You’re standing in front of a fog gate. Your mana is full, your staff is leveled up, and you’ve got Comet Azur ready to melt a boss into a puddle of blue glitter. Then it hits you. You don’t have enough slots. You have to open the menu, swap out your defensive buffs, and pray you don't need that heal later. It’s annoying. Honestly, it’s the biggest bottleneck for any caster in the Lands Between.
Basically, a memory stone Elden Ring players hunt down is the only way to fix this. Unlike previous FromSoftware games where you had to pump points into an Attunement stat, Elden Ring ties your spell capacity to these jagged little rocks. You start with two slots. You can end up with ten.
Finding them is a whole different story. Some are sitting in chests. Others are locked behind "Seek Three Wise Beasts" puzzles that make you want to throw your controller across the room. If you’ve ever spent twenty minutes slashing at thin air over a pond because you heard a ghost turtle was supposed to be there, you know the struggle.
The Oridys's Rise hurdle and the early game rush
Most people find their first stone at Oridys’s Rise. It’s in the Weeping Peninsula. You get there, you see the barrier, and you read the sign. "Seek three wise beasts." This is FromSoft’s way of saying "go find three glowing blue turtles."
The first one is literally right behind you. Easy. The second one is hiding in a bush. The third? That’s the one that trips people up because it’s invisible in the middle of a small pond nearby. You have to look for the ripples in the water. Just smack the air. Once the seal breaks, you climb the tower, open the chest, and boom—your first memory stone Elden Ring drop.
It feels small, but that third spell slot changes everything. Suddenly you can carry a pebble for trash mobs, a big hitter for elites, and a utility spell. It’s the difference between being a "mage" and just being a guy who throws one rock repeatedly.
Don't forget the Twin Maiden Husks
If you’ve got 3,000 Runes and you’re still at the start of the game, go to the Roundtable Hold. The Twin Maiden Husks sell a stone. It’s the easiest one to get. No turtles. No boss fights. Just cold, hard cash.
Actually, it’s worth noting that if you’re playing a pure Strength build, you might think you don’t need these. You’re wrong. Even if you only have the minimum Faith for "Flame, Grant Me Strength" or "Bestial Vitality," having extra slots means you don't have to choose between a damage buff and a cleanse for poison or scarlet rot.
The Tower Puzzles: Trophies, Turtles, and Glitches
Limgrave is just the beginning. As you move into Liurnia of the Lakes, the difficulty spikes. You’ll find Tetsu’s Rise and Seluvis’s Rise.
Tetsu’s Rise is basically Oridys’s Rise on steroids. It’s the same "wise beasts" puzzle, but this time, skeletons spawn while you’re looking for the turtles. One turtle is way up on a tree trunk. You’ll need a bow or a glintstone pebble to hit it.
Seluvis and the Ranni connection
Now, Seluvis’s Rise is a bit different. You don't solve a puzzle; you progress a quest. You have to start Ranni the Witch’s questline in the Three Sisters sub-region of Liurnia. Seluvis is a jerk—let’s just be real—but his tower holds a stone. You have to play along with his schemes for a bit, or at least gain access to the tower area through Ranni.
The Carian Manor Shortcut
While you’re in the neighborhood, check behind Carian Manor. There’s a boss called Royal Knight Loretta. She’s a ghost on a horse. Not fun. But once she’s dead, you can access the Three Sisters area. Most players assume the towers are the only reward here, but the area is dense with lore and essential items for any build that uses Intelligence.
Conversational detour: Why do some towers stay locked?
Sometimes the turtles don't show up. It’s a known bug, or rather, a weird mechanic. If you die or fast travel after reading the pedestal, the turtles might despawn. You have to go back and interact with the pedestal again to "reset" the puzzle.
Also, stop looking for a fourth turtle. There are always three. If you’ve found two and you’re losing your mind, check the cliffsides. FromSoftware loves sticking those blue guys on the vertical face of a mountain where you’d never think to look.
The Mid-Game Grinds: Mt. Gelmir and Beyond
Once you hit Mt. Gelmir, things get weird. The memory stone Elden Ring hunters are looking for here is in the Hermit’s Shack.
You have to deal with a bunch of man-grubs and a Demi-Human Queen boss named Maggie. She’s standing right outside the shack. If you’re underleveled, she will absolutely wreck you with magic. The trick is to kite the smaller enemies away first. The stone isn't in a tower this time; it’s a direct drop from the boss.
Lenne’s Rise and the Spiritspring Jump
Lenne’s Rise in Dragonbarrow is a weird one. The door is sealed, and there’s no turtle puzzle. Instead, you have to use the Spiritspring (the jump pad for your horse, Torrent) to launch yourself onto the roof or a balcony of the tower.
