How to break glowing blue cracked statues in Elden Ring

Very early into Elden Ring, I kept seeing these random, cracked, conspicuous-as-hell statues with a blue light. And 50 hours in, I finally know how to break them open.

Backing up a step, there are many different types of statues in this game, some of which you can directly interact with. I’m not talking about those. I mean the statues that are partially sliced open, and often embedded in the ground or toppled over. Like this one!

**Spoilers below**

If you’re anything like me, you might’ve tried two-handing your weapon, various jump attacks, and explosive throwables, to name a few tactics that seemed like a good idea at the time. No dice — at least, not that I’ve seen. Instead, you need to use a big boy.

That’s right, a big boy

Had I spent more time scoping out this stormy Limgrave hillside with several trolls roaming nearby, I probably would’ve figured out the solution way sooner. In fact, on a return visit, the a-ha moment happened organically: a giant just casually strolled through it on his way to my character, and the cracked statue exploded, revealing a shiny item.

What was inside? Unfortunately, just some low-level smithing stones — a useful find in the early game, but far less helpful down the road when they’re more plentiful.

If you missed the statue pictured above, you might’ve seen this one in the heart of Stormveil Castle, which you would’ve gone past on your way to the boss.

It’s not-so-conveniently resting next to a large, gnarly enemy — large enough to make me think it could also be strong enough to bust open the statue… but it didn’t work for me.

What I simply had to do upon luring this troll was to have it casually walk on top of this statue. It could have also just swung its weapon at me and broken the statue as collateral damage, but at lower levels, that could be very risky.

Interestingly, it seems that other large-scale enemies in Elden Ring are capable of opening these glowing cracked statues. When we mean big boys, they don’t have to be on the scale of the aforementioned trolls.

Other ways to break glowing cracked statues in Elden Ring

Depending on the area you’re in, you will have to do some scouting on what the biggest enemies are. You’ll have to train a beast or two and bring them to the statue with the glowing cracks. In the example below, this statue is against the wall, so you can’t just hide behind it in hopes of your enemy walking right into it.

What you will have to do is put your back against the statue as an enemy is about to attack you. At the right moment, dodge its attack and hopefully, they’ll open the thing for you.

What do glowing cracked statues contain?

From every example I’ve seen, these glowing cracked statues just give out various tiers of upgrade materials like Smithing Stones for your weapons and shields. A potentially good haul, but not necessarily something I’d want to go out of my way to get, if that makes sense.

This is just the latest in a line of “Wow, I really overthought that!” moments in the game. I’m loving it. Especially now that I’ve hit a brick wall and it’s time to go wandering again.