t have to worry about foes interrupting your attacks. This means you can attack as recklessly as you want against physical threats. If you’re a melee build, this can be useful against any adversary—even in PVP.
However, do not ever use Ironjar Aromatic when facing enemies that can unleash lightning damage. Since the iron flesh effect pretty much turns you into metal, you’ll become extremely electrically conductive. Put simply: you’re a walking lightning rod.