It takes a few tries. You’ll probably fall and die once or twice. Honestly, it’s kinda janky. But once you land on that balcony, you just walk inside and grab your prize. No combat required, just some equestrian acrobatics.
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Red Wolf of Radagon: The Mandatory Stone
If you’re following the main story, you’ll end up in Raya Lucaria Academy. You cannot miss the Red Wolf of Radagon. It’s a giant red dog that uses a magic sword. It’s fast. It’s aggressive.
When you kill it, you get a stone automatically. This is usually the fourth or fifth stone for most players. Since it's a mandatory boss for anyone trying to finish the Academy, it's the one stone everyone is guaranteed to have.
The Final Count: Reaching Ten Slots
The maximum number of slots you can have is ten. You start with two, and there are eight stones in the world.
- Purchased from Twin Maiden Husks.
- Dropped by Red Wolf of Radagon.
- Found in Oridys’s Rise.
- Found in Tetsu’s Rise.
- Found in Lenne’s Rise.
- Found in Seluvis’s Rise.
- Found in converted Fringe Tower (requires a specific gesture/crown).
- Dropped by Demi-Human Queen Maggie.
Wait, the Converted Fringe Tower. That’s the tricky one. You need the "Erudition" gesture, which you get from Thops. But you can only get it if you give him a second Academy Glintstone Key. Then you have to wear a Glintstone Crown (the stone heads) and perform the gesture in front of the seal. It’s a lot of steps for one slot.
The Moon of Nokstella
If ten slots aren't enough for you, there’s a legendary talisman called the Moon of Nokstella. It gives you two extra slots while you wear it. It’s found in the Eternal City of Nokstella, sitting in a chest at the end of the highest path in the city.
Most people don't need twelve slots. It’s overkill. But if you’re running a hybrid Faith/Intelligence build and you want to have every single tool at your disposal, that talisman is your best friend.
Common Misconceptions
People think you can farm these. You can't. They don't drop from random enemies, and they don't carry over into New Game Plus in a way that lets you get more than ten slots. If you start NG+, the chests will be empty or contain something else.
Another big mistake? Forgetting to memorize the spells at a Grace. You’d be surprised how many people grab a memory stone Elden Ring provides, see the notification, and then get frustrated when their "Y" or "Up-D-pad" menu doesn't show the new slot. You still have to manually sit down and slot the spells.
Expert Strategy for Casters
If you are playing a mage, your priority should be the Twin Maiden Husks stone first, then Oridys’s Rise. That gets you to four slots within the first hour of the game.
From there, head to Liurnia. Don’t even fight the bosses yet. Just ride Torrent to the towers. You can get most of these stones without actually fighting anything difficult if you’re fast enough.
For the Hermit’s Shack stone, you can actually cheese Queen Maggie by staying on the rocks above her and peppering her with arrows or long-range spells. She’s big and slow. Use the terrain.
Putting it all together
Getting all the memory stones isn't just about "completionism." It’s about versatility. Elden Ring rewards players who have an answer for every situation. One slot for a fast projectile, one for an area-of-effect blast, one for a buff, and one for a "get off me" spell like Rejection or Carian Piercer.
If you’re still stuck at five or six slots, you’re playing the game on hard mode. Take an hour, ride through Liurnia and the Weeping Peninsula, and hunt down those towers.
Your Checklist for Success
- Check the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold immediately.
- Go to the Weeping Peninsula and find the three turtles at Oridys’s Rise.
- Clear the Academy of Raya Lucaria to get the guaranteed drop from the Red Wolf.
- Head to the Three Sisters area after beating Loretta to unlock the Ranni-adjacent towers.
- Use the Spiritspring to bypass the front door at Lenne's Rise in Caelid.
- Collect the "Erudition" gesture from Thops to solve the Fringe Tower puzzle in Northeast Liurnia.
- Grab the Moon of Nokstella in the underground city if you absolutely must have the maximum possible slots.
Once you have eight stones, your spell bar will be a massive toolkit. You’ll stop worrying about which spell to leave behind and start worrying about which one to use first. Go get those stones. The towers are waiting.
Next Steps for Your Build
After securing your memory slots, your next priority is increasing your Mind stat to at least 20-25. This ensures you have enough FP to actually cast the spells you've just equipped. Additionally, seek out the Cerulean Hidden Tear for your Flask of Wondrous Physick, which allows for infinite FP for 15 seconds—a perfect combo for those newly unlocked spell slots.