FromSoftware didn’t forget about the Fashion Souls community when designing armor. As a result, you can now alter the appearance of certain armor sets and garments in Elden Ring.
Changing the look of your armor gives it a fresh, unique style to suit your character. However, the option to alter armor in Elden Ring is gated. You’ll need to find two items and defeat a boss in order to edit your armor.
I’ll show you exactly how to alter armor in Elden Ring and where to find the required items to unlock this new feature. As a bonus, I’ll also tell you how to defeat the boss with a few useful tips.
If you also want to change your character’s physical appearance, you must first learn how to respec. For now, here’s how to alter armor & garments in Elden Ring.
Defeat the Demi-Human Chiefs
The Demi-Human chiefs are standing in your way to alter armor in Elden Ring, and defeating them is no easy feat.
The combat in the Soulsborne games is primarily rooted in one-on-one encounters. Fighting against multiple enemies is always tricky because any one of them could interrupt your attacks.
Fighting against one Demi-Human chief is already challenging, but there are two of them in the boss area. What’s worse is that there are a lot of regular Demi-Humans who are ready to pounce on you, too.
The patient way to play works against you in this situation. You have to strike fast and relentless before the fight becomes uncontrollable chaos.
If it’s your first time entering the boss arena, the first chieftain sleeps near the entrance, unaware of your presence. Use your bow, magic, or ranged throwables like throwing knives to grab the attention of the Demi-Humans.
Move away from the chieftain and let the small grunts come towards you. Light attack spamming is a valid technique against them because it’s almost a guaranteed hit stun.
After disposing of them (hopefully without too much damage), use the brushes to sneak closer to the first chieftain. Then, start with a charged heavy attack to gain the advantage.
Starting with a charged heavy attack lowers its invisible stance bar. Depleting it allows you to perform critical hits on staggered enemies for massive damage in Elden Ring.
That’s the ideal start to the fight. But for the rest who tried and failed, the first chieftain will immediately be hostile once you cross through the fog.
The best way to defeat the Demi-Human chiefs is to stay as close to the door as possible. Fortunately, the other boss is conveniently napping in a corner on the other side of the room.
Summons are beneficial in this fight to even the odds. They help through attacking and distracting the enemies, giving you time to heal or charge up strong attacks. After summoning, immediately run up to the closest Demi-Human and kill them fast. Then, go back to the corner and do your best to kill the little ones quickly.
Now, against the Demi-Human chief, its attacks aren’t that strong to break your stance, so that means a good shield can go a long way. A guard counterattack can easily break its resolve and whittle down its stagger bar.
The best time to counterattack is when it swipes twice with its dagger, then dashes while swiping for the third attack. The delay between the second and third strike is long enough for you to land your counterattack.
When it roars, it’s about to slash multiple times. Wait for them to jump at you before rolling back. Don’t attempt to contest the flurry of dagger slashes.
Then, watch out for the attack it does where it plunges both its daggers down to the ground. Its recovery time is so slow that this is the best time to attack.
It has another attack where it ends up in the double dagger plunge. After brandishing its dagger, it spins around, slashing in an area around it twice. Then raises its hands to plunge its daggers down.
On both occasions, it’s the perfect time to attack. First, you have to roll toward it while using your invincibility frames to avoid the shockwave. Then, you’ll be able to hit it 2-4 times, depending on the speed of your weapon.
Better yet, you can hit one good charged heavy attack to weaken its stagger bar.
If you’re playing from a distance, watch out for its leap attack. It’s tricky because it deceives you that it will attack one hand but attacks with the other. So be wary of the feint and dodge accordingly.
Remember, when in doubt, use your shield. It’s better to take chip damage than die outright.
Ideally, you’ll be able to finish the first chieftain off before the other one wakes up.
Moving on to the second chieftain, its Demi-Human group will be nearer to it. Use any ranged damage in your arsenal to lure them out.
The Glintstone Arc spell is handy in this fight for any mage since it’s so good at dealing with crowds. Additionally, you can buy sorcery spells from Sorceress Sellen to help you in this fight.
Its moves are the same, and you should have no trouble dealing with another one after you bested the first one. Remember to dodge towards it when it uses its plunge attack for the best chance to defeat the Demi-Human chief.
After defeating them, don’t exit the cave just yet.
Go through the cavern to end up on another island – you’ll find the Church of the Dragon Communion here. You can exchange any Dragon Hearts you collect in the world for powerful dragon incantations.
Where to Find the Tailoring Tools and Sewing Needle
After defeating the Demi-Human chief bosses, you’ll now be able to get the Tailoring Tools and Sewing needle to alter armor in Elden Ring.
