FromSoftware has a strong reputation for giving items in their titles expansive lore and specific uses, with almost everything in their games having a purpose of some sort. Whether they give you an upper hand in combat or something like allowing you to keep your Souls upon death, they will almost always give you some benefit for using it. And, for the most part, Elden Ring is no exception.

However, in some cases, items may have no use outside of very specific circumstances or might offer zero benefits to the player, making them seem useless or counterproductive. Take the Pendant in Dark Souls as an example, which had fans of the game trying to figure out its use to no avail, making it one of the game's most infamous starting gifts and items.

7 Telescope

Typically useless in every Soulsborne game and still useless here in Elden Ring, but to a lesser degree, is the Telescope. Due to Elden Ring having many instances where enemies patrol the wide-open field, the Telescope actually comes in handy for scouting an area out before recklessly running headfirst into it.

Furthermore, the Telescope also has a zoom function, allowing you to get up close and personal shots of Blaidd's strong and firm physique. *Ahem* Anyways, this tool is much more viable in Elden Ring than its predecessors but is still essentially useless 90 percent of the time.

6 Prattling Pates

Prattling Pates are Elden Ring's version of Carvings found in the Dark Souls titles and serve no other purpose than emitting short phrases and words to other players around you. Much like the Carvings of old, it's fun to bust out the Prattling Pates when helping a friend or stranger.

Shouting out "Please Help" or "Apologies" after a boss decimated your friend will always be funny, no matter the context or situation. Make no mistake, every Prattling Pate is fundamentally useless, but they're fun to spam and carry out conversations with random players with, and that's really all that matters at the end of the day.

5 Tailoring Tools

Obtaining the Tailoring Tools -and the Golden Tailoring Tools- allow you to slightly alter the appearance of specific armor pieces found throughout the Lands Between. Although the Tailoring Tools won't change an armor set's stats and is strictly for cosmetic purposes, it's still a neat feature to see included in Elden Ring, even if it's a bit limited in its implementation.

Even if the extent of most armor modifications boils down to removing a cape or the extra flair on a helmet, it's fun to experiment with and opens the door to making cool armor sets by mixing and matching various pieces of gear. If Fashion Souls is your thing, then the Tailoring Tools are a must-have.

4 Soap

When traversing through the Lands Between, it can be quite some time before you take a breather and rest at a Site of Grace, meaning blood and dirt will slowly accumulate on your character with each encounter you come out of alive. Thankfully, using a bar of Soap will clean all of the gunk off of you, leaving you looking pristine.

Additionally, Soap has another use outside of its cleansing properties and slightly lowers poison buildup, which is helpful if you run out of proper Boluses to ward off the ailment. Still, for the most part, Soap won't be the first thing you use when entering a poison swamp and will primarily be your go-to when you look rough from taking on hordes of enemies.

3 Rainbow Stone

Rainbow Stones are Elden Ring's Prism Stone but with one caveat that makes them rather useless in comparison. While you can still use them effectively to test if the fall damage is lethal or not, their purpose as markers to use as a guide is primarily gone due to them disappearing whenever you rest at a Site of Grace, die, or get summoned into another world.

For the most part, if you use Rainbow Stones exclusively to test for fall damage, then it may not be wholly useless to you. However, if you like using them to set trails to remember later or enjoy decorating the hub world like a Christmas tree to brighten your spirits each visit, then they are severely underwhelming when compared to past titles.

2 Mimic's Veil

Outside of Dark Souls 3's last expansion, mimicking nearby objects never had an actual use outside of trolling your friends or random players in PvP, which remains the case in Elden Ring. Although there are a handful of instances where disguising yourself will trick some of the game's enemies into walking right past you, it isn't a handy item for the vast majority of the game.

Being able to turn into seemingly anything in the surrounding area is still exceptionally fun to do and experiment with in Elden Ring, even if it only really becomes useful in PvP. Furthermore, the fun factor of you and your friends getting together and transforming into random objects makes up for its shortcomings.

1 Glass Shard

Much like Dark Souls' Pendant mentioned above, the Glass Shard is a totally useless item in Elden Ring with no redeeming qualities. But, in the Pendant's case, you could at least give it to Snuggly for another item in return, whereas the Glass Shard cannot be used or traded in for a thing.

Every item mentioned so far either had a very niche use or offered very little in terms of gameplay, but they all at least do something that one could argue on their behalf as a valid item. However, the Glass Shard is as unnecessary as it gets, which is quite shocking to see in a FromSoftware title and one of the reasons we love its uselessness.

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