Lords Of The Fallen: How To Find The Blacksmith And Upgrade Weapons

Upgrading your weapons is a hallmark of most Soulslike games, and Lords of the Fallen is certainly no different. However, you won't have access to this pivotal feature at the very beginning of the game. Instead, you'll need to seek out a blacksmith named Gerlinde by exploring the early game area known as Pilgrim's Perch and rescuing her from captivity. Here's where to find Gerlinde and gain access to weapon upgrading.

How to find Gerlinde and upgrade weapons

Before you can upgrade your weapons, you must first find and rescue Gerlinde in Pilgrim's Perch. You'll begin your journey to her from the Bellroom vestige.

While facing the vestige, head out the exit to its right. Defeat the various enemies that litter this room and then continue forward through the cavern until you reach outside again. You'll need to hop to the hanging pallet to the left here, then jump once more to the other side. Note that if you're in the Umbral Realm, you can turn around here and use your lamp to create a walkway back across.

Run forward down the long walkway and face off against the tough spiked helmet-wearing foe at the end, then take the ladder down. Afterward, be sure to enter the Umbral Realm, as you won't be able to continue in Axiom. Once you're in Umbral, take the next ladder down into an open area filled with baddies. You can fight them if you'd like, or you can just run to the other side of the area and go up the ladder next to the final pillar here.

At the top, wrap around and take one more ladder up, then cross over the thin walkway here and defeat the enemy on the other side. Don't bother using the effigy here to switch back to Axiom--you'll need to remain in Umbral to reach your destination anyways.

Head down to the next walkway and continue forward defeating enemies as you go. At the end, there's another ladder that will lead you to two of those spiked helmet-wearing enemies, which can result in quite a tough fight early in the game. If possible, aggro them and then take the ladder back up use ranged magic or throwables to lower their health before engaging.

When the enemies are dead, you'll find that an Umbral entity is blocking your path, meaning you'll need to find and soulflay some spots around the area while in the Umbral Realm. Here's where to find them.

• The first spot is above and to the right of Umbral entity.
• The second spot is to the left of the Umbral entity after crossing a thin walkway.
• The third spot is below the door, accessed by following a pathway on the opposite side of the platform. At the end of this area, right after soulflaying another spot for the Book of Sin, peer over the edge to find this last soulflay spot.

With all of the Umbral entity removed, you can now soulflay the spot where it was to open an entrance. Go through it and then descend a few ladders. When you reach the bottom of the second, you'll be able to hear Gerlinde fussing about below, but before you head down to rescue her, be sure to step on the nearby elevator to take you back up to the Bellroom vestige. This shortcut comes in handy, as there's a boss further through this area, too.

When you're ready, go back down the elevator and take one final ladder down to the very bottom of this area to face off against multiple dogs and a shield-wielding elite enemy. When defeated, the big boy will drop a Prison Cell Key, which you can then give to Gerlinde in the nearby cage.

Once you rest at a vestige again, Gerlinde will relocate to Skyrest. You can find her up the left set of stairs near the vestige there where she'll now allow you to upgrade your weapons for a price, as well as offer you other services, like a shop and (eventually) the ability to slot runes.

For more on Lords of the Fallen, check out how to increase ammo capacity.