Runes serve as both currency and experience reward in Elden Ring. Used to level up attributes, upgrade weapons at a Blacksmith or purchase goods from Merchants, runes are lost upon death but can only be recovered upon returning to their point of loss.

How to Find Runes

Runes in Elden Ring act like currency; they're used to level up characters, buy gear, and more. Runes can be dropped by enemies and bosses in battle or found within certain high-level areas or dungeons.

Farming elden ring runes buy is the best way to acquire these precious items, with certain low-level enemies providing multiple opportunities to kill and increase rune harvesting. In some locations there may even be infinitely-repeat opportunities available for this activity.

One such area on Stormhill near Mohgwhyn's Palace stands out as an exceptional one: here, players can quickly amass 40,000 runes by fighting Troll Warriors equipped with Gold Scarab and Torrent weapons one at a time and using predictable attacks that make these enemies easy to kill; should any battle between two become deadly, players lose all runes due to death (the Gold Scarab helps prevent this but does not offer protection from newly respawned enemies).

How to Awaken Runes

Elden Ring's Sharbearer Demigod bosses drop Great Runes that can be very powerful; however, their operation can be somewhat confusing. These items serve as unique key items which can be imbued with powerful buffs before activation at a Divine Tower - once active they will stay activated until either you die or use an Arc to reactivate it.

Unfortunately, the game's design fails to communicate what to do with these mysterious objects. Although they play an integral part in unlocking its final area, beyond that they remain mostly mysterious. To assist, we have put together this guide on how to find and awaken all of its Great Runes and Mending Runes; from their working mechanisms and effects through to which bosses they serve and the locations of Divine Towers where awakening them may take place.

How to Cast Runes

An effective way of gathering runes efficiently is acquiring an early Golden Scarab Talisman; this will increase rune collection from enemies by 20%.

Leveling up is another method to gain runes. Players can do this by visiting any site of grace and speaking to Melina; or later reallocating attribute points through Rebirth which will further boost rune acquisition.

As players advance their questlines, certain NPCs will grant new Incantations. Gideon Ofnir for instance will bestow both Lord's Divine Fortification and Black Flame's Protection Incantations as players share more details with him about Shardbearers; similarly, Beast Clergyman Gowry gives away Rot Incantations when players offer him Deathroot.

Finally, players can purchase incantation spells from vendors. For example, mummified witches near Stormveil Castle sell basic Finger Seal spells which make great introductions into incantation with low stat requirements and excellent scaling at lower Faith levels.

How to Use Runes

Runes are an essential element of Elden Ring experience, enabling players to level up their stats and utilize them in multiple ways. Runes can be spent leveling up any attribute or placing them into special stat enhancements that bolster specific aspects of character development, buying weapons or upgrades for weapons and equipment, or equipping Great Rune Arcs at Sites of Grace; however these runes will be lost upon death unless their last place of death can be returned to in order to retrieve them.

FromSoftware often fails to explain some of its most essential systems clearly enough, including Great Runes. To make them worthwhile, players must go through several hoops - including finding and purifying an appropriate Rune Arc at a Divine Tower before activating it to reap its benefits.