Order's Blade information.

[Complaintdesk]

Order's Blade looks like a extremely handy buff to be able to apply to one's weapon, specifically for the fact that undead enemies will not resurrect after dying. At my low level having to retarget them and kill them twice when fighting multiple enemies, has been the death of me on a few occasions.

My question is: 1.) Do I need an instrument such as a Finger Seal equipped in my left hand to apply Order's Blade to my RH weapon?

2.) Can I apply it to a weapon with the Ashes of War skill? Does the target weapon have to be completely free of any form of enhancement (level increase being exempt of course)?

[Silyon]

All incantations require a Seal of some type to cast. Just like how all Sorceries require a Staff to cast. There are no crossover or hybrid weapons that allow you to cast in Elden Ring like there were in DS3 and before. That said the Finger Seal is straight garbage you shouldn't waste runes on, visit the Beast Clergyman after talking with D to get the Clawmark seal for free instead. If you're just using it for buffs like Order's Blade, the incant scaling won't matter.

Ashes of war are wholly separate from Incantations and Sorceries. They're skills attached to the weapon you're currently using and available so long as you meet minimum requirements to use the weapon. And, y'know, have the FP to use it. Buffing Ashes of War can only be applied to the weapon that uses it, with a few niche exceptions, and any given weapon can only have a single "weapon buff" like Order's Blade on it.

For your undead issue, I'd suggest investing in some Holy pots once you find the cookbook for it. Consumables, does holy damage and prevents Resurrection. Lets you sidestep the question entirely.

[Norm Macdonald's Ghost]

1) It's an incantation, so yes you need a seal.

2) Certain weapons cannot be buffed. However, having an AoW isn't the disqualifier.

[Humpenstilzchen]

You can buff a weapon that has an ash of war but only if you put it on standard, heavy, keen or quality affinity.

The moment you put additional damage on it like magic, frost as well as bleed and poison you can´t put any buffs on it anymore.

[Complaintdesk]

Thank you Norm, Silyon, csand and Humpenstilzchen, for your speedy and informative replies. So many guides and so much disinformation. All the ones I read on the subject of Order's Blade, said that it could not be applied to a weapon with any Ashes of War skill present. My inner gamer told me this was not accurate. I had a feeling that Ashes of War such as Kick or Square Off would not prevent Order's Blade from being applied, but Ashes of War, that applied some form of debuff, or damage such as bleed, might fall into the category of AoW that prevent the application of Order's Blade.