Elden Ring: Rainbow Stones Are More Important Than You Think

For newcomers to developer FromSoftware's style of games, 2022's "Elden Ring” can be a bit daunting. Overcoming the game's brutal difficulty requires not just learning the move sets of various enemies and bosses, but mastering a complex system of weapons, armor, and items. It's a lot to learn, and it's easy to miss important details. 

Items in particular are easy to overlook. Items of all varieties can be found all over the game world in abundance, as well as by looting them from the bodies of downed enemies. Problem is, the game doesn't automatically explain what each item does. To find a description, you'd need to pull up the game's menu and navigate over to the correct page. And the problem with that is, "Elden Ring" doesn't pause when the menu is brought up, leaving you exposed to danger. This makes it easy to scoop up items and forget about them while running along to the next fight.

However, many of these items can give you a crucial advantage. Rainbow Stones won't help much with the combat, but they can make traversing the game's dangerous open world much easier. The "Elden Ring" open world is a vertical one, full of mountain peaks, tall ruins, and other large obstacles you can traverse. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to determine how much falling damage you'll take from falling before making the plunge. An unexpected falling death is a great way to lose a bunch of Runes you've gathered.

Here's why you should use Rainbow Stones, and how to get them. 

The in-game encyclopedia entry for Rainbow Stones reads, "Shines with colored light when placed, serving as a guide," but that's a vague description of what they actually do. Rainbow Stones are used to help the player judge falling distances, and hopefully avoid jumping to their death.

So, if you're standing on a potential jumping spot that looks dangerously high, simply drop a Rainbow Stone near the ledge. If it glows purple, blue, or green, the fall will cause little to no damage. If it glows red, it will be high damage if not fatal. You can also drop a Rainbow Stone over the ledge. If it shatters, it's definitely a fatal fall. 

While Rainbow Stones can be found all over the Lands Between, the easiest way to get them is by crafting. To do that, you'll first need to get or buy a Crafting Kit. The merchant Kale at the Church of Elleh near the First Step Site of Grace sells Crafting Kits, provided you haven't killed them first. (Which is actually a good idea!)

Next, you'll need a Nomadic Warrior's Cookbook (7). One is located at the end of a collapsed bridge near Stormhill Castle, when approaching from Stormhill. It can be looted from a dead body perched on the edge of the bridge. Don't worry about falling off the bridge to get to the body, as the damage won't be fatal.

Once you have both items, all you'll need to craft Rainbow Stones is a single Rune Fragment. These can be found all over the game world but especially dotting the ruins in Limgrave.

Rainbow Stones are a humble addition to your toolkit, but they definitely have their uses.