How To Farm Sacramental Bud

The world of Elden Ring is filled with all sorts of dangers. The Lands Between features some truly imposing foes and some of them are capable of dishing out some rather punishing status effects. Poison can be a bit of a nuisance for those who find themselves afflicted with the ailment as they’ll take constant damage over time. Thankfully, Poison is a bit of a slow burn, and it’s definitely mild compared to some other status effects players will encounter. Blood Loss and Frostbite can cripple a player while simultaneously doing immense damage to them in one fell swoop, taking down even the most stalwart Tarnished.

Arguably the worst status effect is Scarlet Rot. Those who allow their Scarlet Rot meter to fill to the top will be afflicted with the disease, which works like Poison but at a much faster rate. Those that don’t clear Scarlet Rot soon will find their health ticking down in large chunks, forcing them to diminish their flask supply just to survive. It’s even possible (and likely in the early game) to go through an entire stock of flasks and still perish, due to the lingering effects of the ailment. Thankfully, players can create items that will cleanse their Scarlet Rot but they’ll need a rare crafting material called Sacramental Bud to make them. Here’s where players can farm Sacramental Bud in Elden Ring.

Updated December 1st, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter: One might think that an item like Sacramental Buds, which is so intensely tied to Scarlet Rot (AKA Malenia) would play some part in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring focusing entirely on her brother, Miquella. However, across the entirety of this DLC that basically adds a whole other game’s worth of content, there is nothing new related to Sacramental Buds to be found. No new enemies that drop them, no new areas to find them, in fact, there’s basically no new Sacramental Bud to be found in the Lands of Shadow. All that said, a bit of new info has come out about this item and where to get it, so let’s take another look through our farming guide.

Where To Farm Sacramental Bud In Elden Ring

Really Just The Writheblood Ruins

Unfortunately, Sacramental Buds are extremely rare crafting materials, so players will need to farm quite a bit if they wish to amass a stockpile. And, unlike just about every other Crafting Material in the game, the ones that they can find in the wild don’t respawn, so it’s entirely up to the enemy drop rate once players have found all the natural ones or ones on bodies out in the overworld.

Truly, Sacramental Buds have an agonizingly low drop rate, but there is one particular area that is rife with enemies that are capable of dropping the Sacramental Bud, making it a bit easier to farm. To get there, players need to head to Writheblood Ruins in Altus Plateau.

How to Reach Writheblood Ruin In Altus Plateau

Just Reach the Bridge of Iniquity Site of Grace

Those that have yet to reach the Altus Plateau will need to either piece together the Dectus Medallion and ride the Grand Lift, or climb the Ruin-Strewn Precipice and deal with Magma Wyrm Makar to gain entry. Once in the Altus Plateau, players can head North and then West until they find the Bridge of Iniquity Site of Grace, located near the bridge that connects Mt. Gelmir to the Altus Plateau. The Writheblood Ruins can be found directly East of the Bridge of Iniquity Site of Grace and it’s the easiest path to get to them after each grace reset when farming.

Once there, players will be able to farm the seven Rotten Strays (AKA the dogs) found throughout the ruins.

Remember that these dogs only have a 3 percent drop rate for Sacramental Bud, so you’ll want to use Item Discovery boosting items while farming them.

Players can simply run to the ruins and rinse and repeat to farm the material, although it may take a while with low drop rates. Players can also increase their Item Discovery to improve the odds of finding the rare crafting material. There is even a special Talisman known as the Silver Scarab that will boost Item Discovery when worn. A few other Item Discovery-boosting options are:

What Does The Sacramental Bud Do?

Used in Two Specific Crafting Recipes

The Sacramental Bud is used in two separate crafting recipes. Players that are looking for a way to enchant enemies can make Bewitching Branches. These items are produced by combining 1 x Miquella’s Lily and 1 x Sacramental Bud. Players will also need to have gained the Fervor’s Cookbook [3] to learn the recipe. This particular cookbook is rewarded to players by Gideon Ofnir once they speak to him after visiting the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum for the first time.

The most useful item that players can make with the Sacramental Bud are Preserving Boluses. These consumables are capable of outright curing Scarlet Rot and can also completely reset a player’s Scarlet Rot build-up meter. To craft them, players first need to get their hands on the Armorer’s Cookbook [6], which is found on a corpse in the Siofra River.

The easiest way to get to the cookbook is to spawn at the Siofra River Bank Site of Grace then leap to the ledges behind the player using Torrent (near the pillars) and follow the cliff that leads to the West. Once players have the cookbook, they can combine 2 x Dewkissed Herba, 1 x Crystal Cave Moss, and 1 x Sacramental Bud to craft the Preserving Boluses. It’s a shame that the item that’s basically ‘required’ to explore one of the most important areas of the game (the Lake of Rot) is tied to a Crafting Material that is such a pain to farm, but thankfully Sacramental Bud is only used for these two incredibly niche items, so most players shouldn’t need to farm it for very long.