The key items are located in the Coastal Cave on the western part of Limgrave. To get there, start from the Church of Elleh. While you’re there, pick up a torch from merchant Kalé because the cave is quite dark.
It’s a valuable item for exploring dark areas, and it only costs 200 runes. Additionally, you can use it to attack for guaranteed fire damage.
You have the option to head directly west now, but the fall can kill you even while you’re on Torrent. So instead, move northwest, towards Stormfoot Catacombs.
Stormfoot Catacombs is the underground area where you can find and beat the Erdtree Burial Watchdog. From here, make your safer descent onto the shore.
There’s an interesting event happening at the north of the beach next to some tall rocks. Observe the ground, and you’ll notice golden footprints sprinting along the coast.
Go ahead and hit the invisible creature to claim an Ashes of War.
Afterward, start heading south. You’ll know you’re near when a group of Demi-Humans attacks you next to some rocks. These are small and agile enemies with savage armaments like clubs who usually swarm you in packs.
Continue moving towards the south but keep an eye out for a cave mouth. It shouldn’t be too far away from where the Demi-Humans ambushed you.
If you see the merchant by the campfire, you’ve gone too far. However, he does have some useful items like a cookbook to create fire arrows. Collecting cookbooks is the best way to craft more items in Elden Ring.
Once you find Coastal Cave, you’re one step closer to changing your armor’s appearance in Elden Ring. The torch you bought earlier will come in handy here.
How to Change Armor’s Appearance
Now that you’ve defeated the Demi-Human chiefs and looted the Tailoring Tools and Sewing Needles, you’re ready to alter armor in Elden Ring.
Go visit any Site of Grace and use it. From here, select the menu to Alter Garments.
On this screen, it will show you every customizable armor that you have equipped and held. You have to spend runes to change it to its altered version. There are slight differences in stats between the two versions, usually, the altered one is lighter with less protection.
Admittedly, it isn’t clear on the menu what the changes will be. You have to spend runes to find out. If you want to change it back, you have to go through the menu again while also spending the same amount of runes.
But, there’s another way to alter garments in Elden Ring without having to spend anything:
Boc the Seamster
As it turns out, you don’t actually need the Sewing Needle to alter armor in Elden Ring. It’s actually a key item for Boc, the Seamster, who will help you customize your armor for free.
Boc is a polite demi-human wearing a cute little black hat. He doesn’t share the same aggression as his demi-human cousins and can actually talk. In fact, he was beaten up, robbed, and kicked out of Coastal Cave due to his gentle nature.
You’ll encounter Boc for the first time near the Agheel Lake North Site of Grace. From there, follow the main path towards the bridge, but lean slightly to the trees.
If you’re near enough, you’ll hear someone calling for your attention. Hit the small brown tree to dispel the illusion and free Boc. Usually, there are messages from the community pinpointing his location.
Exhaust his dialogue and you’ll receive 10 mushrooms. He’ll then tell you he’ll go make his way back to the cave by the sea to retrieve his special keepsake. That keepsake is the Sewing Needle, an item he inherited from her mother who was also a seamstress.
Travel back to Coastal Cave and Boc will near the Site of Grace, beaten and weak. He tried to go back for the needle but was punished for it. He’ll ask you to retrieve it for him.
You can give him the sewing needle now if you have the item. If not, you have to defeat the boss of the area.
The next time you’ll see him is at the Lake-Facing Cliffe Site of Grace. You’ll reach this site after passing through Stormveil Castle or taking the shortcut to its side.
Boc is there waiting for you. In exchange for saving his life and retrieving the needle, he’ll offer to alter armor for you for free.
Afterward, you’ll find Boc at the Site of Grace at East Raya Lucaria Gate. Then finally, he’ll be at Leyndell Royal Capital on the East Capital Rampart.
Now, that you know how to alter armor in Elden Ring, you’re one step closer to your Elden bling. I hope to see your unique creations soon!
When Altering Garments Isn’t Enough
Assuming you went through the guide and are now able to change your appearance, you might have realized that you want to change more than your character’s outfit. Or you may have noticed that you cannot alter your demigod armor.
If that’s the case, there’s a solution for both problems. However, in order to change your character’s body, you must first go through Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon.
She is a very challenging boss with a disproportionally powerful second phase. The good news is we have a guide that shows you exactly how to defeat Rennala in Elden Ring.
Once you’ve beaten her, you can respec your attribute points and change your character’s physical appearance.
As for the demigod armors, you need Golden Tailoring Tools and a Gold Sewing Needle. You come across these items when looking for the Celestial Dew. We have more information about it in our Absolution guide.
