Elden Ring: How to fix the Dragon Communion Altar not working error

This guide is for you if you've tried to activate a Dragon Communion Altar by interacting with it and only received an animation of your character lifting their hand. However, because Elden Ring contains so many ambiguous rules and enigmatic dynamics, it's difficult to tell whether this is a bug or the game working as intended.

First and foremost, the answer to this query will vary depending on the altar you are attempting to use. The altar in the Church of Dragon Communion, which may be accessed through (bring a light!) the Coastal Cave, is the first one you're likely to come across. Make sure you have a Dragon Heart to present at the altar if you're here. You'll need to purchase all more incantations at the second altar if you've previously purchased the three accessible at this altar.

The second altar is at the Cathedral of Dragon Communion in Caelid, as shown above. This altar not working (especially on your first effort) could be due to a variety of issues, but one of them worked for us when we had the problem. First, rest in the adjacent Site of Grace and wait until nightfall with the Pass Time option. Then, without fighting the knight who guards the area, try using the altar once more. It's not clear why this works, but it does in our experience.

There are a couple alternative solutions you might come across, such as not using the altar while it's raining or raising your Arcane stat to 15. While the first way is generally risk-free, we do not recommend leveling your Arcane stat, since it may need a significant amount of runes. We were able to activate this altar with 9 Arcane, and there's no reason to think the stat has anything to do with the issue.